Talking to SWMBO’d last night about taking a trip to Florida or Disney with the kids... Last chance as daughter is now 17 and won’t be interested next year...

Any advice based on your experiences please gents?

To keep queueing & cost down we would look at going a few weeks before the summer holidays start, so mid to late July...

Thank you in advance

I've been a few times both as a child and as grown up child - its a great place to go.

Important is to decide on a budget - hotel options range from a Disney hotel with an almost all inclusive food plan (silly money) to motel type accomodation (a lot cheaper but can be a bit hit and miss). As a general rule the closer you get to Mickey Mouse the higher the prices go.
Its also important to decide what you want to do while you are there - are you going to hit the parks every day or you want to have some park free days as well - makes location of your accomodation a consideration. Although to be fair most holidays come with a car in the price and driving in Orlando (and most of the US i guess) is very easy and straight forward.

If you can give me a bit of an insight as to what you have planned I can give you some more descriptive advice. 2008 TDV8

Take a drive out to Kennedy Space Center, do the "lunch with an astronaut" and if you can time it to see a rocket launch then do it! My teenagers loved it!

Also, Universal is good as well as Disney, especially for any Harry Potter fans (like my wife). We stayed in a Disney hotel on the lake, so could take the boat to the Magic Kingdom, then monorail to other places.

We're theme park fans, it is genuinely great! Take fewer clothes, do laundry in the hotel to save $$$. Use Tripadvisor to find local restaurants to get good food at non-Disney prices.

What ever you think you're going to spend, double it!

Its our 30th wedding anniversary this month and we're taking the family over to Florida in August - daughter, grand-daughter & son-in-law from Oz and my son and daughter in law from the UK. We've been twice before the the kids were much younger and they all wanted to go again - especially the little one whose 4 and knows every Disney song going.

We've always hired a private villa as it often works out cheaper than staying in a hotel. Check out owners direct but book in plenty of time as they tend to go quickly. Most have private pools so you've got somewhere to chill out with a cold beer i the evenings you aren't watching parades or firework displays at the theme parks.

Rules are:

Set a budget.
Plan your itinerary but leave a couple of free days for relaxing and catching your breath.
Pre-book your theme park tickets so you don't waste time whilst your there.
Eat cheaply - many places do family buffets.
Don't forget your ESTA (visa waiver).
Clothes are fairly cheap still in the US so leave room in your suitcase!

Craig - my sons 26 & my daughters 28 and we thought they'd like a nice holiday in the Maldives or the Seychelles but they both voted for Disney.........

what we do,

book flights separately , then you can select your seats ...make sure you go with an airline with 33''-34'' seat/legroom..

rent a car/va/suv from the UK and include CDW..

rent villa from UK , some really cheap deals can be found...in july the pool should be warm enough but enquire re heat for it, they normally charge extra..

if you stay in kissimmee , go down the 192 all the way to melbourne beach , lovely place with showers ..daytona is fun to..

an airboat ride is a must... ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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Done it 4 times, twice with my kids. My advice is as follows:

- Book tickets from UK (floridatix or attractionticketsdirect are good), you can normally get 14 nights for 7 at Disney
- If your there 2 weeks you may struggle to do everything, so plan in advance
- Use the crowd schedule to work out best days for certain parks (https://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/crowd-calendar/
- Rent a villa from ownersdirect, good value and much nicer than staying in a hotel (IMHO)
- You have to pay to park at most attraction, but you can re-use the parking pass for the same chain within the same day (say you do Aquatica then Seaworld)
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I've been lots and agree with the villa route, as you won't want to spend every day traipsing around the parks, you will be knackered. So it's a great idea to plan for a few days rest in-between where you can chill at the vila with a pool, whereas US hotels can be basic, so you have no option other than to go out.

Also, let the big kid in you enter into the spirit of things, you'll enjoy it much more than you expect

We are off to Disneyland in September for 3 weeks and i am not exactly looking forward to it ( hate flying ) , but have to say i didn't realise how much of the hassle is for booking dinners , parks and whatnot have left it all for the 2 daughters to sort out ... And the cost ... F k me with a bargepole ..🙀🙀👀

This holiday has been planned since last year .....

I call it Daddisney , coz daddisney do flying , daddisney do rollercoasters , daddisney do babysitting , 😄😄😜

I endorse the villa route, car rental from UK don't forget CDW.
As said you need rest days.
Prefer Universal to Disney but you have to do both to compare.

Rocket launch was top of the holiday wow factor, even in the early morning chill! Freeway just came to a halt, all got out and as it was a hire car I stood on the roof to film it.

Whatever you do have fun.

Thank you so far folks... Will look further into your posts in the morning

I went there last year and it was great. We got the 5-day pass. It was only $20 more than the 4-day. Don't try to do more than one 'Kingdom' per day - you'll waste too much time travelling.

The Magic Kingdom at night is great. The kids and their parents start to disappear after 20.00. Soon the lines are gone and you can gave a whole day's fun in only a few hours and get the electric parade and fireworks as well.

OK, update... Booked for a couple of weeks in the summer hols

Thank you for all your help gents