Traveling from the United Kingdom

This Article Was Contributed by Scott Neil

This piece is designed to help visitors from the U.K., both veterans and more especially novices, get a grip of the subtle and not-so-subtle differences in traveling to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Well, you've decided to go to Walt Disney World. It's just like going to Alton Towers, right? Probably not. The first subtle difference is that you are not going to be able to get there by heading up (or down) the M1 with nothing more than a tank of petrol. This is going to be an 8-hour flight from the U.K. to Orlando.

There are many conditions that vary from what you are used to. Hopefully, by highlighting them and showing a way around the problem, we can make your trip to WDW a lot more enjoyable. Should anything not be covered in this piece, please do not hesitate to go into the discussion forums and ask your question.

Before we set off, what do we need to know?
Because of a small scuffle a couple of hundred years ago, the United States decided to discontinue use of the Sterling Pound and instead chose to utilize the Dollar. Kind of inconvenient for us Brits to have to figure out what stuff "really" costs but an absolute boon when exchange rates come into play. America compared to Great Britain is largely a much cheaper country to exist in. Gas (petrol) costs less than a 3rd of what it does in the UK. A Big Mac costs in Dollars what you would normally pay in Pounds. You get the picture?

You can pretty much cover all your expenses in the U.S. through the use of your credit card. This will also give you an excellent exchange rate; far better than you will ever achieve yourself, as you will get the proper exchange rate not the tourist rate. At some point though, you're going to have to invest in your own personal set of Presidents (dollar bills) and that should be handled back in the UK. You can go two ways: Get travelers cheques which spend exactly like cash and/or get cash so that you have coin of the realm to use at places that don't take plastic such as the kiosks and food carts in the parks.

I would get a quote from M&S for your Money, they are not always the cheapest, but they are always there or there about and at least it’s a source you can trust. I would also suggest you buy a combination of $50 and $20 cheques, as some shops will not exchange the $100 cheque you have just bought a $2 coke with. You may also be asked for ID in some places when using cheques.

Do not show up with pockets full of 50 pound notes and expect a wonderful exchange rate here. Remember that you can return unused travelers cheques to your bank or Thomas Cook's. If you save your original transaction receipt from your bank for your dollar bill exchange, they will actually exchange your unused dollar bills back at the same rate as the original exchange. Word of warning: All U.S. dollar bills are the same size and the same color. It's a good idea to sort them into denominations to prevent you tipping a waiter $50 instead of $5.

If you start to run unexpectedly short of dough, try as much as possible, to charge items to your credit card or room card. It is a really bad idea to take a cash advance against a credit card as this will be charged interest from the moment the transaction goes thru’. You also cannot draw from your UK bank account using a UK ATM card.

What do I bring?
Assuming that you are traveling in the summer months, you will want to bring very light clothing indeed. Bring good quality sunglasses, a big, floppy hat (ladies) and high SPF sunscreen. We Brits are mainly a very fair-skinned people and are not used to standing around in 95 degree weather. You would not believe how many folks I have seen lobster red after one day in the Florida sun. If, like me, you have wavy hair (the kind that's waving goodbye), get a hat. You will have the worst headache in living memory if you don't and may even get sunstroke.

Be especially careful while standing in Theme Park lines or while at the hotel pool or the Water Parks and please remember to protect the smallest ones in your family. Babies have the least resistance to the sun and need the most protection. Because they nap a lot, they get burned and don't know it until they wake up. Then you know it.

Getting to Orlando?
My first bit of advice would be, DO NOT BOOK EVERYTHING WITH ONE COMPANY! I have saved approx one thousand pounds on a like for like holiday that I booked each part myself; I will give you some examples...

• You can hire an Astra sized car for approx 225 pounds, which will comfortably fit a family of four, for 4 adults an intermediate would do for only a few pounds more.
  
• You can also save Money on your Disney tickets, you can buy them online for a lot less than the travel companies, Disney is also a good source (No surprise there) only a tenner more than most online sites, but a more trusted source.
  
• You can also save Money on the hotels, try and price them direct, with the good exchange rate you can save money.

Now the airports, the first important difference to note is that there are two airports that receive international flights in Orlando. Orlando's main airport is McCoy International which is situated on the Beeline Expressway (Highway 528) that runs from I-4 Eastbound to Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral. The second airport, at which most of you will arrive, is Orlando - Sanford Airport which is, to all intents and purposes, Orlando's charter airport. Sanford is to the North East of Orlando and is a healthy drive to the Parks. So, when you are booking your trip, check to see which airport your aircraft arrives at.

The airports are completely different in their size and layout. McCoy is much like any large international airport such as Heathrow or Gatwick. It is very large, bright and airy and is not unpleasant to spend time at. Terminal B holds the international terminal part and, because of the U.S. warped sense of humor, Terminal B is totally identical to Terminal A in look. Unless you are connecting on a U.S. domestic carrier, Terminal B should become ingrained in your mind as "your" terminal. The actual gates are located on "fingers" that are connected to the main terminals by automatic trains that bring you from the customs hall to the baggage claim. (Note that you claim your bags, clear them through customs and then give them up again and then reclaim them a second time inside the main terminal.)

Sanford on the other hand is a much simpler proposition. It is one big building that sees, in the height of the summer rush, an enormous rush of flights from early to late afternoon. I have seen as many as 14 U.K. charter flights arrive in Sanford in that period and that's a lot of people. The congestion is much more apparent when departing than arriving with thousands of souls loaded down with 40 kilo suitcases of everything you could possible lay your hands on. Sanford is also much simpler to negotiate and your rental car, should you rent one, is no more than a short walk away, and is directly across from the airport exit, only the driver can enter this building, the rest of the part will have to wait at the side exit (to the left).

The first thing you will come across in Sanford is Immigrations, you will have filled out the green Visa waver form on the plane (and probably had to shout at the kids as you get stressed LOL), this must be filled out accurately, as they will make you go to the back of the line and fill out a new one. Each adult in your party will have an eye scan and finger print taken; this will only take a few seconds. For the latest Visa information and biometric passport information, see the US Embassy site.

OK, we're here. How do we get to WDW?
You have multiple choices for getting from the airports dependent on your needs and your sense of adventure:

• Your charter carrier may have organized a charter bus, hop aboard.
• You may have organized an airport shuttle bus (such as Mears).
• You may have booked a limousine service.
• You may wish to simply hop in a taxi.
• You may have booked a rental car.

Let's hop straight to rental cars as that's going to be the biggest adventure prior to your arrival in Walt Disney World. Here's the good news. By now all the rental car company staff are completely familiar with the fact that not all British Driver's Licences don't have pictures on them and have the date of birth encoded in the licence number. If you booked your car through your travel company, it might be prepaid, so all you have to do is sign and drive. If not, you hand the clerk your D/L and your credit card and they will process your rental. You have to be 25 years old to rent a car. I would highly recommend getting the new credit card sized driving license, it will save you carrying around your passport for ID (which you will need from time to time).

In addition to the following words of warning before you get behind the wheel; please be sure to check out Driving in Florida for Brits. Do take all available insurances offered (if it is not covered through your package). If you hit somebody and they get hurt, you're going to be paying for their injuries (either real or otherwise) for the rest of your life. Take the worry away and take the insurance option.

This is basic but, for some reason best known only to the Americans, they decided to put all the steering wheels on the wrong side and then drive on the right-hand side of the road. Take some time to get familiar with driving on the right. It is pretty simple but there is a tendency to exit and turn sharp-left instead of easy left to get to your side of the road.

On a motorway, you are all used to a slow lane and a fast lane and everyone overtakes on the right. You would therefore expect that the rule here would be that everyone overtakes on the left. Yes? Well, actually, no. You will find folks barreling down what you would regard as the slow lane at speeds approaching the sound barrier. Remember to look in all your mirrors and expect the unexpected.

Give yourself plenty of time to get off at your freeway exit and, if you miss it, go on to the next one and come back. Do not try to turn across the central reservation, the central median of a Florida freeway has many similar properties to a paddy field (remember, it rains almost every day in the summer). Do not stop and try to back up along the freeway. (Trust me - I've seen it done many times). Go onto mapquest.com; familiarize yourself with the route you are going to take.

Road signs are very different, you will not see a list of town and how far away they are; roads are signed North, South, East and West, so just knowing the road you want is not enough, you need to know if you want to go East or West. At a Junction you will also see the name of the road over head, this is not the road you are on, but it’s the road you are about to cross.

OK, we've got our rental car. How do we get there?
All the rental car desks will give you very good maps. They're a breeze to follow. Florida has gorgeous freeways; wide and beautifully maintained. You know why? A lot of them are toll roads. Both from Sanford and McCoy airports, you are going to be driving on toll roads. I would heartily recommend that you simply assume this into the cost of your vacation and go with the toll-road option. They are direct and you don't get mired in traffic. You can expect about $7-8 (5 pounds) in tolls from Sanford and about $3-4 (2 pounds) from McCoy.

From Sanford: Follow the Greeneway (I-417) all the way round Orlando to your specific exit for Walt Disney World. They will be separately marked for each specific area of the World.

From McCoy: If your rental car company is in the airport itself, take the South exit from the airport and follow the I-417 Greeneway West to your WDW exit. If your rental car company is "off-airport" such as Hertz or Thrifty, you have two options. Option 1 is to go into the airport and exit South much as you would if you rented "on-airport". Option 2 is to go West on I-528 (Beeline Expressway) which empties out onto I-4 which takes you to the WDW exits. The Beeline Expressway is also a toll road for the first couple of miles West of the airport exit. Word of Warning: when you get to the end of I-528 you will see. Despite the obvious feeling that you should head like a homing pigeon for Orlando, you do in fact want to head for Tampa. WDW is actually South West of Orlando. Also, please don't speed. The Florida State Highway Patrol is very happy to ticket you and, since you don't live here, they'll take your fine in cash, NOW.

OK, we've arrived at the hotel. What next?
Checking in will be your first function. You will get a smart card that allows you access to your hotel room. It can also carry your pass information on it. Length of Stay passes will always be that way. You can also charge meals and purchases to your room account with this card. There are however as many pass types as there are fish in the sea. Check out the varied mixture of passes elsewhere in the Magictrips site and you can figure out what you've got and what it offers or what you need to get.

I need a reminder of home. Where can I go?
Assuming that you can't stand to be away from your favorite pint of bitter for all of a week, how can you possibly get a "decent pint" 3,000 miles from home? You have a couple of options. In Kissimmee on US-192 (also known as Vine Street and also Irlo Bronson Highway) there are a couple of British pubs. You can also make a trip into Epcot to the Rose & Crown. Remember that the legal drinking age in Florida is 21, not 18 like back home. If you look younger than that, they will card you (ask for proof of age) and remember, you have the "clever" coded dates of birth on your driver's licence, don't you? Don't lose heart though, the cast members at the Rose & Crown are mostly Brits and they know how to read a licence. Failing that, carry your passport.

The U.K. pavilion in Epcot is, other than the Rose & Crown and the Harry Ramsden's Fish & Chips bar, not a great magnet for British visitors because there is nowhere I can think of that looks like that in the U.K. Maybe a small part of the area around Windsor Castle looks somewhat like the pavilion, it's all in the eye of the beholder. There is however a really nice area down the end of the street where the British Invasion band plays (they look like the Beatles).

Tipping? What's tipping?
Tipping is of course almost non-existent in the U.K. Much like you would tip a cabbie in town or a bell-boy bringing a bag to your room in a hotel in the U.K., tipping is a very large part of serving staff's income in the United States. Their basic rate is pretty low and they make it up through your generosity. That's why servers are usually extremely attentive and give great service. You should add a 15-20% tip (gratuity) to your meal bills in sit-down restaurants. You do not however tip in counter-service restaurants. Keep an eye out in certain restaurants; the tip is already included in the price. Bell-hops should be tipped 50c -$1 per bag and it's normal to tip your housekeeping staff (the maid) $1-2 per day.

Food
Everything you've heard is true, the food portions are massive. For folk staying offsite (non Disney) The Ponderosa ( Buffet restaurant) is a fantastic place to start the day, you can have an all you can eat breakfast for $4. Even in Disney restaurants there is plenty on offer. What we sometimes would do is share a lunch, a chicken strips and chips will easily feed two kids. Even thou’ the advertised age for kids is 9, your server will bring you a children's menu if you ask.

If you are going during peak times, or you want to do something special, you might want to make an AR (advanced Reservations for the Disney sit down Restaurants). This isn't a booking, but will get you the next available table. An AR can be made up to a year in advance, but the normal is 90 days. Some of the more popular restaurants may require a small deposit. For more information on this, go to the Magictrips forums.

Shopping
Where to start, you could (and probably will) go wild, but remember those bargain pair of Cat boot will cost a lot more if you go over your luggage allowance. A good tip for this is buy a cheap set of bathroom scales from Asda/Tesco, take them with you, then weight your cases before you go to the airport. It is much easier to bin the old pair of trainers you brought from the U.K. than when you are standing at check in. You will also buy that many T-shirts etc, you will not need to bring that many, put a holdall inside a case, as this is ideal to pack with the clothes you will buy.

There are a few shopping malls around the I-Drive area, but the best one would have to be the Premium Mall outlet at the south End of I-Drive, it’s near Seaworld and you can see it from I-4.

This is a very basic idea of what to expect. Feel free to visit the specific areas through the Quick Links that will get you to more information that you can probably take. If that is not enough information, or you still have unanswered questions, jump on board the discussion forums where there are always folks willing to offer their knowledge and experience (both good and bad) on life around the World.

One last thing to remember, it’s a holiday, so while you are planning every aspect of the trip, just remember to plan in some fun... Good luck.