How should I spend my money?

[joolz1910]

I will have saved 10k for our next holiday in 2015 (all being well) and I will be ready to book after Christmas.

There are 5 of us: Me, Dh and 3 girls who will be 14, 11 and 7 in August 2015. We went last Oct/Nov and loved it

Our must-do is OKW with (hopefully) the DDP.
I don't care how we get there, direct/indirect.
I am trying to decide whether to blow the budget on 3 weeks at OKW and to just 'do' Disney
or...
To go for 2 weeks and incorporate Universal and Seaworld. I think the cost would be roughly the same as tickets for Universal / Seaworld and 1/2 nights at Universal would be quite an extra added expense.


I am soooooooooooooooo indecisive and the decision is getting closer....

 

[scottish mum]

tricky one

I love the idea of 3 weeks at Disney but it might be too much, but 14 days and doing Universal/sea world etc means you are losing disney time.

Could you do 3 weeks at disney and still do a day or 2 at Universal but drop the hotel?

Personally I don't like Universal and not too fussed about Sea world so for me the choice would be simple, the menfolk in my family love Universal however

Not been much help have I

 

[jen_uk]

I would do three weeks at OKW, it means you can take your time and have rest and pool days without feeling like you are cutting into park days. I would still spend a day or two at Universal and Seaworld but wouldn't stay there. We are staying at HRH in December as the night was unavailable in Disney and the price for just one night is crazy!!

 

[Elise79]

I would do 3 weeks (or maybe 17/18 nights to give a bit of slack in the budget) and add in some trips out away from Orlando such as a trip to the beach, trip to Port Canaveral, day at KSC etc.

There is quite a lot to see they isn't as expensive as the other Orlando parks.

 

[MrRomance]

We absolutely love Disney and it's fair to say that we wouldn't go to FL (or be moving there next year!) just to see the other attractions. However, I think 3 weeks of solid Disney might be Disney overload for us.

I would spend some time at the other attractions if I were in your position but it really is "horses for courses".

 

[Kath2003]

I would do 10 days offsite (villa), 10 days in Disney, and ALL the parks.

 

[joolz1910]

Lol, really not sure now!

I like the idea of 3 weeks at Disney - it wouldn't be overload for me as OKW isn't too 'disneyfied' and I like the idea of a slower pace....

but

We can't afford to go very often and I would like to experience Seaworld and Universal. The tickets for these parks would set us back around 1k though, which is a lot of money.

A compromise would be to go for 18 days and do everything but would this be possible for 10k?


Aaaargghhhh.

 

[scottish mum]

Could you do 2 weeks in OKW and then 1 week offsite but not a Universal hotel. Accommodation would be cheaper but then you would lose free ddp. Do lots of pricing up using next years prices and see what comes out best

 

[Rach78]

I would also do 10 days OKW 10 days in a villa. We did similar last year for our first trip. First part of holiday at OKW (9 nights) and second half in a villa off site. Loved OKW but also loved the space and own pool in a villa. For us it was the perfect combination and we went to some other parks too the second week which we loved. I am the same in that we can't afford to go often so I would want to experience other parks too. However it is different for everyone and only you know what is best for you.

 

[Elise79]

Lol, really not sure now! I like the idea of 3 weeks at Disney - it wouldn't be overload for me as OKW isn't too 'disneyfied' and I like the idea of a slower pace.... but We can't afford to go very often and I would like to experience Seaworld and Universal. The tickets for these parks would set us back around 1k though, which is a lot of money. A compromise would be to go for 18 days and do everything but would this be possible for 10k? Aaaargghhhh.

I am not the best person to help as we go a lot but we just are not bothered about Universal and haven't been in years. We also are not planning to go anytime soon although we will have to go before DD turns 9 as I have some tickets that need to be used :rotfl

SeaWorld just doesn't change enough so not going doesn't bother us plus I have minor ethically issues with the conditions the Dolphins are kept in.

We love Disney but also like to explore other parts of Florida.

At some point we want to take DD to see Winter at the Clearwater Aquarium (from Dolphin Tale)

What I was trying to say was even if we only went every couple of years the other Orlando parks still wouldn't be on our list!

 

[foxxxy83]

When we went to IOA, I was expecting it to be a lot better than it actually was. The CMs also didn't seem to care where they really do at Disney (the majority at least). Seaworld we loved but only as a one-off. It isn't somewhere we'd go back to. Why not do just Disney and look at what excursions AttractionWorld has to offer?? We got a great Florida Adventure Day booked for Oct 15th where we get picked up from DTD taken for breakfast, then head to Clearwater to go swimming with Manatees before having lunch and heading to Homassa State Park for the afternoon before getting the bus back to DTD. That's just one example of the type of excursions they do. The excursions aren't that expensive and you could all go on one for the price of one, maybe two park tickets. Just a thought if you didn't want to eat into your Disney time too much but still wanted something different to do Hope that helps!

 

[newlittleminnie]

I've been twice over the last two years and will be back next year. Both times we have done disney, universal and sea world. And I would definitely do them again!

Universal is more ride focused than disney but that is perfect for us, and with the addition of the parade and the night time lagoon show it does give it a little more appeal. And while it does have a lot of 'bigger' rides there are attractions for younger children too. While I couldn't spend a full holiday there, a day or two out of a vacation is well worth it.

Sea world for me, depends on what you are looking for. If you have already been it may not necessarily be somewhere you need to go again, we only went again this year to see the new Antarctica ride. It is a very good park in its own right with some very educational aspects. But as I say, for me it's only a one day park and not somewhere I would HAVE to go on every trip.

 

[bigskip]

You could always cut the spends a bit by booking a hotel on I drive and using public transport to go to Seaworld and Universal. We stayed in the Hawthorn Suites on I drive and actually walked to Universal and back on more than one occasion.

If staying at OKW are you hiring a car, it's not too far to drive to Universal - we did for two days of out 14 Night stay recently from POFQ. Just factor in the costs of parking at US. $16 a day.

HTH.

 

[Julia Ann]

What an exciting decision to make, and well done on the savings we too should be able to book 2015 trip after xmas, maybe march time.

Anyway, I think you need to look at which parks, days out you want and then book accommodation to suit. We have never stayed on site and won't in 2015 but will stay on IDrive again. Me and DH love universal and IOA, with DD this time (will be age 7), she loves sponge bob, hop, despicable me, shrek and scooby doo so she will love universal. We all love dolphins so we will also do seaworld.

I know what you mean about getting the most from your trip - i would go for 3 weeks given the choice but work won't allow 3 weeks off, so i will have to settle for 14 days. Happy planning

 

[tinkerpea]

We have done only disney for 3 wks at AKL and LOVED it!
We went in September - October was relaxed every day as did not have to rush, did what we wanted each day at the parks then had nice dinners etc,

I am doing 2 wks on our next trip end of the month but that's only because we're going again in may for 3wks.
I would not want to try and fit everything into 2 wks.

 

[~Piglet~]

A compromise would be to go for 18 days and do everything but would this be possible for 10k?

Last year we did 17 days rather than three weeks for exactly that reason - to offset the cost of US/IoA and SeaWorld.

We stayed at CSR, and I was worried that 17 days in one resort might be too much after previously doing a split stay, but we loved it. We bought our Universal and Disney tickets but left SeaWorld as a 'pay on the day' option.

As things turned out we didn't go to SeaWorld (been previously a few times so didn't feel like we missed out) and we only ended up spending 3/4 of a day at IoA and never set foot in US! DD6 just preferred Disney - which was fine with me, I never felt like it was overkill, being onsite we had plenty of time spent at the hotel, plus shopping and DTD too. I love being in the Disney bubble!!

 

[joolz1910]

What I really want is 3 weeks at Disney with seaworld and universal thrown in too lol. Think I need to win the lottery. Will start pricing up 17 or 18 days but then what do you do about your ultimates? Do you pay for 21 days??

 

[Holstar]

It sounds like you're thinking of doing what we're doing next August!

We were stuck choosing between three weeks on site or two weeks on site and then a third week elsewhere.. And we opted for the latter!

We're a party of 5 too - two adults and our three nieces (who will be 15, 13 and 10) doing two weeks at OKW in a 2-bed villa and then a villa close to disney for a week to relax!

Our plan is to just do disney for the two weeks, and then we have a week to do the other theme parks or take a drive to the beach!

In total, for flights, disney, tickets, dining plan, car hire, travel insurance, ESTA's and the villa - it came to just over £9,000 - so it's definitely doable!

Xxxxx

 

[Kath2003]

What I really want is 3 weeks at Disney with seaworld and universal thrown in too lol. Think I need to win the lottery. Will start pricing up 17 or 18 days but then what do you do about your ultimates? Do you pay for 21 days??

If you stay offsite that should be easily doable on your budget. You could get a whole villa, with 4 bedrooms and its own pool, and still do all the parks...

 

[~Piglet~]

Will start pricing up 17 or 18 days but then what do you do about your ultimates? Do you pay for 21 days??

We thought about buying for 21 days (to cover our 17 day stay) but in the end opted for the 14 day tickets. We activated our Disney tickets straight away and planned to leave Universal for a few days so that their ticket (valid for 14 days) would overlap and we could go there when our Disney tickets had expired.

As it was we never went back to Universal and we were quite happy winding down at CSR, and shopping at DTD and the malls for the last few days of our holiday