Disney Florida- How much

[PuzzleMonkeyMum]

I'm planning on taking DS (who will be 9) to Disney next year. We have been to Disneyland Paris but I know this doesn't compare at all to Florida. My plan (at the minute!) is to book it all separately so flights, tickets, car and villa but I am not sure if booking a Disney hotel would be better. At the minute it will be me, dp and DS but my parents might come in which case it would definitely be a villa.

SO! Can anyone tell me roughly how much they spent? I know tickets are about £1500 for the 3 of us (this is just Disney, not including anywhere else), so I am thinking about £6000 in total (excluding spending money).

This is a massive purchase for me, I have never spent this much money before on anything but I am finishing my nurses training soon and when I was a skint single parent on the bones of my arse I always always always told myself when DS was older and things were better this I would take him to Disney. So I suppose my questions are:

1. How much did you spend in total?
2. Any tips/good pages to look
3. book it separate or as a package
4. hotel or villa
5. where's the best place to book a villa and 6) was it worth it?? all the money? Everyone I know who has ever been to Disney still talks about it as an adult

Thank you!

We booked through Ocean Florida in 2018 but I think Kenwood Travel have better prices actually. We stayed in a villa at Easter which is probably the most expensive time of year and hired a car. 2 adults. 3 children. Villa, car, flights and park tickets probably amounted to around £10,000. We spent around £2,500 in food and souvenirs I think.

We did Disney and Universal.

Brilliant thanks I’ll take a look at them now

We went with BA in 2019 and it was around 8k for a family of 4 , with our spending money the total came to about 10k.

I am currently looking at BA for 2022 Easter time , 24 days including a week on Gulf Coast , Disney tickets, universal and discovery cove tickets . Budgeting 10k for 1 adult and 2 children

I would say 6k should be enough for 2 weeks Orlando only.
I’ve never found a better deal than the BA customise your own package option.
It’s also worth booking the flight, car and Disney tickets to start with and then add a hotel to your booking during the January BA sales.

The DIBB website is a great source of information , they have owners direct villas section too with some really good offers.
For our 2022 trip I am doing a week in one of our favourite hotels (BA) , 10 days in Orlando villa booked directly through the DIBB as I wanted a specific villa seen in one of the trip reports there, plus a week villa on the coast via another website.

Went in 2019. 3 adults 2 teenagers. Disney and universal. Stayed in Villa and one night in Universal hotel to get the fast passes for Universal as worked out cheaper that way. Car hire. Approx £15,000

It was about 9k for 3 of us two years ago, including spending money. I think your probably in the right ball park especially if you're limited to school hols. I think you could probably save a bit if you could go in term time. We couldn't as DH and I both work in schools.

We also did VIP passes at Universal which was £££££

We’ve been to Disney a couple of times and stayed in Disney hotels - the less pricey options though.
Once at the All Star Movies and once at the Art of Animation resorts.
They’re spotlessly clean and all themed, at the All Star Movies we had a Lion King family suite which was amazing!
There are bowling alleys, shops, restaurants, pools, and movies all at the hotel.
The advantages over a villa are that you are picked up from the airport and taken to your hotel, once there you are given a wristband to wear which allows you to charge food etc in the the hotels and also is your entrance to the parks, so you don’t need to worry about carrying lots of tickets or anything. You can also restrict children’s ones so they can’t rack up a bill.
There are shuttle buses from the hotels to the parks very regularly, right through to parks closing and they are door to door.
If you stay at a Disney hotel you can access the parks earlier in the day.
We’ve also stayed offsite and hired a car.
Then you have to buy your park tickets separately.
Obviously if you’re in a villa you do your own food shopping etc - some people might prefer this, but I don’t!
The car parks at the parks are huuuge, and you’ll often have quite a way to walk to the entrances.
There are lots of specific Disney forums that can give you all sorts of tips - the best way to enjoy your holiday is to do loads of research and be very organised.
You can prebook time slots for specific rides in specific parks, and I’d definitely recommend doing that if there’s something you really want to experience.
We missed out on the Avatar one at the Animal Kingdom because the queues were hours long, and all the time slots had already been booked up. Ds2 was v disappointed.
Last time we went to Florida we stayed at Universal and hired a car, and I think if we ever go back that’s probably what we’’d do again...but our dc are a lot older now.
It’s a brilliant holiday, and absolutely one that you’ll talk about for years, but it’s expensive, and tiring!

Join a free Disney site like the Disney Information Bulletin Board, all you need to do is sort out a user name and a password. Just about all of the information that you are asking for will be there. The success of your holiday will depend on the amount of research that you do before you go but it will pay off in the end. We prefer to stay off site because we like the independence. If you are going for two weeks you need to sort out which parks you are going to visit. You can buy tickets for Disney, Universal, Discovery Cove, Seaworld, Busch Gardens and Lego Land but there is not a hope in hell of seeing it all. Concentrate more on what you must do over what you want to do. Its possible to stay in the Magic Kingdom for up to 16 hours from rope drop until after the fireworks display and your 9 year old should be able to cope with that, mine did. But that may not be the way that you want to plan your holiday, we are all different. Learn about fast passes and how to book them. Allow for parking charges, $25 a day soon mounts up but you will be able to transfer parks. As a very general rule of thumb, allow £500 each for flying. £500 a week for a small/medium car. £600 a week for a villa with pool. These are ball park figures only. You need to get to the airport and return. Car parking charges at the airport while you are away. Overnight hotel before you fly. Where to buy park tickets and which companies to avoid. Best car hire company. Keep comparisons going while you do your research of DIY against BA and Virgin packages. If you use a Travel Agent then you will pay them a commission for the work that they do which will be hidden in the holiday cost. Travel Insurance with cover of at least £5M, preferably £10M. A day in A&E can cost £30K out there. These are just some of my first thoughts. Join the Dibb and there will be plenty of people who want to help you to keep the cost down.

Our trip in August 2018 cost:
Flights £2650 - direct with Norwegian
Disney hotel including tickets and dining plan:£5500
Universal tickets approx £1100
Spending money: £3000 (approx £800 of this went on tips)

Our cancelled trip this year would have cost about the same but minus the universal tickets as we didn’t want to go again.

We went in October 2016 (was my 7th trip) and paid approx £6k for 2 bed condo, car hire, Disney and Discovery Cove tickets. Food cost was on top of that.

We stayed at Bahama Bay which is about 20 mins drive from Disney, further for universal. There is no way we would ever stay in a hotel. We like the ease of being able to make our own breakfasts, snacks and drinks, and to have a separate living area for night owls/early risers! We also made sandwiches to take into the parks which saved money as park food is expensive.

I would recommend not trying to do too much. You need at least 6 days just for Disney parks and waterparks (realistically 8 so you can do some parks twice), if you do Discovery Cove, SeaWorld and Aquatica that's another 3 days. Universal needs 4 days. The heat really takes it out of you and you might find you aren't able to fit as much into each day as you think. Walking distances can be massive. For us it was more important to enjoy what we did rather than kill ourselves trying to do everything!

We are looking at going in 2023 and staying at Fantasyworld Resort, which again is approx 20 mins from Disney.

Whatever you decide, you'll have an amazing time!

We went a few years ago and stayed in a Disney moderate hotel, we got a Disney dining plan for free. At the moment Disney aren’t offering dining plans so for me the benefit of staying in a Disney hotel doesn’t outweigh the increased cost.

Including our dining plan we spent about £8k not including spends or universal tickets.

If you do stay off site make sure you factor in parking costs which can be pretty expensive.

We are looking at going again next year after last years was cancelled. I think without dining plan we will need about £4K spends but we do like to visit the outlets and so spend a fair bit there. Kids also have their own spends with them.

Given the Covid situation I would look closely at the t&c’s if booking separately. I read about some people not being able to get refunds etc on villas last year!

Join the it’s Orlando time Facebook group, they have excellent tips on there!

Can’t really help much with the prices as it’s six years since we went but what I would say is don’t just limit yourself to the parks - it’s a beautiful place and there are fantastic state parks and reserves to visit.

WOW

Is this really how much a Disney trip costs? I knew it wouldn't be cheap but I'm shocked at how much more it is than I thought! I'd love to bring DD but maaaaaaaybe I'll need to save for a while first

(I'm very envious of those of you planning your trips!)

You can do it as cheaply or expensive as you like.

We have a trip booked for later this year (hopefully) that was moved from last year.

The cheapest quote we had (staying offsite or in a moderate on site hotel, economy flights plus park tickets) was around £7,500 for 2 adults + 1 teenager.

We originally went for mid price option (on-site Disney and universal, premium economy flights) and it came in at £10,000.....

But when Covid hit and we had to move it we just thought did it and upgraded to a villa in Animal Kingdom Lodge, Rock Star suite at Hard Rock Universal and Upper Class flights so it's now coming in at £15,000.

My experience was that booking yourself was no cheaper plus it's a hassle and as someone upthread said, a nightmare with Covid and cancellations. Nearly all the travel agents I contacted could get better discounts than I could and it has definitely taken a lot of the stress away.

We've been multiple times. The cost goes up massively once DC are 12 and counted as adults. Its generally around £10k but it entirely depends on when you go, how far in advance you book and how much you're prepared to plan. We always stay on site with free disney dining.

We've been numerous times and always book a fly drive and stay off site in a villa, sometimes with private pool but usually on a resort with pools. It saves a lot of money and we like the space. Having laundry facilities is handy too. On the first day we go to Walmart and stock up. We like to eat out but every two or three days we'll do basic meals in the villa. We have most breakfasts in the villa and make packed lunches.

Flights and car are usually around £2k and villa for two weeks is around £1500 for a 3 bed/3 bath. That's for a family of four in school hols.

We prefer Busch Gardens and Universal to Disney nowadays as dc are older. We also enjoy days on the beaches, Kennedy, wildlife parks, airboat rides, water parks etc.

Disney is where you spend the big money but it is worth it and I'm glad we did it when dc were young as they have great memories.

We always do a villa and we normally book everything separately. Thankfully all our money was refunded for our 2020 trip.
Think we paid about £1800 pp. for 2 weeks in a villa, Disney only tickets.

Things to consider:
Do you want to do Disney and universal or just one or the other.

Disney charge hotel guests for parking a car overnight. You can get ubers but obviously you have to factor in booking them and plus the cost inc tips.

If you stay on site Disney are not currently offering dining plans. Even if they do they don't include tips.
If you stay at a villa, the cost of food shopping is more expensive then food shopping here. But gives you more freedom for chilled out evenings in by the pool.

If you stay at a villa how will you travel to parks. Hire car, petrol is cheap but parking on site is about $25 a day. Again you can Uber.

It's all such a personal choice.

Disney have removed their free bus transfer from the airport so you'd have to make your own way.

We always compare flights on sky scanner
Booked villas via holiday lettings
Park tickets via florida tix

Enjoy!

I watch a lot of Disney Food Blog:

Bit of an old video, but the channel has loads of good tips. Some off the top of my head:

Never pay full price. There are always deals.

Some times are 'cheaper' than others. They might offer the food plan instead of money discounts.

The dining plan is only better if you max out your food with the most expensive options. Not so good for veggies and non drinkers.

Off site is cheaper. You miss out on some perks, but you might not want them.

You can take you own food in.

Bottles of water are fucking expensive. But there is free water available.

Some of their systems are complicated and need researching. eg booking restaurants months in advance etc.

Thank you!! I’ve just seen about the dining plan which is annoying. I think we’d like to go to Disney and universal? And a couple of days out/relaxing by the pool. If we did stay in a hotel we’d like one with a balcony to sit out in the evening but I’m not sure if that’s even a thing? I’m swaying towards a villa but the parking is putting me off? Agh it’s so hard 🙈.

Do you want to stay on-site or off-site?
We've been a few times and are planning on going back next year (was supposed to be this year, but that's off due to covid!).
We stay on-site, as that works better for us for two, and use the on-site Disney transportation.
A villa for a small number of people + car hire + parking was working out as more than staying on-site.
We're planning on a split stay, a few days at universal, then moving to Disney. We're planning on staying at a universal hotel to take advantage of the front of line pass.
Might be worth looking into renting DVC points, if you want to stay on-site at Disney.
We won't be hiring a car...if we want to go somewhere else is cheaper and easier to get an Uber.
I'd really recommend the Disboards, for every question and more!

@PuzzleMonkeyMum

Thank you!! I’ve just seen about the dining plan which is annoying. I think we’d like to go to Disney and universal? And a couple of days out/relaxing by the pool. If we did stay in a hotel we’d like one with a balcony to sit out in the evening but I’m not sure if that’s even a thing? I’m swaying towards a villa but the parking is putting me off? Agh it’s so hard 🙈.

If you want a balcony on-site at Disney I believe your need to look at deluxe level properties (the levels are standard/moderate/deluxe). If you want to go deluxe then it's definitely worth looking into renting DVC points.

The dining plan isn't currently available, Disney isn't selling it, but there is hope it will come back for next year (although their current 2022 packages don't have it).
Everyone's milage varies with the dining plan. On our last trip we did the middle plan, so got a snack credit, a table service credit and a quick service credit per day. It worked out well for us, but we did tend to order substantial dishes from the table service menu (generally as a rule of thumb if you eat lots of steak it works out for you, if you are veggie or have a small appetite then it's not great value).

Last time we stayed onsite at Saratoga Springs and got Disney dining plan which was worth every penny. We didn’t hire a car. We just used Disney transport and Uber or Lyft if we went off site which was really easy.

I booked Disney direct and flights with British airways. From memory for 3 of us including DS who was 10 so classed as an adult, it was about £6k for 12 nights. We then did 5 nights at universal.