AIBU to ask how much you pay for your Disney trips...

[Ffiffime]

I know this is a cheeky question. I’m looking into taking the kids to Florida in a few years. The price is eye watering but I think it’s doable.

There are so many different options, I don’t know where to start. Do I book separately? Do I book a package? Park tickets are just extortionate but I want us to do Disney and Universal, maybe Sea World and Kennedy.

We’re not loaded so don’t have a massive budget. I’ve been looking on TUI and a fortnight next year in July is looking around £4000 without park tickets.

What is the best way to do this! Help!

Go on thedibb.co.uk. British forum for planning disney trips. Great source of info and advice.
If you like a book Brit's guide by simon veness is a good start.
As a rule British travel agents are not clued up about disney.
Dearest bit are the flights. If you want direct in school hols you pay throught the nose. Changing plane on the way eg going via Atlanta known as indirect can save thousands.
Lots of options. Some people book to stay at disney hotel with free dining or a universal hotel - you can either book a package with flights or sort your own. Some people prefer the space of a villa and drive to the parks.
Tickets are very expensive. Disney has 6 parks inc water parks, universal 3 parks. To do all the parks you have mentioned you would realistically need 3 weeks.

Hello, we've been twice.
Both times booked everything separate. Private villa/townhouse with small pool and access to bigger pool.
First time was cheaper ( 8 days, flying from London to Orlando direct for 4). Second time was a bit dearer (13 days, flying from Manchester, quick stop over in Philadelphia to clear passport control, passes for Universal - including 2 days of express passes and passes for Disney. At Easter this year, flights, accommodation and tickets for 4 was around £4 and 1/2k

Best advice I can give is join the Dibb!
www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/

How long is a piece of string! I have paid £3800 for two adults for two weeks in a Disney value resort in September. I have paid £14000 for 6 adults for two weeks in a Disney deluxe resort in July. Search 'It's Orlando Time' on Facebook, no question is a stupid question and people will help you save money (or overspend).

Also think about when to go, i'd avoid July if you can. If you are stuck with summer hols then end August good as lots of US schools go back mid August and hotels are cheaper as it's not peak season.
If your kids get 2 weeks at May or October half term go then.

If you dont mind facebook there is a good group called its orlando time, lots of great info on there

To be honest you can go very cheaply or very expensively.

If you're looking for as cheap as you can, have a look at may time on Teletext holidays at flight and stay at Avanti you could go for about £400 pp.

We went in a villa last year with TC, it was £2800 plus tickets.

This year were going and staying on site at Disney in Art of animation, flights and hotel with QS dining and tickets it's about £7200

Next year were taking the inlaws and it's £6800 for 4 adults and one 11 year old who turns 12 whilst were there, including massive 7 seater, lounge, and Disney tickets with Virgin.

Really there's no rule of thumb where cost is concerned. TC couldn't match the price virgin gave us.

We will be going next may and we managed to get tickets the day after the kids split up, for a week on teletext staying in Avanti resort for £374pp. We will have to pay extra for our luggage and of course tickets.

To be fair. I do think Disney tickets are well worth it.

Do jave a look at attraction tickets direct for your tickets, they're great. We just got a $75 gift card for booking our Disney tickets with them, plus we got cashback- somehow they were cheaper than Disney themselves!

If you can go at a time where you can go to Mickey's not so scary Halloween party- it's brilliant!

I’d avoid July as well - relentless heat and humidity or arctic level air con

I’d think about accommodation first - do you want a villa, an apartment or a hotel? Do you want your own pool or happy to share? Do you want to be on site or happy to drive in? Once you’ve started with those, it narrows your options right down

Park tickets are expensive- likely over £2k for four of you.

From comments on here, I think TUI/Thomas cook type packages are cheaper than booking separately

Always spend 8 to 10 thousand per trip for a family of five.

We are going for a week at October half term, we aren't doing Disney, just universal and Busch Gardens....tickets came to £1600 ish.

Yeah I've never found booking separate to be any cheaper than TC/tui/virgin

Tho do remember if u go with TC but don't upgrade to premium you'll need to pay for drinks whilst flying most others seem to include them.

If you can go out of term time it will significantly reduce your cost. Massively so.

We are going for the 9th time this October half term.

We check all options each time. Some years its worked out cheaper to book separately, some years as a package. This October its a BA package including flights and a villa. Last time we stayed in a Disney hotel with a DDP plan included - not the cheapest at the time, but the best value for what we wanted.

IME though, it isn't cheap to go in school holiday times regardless. The tickets alone are expensive. Only use either the official sites, or a proper official licensed agent.

Go on thedibb. Some swear by separate, some by package. We’ve always found a package cheaper but that’s in May or September.
If you’re going in school holidays than I’d look at the end of August or Oct/May half term rather than July. But yea, spend some time on the dibb it’ll help!

If you are only doing 2 weeks trying to do Disney, Universal, Sea Life and Kennedy is far too much. You won't see half of what's there. We spent 2 weeks just doing Disney. They are long days as well and especially if you have small kids you will likely have to take some odd days off from parks to recover.

Get on the sites suggested above. Also read up on Sea World. We wouldn't go there due to massive animal welfare concerns. Some of the stuff is scaremongering but a lot is genuine. I personally can't support whales in tanks.

Booking separately is usually cheaper but there are a hell of a lot of variables.

Do you eat in restaurants a lot? Do you want to stay on site? If so, you might want to book direct with Disney and get a hotel package so you get free dining. Expensive up front, but saves you a lot when you’re there.

Would you be prepared to fly indirect? That can more than halve your flight price, particularly if you have the balls to hold out for a really low price and you can fly from the south.

If you booked a villa or off site hotel, with indirect flights, that’s usually the cheapest option. But not the most convenient.

Also make sure you use Quidco/topcashback - I’ve regularly had 10% cashback deals which goes a long way toward park tickets.

We go once or twice a year for either a week or two so I’ve done this a thousand times. We’re going again in three weeks!

We've been. Family of 4, cost us 11k. I booked everything DIY, the park tickets did cost as much as the flights and 3 week accommodation. We took a shitload of spending money and came back with some so it could have been cheaper.

Also recommend The Dibb forum and It's Orlando Time on Facebook. There is nothing you can't find out.

And no matter how expensive it is, it is worth every single penny. It's just the most amazing place and really was a dream holiday for us.

TUI is at least £1,000 more expensive than Virgin.

We get packages with Virgin including park tickets to Disney and Universal for a lot less than £4,000.

We went last year, (2 adults and a child), and it cost about £7000 in total, tickets, flights, hotel, spending money etc. We booked flights and accommodation through TUI, and stayed in Lake Buena Vista, near Disney Springs (which you MUST go to!). Personally, I'd drop the Kennedy Space Centre, we went a few years ago and thought it was rubbish, and it's pretty far away from everything else. It is nowhere near the standard of the other places, so it's a bit of a disappointment. Also, realistically you need two weeks to do Disney and Universal, let alone anywhere else!

Whenever we went there we stayed in a private villa not far from Disney

I remember reading on the money saving expert site that it’s cheaper to buy the park tickets from unofficial sites that are linked on there, didn’t look at them myself but it’s worth looking into

Also, it’s much better to go in the winter as it tends to be less busy and not as hot which makes it more enjoyable

I swear by thedibb

If you spend a few hours on their forum and you will have every question answered and more. It’s a lovely community of Disney lovers :-)

I paid £7600 for our first trip in 2016 tgat was Disney and universal. This year we got a really good deal - a week in April for £1360 for 2a + 2c. It’s the park tickets that bumped the cost right up. I second the recommendation to join it’s orlando time on Facebook or Orlando info zone.

Save some money by skipping sea world - it’s so cruel

We’ve been to Orlando every year for the past 14 years and my ball park is always £10K for the fortnight or £12K if going for 3 weeks. Disney tickets are very good value if you look at what you get on a cost per day basis, but agree the total cost does look daunting. I don’t like Easter or xmas, too busy. I like the heat so July or end of August is our fave time to go, although October is good too. I prefer TUI flights into Sanford as quicker and quieter airport. We usually stay in a Disney moderate or deluxe hotel with free dining, as we like being in the Disney bubble or a villa or a mix of the two but there are cheaper ways to do it. If you are visiting for the first time, don’t try to do too much. Your interary sounds too hectic and you won’t get the most out of it. PM me if you want any more info, love talking Florida! The Dibb is great too. Have a great time!

Going florida next year. Flying with Virgin, staying in a Disney hotel for two weeks. £4,700 and that includes the tickets. Booked through Disney. Oh also got free breakfast too! Which is INCREDIBly important, right

We went toFlorida October 2016. Flew the Monday of October half term and flew back the Thursday after half term (our school had an extended break- wish they would do that every year). Did Tampa Bay five nights then Orlando five nights.

From memory we paid (2 adults plus two DC aged 4 and 7) £1300 flights to Tampa, £450 for giant SUV car, £600 for Tampa Bay accommodation (nice hotel on beach, room only), £300 for Orlando accommodation (nice Marriott with breakfast included, £1300 Disney tickets. In retrospect I'd have considered Disney accommodation as we had to then pay $20 a day parking at Disney but it's free if you stay in a Disney hotel. Food was expensive at Disney but we did a combination of packed lunches and eating there- the 'cheap' options were really overpriced but the sit down waiter service restaurants weren't too bad. We ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches!

In five days we did Epcot on arriving (we all loved it and wish we'd had more time there, Hollywood Studios, water park, airboat ride at Kissimmee then Animal Kingdom, and magic kingdom.

Considering a week in Europe in the summer holidays can easily be £5k I was really happy with what we spent.

We’ve booked for the first time next year. We are staying two weeks, which will be 10 nights at a WDW Deluxe then 4 at an upper end US resort hotel. Including flights, food, spending budget, travel this side plus 1 night London, the hotels, tickets, Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party entrance, it will be just under £7k for the two of us.

Going for the 11th time with family next May, staying at a luxury villa approx 2.5 miles from Disney and it’s costing around £5,400 for flights, accommodation and car hire for 6 people (5 adults 1 child)

Disney tickets are another £400 each (certainly for silts not sure about the child price) so roughly £7,800

To us it’s worth it and will be the second time that DN will have been first he was 5 and this time he will be 7 (I first went ahead 3.5)