photo credit: Patrícia Ferreira on Unsplash
When I first spoke to my husband about taking the kids to Orlando that was the first question on our lips. Over the years I had asked loads of people how much they spent and done a good amount of research on the internet, but struggled to come to a reasonable figure that I trusted - one family's trip to Orlando is not the same as another's, and big round numbers don't really give you an indication of what you might end up spending because you don't know what its made up of. I constantly wonder whether we spend more than everyone else on holidays and whether we are booking with the wrong place - or just fussy (I will live with fussy). The challenge is that before you make any promises about a trip like this, you kinda want to know you can afford it.
So here is what it cost us - and what the big, not so round number is made up of. My budget spreadsheet is also available to download on my downloads page which breaks down even further. If you want any more info - please message me. The spreadsheet was updated when we got home with everything we spent whilst we were there and will give you a real view of how much it will cost. You can update the spreadsheet as you first up estimates for your family and see if you will need to spend more, or if you can spend less to get the holiday you want. I hope this will help you get to a workable budget for your trip with ease. For info, all the costs below are based on 3 x over 12s and 1 x under 12 as I'm afraid if your child is 12 or over they are classed as an adult.
So the big number is £12,372.
Look out for follow up posts that talk about why we chose these options - but for this post it's all about the money. This is how we spent it.
TRAVEL
Flights: 4 x Economy flights with Tui, seat bookings, luggage allowance, Doncaster to Orlando Sanford £3,805*
Airport Parking: Meet and greet parking at Doncaster airport, £92
Car Hire and petrol: 10 days hire, booked directly with Avis, £360
Airport transfer for return flight: Booked direct with Uber, £54
Theme Park Parking: We had our car for the 10 days we were at Disney. It costs $25 dollars a day to park at Disney theme parks - which added up to £200 over the fortnight.
Freeway Tolls: It's not a lot in the scheme of things, but we racked up £15 on tolls during our trip.
ACCOMMODATION
Villa Hire (10 nights): Booked direct with Villadirect, 4 bedroom townhome in Storey Lake, with plunge pool, £1,524
Hotel (4 nights): Booked direct with Hard Rock Hotel** Deluxe Queen room with 2 queen beds for the kids and a kingsize sofa bed for parents, £1,054
TICKETS
14-day multi-park ticket for Disney World and Universal Orlando: booked directly through Attraction Tickets Direct, £2,647
Not so scary Halloween tickets: Booked direct with Attraction Tickets Direct, £256
Kennedy Space Centre: Booked direct with Attraction Tickets Direct, £137
FOOD AND DRINK***
General eating in and eating out, £1,065
Special meals (in addition to the number above):
- Be Our Guest Dinner in Magic Kingdom: £240
- Princess Dinner at Epcot: £240
- Stitch Character Breakfast at the Polynesian Hotel: £144
- Dine with an Astronaut Lunch at Kennedy: £105
OTHER COSTS
Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique: Princess makeover (hair, makeup and nails - we brought our own dress): £63
Photos at Universal Studios: The 14-Day multi-park tickets come with Disney's photo pass - to have the same convenience when we went to Universal we purchased a 3-day photo pass at £71.
Spending money: We managed to spend a further £300 during the course of the holiday on things for the kids, presents etc.
The hidden costs, or at least the things you might not have thought of...
Costumes: We had a 10-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy when we travelled. My boy wasn't interested in costumes, but we travelled with a number of outfits for my girl. It's cheaper to take them with you. I haven't included these in the price of the holiday.
Phone charges: Although there is wifi in the theme parks, don't forget the additional costs of your phone when roaming. We turned data off on our phones and only turned it on when needed - but if there is two of you and your mobile phone company charges £5 a day to access your plan - that could add up to almost £300 over the course of a two week holiday. I haven't included this in the price of the holiday.
Tipping: Tips are included in the amounts above, but if you are looking at prices of meals on the Disney website its worth factoring tips in. The recommended tip in the US is 18-20% so the recommended tip at the Be Our Guest dinner, which is a fixed cost meal, would be in the region £40 on top of the meal (which for 3 'adults' and one child was £200).
When should you go to Orlando? find our thoughts here.
Notes
* we made some savings by booking through our bank account. On a big spend holiday such as this it might be worth subscribing to an account that gives preferential rates but do your research first, and if you don't need it later - cancel it! For our bank account, we had to pay the full cost upfront (which not everyone can do) and we noted that for some things, such as Hard Rock Hotel, the hotel also offers a discount by booking direct so the cost of the bank account booking with upfront payment was not worth the lack of flexibility of booking direct. Nevertheless, we made a saving of c£400 on our flights and received entry into the premium lounge with free breakfast on the way out, which would make an annual subscription worthwhile.
** We chose to stay at the HRH as premium universal hotels come with free fast passes. although this hotel cost looks pricey compared to the villa, when factoring in fast pass it a no brainer, and after 10 days of expected queuing we wanted an easy ride for our last four.
*** Our general eating in and eating out bill includes the costs of supermarket trips and all food and drink purchased at the hotel and in the parks, with the exclusion of our 'treat' meals which I have listed separately as you might not want to do these. Whilst at the villa, we did a mixture of taking in packed lunches and eating at the villa, and buying lunch or dinner in the park (about half and half overall). There is a breakdown of meals eaten 'out' on the spreadsheet on the downloads page. We avoided buying water and drinks in the parks throughout the holiday by taking refillable water bottles each day. When buying 'fast service' we generally bought two meals between the 4 of us. Oh and don't forget, if you have a 12-year-old, table service restaurant reservations are linked to their ticket and therefore they will be given the adult menu, at adult prices.
Disclaimer on costs
Please note, all costs are what we paid in August 2019. I cannot guarantee that you would be able to get the same price in future years and this is intended to be a guide only. During August 2019 the $ exchange rate was about 1.25 and £ values have been calculated on this basis or on what was charged to our credit card once exchange fees had been applied.
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