Orlando Family Holiday

[Fressia123]

We're a family of six (4 kids, 1 under 2 by the time we want to go). I was there about 20 years ago, but no idea where to look for planning advice. We think we can do it for 5-7k. Ideally next year if the virus allows.

You will have a lot more luck posting in the travel thread OP

How long do you want to go for? I think flights alone for six people are going to eat up a good chunk of your budget never mind the park tickets/food/hotel.

Thanks @LEELULUMPKIN I'll do that! And @Wolfsony about 10 days? 2 for travel, 4 Disney, 2 universal, 2 free/shopping.

We were going to go this year, flights alone cost us 5.5 grand for a family of 5. If you want to do any of the theme parks, tickets are pretty costly, and that's before accommodation and food.

We haven't rebooked, as America isn't dealing well with the CV, and quite frankly I wouldn't want to chance going there for some time, if ever.

I would be amazed if you can do it for that price even going at the cheapest time of year. Tickets alone will cost you about £2.5k although not sure if a baby needs one.

We went as a family of 4 and spent about 8k that was flights, accommodation, park tickets, food.

No, baby doesn't need one. We went to LA about 5 years ago. 10 days, no expenses spared and we spent around £5k although it was only 3 of us back then. Aren't tickets around £500 each?

It depends when you want to go but in school holidays flights would be around £400-500pp (under 2's free I believe), theme park tickets would be around £2.5k - £3k (assuming Disney and Universal), a villa with a pool around £700-1000 pw (depending on size and location) and then you would need car hire and food/shopping on top. If you didn't want to hire a car and stayed in a hotel you would need at least two rooms/a suite for a family your size and I have no idea what the costs of that would be. Bear in mind as well that next year is an anniversary celebration at Disney and so it will be busy as well as the fact that at the moment (and they are saying for 2021) you have to book specific days to enter the parks as they are limiting numbers.

Google TripAdvisor Orlando forum. Every possible question you may have will be answered there.

Also next year it is WDW's 50th Anniversary so it will be extremely busy and expensive.

There are going to be fewer airlines by then end of this. As a result flights are going to rocket in price.

I doubt you will be able to do it for that price. The lowest I could find for myself and DS was about £3k including park tickets.

I think you will really struggle with that budget if you want to do disney and universal, our tickets for a family of 4 were around £3000. But I'd love to hear you manage it! I initially went into planning wanting to spend £5000 (including spending money) realised we needed nearer to £7000, and spent £8500 (but that was after deciding to stay onsite which obviously costs more).

That said February dates always looks quite cheap, I think it'll depend what happens to flight prices post covid. Would love to see a thread where you've managed it with lots of cost savings tips! I think US can be done very cheaply as we are happy with Super 8 and fast food, but we struggled with Florida with ticket prices and then decided we wanted onsite perks.

We went as a family of 4 with 1 under 2 for a week and it cost us 7k.

Join its Orlando time on fb. Is very informative

What makes you think you can do it for £5-7k? We've been twice and found it to be a very expensive holiday. Flights can be around £1000 each if you fly direct in UK school holidays, park tickets are approx. £100 pp/pd, then you've accommodation, transport, food, drink, souvenirs ...

If you're determined to do this as cheaply as possible I'd advise looking at indirect flights (usually much cheaper), self-catering in an apartment and taking a picnic and water bottles into the parks (water fountains are available for refills), and also getting to grips with vouchers, money-back schemes, loyalty cards, etc. Hardcore Disney visitors have all kinds of tips that most mere mortals simply can't be bothered with doing, but if you're determined and your budget is tight you might decide it's worth the hassle.

I've been more times to the US than I can remember. So again staying at a six motel isn't a big deal. Or eating at IHOP, sirloin stockade, etc... However given the size of our family I think only a villa will do. It's tickets that are ridiculously expensive (in Anaheim it was close to $1k for two days).

I wouldn't stay on site at all. I also have a Mexican address/credit card which might make things cheaper. (It certainly helped when we went to LA).

OP I know where you're coming from, we have holidayed in the US very cheaply and get frustrated when people say oh we must have a $300 a day budget etc, because we know how cheaply we can do the US. Unfortunately there's just no way of getting the tickets cheap, you pretty much have to get the 7 day park hoppers which takes it into the thousands. Accommodation and food can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be as with the rest of the US, but the theme parks (and uncertainty around flights at the moment- could go either way) make it hard to do on a shoe string. Whereas you can share big meals, you can't share theme park tickets. You could look at flights coming from Miami instead of Orlando, and indirect, but the problem with the theme parks now is the car parking charges, that's an additional $20 a day.

I'm only basing my budget on how much LA cost and how much Orlando would have cost back then. But doubling it because of the extra two. I know Florida is slightly different in many ways buts that's why I'm looking for advice. Especially tickets.

Yea exactly @notheragain4 it's the tickets that seem to eat any possible budget. (Flights I've seen as cheap as £350). Fast food outlets within the parks don't seem THAT expensive. Fortunately the kids are semi older so they won't want the themed/character meals.

There’s a lady called holly vlogs on YouTube she’s done some Disney saving videos

We spent 20k doing disney and universal for our family of six in 2018 for two weeks.

That was on site hotels at both, restaurant meals, premium economy flights in August school holidays so not a budget trip.

We usually spend 6-8k when we go just two adults in off peak season.

You might need to revise your budget unless you can find super cheap indirect flights outside school holidays, and you’re doing a villa stay. They really know how to charge through the nose!

Following to see if it's possible! We looked into it but even being naughty and going in Jan/Feb term time (only one child school age then and in Scotland so no fines) I couldn't find a way to get it under or near 5k. That was self catering too, though I didn't want to do indirect flights as most involve one change already as we're in Scotland. As PPs have said it's the attraction tickets that cost enormously, the only way to get those reasonable per day price is to buy a 14 day pass or something, and we didn't want to go there and do only Disney.

We went as 4 people and did a package for flights, accommodation and car hire which was £5k plus then spent about £2k for the 14 day hopper tickets. We then spent about £1.5 k whilst we were there. This was basically food and parking which was $20 a day. We ate at IHOPs/Denny's/Perkins etc but it all adds up. Plus we went to a supermarket to get drinks/snacks so we took them out with us. Don't forget all the taxes/tips too. It was a great holiday and I don't regret a penny of it but I don't see how we could have done it any cheaper unless you look at going in say January which I believe is cheap but then lots of rides shut for maintenance.

Meant to say we found the package was actually cheaper than what we could price up ourselves. Indirect flights may be cheaper I guess but I didn't want that hassle with kids.

TBH it's not a holiday that I would want to do if I was watching every penny. Cooking every night because it's cheaper than going out isn't a holiday for me. Eating at the parks is expensive, and eating warm sandwiches that you have been carrying around all morning is horrible.

If this holiday goes ahead do you plan on hiring a car? Parking at each park was $20 a day when we went.