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Holidaying in Orlando......


MikeBishop

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I was wondering if anyone/someone can help me.

 

I am off to Orlando on Thursday this week for 10 days, and I am looking to take my kids to do, well nearly everything.

 

I need to know where is the best place to get our park tickets, here/internet/over there namely - Disney/SeaWorld/Universal/Wet&wild/etc.

 

If anyone can help, it would be appreciated.

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For Universal, Sea World and W&W get the Orlando Flex Ticket and get it in the UK, great value. For disney, depending on if you want all the parks get a 7 or 14 day ultimate ticket (think its called that) and its usually the same price either here or there.

 

For keeping cost down, just do sensible things, take your own water into parks as its expensive, make the most of any free meals in the hotel etc and any shuttle buses they do to and from the parks (depends on if you have a car).

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I got all my ideas and mony saving tps from the dibb. British based forum site with an excellent group of people who will give you all the help you will ever need.

 

Buying tickets for Thursday may be a bit of a problem, but if you contact Attraction Tickets Direct, they price match with most of the "Genuine ticket" sellers (some places sell vouchers that you have to exchenge in Orlando), and if you contcat them over the phone, should be able to do next day delivery.

 

Most ticket deals include a free pass to the Disney swim parks, so don't bother with wet and wild tickets if you don't need to.

 

Although is is tempting to fit in a park every day, pace yourself, especially with kids. It is HOT over there, so take plenty of breaks, and stops in the shade.

 

Freeze bottles of water to take in the park with you. they cost about 40 cents from walmart, but the parks charge around $2.70. Water in the parks is the biggest rip off. You can ask for a cup of Ice Water at anywhere that provides drinks for free, so do that. Problem is, Orlando water tastes like piss, so take some sachets of drink that you can get from all food stores over there like Crystal Lite, and stir that in. Gatorade sachets are also great, as they rehydrate you too.

 

Sign up to all the restraunts you may fancy visiting (dennys, IHOP, Outback Jacks), as they will email you vouchers that you can print and take with you. This will save you a bundle. Also, get the magazines that you can find in the entrances to food stores and hotel lobbys, as they also have vouchers. Normally something like buy 1 breakfast, get one free, or kids eat free.

 

Enjoy it. Bloody fantastic place!

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May not be the best advice for keeping costs down necessarily, but if you plan on eating in the parks then book a table in advance. It's an absolute nightmare to get a table there and then for most of the nice places so me and my family just ended up in the fast food burger bars which were a bit crap.

 

Also, if you go to Epcot, don't eat at the Italian part. The food was shit and uber expensive compared to the pretty cheap and awesome Japanese food I had there 2 years before.

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Anyone able to advise me on tourist visas and the like? Or able to point me in the direction of a suitable website?

 

For going to Orlando? Youll need to fill out an ESTA online before you go and I believe that is all you need to do now, I may be corrected on that though.

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Van Dammer was correct make sure you fill out the ESTA form at least 72 hours prior to flying.

 

 

Try and go to some of the restraunts on the 192 (or iDrive if you are staying on there) some examples are, Dennys, Perkins, iHop, Cracker Barrell, Outback .... However, make sure you eat in Bob Evans as the food is fantastic.

 

Have fun .... I am off to Orlando in just over 3 weeks :)

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CICI pizza buffet!

 

 

We have been a few times now.

 

Im looking to go in 2013. DIY style, travel agents rip you off for everything from hotels to tickets

 

We were in Orlando the week leading upto Wrestlemania weekend this year and one night during a near Tornado I ventured to the nearest restaurants to the hotel and toddled into Cici's.

 

The pizza is surprisingly good for what you pay - I'd say better than the Pizza Hut offering in the UK. I was gutted that as I sat down to my first plate 2 coach loads of students steamed in which lead to some queuing. Oh the damage that could have been done if they hadn't appeared!

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Anyone able to advise me on tourist visas and the like? Or able to point me in the direction of a suitable website?

 

You can fly on the Visa Waiver Program as long as you have a valid machine readable UK passport.

 

You also need to have pretty much a clean criminal record, meaning that you have never been arrested (the key word being arrested, even if you were never convicted, it makes you inadmissible without a visa) for a crime of moral turpitude.

 

You'll fill the I-94 form in on the plane and you need to do the ESTA beforehand. You now have to pay for ESTA, by the way.

 

When you go to the US on the Visa Waiver Program, you are at the mercy of CBP. Which means if you lie about anything and they find out, they can just bounce you back to the UK on the next flight. Entry to the US is not guaranteed, it's their discretion as to whether they let you in or not. So you need to make sure you have a return flight, enough funds to cover your stay, know where you are staying, have an itinerary.

 

The average tourist going to Florida will be fine, I'm just talking from experience. Having been through the Immigration Process to get a Green Card I've done a LOT of research into US Immigration and seen a lot too.

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Golden Corral is your friend - blinding buffet, cheap as free.

 

Correct! Not brilliant food but lots of it, its incredibly cheap but as a result does attract a bit of a rough crowd but if you want a cheap, all you can eat dinner with lots of meat and pretty much anything else you can think of, its the place for you.

 

Ive never tried Cici's despite passing them hundreds of times.

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