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.

Everyone going this year - please be aware that the rides open up for fast pass booking 90 days in advance. The Avatar ride books up really quickly. We missed it since we only booked a month before. So please book your fast passes 90 days in advance to make the most of it!

We won't be doing sea world as I don't agree with it. So just Disney and space centre we think. Will check out that forum @Okbye thank you.

@ElephantLover is it just the bigger rides that you have to pre book. As crazy as it sounds neither me or my dh are intending on going on the biggest rides...we will mostly be doing kiddy centered rides etc

Just FYI we spend at least £1k a week for a family of 2 adults and a toddler and a 6 year old on food! That’s not even at theme parks just regular eating out and grocery shopping 😬 we don’t stay in Orlando we have a house down near the keys, eating out and groceries in Fla are EXPENSIVE!

@ElephantLover

Everyone going this year - please be aware that the rides open up for fast pass booking 90 days in advance. The Avatar ride books up really quickly. We missed it since we only booked a month before. So please book your fast passes 90 days in advance to make the most of it!

It is a completely different system now. There is no fast pass system. It is all genie+ and lightning lanes

@SeenYourArse thank you I'll budget 1500 I think and we can access other money if needed.

We don't have credit cards so I'm thinking car hire might be awkward without one in the US. We normally just use a debit card in Europe.

@ElephantLover

Everyone going this year - please be aware that the rides open up for fast pass booking 90 days in advance. The Avatar ride books up really quickly. We missed it since we only booked a month before. So please book your fast passes 90 days in advance to make the most of it!

I thought the genie plus and lightning lanes system had now replaced fast passes, and that you can only book these on the day of the visit. Have I misunderstood? I would be gutted to miss the main rides.

@SeenYourArse

Just FYI we spend at least £1k a week for a family of 2 adults and a toddler and a 6 year old on food! That’s not even at theme parks just regular eating out and grocery shopping 😬 we don’t stay in Orlando we have a house down near the keys, eating out and groceries in Fla are EXPENSIVE!

Flippin heck!

@ElephantLover

Everyone going this year - please be aware that the rides open up for fast pass booking 90 days in advance. The Avatar ride books up really quickly. We missed it since we only booked a month before. So please book your fast passes 90 days in advance to make the most of it!

Sadly there is no fastpass anymore, it’s a paid for system. We were there over Christmas and didn’t use it as we didn’t want to pay but also you had to book rides at 7am on the day you were visiting. We still managed to ride everything we wanted however.

Parks now though must be reserved in advance and you can’t park hop until after 2

No it's not.
We're going at Easter. 5 for us for 14 days including passes for universal for 7k euro.

I'd try an agency. We used Tour America

Take as many low value dollar bills as you can get your hands on, I’m not normally a tip moaner but I found the tipping system has gone crazy when I was in a Miami at the weekend.

Price seems about right. I've been to Disney Florida a few times as well as California, I am going to California in April (not staying at Disney) although I managed to get a good deal on the flights the accommodation has gone up and so has the hire car cost, therefore not such a big saving. I'm feeling really overwhelmed and disappointed by all the new changes at the Disney Parks, such as having to reserve tickets, the genie app and not being able to park hop until 2pm. Didn't know about this until after we'd booked. Then we have the covid testing to sort out. Longing for the days we can just be spontaneous 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

Definitely have - mainly car hire thought. We always the same car hire category.

First time we went - £240
We'd booked for 2020 - £550
2022 - £1,200

Villas are also more expensive as owners try and make up for the lack of bookings over the last few years.

Problem is a lot of the car hire companies offloaded their stock when the pandemic hit and the parks closed, so the rules of supply and demand have kicked in now.

Hopefully they'll get their stock levels back up which will bring the prices back down.

I couldnt do florida without a car . I dont pay for a pricey holiday just to be on someone else's schedule.

Couldnt stay at a value disney hotel .far to busy and far to much noise .

We stay at moderate disney hotels to price out the "rowdy" people . I'm sure I'll be told that's a bit snobbish but I'm working class so it's not.

Usually 2 adults , premium club flights, car hire, 2 week disney ticket. 2 weeks moderate disney hotel

6k + 4k spending money

It totally depends where you stay and what you want to do.

For a fortnight on-site in a deluxe including flights and park tickets but not spends I'm budgeting £12k.

We never rent a car as always stay on site. We order groceries to the room to keep dining costs down a little and the deluxe resorts have fridges.

I feel like staying offsite although saving money can be a false economy as you spend so much more time on transport. Especially those "free hotel shuttles" as they'll only ever drop off at the transport centre so then you still need to get to whichever theme parks you're visiting. Could easily spend 2 hours getting from an offsite hotel to Magic Kingdom.

Parking charges are crazy too. So for us spending on a Disney resort always ends up the best in terms of ease of the holiday and value of our time.

@FarmerKat

for us waiting for a bus from a disney hotel to the parks is wasted time with a car you can come and go as you please

We’ve been 7 times. Booked everything seperately, did not stay onsite as we want to have a bigger place with more rooms and a big fridge (need frozen water!!) and a washing machine so no need to bring huge amount of clothes and can fill the suitcase with outlet bargains instead...
Love Magic Village, it’s absolutely stunning. You really do need a car. We’ve done it with just uber, but a car makes all the difference. If you’re on fb there’s a really good uk group called It’s Orlando Time, you will find everything you need there and more. Also, personally I wouldn’t bother with Universal. Disney has 7 parks and it will be enough..and a lot cheaper with only one package. My best tip is to arrive at the park 30 min before they open, so you can do some rides before it gets really crowded. Plan carefully exactly which rides you want to do first.

[quote Agrudge]@FarmerKat

for us waiting for a bus from a disney hotel to the parks is wasted time with a car you can come and go as you please[/quote]
Agree, it’s such a waste of time and the last thing you want to do after a day in the sun. A nightmare. Don’t underestimate how tired the children will be..

We never rent a car as always stay on site. We order groceries to the room to keep dining costs down a little and the deluxe resorts have fridges.

We looove driving to Walmart and look at all the crazy huge food aisles. 😂 And buy some nice fresh fruit and try new things. We have a huge fridge & freezer where we usually stay, so no problem buying food and keep lots of cold water.

Just booked our trip yesterday .

Questions.... were are you staying? Do you need a car?

Car hire is through the roof at mo.

We are going in august as a group of 7 so need a big car etc but got it for £2500pp
That's accommodation, flights (direct) car hire, tickets to Disney and universal inc G + , travel insurance and resort fees.
For 2 weeks in august.

If you can go at a different time I can highly recommend going so that you stay last week of october and first week in december. That way you can see the parks (Magic Kingdom especially) when it’s decorated for Halloween, and on the 1st of November it’s decorated for Christmas over night. It’s truly magical, I will never tire of it!

*sorry meant to say first week of November obviously, not December.. °o°

We spent the thick end of £20k when we went for 2 weeks (family of four), so I think that's not bad at all!

Universal tickets were a bloody scandalous price and if I did it again I wouldn't bloody bother. Disney is brilliant

I did Disney without a car, we got complimentary transfers from the airport and stayed at Disney, 3 days at the parks was plenty for my sanity then we transferred to the Disney cruise line for r&r

I live in Florida... June, July and August are absolutely miserably HOT and humid... It's like being in a sauna.

Most Floridians seek out a cool spot in the day ( inside). It's THAT hot. Just giving a heads up.