Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family is going to England and Netherlands over spring break. We bought our tickets in may because they were 615 round trip direct. We booked a reasonable Marriott in Amsterdam and a serviced apartment in Kensington and will eat breakfast and most dinners apartment. We have purchased the LondonPass with travel for all 4 of family at a discount. Pretty confident it will be less than 5K. I think that knowing a good deal when you see it makes it possible to keep things cheap. 8 months earlier I looked at the same flights and it was 1200 per person!!

Do you mind telling us what service apartment in Kensington are you going to rent? Was it through a rental company or a personal owner?

It is called No.1 The Mansions by Mansley. Gets good reviews but this is my first time actually staying there. They have everything from studios to 3 or 4 bedrooms. Kitchens etc.

Stay offsite. We’ve got a 3bed/3bath townhouse with private splash pool for 9 nights at spring break for $1300 total.

Plus planning on this short notice will mean hard to get restaurant reservations or fast passes.

What about the A-Train. Load your vehicle up with everything you need and stay off property in a place with a kitchen/kitchenette. Harry Potter fans, go to Universal instead. Go early in the morning, take the afternoon off for pool and lunch then go back in the evening for fireworks.

Are you stuck on Disney? For the money you could do something more fun and active with kids.

For Europe, that extra kid is a budget killer bc the hotel rooms are generally smaller with smaller beds. PP with 3 dc probably needs to rent two rooms. 5 plane tickets even st a good rate $600ish is $3000 before she even gets there. Etc

Anonymous wrote:My family is going to England and Netherlands over spring break. We bought our tickets in may because they were 615 round trip direct. We booked a reasonable Marriott in Amsterdam and a serviced apartment in Kensington and will eat breakfast and most dinners apartment. We have purchased the LondonPass with travel for all 4 of family at a discount. Pretty confident it will be less than 5K. I think that knowing a good deal when you see it makes it possible to keep things cheap. 8 months earlier I looked at the same flights and it was 1200 per person!!

Do you mind telling us what service apartment in Kensington are you going to rent? Was it through a rental company or a personal owner?

We've been to Disney a couple of times before and our kids are older. We are not thrilled about the crowds during spring break but I also think it's worth it for us because the weather is great and kids don't have to miss any school. I can see why for younger kids it would not be worth it. We can make the most of fast passes and the restaurants etc.

I looked just now and found reasonable tickets to both Paris and London but also cheap fares to Orlando.

Anonymous wrote:Airfare to Paris and London around the same time is between $650 and 750. So for four people that would leave 2k for lodging, food etc.

London/Netherlands poster here (and I am also the poster who posted about going to Disney and Europe,etc). The flight I booked in May is now 1100 per person. And I booked the apartment in May and the hotel in June. That saved a ton because if you book that early, there are tons of options in terms of good location at an affordable price. So yes, about half of trip will be airfare and the rest should come in very close to another 2000. If I tried to book this right now, it would be WAY more. The apartment is super affordable and it always books up fast because it is a great location, decent price, and limited quantity. Disney is sort of similar. Any affordable Disney hotels are probably already booked for Spring Break. I think it is definitely possible to do Europe in a pleasant and affordable way but not at the last minute.

Airfare to Paris and London around the same time is between $650 and 750. So for four people that would leave 2k for lodging, food etc.

My family is going to England and Netherlands over spring break. We bought our tickets in may because they were 615 round trip direct. We booked a reasonable Marriott in Amsterdam and a serviced apartment in Kensington and will eat breakfast and most dinners apartment. We have purchased the LondonPass with travel for all 4 of family at a discount. Pretty confident it will be less than 5K. I think that knowing a good deal when you see it makes it possible to keep things cheap. 8 months earlier I looked at the same flights and it was 1200 per person!!

If you can find another time to go, I would. I love Disney (and of the snarky people out there, I also love international travel and history and nature) and have gone a lot. Last Spring break my husband and I took out kids and stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge. The parks were insane. Restaurant reservations were tough to get. I swore I would never go at that time again. And I mean it. I disagree with the comparison to Winter break. The week between Christmas and New Years is terrible but before Christmas isn't as bad and after January 1 it is less crowded and cheaper. If you decide to go, make sure to book reservations for food and do fast passes and if you can, plan to visit some parks twice because lines will eat up a lot of your time. If you decide to go, I also highly recommend staying at Disney properties. It gives you a 30 day jump on reserving fast passes. And you can go ahead and start looking at dining reservations now because you can book those 180 days in advance.

Spring break is not as bad as winter break because schools have different weeks off.

Did you Disney nuts know that when DW is "at capacity" they actually don't let anyone in for hours? This happened twice over winter break. Can you imagine what a crowd like that looks like?

I found Disney theme parks INSANELY crowded and we were there on a supposedly LOW CROWD week. I can't imagine what its like during spring break.

I would love some tips though on how to take 5 people to Europe for a week for $5000.