How can people ever afford Florida holidays??

Netty · Jun 18, 2012

Disneynutinlondon said:
There's definitely no way I'd be letting them go to Orlando without me

we did 2 trips to wdw without youngest dd as she was in college, wow did we pay for it!! :rotfl:

BlondeViki · Jun 18, 2012

dixonsontour said:
From what i've seen on here and the dibb young adults will still go to Florida with you..then they bring their gf/wife..then a few years later your grandkids aswell

hahaha so true! There's no way I'd let my mum and dad go without me and I'm nearly 32! To be honest, I think it works the other way around now too - it was only very grudgingly that mum accepted she couldn't come on our honeymoon with us!!

At the risk of sounding sentimental... the big things in life are better when you share them with people you care about :wizard:

2Tiggies · Jun 18, 2012

Netty said:
we did 2 trips to wdw without youngest dd as she was in college, wow did we pay for it!!

Well I hope my DD doesn't changer her mind. She wants to be a Paediatrician and says that as soon as she is earning she will take me every year on her dime and I get spending money from her as a thank you for taking her every year while she's "too young to work" (her words) I hope she doesn't have a change of heart :lmao:

Tony Toon · Jun 18, 2012

Leaving your "kids" behind is more difficult than it seems. We have gone through the stages - kids x2; DS,DD + bf; DD, DS +gf, same again plus assorted nieces etc and all combinations. And for the first time we are leaving them all behind (age 25 and 22) to enjoy WDW by ourselves. DW complains that she will miss them and I suppose that although we are looking forward to spending time without them (Don't tell them) I will too but I rather suspect my bank manager will be much happier. :rotfl2:

However DD announced yesterday that if she finds flights at the right price she might yet join us after two weeks so we may all be happy. Just 15 days to go .... :goodvibes

Beep · Jun 18, 2012

We go at least once a year for 3 weeks or twice a year for 2 weeks each. Our flights are around £600 each and the villa is about £350 a week.

I have a Disney annual pass and that saves us parking fees each time we go into the parks and that can be £50 a week. We use vouchers and coupons when we are out there and that saves quite a bit too. We also get annual pass discounts on food too.

I compared notes with a friend of mine and our 2 weeks holiday, all in, is costing less than her 10 night holiday at Laka Como in Italy.

The only debt we have is our rent and study course payment for DH. He gave up work in a bad job last December and studies full time at home which will hopefully lead to a good job, so we are down to one wage.

I have a credit card for work which is paid back each month and another with about £200 on it that I keep for emergencies.

We do all our shopping at Aldi which has more than halved our shopping bill. We don't drink, only coffee. We don't have takeaways but we do treat ourselves to a meal out when I get paid.

We put money away every month for Florida, cars and general savings and once it goes out of my main account it doesn't get touched unless we have to pay for tax, MOT, insurance etc. the general savings is for emergencies like replacing something in our home and Florida is, well, Florida.

I get a bonus every quarter which is around £1000 and that goes straight in the Florida fund. That means we use my salary for general day to day living and use the bonus for our trips. I work bl**dy hard at my job and it is great to be able to use the bonus for trips.

Most of our entertainment is the tv and films. We got LoveFilm rather than going to the cinema and usually watch 2 films at the weekend, so that's just over £1 per film!

I do a lot of batch cooking and on a Friday night we have a home cooked curry rather than a takeaway which saves around £10 per week.

We make sacrifices but it doesn't feel like we are missing out at all, even with DH not working.

I would rather go to Disney than go anywhere else.

Dimplenose · Jun 19, 2012

Just a random thought but the cost of holidays is amazingly different for different people.

Income plays a huge role in being able to afford a WDW holiday as does prioritising ones savings and a lot of research can be done to reduce costs (indirect flights etc.) to some extent, but at the end of the day the things that can't be changed are

1) the size of your family
2) the ages of your children - (turning from a child to adult prices while they are still too young to have a part time job seems harsh - but then again my son was eating as much as his father by the time he was 12.)
3) restricted holday dates (either through your job or your opinion of taking the kids out of school)

all these things can bump up the price.

MayJacob · Jun 19, 2012

gemma85 said:
I was thinking of going end of march- middle of April. I've only been abroad twice and that was tenerife when I was 10 and 18. So im trying to give my son as many holidays as I can. I know realistically I know wdw won't be a regular thing but at least I can say I've been. Ideally I would like to go 2014 but pricing around for 2013 prices to get an idea. What's prices like food wise in Florida?

For a buffet off-site about $40.00
On-site about $90.00
normal restaurant off-site $30.00
on-site $60.00
thats from my experience

wayneg · Jun 19, 2012

MayJacob said:
For a buffet off-site about $40.00
On-site about $90.00
normal restaurant off-site $30.00
on-site $60.00
thats from my experience

Sorry, not understanding your figures. How many people? do you mean for 2?

chmurf · Jun 19, 2012

gemma85 said:
What's prices like food wise in Florida?

it goes from cheap to expensive.

Figures are for 2 adults and 1 kid (4) ordering off the kids menu (no alcohol or appetizers in those prices)

offsite : (prices are per party of 3 - 2 adults, 1 kid)
very basic : McD, BK and stuff : $18 to $20
take out pizza at domino's : large $18, extra large : $22
Pizza buffet at Cici's, with BOGOF coupon : $16

Breakfast at IHOP's : $25
Breakfast buffet at Sizzler's : $20
Dinner at Denny's : $45
Sandwich at EoS : under $20 (with beverage)

I would recommend that you read Dixonsontour's excellent "dine with under $100 a day" thread, you can find links in her signature/profile, it holds priceless information

onsite : (prices as per person)
you have all the menus and their prices on allears.net http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm

but roughly a buffet costs between $25 and $30 per person (plus tip)
Quick service costs between $12 and $15 per person
table service wil vary depending if you're taking a full course, entrée and dessert or only the entrée.
a single entrée will cost around $15 to $20

Julia Ann · Jun 19, 2012

I remember selling my car to fund my first trip (i'd just moved to a job with a company car) - I sold it for £500 quid which paid for my first trip in 1995!!!! oh how the prices have changed :lmao:

loving this thread for loads of ideas. We too are saving little by little as I mentioned in previous post. A friend of ours has just offered their villa in spain for a week but it means dipping into the florida fund....DD age 4 loves the beach and it's hard to say no but we will be further away from target then, might just wait for a sunny day and drive to Blackpool beach

Hipster Meg · Jun 19, 2012

We're planning on going to Florida in April 2015, for us it's probably going to be a one off trip, or at least the only one we're going to do for a very long time! With the price of flights I can't see us doing it on a regular basis. We have a DLP trip planned for early next year but after that we most likely won't go again as we'll be saving. For that holiday I'll be asking for euros instead of Christmas money so that I can buy myself something nice while we're away.

We're a one wage family living in the London commuter belt so our day to day expenses are on the high side! But there are lots of things we do to save money - we do most of our shopping in Tesco and get petrol from there as well which means we get quite a few clubcard point. We also have a Tesco credit card that we pay off in full at the end of the month. By saving the vouchers over the last year or so we were able to have a nice little holiday at Easter visiting Warwick Castle, West Midland Safari Park and Drayton Manor. In September we'll be using them again to take DS to Legoland for his birthday. Using the vouchers means that we're able to have little treats every now and again.

We rarely eat out and when we do we use vouchers from moneysavingexpert.com I also do paid surveys with Valued Opinions which pays out in gift cards for places like Amazon and Tesco and use Topcashback wherever possible.

We're lucky in that hubby's work will give him a £2k bonus when he's been with them for 10 years which is why we're planning so far in the future. As our DS is in school we're restricted to the holidays and as I really don't do well in the heat August is out. As my birthday in 2015 will fall in the Easter holidays we thought that would be the perfect time to go.

bazzanoid · Jun 19, 2012

Hipster Meg said:
We're a one wage family living in the London commuter belt so our day to day expenses are on the high side!

Know that feeling!!! What part of the fringes of london are you on? You might be just round the corner from me! :goodvibes

torsie24 · Jun 19, 2012

Count me in the commuter belt posse!

If we only had to pay £100/month mortgage I'd go to WDW every 8 weeks!

Hipster Meg · Jun 19, 2012

bazzanoid said:
Know that feeling!!! What part of the fringes of london are you on? You might be just round the corner from me!

We're in Surrey, near Croydon. Far enough from London to be not technically part of it but close enough to be in zone 6!

ben1993 · Jun 19, 2012

Only 19 but my friend and I both work and save a set amount each month to pay for the trip. Live at home so just pay board and don't drive so no extortionate car to pay for!

I imagine I'll have to save a lot longer and harder once I move out and have to pay full rent and utilities.