WWYD - adult trip with a few Florida newbies and budget is a factor

[jaceraden]

I'm planning my 40th birthday trip and bringing along a group of dear friends. I feel a little bit of pressure (the good kind, and my own doing) to make sure it's a great trip for all. I will list the trip particulars to consider.

1. Adult female group. Staying offsite and renting vehicle(s). The trip will be about 8-9 days (travel time is outside of these days)

2. About half the group has never been to Florida or Disney/Universal/etc.... before

3. A few gals have back/neck issues or fear issues. So it will be a mixed bag of thrill seekers/smell the roses

4. We are going at a very busy time due to my sister only being able to get away during our Spring break at the end of March. I'm not one to travel during busier times so this worries me.

5. I would like the trip to be budget friendly so none of my dear friends is too pressured financially. So it's not really an option to do a few days of each park. Really, I think it needs to be about 4-5 days WDW or Universal and then a 2-3 day Sea World/Busch Gardens type ticket situation to take advantage of less $ per park day.

So... WWYD? What do you suggest?

 

[Ensusieasm]

Once you buy a 5 day Disney World ticket, 3 more days would only be $30.
So no need to go to Sea World to keep costs down, because it won’t.

 

[jaceraden]

Once you buy a 5 day Disney World ticket, 3 more days would only be $30.
So no need to go to Sea World to keep costs down, because it won’t.

I meant to add more options without adding a lot of cost. Like, you could do WDW and then add SW/BG for way less cost than WDW with Universal. I think WDW or Universal alone might not be enough variety. Though maybe that's the way to go? See, I've not been a WDW/Universal newbie in a long time so I'm not sure if that would be enough for someone new to this type of holiday.

 

[MikeNamez]

Lots of alcohol.

 

[Firebird060]

Ehh, first rule I would think for keeping cost down is buy whatever tickets you plan on buying for the resorts as soon as possible, Disney is planing to implement a new tiered Multi day ticket option soon and I wouldn't be surprised if its also a ticket price increase. When that happens the rest of the theme parks normally follow suit within a week or two. Now for renting cars, to save some money and to not pay for the daily parking cost at disney, someone should either get a AP which comes with free theme park parking or you should just uber in. The reset of it is really subjective. You can get good deals for park tickets at SeaWorld, the Discounts for Universal tend to only be worth it for at least 2 day park to parks with extra free days but other than that its up to you guys. Orlando in general isnt a easy place to save money as a vacation destination

 

[davper]

Rent a house and cook many of your own meals. That will save a bunch.
Invest in the annual pass per vehicle so you get free parking and merch discounts.
If you do US at least twice, get the AP there as well for free parking and merch discounts

 

[jaceraden]

Rent a house and cook many of your own meals. That will save a bunch.
Invest in the annual pass per vehicle so you get free parking and merch discounts.
If you do US at least twice, get the AP there as well for free parking and merch discounts

Yes, we are renting a home and will do many meals there.

An AP for WDW is minimum $849. We are going for 7-9 days. There is no way in the World that is economical! Same with OUR. The numbers just don't add up... Unless I'm missing something?

 

[davper]

Sorry, I am used to having more AP options as a DVC member.