Disneyworld... for those who have been..

[hawalkden]

I'm very very tempted to start saving to go to Disneyworld for when Isaac is about 4/5years old. I want to go for his Birthday which is on 5th November . Shame Americans don't celebrate Bonfire Night. Would have been a super show over there! I know for sure that we'll have another Peanut by then! so it's going to be an expensive adventure and hopefully Isaac will see it as his birthday treat but then again what do I do for Child number 2 for their birthday when they turn 4/5!!

Just wondering a few things?

Is 4/5 years old a good age for him to go or wait a few more years till he can appreciate the whole adventure more? Sod what school say with him being off it's only for a week or so !

How long is long enough? 7/8 nights or a full 14-16nights?

How much spending money was needed? (I know economy changes etc but just rough ideas?!)

How much was the whole holiday from flights, hotel, food, buying things, Disney tickets etc?

I was talking about it to OH tonight after a load of Disney films had been showing on Sky and I said I'd love to go. I started looking up Disneyland Paris at first when I mentioned the prices coming up for it OH was amazed and wanted to book it now thinking it was for Orlando! So I looked up America and it was good deals coming up but he was very excited and OH and money don't mix. He hates parting with it and when I was saying it was £6,500 nearly for flights, Disney tickets and hotel he didn't looked shocked at all and if we had that money he'd let me book it kind of thing. So he's very excited about it all .

Plus I think it's a childhood dream of mine and his anyway we need to tick off !

So just want to hear from you guys and what experience you had when you went

 

[Laura2919]

You wouldn't have enough time if you only went for a week. We went for 2 weeks and even I said we could of done with an extra few days. I would say its definitely worth going I loved it and plan to take my girls when they are older. It's expensive but then it all depends where you stay and if you book with a travel agent you can normally buy your park tickets and bus cards in advance which save you money!
The youngest we had in our group was 8 so I am not sure on the age side. There's so much to do there though so I'd think there was plenty for him to do.

 

[xolily]

i don't know about the money side of thing but i've been 4 times, 2, 4, 6 and 10 and to be honest i only really remember the last time i went! x

 

[SophiasMummy]

My brother was 6 when we went and he loved it. We stayed in orlando for 2 weeks then went down to fortlauderdale for a week to relax but my mum said she wishes we had stayed in orlando that extra week as even we the 2 weeks we didnt get a chance to see everything. I think my mum said it cost her 5,000 for flights, hotel and park tickets, but that was 10 years ago so 6,500 sounds about right now, we had a little over 1,000 spending money. We only got to go because my grandpa passed away and left my mum some money, but hoping to take LO in a few years too when I get my inheritence else I would never be able to afford it xx

 

[Whisper]

Is 4/5 years old a good age for him to go or wait a few more years till he can appreciate the whole adventure more? Sod what school say with him being off it's only for a week or so !

How long is long enough? 7/8 nights or a full 14-16nights?

How much spending money was needed? (I know economy changes etc but just rough ideas?!)

How much was the whole holiday from flights, hotel, food, buying things, Disney tickets etc?

Plus I think it's a childhood dream of mine and his anyway we need to tick off !

So just want to hear from you guys and what experience you had when you went

I've been a few times the most recent was last year in June for 21nights.
We are saving up to go again in 2015 so my DD will be 7yrs and my DS will be 4yrs. So i think you are going about the right age, it will be a magical time when they are so innocent and don't question things.

For the duration i think if you want to enjoy your time and not rush it all then you need at least 2weeks preferably 3weeks and it isn't THAT much more expensive.

Spending money its probably sensible to budget $100-120 dollars per day. Some days you will spend more and some days less the extra can just roll over to the next day (thats what we did).

Last year we spent approx £7k in all on flights, villa, car, park tickets, food, spending money everything and that was for 3weeks.
My husband just priced up for us to go next year for 2weeks staying on site with disney including their Quick dining plan ( which was free ) and park tickets, it was around £4k excluding spending money, which is pretty good IMO.

I LOVE disney and orlando, if i could afford it i would go back every year and definitely next year but with my DS being under 1yr it would be pretty boring for him getting pushed around all day.

 

[tina3747]

I've been 3 times, our boy was 4 , 6 and 10. I'd say from 4 was old enough to experience it but it's a really tiring experience and ended up with him in a push chair thing that you hire from the parks.
We've been for 2 weeks each time but only stay a week in the parks then go to an island on the gulf coast which we need after the madness of Disney! 1 week isn't really long enough to get to experience everything so if you only intend on going just yhe once then maybe do the full 2 weeks.
It's as expensive as you want it to be. Tge food and drinks in the parks are expensive if doing it twice a day, we ate breakfsr at home ate lunch in yhe parks then a reastauant on the way home but you could make sandwiches to take and if your in a rented villa just cook when home. We did a big food shop so it definatly cuts down on eating out. There's plenty of take out places that deliver.
We prefer the casualness of the villas rather than a hotel, just being able to cook when we want to ect and obviously there's tons more room than just in a hotel room.
Park tickets are fairly cheap as you buy a Disney one that covers all Disney parks but I don't think they do an integrated one that does the universals. They're all we went in on last time as our lad had gone past Disney. There's so many parks it's ridiculous!
How much money to take really depends on the exchange rate. We've been disney on bad rates but Vegas was $2- £1 it was sooooo cheap! If you look online for all your tickets beforehand prices ect you can buy them upfront or just allocate enough for when you get there. Virgin flight is fab for kids, they really look after you well. And the villas are easily found online, you can do it quite resonable if you look around. And there's no need to be right next to the parks as well, we were 1/2 hour drive away, so easy to get around there.
Can't think of anything else to tell you!

 

[Lois22]

I'm very very tempted to start saving to go to Disneyworld for when Isaac is about 4/5years old. I want to go for his Birthday which is on 5th November . Shame Americans don't celebrate Bonfire Night. Would have been a super show over there! I know for sure that we'll have another Peanut by then! so it's going to be an expensive adventure and hopefully Isaac will see it as his birthday treat but then again what do I do for Child number 2 for their birthday when they turn 4/5!!

Just wondering a few things?

Is 4/5 years old a good age for him to go or wait a few more years till he can appreciate the whole adventure more? Sod what school say with him being off it's only for a week or so !

How long is long enough? 7/8 nights or a full 14-16nights?

How much spending money was needed? (I know economy changes etc but just rough ideas?!)

How much was the whole holiday from flights, hotel, food, buying things, Disney tickets etc?

I was talking about it to OH tonight after a load of Disney films had been showing on Sky and I said I'd love to go. I started looking up Disneyland Paris at first when I mentioned the prices coming up for it OH was amazed and wanted to book it now thinking it was for Orlando! So I looked up America and it was good deals coming up but he was very excited and OH and money don't mix. He hates parting with it and when I was saying it was £6,500 nearly for flights, Disney tickets and hotel he didn't looked shocked at all and if we had that money he'd let me book it kind of thing. So he's very excited about it all .

Plus I think it's a childhood dream of mine and his anyway we need to tick off !

So just want to hear from you guys and what experience you had when you went

Your going to think we're mad but I just got back in October and that was my 14th time I love florida!!!

I first went when I was 2 and I remember every year so def not too early. We went October this year and was cold! We normally go in summer. Last year we done a tour of America and was there in September and was just right. Was hot but not as hot as it can get about 86f-90f. I really recommend 2 weeks as so much to do.

Park tickets for adults for a 14 day flexi pass was about £240 each. Plus Disney on top is $80. That gets you into universal, islands of adventure, busche gardens, sea world, wet'n'world.

We rent villas as saves money £500 a week for a 3 bedroom including pool and Internet etc .

Flights we use airmiles if you have them? £360 we paid each. BA and Virgin have sales all throughout the year though for about £499 or it's normally £800 each.

Food and shopping is very cheap out there if you have a villa you can make packed lunches, dinners etc saves paying at parks. Buy lots of water bottles and take them with you. I normally take 1000 spending money between 2 of us

Xx

 

[Baby France]

We're hoping to take the kids too but we're looking at when they are more like when we have a 5 and 6 year old.

I've heard that the villas are the better option too and apparently you can hire a car?

If you're planning for another, what age gap are you looking at because you could do Disneyland for them both IYKWIM?

 

[Lois22]

James villas if you rent a villa way in advance they throw the hire car in for free

Xx

 

[tina3747]

James villas if you rent a villa way in advance they throw the hire car in for free

Xx

14 times??? That's mental!!

I must say after the last time which was our 3rd I said I'd never want to go back again! I remember the first time, it wad so magical everything was so amazing, the last time the queues just pissed me off and everything seemed such a rip off!! We've had another baby since then so I guess well have to do it again one more time at least. Which rides do you like? We got the fast passes for universal last tome that made such a difference but so expensive.
Did you like harry potter world?? We went in the July as it opened in the June... 2 hr queue to get in then another 1.5 hours for the main ride. Was amaaaaazin though, prob best ride I've been on!

 

[Lois22]

Haha yeah we started going every year since I was 2 - we had Other holidays during year too, so wasn't just Florida.

When we went in September 9th was no queues anywhere. There was a big group of us so was really fun .

I hate Harry potter I didnt go on the ride but I love the butter beer

Disney and sea world are good for kids but the rest are more teenagers / adults.

Xx

 

[LPF]

Dh and I went Easter 09 and we did it privately to save money. Booked flights with American airlines (about 1k), hire a car but I can't remember what tat was and rented a villa via a private agent - 1k for 2 weeks and it was a three bed, 3 bath, massive living area, pool, jacuzzi, games room etc. we budgeted around $100 a day and booked tickets in advanced. The whole 2 week trip cost about 4.5k at peak school holidays - I'd neve pay package prices!!

I can't wait to go as it was my favourite holiday ever!!!

 

[the why bird]

I can't advise about the money side of things as last time I went was as a teenager with parents paying however...

definitely go for two weeks or more. At 4/5 it is very tiring and overwhelming, and even more so if you have a younger child too. You might find that you need to alternate days at the parks with quieter days by the pool to catch up on rest. Really worth getting the passes so if need be you can go for the morning, come back for a nap and go to another park in the evening.

Don't worry about missing bonfire night because the parks have lots of fireworks displays for you to see.

There will be plenty to do, best to research before hand which parks have the most age appropriate attractions as you won't have time to do everything, and the kids probably won't have the stamina. Take lots of spending money as you will find that you want photos and souvenirs to remember it by. Park food is very expensive also.

 

[Melibu90]

Im no help money wise but i went when i was 10 and i loved it i was a good height for all the rides so i think it was a good age. Though im sure at 4/5 he will still love it. I would deffiately say the full 2weeks too

 

[Erised]

I first went to Florida for our honeymoon in 2008, stayed 2 weeks then and could easily have moved there right away. We went back for a week in 2010 with a then 3 month old, and for 3 weeks earlier this year when missy was 14 months.

Definitely go for 2 weeks, after doing a week we said we'd never do it again. It's just not long enough and the 'we're going home soon' depression sets in before you've even managed to settle in properly.

On flights we spend around £1200 each time we went, flying premium. That was for May / June flights though, not November. No school holidays either.

Stayed in a villa the first time, an apartment condo the second time and back in a villa the 3rd time. I would definitely recommend a villa, it gives you so much more room and often times a private pool. Off peak times you'll be able to get a 3 / 4 bedroom villa for around £500 / £600 a week. Try thedibb.co.uk for villa searches, you can get some amazing deals =)

Spending money...
The first time we probably spend around $120 a day, going out for lunch and dinner each day and frequently buying treats in the park. The second time we only went out for dinner once but bought food in the parks which still upped the price, so it was probably around $75 a day. The third time we went out for dinner twice a week, lunch twice a week and made food at home the other days. Including spending money on photo albums, signature albums and what not we spend $50 a day on average. It's do-able, but I prefer a bit more lean way to be honest. That said, the $50 a day did include a full penny press collection in the park, which cost us the best part of $300.

Car hire, ermm... around £100 a week I think? When you book a package holiday though (the last 2 times we DIY-ed it), be warned about the 'free car hire' deals you get. It sounds good, but after adding on the insurance costs you will find that most of the time it's actually cheaper to not take them up on the free car hire and just book separately with alamo or one of the other providers.

 

[chezziepie]

i went 2010 30th October and it was really hot also meant we were there for both Halloween and Christmas celebrations. If you only want to go once you have to be 42in tall for most the rides so rather than age i would go with the height as loads of kids were really disappointed. We spent 2 weeks there although we didn't spend every day at disney as in October it is v quiet and no queues so we did the parks annoyingly quickly lol

 

[lodie]

I went 4 times when I was a kiddie and LOVED it!! Think i was 7 the first time we went, which was a good age to go. Can't wait to take our lo - i was also thinking when about going when she is 5 as don't think i wait till she's 7! Def go for 2 weeks, so much to do over there - i could now spend a week just shopping!! Hope you have a lovely time

 

[judge12]

The only holidays I went on with my family were to america and I been to orlando 3 times. It can get very crowded but that's to be expected to be honest.

4/5 is a great age to go! I want to take my child when she's 2/3 years old and I know she won't really remember it but I am sure she have a great time!

Love it there