Florida holiday tips

[Beebo]

i am already looking at a holiday for 2018. We are considering Florida as our kids will be 11 and 7. Neither me or the wife have every been so have no preconceived ideas.
Does anyone have tips for booking the best holiday At the most reasonable price?
What sort of budget will I need for a family of 4 including car hire, food and park entry?

 

[Milkfloat]

Florida is a big an relatively diverse place - are you looking for the theme parks, Miami, the Keys, the Everglades etc?

 

[Beebo]

Florida is a big an relatively diverse place - are you looking for the theme parks, Miami, the Keys, the Everglades etc?

We would like to do one week on the beach and one week doing parks, is that feasible?

 

[Milkfloat]

I have not done the parks since I was a kid, but we did exactly that one week in the parks and one on the beach (Longboat Key) .

My last pleasure trip we did Miami and then the Keys, stopping in the everglades on the way down. Unfortunately we timed it nicely with hurricane Katrina, we were one of the last flights to land before they closed the airport.

 

[nickyboy]

We would like to do one week on the beach and one week doing parks, is that feasible?

That's what we did a few years ago. Frankly, unless you're obsessed by Disney, a week in the parks is plenty. You can go sort of West from Orlando to St Petersburg which is probably the closest beach resort. Or there are plenty of others as you head south from there along the Gulf of Mexico coast

Naples is nice for adults but boring for kids. Everglades is interesting though and you can use Naples as a base from there

Budget is really down to the individual. Depends entirely on what sort of accommodation you want, what sort of places you want to eat in. As you'd expect, full range from cheap and cheerful to eyewateringly expensive

Edit: I found the accommodation good value(we rented a villa near Orlando) good value for what we got, compared to pricing in UK. Meals out were OK value, not appreciably more or less expensive than equivalent in UK. FX rate has knocked that a bit now of course

 

[MossCommuter]

Cape Kennedy's cool

 

[nickyboy]

Cape Kennedy's cool

Cape Canaveral...Kennedy Space Centre

Come on Mossy, sharpen up

 

[vickster]

Virgin or BA offer good packages. For beaches, go for the Gulf Coast (fly to Tampa, never had any particular grief from immigration there). Avoid Miami at all costs, utter chaos. Can't speak for Orlando, over 20 years since I landed there

It's nowhere as cheap to eat as it was but you can find good happy hour deals or daily specials

Weather best in Oct/Nov (although hurricane season) or Feb-April. Spring/summer very hot, humid. December can be cool and wet

Price wise at a guess, £1500pp? I think the parks are £200 a week at least! You can get deals if bought with a package

 

[Deleted member 26715]

i am already looking at a holiday for 2018. We are considering Florida as our kids will be 11 and 7. Neither me or the wife have every been so have no preconceived ideas.
Does anyone have tips for booking the best holiday At the most reasonable price?
What sort of budget will I need for a family of 4 including car hire, food and park entry?

I would do Disney first week, hire a villa & then go to the beach the 2nd week to recover, you can go west to St Pete's south to Miami, east to Daytona or North to somewhere like Amelia Island which would be my preferred choice. Budget will have to be north of £5k, but will depend on how many times you eat out, size of car etc. I would suggest you stay away from American Airlines unless flying Business class, my last flight to Chicago was the worst flight I have ever had, but coming back by Business for a £30 upgrade was a bargain.

Be prepared for a long wait at Customs and Immigration, and to be dealt with by some of the surliest, rudest and most officious people in the world (they give the Israelis a run for their money).

Only ever had this once in around 20 times of going there, although the wait seems to be longer than other US cities I've landed in

Cape Kennedy's cool

I was very disappointed in it, lot of money $50 for not that much to see

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Ignore the customs nonsense, it's fine, he was probably acting up and deserves a hard time.

The gulf coast is great, warm sea and all that. Space Centre is very cool as mossy said. Tampa is good, well I enjoyed the Dali stuff and there was a vintage car show. I also.went to Lakeland which has tons of Lloyd Wright buildings, not everyone's cup of tea but I loved it.

 

[MossCommuter]

I was very disappointed in it, lot of money $50 for not that much to see

Space ships!! Akshewal space ships!!

Ah, well, chacun a son gout (I felt the same way about the theme parks, except Universal which had Terminator and more space ships)

 

[Deleted member 26715]

One top tip is Florida is bigger than you think, it will take longer than you think to get from A-B it might only be 2 inches on the map but that might be 50 miles

 

[Oxo]

If you are driving buy a proper road map.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

If you are driving buy a proper road map.

Better still get into the 20th century & sort out a Sat Nav, when you hire the car DO NOT take out their Toll surcharge unless you intend to do huge mileage, plan your routes & stay off the toll roads. Last time I was there last year I think it was $175, when we added up the tolls, it came to less than $50

 

[Cycleops]

Don't forget Wally World and get well armed.