Fantastic Florida
My husband and I had decided to stay in a Villa for this holiday, and I have to say it was certainly a great option, as the purpose of our trip was to take the family, our 2 children aged 5 and 7, my mother in-law and father in-law to enjoy Disneyworld and everything else that Orlando has to offer.
We had hired a 4 bedroom villa with a private pool, and we were in an area called Hampton Lakes, which was literally a 20 minute drive to most of the main theme parks. There is one long high road which has most of the Villa complexes on so they are all within easy distance. The villa was very modern and had fantastic living space and was fully equipped with every cooking and laundry appliance imaginable, which meant I was able to return home with a minimal amount of washing !
Car access to the parks was excellent, every park was sign posted and once you were parked there was always onward transport to take you to gate entrance.
We were staying in Florida for 2 weeks and had opted for the park passes that were going to cover everything with no restrictions, which meant we could come and go as we please. We had the 14 day Ultimate Disney Pass, which gave us unlimited access to all the following, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon and Disney Village. We had also purchased the 14 day Flex Ticket which gave us unlimited access to the other major parks; Seaworld, Aquatica, Universal Studios, Universal Islands of Adventure and Busch Gardens.
We also, if the above was not enough to be getting on with, purchased tickets for Kennedy Space Centre, which is a must.
We loved all of the parks, and each and every one was different, before I went I was not keen on roller coasters, but once you have done them in Florida you will find a new passion for them as I did.
My little boy is a big fan of Spiderman so the Universal Parks were amazing for him, and for my daughter the Magic Kingdom is a magical Princess dream come true.
One of mine and my husbands favourite parks was Busch Gardens, because it had everything thing from a Safari Park to one of the biggest 90 degree drop roller coasters, Fantastic !!
Although we opted for a Villa holiday, Orlando has 100's of fantastic hotels to suit all budgets, even the Disney ones, and if you do not fancy driving over there most hotels offer transportation to the majority of the parks.
Depending on the time of year you go most of the parks are open to at least 9pm and the Magic Kingdom on a couple of nights is open until midnight, so you are never short of options of an evening, there are also some fantastic dinner shows to be seen.
The cost of living in America was very reasonable, and I certainly did not feel even when you ate inside the parks that you were been ripped off, plus there are hundreds of restaurants to choose from on International Drive and when we ate in the buffet restaurants it never came to over £50 for the 6 of us, and that was including wine, beer and fillet steak.
I would also recommend to take some time out to take a look at the shopping outlets, we picked up some fantastic electrical and gaming deals which were working out to be half the price of what you would pay over here. The clothes shopping was also excellent.
The people in Orlando were lovely and extremely friendly and nothing was ever too much trouble, they also advised the best time to visit Florida was April, May and September. Not too hot and very little rain.
We had a fantastic time in Florida, and it is a holiday that comes highly recommended regardless of age.