Booked our Disney holiday today - any tips?

[NarkyNamechanger]

We are going next Easter and just wondered from people who have already been, how much spending money would you advise us to take?

We are 2 adults and 3 children (10, 7 and 3) and will be self catering in a villa for two weeks, day by day shopping or find a supermarket?

Flying into Miami and staying there for the first night, would love to do the whole Disney/ Universal / sea world / Epcot extravaganza and have found passes for £263 pp for 14 days- is this a good deal or should I keep looking?

Thanks :)

Definitely buy your tickets here for the parks as its much cheaper than when you get there. I think that sounds about right for the passes, there are various deals, so just for Disney/Epcot and then universal and seas world come under another. From the ages of your kids you will need all passes I would think as although universal might not have as much as Disney for your 3 year old it will have LOADS for your 10 and 7 year olds.

We had a villa and loved it, but we ate out every night and often went to the ponderosa for a cheap brekkie, you will love it!!!

join The Dibb message board! Full of great advice

Yep, get ye to the dibb.

Definitely find a supermarket, the food in the parks is mega expensive so you may want to take packed lunches. I think you park tickets deal sounds alright.

We flew into Miami and stayed for 3 days before driving up to Orlando. Definitely take the toll road up to Orlando, it is such a long and boring drive without it. Just to warn you, Miami airport is one of the most awful, backward airports I've ever been to and going through immigration takes forever (literally over an hour queuing) which is awful with a small tired fed up child.

Its SO exciting isnt it!! We go in 5 weeks, cant wait

Tips,
defo visit Walmart for food shopping (car tyers and guns if you need one..i kid you not!) We took sarnies and fruit and drinks with us into parks as all they really serve is greasy burgers & fries, we got fed up with junk food.

Buy bottles of water, pop them into the freezer the night before, and take them out to take with you to the parks, they are lush when defrosting when its hot.

Its cool in the shops as the air con is very good, you may need sweaters.

Get "fast passes" for the rides in the morning when you get onto the parks, as you end up in lines for a couple of hours for the most popular rides. Not fun with little ones.

Park tickets are not cheap,many offer multi park tickets, so check. Sea world for eg offer equatica too, well worth going, awsome place.

Give yourselves a few days off, honestly you will be absolutely wrecked as the parks are huge..i mean HUGE, impossible to get round in one day. you need rest days at the villa to just potter and enjoy your pool. (do laundry and relaxxx)

Magic kingdom opens till late, its well worth satying for the fireworks and the parades are fantastic, go back a few times.

Budget for car parking, you have to pay addittional car parking at every park, it can get expensive.

ENJOYYYY!!!

Sorry, I read my post back and it sounds really negative. We had an amazing time. We went with our toddler. He most loved The Seas with Nemo and friends at Epcot and the safari at Animal Kingdom.

I second getting fast passes. I also second having a day off from the parks at some point. We had a really lovely chilled out afternoon at a small but v attractive town called Celebration which was funded by Disney to look like idyllic small town USA. Lots of lovely cafes, a big lake to walk around, ice cream parlour, farmers market etc.

Have fun!

We always did the bottlesof water/freezer trick.

Buy your tickets here.

Definitely do a supermarket shop, we always used Publix on I Drive. You can get huge platters of fresh fruit (strawbs, pineapple, melon etc) for net to nothing. We ate out most nights, but had takeaway a couple of nights - you get loads.

It can be pretty exhausting, so I would do a pool day then a park day and alternate like this whilst you are there.

I would recommend Walmart over Publix (slightly cheaper).Target is also good though. If you don't want to eat junk food try restaurants such as Cracker Barrel or Perkins where you can get proper home cooked food (meat and two veg). They're both very reasonable. Under £20 for two adult and one child including drinks.
Would avoid all you can eat buffets. Over priced and food not that good, only handy if you have a small toddler who needs feeding immediately.
Would definitely recommend signing up to Dibb forum. Very knowledgeable people on all aspects of your holiday.

Would also second that you can't do parks everyday. It's too exhausting. You need to alternate with pool, water park or even shopping days. The shopping is very good.

Claudiecat - can't agree I'm afraid; no trip to FL is complete without at least one visit to Golden Coral. Always found the food great, especially the meatloaf, sweet potatoes, bourbon (?) pot roast, those little fish bites, a million other things, and OMG the puddings!!!

Yes agree on car parking, we went 4 years ago and was 11 dollars then to park, soon adds up over two weeks especially if you visit more than one park a day. I.e evening parades... I guarantee the last week you will try to cram everything in! We loved it, you'll have a great time.

Disney parking fees cover a full day of parking.

If you have parked in one Disney park and then want to park in another Disney park on the same day, you don't need to pay again. Just show the parking ticket/pass you obtained from the first park at the barrier of the second park and you will be waved through. We've done it loads of times.

Thank you all so much for this.

I went twice as a child and would love to make it as memorable for my children as it was for me.

Park every other day or so
We have used this its very good
www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=brit+guide+to+orlando+2014&tag=googhydr-21&index=stripbooks&hvadid=22619653374&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=323526630718232231&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_6jdkie2ixx_b

We also found it good to have a lie in and get to the park for the parade as then loads of people go home so its a bit quieter, look on the walmart website to find your nearest one.
Re frozen drinks, we bought a polystyrene coolbox for about $2 and left frozen drinks in it for when we returned to the car.
We drove to Fort Lauderdale and spend a day on the beach here
www.visithollywoodfl.org/hollywoodbeachbroadwalk.aspx
stayed in a laquinta hotel it was excellent
www.lq.com/lq/index.jsp?iata=99020724&WT.srch=1&sissr=1
Oh and went shopping here
www.simon.com/mall/sawgrass-mills/stores
It was excellent to break up the two weeks, like a holiday whilst on holiday.
We managed to buy a load of Disney pin badges at a Disney outlet store, the Disney staff swap them for you kids love it

I am going too. Great advice on this thread, thanks folks, we are v excited!