Our Orlando Florida vacations - what memories we have

Orlando Florida vacations have been focused on the magic of Disney World since the theme park started up in the 1970s. They still are even today, despite competition from Universal, Sea World and other attractions. But if you've ever experienced a Florida vacation, you know that the magic extends far beyond the Disney empire and lives on for a long time afterward for many reasons.

Out of the many Orlando Florida vacations I enjoyed before we eventually moved here ten years ago from the UK, one of my fondest memories was from December 1990. That was the first time we ventured into renting a vacation home instead of hotels or motels for our holiday and it made a tremendous impression on us - a favorable impression, that is! At that time the short term rental industry was a lot less developed than in is now and I had no idea how much more I'd get involved in the business within a short space of time. But in 1990 there was no Internet, no online virtual tours, no instantaneous booking based on vast amounts of data. It was something of an adventure when you lived 3000 miles away in the UK to take a chance on that sort of unknown, but it worked out just fine.

At the time, my children were in their early teens and my parents were still active and mobile. During the planning stage, my children were excited at the prospect of another US trip because they hadn't been there since a California holiday three years before. They were in love with the USA fly/drive lifestyle, either in Florida or California, where we'd hire a car and just book hotels or motels as we chose from day to day. Breakfasts in McDonalds, hot fudge sundaes in Howard Johnsons and dinner in Dennys, Big Bobs or even KFC was a teenage wonderland for them. Who cared about healthy eating in those days? Added on to that were theme park visits, hotel or motel swimming pools and lots of sunshine, which made that life ideal as far as they were concerned.

My parents on the other hand were a different story. Although we had tried to entice them to visit the USA with us before, they had always refused. Eventually we began to understand that my Dad was the problem, because he had all sorts of worries about the USA gun culture and the likelihood of getting caught up in robberies or violence. This time, though, my Mum came to the rescue: we went for dinner with my parents, asked them if they wanted to join in with our vacation, and she said "yes" before my Dad could say anything. They were committed.

After that it was all down to planning. We knew that we would be more relaxed in a vacation rental home rather than separate hotel rooms. We decided that we wanted to divide our time between Orlando and the Gulf Coast, so in that pre-Internet era we scoured the classified ads in the Sunday Times and eventually booked: first of all a house in Orlando for one week and then a condo in Treasure Island, on the Gulf Coast between Clearwater and St Petersburg, for the second week.

I can't now imagine how it could have gone better. The four bedroom two bathroom house was in Indian Wells, a community in Kissimmee and about ten minutes from Disney. Of course it took us longer than that to get anywhere because of our ability to get lost regularly, due to confusion about road signs and conventions. The house itself was great - even though it didn't have a swimming pool (unlike now when a pool and spa are more or less essential). We were out at the theme parks for most of the time and virtually used the house for sleeping only. It was great to have separate bedrooms for all, unlike the motel experience when a family of four crams into one room. The lounge was perfect for relaxing in during the short time between leaving Disney or Sea World and retiring to bed completely exhausted. The availability of a kitchen meant that we didn't need to trek off to a restaurant every time we wanted a snack or a drink.

The Treasure Island condo in the second week was equally as good. We were on the fourteenth floor overlooking the Gulf of Mexico and right on the beach. We all enjoyed both the sea and the community pool. The condo was spacious and we could spread out even more than in the Indian Wells house and after using up all our energy at the theme parks, a lazy week was very welcome! We spent Christmas Day in and around the condo after we had figured out how to make sure we could enjoy a Christmas dinner. We found out shortly before Christmas Day that restaurants were closing then, so we had a last minute hustle to find food that we could cook using the limited pots and pans that the condo boasted. Other than setting off the smoke alarms while cooking the dinner and having a quick panic about what was going on, we had a lovely time and even got to spend some time on the beach that day.

Looking back, it was all a bit of an adventure but one that all six of us remembered with such fond memories forever. My parents' instant fascination with Florida was balanced by the ability of their grandchildren to teach them all they knew from four or five previous visits. And one of the things that made it such a great success was the accommodation - hotel rooms would just not have been the same.

I often think back to that holiday when I hear many people, even nineteen years on, planning Orlando Florida vacations and preferring hotel rooms to vacation homes - the don't know what they're missing!

Orlando vacation package - what's included?

For anyone planning an Orlando vacation package, whether you've visited the area previously or whether it's your first trip, you should understand that the tourist industry in Central Florida is big business and you have an enormous number of choices. It's a highly competitive industry and according to the Orlando Tourist Information Bureau website:

Orlando is one of the world's premier travel destinations. More than 50 million people visit our area every year, enjoying the many attractions, beaches, and events that make Central Florida a great place to visit and live.

So the biggest problem is frequently which of the many available options you should go for. Often it is very difficult to figure out what represents the best value for money. Do you want to spend the least amount possible but risk family disappointment on what should be the holiday of a lifetime? Or should you go for the luxury options - but how do you know they will live up to expectations?

Let's begin by setting the scene and giving you information so that you can begin to make informed choices about where to visit, where to stay and even how to travel here.

It's important to realize that the term "package" means different things to different people, so bear in mind that any advertisements you see may include all of the following or just one or two - it's up to you to do your research and be clear about what you're buying:

1. Accommodation: The About.com website shows that Orlando has the second largest number of hotel rooms in the USA (27.2 million, beaten only by Las Vegas with 40 million). The difference is probably far smaller than that and in fact Orlando may have more visitor accommodation than "Sin City": one phenomenon virtually unique to Central Florida is the "vacation home" concept, where single family homes and condos are rented out on a short-term basis (which could be from just a couple of days up to weeks or even months).
   
   Some estimates put the number of short term rental homes at more than 10,000, each property with at least two (and in some cases up to seven) bedrooms. Opting for a short-term rental home as part of your Orlando vacation has many advantages, as well as some potential pitfalls, so we'll be covering this in more detail.
   
   But just to finish off this Accommodation section by getting back to Orlando hotels and motels, let's just make it clear that you can find every sort of standard of accommodations you've ever imagined and more besides, and price is not always a guide to quality - so you need careful research before picking the one that's right for you.



2. Air Travel: US travelers represent approximately 95% of the 50 million annual visitors and the majority of those arrive by plane using either Orlando International Airport (34.2 million in 2007) or Sanford (0.4 million). International traffic added 2.7 million and 0.4 million respectively. That's an enormous number of flights and it indicates the choice you have - even without considering flying into Tampa, Miami, Daytona, Fort Lauderdale and even Melbourne (the Florida one, that is!).



3. Airport to Hotel / Motel transfer: every Orlando vacation package we've seen that combines air travel with local accommodation provides basic transport (bus, minivan or even taxi) to get the weary travelers to their hired rooms. There may be exceptions, though!



4. Car Hire: Public transport is not an option in Orlando, so if you don't want to limit your flexibility, make sure you have a hire car. If you're staying at one of the Disney World Orlando vacation places and you're happy to spend all your time there, that's fine - and there's always a taxi for the occasional excursion. Otherwise, bring your driving license!



5. Theme Park Tickets: for most Orlando visitors, a lot of days will be spent at one or more theme parks. Some packages include tickets (or ticket discounts) but check on ticket limitations and expiry dates.



6. Discount vouchers: there are some highly creative schemes with all sorts of discounts, some worthwhile and some with too many strings attached for most people's liking, but if what's on offer is useful to you, go for it!



7. Sea Cruises: As the number of cruises has expanded, Disney and other companies have combined local accommodation and theme park entry fees with a short cruise leaving from Port Canaveral, not far from the Kennedy Space Center. We've had reports of excellent value for money and wonderfully enjoyable cruises, often low cost last minute bargains, so if seafaring is your thing, maybe you can find what you're looking for.
   

Ok - so there's the basic menu for your Orlando vacation package and we'll cover each one in more detail in future postings, so please check back later.