To ask if you’ve ever been to Walt Disney world florida?

[Idlovetoknow]

I’m not a Disney fanatic but I’d absolutely love to go back with my kids. Reception and preschool age. I went in the late 90s and recall it been infinitely better than sliced bread and crying every time we left. I’m worried it won’t live up to the hype in my head and too much of the parks has changed.

some of my favourite things seem to have gone; honey I shrunk the kids show and playground, voyage of the little mermaid, discovery island, the swimming with sharks in one of the water parks and Mickey’s house seems to be gone too!

ive been to DLP with the kids and that brought some of the magic back, as I’d been as an adult and found it a bit lacking.

anyone been? Anyone been in the 90s and then recently?

i know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea and that’s ok

I'm sorry that my genuine experience of going twice with 2 kids isn't what you wanted to hear. Please carry on looking for 100% positive reviews. I have been 5 times to disney florida in total, but please, do carry on telling me how my actual experience is inferior to your theoretical knowledge.

Please, carry on and do the equivalent of mansplaining Disney Florida to me. obviously I did no research and bumbled along each day like I'd fallen here from space.

Go. Spend a fortune and come back and tell me I'm wrong.

I assume because apparently I am being unreasonable for having been 5 times and telling OP it was shit last year and it's making her sad because it's not what she wants to hear.

My dad was obsessed with Florida so I've been seven times between the late 90s and early teens. The Disney parks are fun but you do have to be a fan of rides which I wasn't always. I LOVED Epcot. We first went when I was 11 and my brother was 9 which I felt was a good age to go.

Florida isn't all Disney though and it's worth looking at doing other things like Kennedy Space Centre, Gatorland, driving over to St Petersburg or down to Miami. We even went up to South Carolina on one trip.

Been twice. Once when kids were junior school age, once when they were teens.

I didn't expect to love but I did. The latter time went in July, very hot but manageable as there are plenty of stores with air con to cool down. May was better. We had the Disney dining plan both times - worked well.

Agree @TheBirdintheCave , saw the Kennedy Space Centre, well worth a visit

I go pretty much every year, sometimes two or three times a year. I started going in 1991.

I love it and as much that has gone, has been replaced with even more magic. It will be very different to what you remember, but it’ll still blow your mind.

I can only think of one thing I really miss and that’s the Osbornes Lights in HS.

We took our son from the age of 3 and every year was amazing for different reasons. I would do each one over again.

Incidentally we are off again on Monday and will be back at the end of August…so I’m a pretty big fan.

Erm why pick on me? I’ve not said anything to you, it was another poster that called you miserable

Twice in one year? You lucky so and so!

can I ask how much you spend a trip?

I'm so sorry! I got you mixed up. Really sorry! Eating much humble pie!

Well, we popped over for February half term and paid £1600 for the two of us (DH and I). That paid for hotel, car, flights and airport hotel/parking. Nice and cheap!

This summer we are paying quite a bit more, but we are celebrating this so are splurging a bit. We are going for 4.5 weeks.
Condo - £2000
Flights and car - £2200
Hotel and parking - £200
Disney Cruise - £2000
Tickets - 1200

It’s not cheap and we do some serious saving. We don’t have new cars or fancy clothes etc. We prefer to prioritise holidays and DS is 18 so he’s taking a break from coming with us which had made it cheaper. But, personally I prefer to enjoy these holidays and they are our priority, so I don’t regret a single penny spent on them.

We don’t do just Disney though. As well as the other parks, we love the nature parks, springs, canoeing, snorkelling, beaches, shopping and dining. Even just relaxing by an empty pool (because everyone is at the parks). Kayaking Wekiwa Springs or floating down Rock Springs in a tube are some of my favourite things to do.

So we spend anything between about £1500 and £8000 per holiday, depending on what we are choosing to do.

And it appears I wasn't far wrong 😁

We went in 2019, the kids were 14 and 12. It was amazing. We stayed at the port Orleans french quarter which we chose because we got free quick service meals. It was handy to have the free buses for transport. It was before the skyliner. Id definitely be looking at Caribbean beach or pop century now for skyliner. We planned our days before we went and it was necessary because it's incredibly busy but we got the most out of it. We did all of the rides, some of them three times, we had character meals and we also went to universal and the gulf coast. We came away really wanting to go back but it has settled down now. (Until I read things like this)

‘Anyone been’??? Millions of people have been!

We went one October just for a couple of days (in Florida for other reasons) - hurricane season, was totally crazy, the rain was incredible 😂 1 year old and 3 year old and spent about $200 on buggy hire, fans which broke, and snacks, and only went on a couple of rides. But was STILL a fun time 😄

2 of my friends have been this year, one for 18 days! And one for 2 weeks.

I've been a couple of times with the DC, first time they were 3 & 8. It was perfect for a first trip, they were blown away by it even if they couldn't go on the big rides. The last time they were 7 and 12 which was a different experience as we could go on much more.

I didn’t go until I was in my 40s, since then I have been five times and I am going again this year.

If you think you might just do this once, then I would wait until your children are a few years older as they will get far more out of it. The very little children always look completely exhausted to me and they can’t go on so many things anyway.

I disagree that it takes a lot of forward planning, although for me planning is a positive. Since fast-passes were replaced with Genie+, the ability to prebook attractions went away and from next year park reservations are going away too, so the only planning you might do is dining. Even then there is always plenty of dining available on the day, I often make last minute changes.

It is worth having a good read up on Genie+ system in advance, or watching vlogs about it.

Re Genie+ I would say don’t bother reading up on it too much now as they’ve already announced that it will be changing in 2024. Lots of customers have complained that you end up spending ages on your phone trying to book onto rides, etc instead of enjoying the parks so expect some changes there.

Fingers crossed they change the pricing too because up to $35 per day per person at peak times is insane! That said, you don’t need Genie+ for every park so you can prioritise which days you do need it.

I love it. And I think Florida is way, way better than Paris. I love the sprawling lay out of WDW and how each park is so very different. There’s plenty to see and do and become completely immersed in. I love that you can still find quiet spots, and some of the dining is incredible. I don’t have kids either and I think it’s one of the best holidays out there, with some pre-planning. But I always plan ahead. It means I’m not spending my precious time there wasting time or getting stressed because things aren’t going my way.

My last vacation there was seamless. I got all the reservations I wanted, we had some brilliant service and cast member interactions. Watching fireworks from Seven Dwarves Mine Train is amazing!

Going back this year for a fortnight and can’t wait!

It's not even comparable.

We went to Florida 2012 then 2015 just as a couple, and we're taking our 4 year old on Boxing Day for two weeks.
We're staying on-site, sticking to Disney and the resort. Might do universal we'll see.

The year we stayed at Hard Rock Hotel for 3 nights. Awesome.
Can't wait for our DD to get a bit older.

It's an incredible place.

@Idlovetoknow there are loads of people who are Disney mad and go every year if not twice a year. There's a thing called Disney vacation club where people do timeshares and all sorts.
Go on to a website called 'TheDibb' to see the obsession in a different light.

I get it though. It's a truly magical place. I was absolutely blown away when I first went at 23 with my boyfriend. No kids either.
I'd happily go multiple times of year.

However, we've just spent 12 grand to go at Xmas, so no it isn't cheap !!

We went with DS when he was 7 and he loved it.
We stayed in a cheap off site condo with a lazy river and he loved that too.

We would go really early so the parks weren't too busy and leave by lunchtime- not great parade fans because of the crowds.

DS also really enjoyed Universal because there were little or no queues for the younger DC stuff and it felt a bit more spread out.

It was a once in a lifetime trip for us as we're really more villa in Europe people - it's now a family motto when DH looked out at our admittedly poor view from our condo awning of someone else's side of their condo and said mournfully "It's not Tuscany is it ?".

DS had a fabulous time and I'm really glad we did it. However exchange rate was a lot better then - think it was almost $2 to the pound when we went. I'm not sure I'd want to go and spend eye watering amounts on everything.

Also we looked at DLP but it was going to cost about 1/3 of the price to go to Florida for a 3-4 night break in uncertain weather, whereas going to US meant a 14 day holiday.

Sorry I meant cost 1/3 to go to Paris.

I’ve looked at the dibb but I find it quite intimidating and the Fb groups are filled with die hard disney fans. I like than mn is more balanced

so I’m looking and I can get POP and tickets for around 4k (10 nights, 14 is an extra £900) flights are coming up at around £300 to me that’s not crazy crazy? No dining plan as that seem extortionate. We’d likely eat quick service for the most part, with one or two ‘proper meals’. We’d get some dining credit with that offer too.

id like to take them now and then when they are older but still young enough to get kids tickets, so maybe 8 ish but then I think would be nice to do everything but this hols dh wants to stay just Disney to make it easier due to their age

I do get what you mean, 3/4 days at Newport or marvel without travel often comes up at £2k.

ive seen people rave about magic breaks prices though. Not sure if you’ve checked them out