Cheapest way to visit Florida

[AzkabanWitch]

How do you visit on a tight budget?

Swim?

I would say:
-Go out of school holidays for cheap flights.— Don’t stay on site. Find a relatively cheap hotel (that has a kitchenette so you can have a fridge and don’t have to eat out and can make packed lunches)
-Make sure the hotel is one that has a bus shuttle to the parks
-buy lots of cheap Disney bits (from primark or similar places) to give to the children upon arrival and as surprises throughout the stay so they don’t want lots of expensive souvenirs.

-try and do only one set of parks (e.g. Disney) so you don’t need combo tickets

It won’t be cheap, whatever you do. Enjoy!

We bought flights very early when they were released. We went to Disney for 1 day only and Universal for 2 days. No fast passes. The other days we did free attractions. Booked a cheap motel with 2 double beds in a room and a small pool- make sure there is a fridge in the room. We took packed lunches and ate breakfast in the room. DS has an allergy so we took a Drs letter in case we were not allow to take food in. Took water bottles and filled at the fountains. Had a cheaper chain restaurant meal each evening.

I planned the route exactly and took a map, then worked the plan. We did the whole of MK in a day and they met all the people they wanted to. Arrived an hour before opening, then we left as they shoo'd us out - it was about 11.15pm.

I even have a picture of us all in front of the Castle with no one else in sight - we were literally the first people in 😂

DC remember it as utterly magical and talk about it all the time, they have never asked to go back. The whole thing worked like a dream and cost about $430 for the day at MK and $640 for the 2 days at Universal. The whole holiday was £4200 for 4 of us for 2 weeks :)

Look at indirect flights.

Go via Atlanta- it’s only an hours flight from MCO. Saved us thousands.

Go end of August but expect storms.

how many people and how tight?

Sorry OP posted too early. We booked a year early with Travel Republic, took the kids out 2 days early from school (went Easter)…it’s amazing what that saved. Flights were with Virgin. It gave me great satisfaction to see the HUGE difference in price for not booking the same package with Virgin just because their flights were direct. Our flight was out via Atlanta but direct coming home. I would do it again to save all that money. We then got an Uber from MCO to International Drive cost approx $30/40.

Fly into Tampa airport rather than Orlando, and hire a car. Rent a place on Airbnb or similar. We stayed in a 4 bedroom house in a gated community with a swimming pool about 15 miles from the theme parks and it was a bargain compared to a hotel on site. Self cater breakfast and take a packed lunch some days. Freeze bottles of water, use them to keep the lunch cool and drink them instead of huge cups of fizzy pop.

Do you mean Florida? Or do you mean Orlando/Disney?

Fly into Miami indirect midweek on whichever airline is cheapest, look at the American carriers. Fly hand luggage only.

Don't be scared of the cheap motels - laugh at the Trip Advisor reviews (the desk staff are always outside smoking drugs, and there's always a prostitute) - it's great parking so close to your room and every one that we've stayed in has always been really clean (if a little damaged/dated).

Don't go to Disney, if you want rollercoasters go to Busch, it has the best waterpark too.

There is so much to see and do in Florida without going anywhere near Orlando.

If you are going to Orlando, stay close to the parks and don't bother getting a car. Uber is cheap and easy, cuts the silly parking fees, and saves the longest walk of the day back to the car.

Yes, Uber is ubiquitous! Car hire is pointless unless you're going to be driving a lot. We Uber'd to and from MCO, to and from the supermarket, and to and from Universal. No problems at all.

You could look at staying at a cheap villa.
October half term in the UK is not a holiday in the US so prices for accommodation is lower. The same for the end of August. Most US schools go back before the UK schools so prices drop. Avoid going during Easter as this is super peak.

It will be £££. Savings can be made by ensuring you have cooking facilities and getting a deal on tickets but it is still expensive, even a pack of eggs from the supermarket costs more than here I’m told. Eating out in the USA is now very pricy

We did non direct flights, changing in Newark, hired a town house type villa on a gated community with a shared pool.

Sorry - I know this is old. But I live in Tampa. It's usually cheaper to fly to and from Orlando to the UK than from Tampa. In fact, we often drive to Orlando to fly to the UK even though it's much more convenient (for us) and pleasant to fly from Tampa, because it's so much cheaper.