Have you been to Disneyland florida?

[Lwrenagain]

If so, was it worth it?

Looking last night at booking 2 weeks in florida and with passes to disneyland & universal, for my family I was getting quotes upto 30k which shook me 😂

That was on the disneyland site however so I'm sure I can find it cheaper.

The most exotic place I went to as a kid was Blackpool, so even looking at holidays abroad feels very out my comfort zone.

If you've been was it worth it?
How did you book it?
Is there loads of different parks, or a giant one?
Does it take a long time to get to the parks?
Is sealife ethical? (Sorry, loaded question, definitely not goady, I've just read things making it seem questionable)
What age ideally would DCs benefit?
Is car hire essential?

Basically any recommendations, experiences or suggestions or ideas you may have I'd love to hear.
Thanks!

It's been years since we took our dc so prices will have risen considerably. However, I can confirm it was a memorable holiday and they still remember it fondly!

We first took DD at 5 to Disney Paris. She was about 8 when we first went to Florida, which is the perfect age for Disney.

We last went in 2019. I know everything changed after Covid but our last trip was with Virgin at the end of August, Port Orleans, all food, flights and tickets for £5k for 3 of us, 9 days.

We have been and loved it. Booked through BA holidays at around a quarter of your price... villa and fly drive and tickets included.

Ethically yes Seaworld is awful, large sea mammals should not be kept in this way. Discovery cove also. And Busch gardens. And EPCOT Park at Disney world who have captive dolphins (if any are still alive!), and manatees.

We've done it twice, both times we stayed in villas with pools offsite and a hire car. We had to get out of the Disney bubble, we did the parks in the mornings and chilled out in the pool in the afternoon. However if you hate rides then I wouldn't recommend it. The queuing and heat is only worth it for a thrill rode.

We went to Disney Florida a few years back .. it was amazing.

We stayed on Disney in Animal Kingdom Lodge .. we loved staying “on site” and using the Disney transport, drops you right at the door of the park. Plus, you get your “magic hours” which are good fun

We also did Disney Dining, so all food and drink was paid up front .. dining at Beasts Castle, and in Cinderella’s castle were both amazing.

we also did 2 day trips to Universal, which were great, but I didn’t love them as much as Disney

I only ever went to Blackpool as a kid.. and can remember being so jealous at Primary School as other children talked about Disney trips.

Cost a fortune .. worth every penny

There are loads of parks - Disney, Universal, SeaWorld - you name it. Getting around ain't too bad if you rent a car, but there are also shuttles and stuff if you don't fancy driving.
As for SeaWorld, that's a tricky one. I've heard mixed things about their ethics, so it's worth doing some research beforehand.
For the kiddos, any age is cool, but the younger ones might get more out of it. And yeah, car hire can make life easier, but it ain't essential if you're staying close to the parks.
If you're still figuring stuff out, I'm in the same boat. Right now, I'm checking out the best amusement parks in USA - gotta plan that next epic vacay.

I think Universal is better than Disney.

We did both. Stayed at the Waldorf to get the magic hours for 3 nights and did Disney in 4 days. Got the assistance pass thing due to disability (this is before Genie) so queues were easy to manage. Has a balcony to watch the Disney fireworks for the nights we were too tired to watch in person.

Universal was amazing - stayed at a cheap Holiday Inn about 20 mins away. Also had an assistance pass there.

Both hotels had a fridge and a microwave we'd get food delivered some nights and it usually did us for the next night as well.

You don't know enough to book. Watch some YouTube videos, there are some great ones. Scope out the rides you want to do in advance and make a list for each park. You'll be glad of it when it's boiling hot on the day and you can just follow it.

Do some water park days and hire a car for a couple of days to go across to Clearwater for a break from the parks. There's a great Hilton right on the beach.

If you can afford to prepare don't book now. Get an American Express credit card with a sign up bonus and buy all your petrol and groceries from Sainsburys. Convert all the points to Avios and use them to book flights with BA. We paid £100pp for our Florida flights. Our Amex card gave us Hilton Gold status too which meant we got free breakfast at the Waldorf. We did it for about £2-£3k I think for 3 of us using various deals.

We really enjoy Florida and have been a few times

i think this year is the last time we go, 6 adults for between 2 and 3 weeks and it is costing us a fucking fortune, mainly due to the expense of the school holiday's. Its 7k just for flights 😳 when we went in 2019 it was about half the price it is now

we are staying in a villa for a week, universal hotel for 5 days and a Disney hotel for a week

plus Disney is charged for their fast passes and for individual very popular rides so I think they have priced us out 😀

That was very whiney…

as others have said plan your days, put rest days in if you can or go to the park in the afternoon rather than all day, especially if you want to do the fireworks and evening shows

research the rides, ive done tick sheets this year 😀…i also do a little book to take with us showing crowd sizes etc

also look at the dibb website

that avios thing that kenadams mentioned sounds like a good idea…how long did it take you to get a decent amount of vouchers ken?