For the girls

Florida2016

Thank you girlatplay, do you have a rough figure to save for, I priced it up for the family at around £5000-£6000 depending on how luxiourious I wanted it to be, and I was thinking about spending money.

jackieblack

Florida2016 wrote: »

What does the IIWY stand for?

Sorry, If I Were You

Florida2016

emmaglet wrote: »

Florida is amazing, I'm off for my third time in November and I cannot wait. It is a flippin amazing feeling standing on the boat at Magic Kingdom as it pulls closer to the castle and you think 'everything I've done to get me here has been so worth it'.

Others can help you with the cutting back side of things, but I mostly pay for Florida with money I've earned extra (because I never had the money in the first place to cut back! Things were already as low as they could be). I've got a money making blog where I write about a lot of it, but I do eBay selling, car boot sales, selling on Facebook, cashback, etc. Florida is expensive but I don't think I could holiday anywhere else now, I just love it so much. Once you get there and you've paid for car hire, flights and park tickets things there are cheap - such as food, etc. You'll honestly have the best time ever!

Your blog is brilliant, I've already joined up to app trailers, I'm going to teach my oldest lol to do it so she can sit and watch the apps she will enjoy that

You've inspired to me to do a grocery challenge, I think I will start that on Friday :T

girlatplay

We are DD (age 9/10 at the time - her birthday was when we were away) and myself. We went in 2010 for a fortnight. Our spending money was £1500 but that covered food as well as general spending. We went b&b at the hotel. We stayed on International Drive as I didn't want to hire a car and we used shuttle buses from the hotel and we used the I-trolly to go up and down I Drive.

I can't remember exact prices off the top of my head but ballpark I think I paid about £5000 in total, give or take. We stayed at a nice hotel. We got flights from Edinburgh to Florida (with two changes, it was hard going). We got tickets for Disney and for Universal (I didn't think we could afford to go back again ever so I wanted to do as much as we could fit in). We probably could have got it cheaper but I did it all myself (no travel agent) and I was wary about getting ripped off by dodgy websites.

I'm sure there is a thread somewhere here covering Florida holidays. Have a wee look at that.

Ahh, found it. Look here.

jackieblack

Florida2016 wrote: »

I priced it up for the family at around £5000-£6000 depending on how luxiourious I wanted it to be, and I was thinking about spending money.

It really varies depending on various factors, including
What time of year you go (schools hols most expensive, unsurprisingly)
Where you'll be flying from
Whether you want to fly non-stop or whether you're happy changing planes (longer travel time but can be cheaper)
Do you want to hire a car? which can, in turn, affect which area is practical for accomodation, which in turn can affect what type of accomodation is available. (e.g. you may prefer a villa, but these tend to be mainly in areas that really need a car, or hotel with good transport which would be more expensive, but then you wouldn't need a car).
Which theme parks do you want to go to? eg The more days you spend at one 'group' of parks, the cheaper it works out per day. But if you want to spend one day at alot of different parks you could end up spending alot more on tickets.


Spending money? It's a bit like how long is a piece of string:D

This thread is a great place to get ideas/advice

jackieblack

emmaglet wrote: »

Florida is amazing, I'm off for my third time in November and I cannot wait. It is a flippin amazing feeling standing on the boat at Magic Kingdom as it pulls closer to the castle and you think 'everything I've done to get me here has been so worth it'.

Totally agree:)

And when you walk under the bridge and come out in the Town Square in Main Street and hear the music

We're off again at Christmas!
Fourth time for me, third for DH & DD and we're taking DD's boyfriend this time as well!
Very excited

emmaglet

I'm really glad you like my blog!

For us, the costs are:
£400 flights (bought in a sale, I think £450 is a good price to aim for)
£400 per week for a villa. Now this IS more pricey than a hotel but I love having our own pool and space. We're going for 21 days and I could not live out of a hotel for that long. But plenty people do it, it is just personal preferance.
Theme park tickets...ouch. I use Florida Escapes and I've spent about £900 for two of us. BUT that's ALL the parks, 21 days of Disney, 14 days of Seaworld, Busch Gardens, Aquatica and 14 days of the two Universal parks. We probably could have got away with 14 days Disney but it was only £20 or so more expensive. Plus we've got a non-swim at Discovery Cove. You CAN get cheaper, but it is probably best to buy in advance as they do 7, 14 and 21 day tickets for UK visitors that the US visitors/pay on the day can't have access to.
Car hire - not needed but CarHire3000 always gives me a good price. Because I'm the only one driving this time we're doing Car On the Drive where they pick you up from the airport and drop you off with a car waiting for you. Then take you back to the airport afterwards. I could get a cheaper car now that I'm 25 but I'd rather just do COTD.
ESTA (visa type thing) is $14, so around £10.
Spending money - you can live on as little as you need tbh. Parking at the parks is about £10 per day (ouch) but eating out can be done cheaply. Last year I lived on steak and lobster (together in one meal) because it worked out to be about £9. I take £1,500 BUT I do a heck of a lot of shopping - Converse, Wilton baking items, MAC make up. I save up all my shopping to do it in Florida and I even pay to bring another bag back.

There's also lastminute/wherever to get a package deal. You'd be looking around £700 per person per week, thats for a hotel and flight.

We should rename this thread 'Florida Lovers'.

jackieblack

emmaglet wrote: »

Theme park tickets...ouch. I use Florida Escapes and I've spent about £900 for two of us. BUT that's ALL the parks, 21 days of Disney, 14 days of Seaworld, Busch Gardens, Aquatica and 14 days of the two Universal parks. We probably could have got away with 14 days Disney but it was only £20 or so more expensive. Plus we've got a non-swim at Discovery Cove. You CAN get cheaper, but it is probably best to buy in advance as they do 7, 14 and 21 day tickets for UK visitors that the US visitors/pay on the day can't have access to.

Wow, that's a lot of tickets for a 21 day stay!

We usually buy our WDW tickets on the gate. We don't want to park hop and all the extras that are included in the UK 'package' tickets and so this works out much cheaper for us.

'Only £20 more expensive' works out £80/$120 for a family of 4

I assume SeaWorld/BG/Aquatica is included with the DC tickets? That's usually the cheapest way.

I would be wary about buying all the tickets in advance as if there is a problem (remember the Ash Cloud?), you may not be able to get the money back if your trip doesn't go ahead as planned.

Florida2016

Sorry ladies I had a mini crisis yesterday, my washing machine broke and the clothes were stuck inside, had to flood my kitchen a bit and have spent the evening hand washing everything that was in it

My landlord is coming around today to see if its fixable, it came with the house so not sure if I have to replace or he does.

I had a good look at that thread as well, so much info to take in, I think I'm looking at three weeks, preferably a villa, maybe some hotel nights in Disney during the beginning / end.


The car hire aspect I'm not sure, yet I think most likely yes, I would like to try and visit most places but will tailor to ensure the kids will have a good time.

I'm easy about the flights anything to save a few pounds lol but will most definitely looking a booking it separately to get the best value.

Thank you for all your help, I will most likely be bugging you again soon when I'm nearer to saving for the holiday.

jackieblack

Florida2016 wrote: »

Sorry ladies I had a mini crisis yesterday, my washing machine broke and the clothes were stuck inside, had to flood my kitchen a bit and have spent the evening hand washing everything that was in it

My landlord is coming around today to see if its fixable, it came with the house so not sure if I have to replace or he does.

I had a good look at that thread as well, so much info to take in, I think I'm looking at three weeks, preferably a villa, maybe some hotel nights in Disney during the beginning / end.


The car hire aspect I'm not sure, yet I think most likely yes, I would like to try and visit most places but will tailor to ensure the kids will have a good time.

I'm easy about the flights anything to save a few pounds lol but will most definitely looking a booking it separately to get the best value.

Thank you for all your help, I will most likely be bugging you again soon when I'm nearer to saving for the holiday.

It's great to have something like this holiday to focus on to motivate you when you're tempted by unnecessary spending.
If I'm tempted to 'be naughty' I just think to myself, would I rather have this thing I'm looking at or have the money towards our next holiday.
Holiday always wins