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!

I never get the 'your child won't remember it' statements, children don't remember a lot of thing but doesn't mean we shouldn't do them anyway.

I go to Disney in 12 weeks with a 15 week old baby - no, she isn't going to remember it but I sure am and I will have all the photos and videos to able to her when she's older. I also plan to go back before she's 3 when we need to start buying her park tickets and then before she's in school.

Go for it OP. You won't regret it.

I would go!
Both of my dc were 4 the first time we went and can both remember and loved it!
Have a great time!!

I went in June with my 4 year old and my parents. We paid £5.5k for two weeks and that included a villa, an SUV (you won’t fit luggage and buggy etc in a normal car). Extra costs were $50 fuel to hire company and around $30 in toll road fees. Parking at Disney is still $20 a day. Food in Disney is very expensive so we mainly brought picnics (bought cool bag with us). I also brought a car seat with me to avoid more costs from hire company. I can use my phone data in the USA as if I’m in the UK so I had no extra costs for using my apple maps as a sat nav.

It’s possible not to spend a fortune whilst you’re there but it takes a little planning. I gave up luggage space to pack in car seat etc but as it was a villa we had a washer so I just bunged in a couple of loads whilst I was there and it worked really well. Id do that again to be honest, just bring 4 days of outfits and wash them there.

The company I booked with also have a free kids eat free card and a mobile SIM card with a weeks worth of data etc, I think it was about $20 to extend it to a fortnight.

Our Disney tickets were on offer so got 14 days for price of 7 and included memory maker so all the park pictures were included for free.

There was LOADS for my four year old to do, will he remember it? Probably not but I will and my elderly parents really enjoyed seeing him experience it. It’s probably their last trip to the states (my mum has siblings there) so Mum was desperate to go now and show off her grandson for the first and maybe last time to her older sister

Plus I’ll never be able to afford to go in school holidays so this was our last chance!!

We're there now & staying in the same apartment we stayed in when DD was just 4 (also went May before she started school). Asked her if she remembers staying here before & she said no.
However!! I will never forget her face when we saw the castle for the first time or when she met her favourite characters or all the other stuff we did.
Saying that though, I wouldn't get into debt to go on holiday.
If you do decide to go ahead, go on this site:
Www.thedibb.co.uk

There's so much info & there's loads of threads about how to do Florida on a budget.

One last thing, this is our 3rd time & haven't done universal yet, we want to wait until DD is old enough to appreciate Harry Potter & DH can take her on Hulk.

I'd do it 100% no regrets. We put ours on as long an interest free credit card as we can get and pay it off. It is a wonderful place for 2 and 4 year olds and going off season means not having to rush around so much so you can go at the children's pace.

I'd go to the DISBoards or TheDibb and read trip reports from May or of people with young children. There are lots of family YouTube vlogs now too. Then it can give you an idea of what challenges you may face that you haven't thought of. Both forums also have budget areas for tips on saving money before and during your trip. I would definitely only get Disney tickets

I've never understood why people go on about kids not remembering anything. Is that the only reason we do things with children? Should we all just sit at home 24/7 because they won't remember going to the farm or park or to visit relatives? People are fucking weird about it.

I wouldn't purely because the price isn't all that good, certainly not worth getting the credit card out for. We have been this year in the school holidays and paid just over 7k in total for flights, moderate level Disney accommodation, 14 day tickets and standard dining plan for 15 nights for 6 of us, four adults two kids.

Last year we paid £690pp for three weeks in the summer holidays, for flights, condo and car hire for seven of us (six adults, one child). However, despite he good deal that holiday still ended up costing us £13k, as park tickets and food are so expensive, despite self catering some of it. God knows what we would end up spending this year with the dollar rate being so poor. It's just not worth being in debt for. You could save for a couple of years and get a great deal when the kids are a bit bigger.

Also if you book direct with Disney including tickets and free quick service then get flights separate it's around £6800, so £1360 per person including enough food and Disney tickets. You also get the perks of extra magic hours, early FastPasses, transfers from.airport etc. Obviously more than your TR quote but everything is taken care of.

I used Skyscanner to search the whole month of May and found BA and Norwegian to have flights for £350-400 per person.

And staying at Port Orleans www.disneyholidays.co.uk/walt-disney-world/book/your-holiday/?token=79ec362f-08d5-4478-b2de-32ef1ad1cd16

The main thing that hits me is that you've said you don't actually have the money yet and would have to therefore go into debt to pay for an extremely expensive holiday. All in, with flights, hotel, car hire, park tickets, food, spending money you're looking at 7K for a couple of weeks. You could do Disneyland Paris and a couple of weeks in a fabulous campsite in France for 2K, and make just as good memories, plus you wouldn't need to get into so much debt.
However, as I am very much against anything Disney due to all sorts of appalling employer practices, tax avoidance and general brainwashing of children into believing girls should be pretty princesses who need rescuing by heroic prince. I would not spend one single penny on a holiday like this 😫😫

I can see the pros and cons of going. I really can. It's good to hear from people that have done it. I reckon we could cover about half the cost before we went and pay off the other half on our return over about 6-9 months, so not going into debt for a horrendously long time. I have no other debt (except mortgage).

My Mum would love Florida honestly. She's been to Disneyland Paris 3 times and also wanted to go to Florida. Walking isn't an issue for her at the moment as she's currently very fit and active (she's even part of a rambling club and regularly goes on 8-10 miles walks)! Which is partly why I wonder if it's better to go whilst I know her health is good and she will be able to enjoy it.

If you can afford it and you want to do it with your DM and she's in good health then those are good reasons. May is a good time to go, as well, as the American schools will be in session, as are schools pretty much everywhere, so it shouldn't be hideously busy (or hot).

No, your DC probably won't remember it. We went when DS1 was 7 and DS2 was 4 and DS2 doesn't remember anything, but I think maybe for you and your DM the timing is right. My ILs always wanted to go to Disney in FL with us and we booked to go with them in 2015. Unfortunately, FIL was diagnosed with cancer in March of that year and he was too unwell to come along. MIL couldn't leave him on his own, so she didn't come either and he died in Jan 2017 so never got to go to Disney with his grandkids. I wouldn't wait - you never know what the future will bring - go while you can and while your DM is in good health and can enjoy it. Your kids might not remember it, but I bet they'll have a great time when you're there.

I would do it, we have travelled to Florida as a couple and since our first DS was 8 months old, we got married on Clearwater beach!

But I would look for a better price, if your not tied to certain dates

Check
Virgin holidays
Travel city direct
Thomas cook
Tui
James villas

All have different offers

Also tickets wise if your just doing Disney then the UK Disney 14 day one is good But shop around!

If your looking at doing other parks as well or just want to save money check out Orlandoattractions.com a ticket provider they sell the USA version base tickets, we save money by buying only the base ticket one day in each park no hopping no nothing just admission, this time we are getting the 4 day base ticket and saving a lot of money!

For example for our family (5 of us)

The UK ticket was £2044
The base tickets £1477

I would much rather have that £500+ in my pocket for other things!

Lastly join the dibb, the forum is amazing for advice

I'll also add that my parents are 60 next year and stay in Disney every other year without children. They've been 12 times now, only 3 of those times with us as teens. I also honeymooned in Disney. It's for adults too!

Also if your really looking to save money why not look at this year? Just a thought!

Some bargains available for last Sept early October

Not sure where you can fly from but this is good via Thomas cook

Villa car ,flights will proberly have to upgrade car/insurance

I’d book it in a heartbeat, but only if it was reasonable that we’d be able to pay it off in time without stretching ourselves.

Would you be staying at a Disney Hotel? The virgin website has some fantastic deals for next Spring which include a dining plan and park tickets.

We stayed at a Disney hotel for our honeymoon in 2016, and despite neither of us being Disney fanatics, it was easily the best holiday either of us have ever had.

We’ve since had dd and I’m expecting again, so I’m currently trying to balance the whole “How young is too young?” For our next trip!

Can't go this year sadly as I don't have enough annual leave left from work.

It does sound like most of you that have done it with young children enjoyed it. DD2 would only be 2 though and is quite short for her age. Would she be able to go on most of the childrens rides do you think?

The Dibb is a great site, thanks to those that have recommended it.

You’d need to check what height restrictions are in place- there’s lads of planning websites which tell you what height a child needs to be, but there is also rides like It’s A Small World and Finding Nemo etc which don’t have any.

There are also the shows, parades, character meet and greets etc which depending on your toddler could be right up their alley- I can still remember the light parade as a 4 year old and picking my Minnie Mouse character hat!

Additionally, there is a little -moneyspinner- “boutique” in Magic Kingdom where kids can pick a princess outfit (for their parents to buy) and get their hair put up into a little bun for a photo, and walk around like that for the rest of the day. If you have a girl who is into dress up, that would be mind blowing!

There will be some rides she can't go on - but many of them would probably be too fast or frightening for her anyway. This site gives the height restrictions for all the rides in the Disney parks and most of them seem to be for 'any height', only the faster/scarier ones which you wouldn't want to take her own anyway will exclude her.

www.bestoforlando.com/articles/can-you-ride-check-walt-disney-worlds-height-requirements/

I’d definitely wait a little longer. We have just come back and we paid 5.5k going through Disney direct, that includes tickets to the 6 parks, transfers from the airport, memory maker. We stayed on one of the resorts and there are free bus shuttles to the parks every 20 minutes. If you hire a car you have that expense and also you have to pay to park at the parks. We also flew indirect and that saved a bit. Also go towards the middle of August as most of the American children have gone back to school.

I'm really torn on this one. I did a lengthy significant holiday for six weeks when my DC were 2 yo and 4yo & before my eldest started school. I don't regret it because it shaped them but they have very few memories of it. We also could really afford it - no debt etc.
We are going to Florida this Oct half term - they are 5 and nearly 8. Perfect ages and very much looking forward to it but the 5 yo is still too short for some rides

If this is going to be a one-off trip to Florida, I would say wait as you will want to take them again when they are older and will get more out of the trip.

As suggested Florida can be done 'on a budget' even in school holidays.