No Florida next year (not worth the cost)

[florida girl]

We are having a break from the USA this year spent too much last year on our 3 week trip although we had an amazing time can’t justify the price .Off to Venice in March and an AI 5* in October in Greece.

[Trusty ian]

Our next visit to Florida might be the last for while, it's got more expensive every time.kids are grown ups and pay adult prices for everything now. I still have the invoice from when I took my 2 kids in Feb half term 2008. Flights were so cheap then . £206 for me and kids were £ 178!
All the parks we visited were so quiet. Never had to que for any ride more than 5 mins ( credit crunch/ banking crisis era)
And best of all$2.08 to a £

[taylaboo]

Funnily enough we emptied the loft this week ready to put a floor in and sorted thru the boxes. Looking ahead we don't want to leave the kids with a sh^*load of rubbish to clear. 😁 I came across the receipts for our trip in 2013. 7 adults and two children, villa for 14 days, Virgin direct flights out of Gatwick and mini bus £7,500 plus tickets.
We went again in 2015, same villa, flights and vehicle but for 21 days £9,500 plus tickets and our daughter got married there at Discovery Cove.
We are going back this year, different resort (Champions Gate) Virgin flights again and minibus 21 days £11,500 but grandson is now classed as an adult and grandaughter is 13
When we took out kids for our first trip in 1990 they were 9 and 11. It was £399 each for Thomson flights, a large car, and a Holiday Inn at Altamonte Springs. In 1996 hubby and I were lucky enough to leave the kids with my mum and we did it as a couple. I think this will be our last long haul holiday. Hubby is 72 in August and had a stroke in 2017. (He made a good recovery).
We have travelled all over the world and have enjoyed our destinations but Orlando will always be our Number 1.
There are places in the Uk and Europe we haven't seen yet that are still on our bucket list so will try to visit them before we pop our clogs.1990 was a once in a lifetime trip but we got the bug!

[Ryles]

Yes it’s expensive. But 4 of us went to Spain last year and it cost me £1250 for 3 nights, it was nothing special, now that’s expensive! You make it as expensive as you want!

[princess allie]

I understand what you are saying MH but we have always struggled to pay for trips and now are finally at a time when money should not be so much of an issue, so we are opposite and hoping to go more. I know everything has gone up and exchange rates are rubbish, but I long to be in the Florida sunshine or even the Florida rain. I have also realised that I am probably totally uncultured. I don’t really like sightseeing and when we tried AI European holidays, we all looked forward to coming home as we found it boring. Maybe we will one day have our fill of Florida, like perhaps you have? But we aren’t there yet. We’ve been to California and Disneyland, LA and San Francisco and although enjoyable, we don’t want to go back.

[mushumadness]

My dh won’t let me book Florida in advance any more it’s just getting stupidly expensive we have four kids so it really adds up and we are limited where we can stay

[skalexander]

I hear you, MH. We last went in 2017 and were looking at going again in 2020, but it is in my mind that, unless there is a significant improvement in the exchange rate, we’re probably going to spend our money going elsewhere.

We’re currently in Canada, where the exchange rate is around $1.70 to the £ and it’s great value - this is our third winter visit but I’m pondering a summer visit in 2020 instead of Florida.

The only issue is some first timer family members hoped to come with us in 2020, but we will see nearer the time.

[Guest]

It's interesting that I don't think it's just Brits that are getting a bit fed up with prices and crowds, was watching the Dis Tokyo vlog and listening to Pete (a local) ranting about how a third party company are managing crowds better and producing better quality merch for cheaper than Disney was very telling.
We are calling this year our "deciding visit" after four trips, our last visit had some real downs that seemed to be basic avoidable stuff, like a room downgrade, then the carpets were wet through in our new room, then we were allocated someone else's room, we really had to pull teeth for an apology as well and it rubbed a bit of magic away for sure, add in the rising costs and mega crowds, I think this might be our last one for a while too.

[YorkshireT]

Many Brits think Florida is Disney, and USA is Florida/ NYC/ Las Vegas/ California.

If you are sick of Disney and prices, quite understandable, try driving around Florida, it’s a beautiful State. My favourite areas are SW (Naples etc) and Panhandle.

But also consider wider USA. We have had many wonderful trips, where we’ve hardly seen a U.K. person, if any. We’ve been to 25 States. From Texas to Louisiana, Smokies to Blue Ridge Mountains.

A real easy one is fly into Tampa or Atlanta. Go to places like Destin and Seaside, into the Georgia islands (Jekyl), go to Hilton Head and trip into Savannah, Charleston etc.

[chrisxal]

We still love our trips to Florida but don't do the parks anymore, Disney lost its magic for us but Florida has so much more to offer then theme parks and because we can travel out of term times for us it is still cost effective, I can get 2 direct return flights with car hire with BA for about £1k- £1.2k