Hi annie.f,

I would say your kids are definitely at the perfect age for Florida (although all ages love it!) but they would be a right height for everything in the theme parks I'm sure.

Would you be looking at going during school holidays or other times of the years? Xmas, Easter and Summer are the busiest with the most expensive prices. May half term and October half terms can get some good deals and the weather is lovely. I would say booking indepently gives you a lot more choice, depending on what you are after and you can spend less on your theme park tickets by deciding which parks you want to go to and the type of tickets you buy (would recommend buying in advance as work out cheaper).

As a rough guide - if you went in busy, busy times here is a breakdown of the costs without your spending money or tickets as you could control this part, the dollar is great at the moment so brill for UK visitors:-
Flights = £500 - £600 per person (x 4 = £2200) (you can get for £300 if go out of busy times).
Accommodation = £1400 - Good quality villa with pool, spa, games room etc.
Car Hire - £290 - Full Size Car including insurance.

Total for family £3890 excluding tickets and spending money.

There are loads of sites to look at but I have listed below some websites that you may find useful to get flight only and packages to compare:-
Flights
http://www.mytravel.com
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com
http://www.britishairways.com
http://www.thomsonfly.com
http://www.flymonarch.com
http://www.travelcitydirect.com

Villa Accommodation:-
http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk
http://www.floridapropertyagency.com/orlando_vacation_rental.html

Car Hire:-
http://www.airline-network.co.uk
http://www.usrentacar.co.uk.

Tickets:-
http://www.themeparkticketsdirect.com
http://www.attraction-tickets-direct.co.uk/
http://www.orlando-ticket-deals.co.uk
http://www.undercovertourist.com/united-states/florida/orlando/attractions/tickets/

Great post Nowton!

Pippy

Hi Annie,

Our children are 14 and 12. We're booked to fly from Manchester on 22nd July for 2 weeks with Direct Holidays and staying in Somerset/Laguna Apts. The costs for 4 was £3040 which we booked last October. I've been watching the cost of our holiday and it has varied by the week from a low of £2900 to as much as £4500. We've added Discovery Cove tickets which includes a swim with dolphins plus entrance to Aquatica, Busch Gardens & Sea World, that came in at £660. In addition we've bought a 5 day Disney Ticket (no hopping) which adds another £470.00 to booking. We're not going to take the so called 'free' car but book that here before we leave so we're looking at another £250 for that. You'll still need insurance and spending money. We're estimating £6000-£6500 total spend.

Might be worth looking for something last minute. In 2006 we did the May half term for 1 week at a cost of £1500 for 4, the accomodation was cramped (two double beds in one room) but it was fine for a week. We went back in the August of the same year and paid £1360 for 4, same accomodation - Quality Inn Maingate West. Having thoroughly enjoyed both trips so much we decided to 'save up' and do the 2 weeks so we can take a little more time to savour the experience and this time we've opted for apartments to give us some space!

My advice would be to regularly check airfares and tour operator prices, especially the tour operators as their prices tend to go up and down. I've heard that the tour ops push their prices up at the weekend because that's when the majority of people go online to book. Could be an urban myth though. Like I've already said, I've watched the price of our holiday vary. In one week alone it jumped by £1000 and then dropped again.

we have paid £2100,for me,my husband & grandaughter,to go to san francisco,for 4 nights & then to florida,for 10 nights.this is for oct,this year & covers half term.we fly on the 20th.we booked through united vacations.
we have bought the 6 day,base ticket,total £340 from magical tickets
10 day car hire £187 from usrentacar
£2727

this is the basic cost.

extras

mickeys not so scary halloween party tickets
hot air balloon trip
character breakfast at crystal palace
tickets to kennedy space centre

spending money

£2000

it really depends,on what you want to do.this year for example,we are missing out discovery cove & seaworld,this is because hubby wants 2 days,to do want he chooses,which means we haven't enough days,to fit everything in.so it really is down,to each individual family,to how much it costs.
tracy

We are a family of 4 and I have been three times in the last 10 years. My kids were, 3 & 5 the first time 6 & 8 the 2nd time and 9 & 11 the last time.

If you are going to go once your children seem at the perfect age.

Each time it has cost me approximately 7000 pounds (after that I stopped counting) so if you are trying to budget, work towards that & if you can get it cheaper it will be a bit of a bonus.

That prices is all in and normally includes about 1K to 1.5k on tickets and about 2K on spending money. We always have a car and that is included in that price including the rather expensive Insurances. We always travelled with Virgin & in the main summer holidays. I think Travel City Direct are more competatively priced from what I read.

I have always stayed in hotels as I like the facilities & general buzz of hotels, large swimming pools, on site restaurants & shops etc villas do not attract me as we don't have another family to travel with & they can be located away from the main hub. But its personal preference really & some like the extra space they give, but we are out all the time, parking it during the day and restauranting it & going to the odd show of an evening.

It's a great holiday with kids.
Doe

Hi - ive just booked for 2nd june next year - yes i know im naughty takin the kids for two weeks just after half term - but - what the hell! lol

we have just paid a fantastic £2086 with virgin!!!! 2 adults and 2 kids for two weeks. staying in a basic motel - we did the same thing last time and found it fine so long as there was a big enough pool lol.

last time we went - 2007 - all in all it came to just under £5k and that was with a massive spending spree in the malls. You dont have to spend loads to get good results. We found some really cheap places to eat which the kids preferred - sizzlers was a good one and my youngest who was 6 at the time loved Cici pizza cos he could pile his plate with salad and pizza as much as he wanted.

Like the others have suggested the prices do go up and down all the time. when i looked last virgin was a definate no no but something dropped the prices.

We went with Travel City Direct on our other trip but this time virgin beat them! work that one out!

Counting down now lol - 1 year and 1 week to go lol

Well i think we had quite a good deal really.
Travelling from 27th aug - 11th sept this year, staying in disney pop century, flying with first choice COST US £2600 for all of us 2 adults and 2 children
Our theme park tickets are costing £1037.00 thats for 14 day ultimate disney pass x 2 adults and 2 children and a 2 week 5 park ticket for universal/seaworld ect.

we have buggeted £2000 spending money.

I am not an expert but this does not seem to bad especially staying in disney world.

Those both seem like great deals you must both be really pleased. I think 6K all in to stay at Disneyworld is excellent. (I stayed at the All Stars Music one year). One way to keep costs down is to stay in a very basic motel as you are mdaly, they don't cost much more than a flydrive & as you say as long as the pool is big enough & the room clean, it's the kind of holiday where you are out all the time. Just goes to show the deals are out there somewhere if you have a bit of patience & search them out.

Doe

i must admit - ive been searching for a while and really didnt expect to book this far away from june 2009 but when i see the price i just couldnt let that go!!!!

i dont know whats worse - booking so far ahead and cant wait to go or the panic if you book last minute (ie 8 weeks before you go like we did last time).

i will prob drive everyone nuts over the next year and will end up insane myself lol

we are not going to the disney parks this time (except for typhoon lagoon cos the kids loved it) - but are going to try aquatica, seaworld, discovery cove. would like to take a trip to the beach one day if i can find a coach excursion along with a coach trip to kennedy space centre.

oooh it just seems so far away - bring on the malls!

Hi

We have just booked with OrlandoTravel.com (which we have since found out is the same as Travelocity.com) to go for two weeks on Oct 21st.2 adults,2 teenagers aged 16,flying with US Airlines from Gatwick and staying in tw bedroomd two bathroom suite at Enclave Suites on Int Drive, total cost for us all £1,894 or £474 each. Not booked a car yet or bought any attraction tickets.

Manxpolly

i go on september 23rd for 16 days.2 adults and 3 kids flying with flyglobespan and staying in a motel on i drive..we paid a total of 1645 pounds for all of us , we arent hiring a car but booking a private transfer which is roughly $160 return

I am hoping to get to Florida next year (had to cancel this years summer holiday due to work commitments so HAVE to make it next year)

I like the idea of booking well in advance but just did a quick search and can get return flights for £180 per person and a 3* hotel on iDrive for £300, so three of us for under £1000 before spending money.......

now do I risk it and just wait till last minute next year ???

I think thats a fantastic price,go for it ,the cost will certainly go up near your dates,
what time of year are you looking at?
ann

Starsky72,

Are you sure that £180 flight price per person is including tax? We have never ever found a price that cheap direct to Orlando, what dates? which website? That's an absolute bargain if it's total flight price.

We are a family of five flying out next Easter over the school hols with three teenagers aged twins 15 and a 17 year old - we managed to find a two bed apt just off international drive (enclave suites) (various reviews but we wanted two rooms and these are rare so we are going to risk it) - adding on £1200 for food £300 for transport and £1200 for tickets (depending on what you want to do) our holiday should be approximately £6,900 - therefore I think for your family in the school holidays you should be able to do it for between £5,000 and £6,000 - hope this helps.

Welcome to the forum Gorseland!

For a disney hotel, 2 weeks car hire and flights from glasgow we paid £3732 and we stayed at Port Orleans. I find it good to shop about on the well known holiday companies as well as the budget ones. I found mine on the Airtours website and the TA matched it.

We got good dollar exchange and came home with $800 and the tickets for disney and the flex ticket cost us about £800 by shopping around. It was also holiday time.