3 day Christmas Trip to Universal Florida $7000- Are These Prices Normal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whew. 7k for 3 days at Universal falls in that “I could afford it but would absolutely never consider it worth it” categories. I’d scrap this plan and do it another time tbh.

Really why? We want our kids to have the experience and that what it costs so...we're going. We can easily afford it.

Because I don’t care if my children have the experience of a bozo theme park, so I don’t value the cost of that trip. You do. We just have different values when it comes to what we consider worth spending $7k on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one reason why I travel internationally for my vacations. It's too expensive to travel within the US, prices are insane. Cheaper to go overseas

This! I'm taking myself and 2 kids to Germany for 4 days in December for just over $3K. We used to go to Orlando every year around xmas, but it has gotten ridiculously expensive so we started going elsewhere.

Just as an aside OP, we did look into going to Orlando for a few days before we booked the trip to Germany, and the flights from DCA were only about $50-80 RT/non-stop. This was about 2 weeks ago tho so prices may have gone up by now. We were actually going to book the trip since the flights were so cheap, but it was the price of the park tickets that sent us into shock. We were planning on being there for 4 days (but only going to parks on 2 days) and the park tickets were $175 per person/per day!

So that would have been nearly $1200 for park tickets only, with no rental car, parking, food, hotel, or gas expenses included. We also had to figure in costs for the 2 days that we were not going to be at a park. The total was going to be well over $4k, so I decided to explore other options, and I'm so glad I did.

Are you only staying in Europe for 4 days? Long flights and a bit time difference for only 4 days. Cold weather and short days too. It's not only about the $$.

[Anonymous]

It’s more expensive to travel at Christmas. Breaking news at 11.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is one reason why I travel internationally for my vacations. It's too expensive to travel within the US, prices are insane. Cheaper to go overseas

Where is Universal Studios in Europe or South America or Africa?

[Anonymous]

Very normal as most travel at holidays when kids are off of school.

[Anonymous]

I haven’t read any of the responses, but wanted to suggest staying in a cheaper hotel off park property and looking at the VIP tour for one day where you get to see everything and skip the lines.

When you add everything it includes (Parking, park passes, going to the front of the line, vouchers for meals, etc) it’s not as prohibitively expensive as you might think, especially when you factor in paying for fast passes, staying on site to access early hours, and paying for multi day tickets at both parks.

I did it a few years ago when my daughter and I were in town for an athletic event and it was totally worth it.

[Anonymous]

It cracks me up that there are people in this country who think they can book a last minute winter vacation to an incredibly popular warm weather destination for families during a week that most people in the country are off school and work and think they are not going to pay a premium to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whew. 7k for 3 days at Universal falls in that “I could afford it but would absolutely never consider it worth it” categories. I’d scrap this plan and do it another time tbh.

Really why? We want our kids to have the experience and that what it costs so...we're going. We can easily afford it.

Because I don’t care if my children have the experience of a bozo theme park, so I don’t value the cost of that trip. You do. We just have different values when it comes to what we consider worth spending $7k on.

Why weigh in on this thread then? Do you let everyone thread know whether you share interests? That must take a lot of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whew. 7k for 3 days at Universal falls in that “I could afford it but would absolutely never consider it worth it” categories. I’d scrap this plan and do it another time tbh.

Really why? We want our kids to have the experience and that what it costs so...we're going. We can easily afford it.

Because I don’t care if my children have the experience of a bozo theme park, so I don’t value the cost of that trip. You do. We just have different values when it comes to what we consider worth spending $7k on.

Why weigh in on this thread then? Do you let everyone thread know whether you share interests? That must take a lot of time.

I weighed in on the thread because OP asked if this is typical and if she should spend it. I suggested another time when it wouldn’t be $7k for 3 days. That’s a completely valid response, why on earth are you crying about it.