Blowing hot and cold over Florida and WDW

[JudyC]

DH and I had such a fantastic holiday in October 2015. Just the two of us, staying in POFQ for nine nights with the full DDP and then in the Portofino Bay for a whole week. We also did HHN a couple of times with frequent fear passes. We flew with Virgin before you had to pay for seat allocation and even got the bubble at no extra cost by us having opposite aisle seats. We hired a car for the last week whilst at Universal.
I brought the whole holiday in for £4,800, and ours spends were around £1,500 including cocktails and tips at signature restaurants etc
My issue is now I was thinking of planning for 2020 , I've done the maths based on like for like and it would come in closer to 7k for just the two of us!
Part of me thinks it's just too much. I know we could go cheaper, stay off site etc. But we love dining at the signature restaurants and would want to do all the parks as so much would have changed in five years.
The dollar rate is so dire as well. I've just come back from visiting my brother in California with my Mum and it's really brought home how expensive everything is now, and the tipping is just getting out of hand!
One minute I think it's too much to justify paying out, maybe we can't ever repeat that last holiday. If it didn't turn out as well I'd be gutted. The weather was perfect that time and it was our best trip to date.
Or maybe I should shelve another trip altogether, we've had great times elsewhere including a weekend in Wales last year 😁 There are so many other places I'd love to visit, we do like our city breaks and get a lot out of them.
Sorry for the waffle, I guess I'll sit on the fence for a while 🤣

[kerrie1781]

It surely would still be cheaper to stay off site and pay for your meals at the signature restaurants? Just an idea x

[JudyC]

Originally Posted by kerrie1781

It surely would still be cheaper to stay off site and pay for your meals at the signature restaurants? Just an idea x

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It would yes, and that's a consideration. Was just shocked at the like for like comparisons and increases. Still crunching the numbers 😀

[kerrie1781]

Originally Posted by JudyC

It would yes, and that's a consideration. Was just shocked at the like for like comparisons and increase. Still crunching the numbers 😀

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We never usually stay on site, we always stay on international drive and Uber everywhere. We do the parks most days but for us, the cost of staying on site is not justified. We are staying on site next week though as it was a bargain, no dining plan though. Some of the restaurants on international drive are gorgeous! I’d personally rather have a cheaper package and more to spend whilst I’m there x

[Bobbins]

Originally Posted by JudyC

My issue is now I was thinking of planning for 2020 , I've done the maths based on like for like and it would come in closer to 7k for just the two of us!

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Having just booked for 2019 can you really do that holiday like-for-like for £7K? £7K without spending money, maybe.

How much are you allowing for the flights?

[JudyC]

Originally Posted by Bobbins

Having just booked for 2019 can you really do that holiday like-for-like for £7K? £7K without spending money, maybe.

How much are you allowing for the flights?

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Yes that's not including spending money. Was allowing £600-£700 each for flights from Manchester.
Last time was under 5k and then £1,500 spending money on top.
The calculation for next year is 7k and then I guess 2k spending money
Sorry I might not have made that clear
This is for 2 adults.

[SWEN]

We are looking at just under £8k for 4 of us, 6 days onsite, 7 offsite and a night in Miami. That's only including Disney tickets, no other parks.

[JudyC]

Originally Posted by SWEN

We are looking at just under £8k for 4 of us, 6 days onsite, 7 offsite and a night in Miami. That's only including Disney tickets, no other parks.

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Yes I think off-site for at least half the holiday is the only way if we decide to go.

[3disneykids]

Do you need to do universal and Disney?
If DDP is free next year then it may be worth having all your holiday onsite (Free dining would offset the price of the extra nights stay.

Are you fixed to school hols for any reason? If not I am sure you will be able to bag flights much cheaper than your budget. If your flight includes upgrades consider economy?

If you want it all then it will be expensive but we would rather have a cheaper flight and 1 park and have a longer holiday (that is just our preference I understand its not for everyone)

[Adultdisneyfan]

Originally Posted by JudyC

Yes I think off-site for at least half the holiday is the only way if we decide to go.

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Be careful where you stay offsite. Depends where you will spend most of your time even shuttles/Uber’s will dig into your budget. So choose wisely.

For us given what we’d spend on shuttles/taxis/Ubers and whatever staying onsite and getting free dining isn’t that more expensive. So yes, crunch the onsite numbers but also the offsite ones.

After last year in California I know our “offsite” Anaheim holiday cost, overall, more than our onsite WDW one next year. Which was one counter meal and one sit down/buffet meal per day. Coffee in hotel cost me $7 - free with Disney mug.

Just saying it all adds up. With drinks/snacks/meals/shuttles we were spending about $150 a day. Add that to the park tickets and hotel and it’s about the same as onsite.

Although onsite is more upfront depending what you will be paying for out of pocket which is included for onsite stays then there might not be much in it.

Yes, offsite is cheaper, a lot cheaper if you do everything on a budget, but it’s wise not to assume anything so do the maths for both - and don’t forget the tax when looking at meal prices.