Random I know - is Disney worth it ?

[Pisssssedofff]

We went when the kids were 8,6,4 and I remember it being horribly expensive, a bit stressful but yes fun with the Ariel photos etc and we loved discovery bay with the Dolphins.
I have an additional child now that never been aged 6, he loved Lego land and they all really enjoyed Disney Paris at Halloween last year.
I'm trying to talk myself into booking but god it's a lot of money isn't it? I'm looking at £6000 for a fortnight I think being conservative and not eating in Disney ever

MozzchopsThirty We stayed at Animal Kingdom Jambo House which is in the same bracket as Polynesian I seem to remember. Staying in a Disney hotel was e of the best bits of the holiday and we don't regret that decision - it was great to be able to get back to the pool and the room within minutes of leaving the parks. The hotel staff were fantastic with the children too - we often got back to the room to find cakes and chocolates. The cynic in me thinks, damn right there should be chocolates for what it cost us, but after a year, the children still go gooey when we talk about that holiday. At the time, there was such a lot for them to take in that I think they were a bit overloaded with it all, but now they look back on it, they seem to love it more than when we were there! If we were to tell them we were going again I know they would be hysterical with excitement -probably more so than when we told them we were going first time 'round because they know what to expect.

I think this is why people go more than once. Because there is so many things to do you could have a different experience each time and tailor it each time to how you want it to be.

'round because they know what to expect

Oh yes. [smIle]

Our first night there is always Fantasmic.
I love it. Especially when I get to sing Zipadeedoodah ❤️

We did exactly that with ours. Last big holiday. Defo worth it.

I'll let you know shortly! We are flying to Florida today, just off to the airport and are all very excited!

Our holiday was a gift from DMiL and I'm not sure we would have chosen to spend that amount of money on a holiday ourselves and I'm not sure this would have been MY destination of choice but since it was booked we have all got really excited about it.

It will be our last family holiday I think. Our boys are 21, 16 and 12.

Enjoy 2 - have an amazing time x

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In comparison the second half of august is much quieter than the first

rebel oh god that Polar Bear horrendous wasn't it.

We didn't go to Seaworld this time, my friends did and apparently the polar bear is no longer there. The felt that the park was being wound down - thank goodness.

If I had interested children I'd go. No questions asked.
We've been on a European sun holiday this summer costing £6500 with food. Florida only cost that with shopping included.
We stayed in lake Buena vista, in a 3 bed al singing dancing condo, ate out everyday & didn't scrimp.
If you can afford it go get it.☺

I should add!! We didn't go this time because I just couldn't give that place any of my money, it is appalling and I would agree with the PP. Don't go, it will make you sad.

I say this as a person who has annual zoo passes to my local zoo, I'm not against these things as such but Seaworld is truly awful.

They have dolphins performing in a tiny pool made to look like a beach area where people hang over the sides trying to touch them shouting and shrieking. The rays are in a large concrete pond type thing where you can touch them, so hundreds of hands in a white and blue concrete tank, the polar bear was truly the saddest thing I have ever seen. Seriously, don't go!

Even if you go during a busy holiday period you can get quite savvy when it gets to queue dodging. We stayed near Universal so we could go back in the evening when it was quieter and cooler. It also didn't take us too long to get to the Disney sites. We have just come back and none of the parks were full to capacity.

On a coupe of occasions we spent the morning by the pool and didn't get to a park until mid afternoon. Neither of us likes the thriller rides and we didn't feel the need to do every ride in any of the parks so it took us less time to "do" a park than most people.

I enjoyed the holiday, but it didn't have the wow factor for me, unlike our Northern Lights trip last year, or holidaying in Lake Garda for example.

I think that one of the negative aspects was the constant feeling that people were trying to extract money from me - $20 to park at every park, high "suggestions" for tips on bills, adding sales tax at the till, waiters constantly urging us to order more than we wanted, taking photos of us at every opportunity and asking for £25 per photo (we never bought any).

I'm used to people constantly trying to extract money from me, I have teens. Only seen 1 for two days this week and she's cost me £100 🙄

Mine conned me into Subway and a pub dinner this weekend I'm £65 lighter.

My foots down now.

Pisssssedofff LOL!

I do wonder if it would be cheaper to go away to Disney for ) weeks at least the food is cheap in the USA. If only I owned a house there

It's only cheap away from the parks and touristy areas. Taking a picnic in July/August heat isn't feasible as you can't take cool boxes in, so you have to buy food there.

Taking a picnic in July is most definitely feasible - we did it when we were there. We used any queueing time to eat! We took sandwiches, crisps, fruit and snack bar things, we also used to store sports type water bottles in the freezer overnight so they defrosted during the day and kept the food cool as well as giving the kids a cold drink. We did eat in the parks a couple of times, or bought drinks. Disney have no problem with you taking your own food and drink in, their only rule is no glass containers.

We also found that eating around the Kissimmee/Orlando area was excellent value. Kids still talking about the milkshakes and burgers at Steak n Shake and the all you can eat pizza buffet place which had dessert pizza, think it was called Cici's.

I'd say most kids of that age (if not all) who haven't seen it will absolutely love it. I've done my fair share there- gets worse every time and the food pisses me right off. But if I had a 6 yo and could possibly do it for them, I would.

Luna I still remember the food from when I was 19 ish, cheap as and amazing. Im going to reign in the eating out until we go next year to make it more special when we get there for them.
The 6 year old loved Euro Disney, it's 80% for him but I loved seeing the teens get all giddy and childish again too

No, never.
I have been on day trips to Disneyland Paris for various reasons and didn't enjoy it.
The films are nice but it is a triumph of marketing.
I certainly wouldn't entertain the idea of going to Orlando. The amount of money is crazy. Would prefer 100 days out at 50 quid a go, which is what I do in London most weeks anyway.

Paris doesn't compare. Don't be put off if you didn't like Disneyland Paris. Lots of cheap eats and accommodation. Main expense is flights (go indirect or consider flying into tampa/Miami) and tickets but agree do not overbuy. You cannot do it all in 2 weeks.

Its worth it if its your type of holiday. We were considering Florida for next year as we loved America, a few years ago we took our 2 boys to the Grand Canyon, Vegas and California, didnt go near a theme park. Had looked at prices - you can get a decent villa in Orlando for around £400 a week, flights arent out yet but if you book them yourself I reckoned I could have got them for around £500 each indirect from Glasgow, even in July so probably about £3500 by the time you added a car on. We werent even planning on Disney, just Universal, and lots of beaches, road trips etc.

However change of plan now as my 14 year old DS would rather do our usual road trip to France or Italy holidays that we love. California was our dream and was worth saving that much money for, for us Florida just wasnt worth the stress and saving.

It definitely isn't cheap though I have seen people do it on a very tight budget with everyone sharing one hotel room and making packed lunches to take into the parks every day. That's definitely not my idea of fun.

But if you can afford to do it in the way that your family would enjoy, then it is worth every single penny. It is absolutely brilliant.

I'd like to do the apartment for 1 week, a few days in a Disney hotel and then a few more days up in Miami, just to you know keep it simple lol
I can't be arsed with a picnic at the best of times never mind in my holidays

We're going for first time in Oct. I got BA flights in sale for 5 of us for £1.5k and we're staying Cabana Bay for 10 nights and in a beach house on the coast through AirBnB for the last 5.

Am totally bamboozled by it all so have to start researching it all now

But can't wait. Kids are a lovely age for it (13, 10 & 8) so hopefully they'll remember it all!

Can you remember when the BA flight sale was released please ? Too exciting 😁