Travelling After Disney

Not that I want to start thinking about a time after Disney, but is it advisable to sort out travel arrangements before going? I'm seriously considering booking a Trek America tour (I did one last summer and loved it) but don't want to miss out on travelling with 'Disney friends'. Do lots of people travel or do they go straight home?

 

I'd say no. You could look into it so you have some ideas at the back of your mind but until you get there you don't know what could happen. You'll meet so many people you'll probably want to organise something between a few of you. But at this stage you don't know who those people are ;-) Haha.

 

Hey

I'm wanting to go travelling after disney, and decided on a rough plan before I booked my flights.

I think its completely up to each person weather they can just go with the flow and hope someone is going travelling around the same time (which i think there is bound to be with so many people coming and going!) or, if your anything like me, I need to have at least a sketchy plan of where I want to go/do/see because I don't want to waste any the of the extra time on the visa!

I think i'm going to book a trek america (well put down £100 deposit) asap but I have a few days either side of the trip that i could stay on with disney peeps or meet up with them after.

And by doing the Trek will be get to NY where my flights home are booked from (i booked with STA and it was cheaper to fly to orlando but return from New York)

I think a sketchy plan is probably the best idea as it will help you organise money better and fit in exactly what you want to do along the way etc but can be changed depending on who you meet and what their plans are!

xx

 

yeah I def want to have some sort of plan, and I've got my heart set on Trek America Southern Sun from NY to LA, coz I really want to go to Texas and California. The problem I have with not planning is booking my return flight. I'm hoping to end up in San Diego, so would need to book a flight from either there or LA. BUT I don't want to miss out on anything. I can't win!!!!!!!!

 

on my 1st program i really wanted to travel afterwards but the airline wouldn't let me change my flights unless i paid like £200, the difference between the 2 flight prices and i could only leave from the airport i orginally booked to leave from A?Nd i could only change the flight back or forwards by up to 5 days of the original departure date. So i ended up not going anywhere after.

Sooo on my 2nd program i booked my return flight for 11 days after my program ended leaving from LA. I knew i wanted to go to LA, so i thought if people wanted to come then good, if not i can do stuff that i wanted to do on my own. I then decided where i wanted to go an what i wanted to do but i knew i had to get to LA for my flight by the 11th day! ;D

I gues you just gotta make a decision and stick to it!

 

I thought that mite be the case with having to pay loads of money to change flights. That's why I only got a single. My friends at work who have worked there also said they quite often give you the opportunity to extend your contract at Disney World. If you've booked flights I guess you're a bit screwed on that front really...

I want to stay as long as they'll have me heh heh ;D

If you really want to book return flights I guess in your experience you'd say it's advisable to pay a bit more for an open or flexible return so they aren't going to charge you ridiculous amounts if for any reason you need to fly home earlier/later than anticipated?

 

Hi

Just to respond to ben's point about contract extension - I asked the question to alumni on here and they have said that if you are to be offered an extension, it will only be for the remaining days on your visa (30 days on the J1) which would wipe out any travelling plans you had or wanted to do.
The extension would be in line with your visa - and your visa will definatey NOT be extended.

But I would advise to book a return flight in line with your travelling plans, so if in the event they offer to extend you contract you will be able to fly on to your departure airport, (i think you said san diego/la) which will also be much cheaper than trying to change flight from orlando to another deprture airport - most internal flights in the states are like easyjet rates over here (i've been looking at flight from orlando to la (i'm wanting to do the southern sun trek from la - new york) and they are around £60.

I would really advise against a single on the costs front - i paid £311 for my return leaving from NY (coz of the trek america) and most of the singles i look at were at least £250+ so for the sake of £70 more i know i've got a guaranteed flight home with no extra money needed.

But each to there own!!

xx

 

Yeh my friend at work said that... if you extend it can only be up to 30 days after your visa required. Thanks tho! I'm sure it will actually work out cheaper if you can decide dates before you depart. I decided against it because not only I'm not sure what I'm going to do after my programme yet but I thought something could go wrong that meant I had to come home earlier. I suppose you could say that's what the insurance is for tho haha.

I don't quite understand your flights tho. If you are returning from New York won't that be the same as two singles? Or r u flying to New York both times? I didn't realise you could get a return from a different airport. That is a useful thing to know for people tho. I guess you just explained this to the STA people that you want to return from a different airport and they sorted it out? Your idea will work out nicely for you. I thought it was more stupid booking a return from Orlando if you don't know you will be returning from there coz the returns don't seem to be very flexible if you need to change the date.

 

Hi again

I booked my flight with STA and used the 'advanced options' tab under the little flight search box thing in the website.

This means i could select my outbound route as manchester to orlando and then changed the departure airport to new york back to manchester so it still counts as a return. But you can change your departure to anywhere and its normally cheaper than leaving from orlando (was over £100 cheaper when i booked)

I defiantely didn't see the sense in booking a return from orlando 'cause if your travelling after it would be easy to depart from where you end up, and as i'm wanting to do the trek america and to see new york at some point i thought i'd combine the two and fly home from there.

And as i said in the last post, internal flights are really cheap so even if I don't do the trek it still won't be that expensive to get to NY for my departure date.

Fair point about the insurance tho, insurance is there for situations that can arise - i just don't understand what specifics we need to be covered for and what the policy from yummy covers (i havent received my info pack yet and it prob all in there and i'm just impatient! lol)

I just want to go now!! Ben, you've only got a couple of weeks to go havent you?! **so jealous!**

 

Wow I didn't realise technology was that advanced haha! You've done good there! I would've done the same if I wasn't a guy and had a firm decision of when and where I wanted to depart from haha.

I didn't really understand the insurance either. They just sent a list of minimum requirements you needed for the visa and I took out the company they suggested coz it obviously covered everything it had to. When you purchase it, it does tell you but I can't remember exactly what it said. There's all sorts of rubbish. You have a $2500 allowance to send on ambulances tho. I remember that coz it made me laugh!

I have just 18 days now! I am getting my visa Friday. Just hope it all goes smoothly then it mite sink in I'm actually going. It will come so fast for you tho. When I had my interview in September I thought it was ages away but now here we are haha.

 

Hey Vicki

what dates are you going out there? You seem to have almost the same travel plans as me!! I can't decide between trek america or sun treks - they both offer almost the same trek (Trek am goes LA to NY, sun treks San Francisco to NY). I'm swaying towards sun treks coz i really want to see graceland, and I did the trek am Atlantic Dream tour so I've already covered the Alabama/Mississippi/Tennessee part of the southern sun trek. Hmm!!!

I'll be flying Manchester to Orlando on June 3rd and NY - Manchester Sept 06 (or a bit later). Gonna search for flights now...

 

Hey Charlotte

I'm going on the 6month programme from April to October, so if I do the southern sun trek it would be the one that leaves around the 7/8th Oct from LA to New York, my flight home is on 30th October

I've never done a Trek before, so gonna try and see as much as I can in the month at the end, I've never heard of Sun Treks so I will have a look at them! But I am kinda hankering after seeing LA..


Let me know if you come up with any spectacular plans and I may have to follow in your footsteps!!
xx

 

Charlotte, which tour on sun treks encorporates Graceland?! I've always wanted to go there coz Elvis is my hero! I figured I wouldn't be able to afford it tho coz there's not much else in Tennessee haha. I'm so undecided about travel. The treks seem really good value for money but knowing me I'll fall in love with a few places and then be gutted we can't stay longer.

Ben

 

Wow, I've never heard about either trek america or suntrek before, but it seems amazing! I'm really going to consider doing that at the end of the program!

 

I was looking at The Sunshine Trail - check out www.suntrek.com/ coz there's loads. I've also been loking at Contiki.com - more expensive but you don't have to camp out. I'm terrible at choosing, I want to go everywhere!!!!! I've even been looking at Costa Rica or Peru - I don't know where to go!!!!

 

i wanna travel after too, but ive booked my flights with STA but there flexible so i pay a fee and can change the date i come back whilst im out there, hoping other people finishing the program at the same time will want to travel

 

Hey am the same both me and my friend are goin out and realli want to travel, i was just gonna book a single then about half way thru once i know ppl and stuff and decided if i want to travel was gonna book my return, do most ppl do that ?or is it like ppl jst go home i the end... i really hope not.
xxx

 

Can you travel like this after the ICP or is it only certain programs that you have that time to travel afterwards?

Thanks

 

I'm pretty sure every programme you can travel for up to 30 days. That's how long you can stay on a British passport without having to fill in forms. Obviously it's entirely up to you tho! You can go home if you want!

 

Yess, i traveled after my ICP