Is the states (specifically Florida not Orlando) just really expensive now?

[BarrelOfOtters]

looking at Florida keys and Miami in March and there’s no hotels under £200 a night and they don’t look great….

The USA is obscenely expensive right now for everything, not just hotels. A breakfast in Key West for two adults and two children cost roughly $100 including tip. A takeaway sandwich was $12. We didn’t hire a car as rates were ridiculous.

If money is tight I would rent a condo and self cater.

Dollar prices have gone up but the $/£ exchange rate isn’t helping. It’s almost 1:1 just now which is unusual.

Also March is an expensive time for Florida. It’s spring break season for many American colleges which will make some places very pricey (Miami and Miami Beach especially).

Apparently a lot of people moved to Florida when their job contracts changed to wfh, so there's been an influx of well paid professionals across a state, driving prices up everywhere. But with tourism being the main income for many towns, it will impact everyone. Obviously there are other factors but I thought that was interesting when I learned about it.

are you looking over Spring break? also consider the panhandle rather than the keys as its about half the price, not as touristy or spoilt as the keys are imo. if you do go up to the north then look at Crystal river and swimming with the manatees plus lots of festivals on in Feb and March.

Spring break should be finished by the time we get there. I know the pound is rubbish at the moment, but we went just before Covid and were in Arizona and it all seemed much more reasonable...

I'll look at the panhandle.

Spring break isn't a set week/fortnight, they have a 'peak' which is early-mid march this year but spring break season rolls on into April, and Florida is a key spring break destination which is probably why it seems even more expensive than normal!

Spring break. That's handy I hadn't realised. I'm shocked at the prices though. And also trying to work out where hurricane ian hit.

It won't be hurricane season then. The Keys are expensive though and the rate is shit. The Keys are high demand and Key West is well liked by the gay community so lots of deluxe B and Bs.

The US is insanely expensive now. I was on the East Coast a few months ago and was gobsmacked at the prices of everyday things. Eg over $7 for a coffee (and exchange rate is basically 1:1 when you factor in sales tax and any exchange fees).

Yes, we were there in November and spent a small fortune.
For example - $200 for one meal of one shared starter, 2 bowls pasta, 1 bottle of the cheapest wine on menu, no pud.
Not forgetting the always expected 20% on top of everything.

We were warm though!!

We're going in April for two weeks and I think our £4K budget for two weeks (2 small kids) is looking a little light including daily Ubers to/from the parks (and to/from the airport) food (self catering) and other spends

Depends on how far Uber etc will be, you can go on the app and see live rate estimates before you go.

Also depends on what you want to eat, table service meals can quickly become expensive, plus plan for 15-20% for a tip.

We went last year, stayed in a Disney hotel so used their buses etc to get to parks. Took Ubers from airport, to Walmart, universal etc and ate mostly at quick service restaurants as kids just wanted to be in the parks and spent £3.5k, this included the kids probably spending about £500 on souvenirs.

America is expensive. We
Go and visit family and I was shocked in the summer how much it costs to buy non chlorinated chicken, non gmo food in the supermarket. We don't bother shopping for clothes anymore it's on par with her (Nike, Levi etc). It was €10 for water at a water park and yes we could have brought our own bottles but forgot. Won't do that again!

Thanks MrsWhites, that's reassuring. We won't be planning many sit down meals as going with another family with young kids who will hopefully have the same priorities (and budget) as us!

$22/$25 one way so $50 per day ish, forgot you could check remotely! So $500 and we were expecting $1,000, will swap a few hundred dollars to the restaurant budget

I’ve done Key West - it’s fabulous, but it was expensive before the £/$ tanked, so now I imagine it’s just insanely expensive!

Thinking we had 4 nights in a KeyWest resort last year for $1200, 4 bedrooms. That was December, very peak season. Had a great time, though.

@lljkk what was the name of it? Nothing is coming out at that sort of price!

Spring break in our school district's doesn’t even start until March 31. It’s not a set date like Easter or Christmas.

Groceries have always been a lot more expensive here than the UK. I always say “hood food costs more here, bad food costs less here”. So although you can get a medium dominos pizza here for $5.99, I find it impossible to get a week’s groceries for the two of us and our dogs for under $250.

Don’t forget though you will likely go to parks twice at least most days, no way can you stay all day until evening, it’s just too hot and humid so you’ll likely go back to your hotel at some point during the day. Taxi prices will also be really high immediately after fireworks/park closing. Think about hanging around for half an hour and you’ll notice the price comes down again.

Thank you. Still probably works out cheaper than car hire and parking!

Have a look at Mears

www.mearstransportation.com/orlando-airport-disney-busch-gardens-shuttle-transportation-service/

I remember the good old days of $2 = £1 in the mid 2000s. Breakfast for 2 at ihop/ Denny’s was less than $10 inc tip. We literally used to check in an empty suitcase, drive to the outlet mall and load it up. DP was wearing pairs of Timberland shoes ($59/£30) and Levi’s (2 pars for $49) for years afterwards.

It's very expensive atm. We were there at Christmas and couldn't believe how expensive everything was, from flights to accommodation to food. We were in the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area. The exchange rate is also horrible.