Aibu to not want to go to Disney, Florida??

[Gallymum1]

My husband runs his own business, works really hard putting in long hours etc. We’ve had a fairly good year and he s decided he wants to take us all (5 of us) to Disney. I’ve worked out it’s going to cost £10k without spending money. To me this is a ridiculous amount of money for a holiday and I can’t reconcile it. I’d rather do a nice, fully inclusive, sunny holiday for half the cost. We do have the money if we want to blow all our profits but I feel this leaves us with no financial cushion going forwards. He says you can’t put a price on memories. I think he’s not actually in the real world! Aibu?

[Skinandbones]

We are planning to go in October 2019, dd27 is doing all the initial planning, for three of us, from the UK, prices for hotel & flights plus car hire about 1k, entrance ticket are about another 500 on top that's only cause we haven't decided on the parks we want to visit.
There are lots of tips on Pinterest on how to save money. You need to have a really good look and then decide.

[implantsandaDyson]

It wouldn’t be my cup of tea but anyone I know who has been has absolutely loved it. They have as other have suggested rented a villa/ apartment as opposed to staying in a hotel.

[Lulusmother]

I'd second not going during the summer. It's very, very hot, rainy and busy. ( have been about 7 times & no way has it cost that much). There's 3 of us, two boys and myself. I booked flights separately, stayed in a condo, (holiday orintated) and bought park tickets when there. Cost me about £3k max.... saying that I'm getting withdrawal symptoms as I love it !

[WaterBuffaloDancing]

There are ways to make it much cheaper than you are costing.

If your DH and children really want to go then join or look at The Dibb.

Fly indirect, we are flying from Dublin direct to Orlando international, saved us £2k than flying from the UK. If you land anywhere in the US before flying down to Orlando you will save a lot of money.

Stay in a villa, hotels are expensive and especially expensive if they are on-site ones.

Yes some people don't like it, and references to watching a tree die make me giggle. But I could not imagine taking my two active sons on a beach holiday. They would be bored out of their minds. Ooh let's explore an ancient ruin. Hmm but Mum, it is just an outline of some room on the floor, yes but be excited. Or would you rather go on a roller coaster, swim with sharks/dolphins, watch incredible firework shows and fly with Harry, Ron and Hermione. It's a no brainer for us.

[bellie710]

We went last year, a family of 5 and including spending money spent just under £8k.
We didn't stay in a disney hotel as the thought of that for 2 weeks is horrendous, we stayed in a 3 bed apartment in a resort which was brilliant.
We did Disney only but wish we had done Universal too so this year we are going to Universal not Disney.
I booked it all through British Airways and flights, car hire and hotel were £4000 and we took $4000 dollars spending money, we didn't scrimp on anything and ate out every night did lots of shopping and came home with a few dollars! Definitely easy to do it much cheaper.

[Sunnyshores]

Id be very suprised if you couldnt do Disney for £7k max for 5 of you. Bahama Bay is a lovely resort, youd get a really nice 2 or 3 bed appartment. There are plenty of even cheaper options.

Im really not into Disney and Magic Kingdom was just as I feared it would be - however it was one day and the children loved it. The other DIsney Parks were actually pretty good, Animal Kingdom was done really well, Epcot is interesting and has good food, Hollywood studios was good and the water parks are impressive. A week spent doing that was actually good fun.

You could then stay in the same area and do non-Disney things or move to the east or west coast for a week on the beach. I wouldnt have chosen Disney in a million years, but I did it for the children and as I say I actually did enjoy it. Just please dont go to SeaWorld.

[Coastalcommand]

I was really disappointed by it. Overpriced and really not that great. I’d go elsewhere.

[BarbarianMum]

When you say "no financial cushion" do you really mean you've got no savings/insurance etc? Because I would think that should come first.

[therealposieparker]

We spent I think you can do it cheaper. We spent a fortune on things that were not remotely worth it, like staying at Disney. We did stay at universal and it was worth it to avoid queues. But I have four kids, and so EVERYTHING was crazy expensive.

[Willow2017]

Took my kids a couple of years ago.
10 day unlimited passes for 3 adults (kids classed as adults) both Disney and Universal Park and Water Park. (did not do Seaworld)
Hotel B&B appartment halfway between both of them with courtesey buses. (Not on I.D. but had shops within walking distance, restaurants etc.)
Flights
Booked flights and appartment seperately for a better deal.
All for well under £5k.

Go on THe Dibb website there are loads of hints and tips from Florida regulars on there and where to get the best current deals.

[Willow2017]

P.S. best holiday ever

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

I loved it! For me there would be nothing more boring than an all inclusive beach holiday and there's a lot to do in Orlando apart from Disney. We are going again this year and not not doing the parks (apart from possibly one day at Animal Kingdom). We're going to spend a couple of days in Daytona, go to Kennedy Space Centre and I can't remember the where else we're going.

The one place I won't go is Seaworld.

[Gallymum1]

Arghhhhhh so now all these replies are talking me round!! Starting to think it’s a good idea! I’ll have to do more research i think! Thanks all for taking time to reply x x

[caoraich]

It doesn't have to cost nearly anything like that. Last year we went as a group of 6 adults.
Villa in kissimee (under 1k for a week) plus rental car, then park passes. Eat in most nights and spend time relaxing at villa. Eat out at e.g Disney springs after days at parks and go bowling and to cirque du soleil (tickets not too expensive)
You can get very good packages online e.g. 3 Disney parks / 2 universal parks plus waterparks.
The whole holiday probably cost the 6 of us 7k.
Everything is really cheap there too. We didn't buy any new trainers/clothes all year, took an empty suitcase and spent a day at the outlets. I got my entire winter wardobe (including ski gear) for under $200.

[FizzyCherry]

It depends on whether you really, really don’t want to go to Florida at all, or that you don’t want to spend £10 grand for the privilege.
Depending on what you do/don’t want to do, Florida either works for you or it doesn’t. For example, although, obviously it’s surrounded by beaches, it’s not what I would call a beach holiday, it’s very much an entertainment destination. So if you begrudge spending that much when you just want to sit on a beach, I totally agree, you could do that for much less in Europe.
But if you want the entertainment side, it can’t be beaten, especially as you have quite a range of age for the kids, but you can do it for considerably less than £10k.
Maybe your OH wants to treat you all to celebrate the business success and he has worked out you can afford it so why the hell not?

[hungryhippo90]

Ive just looked for you, for your family, you could go to Orlando 17th Oct for 14 nights, from London City airport -£503 pp (can pay £50 pp deposit)
then you could get universal and disney tickets for your family at £2903 (plus free orlando eye and wild tickets for the family)- (£10pp deposit)
I dont have the smarts to do the simple sum of what that would work out as, but i think youd have 3-4000 left from that.

thomas cook may not even come up that much different to what ive found for you..... if youve not done it, i really reccommend it. my PiL dont love disney, and dont like theme parks but adore florida.

[Atticusss]

YANBU. I've never understood the Disney holiday appeal? I'm not anti Disney or anti theme park... for a day maybe. But a very expensive holiday with queues and expensive junk food and people in costumes and crowds and a busy schedule of (naff sounding) entertainment just does not appeal to me at all. I'd much rather spend it on an all inclusive holiday somewhere exotic with interesting cultural day trips thrown in.

[lifechangesforeverinjuly]

For us, we do Disney & Universal but we make sure that we have enough time for shopping (because it's awesome out there!) and stuff like crazy golf, sunbathing & water parks too.

I'd say with kids that your best bet is a villa and car hire (which the PIL do every time). If you rent a villa privately you can then keep searching for your flights separately and might get a good deal on them - I've heard Norwegian are are brilliant prices.

[hungryhippo90]

i know im seriously derailing, but I just want to add a few places for food....
the cheesecake factory was brilliant,
we had cicis pizza which cost about $16 for the three of us.
Burger King is so much better there!
Chic-fil-a is food of the gods. I was reccommended it, and didnt like the idea but oh my god. i cant wait to go back.

Our favourite restaurant was longhorns steakhouse... they serve the best steak ive ever eaten... that was probably our most expensive meal at $122 for the three of us.

Food doesnt need to be expensive

[UnimaginativeUser]

Take a look at this property - Townhouse

It's on a nice gated complex that we've stayed in, would give you 3 bedrooms, your own private hot tub and is right next to the Clubhouse with its own bar and community pool. And it's £1,340 for 2 weeks from 20th December.

To caveat, I don't own this property or know it at all, but it's just an example of some of the really great properties you'd get, for a lot less than the hotel prices.

I know this development well as we've stayed in another property here. We've been a few times now and this is the area we'll now always return to as it's not far from the parks (certain Disney parks are only 10-15 mins drive away, and Universal is about half an hour), the journeys are easy, there's a massive Walmart just around the corner or a Publix not far either, and there are loads of restaurants on the 192 if you fancy going out for a meal.

[Willow2017]

You have to go just for the Harry Potter bits in Universal alone I had to be dragged out kicking and screaming by the kids when we had to get the bus
Oh and Mission to Mars at Epcot is amazing fun and I HATE that kind of thing but went on it 3 times! (still never saw Gary Sinise at the end I was conned!)

Just to say our hotel was cheap and cheerful with a pool but very clean, and the staff were so lovely, couldnt do enough for us. We wouldnt have been able to go if we had had to stay at Disney or Uni at their prices.

[Gallymum1]

Arghhhhhh again! Started off couple of hours ago not wanting to go at all.....now I’m looking at villas online and getting stupidly excited!!!!!!

[Fatbird71]

We are going to Disney for Xmas this year - we are staying at a villa rather than on site and with spending money and park tickets, we are looking at about £8K all in. There are four of us so I can see where you are getting the £10K from. We've been before and loved it and will be grateful that it won't be quite so hot as last time.

By staying offsite, you can self cater which is generally cheaper and you can escape the Disney madness for a while. We've got a heated pool so it will still be nice and only a half hour drive to the parks.

[Skowvegas]

I hated Disney. I keep meaning to try the Harry Potter park but can't bear the idea of all the queueing and crowds.

I loathe Orlando - I actually spent a week there looking at houses and schools when DH was offered a job there and was so relieved when he agreed not to take it.

We often go to Florida for some winter sun but go to the coast.