To think 7-7.5k for Florida (Disney etc) is good?

[shabbalabba]

Posting for traffic...I'm trying to do it DIY Style and I'm thinking so far looking at flight and hotel deals and then buying the tickets and adding in 1k for food, maybe 500 more.

That 7 to 7.5k for a family of 4 for 10 days in Florida to go to Disney world etc is quite a good deal? Or could you do it for less? Anyone else who know the score with these holidays as I have never done it before ?? Thank you.

@Daisy03

Where is accommodation, and are those direct flights?

I completely disagree about needing a car, rental prices have gone through the roof, and parking fees are high, it can be far cheaper to use Uber.

Totally agree that if you pick the right accommodation for the parks you will be spending most time at then you don't really need a hire car. If you want to go out further you can always hire a car just for a day or two.

8k

Three of us

Flights with BA
Villa for 2 weeks
14 day passes to universal/Disney
7 day pass for Busch gardens
Car hire
Taxi to/from airport

Don’t bother with sat Mac but do buy a toll pass

TheDibb is another amazing source of information regarding holiday planning, as well as Its Orlando Time previously mentioned. Check out FrugalBrit on Youtube - he has good info.

You can do Orlando (Florida is probably bigger then the UK) without a car, there is the iTrolley and ubers etc. If you get your KSC tickets from attraction tickets you can get transport included.
Food in Disney is extortionate, I haven't had the pleasure of Universal yet, but I suspect its the same.

If you go to the Seaworlds (Bush SeaWorld and Aquatica) you can get an all day meal deal which was ok.

Discovery Cove has Inclusive dining but closes approx 17:00 - That is a paradise and I am going back in late Nov :D

You can get Ubers to Walmart and the Malls easily enough.

For Disney - if you are only going once, it might be worth factoring in the Paid for Queue system - either Genie Plus ($15pp pd) or Lightning Lane. ($4-15 pp per ride)

June is really starting to get hot, so if you do go, make sure you get a hopper so you can visit the 2 Disney Water Parks as well - Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach.
Depending where you stay you can get shuttles to the park and Disney hotels.

Sorry for the long post, am not an expert and I have only been twice, but currently planning another trip later this year.

We paid 6k twice for two adults and I was happy to pay it. Universal / bush gardens / sea world package and we also went to the space centre. Included car hire, food, tickets, flights, hotels. I’d expect if we took DS it would cost 7k+ so your pricing sounds good.

I absolutely love Florida! We were supposed to be all going (14+) next year but it’s looking unlikely currently :(

Been 3 times but not for a while.
Work out what you daily spends will be then double it and add on 10%
Disney is wonderful. But my god for a family of 5, I just seemed to spend all day sweating dollar bills!

Space centres you can get coach tours to it via most Orlando hotels to avoid car hire for the day

@Mumofsend

We are going October 15N/16D

1A2C

Hotel (AoA onsite), disney tickets and flights £6250
Universal tickets £750
Discovery cove tickets £650

So roughly the same. I was happy to pay it.

For ten nights and considering the age of your children, I would ditch Universal and probably Discovery Cove as well, more than enough to do at WDW with four theme parks and two waterworks.

When looking at flights eg on Expedia, price up flight/hotel/car and then compare flight/hotel. Very often, the package including car will work out cheaper. Look for hotels that include free parking as one of the added extras, plus a free shuttle bus. That way you’ll avoid parking fees.

We haven’t done Disney, only Universal, but definitely didn’t pay nearly as much as your amount when booking independently.

Do consider flying into an airport other than Orlando. Tampa would be my choice and build a bit of beach time there.

Do get a price from a travel agent when you’ve priced up. Usually I’d never use, but one trip it actually worked out a tad cheaper. At the moment, the extra protection you get might come in handy.

I think that is cheap. I think food will be more than 1k. There are lots of extras like parking costs, genie plus etc that can be quite high.

I've just priced up a two week stay for two adults in October (outside school holidays).

It's come up as:

• £1,500 for flights
• £2,500 for villa (that would actually sleep at least 6 people)
• £1,100 for car hire (ridiculous prices at the moment on car hire - we paid less than £300 first time we went)
• £1,700 for park tickets (Universal, Disney & Busch)

We then tend to budget around $100 per day on expenses while we're there. That covers all food and drink and parking at the parks.

The car hire is what's making it feel expensive at the moment. We like staying off site, but £78 per day in car hire plus $26 in parking in Disney & Universal is making it very expensive. At that price it might end up being cheaper getting ubers/lyfts everywhere!

I agree with AprilX though - you won't want to do 10 park days - you'll need some time off. There's plenty to do with Disney and many of the Universal rides will be too big for your youngest which will mean not getting the most for your money.

MK is easily a 2 day park, then you've got 3 other big parks plus 2 water parks, so if you did those then you're at 7 days.

www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=48

Have a look at The Dibb forums. Everything you could possibly need to know and more is there!

That sounds a good price.

1k for food sounds low, I just got back from Miami and food/eating costs are really high in the US at the moment.

Last time we flew into Miami and spent a night there, saved us £1,000 even after paying for the hotel room. 4 hour drive to Orlando.

@Aprilx we have 15N not 10. I don't want to do 15 days of Disney

I’m going to Florida for 5th time in July, always DIY. I’d have though you could do it for about 5 - 6k easily, unless prices have went up drastically since Covid

Have been a lot of times, using a package and DIY. If you’re doing DIY LOTS cheaper. We always stay at the same place in Davenport so you need a car ( I drove easy to do) last time we went our flights from Birmingham were £400 each ( luggage and sitting together ) . Once you’ve found dates that are suitable, book your accommodation. We always to go a place called Bahama Bay. There’s groups on FB which have owners renting. We had a three bed condo for £900 . Then tickets which you could buy in the gate but more difficult now, last time for Disney and Universal it was about £700 each.

As I’d say Davenport you’d need a car. Other than that it’s all self catering, eating out is cheap as is fuel. Only $$$$is for the shop at the end of every ride !!!

Other thing I’d say is if you’re serious, BEFORE you book ANYTHING get your visas done (esta $12) as if there’s anything you have to answer no to, you’d need a proper visa which is at present Nov 22 appointments.

Once you’ve been once you’ll want to go again !

@DinosaurDuvet

I’m going to Florida for 5th time in July, always DIY. I’d have though you could do it for about 5 - 6k easily, unless prices have went up drastically since Covid

They have. The key groups on Facebook are full of people who have been several times finding the increase notable

I think a lot of people going this year are going to be shocked by the price increases since Covid.

We have been 2 times and found it very expensive to go and when there, we stayed in villas, first time in Kissimmee and second time Davenport, we hired a SUV and did a mixture of eating out and eating in.

Some of the Disney hotels have food vouchers and you perhaps don’t need car hire.

We went first time in 2009 and last time 2018.

You will need loads of spending money as it is expensive and of course the tips.

We are staying at Disney all star movies in May 2a 2c but 2nd child is classed as an adult as over ten
£6400 total for virgin economy flights, hotel, Disney tickets. Also got $500 dining credit & $200 Disney gift card

I think that's a good price. We've estimated £14-15k for 4 of us for 2 weeks. Part villa, part family suite in a Universal hotel, using BA companion vouchers, so paying for 2 Club seats (and 2 free).

Have they done away with masks yet? I don't want to go till covid restrictions are in abeyance or removed entirely.

For everyone saying fly into other airports, just bare in mind that, like the UK, gas prices in the US are currently eye wateringly expensive. Well over $4 a gallon. Atlanta is over a 7 hr drive away from Orlando and Miami is 250 miles away. That could add up to a lot of gas.

It’s still masks on the plane and airport is meant to be compulsory but they aren’t strict.