Vegas and Florida

[helen_sew]

Staying at the Luxor in Vegas and Doubletree which is outside Univeral in Florida but will have no car. Is everything in walking distance, if not how much are taxi's and busses and what is best to use? What's the best way to get tickets for shows in Vegas and for the theme parks in Florida (is it before we go as a package)? Also where are the places to go shopping for bargains and reasonably priced clothes?

[squarebear]

The Luxor is a great place to stay in Vegas. It's on a corner with 3 other large resorts and not far from the monorail which links the rest of the strip.

We booked most of our tickets in advance but we also booked a few from the hotels themselves when we got there. Just go into where the show is on and ask for tickets.

There is a fashion mall near to Treasure Island in the centre of the strip which has two or three floors of great shopping.

[vehelpfulguy]

>Is everything in walking distance,

The Disney complex alone is the size of Manchester so NOTHING in the Disney complex is within walking distance.

Also getting from the Universal complex to the Disney complex is quite a way (about 10 miles)

Here is a map showing where the main sites are in the area. As you can see the Disney sites are all in the bottom left. You are staying in the upper middle.

http://www.aaccessmaps.com/show/map/orlando_di sneyworld

This page for the hotel tells you how far everything is:

http://www.doubletreeorlando.com/html/conventi on-center-hotel-orlando.asp

[vehelpfulguy]

If you are staying at the Doubletree, which is just outside the Universal theme park, then can I make a radical suggestion.

Dont even visit any of the Disney parks and base yourself round the Universal parks.

Universal have a deal with Wet and Wild (water park) and Sea World for combined tickets. These tend to be better value than the Disney tickets and the four parks are excellent.

Universal have 2 parks - Universal Studio and Islands of Adventure and both are great parks and are on your doorstep.

Wet and Wild is only half a mile away so is within walking distance. and Sea World is 6 miles so may need a bus or taxi.

If you are there for a week there is plenty to do in those 4 parks to keep you busy. We spent two days in Islands of Adventure and two days in Sea World and still did not see it all.

Ticket options here:

http://www.universalorlando.co.uk/tickets.html

I would go for the NEW - Orlando Flex Ticket (dont both with Busch gardens as it is about 50 miles away)

[vehelpfulguy]

Just a bit more on theme park ticket prices.

I have been trying to find the price for a single person 1 day visit to the theme parks and it is hard to get that information on the internet.

From what I can see the Disney parks are about 70 or 80 dollars A DAY for each person (I guess the Universal parks may be about the same or a bit less).

So buying tickets on a daily basis will work out VERY expensive.

Both Disney and Universal do package deals for multiple day visits (5 days, 7 days 14 days etc) and these work out better on a day to day basis.

But of course if you want to visit Universal AND Disney you are going to have to buy a Universal multiple ticket AND a Disney multiple ticket, which again will be expensive.

Universal tend to try to be cheaper than Disney, to encourage people to go there (and to keep them out of the Disney parks).

So as I said, maybe get a Universal flexi ticket (as your hotel is nearby), and if you want to visit one or two Disney parks buy those tickets on an individual basis.

[vehelpfulguy]

I bought my Theme Park tickets when I got to Florida. There are a few Tourist Information Centres around and they offer all sorts of Universal and Disney tickets.

You may see offers stuck to lamposts and in papers offering cheap Disney tickets, but these are tied in with you visting a time share where they drive you out into the middle of nowhere and spend the day trying to get you to sign up. DONT BE TEMPTED BY OFFERS LIKE THIS.

[vehelpfulguy]

One final thing.

The "centre" of the Orlando theme park area is on a road called International drive.

If you look at the map below you can see International Drive snaking down the right of the green "motorway"

http://www.aaccessmaps.com/show/map/orlando_di sneyworld

The main tourist area on International Drive is just below Wet and Wild on the map, so just south of your hotel,

Here there are loads of hotels, shops, places to eat, and places to buy Universal and Disney tickets.

You should be able to walk (or get a bus or taxi) to this area from your hotel. There is a "i ride" bus (the letter eye for International) which goes up and down International drive.

You can read more about International drive here

http://www.internationaldriveorlando.com/

You can read more about the bus that goes up and down International drive here

http://www.iridetrolley.com/index.html

[JK2]

Taxis in Vegas are reasonable - compared to London - but mostly I use the bus that runs all along the Strip from one end to the other. The monorail is ok but it runs along the back of some of the hotels and there is a very long walk to get all the way through the casino & out onto the strip! Some hotels have free buses running between them if they are part of a group. There is a bus for example that runs between Bally's/Harrah's on the strip and the Rio. There are some half price booths on the strip for theatre tickets. The nearest one to your hotel is near Planet Hollywood and there is another one down past Wynn's at the other end of the Strip. This website is really good for info
http://www.vegas.com/lounge/map.html

[JK2]

I do all my shopping in the Fashion Show Mall which is the one down past Treasure Island. The bus stops there. It has boutiques, department stores like Maceys & Saks Fifth Avenue & shops like Zara - same range as UK but cheaper!! Also the shopping Malls in Caesars & the Venetian are good. Especially for good quality shoe shops, leather shops etc Great Italian leather goods - expensive but much cheaper than the UK.

[beanebabe]

Most of the good hotels in Orlando have courtesy busses that go to the attractions! The Belz Outlets (Tommy Hilfiger, Timberland, Gap, Levi) at the end of International Drive are good and the Prime Outlets out by Dixie Stampede. Have a fab trip.