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We took our Lego-obsessed child down to Legoland Florida for Spring Break and as an early birthday present. But we also have a limited travel budget for the next few years as we save for some big goals. 

So how did we do this trip affordably without breaking the budget?

I believe that travel doesn’t have to cost a lot to be memorable. I also believe in transparency and sharing lessons learned to help make your travels more cost effective, stress-free and fun! 

So let me share the costs and logistics of our Spring Break trip to Legoland Florida. 

Complete Cost Breakdown of Week-long Florida Road Trip to Legoland

Budget Research

Google’s AI overview suggested $2k per person for a week long trip to Florida, which would clock in around $6k. This is higher than my travel budget for the entire year. 

It also seems that Disney trips cost families anywhere from $4k-$15k depending on number of days (4-7) and number of people (2-6). I read through several Reddit threads where folks detailed out full cost breakdowns. We just can’t afford something like that right now. Also, if I’m going to spend that much money, it sure as hell wont be at a theme park! Lol (For comparison, our 17 day Europe trip last summer cost us around $12k. This included a room with a balcony on a Greek cruise and over $4k in airfare.)

The site I usually use for trip budgeting – BudgetYourTrip.com – is reputable for realistic, accurate costs. I dont rely solely on the information from this site since it’s based more on short-term and touristy type of travel, but it is helpful for high-level estimates. It gives me a starting point. 

I also check prices on AirBNB, booking.com, and hotel prices with my loyalty brands (Marriott, IHG). In this case, I also checked Legoland hotel prices, which were definitely out of budget. AirBnBs, most of which were small and would not have given us much room to spread out, would have run us $500-$1000 for the week. Hotels in the area ranged $100-200/night. 

Due to the high costs of the destination and the fact that we knew we’d be spending a lot of money at the theme park, I said we would only do this trip IF we could find a home exchange. Miraculously, I found one quickly so the rest of the trip fell into place. We planned to spend zero dollars on accommodations by using home exchange and hotel loyalty points. 

I budgeted $1500 for this trip.

Itinerary

We debated driving down in one day and ultimately decided to split the drive up. This was the correct decision, despite having to drive in torrential thunderstorms on the final day of driving. 

Breaking up the drive meant none of us were burned out or over tired, my body didnt get overly sore from driving, and our son really loves staying in hotels. (If I’m honest, I do too. I get to take long showers with someone else’s hot water heater, and dont have to worry about cleaning up the room before we leave! Many times, there’s also amenities to enjoy such as free breakfast or an indoor pool.)

I had originally found some activities to do in the Haines City area for our non-park days (including Bok Tower Gardens and Spook Hill) but we ended up skipping those entirely, opting instead to chillax. This was the correct decision (especially since our home exchange was so comfortable and fun to hang at).

Below is our itinerary based on how we actually spent our time.

Day	Activity	Accommodation
1	Driving	Fairfield Inn in Tifton, GA
2	Driving, settling in, groceries, exploring new home, baby alligators!, Lake Eva Community Park, go out to dinner	Home exchange in Haines City
3	Legoland, followed by dinner at Cherry Pocket	Home exchange in Haines City
4	Lazy morning at home, meet friend for lunch at great Mexican spot, hang out at the house, baby alligators!, order pizza for dinner	Home exchange in Haines City
5	Legoland, stop for dinner on the way home	Home exchange in Haines City
6	Lazy morning at home, baby alligators!, pack and clean, Lake Eva Community Park, dinner at Cherry Pocket, relaxing bath	Home exchange in Haines City
7	Finish cleaning, load car, breakfast at home, one last look at the baby alligators!, driving	Courtyard Marriott in McDonough, GA
8	Driving, arrive home!	Home!

Full cost breakdown

Travel Costs

We drove from Nashville to Florida instead of flying, in order to save money. We only had the cost of gas to contend with. 

But 11 hours in the car is a long day, even without a kid. Plus, I didnt want any of us to burn out. So we split up the drive both to and from. We made our first driving day longer than the second so we could arrive at our destination faster 🙂 We stopped ⅔ of the way down to Florida, in Tifton, GA, and in McDonough, GA on the way home. 

Total cost: $139.16 for gas.

Trip Pro Tip!

Try to get your family JAZZED about the trip you’re going on, including the actual traveling bits. Make games for the car, like road trip bingo or the license plate game. Pre-select podcasts or audiobooks or entire musicals to listen to together. Moo every time you see a cow. Look for the ugliest car color. Find the funniest town name on a sign. Stop and see some sights along the way. Make it all part of the experience to extend the trip and make the mundane more exciting. 

I made dry-erase road trip bingo and road sign spotting games. I made Spanish flash cards for us to practice. And we listened to some of Harry Potter #1 (which Skyler and I have read/listened to a couple times together now). We also say yes to ALL road trip snacks and any necessary potty breaks, which are a great time to stretch our bodies to make sure we don’t get stiff! 

Accommodation Costs: Georgia

Thanks to credit card points and hotel loyalty rewards, we were able to stay in a Marriott hotel for free both ways, to and from Florida. 

Total cost: $20 for booking fees.

Trip Pro Tip: Choose a hotel brand and collect points through regular spending! Years ago, we chose IHG and Marriott since they both have many sub-brands common along highway exits which helps reduce road trip costs. 

Accommodation Costs: Haines City

Often the largest expense of any trip, our accommodations dictated whether this trip would happen or not. I told my husband that we would take Skyler to Legoland in either 2025 or 2026, depending on when/if I could find a Home Exchange nearby to make it affordable. There was not a large inventory of home exchanges in the Winter Haven / Haines City area, so I did not expect to find one. But remarkably the FIRST PEOPLE I messaged said yes!! So we were a go!! 

We had a free place to stay for 6 nights. 

The house was lovely and spacious. Nearly 4000 square feet with double sprayer showers and a comfortable soaking tub, the house was comfortable and even had kitties for us to care for! We were able to eat many meals and have many drinks at home to help save cost on food (see below). The house was located out in the middle of nowhere on a lake and alligator breeding ground, so not only was it quiet and peaceful and utterly relaxing, we also got a unique wildlife experience! So many baby alligators!!!!!!

*Originally, we had planned a reciprocal exchange so they would stay in our home while we stayed in theirs, but due to a family member’s illness, they had to stay in town. We turned the exchange into a GuestPoints swap so we could stay in their house using some of the GPs we’ve earned over the years by hosting people in our home non-reciprocally. This did mean we had to arrange cat care back home, but did not increase our costs. A perk of this was also that one of our hosts was able to meet us at the house when we arrived to give us a tour. 

Total cost: $0

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Trip Pro Tip: Be bold, be brave, and say yes to the unexpected! Home exchange may sound like an unusual way to travel, and it  can also be time consuming to arrange, but it can lead to some truly unexpected and memorable experiences. I promise the extra effort is worth the unique experiences and cost savings!

Entertainment Costs

The whole point of the trip was to go to Legoland, so to maximize our dollar and ensure we didnt feel rushed or pressured to do EVERYTHING in one day, we got a 2 day ticket. You get to use your second day within 3 days of your first day, so we built in a rest day to give us all a chance to recoup. 

In addition to the price of the ticket, I bought a photo package and we had to pay for 2 days of parking.

Total Legoland experience cost: $400.22

While at Legoland, we also let him play a couple of the games, since they promised a winner every time (these people clearly understand their target audience. Kids do not want to lose and parents do not want to deal with meltdowns, so give every child a prize). 

We also bought some souvenirs at Cherry Pocket.

I’m NOT including what we spent at Legoland on Skyler’s birthday present. We gave the kiddo $100 to spend at the Lego store (which, omg, turned into a Whole Ordeal but we got through it). If this wasn’t a birthday trip, we would have brought existing sets for him to play with. Plus, birthday gifts come out of a different spending bucket. With that in mind, the total below has been adjusted. 

Total toy cost:  $45.55

The rest of our entertainment was free. We hung out at the beautiful house enjoying the weather. We searched for baby alligators. I took two gloriously long baths. We hung out with a dear friend of mine who drove over from St. Pete. We hung out at the local community park. And Skyler spent all of his free time building legos. 

On the way down to Florida, we stopped in Tifton, which is a mostly forgettable pass-through kind of place… except for the beautiful park we found! Two playgrounds with accessible, fun equipment; tons of shade, benches, and walking paths. After checking into our hotel, we immediately took Skyler here to burn off energy after 7 hours in the car. 

On the way back home, we stopped in McDonough, and our hotel had an indoor pool. So immediately after checking in, we changed into our swim gear and let Skyler get rid of his pent-up energy in the pool before we ordered takeout to the room.

Other entertainment costs: $4 (ice cream at the Lake Eva park)

Trip Pro Tip: Build in rest time and plenty of opportunities for kids to play or exert independence – without relying on screens! Unstructured (and unsupervised) play time boosts problem-solving skills, cultivates independence, and builds resilience. Find local entertainment options such as playgrounds, parks, libraries, and community centers. These are usually free and open to all!  

Food and Drink Costs

Usually our third highest travel category (after Accomodations and flights), this category was definitely our biggest expense on this trip, which we expected. This category includes groceries purchased for and during the trip, gas station purchases, food/drinks at Legoland, and meals in restaurants.

For context and details: 

• We bought groceries and booze (and a pair of shoes for Skyler) at Walmart on our first day in town. Groceries included snacks and breakfast/lunch options (yogurt, cereal, bananas). At the liquor store, Justin bought bourbon and I bought aperol for real spritzes and canned n/a Aperol Spritzes since I’m not drinking most days. 
• We ate dinner at a restaurant every night, except one when we picked up a pizza from a local spot to eat at home. We treated Kathleen to lunch out at a really good Mexican spot one day. 
• We ate one exorbitantly-priced meal each day at Legoland, and let Skyler have ice cream both days. I bought apple fries on the first day (omg so good. The one must-buy food item, imo). Justin and I also had several overpriced adult beverages at Legoland both days because #yolo #itsourvacationtoo
• Both on the way down to Florida and back, we stopped at a Buc-ee’s to buy slushies and road trip provisions (as you do). There, we found White Claw sold for $4 LESS per 12-pack than in Nashville, so we bought several to take back home. I forgot to save receipts so I have NOT removed the cost of these from the totals below, skewing these costs a bit :-/
• Skyler also fell in love with a stuffed Bucee keychain which provided him several hours of entertainment in the car.

Legoland food/drink costs: $197.81

Walmart grocery costs: $237.35

Gas station purchases: $118.97

Meals out: $576.37

Total food and drink costs: $1130.50

Trip Pro Tips: Bring stuff with you if you can (stuff you already have on hand, that would be going bad, that you know you’re gonna use). Buy stuff you know you’ll take with you if you dont finish it. Indulge a little – it’s vacation! Eating is part of the experience and how you get to know a place! 

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Total costs for our week-long Legoland Florida Spring Break trip

Accommodations: $20

Travel: $139.16

Entertainment: $449.47

Food & Drink: $1130.50

Total trip cost for 7 nights / 8 days: $1739.13

Cost Per Day: $217

Cost Per Person Per Day: $72.46

In the end, we went over budget because I under-estimated how expensive food and drink would be at the theme park (and how many beers my husband would go through during those two days, haha!) I also think food costs have gone up considerably at restaurants due to inflation, and I budgeted this trip six months ago. 

Final advice for a budget family trip

Great trips dont have to be high end. They don’t have to be all or nothing. Throw away preconceived notions of what a great trip has to be and say yes to the unexpected! 

Get creative with finding ways to save! 

Home exchange and hotel loyalty rewards are just two ways that we have saved thousands of dollars over the years. House sitting, couch surfing, workaways, and visiting friends and family are other great ways to stay for free! 

Balance your splurges with scrimping!

Want to splurge on something? Look for where you can scrimp so you can do what you want! If you’re going to spend a lot in one category such as entertainment or flights, try to spend less in another category. Seek out cheap or free entertainment options to offset the big-ticket items. Eat some of your meals at home or BYOB. 

Happy trip planning!!!!