Disneyland Florida - worth it these days?
Discussion
Sheepshanks said:
We've been a few times at that time of year - like to spend time at Epcot's Food and Wine festival, which makes the trip a bit more grown-up. If you time it right, you can catch the back end of Halloween and then get Christmas as well. The only snag is the Halloween and Christmas parties cause Magic Kingdom (MK) to be closed to non-party ticket holders on many evenings, which pisses me off in itself, but also means on the remaining non-party days the place tends to be rammed.
Don't think it'll be generally a quiet time of year either - Disney doesn't really have quiet times now, they work hard to pull people in. While we were there they were opening up MK at 7AM for on-site guests - getting up at 5.30 was a bit surreal, but it did mean for the first couple of hours the place was deserted.
Good luck doing it for £4K - I dream of a low-cost Florida holiday. We (just wife and I) went end Sept last year at fairly last minute and our flights and accommodation alone cost £4K. However we choose what we want to do, then try and get as cheaply as possible - to be honest, I think if you tried to fit into a fixed budget you'd end up regretting the thinks you cut back on.
We are planning on going early October to avoid the Christmas crowds as even early Christmas Disney is busy now, unlike a few years ago. We've done Spring Break and 4th July weekend, both of which was mentally busy, I'd rather not do that again.This does mean we should catch food and wine though! Don't think it'll be generally a quiet time of year either - Disney doesn't really have quiet times now, they work hard to pull people in. While we were there they were opening up MK at 7AM for on-site guests - getting up at 5.30 was a bit surreal, but it did mean for the first couple of hours the place was deserted.
Good luck doing it for £4K - I dream of a low-cost Florida holiday. We (just wife and I) went end Sept last year at fairly last minute and our flights and accommodation alone cost £4K. However we choose what we want to do, then try and get as cheaply as possible - to be honest, I think if you tried to fit into a fixed budget you'd end up regretting the thinks you cut back on.
If you go middle of January it can be quiet, I have friends who normally do that, but I don't want to wear a jumper and trousers as its a bit cold normally.
If you can get early access to Universal that is normally well worth doing, Virgin normally offer it if you buy your Universal Tickets from them. I've never done the Disney Extra Magic Hours as we have not stayed onsite due to the extra cost. I have found if you avoid the park that is offering the Extra Magic Hours the other parks are quieter on that day. I always use a crowd tracking site like Touring Plans to choose where I am going in advance.
Plan is to get everything as soon as it goes on sale, you can normally save a decent amount on the flight, lowest I've seen is £350 return (each) Gatwick to Florida for that time of year, currently it is just under £400 on Skyscanner for this October if you aren't fussy on which days you fly. Villa should be under £1300, an off property hotel is cheaper but then you have to pay more for food. That leaves £2k for tickets, the hire car and food. Should be just about do able for the 2 of us, 14 day Disney ticket (same price as 7 day) is £738, same for Universal is £490, leaves ~£800 for food and the car. As we are planning on eating in (we have done all of the big restaurants over the years) we should be within budget bar the extra tickets for Not So Scary and Halloween Horror Nights.
I go in may I think 2k in spending money won’t be enough for 5 of you we’re taking about 3500,4000 as food is expensive! We’re doing all the parks but discovery cove as ours are 5 and 2
So far the Disney hotel and Disney tickets have cost us 5,600 and we are flying with Thomas cook in premium our universal tickets are a further 700 and our hire car is another 700
Join its Orlando time on Facebook as there’s loads of advice on there
So around 11k for us
So far the Disney hotel and Disney tickets have cost us 5,600 and we are flying with Thomas cook in premium our universal tickets are a further 700 and our hire car is another 700
Join its Orlando time on Facebook as there’s loads of advice on there
So around 11k for us
tankplanker said:
We did it last year for the end of June/start of July after the kids finished their GCSEs, it was their choice as a reward for working hard on their GCSEs. We spent about £15k in total without too much problem for the four of us and could have spent double that with ease. However we treated it as a holiday of a lifetime and saved up out of our holiday budget for two years for it. We went two years earlier, over Easter and spent about half that even though that one was over a proper school holiday period.
Myself and the Mrs are planning on going back for Halloween next year when the kids start at Uni by ourselves, as we love the place. My current estimates have it as no more than £4k, I'm hoping for less if I can get a good deal on the flight.
Cutting cost down you need to avoid:
1) Going anywhere other than Disney or Universal, as for UK residents the 14 day passes usually work out the cheapest for these, and there is more than enough to do if you haven't been recently
2) Discovery Cove in particular - it is very pricey, we went on the 4th July to avoid the parks on one of the busiest days of the year, the food is rubbish but the experience was amazing, but not really worth the money paid, and that is even taking account that we had a double length, individual dolphin experience for free due to f
k ups from Discovery Cove on the day.
3) Eating out as much as possible - if you have a Villa you can save a small fortune eating in for breakfast and tea, and taking a pack lunch to the park. While there are some great restaurants they are the ones that need pre booking weeks in advance, in high season and cost a packet.
We've been in June/July twice and it has always been mega hot (and this is even compared to Turkey, which we regularly go to in the summer to see family, which is also around 40c), it doesn't bother me but it does bother the rest of the family. I'd avoid the summer if the extreme heat bothers you.
If you want to go for Star Wars I would wait until Summer 2019, the new Star Wars land will not be open until then (and will likely be an extra charge for the first few months) and Hollywood Studios is pretty crap at present as more than half of it is being redeveloped at present. Toy Story land will open this Summer at Hollywood Studios if you have younger kids though.
Worth noting that supermarkets are not as cheap as the UK and the exchange rate hasn't helped that. A lettuce is something like $3. Breakfast at home is fine too. We did a few evening meals in the villa, but nothing too taxing. My wife cooks everyday for all of us and its nice for her not to do that when on holiday. Myself and the Mrs are planning on going back for Halloween next year when the kids start at Uni by ourselves, as we love the place. My current estimates have it as no more than £4k, I'm hoping for less if I can get a good deal on the flight.
Cutting cost down you need to avoid:
1) Going anywhere other than Disney or Universal, as for UK residents the 14 day passes usually work out the cheapest for these, and there is more than enough to do if you haven't been recently
2) Discovery Cove in particular - it is very pricey, we went on the 4th July to avoid the parks on one of the busiest days of the year, the food is rubbish but the experience was amazing, but not really worth the money paid, and that is even taking account that we had a double length, individual dolphin experience for free due to f
k ups from Discovery Cove on the day.3) Eating out as much as possible - if you have a Villa you can save a small fortune eating in for breakfast and tea, and taking a pack lunch to the park. While there are some great restaurants they are the ones that need pre booking weeks in advance, in high season and cost a packet.
We've been in June/July twice and it has always been mega hot (and this is even compared to Turkey, which we regularly go to in the summer to see family, which is also around 40c), it doesn't bother me but it does bother the rest of the family. I'd avoid the summer if the extreme heat bothers you.
If you want to go for Star Wars I would wait until Summer 2019, the new Star Wars land will not be open until then (and will likely be an extra charge for the first few months) and Hollywood Studios is pretty crap at present as more than half of it is being redeveloped at present. Toy Story land will open this Summer at Hollywood Studios if you have younger kids though.
You aren't going to be going on a holiday to Orlando if you don't want to do Disney or Universal
bakerstreet said:
Worth noting that supermarkets are not as cheap as the UK and the exchange rate hasn't helped that. A lettuce is something like $3. Breakfast at home is fine too. We did a few evening meals in the villa, but nothing too taxing. My wife cooks everyday for all of us and its nice for her not to do that when on holiday.
You aren't going to be going on a holiday to Orlando if you don't want to do Disney or Universal
Where you doing your shopping, Whole Foods? Walmart its comparable to Asda prices so we stick to shopping there even if it is full of "interesting" characters: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Marketside-Shredded-Ice...You aren't going to be going on a holiday to Orlando if you don't want to do Disney or Universal
I do most of the cooking at home, so its fine if the Mrs does the cooking
Microwave porridge for breakfast, sandwiches or salad for lunch, pizza or ready cooked chicken for tea, leaves plenty of calories for ice cream during the day.I don't like eating at the parks too much, it gets really expensive really quickly and the cheaper options in the parks don't appeal. Each of the expensive restaurants we went to you should be budgeting between $200 and $300 a meal including tips and drinks for 4 people, easy to spend more if you like a drink.
Last time we went, we did Tiffins (my personal fav), California Grill, Brown Derby, Morimoto (waste of time, been to far better Asian fusion restaurants), Cinderella's Royal Table (also rubbish for the cost), La Hacienda, plus a main meal's worth of calories from the Pudding Party @ Magic Kingdom and the Wild Africa Trek. Only cheap main meals we did were Blaze Pizza and Sleepy Hollow. Discovery Cove was the worst food by far.
bakerstreet said:
Worth noting that supermarkets are not as cheap as the UK and the exchange rate hasn't helped that. A lettuce is something like $3.
It's certainly not difficult to pop into a supermarket for some bread, milk, water and beer etc and find you've spent $100+. It's hard to compare as prices are all over the place and package sizes are often bigger but my missus reckoned stuff was 50% dearer than the UK, so what would be £2 here is $4 there.bakerstreet said:
You aren't going to be going on a holiday to Orlando if you don't want to do Disney or Universal
We just did that! We went to other places too though.Sheepshanks said:
bakerstreet said:
Worth noting that supermarkets are not as cheap as the UK and the exchange rate hasn't helped that. A lettuce is something like $3.
It's certainly not difficult to pop into a supermarket for some bread, milk, water and beer etc and find you've spent $100+. It's hard to compare as prices are all over the place and package sizes are often bigger but my missus reckoned stuff was 50% dearer than the UK, so what would be £2 here is $4 there.bakerstreet said:
You aren't going to be going on a holiday to Orlando if you don't want to do Disney or Universal
We just did that! We went to other places too though.Publix is Florida based and is more of a Waitrose/John Lewis than Asda that's for sure.
If you are in a villa, stocking up on milk, cereal, fruit juice, coffee is still a cheaper breakfast than buying it out.
Eating out... we enjoyed Bahama Breeze, Longhorn Steakhouse and Joe's Crab Shack.
If you are in a villa, stocking up on milk, cereal, fruit juice, coffee is still a cheaper breakfast than buying it out.
Eating out... we enjoyed Bahama Breeze, Longhorn Steakhouse and Joe's Crab Shack.
Some of these prices are eye watering.
I’d love to go back to Florida, had some fantastic holidays there but my last visit was 2006. My memory isn’t too bad and here’s a breakdown of some costs:
Flight was £299 each included car hire (basic but upgraded to a full size SUVfor peanuts on arrival)
A six bed villa with private pool on Tuscana ( nice complex) was £400 a week.
Discovery cove was £110 a person including dolphin swim.
Multi park passes were around £25 a day so 7 day Busch, universal, aquatica, sea world was around £150, Disney the same.
Eating out was a ponderosa brekkie (yes I know!) 5 bucks all you could eat. Dinner was $15 a head at Outback or similar, Bahama breeze for a treat.
Outlet stores on I drive were ridiculously cheap, timberlands for £25, Adidas shirts £5 literally crazy low prices.
Florida was a fantastic holiday, down to Clearwater, airboat in boggy creek, Kissimmee car show on a Friday, walk round celebration even browse a big car dealership.
Everything was dirt cheap.
How times have changed.
I’d love to go back to Florida, had some fantastic holidays there but my last visit was 2006. My memory isn’t too bad and here’s a breakdown of some costs:
Flight was £299 each included car hire (basic but upgraded to a full size SUVfor peanuts on arrival)
A six bed villa with private pool on Tuscana ( nice complex) was £400 a week.
Discovery cove was £110 a person including dolphin swim.
Multi park passes were around £25 a day so 7 day Busch, universal, aquatica, sea world was around £150, Disney the same.
Eating out was a ponderosa brekkie (yes I know!) 5 bucks all you could eat. Dinner was $15 a head at Outback or similar, Bahama breeze for a treat.
Outlet stores on I drive were ridiculously cheap, timberlands for £25, Adidas shirts £5 literally crazy low prices.
Florida was a fantastic holiday, down to Clearwater, airboat in boggy creek, Kissimmee car show on a Friday, walk round celebration even browse a big car dealership.
Everything was dirt cheap.
How times have changed.
I suppose everything has just about doubled since then, although a chunk of that is exchange rate related - it was $1.80ish to the £ in mid 2006. The villa looks very cheap.
I remember it costing us £1600 in 2004 for TravelCityDirect flights, car and accommodation in a DownTownDisney hotel - that was for a family of 4. We don't usually book packages but I couldn't get anywhere near that putting it together myself (for the same direct flights and standard and location of accommodation).
Ponderosa seemed fine back then, but makes me feel ill thinking about it now!
I remember it costing us £1600 in 2004 for TravelCityDirect flights, car and accommodation in a DownTownDisney hotel - that was for a family of 4. We don't usually book packages but I couldn't get anywhere near that putting it together myself (for the same direct flights and standard and location of accommodation).
Ponderosa seemed fine back then, but makes me feel ill thinking about it now!
bakerstreet said:
All this talk has prompted me to finally sort my Avois Credit Card! Florida 2022 here we come!
Not too thrilled by the prospect of having to pay extra for Galaxys Edge
Should be free by then, Disney were mooting charging for it for the first six months it opens.Not too thrilled by the prospect of having to pay extra for Galaxys Edge
After 9/11 Orlando really struggled for tourism so the prices dropped in combination of the better exchange rate. Disney stopped a lot of development work around this period, and there was a general glut in rooms. It took a long time for them to recover, I think around 2007?
Our first trip was back in 2004, I think we spent about £2k for 4 of us with a Villa and a SUV? Tickets used to not expire either, so if you only used 7 days of the 14 day ticket you bought you could use the rest of them next time. Really hurts now that you can't do that.
Sheepshanks said:
I suppose everything has just about doubled since then, although a chunk of that is exchange rate related - it was $1.80ish to the £ in mid 2006. The villa looks very cheap.
I remember it costing us £1600 in 2004 for TravelCityDirect flights, car and accommodation in a DownTownDisney hotel - that was for a family of 4. We don't usually book packages but I couldn't get anywhere near that putting it together myself (for the same direct flights and standard and location of accommodation).
Ponderosa seemed fine back then, but makes me feel ill thinking about it now!
I got the villa direct from the owner.I remember it costing us £1600 in 2004 for TravelCityDirect flights, car and accommodation in a DownTownDisney hotel - that was for a family of 4. We don't usually book packages but I couldn't get anywhere near that putting it together myself (for the same direct flights and standard and location of accommodation).
Ponderosa seemed fine back then, but makes me feel ill thinking about it now!
£800 for two weeks including taxes.
3 groups went, 11 people so accommodation cost £75 a head for two weeks!
Thankyou4calling said:
I got the villa direct from the owner.
£800 for two weeks including taxes.
That's the way most villas are rented - unless you mean it was someone you knew personally?£800 for two weeks including taxes.
Most villa owners won't bomb the price now - their costs for cleaning, wear and tear and extra utility bills are such that they seem happier to leave them empty. Best we could get was 30% off a 6 bed place last November which meant it was still just over £1000 for a week - and that's with literally 200+ of the same villa (although this one was nice and with the aspect we wanted) available on the same resort (Windsor Hills).
Villa owners who put their properties through tour operators are usually pretty desperate - they get buttons for them and the villas are routinely damaged by guests who aren't as careful as they might be if they have a connection with the owner.
Well its official - we are going. Work and school commitments as of September mean we have the choice of July/August, or trying to do it last minute and going March/April. We have no valid passports at present! So the challenge is on!
Passports done and in this weekend - ESTA sorted as soon as we have passports - Mrs Biscuit and I both work for a police force, so are vetted/cleared so not expecting any issues there.
I'm now back to costing for everything and if I can pull it off, we will be in Florida in 11 weeks! Planning on going 26/3 - 16/4 or thereabouts
Passports done and in this weekend - ESTA sorted as soon as we have passports - Mrs Biscuit and I both work for a police force, so are vetted/cleared so not expecting any issues there.
I'm now back to costing for everything and if I can pull it off, we will be in Florida in 11 weeks! Planning on going 26/3 - 16/4 or thereabouts
broken biscuit said:
Well its official - we are going. Work and school commitments as of September mean we have the choice of July/August, or trying to do it last minute and going March/April. We have no valid passports at present! So the challenge is on!
Passports done and in this weekend - ESTA sorted as soon as we have passports - Mrs Biscuit and I both work for a police force, so are vetted/cleared so not expecting any issues there.
I'm now back to costing for everything and if I can pull it off, we will be in Florida in 11 weeks! Planning on going 26/3 - 16/4 or thereabouts
Great, you won’t regret it and I think you are going at the best time. We went in 2013 and 2017 the first two weeks of April, saw no rain both times, 80 degrees and of course no humidity at that time of year.Passports done and in this weekend - ESTA sorted as soon as we have passports - Mrs Biscuit and I both work for a police force, so are vetted/cleared so not expecting any issues there.
I'm now back to costing for everything and if I can pull it off, we will be in Florida in 11 weeks! Planning on going 26/3 - 16/4 or thereabouts
Thankyou4calling said:
Some of these prices are eye watering.
I’d love to go back to Florida, had some fantastic holidays there but my last visit was 2006. My memory isn’t too bad and here’s a breakdown of some costs:
Flight was £299 each included car hire (basic but upgraded to a full size SUVfor peanuts on arrival)
A six bed villa with private pool on Tuscana ( nice complex) was £400 a week.
Discovery cove was £110 a person including dolphin swim.
Multi park passes were around £25 a day so 7 day Busch, universal, aquatica, sea world was around £150, Disney the same.
Eating out was a ponderosa brekkie (yes I know!) 5 bucks all you could eat. Dinner was $15 a head at Outback or similar, Bahama breeze for a treat.
Outlet stores on I drive were ridiculously cheap, timberlands for £25, Adidas shirts £5 literally crazy low prices.
Florida was a fantastic holiday, down to Clearwater, airboat in boggy creek, Kissimmee car show on a Friday, walk round celebration even browse a big car dealership.
Everything was dirt cheap.
How times have changed.
The disney park week tickets are now an eye watering £300+ for a 7 day ticket for an adult, so a family of four will be £1200! Universal isw £240 ish, so before the wheels have left the tarmac you are in for £2236 on park tickets. I’d love to go back to Florida, had some fantastic holidays there but my last visit was 2006. My memory isn’t too bad and here’s a breakdown of some costs:
Flight was £299 each included car hire (basic but upgraded to a full size SUVfor peanuts on arrival)
A six bed villa with private pool on Tuscana ( nice complex) was £400 a week.
Discovery cove was £110 a person including dolphin swim.
Multi park passes were around £25 a day so 7 day Busch, universal, aquatica, sea world was around £150, Disney the same.
Eating out was a ponderosa brekkie (yes I know!) 5 bucks all you could eat. Dinner was $15 a head at Outback or similar, Bahama breeze for a treat.
Outlet stores on I drive were ridiculously cheap, timberlands for £25, Adidas shirts £5 literally crazy low prices.
Florida was a fantastic holiday, down to Clearwater, airboat in boggy creek, Kissimmee car show on a Friday, walk round celebration even browse a big car dealership.
Everything was dirt cheap.
How times have changed.
I base my holiday on the following:
Flights £2400
Accommodation £600
Park Tickets £2200
Food For 10 days £500
Car Hire + Ins £250
Parking £100
Souvenirs £400
Total £6450
Having seen the prices of some the holiday villages, I recon I could easily spend £4k on a holiday village, but the spending there is much easier to control as we would go all inclusive.
I'f also like to go with another family as I think the experience will be much better, but that will be difficult to plan and we have failed to get a trip abroad organised and I have been trying for two years.
Edited by bakerstreet on Thursday 11th January 10:27
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