Never done Florida and lost/overwhelmed

[esteeds]

Even though 3 weeks is a long time I would say that doing all 3 parks will be ambitious. Discovery Cove comes with options to a number of Sea World parks, we always take the offer up and DC is our MUST DO park. Since our kids have been teenagers we have done Universal, staying on site for 2 or 3 nights for early access and front of line. We go to Disney springs, the boardwalk and a Disney part to get a little taste of the magic. We always stay at a villa as we love the freedom. There is so much to do ob one the parks and it is nice to have seats with a slower pace and no lines. We also go to the beach at least for one day, it is a totally different side of Florida. As other posters have said make a list of all the things you want to do and then start to prioritise them until you get to a clear view of what you want to do. Enjoy then planning process, for me it is when the holiday starts 😀

[Elodie]

I was like you a couple of months ago. I’d been to Florida as a child, but we’ve always done DLP as a family, so I had no clue about WDW. I posted on here for advice with our vague plans for a 2021 holiday - and a few days later we’d booked to go in August 2020!

We decided to DIY, because I don’t think our plans and wishes would have suited a package holiday. We’re staying in Royal Pacific at Universal to get front of line passes, then moving to Beach Club at WDW, with the free DDP. We want to do lots of character meals, so the DDP makes sense for us. We'll book our flights later this year - I’m keeping an eye on the cheap flights thread on here to get an idea of when and what to book.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Whitemice

We are looking at 3 weeks in Aug 2020 for 2 adults and 11 year old budget around 10-12k inc spending we want to do Disney universal and discovery cove but can't work out the if we would be best to stay at Disney universal or international as can see benefits to all of them

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Based on this comment, I'd suggest doing a split stay. Spend some of your time onsite at Disney and then at either a deluxe Universal hotel (for the Express passes) or somewhere on International Drive. That way, you get the best of both worlds.

That's what we're thinking of doing next August. We're thinking of spending 9 or 10 nights at a moderate Disney resort and then a week on International Drive. We're also a group of 3 and it looks like it'll come to about £6.5K.

Originally Posted by Whitemice

and is it worth spending 3k extra to get meal plan at port Orleans over breakfast only at the pop or music hotels

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Probably not £3K extra, no. But if you do a split stay I doubt it'll be £3K extra. I think for us it's less than £1K extra to stay at Coronado Springs or Port Orleans French Quarter with QSDP rather than at an All-Star hotel.

Looking at the end of August and putting in a 2 week stay at Disney for 3 people, the difference in price between All-Star Music and CSR is approximately £1K. In this case, I think the extra £1K is worth it.

(Personally, we've never been that bothered about eating table service meals at Disney. On the occasion that we have, we've paid the extra £100 or so out of pocket).

[Welshjim22]

I never stay onsite and am very biased that way. But I would suggest if you consider staying onsite price up both first on and offsite. Compare price and difference in quality of accommodation and benefits of car hire and no car. Only you can really decide.

For us with a timeshare a car is a must for freedom to do what we like at a moments notice. Although you could consider a split stay a week or two onsite without car then pick one up at Disney and move offsite and get the best of both worlds as your staying 3 weeks.

[bigshaz]

We did 3 weeks in 2017 , 2 weeks Disney and one universal, my trip report covers everything good and bad.

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...5#post12806135

Last year we did french quarter and loved the hotel, it would be a great first stay in my opinion.

Read some trip reports with a big cup of tea and it’ll start to make sense I promise

Any questions about my trip report feel free to PM as well, Tons of people on here will assist - it’s how I learnt everything for my trip ( oh and Tim trackers good for a you tube watch too)
Have fun - the planning is part of the fun

[Morethescarier7]

Woah! 12k sounds ridiculously expensive to me!
I just checked and you can get 14 nights at cabana bay for the three of you, with car hire for £3175.
Petrol is cheap over there.
Dining plans I’m not sure of as I’ve never used them but honestly eating out is not expensive unless you’re going to upscale places every time.
I’d probably take £3-4000 spending money if I were you.
Tickets for all 5 parks for the three of you would be £2511.
That’s about £9,500.
I wouldn’t stay on i drive if I were you, we’ve been 5 times now and had problems everytime with the hotels there, each time thinking oh next time will be better.
Roaches, filthy rooms, loud guests, biker gangs, people who actually live in the hotels etc.
Next time we’re going for a villa!

[Rossmasa]

Yes agree with Morethescarier 12K is a whopping budget.

We are a family of three 2AD and Daughter age 14 , we've gone for three weeks for the last several years , we mix and match with anything from 7-14day disney stay and then remainder in a villa .

Would highly recommend a Disney stay with free DDP and other onsite perks , a Moderate and QSP is a good place to start with first time visit. If you don't fancy a Villa would suggest staying at a Universal Hotel to get their perks too.

[Thorpy]

Originally Posted by Whitemice

We are looking at 3 weeks in Aug 2020 for 2 adults and 11 year old budget around 10-12k inc spending we want to do Disney universal and discovery cove but can't work out the if we would be best to stay at Disney universal or international as can see benefits to all of them and is it worth spending 3k extra to get meal plan at port Orleans over breakfast only at the pop or music hotels oh I'm so lost

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I'll keep it really specific as lots of others have covered the generalised stuff, but bear in mind this is personal opinion.

We've been going since before pop century was built, and the all star resorts was our go to resort. Pop Century was newer and therefore classed as value plus, and accordingly more expensive. The rooms are the same size and since then the All stars have been refurbished, so I don't see any value in Pop over the All stars.

Port Orleans is another classification of resort, moderate resorts have larger rooms, and more facilities at the resort, we love Port Orleans usually staying at Riverside, but we equate it with French Quarter and take the cheapest of the two... and here's the big caveat, provided the cost difference is at least close to offsetting the cost of the extra food. With such a massive difference, the answer is that it doesn't.
We've had the same discussion regarding next years trip and we concluded that All Star resorts would be our choice, as it has in the past when the offers were not as good.

Is the upgrade worth it as it currently stands... NO !
It's somewhere north of £100 per day and the food costs if you maximise it would be worth about $40 per day. So you're paying about £70 per day to be in a slightly bigger room in a slightly nicer resort. Not worth it.

[Scaramouche]

We always stay onsite, we do a split stay between Disney and universal and we usually take discovery cove out of our Disney days .

We would absolutely go for a moderate over a value, the meal plan is worth it to us

[Sew109]

I don’t think anyone could argue that unless perhaps you go every year that your Disney experience can be better staying off site. I would recommend at leasrt some of your tie. Should be onsite