Introduction to DIY Orlando Holidays
Planning a DIY holiday to Orlando and not sure where to begin? Follow my easy step guide to help you book an amazing holiday at a budget friendly cost.
Contents
- Introduction to DIY Orlando holidays:
- Why Orlando Florida?
- Package v DIY holiday to Orlando?
- 1. Decide on the time of year would be best for you
- 2. Search and Book Flights
- 3. Book Accommodation
- 4. Reserve hire car
- 5. Book Park Tickets and Experiences
- 6. Reserve restaurants and dining experiences
- 7. ESTA, Travel Insurance and Money
- 8. Download Apps
- 9. Checklist
- 10. Enjoy
Why Orlando Florida?
Orlando Florida holidays are fun filled and action packed. Amazing experiences and adventures are around every corner. Whether you want the magic of Disney, white knuckle coaster rides or to get up close with nature, Florida has something for everyone.
Package v DIY holiday to Orlando?
We have previously booked a package with a Florida holiday specialist and, more recently, booked a DIY Orlando holiday. We saved money booking it ourselves the second time and we preferred the accommodation. Before booking our DIY holiday we got quotes from travel agents and found that we could book a similar holiday but for much less.
If you are planning a holiday to Orlando, get some quotes first and see if you can beat them by booking it yourself. Those quotes will also give you a good idea of which airline have the best prices.
The quotes we received for flights, accommodation and car hire were £1300 per person and more. We paid £957 per person – a DIY saving of £343 pp or £2058 all together.
How to make an Orlando holiday cheaper?
Booking a DIY style holiday to Orlando is very easy and the best way to save money. You can tailor the holiday to suit your requirements and you have full control. To book your Orlando holiday, follow these simple steps
1. Decide on the Time of Year Would Be Best For You
Weather in Orlando
November to March has low rainfall and has pleasant spring temperatures.
April and May, October and November are slightly hotter and have fairly low rainfall.
June, July and August have the highest temperatures and the most rainfall.
Hurricane season is from June to November.
Parks – quietest and busiest time of year
The parks’ busiest times run from March to August.
April to May and September to November have fewer crowds.
We found our holiday in April less busy than our July stay and the weather was less intense.
Cheapest flights
Any time that is not in the summer holidays has the best flight prices. The most expensive month by far is July.
2. Search and Book Flights
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Skyscanner
Skyscanner can give you all sorts of information to help you with your search, from the cheapest times of year to fly, indirect and direct routes to cheapest airlines. I would always make Skyscanner the first place to start your flight search. Skyscanner recommend booking your flights 45-60 days before your trip to find the cheapest ticket.
SEARCH FOR FLIGHTS ON SKYSCANNER
TUI flights to Orlando
We have been watching the prices to Orlando with TUI for 2 years and we have noticed that their flights are consistently lower if you book last minute around a month to 2 weeks before the flight date. If you can hold your nerve, you can get yourself a bargain with TUI, even in July.
We couldn’t do this and booked flights with BA but if we had waited, we would have saved £150 each on our flights if we’d booked with TUI (kicking ourselves)!
BA / Virgin
You can save money on your flights with BA and Virgin by booking during their flight sales. We managed to get a good price with BA by booking as soon as the flights were released. It wasn’t the cheapest that they fell to but it was a fair price £480 return (end of June).
3. Book Accommodation
You can search for accommodation on Booking.com and Vrbo. Be sure to use the filters. Orlando is very big and Disney, Universal and SeaWorld are quite far away from each other. Depending on which parks you are planning to visit, that can be an important factor about where you want your accommodation to be based.
Areas closest to Disney are: Windsor Hills, Kissimmee, Celebration, Clermont and Davenport.
Driving for 30 minutes or longer from your accommodation to a park is common place, especially at busier times of year.
Accommodation is plentiful and there is always space somewhere. There are hundreds of hotels, condos and villas to choose from.
You can book hotel rooms for 4 people literally from as little as £400 per week to huge villas for around £1200 per week. All the parks have amazing themed hotels too, but unlike Disneyland Paris the park tickets are not included.
I like to contact the accommodation directly to ensure that they have my reservation and that we are not double booked.
Two centre holidays
A nice way to relax at the end of your Orlando experience is to book a few days at the beach before you go home. There are lots of great beach resorts in Florida.
We booked Ariel villa in Clermont Orlando and a condo at the beach in Indian Shores. Our villa was based nearer the Disney parks – only 20 minutes away (45 minutes from Universal). It was a large, 4 bed villa with private swimming pool, jacuzzi and games room.
SEE AVAILABILITY FOR ARIEL PRIVATE POOL HOME
Our beach stay was at a quiet, laid back area called Indian Shores in between St Pete’s and Clearwater along the Gulf of Mexico.
SEE AVAILABILTY FOR SEA CONDO INDIAN SHORES
Read my Indian Shores blog here: Indian Shores: Quiet Beach stay near St Pete’s, Clearwater, Florida
4. Reserve Hire Car
Driving in Orlando is relatively easy once you get over the size of the roads. They drive on the right and there are are 4 lanes which may seem daunting but there are no round abouts and once you join the 192 it’s very easy.
You can search for car hire on Zest, which isn’t the cheapest but has the best reviews: www.zestcarrental.com. We hired a 6-seater car from Dollar it cost £492 for 2 weeks.
Make sure you read the reviews (some of them are dreadful). Purchase an E-sim before you go so you have Google maps. The majority of cars have inbuilt Satnav anyway.
Insurance
You can get insurance from the car hire company or pre-purchase your own from home. Zest include inbuilt good cover. It’s generally cheaper to pre-purchase but if you do have an accident, you will have to cover the cost and claim back from your insurer. Take a video of the outside of the car before you drive off if you choose this option.
Toll Roads
Orlando has lots of toll roads. The cheapest way to pay for these is to buy a Visitor Toll Pass at the airport for 10 dollars, you will see machines around the airports. As you pass through the tolls they will register the pass and charge your account accordingly. We spent 25 dollars altogether while we were there over 2 weeks. The car hire companies will try to upsell you a black box, which is far more expensive.
5. Book Park Tickets and Experiences
Park Tickets
Park tickets are without doubt the most expensive part of your holiday. The most cost effective way to book from the UK is wait for the sales and purchase a combo ticket on a site like Attractiontix (see link below). Bear in mind that parks charge around 30 dollars a day for parking.
There are many parks to choose from and loads of different combinations. To keep costs down, you might decide to only do Disney or just Universal. I would say for a magical experience and younger children up to around 12, Disney beats Universal hands down but if your children are older, thrill seekers or massive Harry Potter fans then Universal trumps Disney.
There are 5 Disney parks and 2 Disney water parks included with a Disney combo ticket. Universal has 2 parks and 1 water park. Discovery cove tickets include SeaWorld, Aquatica and Busch Gardens.
On our first visit to Orlando 10 years ago, we literally did everything – Disney, Universal, Discovery Cove, SeaWorld, Gatorland, Boggy Creek and NASA, as well as dinner experiences. It cost us around £5000 in tickets. On our trip in 2024, we did the Universal parks, one Disney park, Gatorland, Boggy Creek and then we had a beach holiday at the end. I have to admit, I did regret not going back to Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
VIP Passes
There are further options to purchase VIP passes to skip queues. Queues can be very long at all of the parks, although less so at Universal. If you don’t want to pay even more for skip the queue passes, keep your eye on the queue times, go on long queue rides during parade times and if you have older children who don’t mind – go in the single rider queues.
Experiences
You can find many alternative experiences than just the parks in Orlando. Check out Get Your Guide and Viator to see if there is anything else you would like to do.
6. Reserve Restaurants and Dining Experiences
About 2 months before your holiday, you will need to make your dining reservations. You can easily do this by downloading the park apps on to your phone. The restaurants have themes and vary in price. There are lots of fast food places that cost around 15 dollars for a burger and fries and 5 dollars for a soft drink or coffee.
The themed restaurants are great fun and there’s lots to choose from including character dining. You can book evening dinner shows too.
We ate breakfast with the minions at Universal (which wasn’t good), had dinner at the Beast’s Castle and met the Beast (fantastic) and went to a Hawaiian themed dinner show at Disney’s Aloha resort (wonderful).
If you are booking restaurants for Universal, their website took me round in circles. Go on their app, click ‘Dining’ then tap ‘List’ at the top right corner – you’re welcome.
Dining in the parks is very expensive. There are Dining options to opt for when you purchase your tickets and you need to decide whether that is a cost effective option for your family or if you prefer to self cater. We prefer to self-cater and take packed lunches and drinks with us. There are water fill up stations all over the parks. Should you go to Universal, take small rucksacks for your lunches because you have to place your bag in a locker for most rides and the larger lockers cost money.
Dinner Shows
Dinner shows are a big thing in Orlando, where you eat and watch entertainment.
One of the dinner shows we enjoyed was the Medieval Times Dinner show. If you have ever watched the film Cable Guy you will be familiar with it. This is a fun family dinner theatre theme royal banquet and tournament with knights and squires. It is great fun and entertaining for all the family.
BOOK MEDIEVAL TIMES DINNER SHOW
Supermarkets
The most prominent supermarket in Florida is Publix. Publix is very expensive so if you want to pay prices more akin to the UK, find an Aldi or Winn Dixie.
7. ESTA, Travel Insurance and Money
Travel Insurance
It is absolutely essential that you purchase comprehensive travel insurance for a holiday in the USA. If anything should happen the medical bills are astronomical. We use Cover For You Travel Insurance.
We also pay for our holidays by credit card just for extra assurance that we will get our money back if something is cancelled and we require a refund.
ESTA
You will need to fill out and purchase an ESTA which is the USA visa before your trip: ESTA application.
Money
Card is accepted everywhere but you might want to take some dollars with you too for tips and small purchases. If possible take more than one card with you and notify your bank about your holiday. Both my husband’s cards were blocked while we were away even though we had told the bank where he was going.
8. Download Apps
Down load the park apps on to your phones. This way you can make dinner reservations, see queue times, park maps, meet and greet and show times.
9. Checklist
Type up a rough itinerary, (make sure you have some rest days), include all the addresses and telephone numbers for the places you are staying/visiting, print off all your tickets and documents.
10. Enjoy
Congratulations!! You have booked your DIY Orlando holiday. Your flights, accommodation, car, tickets and restaurant reservations are all waiting for you. You are organised and have your itinerary, travel insurance, ESTAs, tickets and documents printed and cash in place. Now you can relax and look forward to your exciting Florida adventure!
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