How to build a Disney Package

TexasChainstoreMascara

Hi All,

I am sure this gets discussed a lot here, but we are looking to book for a family of four to Disney Florida next year and I wondered if any experienced visitors knew the best way to approach booking? Of course I don't want to pay over the odds, but I do not want to purchase park tickets that have fine print where we discover certain areas are off limits, or book package deals and find that it is difficult to navigate between parks etc.

I have looked at the following options:

Package book with disneyholidays.co.uk where flights, Disney themed accommodation and 'magic tickets' are included. This seems quite expensive- I assume that transport between parks is available. Also hoping the magic ticket includes all parks, Universal etc and it's free to choose any park any day without pre booking?

Book separately for travel/hotel and the park tickets. On a site like Expedia staying somewhere like a Universal resort the price looks a lot better. I only hope it is simple enough to get between the parks?

A site such as attractiontickets.com claims to be the best but an Orlando Freedom ticket cost looks very expensive- is this really value?

The other option would be to book flights, rent a villa and hire a car, although with parking at the parks this may end up being a false economy.

I want the best experience for my family at the best price, but I also don't want to find hidden costs whist we're out there. Any advice on how to approach this would be appreciated!

Tex    

eskbanker

It would probably be worth spending some time over on this site, where everything related to Florida Disney trips is discussed in detail by regular visitors:

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/ 

NannaH

Touring plans is well worth a subscription,  planning is a massive operation and needs careful attention.
Luckily, Disney parks are stopping the ‘you must pre book park days’ in January I believe.
Staying onsite at Disney and Universal is the best ( and most expensive) option.  I love Royal pacific resort at Universal but I’ve heard good things about Cabana bay. 

You can rent DVC suites a lot cheaper than the Disney hotels if you need more space.
Or you can stay around Lake buena vista, walking distance to Disney Springs and use Uber to the parks.
The freedom ticket is no cheaper than buying tickets separately.   

Park hopping tickets are essential for Disney. 

NannaH

Disney ‘magic your way ‘tickets do not include Universal, they are rivals 😉  
Budget £1000 pp for both sets of tickets. 

We used to buy one of us an annual pass for Universal for the various discounts but I don’t know if it’s cost effective any more. 

A night in a Universal deluxe hotel gives you 2 days of early entry and unlimited fastpasses.  

For me ,  the Wyndham LBV and 2/3 nights at a Universal hotel is a good alternative to staying on Disney.
Transport on Disney is provided, but not always park to park directly. 

phatbear

May this year we done Disney and Universal all booked ourselves and researched etc. 

We stayed in a lovely Air BnB which was 20'ish mins away from the parks so had lots of options for eating out etc in the evening, also we had our own private pool and the ability to make sandwiches, breakfast etc which kept the costs down and given there was 5 of us at £1500 for 11days was a bargain, approx £30 per person per night.  

Of course you have to factor in fuel and parking, which is $20-$25 a day for parking alone. 

Our tickets were 14day tickets for both disney and 14 for universal, which in my opinion is overkill for universal and our adult tickets were £800'ish per adult. 

If i went back in the near future i would def use air bnb again, we spent three nights in a hotel when three of the party went off to Miami for a few days and having a house was overkill and it really changed the dynamic of the trip it was lovely having our own space in a house rather than being in a hotel. 

TexasChainstoreMascara

Thanks guys. I can just see it coming that we will overpay for something, or miss out on something obvious.