Before you Travel
You may have been to the US many times in recent years or this may be your first trip. If it is your first trip or if you haven’t been there for a while, then there are some things you need to bear in mind.
Do you need a visa?
If you’re a UK citizen, then in most cases you won’t need a visa and you can travel with an ESTA visa waiver. Go to https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/ for more information and to apply for an ESTA. They cost around $14 and are normally valid for two years.
Choosing a flight
While we’re not exactly travel experts and the travel landscape keeps changing, we tend to look for direct flights from the UK to Orlando. We’ve had many flights with a stop each way at a US hub. They tend to be a little cheaper and you do go through US immigration at the hub so that you can step off the plane in Orlando as a domestic passenger. The downside is that it can take a while to get through US immigration on your outbound journey and you may get anxious about missing your onward connection. Sometimes, transfer times at the hub can be long, adding to your overall journey time when all you want to do is get there or get home.
We’ve had problems with our first homeward flight of the two leaving late, meaning that we risked missing our transatlantic connection. This happened once and we were forced to spend a night in a hotel in Cincinnati. In these circumstances, airlines in the USA have no responsibility to offer you either overnight accommodation or meals. We also got home a day late. In winter time you may find that your US hub becomes snowbound, meaning that you can’t readily fly on to Orlando or back home either.
You can also fly with Aer Lingus via Dublin and clear US immigration there so that you arrive in the US as a domestic flight, but these flights do cost more than many others.
At the time of writing, the only two airports with regular direct flights from the UK to Orlando are Gatwick and Manchester. You can get charter flights from other airports, particularly in school holidays, but they tend to be noticeably more expensive. Our nearest of those two airports is Manchester, but flights from Gatwick are usually so much cheaper that it still pays for us to fly from there and have a night’s accommodation at Gatwick before we go and sometimes a hotel day room there on our return to catch up on sleep.
Both Virgin Atlantic and BA fly from Gatwick. Virgin Atlantic also fly the Heathrow to Orlando route and both Aer Lingus and Virgin Atlantic fly to Orlando from Manchester. BA also fly from Gatwick to Tampa on the Gulf Coast. While this means a longer drive to the villa than from Orlando Airport, it is usually less congested. When we’ve flown on this route, the plane has only been about half to two-thirds full. Your final choice may come down to a preference for one airline over the other or on the price. TUI offer direct routes during the spring to autumn season from various UK airports into Melbourne on the Atlantic coast, which is another option. Travel time from there to the villa is around 90 minutes, but it can be quicker if you use the Bee Line toll road (Route 528) as the roads generally from there are less busy. Sometimes we choose the earliest flight offered so that we get to Orlando Airport while the biggest choice of hire cars is still available and it means we’re likely to get to the villa while there’s still time to relax before calling it a day.
Travel insurance
We strongly urge you to take out comprehensive travel insurance as soon as you’ve booked. Make sure that it covers the USA and we recommend that you have medical cover of at least £10,000,000. A good policy should cover all the usual eventualities for when you’re abroad and particularly if you have to cancel or curtail your stay due to events beyond your control.
Car hire
While some guests do survive without a car, it’s very hard to get by in a villa without some form of transport of your own. Buses are few and far between and nobody walks anywhere. When I was first told that, I didn’t believe it, but it’s true. Some guests have used Uber or Lyft and that can work well. You’ll also save on parking charges at the parks as they can just drop you off or pick you up there.
For car hire, we’ve only ever used either Alamo or Dollar. Alamo is recommended by Which? and we’ve used them quite a lot over the years, but more recently we’ve found Dollar to be noticeably cheaper. Beware of upselling when you ask for your car at the hire desk. Sometimes the assistants will try to sell you additional insurance for such a breakdown cover or windscreen replacement which they always quote as a ‘per day’ price. It may not sound much until you multiply it by 14 or 21, so just make sure it’s what you want for what you’re happy to pay. Try https://www.icarhireinsurance.com/. They’re UK-based cover a range of eventualities and they come well recommended. You have to pay any costs in the US and then claim the money back when you return. Another trick is to push you into agreeing that the car hire company pays any road tolls, often at a minimum set rate per day. We always use the Florida Toll Pass (see below) if we fly into Orlando and last time we ended up paying around $10 all in.
If you need help with car hire bookings we can refer you to the travel advisor we use who can usually get a good price on car hire or you can try such as Discount Florida Car hire who offer competitive rates.
Florida Toll Pass
If you’ve never been to Florida, you may not realise that they have quite a few toll roads and these are usually faster roads with higher speed limits and less traffic than on the toll-free routes. The Florida SunPass/EZPass trial is now available for visitors to the state.
Before you travel you register your trip dates online at https://visitortollpass.com and then pick up a pass at Orlando International Airport (only Orlando Airport does it at present) from one of the many booths in ‘Arrivals’ when you land. You hang it on the rear-view mirror with the bar code facing forward when you collect your hire car and you register yur car registration number via their app. You can then drive through the SunPass/EZPass lanes on the toll roads instead of having to stop and pay cash.
At the end of your stay you deposit the mirror hanger in one of the collection boxes at the airport and they then bill your credit card a few days later at a discounted rate. Don’t let the idea of paying tolls put you off a longer journey. We went on a toll road from Palm Beach to Orlando and the charge for the whole stretch was very reasonable. This was useful considering the time it saved us.
Last of all on this, if you have a SatNav at home, you may find it cheaper to make sure it’s loaded with maps for North America and to take it with you rather than hire one from the car hire company. Alternatively, you can use such as Google Maps/Apple Maps on your smartphone with such as Android Auto or Apple Car Play, although you may incur expensive data charges if you’re from the UK. You’ll need to check what your contract with your network provider says as to whether you have free usage in the US. Wifi is widespread in the US and you can plan journeys that way.
Park Tickets
Most visitors want to spend some of their stay at one or more of the theme parks. Admission charges are high and can mean that a family has to spend a lot to have the experience they want. There are various ways to keep costs as low as possible and this generally involves buying your tickets before you travel. Possible places to try are Attraction Tickets Direct or FloridaTix, both UK-based companies. Both do Disney, Universal, Kennedy Space Center, SeaWorld and Gator boating.
Bear in mind that parking at the parks is also expensive and difficult to avoid. The latest daily rates are $25 for Disney parks and $27 at Universal. Parking tickets are valid all day, allowing you to leave for a break and return later. Some people have tried to park up at Disney Springs and get a free Disney bus to the parks to avoid the parking charge, but that can be very time-consuming and there is talk that Disney will soon charge to park at Disney Springs too.
Sales Tax
As you look at the various price tags when out shopping, remember that sales tax of between 6% and 7% will be added to the cost. In the UK retailers have to show the price including VAT, but in the US they can display them before sales tax is added.
Driving in Florida
For more information on driving in Florida, please download this document – Crash Course On Driving In Florida.
What’s the weather like?
Like anywhere else, that very much depends on the time of year and how you like your weather. In high summer, known there as the rainy season, both temperature and humidity are high and there’s usually one or more rain showers mid-afternoon (and they are showers like you might never have seen before!). However, when you’re out and about, there’s a lot of air conditioning around and you can duck and dive in and out of places to keep cool (and dry!).
Easter is pleasant and the weather between Easter and high summer is generally dry and very appealing. The period between November and March is known as the dry season and is likely to have chilly evenings. You can also get the occasional cold spell with northerly winds. It goes without saying that the days are shorter in winter and the weather generally reflects that.