Previously when I visited Florida I booked direct with Disney and flew from Newcastle via Dublin to Orlando. The trip was great, no problems, but obviously added time on to the journey with connections outbound and inbound.
This year, we got a quote for a package holiday to Disney World via the TUI website (affiliate) and it was competitively priced against other travel companies. The bonus for us was travelling from our home airport, direct to Orlando. TUI fly into Sanford airport and this I was told was a bit further out and smaller than Orlando International. This didn’t put me off, as I was still saving on the travelling time and bigger isn’t always better. We also popped into our local TUI travel agent and they matched the online price for us. The promise of flying on the Dreamliner was also an incentive to book with TUI, so we did just that. When online check-in day came, they also checked us in online and printed out our boarding cards – a nice touch.
Now we are back from our holiday and I can say that the whole TUI experience in Disney World was absolutely fantastic. There was hardly any queue to check in at the airport and the staff were fantastic.
The Dreamliner itself is lovely. The economy seats are spacious anyhow, but extra legroom was a dream!! So much space to stretch out! The plane was clean and very comfortable. Meals served on board were very tasty and there were many opportunities to be served drinks. This is all inclusive, although you could purchase extra snacks throughout the flight. There are bigger windows which can be dimmed at the touch of a button, mood lighting to help your body clock adjust and 60% less noise on take-off and landing. The Dreamliner promised so much and delivered it all. I can honestly say that jet lag on return was minimal and I felt refreshed on landing both at Orlando and Newcastle.
We had emails and messages from them on their TUI app throughout our holiday, to let us know they were around if we needed anything and they left messages for us with details of our transfer back to the airport, which again, just went swimmingly well. A TUI rep met us at the airport too to direct us the right way.
Sanford airport is small, but perfectly formed. Security was not busy at all, and there is a nice pub serving food and drinks and a shop open for last minute sweets for the plane. Boarding both ways was quick and efficient and cabin crew were wonderful, friendly, and happy to help at all times.
I can’t rate TUI enough. So much so, on return we were already getting quotes to go back!!
Guess what, we’ve rebooked for next year for 3 weeks with them. Can’t wait.
We booked our Disney package direct with TUI, but purchased our Universal Tickets through Attraction Tickets Direct (affiliate). It was really easy, and more competitively priced than others I have seen. Nice one ATD!!
Florida, we’re coming to get you…..again!!
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