How do you pay for holidays to America?

[MummyCool19]

We really want to go America soon. Looking more for Florida area I think. But my god how do you pay £5k for a holiday 😩. On paper we can afford it, we have a good disposable income but my god we can not save 😂😩. Plus how much spending money do you take?

Well obviously if you don’t go to the parks that’s going to be cheaper 🙄. I would assume for most people with children that would be the reason for going no?

It depends we went to Florida this half term and didn't go anywhere near the parks. We flew in Miami and went down to the keys, on other trips we have just stayed in Miami. I'm sure our dc would love to go back to the parks, in fact we have never gone to Universal but there is a lot more to Florida.

Last year went for 10 nights, stayed in Disney All Stars. 2 Adults, 1 child in Nov. Booked with Virgin Hols.

£1850 for room, flights (free transfer with Disney)
£1000 Disney tickets
£1500 spending money

Get yourself over to The Dibb forum for the best advice.

Next year I’m doing Disney again but booking all myself, this time it’s 3 Adults and 1 child for 14 nights. £4200 for family suite & tickets, hopefully £1500 for flights, prob £2000 Spending.

We justify this by only going once every 2 years, and luckily I get a bonus once a year, so that pays a chunk, the rest I split and pay off monthly.

We had a week in Florida (villa), flights, rental car, Caribbean cruise the other week in balcony cabin. Was £6200. Paid additional £1600 for park tickets. Would have been less than £6200 if was two weeks in the villa. We are going to go back to same location in 2020. Villa is £1500 for the fortnight, flights should be £2000-£2500. So £4K for the fortnight plus park tickets and spending. Depends where you stay and whether you are eating in the parks that is really expensive.

Well this is just further confirmation that I'm completely oblivious to everything outside my own bubble, I thought £5k probably seemed about right for four. Thankfully my kids haven't mentioned any interest, long may it continue.

We did 17 nights in Florida last year and the final cost came in at just over 6k. 12 nights in a Disney moderate resort for the four of us plus 5 nights in Clearwater. Booked it all separately to save costs.

We are going back this year and we’ve had our fill of Disney for the moment so we are only doing the Disney Halloween party which is nearly £400 in itself.
We got flights for £1100.
Orlando hotel for six nights inc breakfast is £550 (Marriott suites)
£600 Discovery cove tickets inc sea world, Busch gardens, aquatica
£650 four nights in Clearwater in five star hotel
That comes to about £3300. Other costs will be petrol to London for flight £60, we will stay with family the night before and leave our car at their house.

We paid more than that for a week half board in Rhodes a couple of years ago. Know which one I would prefer.

Don't take any spending money- put it all on forex free cash back credit card. Then just a couple of hundred dollars cash for incidentals.

I don't go to Florida.

I book flights in the sale. £1200 for four us to fly to Nashville and back from Atlanta. Book hotels separately.

We went to California the year before, it was much cheaper to do Disney and Universal there than Florida. Nicer weather as well.

We did get through quite a lot of spending money though, USA is not cheap.

We go to Florida every 3 years for 16 nights -however we go in school term time. Stay in Disney hotels, do upgraded car hire, tickets to all parks & fly with virgin. We do not spend more than 10k like some people are suggesting. You can go cheap if you stay down international drive or a in a villa, fly Norwegian air and other cheaper options. Good luck with saving, it's definitely worth it!

I'm with hartof and OP. £5k is not too far off the money for flights, massive non-Disney villa with pool and 2 weeks' Disney and Universal tickets. We saved a few hundred by flying into airports a bit further from Orlando and having a bit of a road trip either end, and we self catered a reasonable amount.

If you stay on-site and are eating out, especially in the parks, it will climb above that quickly, but it doesn't have to.

But OP if you can't save at the moment, it would be foolhardy to book it yet. Bluntly, until you crack saving for it, you can't afford it. We had an amazing time.

Went to Florida last year for Xmas still paying it off!.where are you seeing a holiday for 5k that didn't even cover villa car hire and theme park entry 😂🤣😂

Paid on the CC and paid it off over 1.5 years

@Delatron we got 10 days in Caribbean Beach + flights and dining package for £3k... though no children. It's hardly £20k where the hell are you staying?!

Oh and tickets to pros were included ofc

Ffs parks*

Don't go to Florida and do all the parks, especially not in summer.
If you want Disney, go to Paris.
If you want to see the US, somewhere on the East Coast, stay in cheap motels or an apartment, Boston is lovely, lots to do.

£5k to Florida! Try about £20k sorry.

We did it for £6k. Flew indirect to Tampa not Orlando, only took 1.5 hours longer. £1200 for 5 flights including car. A week in a lovely 3 bed apartment complex £450 booked through owners direct, a 4 day Disney pass with one free extra day and a one day universal pass. A week on the gulf coast in a beautiful 4 bed villa one block from the beach £1400.

All this was the last 2 weeks of August. No way would I spend even 10k, and i am glad we didn’t as we realised we don’t like theme parks but anyone who hasn’t left Orlando, you really should. What a beautiful state Florida is

We do it every two years, universal hotel 14 nights, tickets, car hire, eating out & just generally enjoying life. Usually spend around the £10k Mark 2 adults & 2 kids. We save like crazy & use husbands bonus.

You can however do it a lot cheaper, if you dint mind where you stay & self cater it comes in much cheaper. Get saving op it’s totally worth it!

We only ever go in school holidays and always fly direct. We vary between staying onsite or in a villa. We always have tickets for all parks., plus express tickets (if not staying at Hard Rock Hotel.)

We find its a similar price whether you go for a week or a fortnight. The accommodation is the only real cost that increases, and if in a villa this is often quite low. We always find it is much nearer a £10k holiday than £5. Never manage it that low in school holidays.

As to how to pay for it: luckily we are now fortunate to have a very good household income, with some bonuses which come in a couple of times a year; we also prioritise holidays over some other higher costs - for example, we chose to stay in our current home with an extension rather than move to a larger house when we were looking.

We were very lucky and had a few bonuses. We would like to go back but our circumstances have changed. (More kids, different jobs) There are lots of different ways to do Florida. We did 10 days around February half term, stayed in a DVC resort, didn't hire a car as we were mostly only doing the Disney parks,, and took a taxi when we did leave the Disney bubble for Universal and Seaworld. £10k.

All of you quoting £6/7k aren’t including spending money or food/drink which really adds up over two weeks..

I've just booked for me and DS. Cost £2500 for both of us including Virgin flights, hotel, Disney tickets and V Lounge, with premium economy seating. That doesn't include universal tickets though and we need to factor in spending money. I used some of my inheritance from DH - we would have been going as a family if he hadn't been ill and I think he would have approved of us still going. Can't get over the person who thinks £20k is normal - even for 3 of us, we'r have never paid more than £4k!

We'r have never taken more than £1500 spending money either, and have not skimped on having fun.

@Blackprism, well obviously 4 people are going to cost more (double!) than 2!!

Admittedly £20k is a lot but it was peak (Easter) and we were staying at various places over 2 weeks and none were self catering... Flights were ridiculous but we were limited as we had to go for a wedding.

I don’t think £20k is normal but £5k seems unlikely.. considering what passes to the parks cost and flights..