Holiday from Orlando with 2 and 4 year old

[Morecoffeethanks]

I have found some very reasonable flights to Orlando for Easter next year. It looks like a good time of year to visit. Where would people recommend visiting. The kids are used to four hours or so in the car so we are happy to travel around a bit and explore.
I was curious about cruising also but DH is worried about over crowding.
We will definitely visit Disney but would like to see some real life too.
Any recommendations?

Before you book, have you seen the news article tonight about having to declare all of your social media handles, email addresses and phone numbers for the last 5 years? I’d be tempted to hang fire and check what’s going on with that if the US is going to be using it to keep people out of the country.

Actually, it’s only proposed for now. If it doesn’t come in before Easter you’ll probably be ok:

US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dz0g2ykpeo

We've been to florida quite alot, love it

I'd recommend a week doing disney parks (i actually prefer universal but disney better for those ages)
Then spend some time either at a gulf coast beach (anna maria island is my fave but expensive. Cheaper options include St Petes and Clearwater
For day trips from orlando (if you would rather stay there) look at cape canaveral (Kennedy space centre), beautiful natural springs like Wekiwa plus loads of stuff in orlando that arent the parks - crazy golf, ripleys believe it or not, wonderworks, the crayons experience, gatorland etc

Just a warning- flights may be cheap but everything out there is EXPENSIVE so budget accordingly

@Tillow4ever that feels quite dystopian indeed. We don’t do social media in terms of Facebook, instagram etc so it might not be a huge deal for us but certainly makes me feel quite uneasy.
@HorrorFan81 thank you for all the advice. Woulda around £5000 all in be enough? That is our budget. Asia feels to far at the moment with the children and I really don’t fancy Dubai. There is always the Caribbean I suppose but that’s pricey too.

Yeah, I felt very uneasy reading it! I also wonder will they believe you if you declare you don’t have any? What happens if you can’t remember an old phone number? Or you signed up to something 4 years ago and then never did anything with it so forgot you even had it? What if a scammer created an account with your name and image (we know this happens) and they find it doing their background checks and refuse you entry as a result?

I’’m glad I’m not in a position to be going over there! Which is sad - I went twice as a child and loved it, always wanted to go back.

I am sure you and your family will have an amazing time. If the kids were older I’d suggest one of the water parks, but I’m thinking it might be more stressful them anything else at their ages!

When you apply for an ESTA visa into USA it already asks for your social media details, and mobile number - I don’t think that is unusual or anything new. We have to do that for past 10 years or so.

Social media is optional on ESTA at the moment.

The gulf coast is nice and the everglades, you could go down to the keys.

We did a cruise over Easter from Port Canaveral and it wasn’t too crowded. However make sure you choose a cruise line with a splash pad for non toilet trained toddlers as they aren’t allowed in the pools. We stayed in Cocoa Beach before the cruise which was lovely and went to the Kennedy Space Center which we loved.

Also you need car seats for under 5s so might be worth thinking about those logistics? I generally suggest people with U5s stay onsite at Disney as it’s so much easier (we stay offsite as DC are older).

@Morecoffeethanks is the £5k including flights? Honestly I think you will struggle on that for 2 weeks in or around Orlando especially if you're wanting to do disney. I think your disney tickets will be about £1.5k, car hire probably £500, accommodation at least £2k, likely more. Eating out is SO expensive and even buying in groceries costs alot. I would say two weeks in florida with 2 kids, including some Disney time, is close to a £10k holiday but others might have advice on how to do it cheaper. There is a good FB group I think - Brit Tips for Orlando

Florida is great for a holiday. Expensive though sadly, £5k might be a push.
A cruise for part of it might be a good idea as it will fix the cost of that week. Disney cruises are fabulous but likely out of budget. Have a look at Royal Caribbean and NCL to see if any work.

I was thinking 10 days so my older daughter has time to readjust before back to school. DH says he doesn’t mind upping the budget a bit.
Is there a reason people spend so many days at the parks? Is it queuing or they are just that big?

@Morecoffeethanks depending on the time of year queues can be long and yes they are big. Plus disney has 4 main parks then a water park too. Just depends how much you like all that stuff and how well your kids cope with the crowds and waiting. You could just do a couple of days and choose the parks that interest you most. Personally my family LOVE the parks and rides (although more universal now) and can easily fill 16 days just in orlando. Its quite common too, just to go to the parks in the morning, have a break in the afternoon by the pool then head back in later on. Depending on the time of year tho, afternoon thunderstorms can rain off some of the activities

@Morecoffeethanks The parks are enormous and there’s a lot of them! And Easter is a busy time there.

It's both. You'll want at least a day in each park and even then, unless you're there dawn to dusk and sprinting rounds, you won't see it all. And there are 4 parks, plus a water park. Easily doing 15k steps per day which is a lot for little people so you'll want some rest days in between.

And yes, big queues. Last time we went it was so bad that by day 5 my child was crying about having to go back, which wasn't exactly magical.

Those are the reasons most people do disney as a 2 week trip. And because its expensive and you can only get a 7 or 14 day ticket from the UK so if you've paid, you might as well use it.

Food is expensive in the parks.

Thank you @ChristmasIsAMindset im not sure I fancy several days in a park. One or two days at magic kingdom will be enough. Maybe I will have to rethink this…

I've done Disney about 11 times. Your 2 year old is too little - it's soo expensive in the parks and they'll be bored and whingey in a couple of hours max. Honestly go somewhere else