Inside Sue Radford’s extravagant £52,000 family birthday holiday to Florida – with Disney trips & luxe pool
BRITAIN’S biggest family – the Radfords – are currently enjoying the trip of a lifetime for mum-of-22 Sue’s 50th birthday.
The Lancashire-based family are having a sun-soaked extravaganza in Florida, which is estimated to cost them £52,000.
Despite telling The Daily Mirror they have been “feeling the pinch” financially, they said they planned to spare no expense on this holiday of a lifetime.
Sue and Noel, from Morecambe, Lancashire, star in Channel 5’s 22 Kids and Counting and also earn money from their business Radford’s Pie Company.
Sue has shared snaps from the birthday bonanza, including pictures of her bumper brood at Disney parks and enjoying their villa’s pool.
Yesterday, Sue posted: “Some pictures from the last few days.”
While one family shot showed the Radfords posing with Donald Duck, another showed two of her girls wearing matching outfits and backpacks with identical dolls inside – presumably a new purchase during the trip.
Another snap showed Sue wearing Minnie ears as she posed at a Disney theme park.
However, one part of the trip hasn’t been plain-sailing.
Sue took to Instagram to share how they have faced huge queues at this time of year in the Easter holidays.
She wrote: “95 minute wait for Guardians of the Galaxy.
“Not liking the fact they removed the virtual queuing system. Anyone else wish they’d kept that system?”
While Disney guests used to be able to request to enter a virtual queue for the ride to save them time in the park.
Now they have to join a “standby queue”, which is a regular line where they physically wait to join the attraction, along with any other guests in the park.
£26,000 flights
Sue and her husband Noel Radford have not only taken their own children to Florida, but all of their grandchildren with them too – making the most of the Easter break from school.
Sue, 50, and Noel, 54, are parents to Chris, 35, Sophie, 31, Chloe, 29, Jack, 28, Daniel, 26, Luke, 24, Millie, 23, Katie, 22, James, 21, Ellie, 19, Aimee, 18, Josh, 17, Max, 16, Tillie, 14, Oscar, 13, Casper, 12, Haillie, nine, Phoebe, eight, Archie, seven, Bonnie, six, and Heidi, five.
Sadly the couple’s 17th child Alfie was still born on July 6, 2014.
Also joining them will be Chris’ wife Nicole Spencer, Sophie’s husband Joe Bradley, Chloe’s boyfriend Jake Wallace, Millie’s husband Harley Passmore and Katie’s boyfriend Connor Carter.
On top of that all 11 grandchildren are said to be in tow.
All in, the family are looking at a jaw-dropping £26,228 on flights – and that’s before the excess charges or any extra baggage.
£20k park tickets
Based on the cost of a seven-day Disney visit, which would require each guest to hold a 7-Day Magic Ticket for entrance, Sue and Noel could have forked out £20,065.
Luckily for Sue and Noel, children under the age of three go free. So some of the children on the trip won’t cost a penny to get into the park.
The tickets include access to the park and water parks with the eligibility to enter multiple parks per day.
Holders will also have the ‘memory maker’ package which includes unlimited Disney photopass downloads – pictures taken by photographers around the park, on rides and in restaurants.
£6k accommodation
Sue and Noel have spoken about their approach to holiday accommodation previously, while appearing on the This Morning show – they revealed they usually opt for a villa to save costs and ensure the bunch can bunk close together.
Last September, they shared an Orlando Villa Tour on their Facebook page to their 944,000 followers.
One eagle-eyed viewer recognised the accommodation as similar to a property listed on rental site, Vrbo.
The glam Vrbo house sleeps 15 – so Sue and Noel will need to book 3 to comfortably house all 39 travellers.
The accommodation costs £300 per night, working out at £2,100 per villa for a week and £6,300 in total for all three.
And that’s without any food in the villa or out in the parks.
Millie’s drama
It appears that the Radfords’ posh trip to the US didn’t get off to a great start – and in fact, saw Millie Radford and her children separated.
Posting on social media, Millie Radford, who first became a mum at 19 and is Sue and Noel’s third eldest daughter, detailed the family’s chaotic situation that left her stranded after a holiday mishap.
In a post shared to her Instagram stories, the 23-year-old mum-of-three revealed that she and two of her kids were “rejected” from joining a flight to America with their wider family.
The incident resulted from their ESTAs being out of date, with the travel authorisation used by visitors travelling to the US without a Visa.
The huge holiday is going to kick off a big year of travel for the Radfords, who enjoyed 14 getaways last year alone.
Not only did they enjoy a £3,800 a night Disney cruise, but they also visited a swanky Dubai jaunt and took trips to Lapland, New York, Legoland and the Maldives, too.
This won’t be the only holiday to celebrate Sue turning 50 – in the same interview with The Daily Mirror, she said her and Noel will jet off for a romantic holiday for two.
“But we are going to do a holiday just the two of us as well. That will be nice,” she revealed.
How does family-of-22 the Radfords afford to live?
AS Britain’s biggest family, it may come as no surprise that Sue and Noel Radford must have some hefty bills.
Between them, they have a whopping 22 children and seven dogs, which often has some people wonder how they manage their money.
The Radfords support themselves with the proceeds of Noel’s bakery, The Radford Pie Company, which is located near their home.
On their website, it says: “We have owned our own lovely bakery since 1999 which is how we manage to provide for (and feed) our huge and expanding family as well as for the local people of Heysham and Morecambe.”
The family expanded their business to cater to online orders placed across the UK.
The business is a family affair, with Noel at the helm, and some of their children helping out.
The older kids, who are working at least part-time, don’t get a free ride as they’re made to pay a small amount of rent to their parents.
“Us older ones do pay a little bit of board. Granted it’s not a lot but I’m also trying to save up for my own house at the moment.” their daughter Chloe said in a video on the YouTube channel.
Sue added: “We’ve always said if you want to buy somewhere, renting is a bit of dead money, so we’d rather you saved that money up and stayed at home a bit longer.
“I also do believe they should pay board if they are earning. We’ve always been brought up by our parents that we had to pay board.”
Noel and Sue famously don’t rely on benefits for their bumper brood and live off their pie shop for income.
They also revealed they make money from brand partnerships on social media.
The Radford family stars in their own reality TV show 22 Kids and Counting – which has run for four series.
Brand expert Andy Barr believes Noel and Sue have been paid less than £10,000 for each show.
He told the Daily Mail: “The typical fee per episode is going to be in the thousands rather than the tens or hundreds of thousands that people often think is the case with TV shows of this nature.
“If they continue to get commissioned for a fourth or fifth season, then they are going to be able to command a higher fee.”
He estimates that the Radfords make £ 5,000 an episode.