I know it’s not an AIBU ! But Disney world - Florida.

[Troublewaters2021]

Hey !
Between covid, daughters health and big change to her life we are looking at taking the kids to Disney land Florida or a Disney cruise.
Kids will be DC 9 , 15 and 18 months at the time and taking niece who will also be a teenager, plus the 2 teenagers best friends.

Anyone have any recommendations of the best accommodation of hints on what to book to get the best out of it ?

Want it to be special especially for DD 9.

Thanks

I don't think anyone's suggested having a look at the DIBB website yet? It's a fountain of knowledge for anyone planning on visiting Disney and the forums are really useful if you have questions to ask.

I worry that this will be a holiday dictated by the teenagers ( 4 of them and some not family so increased responsibility) and the baby who needs attention and is in reality at a place like Disney quite a limiting factor - with the 9 year old lost in the middle.

Think about the reality if how this is going to work 9 people and baby.

They don’t need friends as they will love it. So much to do for any age. Think you’re making a mistake. Do the friends realise how much it will cost - near in £450 for Disney ticket, food, flights, much bigger villa. Seriously, rethink the friends.

Disney hotels if you can afford it - amazing! You can walk to some parks easily, like Beach club to Epcot and Hollywood studios.

You’ll also need a massive car if there are loads of you..
I always tell people to stay on site, particularly for first visit, since getting around is so easy, but not with that many unless money is no object. I agree with the others that you should drop the extra friends. Teens will also be wanting to do universal and you’ll want express passes (the most cost effective way to get these is to stay in a universal hotel for a few nights).

If you are up for a £30k plus holiday though then do say. We can help you spend on the best things.

We stayed in a villa which was great because we all had our own space and a pool. We had plenty of room to relax. We hired a car so we're able to travel to different places like Wild Florida and Clearwater Beach as well as the parks. Don't underestimate the water parks, they are a lot of fun and a great "rest day". A few times we did the water park then headed into a main park for the evening.

So there are ten of you going, the six children / teenagers and four adults. You really need to be offsite, the onsite options for a group that size will be astronomical, maybe £25-30k. Who are the other two adults and are they related to any of the children that are not yours thar are going? It all sounds a bit much and stressful to me, I would trim the group back.

Highly recommend looking at the forums on The Dibb. Everything you could possibly want to know about Walt Disney World is on there!

Definitely agree with others that have said a villa would be much better! You'll have SO much more space (which you'll need with that many people!) and your own pool.

Only the nine year old and the baby will be classed as children by Disney. Their adult age is 12

Taking a 18 m/o baby along to this, means a stroller. or back pack.
Sounds like misery to me, unless one adult stays at home or is prepared to go home each day. Unless you can get on site child care/baby sitter.
Never been.

Disney ticket adult age is 10, not 12.

Baby will be fine as long as as you have a stroller, no problems.

And ive done it with two kids under 3. Wouldn’t do it with friends kids.

@PlumpAndDeliciousFatcat

If it’s special for your 9 year old why is she the one who doesn’t get to take a friend?

This.

We need to know the budget... and will you be paying everything for everybody?

Would the friends parents be ok with it? I know it’s not what you asked but it’s not the type of holidays want my kids going off and doing without us. Would you be paying for all of them? We were supposed to be going last year (but covid) and it was about 2.5k per head once you included park tickets and that’s before any food/spends.

Can also confirm it is 10 for adult ticket as dad would have been 9 last year but will now need adult tickets

I would not be taking other people's children for a start, see if their families might want to go at the same time if you really think the kids will need the company. 2 weeks of taking responsibility for other people's children. Tickets at a minimum cost of £437 per person, the cost of additional flights, additional food, additional health insurance is probably £2000 per person, if you're doing it on the cheap.

Don't book it until restrictions are completely lifted if you're only doing it once. The fireworks are spectacular but they're currently not doing them because of Covid and crowd control. Many restaurants are not open, fast pass is suspended and disney dining plan is currently not available.

Book things as early as you can to get the best availability.

Book the attractions in Pandora (in magic kingdom) around sunset. As the sun goes down, the whole place lights up. To see it around you is absolutely amazing.

Don't underestimate how big it is, and how tired the kids will get. When we go, we usually like to get to the park were going for the day, stay until 12/1. Then we often head to the water parks for the warmest hours of the day. Often get food outside of Disney, then head back to another park in the evening. We plan to do the fireworks or closing show at each park once, the other nights, by about half 7 you generally find that the wait times of rides go down quite a bit. You can almost walk straight on some rides as the fireworks are on.

Mickeys kitchen sink is a must for a group as big as yours!! Its at the beach club!

If any of you are disabled, make sure you take their blue badge, from my understanding they now charge for parking in their resort as well as at the parks, you should, from my understanding be able to bypass the resort parking fee with it. Also, see about a DAS pass (you mentioned a change in DD9s health- I took that to mean worse so that's why I've said that!)

If your DD is into Princesses, take her a Disney princess outfit or two! They can wear dress up in the parks until they're 12!

If you're staying offsite, and you choose a villa- book one where you'll know the area before you arrive. Last time we went we ended up in a villa out in Haines City. Between the location being so far away, and the traffic on the I4 it took us more than an hour most days to get to Disney.
You can get free water in the parks, but honestly, I do a walmart trip when I can't sleep early hours of the first morning. I always buy a few crates of drinks, I usually freeze them and take them out of the freezer last thing at night the night before.

Don't overlook the shows. I hated lion King as a kid. Hated it, haven't much liked it as an adult. The lion King show, makes me cry every time I'm there. Dole whip is available just opposite =)

Don't miss the safari in animal Kingdom. If you can do it at a few different times. The experience just differs a lot.

Sanaa at animal kingdom lodge is really quite special.

Ohanas for best friends breakfast is something we love!

Beauty and the beast fans will love Be our guest. It's fairly pricey, but its QS so no tip is required. It's such an experience being at the restaurant. The masters cupcake is also available on the menu at around $5. You see the beast if you go for dinner, but its significantly more expensive.

Don't forget the sunscreen. Usually we can tell fellow bits by their skin tone. Many of us end up lobster coloured!! If the kids do happen to get burnt, there's an after sun in an aerosol bottle, it contains Lidocaine? It numbs the area and is fab! I got burnt because I applied sunscreen like I was in the UK. Hahaha. I BLISTERED!

The teens will really enjoy disney springs. Everglazed, amorettes, Gideons bakehouse, or sprinkles are all great for a sweet treat. However gideons bakehouse allows upto 6 cookies per customer, so two of you might need to queue. The kids will love the Cupcake ATM

If looking for a really cheap, really simple, fries and burger meal, I'd recommend steak and shake, it's literally cheaper than mcdonalds. Their milkshakes are amazing! They also do a decent and inexpensive breakfast. They're offsite, but if you end up staying offsite it's not a bad shout for a quick, inexpensive meal.

Also offsite, but Longhorns for steak.

Your 15 year old doesn’t need a friend to keep them occupied - it’s flipping Disney World! 9 year old will love it, baby will be fine as unlike U.K. theme parks there is no minimum ride highly for most of the rides, and they offer rider swap for the bigger rides so your daughter will get to ride twice! We go every year (covid permitting) and usually stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge but are trying Caribbean Beach to take advantage of the SkyLiner. We are spending £10k on just the 4 (kids 4 and 8) of us for two weeks and that doesn’t include food or spends (considering the majority of sit down meals are $100 a head, $50 a head for breakfast) - you must be minted to consider it for people that aren’t your immediate family!

*Pandora is in animal Kingdom, not magic kingdom. Sorry my mind went elsewhere because DH woke up and decided he wanted to chat about why I was up earlier than he!

If your son is bringing a pal, that sounds like eleven people going.

Fuck it, can I come? You'll hardly notice the difference and I'll be company for your wee 9 year old whose 'special' experience is probably going to get ridden roughshod over by a bunch of teenagers.

@thegreenlight. Exactly!
We took PILs in Dec of 2019, we also do disney each year. We stayed offsite in a villa. T of us £10k for flights and accommodation, tickets were about £400 each I think.
Spent £5000 feeding us all.

And that was on the cheap. I can't imagine how much it'll cost for 8 people

I am going to echo what others have said. What is your budget? 8 people is really going to cost you.

We have been a number of times to Disney World and people always ask me how much is it. When I tell them the price of tickets and then the flight prices they are shocked.

Tickets for Disney World 14 day ultimate which allows park hopping on the same day are £435 each. For 8 people £3480 (it is only £20 less for a child ticket than an adult ticket.

Flights anything from £700 upwards, most likely around £1k for August so another £5600 - £8000 for flights.

Then accommodation, staying on site will make your eyes water will be expensive and as Disney transport you round inside the system, no car hire needed. But you have 8 in your party so you will need to look and see which ones will accommodate this size. Or hire a villa but you will need either car/van hire due to your party size or Uber. We don't hire a car because 8 lane roads are not what I want to deal with and I have driven in the US in the past.

Then food, eating out or getting food in requires you to shop at one of the many massive supermarkets. Eating within Disney is going to cost more but there are a lot of options.

We did this naively as a "once in a lifetime trip" which has seen us return many times. We absolutely love the place. I agree the dynamic of teens, a 9 year old and an 18 month old is going to be difficult to juggle.

We’ve been a few times with Virgin holidays and had villas. Disney cruises look great but my teenagers wouldn’t have loved them, as they seem to be geared towards younger children. There is so much to do in Florida that is special there really is no need to book anything else.

We did Disney 2019 and stayed at port Orleans French quarter. Fantastic hotel, boat to Disney springs, lovely food.

I've been keeping up with the Disney situation and they have now changed it (how long for, nobody knows) where you have to book which park you want to go to on which date. Now this may change as they reopen fully and international travelers allowed.
They have also stopped the dinning plan (again for how long?)
The big thing for us staying on site was the dining plan and the ease of getting to multiple parks on one day using the bus , and getting the shopping to our rooms

I went in 2014 with just me and the dp and we stayed at melia suites in Orlando. Which is basically self catering suites, so you have the feel of a hotel but can do self catering. And the rooms were huge. They also did a shuttle bus to the parks , but the times were much more restrictive.
If I was going back based on the current Disney rules I would be staying off site, renting a car and staying in a Vila or self catering apartments.