Spending money
 

hi all me and my partner go out to florida in 10 days for 10 nights. stopping in a villa with car hire. we will eat out at offsite restaurants most nights / takeaway in the villa. we have all our parks and car hire paid for in advance. just wondering if 3000 dollars will be enough for the 2 of us. first time in the US so not sure on costs? any help would be appreciated.

We went in March for 8 nights and spent less than $1,000, including the $200 gift card and $488 dining credit we got, between the two of us, and that was staying onsite and only having one day offsite at Universal. We split a good few meals because portions are massive and mainly ate quick service so that kept costs down too.

That sounds like plenty to me we have just been for 14 days and spent about $1200. As with everything it depends what you like to eat. We don't shop for things very much but do enjoy going round the supermarkets. We ate breakfast in the villa and took filled rolls out for lunch some days. It was strange this time as we were not as hungry as I would have expected. You can eat cheaply if you want or need to or you can eat in very expensive places.

Sounds like a good amount.

Obviously it depends on how much shopping you will do as well :)

oh good. seems like we have a decent amount then . im wanting to try places like longhornes, cheesecake factory etc. not a massive breakfast fan but been told to try Ihop atleast once. we will do a small shop for the villa on arrival day. shopping will probably come later on in the week when the days are running out. we are travelling across to st petersburg to watch baseball one day which will be a different experience.

I was budgeting $3000 for my trip with my 10 and 12yr old... we fly back tonight but I must admit I'm not going to moan about UK prices again. The dollar rate just now unfortunately is lowest its been for a long time. 3k will be enough for you if you are planning on doing a bit of eating in, but buy at Walmart or Publix... unfortunately where we stayed in Int Drive (and without car) Walmart was too far for boys to walk to... we got an Uber one day but Walgreens across the road was extortionate. I am afraid bargain prices in shops are not what they used to be at current rates. A packet of sliced cheese in Walgreens was over $6... and at $1.2 to pound its not great... I used a lot of UK comparisons with eating out and UK was cheaper. Like people say, depends where you go but I would suggest in most normal sit down restaurants like Longhorns, Millers etc your average entree is $15 to $20 so about £13 to £18 ish... not much difference from UK imo.

I am bringing shopping back but not to the level I have previously... I can get trainers cheaper at home than outlets etc etc.

Again it's all down to unfortunate exchange rate, we still had most amazing holiday, ate at some amazing places but also chilled and ate in some nights.

You will be fine like I say with 3k but don't expect phenomenal bargains🙂

T

Tbh looking at some menus etc like bahama breeze and longhornes i thought around 100 dollars for us both for our evening meal would be enough. like i say first night we will get a takeaway and probably try a pizza takeaway later on in the holiday on days when we stay around the pool. were not on a budget and there will be more if we need it I just thought 3k will probably be enough. we did swap most of our money in the last 2 years as we have had to move the holiday twice so exchange rate we got at the time wasn't has low as it is now.

When looking at prices on menus for sit down places remember they don’t include tax and tip which can add about 25% + to the cost.

We’re here just now and have been a bit shocked at how expensive everything seems to be now. We have been a good few times, obviously when the exchange was much better, and this is the most expensive we’ve noticed yet. A few other residents of the hotel have been saying the same thing and one of our Uber drivers commented on it saying that the costs are at an all time high just now.

We didn’t think things were that expensive, but I suppose that just goes to show how expensive things are here in Ireland because we found the prices pretty similar to what we would pay here.