Disneyland Florida - worth it these days?

Disneyland Florida - worth it these days?

Author
Discussion

broken biscuit

Original Poster:

1,633 posts

200 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
The wife and I went to Florida in 2006 - did Disney, Universal, Busch, SeaWorld etc

Roll on to 2018, we have 3 kids (10 5 4) and wife wants to go back.

I have costed it out for two weeks in the school holidays and we're looking at £5k plus park tickets (she wants to do Disney, Seaworld, Discovery Cove to swim with dolphins etc) which is going to be circa £3.5k in tickets. Add 2k or so for spending money, and we are at £11,000!!!

Can I do this cheaper? Is it worth it? 11k is a new car!



Saleen836

11,061 posts

208 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
Is that price a package for flights and hotel? have you looked at costs for booking flights seperately (flight sales on at resent) you can rent a huge villa close to the parks for around £300 a week if you shop around

rustyuk

4,568 posts

210 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
We went 2 years ago. Met a lady who had full breakdown in the mono rail. She had taken twin three year olds.

I'm glad we did it but won't go back! We spent 10k + and the hotel was a chav fest! (Disney
Caribbean)


broken biscuit

Original Poster:

1,633 posts

200 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
I've costed it a few ways. 5k will get me a Thomas Cook package - direct flights, hire car, room only hotel for 2 weeks.

If I book separately - cheapo indirect flights, same hotel, own hire car I can get it to 4k. A villa is 4.5k cheapest all in if sourced separately.

Its a huge wedge of cash for me to part with, and will take a long long time to replenish my savings, so I have to be sure the kids are old enough to be able to do everything, enjoy it etc.

98elise

26,373 posts

160 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
Price everything separately...

...rent a villa

https://www.orlandovillas.com/

....and avoid Disney. Its much cheaper (and better) in the universal parks. Universal studios/islands of adventure 14 day pass is £200 per person

https://www.park-tickets.com/universal-orlando-tic...


edited to add....

At their ages I would take them out of school and go earlier or later in the season. The weather will be better and the queues much shorter.





Edited by 98elise on Tuesday 2nd January 12:54

Puggit

48,355 posts

247 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
We only went to DisneyWorld for the Halloween evening. The cost for general admission park tickets is eye wateringly stupid.

For the rest of the time we were in Universal and the Seaworld parks (buying a Discovery Cove entrance should give you 2 weeks in Seaworld and whatever the waterpark is called). Much better value for money.

broken biscuit

Original Poster:

1,633 posts

200 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
I have daughters aged 4 and 5 who are both Disney princess obsessed. I cant go to florida without doing the parks.

The wife also wants to do Discovery Cove and swim with dolphins which is £1300 for the 5 of us!!

I have a few things I want to do - Kennedy Space Centre, Daytona (circuit and beach), possibly down to Miami for a day so really 7 day park tickets will suffice.

One thought - I have distant family out in Florida - not known well enough to go and stay with etc, but who I could get to purchase tickets for our parks - is it cheaper for locals to buy tickets?

I have no issue with taking the kids out of school but my work is also school-based, so not only do I have to pay £120 fines for taking them out of school, I then have to pay for childcare for the two weeks I would have been off in the holidays...

barryrs

4,376 posts

222 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
Check out the special offers on Virgin.

The wife and I went for a week in October and for flights, accommodation and car hire it was £516 each. I did upgrade the car to a Camero RS on arrival for an extra $220 though.

Discovery cove is decent value when it includes sea world and aquatica.

I found universal tickets via Virgin to be the cheapest and just paid for Disney at the gate.

Steve Campbell

2,110 posts

167 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
The 4 and 5 year olds will likely not remember the holiday at all in a few years. Wait until they are 8 or 9....or until they are tall enough for the big rides and forget Disney :-)

Black can man

31,816 posts

167 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
Steve Campbell said:
The 4 and 5 year olds will likely not remember the holiday at all in a few years. Wait until they are 8 or 9....or until they are tall enough for the big rides and forget Disney :-)
Sound advice sir.

Matt Harper

6,613 posts

200 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
broken biscuit said:
One thought - I have distant family out in Florida - not known well enough to go and stay with etc, but who I could get to purchase tickets for our parks - is it cheaper for locals to buy tickets?
It is a little cheaper for FL residents, but tix bought this way are not transferrable - i.e. the tickets need to match the ID of the resident...

danzltiu

585 posts

201 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
School holidays are likely to be crammed as well as the weather is too hot/humid. Renting a house or even an apartment would probably work out cheaper. You will likely need a couple of rest days out of the 14 so splashing about in your own pool is very cheap + takeaway dinner etc will not break the bank. There are some combo tickets for Disney and Universal/Seaworld which might work out cheaper. I used to own a house out there so if you want a couple of sites to look at PM me.
If you do consider going earlier then it would need to be before the 2nd week of June (when US school holidays start). The parks get busy from then on in.
Considered flying out of Dublin saves a lot in flight duty etc, and pre clear US immigration. but you have to get to Dublin first.

Sheepshanks

32,528 posts

118 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
Saleen836 said:
Is that price a package for flights and hotel? have you looked at costs for booking flights seperately (flight sales on at resent) you can rent a huge villa close to the parks for around £300 a week if you shop around
I daresay you'll post a link up to one now smile but having been many times I'm going say that's way out. Huge and close to the parks is going to be £1000/wk, especially as the OP is talking about the summer holidays. And good places will already be booked up for this summer.

We've been most years since 1990, we always make our own arrangements for flights, accommodation, car hire and tickets and I try never to add it up! Reading TheDibb about families booking for 2018 and looking at £15K causes me a bit of a gulp.

Sheepshanks

32,528 posts

118 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
Black can man said:
Steve Campbell said:
The 4 and 5 year olds will likely not remember the holiday at all in a few years. Wait until they are 8 or 9....or until they are tall enough for the big rides and forget Disney :-)
Sound advice sir.
We took our granddaughter who turned 3 out there (so free to get into the parks as they go on age at arrival). She's 6 now and still talks about it and often asks if we can back.

For us it was fantastic to see it through her eyes, but it is pretty limiting with a small child. She was great, but had 6 adults (our daughters and their husbands came too) looking after her. Apart from not being able to go on a lot of rides, the heat, crowds and scale of the parks make it exhausting even for our normally bonkers granddaughter. Some kids cope well though - we chatted to another family as we left a park one evening and their kids were still absolutely bouncing.

Puggit

48,355 posts

247 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
Black can man said:
Steve Campbell said:
The 4 and 5 year olds will likely not remember the holiday at all in a few years. Wait until they are 8 or 9....or until they are tall enough for the big rides and forget Disney :-)
Sound advice sir.
My kids were 8 and 10 and both are very tall for their age. Got on all the rides biggrin

WestyCarl

3,217 posts

124 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
broken biscuit said:
The wife also wants to do Discovery Cove and swim with dolphins which is £1300 for the 5 of us!!
I did this a couple of years ago with 2 kids, 9 & 6.

Yes it is expensive but it is an superb day; everything from arriving, food, organisation, pools, equipment, snacks, etc is very well done. The kids still remember it now.


ollie05

697 posts

219 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
Me and the Mrs went this year, stayed at the Rosen inn international which was fking awful. Get what you pay for I guess!!

In terms of worth it, even though I was ill for most of it, I hadn't been for over 10 years and my Mrs hadn't been before, and it's ace.

Both over 30 but u turn into a child again when you get there, lol.

Buy the park tickets in advance, we saved a few quid there, and you can book your fast passes for Disney 30 days before your intended park visit. They go quick, so I was up at the crack of dawn to get what I wanted.
Download the my Disney app, link all your tickets then you can sort the fast passes in one go instead of separately.

Needs to be planned well, as if you wing it, you will be in queues all day and not get on anything! TripAdvisor is the best bet, was invaluable info for us.

Another thing, even if you book a package, don't bother with the 'free' hire car, as they aren't really free. You need a certain level of insurance cover to be properly protected over there, and the package hire cars don't come with it, then you end up paying 300quid plus for the proper insurance, which can be more expensive than hiring direct, with all the full insurance and an extra driver thrown in.

We used Alamo Brits. Booked in advance, price fluctuated a lot, and as it's free cancellation, I cancelled 3 times so I could get the best cheapest price. Worth doing smile

Some good deals on Thomson depending on when you go, want to go again this year, but as it's an expensive holiday, and not much will have changed in a year, it's probably not worth it, but it's such a fun place and my Mrs loved it and wants to go back every year biggrin

Edited by ollie05 on Tuesday 2nd January 14:31

liner33

10,641 posts

201 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
We went a few times when my son was younger . first time in a villa rented off a friend and flew to Tampa , cheap but a hassle . then a couple of time with Virgin via Orlando , stayed in the Grand Floridian easy but pricey and last time in 2012 stayed in the Reunion resort which was awesome , got a really good deal online https://www.reunionresort.com/

broken biscuit

Original Poster:

1,633 posts

200 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
Rosen Inn on international Drive was the hotel I was looking at - very 'budget' lol but offered by all travel agents.

I could book (end july for 14 nights)

flights - 2 adults, 3 kids - via skyscanner -£3k or thereabouts

rosen inn (room only)- £990

budget villa via florida4less - 3 bed with pool - £1160


hire car - via netflights.com - £266


Same package via Thomas Cook (Rosen Inn) is £4949


Save myself around £500 booking myself

Planning to book it myself I can get a good deal on the high street?

PistonBroker

2,406 posts

225 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
I'm in the office today and Mrs PB is at home with the kids. A marathon session of Jonny Irwin showing people around Florida yesterday has resulted in her exploring it as a holiday option in June. Little Miss PB is in Y6 and there's a school trip to Wales she's not interested in, so we said we'd take the opportunity to pull her and Master PB out of school for that week and visit my Aunt in Mallorca. Now it's morphed into her settling on 2 weeks in June in Florida instead. WTF?!

Mrs PB has got flights down to £1200 from Gatwick for 5th-19th June. It's probably just as moot a point for you as it is for me though - we've already been declined formal permission for the week in Mallorca, though the head wished us a nice trip, so I suspect bunking off to Florida for a fortnight will really be asking for trouble.

Will watch this one with interest as there's no doubt we'll have to go at some point - Mrs PB was taken there by her Aunt as a kid so considers it a rite of passage I think - but I'm going to have to insist it's in the school holidays.