Help with planning please

[Soozeej]

Hi all, I'm currently trying to plan our 3rd trip which will be July 2020. I have some idea what I'm doing but just wanted to see if anyone can add any thoughts please. This time round we are going to Florida with another family so 9 of us in total, mostly adults/teenagers, one 9 year old. I had hoped for hotel/suites on international drive as did that last time and felt like more freedom restaurant wise than the Davenport villa we had first time, price wise though villa is coming out quite a bit cheaper. We are in Edinburgh so for flights as far as I can gather our options are BA from Gatwick, Virgin from Glasgow or Aer Lingus via Dublin. I can't price these yet but this years prices are around £750-800, anyone know if that's usual July price? First time round I booked everything myself separately which seems to be cheapest way?
What areas would be closer for villas please? Davenport felt far away from parks, or are all villas like that?
Thanks for any input.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

I can only help with the villas. The nearest ones to WDW are going to be in the Formosa Garden area (192 West), we have stayed at Windsor Hills, Windsor Palms and Emerald Isle and they are all close.

 

[Soozeej]

Thanks for your reply, that's helpful, I'll go have a look around.

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

I always say that if I can get flights for around £750/800 in peak July/August season then that’s a good price. It’s been costing me that for around ten years....it just got more expensive cos we had two kids I that time so the fare doubled lol!

 

[Soozeej]

Thanks, good to know, just helps with the budgeting! So now I'm not sure how to proceed, sure last time I booked my flights first, but I'm seeing so many good accommodations, but I can't seem to figure out the flight days so work out when I will be flying Am I waiting to book flights first does anyone think?

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

If you ask the villa owner they may reserve you dates to each side of your holiday until flights come out and you book, I suppose it will depend if they have any other enquiries for the same dates.

 

[alanandline]

There are other options from Edinburgh. You can fly indirect via other US airports. When going indirect you should always be cautious of the connection time. This is especially true if the short flight is before the transatlantic part. You will see connection times even shorter than an hour sometimes, which is insane. Personally I think even 2 hours is on tight side. The problem is the short flight is probably on a route with multiple flights per day, so if delayed it is easier to rearrange the onward travel. However the other way round (short flights also more likely to be cancelled than transatlantic) the transatlantic is likely to run once a day, so if you miss it even if there is space on the next one you are on for a 24 hour delay.

 

[saintrob]

You could fly from Manchester. Get the shuttle down and then Virgin and Thomas Cook fly direct. There are also plenty of indirect options too.

 

[Soozeej]

Thanks for replying folks, hadn't thought of Manchester either.