we have teamed,florida with both hawaii & san francisco.
the theme parks,are more spread out,in california & a car,would be essential.
i love florida,so would go there,rather than cancel it out & do the theme parks in california.
have you been to florida before? just thinking,if it is your 1st time,a week in florida,may not be long enough.
we went to hawaii for 4 nights,then florida for 10.the same with SF,we went there for 4 nights,then florida for 10.it's just we have so much to fit,into florida,even 10 nights isn't enough.
next time we go,we are twinning it with las vegas,again for 4 nights.there is plenty,to keep your 14 yr old daughter,occupied in vegas.we are taking our 8 year old grandaughter with us,it doesn't have to be all casinos & gambling!
just a word,when we priced hawaii & florida up,with virgin,they wanted £5500.we thought we would never get there,until i priced it with united vacations & we got it for £2300.that was for 2 adults 1 child.in oct,we paid £2100,for SF & florida,with united.they give you 2 free stopovers in america,which is a good deal.
last week i priced up,las vegas & florida,for next oct & it was £2300,which again,i think is good,however we have booked mexico instead,so will leave that till next year.
hope you have a great time,planning your holiday,it will be oct 2010,for us as well!
tracy

I second using United Vacations. We had several holidays with them when my kids were younger. They gave us good prices and as has been mentioned a free internal flight. We used one of our free flights to go to LAs Vegas from LA. Had previously driven and it was very boring.
If this is your first time I would go either Florida or the west coast. There's so much to do in both areas that I think you would be exhausted and wouldn't see half of what you want.
I preferred the climate on the west coast. I have been in June and July and it's not so humid as Florida.
I love both, though, so it's hard to pick.
If you do both you can miss out certain parks as they are fairly similar. Maybe do Disney on one coast and Universal in the other. Busch Gardens in Florida is outstanding, as is Six Flags Magic Mountain in LA.
Finally, my kids loved Las Vegas. They couldn't go everywhere obviously but they had a great time.

Hi
Thanks for the replys, this is out first time to U.S, my better half is not really a themepark person but would be happy to go to Florida for 7 days then look at moving on to California for the other 7, or maybe even an 8 day then a 6 if we can do this. Have looked at United Vacations and the service they offer looks very good, on the free internal flights would this count from Florida - California ? also are they abta/ataol bonded. Do you have to wait until 2010 dates are on the net or can you book now for 2010 ?

I do not mind hiring a car if this is the best option in California, any recomendations of hotels at both locations (through United vacations if possible),did have a quick look yesterday at flights and could only seem to come up with flights with stop-overs (mainly at Chicago). If possible in California would be looking at something a little more relaxed than the madness of Florida.

Sorry there are so many questions and thanks again for your advice

Ron