Give me some tips for Florida.

[Beebo]

We might bite the bullet are take the family to Florida this year.
We know it will be very expensive, but what is the best way to get the most out of Florida for 2 weeks.
All Ideas accepted. On accommodations, theme parks, resorts, twin centres etc.
is it possible for a family of 4 to do it for less than £10k?

 

[Sharky]

Just spotted in "similar threads", @rider70 might be able to advise.

 

[Gillstay]

I did it on 3K a few years back. Cheap motels were fun, even the one where we checked in late at night and found strip joints all around in the morning. Amused the kids no end and the one morning that they got hot chocolate and donuts for breakfast as the shop was next door. Sea cow sanctuary was great. Cycling around a notional park was less so as the locals drove around and over the wildlife. The biggest tree was smaller than the one I knew in Woking. So I guess they cut them all down. Car hire was very easy. Did not pre book.

 

[Beebo]

I did it on 3K a few years back. Cheap motels were fun, even the one where we checked in late at night and found strip joints all around in the morning. Amused the kids no end and the one morning that they got hot chocolate and donuts for breakfast as the shop was next door. Sea cow sanctuary was great. Cycling around a notional park was less so as the locals drove around and over the wildlife. The biggest tree was smaller than the one I knew in Woking. So I guess they cut them all down. Car hire was very easy. Did not pre book.

We did motels and no itinerary in California 20 years ago. It was great, the wins out weigh the mistakes. We got stuck in a crappy motel straight out of a horror movie, but other days had perfect places in the Rockies. We would need more of a fixed schedule with our kids.

 

[Captainwull]

Our best family holidays in Florida were ones with no intinery. We just got a flight. Hired a car at the airport and stopped at hotels or motels we thought looked decent.
We asked for their best rate then made them an offer. It usually worked. We found the West coast of Florida more to our liking.

 

[Brandane]

Can't help with the "entertaining the kids" part, as I have been to Florida a few times but always on my own. A few times were fly-drive, wandering around from area to area in a hire car, finding motels as I went. The Gulf coast is beautiful south of Tampa, around Clearwater and St Petes. Northeast is good too, St. Augustine springs to mind. Can't go far wrong with Super-8 motel or Motel-6. I used to use Denny's for breakfast, actually brunch due to the size of it. Incredibly cheap a few years ago, when the exchange rate was more favorable for us.
Post covid there is a real problem with car hire in USA, as they sold off their car fleets due to lack of demand during covid. Now they cannot get replacements due to shortage of new cars, so car rental costs have shot up. Think £50 per day as the starting point for a small car in low season.
The last few times I went, I didn't bother with a car and took a bike. There is actually some pleasant cycling around Orlando. And wide footpaths where cycles are allowed. Nobody walks anywhere apart from dopey British tourists heading for McDonalds on International Drive, so footpath = private cycle track!
You certainly won't be bored. Kennedy Space Centre is amazing, I spent a whole day there. Actually saw a space shuttle blast off during one of my visits (not so great as you were kept so far from it, it looked like a firework in the distance).
Epcot Centre was interesting.
Suggest buying a Lonely Planet guide or similar, as there is just so much to see and do.

 

[steverob]

It depends a lot on if you want to do the theme parks or not and especially Disney. If that's something that interests any of your party, you really need to have some sort of a plan to make the most of your time and indeed with the Disney parks you even need to make reservations for what days you're going to be there in advance. There have been some big changes in the past few years post-Covid and all the tips and tricks most people had for getting round the parks have been torn up and thrown out of the window, myself included - I used go to Orlando fairly regularly and will be going again in September this year, but it'll be for the first time since 2018 and it looks like I've got a lot to catch up on/re-learn (but I'm willing to share what I find out).

However if you really wanted to do some proper bike riding while you were out there, I would recommend checking out Regino Bike Co. (https://www.reginobike.com/rentals). He rents out top end road bikes and will suggest great cycling routes off of the tourist trail where roads are quieter and where there are even a few small hills (because otherwise Central Florida is notoriously flat!). I used his services on my last trip and actually paid a bit extra for him to accompany me on the ride and act as tour guide / on-the-fly route planner and we did two great loops of 50 and 35 miles on back to back weekends and I had an absolute blast. He even put together a small video of some bits from his GoPro camera, so if you want to see a fat British bloke riding in 25 degrees C (and it was only that cool because we started at 7am), you can check this video out:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JWKLZTTQGk

 

[vickster]

How old are the children?

Be aware that the Gulf coast got absolutely battered by Hurricane Ian last year, Fort Myers beach was essentially wiped out for example.
Don’t think Tampa, St Pete etc affected too much
Sanibel, Captiva, Naples lovely places further south but again battered. And the Keys but a long drive.
Hurricane season should be considered and summers are hot and very humid!

Destinations is on at Olympia in a few weeks, might be worth popping along for info, to speak to some relevant operators. Plenty of (nearly) free tickets to be found

 

[ExBrit]

We might bite the bullet are take the family to Florida this year.
We know it will be very expensive, but what is the best way to get the most out of Florida for 2 weeks.
All Ideas accepted. On accommodations, theme parks, resorts, twin centres etc.
is it possible for a family of 4 to do it for less than £10k?

I spent a week in FL a few years ago. Two things I really enjoyed were Cuban food (Cubano sandwich in particular) and alligators.
The heat, humidity and the bugs I could do without. I was there a week after a hurricane went through. You'll want to avoid those.
Enjoy

 

[Cycleops]

We might bite the bullet are take the family to Florida this year.

This might be the most telling phrase in your post. I hope you don't as that would be a real tragedy.
I wouldn't go for all the tea in China but I wish you the best.

 

[mustang1]

Haven't been for a really long time but from what I recall:
If hiring car, get all the insurance. This also makes the drop-off easier/quicker.
Those sticks on the road ain't sticks.
If you want to see alligators, you will probably see more when driving to Kennedy Space Center than in the Everglades.
If you visit the Everglades, take every mosquito repellent on the market and have your body covered top to bottom.
Disney World is amazing but huge queues in very hot weather. It took us 4 or days to go around most of that theme park and that was over 10 years ago. It must be even bigger now! The last I heard they have a fast track queue for the fast track queue. But I never figured out if the person telling me that was joking or not.
Anyway, the others here have far more up-to-date info than I do, except the snakes/mosquito/everglades stuff.

 

[Electric_Andy]

We went 7 years ago, we liked Disney World and stayed in the on-site Hotel. More suited to younger kids though. Universal was amazing if you don't mind queing up to 90mins for the big rides. I've only heard bad things about Miami.

 

[vickster]

This company my and my brothers go to for US carhire. Must have used a dozen or more times over the years, as above get all the cover going
https://www.netflights.com/car-hire
Prices have hiked up though as mentioned above

 

[MichaelO]

We went in October 2018 - a week at Universal (free fast passes when you stay in resort), and then a week at Anna Maria Island (just South of Tampa). If I went again I'd do a day or two less at the parks & more in Anna Maria - highly recommended. About a two hour drive between the two.

 

[icowden]

We know it will be very expensive, but what is the best way to get the most out of Florida for 2 weeks.
All Ideas accepted. On accommodations, theme parks, resorts, twin centres etc.
is it possible for a family of 4 to do it for less than £10k?

Florida is pretty big. If you want the theme parks (Disney and Universal) then you need to be in Orlando. There are a few other places around there you can go (e.g. Kennedy Space Centre - amazing for space geeks) but you'll need to hire a car and pay for parking at all of the parks on top of your ticket.

If you look around the area you'll probably find some Air BnB houses for rent - quite often with pools.

At the other end you have the Florida keys and the everglades. In the keys it's about watersports, dolphins etc. It's about a 5 hour drive from Orlando to Key Largo though. The biggest cost is going to be the flights.

I'd work out your flight cost to Orlando or Miami and then your car hire cost. Then you can factor in accommodation and see what is left for attractions, food etc.

Just remember that in the summer, Florida is *very* hot and there will be a huge thunderstorm most afternoons at around 3pm.