people who go to WDW multiple times

[victorianphobia]

Following from the WDW discussion with Virgin - can I just ask a cheeky question? People who have been to Orlando/WDW multiple times what do you expect to pay?

We are looking at summer holidays 2020 - we are restricted to school holidays as both DH and I work in schools. I was shocked to see that including tickets it was coming out at £2k per person and that wasn't staying in a Disney hotel. Including spending money we'd be looking at over £10k for 4 of us for a fortnight!! If we stayed at Disney we'd get the dining plan which would save money but the hotel, flights and tickets were more like £2700 pp so no cheaper overall.

Am I just hopelessly niave about the cost of this or clutching at straws am I missing something that makes it much cheaper? I just can't believe people spend £10k on a fortnights holiday repeatedly but maybe I'm just wildly unrealistic!

I've never been (only to the Paris one!) but a friend who went recently got a great deal by staying at a timeshare resort.The offer did include tickets to the park. There was the catch of having to sit through a 2 hour sales presentation which apparently wasn't fun but if you can steel yourself to do that, maybe an option? Just did a quick google to see if I could find some info on this which I couldn't but did see this which could be useful?www.thesun.co.uk/travel/3896459/cheap-entry-and-accommodation-at-disney-world-save-thousands-on-a-family-holiday-of-a-lifetime/

Well the cost has of course gone up over the years.
We go every 4-6 years and save up.
We are going next year and yes, it’s going to cost 10k. We are paying bit by bit.
It is worth every single penny, it’s utterly amazing.

We could pay 10k off the mortgage I suppose but we don’t want to. We want holidays.

Have you looked at the cost of self catering off site and hiring a car? They’re not all massive villas with pools - you can get apartments etc with shared pools which might bring the cost down.
I went years ago and booked through Travel City Direct, which I believe has now been taken over by Virgin. You could try something like Owners Direct? It might be cheaper to book accommodation, flights etc separately rather than as a package.

I really recommend looking at the DIBB forum. There are loads of people on there who will be able to give you ideas of good deals.

My only tip would be don’t stay too far out. The traffic is hideous and if it says it is a half hour drive, it will often take an hour or more in traffic.

Unless booking last minute booking separately has come out much cheaper for me, especially as flights are so cheap atm. We are paying about £8000 all in (inc spending money) for May half term (and then into term time) but that's doing the full monty as far as we are concerned- Disney on-site, Virgin flights, Universal on site for 3 days. I've seen some cracking deals last minute. Have you priced up staying on site for Aug 2020 as they have the free dining offer on atm.

You coud go somewhere really great for £2,700 each.

Are you sure the dining plans save you money? Not been since 2011 but we certainly would not have eaten all the food we would have prepaid for on a plan (and we are sporty types who do eat quite a bit of food!). I also had a former colleague who used to bring back shedloads of confectionery to the office that she had got to use up extra dining plan credits at the end of their holidays!

For years!
Book villa yourself. Book car yourself, pay for flights on budget carrier or in sale, annual insurance policy as cheaper!
Last August 3 A & 1 C. £3000 £600 extra for tickets! And that was one of the highest prices we paid!

I’ve done the timeshare thing in Tenerife got a weeks holiday for 2 at £140.
Trick at the presentation is to just stare and say nothing. They soon get fed up.

Book flights yourself through netflights, we got Virgin flights cheaper than through Virgin direct, 330 each return via Orlando.

When you add in free dining and that you won't need a car if you are staying onsite it can make the cost of on-site seem more reasonable, although it's still horrific tbh. Also you can drop in and out if parks and you see fit. But yeah .. it's expensive.

Oh and our flights were in Feb, not August! I have tracked flight prices and I book at 11 months out as that's the cheapest time I have found, but bet that depends on time of year- flights are the only place I have made savings!

Indirect flights are a lot cheaper. You can then tag somewhere like New York on the end if you want to.

Book a villa - but beware that the maps of where the Villas are can be misleading. They will go to a larger scale for the further out ones, to make them look much closer.
The forums are great for advice on where places really are.
A friend went in February and had a great time, although I think he managed to get snow one day, and it was a bit chilly.
The end of August can be cheaper and quieter (locals are back at school), but still very hot.

We sat through one in Mexico years ago - we’d been told it would be a 30 minute chat on a holiday club in exchange for a days boat trip. Stupid in retrospect as the trip didn’t cost a fortune! My DH told them we were naturists, this was our first holiday with our clothes on and asked in how many of their resorts we would meet like minded people? Brought it to a close early but it was a hard unpleasant sales environment. As above, it saved my friend a lot of money and worked for them as they are as tough as old boots but something you should go into with your eyes wide open!

I’ve been almost 30 times. We never stay onsite and diy everything. We actually have a villa out there but even taking that out of the question you’d be much better staying offsite if finances are your main concern. We fly with Virgin, booking in the Seat Sales, do lots of price comparisons on car hire
etc. We do a mix of self catering and meals out including some meals at the nicer Disney Hotels which can be $$$ but worth it in our opinion. Only buy tickets for the parks for the days we need and don’t do parks every holiday. We might go to Sarasota or Naples for a few nights or even New York for a weekend instead of 14 consecutive theme park days. We’ll visit Disney Springs or Celebration for some free or
cheap “magic”.

People do regularly pay 10k each year, I know a good few of them! There’s no way I would though. Disney accommodation is nowhere near as nice as some of the resorts you can stay in in Orlando for a fraction of the price. I agree with the suggestion of the Dibb, it’s a great site for deals, tips etc.

Look here for villas: afforablevillasneardisney.com
Here for care hire usrentacar.com
Family annual insurance policy: travel supermarket.co.uk
Flights here: Norwegian.com
Airport parking here: just park (app)
tickets for parks are on sale here: hotdealsuk.com

Do you homework and buy early enough and it is affordable.

We have just booked for this September. We have paid for flights, hotel, park tickets, airport parking, hire car, ESTAS and travel insurance for 2 adults & 2 children. Around £2900.
Flying Thomas Cook, staying down idrive.
Obviously spending money will be on top.
This was after a good few hours searching for a good deal as was being quoted £4000 for flights, hotel and park tickets only through Disney (still flying Thomas Cook)

We've just booked to go for our third time!

For us it's always an expensive holiday which we save for over 18 months. I'm a teacher so we have to go in school holidays and we like a bit of luxury.

Next year we'll be staying at Disney hotel for the first time, which is upping the price. I think it's costing around £12000 so far and we haven't booked Discovery Cove yet.

But as someone said up post it is an utterly amazing holiday!

We're going again next week 4th time as a family.
It's costing us
£7,600 for:
14 nights, flying with Virgin
Villa (non-Disney)
14 day Disney tickets
3 day Universal tickets
Car hire

We still have to buy food, petrol and parking, plus other spending.
Disney car parking is $25 a day.
We'll need about $3,500 spending I would expect.

Should've said for 4 of us.
Kids are 14 and 11

Look at staying in a villa. It's a very tiring 'holiday' and it's good to be able to go back to your own place, flop into the pool and eat in. Personally I find eating out every night anywhere very tedious, most of the American supermarkets, Publix is the best in that area, have plenty of easy food options (although nothing to compare with M and S chilled meals). American supermarkets are not as cheap as many people think though, probably more expensive than in the UK. It doesn't have to be too much of a chore feeding yourselves, everyone chips in.
The best ticket is a 14 night Disney/Universal combo, f you're going for more than 14 nights you can use the tickets non-concurrently, this is about £720 next year. Buy early to be able to get fast passes 60 days before you go. You need to apply military precision to get the best deals. Remember an adult is 9+ years old.
Last Easter we took 9 people in a villa for 16 nights, we paid about £15k for flights, tickets, villa and car hire, we have a very good contact for villa sleepnearthemouse.com, lovely coupleto deal with.

About £8-£10k for four in August, depending on hotel etc of course.

LadyRannaldini you can only access Fastpasses at 60 days if you stay in a Disney hotel. If you re staying offsite it's 30 days.

Last year we had 9 nights Disney hotel, dining plan, Memory Maker free photos, Virgin flights, Disney transfers for 3 of us for £5400.

Previous visits we've stayed in I drive or Kissimee, got tickets from one of the discount shops and saved by buying the basic non hopper option, and it's come to just under £3k.

We went 4 years ago and the prices have the 14 day park tickets have gone up so much. We paid £500 pp for 14 day park tickets for all the parks, when we go next year they are £810pp.
We are going next February in term time because the cost of the flights in the holidays was just horrendous. We got flights for £2,100 for 2 adults 2 kids flying with virgin and sitting on the upper deck still economy but it's so much quieter upstairs, I think we paid £35 pp each way to be up there but it definitely worth the money. We have rented a 4 bed villa on a resort (not Disney) because ds1 & DH will play golf it was around £2,800. We have just decided to do the Disney & discovery cove parks this time and for 14 nights we got tickets for £2,100. Last time we went I just found out I was expecting ds2 3 weeks before we went. He will turn 4 while we are there so it will be a bit more of a slower paced holiday this time. We think spending money car hire etc it will come in around £10-11k, it's definitely not something we would do every year, but we aren't really lay by a pool holiday people so happy to holiday in England then do Florida every few years.