Florida for two weeks. How much are we talking about?

[Whistleblower0]

Thinking of florida for 2015. We are only in the very early stages of planning.

i'm not looking for exact figures, but was just wondering if anyone could give me a reasonable breakdown of cost for flights, accomidation, car hire, park tickets (but only for 3-4 days for me and dd) as we would like to do lots other stuf, and besides DH hates theme parks, and is not madly keen on the whole Florida 'experience'

Also, when Is the best time to go, as in the least expensive, not too overcrowded/ unbearably hot, that kind of thing. Also flights, who best to book with, and how far in advance?
We could only ever do two weeks over the Easter hols, and summer hols, as apart from a day or two cannot take dd out of school, and wouldn't anyway as it's her gcse year.

So, we are two adults and a teen. We could fly from anywhere in the uk, and with any airline, but want direct flights.
We want to go for two weeks, stay in a villa, hire a car, and buy tickets for the parks for approximately four days for two of us.

How much are we talking about spending realisically?
Also, How much spending money on top of all the mandatory costs like flights and accomidation.
At this stage i am really looking to see of we can afford it.

We normally have a couple of holidays a year and a short break or two, but would be prepared to forgo all of them for a 'big ' holiday.
any advice, experiences very welcome.
Atm, I'm thinking easter 2015 would be the ideal time to go.

4 days in the parks isn't long. You would need at least 2 days to do Disneyland then with an older teen they are bound to want to go to universal for Harry P and all the bigger rollercoaster rides. Orlando really is about the parks so if your DH doesn't actually like them it could be a difficult holiday for all of you. suggest you buy the book WDW with kids and look at the DIBB website. in terms of cost there are lots of other threads on here with more up to date info. flights and a car will be a couple of thousand max and a villa - well how much do you want to pay and how near do you want to be. I would say a budget of £5K would do it but seriously you need to think if this is the best place for you all to go. What are you thinking about doing for the other 10 days when you aren't in the parks in Orlando?

Your child as a teen will be classed as an adult for the air fare and for park tickets.
Direct flights will also be more costly.
You will probably be cheaper booking flights/carhire/park tickets and Villa separately than a package.
I think you are probably more likely t9 be £5k then spending money on top?

Thanks both The dibb website is very useful. Have been browsing it. I had realised that dd would be classed as an adult. Already pay adult prices now for her for holidays.

5k is around the price i was thinking, so no real surprise there. Wouldn't book a package, as works out far more expensive than diying it. Lots to think about..

You should be fine with a budget of 5k if you don't do all the parks.

For crowds, late August would be much better than Easter. Easter is peak time for Orlando, and somtimes can get so busy that they shut the parks as they are full. US kids go back to school towards the end of August, so parks are a bit quieter. It is hotter and more humid than Easter though.

If you are only doing a few park days, then I think your teen would probably prefer Universal / IOA, if you can get your head around the idea of not doing Disney. We got a great flexiticket and did both of these parks, plus Aquatica, Seaworld and Busch Gardens.

If you only do a few parks, I would recommend doing a week in Orlando, then a week elsewhere. Florida had some amazing beaches, and lovely resorts. Anna Maria Island, Naples, and Marco Island are lovely, nice restaurants, and a fab outlet mall at Estero.

Miami and Fort Lauderdale are more built up, but have great shopping and lovely beaches, and you could also do a daytrip to the Everglades.

There is so much more to Florida than just parks, and it is easy to drive.

Aargh, typed out a big response and then lost it. Thanks a lot budgie we are thinking of late august '15. Week in orlando doing other stuff sounds wonderful.
I dont think two weeks is going to e long enough.

We were there last year with Dd1 14 and dd2 12. We loved universal but wouldn't go back to Disney parks with the exception of the water parks. I agree its hard to get your head around not doing Disney but for older DCs universal is brilliant. And yes around 5k all in.

Good to hear russ none of us are that keen on disney tbh, but the water parks are a different story.
We really want to do universal and busch gardens.
What time of year did you go?

We went Easter 2007. It was heaving over the main easter period but the second week wasnt so bad. It was boiling hot (mid 90's everyday).

Boiling st easter.[ shock] oh god we'll melt in august..

I'm going this year with ds for her 16th just a girls trip! I found booking accommodation with wdw way ahead of time meant I got cheap meal plan and an upgrade to the more expensive plan for free and my disney tickets were 14 days for the price of 7 my deposit was only 100 quid which means you have time to save to pay it off. I booked my flights with fly thomas cook who were direct and the cheapest by hundreds of pounds. Then when I booked my flights I got the travel agent to check prices of tickets and accommodation again just in case I could save any more cash. She confirmed I'd saved about 500 quid. Definitely best to DIY.

which accom are you staying in cake?

Tiredemma I'm staying in art of animation, dd is obsessed with the little mermaid but I could have upgraded to the Caribbean beach resort for just a few quid more but dd would not hear of it. But hey, it's all about her. bloody pesky kids it's got a spa and everything

We stayed at Port Orleans- its great being on site- especially to use the transport to the parks etc.

Hi whistleblowerO - we went at Easter and found it pretty hot and talked to friends that had gone in Summer, apparently it's not much hotter, but it is a lot more humid. Therefore if you are going to the parks, plan to go early and/or later when it's a bit cooler and the queues should be less.

We went to Florida last Easter. We stayed 2 weeks and in retrospect wish we had moved somewhere else for the second week, found Orlando very soulless and whilst we enjoyed the parks, we ( particularly DH ) were aching for some scenery.

We flew from Scotland and got reasonable prices on the flights by monitoring United Airlines on a daily basis and booking as soon as our dates came up - about 11 months in advance.

We booked accommodation privately - if it's the water parks you are fussed about then villa is good as you don't need to be there at the crack of dawn as they don't fill up as much.

We went first two weeks in August, we did parks in the morning when it was a bit cooler then leave for a late lunch, either go to the villa pool or more than likely go to one of the waterparks for a few hours. Back to get washed then either eat somewhere local or travel back into universal. It was hot but we only struggled on one day when went out later and spent the afternoon in a park. Look out for afterhours at Universal as it is so quiet (Saturday evening I think) but we just went on the Harry Potter rides on rotation, no queues and quite atmospheric as it got darker.

Definitely budget 5k, we went in October last year, which coincided with Halloween in the Disney Parks and it wasn't at all busy, hardly any queues and walks ons in Universal. this was during half term, although we do get two weeks, so perhaps that was why, as I know some only get one.

Two adults and one child, stayed onsite in Disney for 7 days and then moved to Universal for 3. We ate in the Disney Parks, which, but for the meal package we had for free, was expensive. In fact we were quite shocked when we went up to Universal and ate out there and on International Drive, how cheap it was.

I think, including spending money - we bought a lot of clothes back, it was around £7,000, but we stayed in Beach Club and Lowes Resort, so pretty good hotels.

Villas would be much cheaper - look on the Dibb and it takes literally half an hour to go from Disney property to Universal, so you could be positioned anywhere.

A friend of mine books a really cheap hotel which includes flights on line (with Cosmos I think) and then if the hotel is rubbish when she arrives, stays one night then books another one at a cheap last minute rate, often in Disney. However, the last time she went the hotel booked was really nice. This can be a cheap way of flying out there.

Alternatively, you can fly Delta to Philiadelphia and another place, but can't remember and the get an internal flight to Orlando. This can also save the queues in immigration, which can take two hours!

Also look at the Dis Boards, there are lots of offers posted on there from people planning a trip from the UK.