Huge amounts of Orlando reward availability on Virgin Atlantic from Manchester

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• ChasP says:

  27 Jul27 July 03:18

  also quite a few from LHR

• Rizz says:

  27 Jul27 July 03:26

  On the flipside, VS has very high surcharges on redemptions, horribly dated product on the old A330-300, MCO is a swamp in the middle of nowhere, and you’ll face crazy prices in FL – so think twice before jumping on this!

  • chris1922 says:

    27 Jul27 July 09:23

    Was just there two weeks ago, prices are fine. More than what they used to be, but by no means crazy.

    • Grimz says:

      27 Jul27 July 09:41

      +1 its the same everywhere, costs are rising its just the world we live in now. Orlando has not got worse than the UK price increases!

    • Andrew. says:

      27 Jul27 July 10:24

      There are some crazy prices – I’m looking at you Seaworld, $7 for a 18oz bottle of Sprite after your bag searches for noms at the gates.

      But that’s the outlier. We stocked up at Publix, and bought a dozen bottles of 7-up for about $8. My colleague is at their in-law’s villa there at the moment and has done a “big-shop” at Aldi for close to European prices.

      Cheaper to use your Amex to buy peanut butter M&Ms at your local B&Ms than to bring it home though.

  • Nick says:

    28 Jul28 July 10:40

    In your opinion…

• tony says:

  27 Jul27 July 06:34

  Yeah, I just can’t get my head around the TFCs on award bookings now. For £2k each (which is what this really is) you can be buying revenue tickets in the Easter holidays. OK so if you have the 2-4-1 vouchers it’s better, but £1.5k to Florida with patchy availability never used to be a bargain. More signs of the cracks appearing.

• Jonathan says:

  27 Jul27 July 07:17

  VS prices are not that much more than BA to be fair. My concern with reward availability is the peak school holiday dates go fast. So with VS releasing seats 3 weeks after BA I have to go with BA as my first choice to further improve my chances of getting the 4 seats I need. All things being equal, I would rather be on VS metal.

• Phil says:

  27 Jul27 July 07:23

  Rob for mixed cabin redemptions you don’t need to call, just search using ‘economy’ and it will also show seats for premium and upper and allow you to choose different cabins for each flight.

• Gordon says:

  27 Jul27 July 07:35

  Booked with a 2-4-1 voucher Dec 22 for travel to MCO in Nov 23 PE out J return. £780 Taxes etc and 137,500 Avios. Did not entertain the hotel prices and instead booked a 5 bed villa, in Kissimmee with pool etc £2k for 16 nights via Vrbo.

  Thanks to “Sammy J” for your tip back in Dec 21 regarding Andy at Discountfloridacarhire.Co.uk, We booked a 7 seat SUV £200 cheaper than Alamo direct but picking up from Alamo anyway!
  Also if you book with Andy and you need a sat nav he posts one out to you a week before your departure and you return it prepaid envelope when back £15 for entire trip. Also if the car rental price is reduced before you travel you get the revised price. Their rates cover all the usual suspects CDW, excesses etc…

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    27 Jul27 July 07:52

    I’d agree that Orlando is the land of the villa. Use the oversupply of gated-community rental property developments to your advantage. When you’re getting a modern and immaculate 3000 SqFt 5-bed villa with own pool and resort-level pool facilities for less than a hotel room at an off-park resort, you realise this is a VERY distorted market.

  • Qrfan says:

    27 Jul27 July 07:58

    Posts a sat nav?? Did I just wake up in 2003? What’s wrong with offline Google maps?

    • Gordon says:

      27 Jul27 July 08:12

      I agree, But obviously some people still like the old school approach, Clearly as the service is still available.My O2 contract covers me in the US, So I use my iPhone for sat nav purposes not a problem.

    • dougzz99 says:

      27 Jul27 July 09:14

      Also I’d add a 7 seat SUV would have to be a base/low spec model to not have satnav built in. Can’t remember the last time I had a car/suv without satnav, from Avis/National/Hertz.

      • chris1922 says:

        27 Jul27 July 09:26

        Two weeks ago, I had a Chrysler Pacifica from Avis at MCO. 32,000 mls, service indicator on and no satnav. No problem though, Google maps and Airalo e-SIM soon sorted that out. Disappointed in the car though.

        • dougzz99 says:

          27 Jul27 July 09:59

          That’s a people van I think, ouch. No alternate choices?

    • Grimz says:

      27 Jul27 July 09:36

      +1 and also look at car hire 3/4 weeks out from Avis and you get a far better deal.
      Florida is also the cheapest place to visit in America now.

• Mikeact says:

  27 Jul27 July 08:17

  I use Copilot and Sygic on my phone…have done for years around the world.

• Andrew. says:

  27 Jul27 July 09:59

  Probably most important of all, Orlando (and the parks) is a great place to visit for a week in November.

  Mid-twenties temperatures, usually good deals on park tickets (buy 2 days, get 2 free etc), wind up your friends with kids by sending pics of the empty queue lines, and post how you’ve just done the same ride three times back to back as you didn’t have to wait.

  In past years, the Hogwarts Christmas light show at Universal was really good.

  • Gordon says:

    27 Jul27 July 10:17

    Exactly, That’s why we booked in November, I carry out a lot of research for every destination we visit, It can be laborious and time consuming but saves disappointment. At the prices of a vacation now you do not want to be disappointed!

  • Grimz says:

    27 Jul27 July 11:15

    Where do you buy those tickets Andrew?

    • Andrew. says:

      27 Jul27 July 12:01

      We bought them at the gate for Universal, off peak you don’t need to worry about crowds.

      Our Disney tickets for this year were bought on the main Disney site, but clicking through the the European version from the bottom of the page, it allowed us to buy 3 days of tickets rather than the fortnight that you get pushed to on the British site.

      • Grimz says:

        27 Jul27 July 12:33

        That’s interesting but usually these tickets are for US residents only and you have to show proof of residency. And also the 4days worth of tickets cost around the same as a 14day ticket from the UK sites.

        • Andrew. says:

          27 Jul27 July 14:16

          Sounds like you are getting mixed up with the tickets sold at a discount to Florida residents – where you have to prove residency.

          I’m not sure of the point of spending £308 on a fortnight ticket from a UK site when I might only pop over for 6 nights and could buy a 2+3 ticket over there for £220.

          Even then, and this is something to be very mindful of for a November trip without kids, the parks are EMPTY. You could arrive at Universal at 10am, buy a one-park, one-day ticket and have been on every ride at that park by 2pm. You’re killing time by eating and redoing rides until the light show at night.

          It’s a completely different dynamic to July with a pair of kids in tow, a 2 hour queue for every ride, and parental exhaustion when you might need a fortnight and only go in first thing when it’s cooler.

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