Tell me your best tips to budget offsite

[thatdavieguy]

Originally Posted by vampiress88

Novacastrian

Don’t own a buggy. Haven’t had one since March when littlest was 2yr 3months so don’t have one to take to a theme park even in uk or mall. They both very good at walking. Sometimes go on my shoulders for a ride (littlest had to do this other day for school run as she was shattered fell asleep and couldn’t wake up enough to walk) doesn’t usually happen tho but I really do think we are going to need one. Hoping I can convince hubby before then

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it's one thing to have them walk around the shops but the parks at disney for example are massive in comparison to any UK park.

Take into consideration the heat & the sun the kids will be knackered and you'll end up carrying them a lot which will take the fun out of it for you, you will probably find you'll easily do 20k+ steps per day so for a kid that's a lot more as their wee legs will do more.

you can pickup a cheap buggy from walmart or even order it online & have it delivered to your hotel.

[LadyFromage]

I didn't have a Fitbit the last time we went to Florida but I did when we went to Disneyland Paris.

We walked over 10 miles a DAY. My 5 year old was really good but by the end of the 3rd day she was shattered. She couldn't have done another day.

Orlando parks are much bigger.

If you don't take a buggy from home, you could end up renting one from the park and they are super expensive so just be prepared.

[vampiress88]

Looking for a pram now

[princess allie]

We are always on a budget when we go. We do sometimes take subs in bought from Publix or a petrol station. But at the very least, we take crisps, cereal bars and fruit and bottles of water. We also all eat kids meals at the counter service places, it’s enough food for a lunch if you are going to be eating out later. We stay in a villa, so have a big breakfast there (we do sometimes eat out for breakfast, but find it takes too long and we like to get to the parks for opening). We then have our snacks during the late morning and leave the parks mid afternoon and go for our evening meal. If we are going to see fireworks etc, we have a cheaper offsite dinner before we arrive. I’m glad you are getting a buggy, I think you will definitely need it. Our DS used a buggy at Disney till he was 5, it’s just so hot and tiring.

[WeHeartOrlando]

Originally Posted by vampiress88

Looking for a pram now

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You could pick up a cheap one from Walmart out there. Or gumtree before you go.
But there’s also a Disney World share and recycle group on Facebook you could join. They have tons of buggies, including doubles, that you can borrow for free and leave behind for the next in line. Only issue is that you need to collect and drop off at a Disney resort.

We wouldn’t be without a buggy either. Our last visit we brought the buggy and a sling and sometimes just parked the buggy somewhere and carried youngest about. Sling was a lifesaver in the immigration queue!

[stephen2203]

Why not take your car seats and drop the extra insurance. Most airlines will take them free of charge

[vampiress88]

Pram at Walmart for less than $30 and told hubby I’m buying it so that ones sorted. Leave water bottle under pram too.

Wouldn’t want bottom insurance. My mum did that. Had a crash over there and I don’t know all full detail but I know she said it didn’t end as good as it could and that she’d alwayd get the Alamo gold. This was few years back tho.
Can’t even ask her now cos I’m not telling her we going

[stephen2203]

We paid £397 for a Standard SUV with Gold Insurance. This was with Alamo but booked through Netflights. No car seats or Sat nav but you can take your own seats and use your phone for sat nav

[Hypnobabe]

I would definitely rethink not taking a pram if you can get hold of one - multi purpose - helps with tired legs and means you can put stuff on it and not have to carry it. We took a pram up to our daughter being 7! Our pram spent so much time in the tunnel at Epcot just holding our stuff in the shelter.

I would recommend panera bread for a healthier pack up - bakery stuff etc and soooo lovely.

[BevS97]

There’s a difference between saving money and cutting back so far it affects your holiday.

We are very careful but we wouldn’t consider doing without s car. It’s an important part of our trip.

Tickets for 21 days are expensive. You could look at overlapping two sets of 14 day tickets. Or just getting 14 day and using them in the middle of the trip. We had a few no ticket days at the start of our last trip. I don’t know if I could do a full week but if the cost saving was enough we xould probably do 3 at the start and 4 at the end. You don’t want to be yearning for the parks though.
We save on food. We eat at cheap places. We share meals and we drink water. We never take a packed lunch but we do eat breakfast in our room and sometimes other meals if we are around the hotel. We have a couple of microwave meals over the holiday.
I’ve never felt hungry or hard done by but I don’t like to spend £100s on a meal that’s over before you know it. I just don’t feel I’ve got anything to show for my money.