Villa in Florida, 4 bedrooms, private pool £300 for 2 wks mid Aug...

Hi,

We are hoping to go to Florida in school holidays 2015, I have been on disney site and cheapest I can get for 4 of us is around £10k, so have been looking around online and will buy the 'Florida, all you need to know' book nearer to booking time, plan on booking a villa, a car, flights, park tickets all separately to save cash. I mentioned to friend that we are saving for this and she told me she is going Aug 2014 and already booked the villa, its 4 bedrooms, private pool, looks lovely and is costing just £300 for 2 weeks mid August!!! Its a private rented through homeaway, this seems sooooo cheap to me and I havent found any anywhere near as cheap, has anyone else gone to Florida and spent so little on a villa?

Also, if you have been to Florida as a family of 4, would you mind telling me how much it roughly cost you for flights, villa, car and park tickets? be nice to compare, I thought it would cost apx £12-15k for 2 wks but am sure now I've been looking around that we could do it all, spending money, food money etc all for under £8k...or am I optimistic?!

I'd love to pay someone to search around and book everything for us at the cheapest prices! we never get bargains, we are the idiots that dont hear of offers and buy everything full price only to find afterwards how much we could have saved!!

Hi, we are going to Florida in June next year, I have helped my mom find a house for 6 of us using a site called owners direct, its really good we have used it for all sorts of holidays for apartments and house etc all privately owned. We are paying just over £1000 but as I say there are 6 of us so you would not need such a big house but hopefully it will help give you an idea of the sort of price but do check out that owners direct very useful.

We are doing a fly drive (Car included in price of flight much cheaper way to do it) from Gatwick with British Airways direct to Sanford. About £650 each

As for the park tickets there are plenty of sites to use we haven't bought them yet but I believe we are getting them trough a site called Floridatix which the owners of the property we choose recommend. Still looking around £500 ish for adults but its worth getting the Florida Ultimate ticket. I have also heard that you now have to pay to park the car at the Parks now as well.

I should push you towards my mom really she has been planning this everyday now for over a year looking at so many different places to get the best deals, she absolutely loves doing it!! this is why I have so much knowledge lol

I do hope this has helped a little and I'm sorry if I've told you things you already know I was being thorough. Also this is for 2014 and majority of tickets went up by another £20 for next year.

Its looking to be about maybe £1600 each, that's including spending money and food money, and theres 6 of us so I'm more than sure if you look around you will be able to get it for less than 8k

Feel free to message me on Facebook I will try and help more if I can. Good Luck!!

Wow £650 for flights is amazing! sounds like ur mom is on the ball! we are going away in a wk (Ibiza) so cant think about Florida at the minute but would love to know what sites etc ur mom ends up using, maybe we can copy what you do and save some money! Such an expensive holiday we would only be doing it once...I better get saving

Yeah, Last time I went I was 10 I'll be 24 by the time I get there ha! and don't forget that £650 includes the car so flight is really £575 I think

I added you hopefully got the correct Tracey! Message me when your back in the mean time ill get the sites of my mom!

Enjoy your holiday!! lucky you Ibiza!! Very very nice what sort of price is it to go there? I'm off to Wales in a week as long as the weather stays like this I don't mind

The Dibb

ticktock said:

Wow £650 for flights is amazing! sounds like ur mom is on the ball! we are going away in a wk (Ibiza) so cant think about Florida at the minute but would love to know what sites etc ur mom ends up using, maybe we can copy what you do and save some money! Such an expensive holiday we would only be doing it once...I better get saving

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Hi TickTock - check out the dibb at Disney and Orlando, Florida Holiday Planning - theDIBB

This is the best place for Florida info - very friendly forum. Can confirm that you'll be able to go for much much less than the £12 - £15k you were thinking of. The £300 a week villa does sound exceptionally cheap though especiallly for August. I would be concerned about paying that little to be honest (Owner might go bankrupt before you get there!).

J

Hey I can't believe i missed this thread originally.

We've been to Florida lots of times & always book things separately as it works out cheaper. I use expedia, travelsupermarket & american airlines for cheap flights, we did use Virgin once they tend to have a sale around the end of Jan. For villas have you tried ownersdirect.com which is were we normally find ours.

We use car3000 for cheap car hire & various sites for the park tickets. There is a thread on here somewhere about Florida holidays you may get some more tips on how to make your stay as cheap as possible.

Hi Sarie, think you have added the wrong Tracey as I havent had a fb friend request...I will have a look on there for you now

Thanks for tips all, only 5 days until we go to Ibiza...the serious, go without and super save starts as soon as we get back! I have DIBB on my fave pages...find it all a bit confusing tbh! I'm not that great online...maybe buying the how to do Orlando book would be £13 well spent for me! I plan on searching all the forums and reading everything and taking notes! Am determined to afford it, but 8k will be very difficult to save, no chance of us saving any more...need to save £333 per month to get the 8k in 2 yrs, I used to be an accountant so the planning, organising cutbacks, saving and budgeting bit comes naturally, searching for bargains and knowing how to go about things doesnt though sadly! Thankyou for your replys...I will be back to ask questions in the future lol! xx

Whoopsie! Ok, its a pic of me in the pool with my sister.

I don't know if you can click the FB icon by my avatar

Hi TicToc have you checked out Thomsons 3T All In One packages? I can only go in school hols and I keep pricing up now and again. I looked again yesterday and for mid August next year I can get it for £2987 that's for two adults (daughter will be 13 but charged as an adult as I'm a single parent). This includes park tickets too - the tickets are basic but depending on what you want to see and do, maybe the holiday you're looking for. You can also add more tickets to your options

http://www.thomson.co.uk/destinatio...onal-drive/hotels/all-in-one-holiday-3t+.html

Here's the link, hope it helps

Thanks moosmum, I will look into that, be so much easier to get it all in one place, daunting trying to sort it individually! Really helpful thanks x

Hi TickTock you're very welcome. I think, but don't quote me, that that also includes some kind of dining plan too at your hotel - the hotel I looked at was the Rosen Inn (think it's the cheapest one they do) but I'm not bothered about how fancy it is so long as I can rest my head for the night. Good luck with your search, hope you can get a good price x

i recommend splash me tickets from virgin you get all disney, universal and sea world parks plus swimming with dolphins

Update: saving has started!!!!!!!!!! this years holiday is booked (week at Flamingoland Scarborough!) hopefully wont spend too much there so can focus on Florida save up! have read that holiday companies start booking for Aug 2015 from this April, unsure if we can afford to go next yr, more likely have to wait till 2016, but I will be having a look online in April, so if anyone sees any bargains for Aug 2015 pllleeeaaassse let this Florida novice in on the secrets!! x

Have you looked into booking things separately? It can sometimes work out cheaper, I was going to suggest I'd email you my spreadsheet from last time we went, but with you having been an accountant I think it would be very basic, anyway the offer is there

I keep an eye out on flights & just wait for them to get at an affordable cost, it does take time, but I'm a planner & love it, I also look for cheap accommodation using owners direct usually, for tickets I've used ticket mania.

were going again next year but it's just me & OH & we are doing nature parks & not theme parks, lol

Ooooh I would love the spreadsheet if u don't mind sharing! i'll pm u my email address I've not looked into much as yet, some people say its cheaper to book separate and then others say you can get all in one deals much easier for not much more...decisions, decisions lol!! x

Email sent, I just love a bit of planning, have fun

We have been to Florida 5times and always stay in private villas we are going for Xmas this year and our villa is from owners direct

Wow that villa looks amazing! thinking for our first time maybe book as package holiday so hotel room or if do it separate just book a small-ish condo, as long as theres a pool to cool off in, doubt we will be in much

ticktock said:

Wow that villa looks amazing! thinking for our first time maybe book as package holiday so hotel room or if do it separate just book a small-ish condo, as long as theres a pool to cool off in, doubt we will be in much

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You could price it up & see what is cheaper, we always book separate as its cheaper but then again I love the research of the hols, checking the price of flights, condos etc which isn't for everyone.