How much did Disneyworld/Florida holiday cost you?

[GrumpyGreta]

I'm desperate to go back to Disneyworld take my children to Florida and do all of the theme parks and trying to work out how much I'll need to save up for it.

Was thinking of going in the next 2 years, dd will be 10ish and ds will be 8ish. Am probably going to go with my mum and my two sisters.

What is the most cost effective way to do it and how much did you need all in?

Appreciate everyone has a different budget but hoping to get a rough idea.

We went last year and going again this year. For 2 adults and one child in total we are paying £6-£7k including villa, flights, car hire, attraction tickets and spending money (which will include the parking fees for the theme parks). We booked everything separately to save money and kept an eye out for decent flight deals etc.

In 2014 we paid around £8000. This was flights, accommodation, car hire, car parking, park tickets, blue man show tickets and spending money.

We spent about 8-9k. We did 2 weeks in August, 4k of that was flights . Then there was the villa 1.5k, tickets 1.2k car hire £500 and spends 1k.
The moral of my story is to be flexible with flights and avoid the height of summer (which we couldn't).

Have a look on the WDW website - bookings for next year currently include a free dining plan (which one depends on which hotel you choose) and a $200 gift card to use in the Disney shops over there.
We used a similar deal when we went this February - the dining plan and gift card was a big saving.

We have done both hotels and villas, for one week and two weeks. I think for a first visit you need 2 weeks, and tbh the cost for two weeks isn't as big a hike anyway as the tickets and flights are same regardless.

It is not a cheap holiday - the flights are you biggest cost. Will you be stick to school holidays or can you recoup costs by going term time (and factoring in a potential fine) which will save you money?

I just looked at our spreadsheet for when we went last August -altogether £8,920 for 2 adults and 2 children aged 5&8 (we booked everything ourselves). This was for:

• 4x Indirect flights with American Airlines
• 5 nights stay at the Caribbean Beach resort at Disney (for early entry, magic bands, free parking and free quick service dining plan)
• 2 nights at Royal Pacific at universal (to take advantage of front of line passes and early entry to wizarding world of Harry Potter),
• 7 nights stay at a 2 bed town house in Windsor hills

-4 x14 day Disney ultimate tickets with memory maker

• 4x universal tickets for 14 days
• 3 lots of character dining meals at Akerhus, Be Our Guest (Disney) and minions breakfast at universal
• £1500 spending money (though I think we probably spent a fair bit more in reality as this was the 'family' spending money!)
• Standard SUV car hire for 14 days with Alamo
• Meet and greet Car parking at Heathrow for 14 days
• ESTAs

We're planning to return in 2019 and budgeting around £10k - think we might do less days at Disney so seriously looking at Magic your way tickets - so far savings are looking minimal. Would also like to add in discovery cove and Busch gardens if we can. Universal ticket prices have also gone up massively due to the opening of volcano bay but won drop it because we love Harry Potter!

The trouble with Florida is that it can become an expensive addiction!

We did it in 2015 2 adults 2 children (14 and 10) total cost for hotels, car, park passes not including spending money £11k
Brilliant holiday though and the children still rave about it!

We did it in October 2015 and it was around £8,000 all in for 10 days. Flights cost £3,500 (Virgin). DC were the same ages as yours and it was great I want to go again!

We've been three times to florida (and once to eurodisney). Each time we've stayed for two weeks either on site at disney or splitting it 10 nights at disney and 4 nights at universal.

First time it cost £5k including food (free disney dining)and spending money($400 Disney dollars free) - two weeks in october at animal kingdom lodge - children 3 and 5

Second time £6.5k including food (free disney dining) and spending money ($200 disney dollars free) - saratoga springs for 14 nights children 5 and 7

Third time 7.5k including food (free disney dining whilst at disney and $200 disney dollars) and spending money- 10 nights saratoga springs and 4 nights at Loews Royal pacific (universal) - children 7 and 9

We wanted to go next year but I costed it up and even with the free disney dining its coming out at £8.5k for 10 nights on site at disney and 4 nights at universal. IMO that's too much for disney when we've been before.

We always stay on site, never bother with car hire because we stay on site, taxis are not expensive and fly into sanford which is generally cheaper even with the slightly longer transfer. It's a fab holiday.

Thanks everyone! Had a feeling it would be around the £10k mark.

Am aiming to go for two weeks (May half term and take the children out of school for a week) Our attendance is very good so hoping not to get into too much trouble

I remember going as a 12yr old and it is still the best holiday I've ever had, I think it will be worth the money and I don't mind doing a bit of bargain hunting! Time to start squirrelling money away...

£10k staying at a deluxe Disney resort with deluxe Disney dining, car, and includes 6 nights at the coast in a fantastic resort

We are paying £8500 to go next year for 3 of us just after Easter. It means taking DD out of school for a week but I'd rather pay £160 fine than the extra £2000 it would cost to go in the holidays! This does include v room access at the airport, a dining plan upgrade and discovery cove swimming with dolphins so we could have done it a bit cheaper.

We chose Virgin because of the flight times and service, they were really highly recommend by friends who've been before.

We are also budgeting around £2000 spending money too, though hopefully won't spend quite that much!

Yes the dining plan is good but the tips and alcohol add up.
£2k spending money should give you change though.
It's worth paying more to stay in a decent resort onsite in my opinion but I am quite fussy

@grumpygreta we take our children out fir a week every may half term, never been fined.

We've just booked for August 2018 and I was horrified at the £5.5k bill for 2 adults and an 11 yo. We have never paid anything like that before, but I see that everyone else expects to pay even more than that

Yes August is a bit cheaper because American schools go back in August and the heat and humidity puts people off

£5.5k is a decent price (although that is only for three people of course)

We've never spent much really when staying on site. The dining plan covers meals (and the amount of food you get is crazy) and we always get a food delivery on the first day for breakfast items. On site drinks are free and we buy a big crate of water bottles for taking around the parks. We generally have snack credits left over on the dining plan and the $200 free disney dollars makes a good dent into the tips (but not alcohol of course).

Animal Kingdom Lodge is a fantastic hotel. We stayed in a savannah room and had a couple of giraffes outside of room most of the time. They particularly liked the tree right next to our balcony. Saratoga springs is also nice but not as disneyfied as some of the other hotels. The main reason we like it is the proximity to downtown disney. You can walk across in 15 minutes or get the boat and it makes the evenings so easy.

We've never scrimped on our disney holidays and the last time we went the price include cirque du soleil tickets and the universal tickets. The first time we went it also included discovery cove tickets.

The prices are going up though and the poor exchange rate doesn't help. We are lucky in that the DC get two weeks off in october which is a great time to go and a bit cheaper. Good weather but not too hot and no queues.

Ooh hadn't thought about October!
Thanks for all the tips everyone!

5 of us,

We paid 15k last year, the children were 17, 14 and 13

That was 3 weeks , one week in a hotel and two weeks in a villa

In 2014 it was 12k

Have a lovely time, we are desperate to go back but it probably won't be til 2019

We went in 2015:
Thomson package - villa, flights, car hire, Disney, Universal and Discovery Cove tickets
2adults and 3DCs for 2 weeks in August
1 night at a Universal hotel to get front of line passes
Spent £3000
Overall cost £10k

We thought it would our once n a lifetime Disney adventure.......

This year we're one child down(he's now 19 and doesn't want to come, what??!)
Going for 3 weeks in August
Everything the same as above plus a 3 night Disney cruise
Budgeting £4k for spends
Whole thing will be £14k

I am not allowed to book any more holidays for a very long time.

We went last year at Easter and it cost us £7k. That was for flights, villa, attraction tickets and car hire for 2 adults and a child. Would have been cheaper to do a hotel but we really wanted a villa with our own pool.

How do most of you book it, via an agent, online package or individual elements?

We booked ours through Virgin. I've just checked on the Disney website using all the same elements, including a Virgin flight, and it is cheaper through them .

I've just booked 3 weeks for next February. Flights with Norwegian £1467, 2 bedroom apartment at the Blue Tree Resort is Lake Buena Vista, anticipating 3k on park tickets, disney, universal and sea world, all 14 days. Saving 3k spending money. Will use Uber to get around as we don't want to drive. Transfers over there were £128. This is for 2 adults and 2 children, will be 7 and 10. February was about 1k cheaper than Easter. I'd rather pay a fine although we are leaving in half term.

Accommodation was £1517 (roughly). Great deal.