We are thinking of going in a few years time, my daughter will be 18, my son will be 13 and my youngest will be about 4.
Going to be in the summer holidays, probably no way around it. For 2 weeks.
What sort of budget am I going to have to find to fund this sort of trip - not sure even what parks to go to and what to avoid.
Its a nightmare trying to think about all the options and what to give a wide berthetc.
So any beginners guide would be nice
We got back last week from Florida, 8 of us went. Went with Virgin Holidays. Including spends it cost us £7k for 2 adults and 2 kids. Direct flight into MCO airport from Manchester, stayed at the Enclave suites, just off International drive - great location for the non disney parks. The hotel was great, 2 bedroom suites. Parks wise we did Universal/Islands of adventure, Volcano Bay, Seaworld, Discovery Cove (the kids swam with Dolphins) and Busch Gardens. We could have done Aquatica as that was included in the tickets, but were knackered after the CL Final.
Universal/Islands of adventure and Volcano Bay all fall under one set of tickets and if you book Discovery Cove (its a day at Seaworlds all inclusive resort), you get Seaworld, Aquatica and Busch Gardens as well. Park tickets in total cost about £1600, but it is unlimited access. We were told by someone while there that if you buy a 12 month pass instead for each park, it works out cheaper - I'm going to look into that for next time.
Aquatica was a bit run down when we went in 2017, but they have spent money since. Universal/Islands/Seaworld/Volcano Bay and Busch all have to be done, the coasters are brilliant at each resort. Look at you tube for Manta, Kraken, Mako, Rip Ride Rockit, Hulk, Tigris, Falcons Fury to get an idea of how good they are.
We either walked or got the I trolley to get to the parks, hired 2 cars to go to Busch. Her sister had book a Mustang for 3 days, that cost about £260 all in, I paid £80 for a Nissan Altima for the day.
Avoid the end of May, it is when the US schools break up and memorial day weekend. The parks are packed with schoolkids and the queues hit an hour very quickly. Temps were mad too, over 40c/100f at times. Hurricane season starts on the 1st June.
We honeymooned there in Sept/Oct 2007, still mids 30's, but a hell of a lot quieter, didn't have to queue for rides at all.