Florida on a budget with young children? Utter maddness?

[KitKat1985]

So we've stumbled across a deal to Florida for 2 weeks next May for me, DH our 2 DDs (who will be 4&2) and my Mum which works out about £800 a person for flight, villa and car hire. It's a really good price but it's money we don't really have right now, and we would be paying it off over 2019 if we went (and of course spending money, park tickets, ESTAs, insurance etc would be on top of that). BUT, I'm desperate to go and take the kids and my Mum (all of which have never been) and part of me thinks we should just say 'sod it' and do it before DD1 starts school and we have to face crazy prices to go in the school holidays (I checked and it's about 3 times the price!) and whilst my Mum is still in good health to fly and enjoy it (she's in her late 60's). Then I also remind myself about the 'joys' of flying for 9 hours with 2 small children, and getting them to adjust to the time difference / jet lag. Would it be complete and utter madness to just do it? Is taking small children long haul just hell? Will they appreciate the Disney parks at such a young age? Advise me oh wise Mumsnetters!

If you do go I would book it all direct with the airline and villa provider; not such an agent.

They are a booking agent and state this in their terms and conditions. They are a very different animal to those who actually do sell package holidays.

We're aware Travel Republic aren't a travel agent in the 'traditional' sense but have travelled through them before with no issues. Oddly Attila we looked into booking flights with Virgin Atlantic directly and the flights were coming up at about £100pp more expensive! No idea why!

Sorry but you're wasting your money. Wait til they're older and you can save and really enjoy it.

It won't be much fun with screaming toddlers and tight on cash, I wouldn't bother.

At this age I wouldn't do something that big. We took ours to Disney Paris at that age and DS (2) hated it. DD was better but quite frankly would have had as much fun in chessington, which is just down the road.

There is so much else to do in Florida too which would only work with slightly older - I'd save for 2/3 years and have a comfortable budget for when they are 6/7 ish.

Aw I’d say go for it OP. We haven’t done the same yet BUT we’re taking our 3 yo and under 1 in october. So, I may change my tune. But I’d say YOLO and although the kids won’t remember it, me and DH will. We’re only doing 1 day at Disney world though and the rest on the west coast.

West coast of the state I mean, not the country!

I too would save for longer and go when they are over 6. They'll still feel the 'magic' and they'll be able to go on more rides, stay up later etc. If you can only do Disney then Paris is a better, cheaper option.

We went recently. Youngest was nearly 2yo.

We actually found that there was more to do at Universal for that age (Suess landing, a large play area and a few others). There was very little in terms of play areas at Disney (except perhaps Animal Kingdom). Also most stuff at the water parks was aimed at bigger kids.

It was very expensive, as a pp said we paid £500 each for park tickets (which was a good deal). It was 15-20usd per day for parking at the parks, you'll still have to eat (don't forget 15-20% tips) etc etc

We are saving to go again in 5 years, so youngest is 7 and should remember it (& be big enough for some of the rides).

We went as part of a big group, we would not have chosen this age otherwise. In your shoes I'd wait.

Its not really a bargin if you cant afford it, it really depends on your financial situation ( income, expenditure and debts). Cbbcs land or peppa pig land would also be alot of fun?

I would only do it now if you think you could afford it again in the future. It'd be a shame for your one time at Disney would be when the children are too young to take full advantage.

Some good points here. Maybe Disneyland Paris is more practical for now (and only a couple of hours away on the Eurostar) which would be less stressful I guess than long-haul at their ages.

It doesn’t sound that cheap to me if you’re not tied to school holidays. I’ve just had a quick look on a random date early May on Virgin holidays and they have 14night packages from £635pp for 3 adults a two and a 4 year old, £685 for a villa on a resort. If you join the flying club you can get a further discount on that too. I saw direct flights for May this year as low as £400pp.
We took our youngest aged just 4 last year. He had an amazing time, he was no trouble at all on the flight despite normally being on the go all the time (unlimited screen time on the plane 😉) and completely and utterly loved Disney.
14 day Disney tickets were the same price as 7 days last time I checked, so you can do more short visits to the parks rather than full days. Fast passes mean you don’t have to queue for everything. You will definitely need 2 pushchairs. I agree that Universal is a waste of money for children that young.
Go! You only live once.

Then I also remind myself about the 'joys' of flying for 9 hours with 2 small children, and getting them to adjust to the time difference / jet lag.
You don’t really get jet lag on the way to the US but do feel it much more on the way home. Just build in a day or two to recover on the return. Flying with kids is hard at any age but iPads are a lifesaver! I found it infinitely harder when DS was a baby, as a three year old it’s heaps easier.

We would probably just get Disney tickets to be honest rather than Universal
It depends what your kids are into. My DS loves dinosaurs, superheroes, King Kong and Harry Potter! Universal was hands down his preferred park (we also went to Magic Kingdom). Maybe measure your kids and check out the height guides for the rides on the park maps (easily done online)? You’ll quickly be able to see what they can do and decide if it’s worth it for you. I made sure I had a plan for which rides he could go on for both Disney and Universal to maximise our time. We only went for a day at both as we regularly visit Florida (my mum lives there). As a previous poster has said, there's tons of other stuff in Orlando.

Your kids wont remember being there at that age.
I don’t remember what I did last week and I’m a grown up!** My DS is three and we’ve already gone to Florida twice and Thailand. We’re going to Japan in October. He doesn’t remember everything but he does surprise me with the things he does remember. And I have a million fond memories of seeing him experience the world.

My biggest tip:
On our last trip to Florida I developed a bunch of pictures from my iPhone in Walgreens on our last day and stuck them into a scrap book (that I bought in the U.K.) with a glue stick. It was a really fun activity for the flight home and I wrote word-for-word everything he said when he looked at the photos. He took it into nursery when he went back and did a show and tell. We also took the scrapbook with us to see grandparents back home and he loved telling them all about his adventures! He still looks through it occasionally.

Woah! Really didn't mean to make that last paragraph all bold!

Some great thoughts and comments here. Thank you everyone that has posted. I think I need to mull over the pros and cons for a few days and chat to DH about it.

3boys3dogs where did you find that offer? I'm on the virgin holidays website and can't see anything close to that sort of price so you must be better at this than I am. Lol!

Ahh found it now! Oh dear that's even more tempting!

Haha! Sorry not sorry
Apologies I only just saw your question but I see you don’t need me now. It was Tues 7th. I didn’t look for prices for long at all - I picked a Tuesday because they tend to be cheaper.

Great thank you 3boys3dogs!

If the holiday is for you and your mum then do it. If it's for the kids save your money and take them somewhere cheaper.

Having said that I would never do a holiday I can't afford. It's just not worth it when you can still.have fun cheaper.

OP
Please reconsider

A lovely Mediterranean villa with swimming pool.
3 hour flight. Easy transfer.

Chilled relaxed fun days. Odd day trip. Bit of beach time.

This is perfect holiday with children your ages and will come in wry reasonably priced if going outside of peak holiday.

Does your mother really want to be traipsing around a theme park?

Or does she want to be sitting in the shallow end of a private pool whilst her two grandchildren splash around her

I’ve booked with TR,absolutely fine

AttilaTheMeerkat - and that’s why you buy travel Insurance. To fill any gaps.

I agree with Disneyland Paris, it really is magical. I've done Florida too and it's great but honestly for that age DLP is perfect and so much easier. Recommend Davy Crockett Lodges, they have a wonderful pool.