How Much Does It Cost to Go On a Disney World Vacation in 2026?
The biggest question planners ask before booking a trip is “how much does it cost to do Walt Disney World?” This answers that with 2026 pricing for park tickets, hotels, dining, transportation & more. It also covers current discounts (as well as future ones) and the total price you can expect to pay for the vacation.
The goals are twofold: giving you a realistic idea of what ‘level’ of Walt Disney World trip is within your budget and helping you avoid overspending. Fair warning up front: prices have increased by thousands of dollars in the last ~5 years, so be prepared for sticker shock or the brutal realization that a Disney trip isn’t within reach, period. Walt Disney World has long had a reputation as being pricey (e.g. ‘exit through the gift shop’ jokes or ‘Most Expensive Day Ever’ shirts), but it’s gotten worse. That’s the bad news, but there’s also good news–more on that in a minute!
Another warning is that there is no single, all-inclusive price that a Walt Disney World vacation costs. Some people are fine with budget accommodations and the cheapest options just to get in the gate, whereas the wealthy might want luxurious accommodations and pampered treatment. The latter trip could literally cost $50,000 or more, whereas the former might cost 10% of that. Rich folks are not reading a post like this–they’re just freely spending however much they have to spend–so we’ll stick with average vacations, not extravagant ones!
At the other end of the spectrum, we also don’t want to simply price out a bottom-dollar, bargain basement trip to Walt Disney World. There’s a lot of ground in between budget motels and Presidential Suites plus VIP tours, and we’ll try to cover a few different ‘tiers’ of trips here. But even with hypotheticals it’s impossible to pin down the actual cost for every set of circumstances.
Beyond the basics covered in our breakdown, there are a lot of variables that are beyond the scope of this post: Lightning Lanes vs. standby only? Rental car vs. alternative airport transportation? Travel insurance vs. discounted non-refundable reservations?
Instead of tackling every possible scenario, we’ll look at price ranges for key aspects of visiting Walt Disney World, come up with totals based on those, and let you extrapolate based upon that information. Given that the thing most readers report surprise over is cost, this is a topic worth addressing, even if we can’t give any hard numbers for every possible scenario…
Now for the good news, bad news update on Walt Disney World prices for 2026.
The bad news is that Walt Disney World increased prices on Annual Passes, park tickets, restaurant menus, and a few other things at the start of the new fiscal year. Room rates are also up for 2026. Across the board, these are up ballpark percentages of around 3% to 5%. Some are unchanged, a few have increased by more.
As noted in the introduction, prices have increased significantly since 2019. However, the bulk of those price hikes occurred in 2021-2023. Since then, they’ve decelerated dramatically, with more modest increases around the rate of inflation for 2024-2026. If you haven’t visited since 2019 or earlier, you’re still in for sticker shock–decelerated increases are not the same as decreases–but using late 2022 as a benchmark yields a more favorable comparison.
The good news is that Walt Disney World has gotten more aggressive with discounts as “revenge travel” has exhausted itself in the last couple of years. Walt Disney World has been pulling “levers” (their term) in order to entice people to visit the parks and stay in the hotels. In plain language, this means discounts.
Walt Disney World once again needs to offer discounts to fill hotel rooms and get people into the parks. This is something we’ve documented, and we’ve repeatedly pointed out that they’re pulling from the 2019 playbook for discounts. Walt Disney World has now released several discounts for the first half of 2026, all of which have been on par with deals released in 2018 or 2019–and much better than during the height of pent-up demand.
Walt Disney World long ago adopted the “Kohl’s Model” to pricing, where the sticker prices are almost meaningless due to discounts. As Kohl’s learned ages ago, if the base price is higher, it makes the discounted rate look like even more of a bargain. It’s all about perception and the illusion of a killer deal.
Over the last couple of years, Disney has consistently raised prices pretty much across the board in the range of 3-5%, all while ramping up discounts. This isn’t even a new thing; they did the same during the Great Recession, raising sticker prices while offering unprecedented savings.
Due to better deals, the effective prices many people pay for resorts or vacation packages have actually decreased this year vs. 2022-2023 despite higher prices. You read that correctly–there’s a reasonable possibility that you’ll pay less in 2026 for your trip than you did or would have 3 years ago. That was the height of pent-up demand, and discounts were scarce or non-existent.
Over this past summer, the result of this was the lowest price for Walt Disney World vacations in over 6 years. (See How to Get the Cheapest Walt Disney World Trip Since 2019.) Granted, discounts are used strategically to fill unsold hotel rooms and discount certain ticket types for specific dates. They’re not always available to book, so you can’t bank on them. But we nevertheless want to point out that even as rack rates and sticker prices have increased for 2026, so too have discounts.
It will be interesting to see whether 2026 beats 2025 pricing, which is within the realm of possibility. As noted above, some room discounts have already been released for 2026. Ticket deals have not, and as a result, admission is the single biggest year-over-year increase in the math below. However, certain food costs have actually decreased as a result of the Kids Free Dining Plan in 2026 at Walt Disney World. More special offers are likely to be released in January and March 2026, which will paint a fuller picture of effective pricing for the year.
This means that you should be paying close attention to special offers and booking them ASAP once released, as availability can be limited. Taking full advantage of discounts will greatly reduce the package prices discussed below. We closely monitor what’s released and notify subscribers of our free email newsletter when any Walt Disney World discounts are released or rumored!
Regardless of deals, visiting Walt Disney World costs a lot of money. We’re not trying to downplay the prices–it’s undeniably priced as a premium vacation destination and one of the more expensive family destinations in the United States. Saying effective prices haven’t gone down since 2022 overlooks the reality that costs spiked massively between then and 2019, and are still way, way up has compared to then.
Of course, travel costs are all relative. You could travel to one of the U.S. National Parks and pay a $30 entry fee for your entire vehicle for a week, camp on-site for $45/night, and cook food by campfire for $60/day for a party of 4.
As avid National Park enthusiasts, we’ve done exactly that many times and highly recommend it–one of the best vacations you can take that’s incredibly relaxing and allows you to disconnect, recharge, and see America’s Best Idea. It’s also very different–also incomparable–to Walt Disney World.
You could also travel to New York and spend more than the cost of theme park tickets seeing shows and visiting points of interest, pay $350/night for adequate accommodations, $75/night for parking, and an exorbitant amount eating at some of America’s best restaurants.
Although equally chaotic, that too would be very different from a Walt Disney World vacation. Not necessarily better or worse–different. The point is that great trips can be had at a variety of price points; even though it’s easy to compare them quantitatively, doing so on a qualitative basis is a different story entirely. Even trips to other theme parks aren’t apples to apples comparisons with Walt Disney World.
Anyway, let’s get down to brass tacks and actually start pricing out a trip…
This post assumes a 5-night Walt Disney World vacation for a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 kids) that is not within driving distance to Walt Disney World, with no rental car unless otherwise specified. Airfare is not included.
Unfortunately, flight prices vary so widely based upon origin city that there’s really nothing meaningful to say–just know that it’s another cost that’ll probably add another $150 to $600 per person to your trip. That’s a massive range on a huge line-item that would render our totals almost meaningless, which is why we’re excluding it.
We travel a lot between the Orange Counties (Florida and California) and we’ve paid anywhere from $200 to almost $500 per round trip just this year. Like Walt Disney World prices, this is also down as compared to what we paid a couple years ago–hopefully that trend continues!
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the range of costs you should expect to incur for each element of your Walt Disney World vacation…
Park Tickets
After precipitous increases for several years that have seen the cost of a 1-day Walt Disney World ticket for the Magic Kingdom triple in price since 2004, expectations vs. reality for park ticket prices can differ dramatically. This is no surprise, especially among infrequent visitors who last went when tickets were more affordable.
All families are following our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets, so we aren’t going by gate prices. We’re also choosing travel dates starting immediately after Memorial Day. We view this as a sweet spot before summer crowds, heat & humidity, and prices increase. With that said, it’s far from the cheapest time of the year to visit.
Frugal: For this tier, we’re opting for 3-day base tickets without the Park Hopper option. The other 2 days of the vacation, the family will enjoy some of the free offerings around Walt Disney World, such as Disney Springs and visiting the Boardwalk, among other things. Total cost: $2,151.56.
Value: At this tier, we are getting base tickets for all 5 days, meaning the family can spend every day in the parks. If you’d like to visit longer, note that the difference in 5 vs. 6 to 10 day tickets isn’t that extreme, because the incremental cost of park tickets decrease for longer duration visits. Total cost: $3,094.82.
Moderate: This steps up to 5-day Park Hopper tickets, so the family can leverage park operating hours to their advantage (for example, heading to Magic Kingdom and staying until park closing on a day started out at Animal Kingdom when that park closes early). Total cost: $3,478.22.
Deluxe: This levels up to the Cadillac of park tickets: the 5-Day Park Hopper Plus Water Park & Sports. This is a good ticket option for a 7-10 day trip, but for a 5-day visit, there’s more than enough to do in the 4 theme parks and other areas of Walt Disney World without adding the “Plus” option.
Nevertheless, for those who like to make it rain, Disney-style, this is an option for a 5-day trip. You might also consider simply doing a longer duration base ticket, as that will cost less than this. Total cost: $3,571.94.
The cost of tickets will probably be the most surprising aspect of your vacation, especially if you’re going for only a few days. As noted above, the incremental cost of longer duration tickets is lower, making the relative ‘value’ of a 7-10 day Walt Disney World vacation better than a 3 day trip.
With that said, tickets don’t necessarily have to be this expensive. As noted above, there were great ticket deals this summer, including a special offer for kids and a special 3-park ticket. When offered, those ticket deals can reduce admission costs by several hundreds of dollars. We’d expect these deals to return for April through September 2026, but likely won’t be released until Spring 2026 (possibly March).
Hotel
The cost of your hotel is the single biggest variable in a Walt Disney World vacation, with prices ranging from $30/night for an off-site hotel on I-Drive to over $1,000 for luxury accommodations that are on-site and near the Walt Disney World theme parks. Let’s take a look at the different options…
Frugal: Staying off-site is the only true budget option, and fortunately, the Orlando area has a surplus of hotels, which drives down cost. In reviewing Hotwire’s Hot Rate option for a variety of dates, there are often 3.5 star and above hotels in the Lake Buena Vista or Disney Springs areas for around $75/night.
There are cheaper hotels elsewhere with lower ratings or farther from the parks, but I think this is a good compromise in quality and location. There are some shady hotels in the Orlando area–Florida Project is more reality than it is fiction–so unless you want experiencing the mean streets of O-Town as part of your vacation experience, splurge a bit. Total cost: $559 after taxes & fees.
Note that only some third party or off-site hotels offer free shuttles to the parks. This means staying in the frugal option will almost certainly incur additional transportation costs above and beyond the higher tiers, whether that be for a rental car and parking, or for twice-daily Uber or Lyft expenses. This is not insignificant, and could add $40 to $100 on top of accommodations costs, depending upon when you visit.
Value: For anyone looking to get the true “resort” experience at Walt Disney World, this is your lowest entry-point. Depending upon when you travel, rack rates for the Value Resorts at Walt Disney World range from $118 to $307 per night for most of the year (excluding peak season dates). The more popular your travel time, the more expensive the rates. Total cost: $1,184 after taxes and fees.
Moderate: Same idea as the Value Resorts above, except for the middle tier of on-site Disney hotels. Rack rates for these hotels will range from around $248 to $324 per night for most of the year (excluding peak season dates). Again, the more popular your travel time, the more expensive the rates. Total cost: $1,538 after taxes and fees.
Deluxe: The on-site Walt Disney World Deluxe Resorts are the hotel tier where there’s the most variance, with it costing $425/night just to get you in the door, and prices quickly going upward from there. At Wilderness Lodge, regular season rack rates start at $555/night. By contrast, regular season rates at the Grand Floridian start at $857/night. Prices can go up from there. Total cost: $3,433 after taxes and fees.
While ticket deals can be hit or miss and depend on when you’re visiting (they’re most common for the general public from the period after Easter through late September), there are resort discounts throughout almost the entire year. There are limited exceptions to this from October through December, but otherwise, you should not be paying rack rate for resorts. Average discounts range from 10% off to 40% off.
Dining
Then there’s the 2026 Disney Dining Plan. A lot of Walt Disney World fans love the DDP for its supposed ease of use, preplanning, budgeting, and other reasons beyond the scope of this post.
Without question, purchasing the Disney Dining Plan will cost you more than it would cost you to eat at Walt Disney World on a tight or even reasonable budget. What the Disney Dining Plan offers is peace of mind in paying for your food in advance and knowing that you don’t have to worry about it when you arrive. If you can budget money, you are usually better off skipping the Dining Plan and paying out of pocket.
Some people can save money using the Disney Dining Plan, but those are people who like to eat “aggressively,” not those who are trying to be frugal. With that said, there’s a new wrinkle to this: Kids Eat Free on the Disney Dining Plan in 2026. This is incredibly advantageous to our example party of 2 adults and 2 kids in one room. As a result, families with children will likely come out ahead on the DDP, even when paying out of pocket, in 2026.
Let’s take a look at a few options in terms of eating on a Walt Disney World vacation…
Frugal: Purchase groceries and bring your food to the parks. Many people don’t realize that, unlike sporting events and your local library, you can bring outside food into Walt Disney World. Not only that, but they’re pretty liberal with the rules: you can bring a soft-sided cooler (now don’t get too carried away, you can’t bring in a pony keg to make ‘it’s a small world’ more enjoyable). Figure that the cost here can be as low as what you’d eat at home, plus allowances for occasional snacks. Ballpark cost: $400.
Value: Eat a huge breakfast in your hotel before you leave for the parks each day, then have a counter service meal in the parks in the early afternoon costing around $20/person, bring snacks to get through late afternoon, and have dinner in your hotel each night. The Quick Service Disney Dining Plan would cost just over $600 and allow for lunch and dinner inside the park. That’s the better deal for our family, as their kids are getting the DDP for free in 2026. Ballpark cost: $600.
Moderate: For the sake of simplicity, we’re going to assume the average family would be inclined to purchase the regular Disney Dining Plan, and that its price would be roughly analogous to what they’d spend on doing a counter service meal, table service meal, and snacks each day. Our family once again comes out ahead here in 2026, resulting in considerably reduced dining costs as compared to last year. Ballpark cost: $1,000.
Deluxe: In the past, we’ve used the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan (DxDDP) as the baseline for this cost. This is basically the “all-inclusive” version of the Disney Dining Plan that allows you to do multiple table service meals, character dining, and even Signature Restaurants if you so desire–and budget the time for it. Unfortunately, the DxDDP is not returning for 2026…but we’ll still use it as a baseline for these costs, which should be accurate within $100 or so. Ballpark cost: $1,800.
Total Costs
Even within the different tiers of vacations we’ve priced out for the hypothetical family of 4, there’s a pretty substantial range to the price of their Walt Disney World vacation. Still, we thought it worthwhile to give a rough approximation of totals…
Frugal: $3,110.56
Value: $4,878.82
Moderate: $6,016.22
Deluxe: $8,804.94
Regardless of what your actual costs appear to be when you crunch the numbers, it’s always a good idea to build a 15-20% cushion into the budget for unforeseen expenses–that’s a savvy move with travel in general, regardless of the destination.
As high as these totals might seem at first blush, we’ll reiterate that ‘total’ isn’t an actual total since it does NOT take all costs into account. Airfare, rental cars, parking, shuttles, or other ground transportation will likely add another $1,500 to $3,000 onto each tier. That’s not to mention other add-ons you might elect to purchase upon arrival!
The cost of Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and Single Pass is also not included, and this is something we’d recommend adding for at least Magic Kingdom–and probably Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but not EPCOT or Animal Kingdom. Expect to spend about $25 per person, per day for this line-skipping service.
Hard ticket events like the After Hours, Halloween, or Christmas parties are also not part of the budgets. Prices for those are all over the place, but you could easily spend $125 to $200 per person on those event tickets. Dessert parties and other upcharge offerings–such as building a lightsaber in Star Wars land–also add up fast. If you start adding on these things, your costs can easily ballon by thousands of dollars more.
Some of these things are totally optional, but some form of transportation–both to Florida and around Walt Disney World–is not. When all is said and done, you could easily spend double the above amounts for your trip total. It really depends upon your circumstances and travel dates.
With so many caveats, it might seem like these numbers are rendered meaningless, and this post is just an exercise in futility. However, the info and numbers here should at least provide a good baseline so that those of you who have never planned a Walt Disney World vacation have a ballpark idea what kind of costs you’ll encounter.
There are numerous (clickbait) blog posts with headlines like “How to do a Walt Disney World Vacation for Less than $1,000.” Those make big promises that are incredibly misleading, disingenuous, and ultimately lead to disappointment or unrealistic expectations. For 95% of guests, $3k is the bare minimum needed just to get in the door, and even that’s really pushing it. You’d have to visit during the off-season, stay off-site, and be exceedingly frugal with your food and other purchases.
Once factoring in airfare and a realistic number of non-optional and discretionary add-ons, a frugal family of 4 can expect to pay a starting price of around $5,000 for their vacation. For a deluxe trip, that cost is likely to start at $10,000. Those are bottom line, base price totals.
Obviously, this isn’t one-size fits advice or vacation budgeting. Frugal traveler-hackers may scoff at the prices here, using the aforementioned 4-park ticket deal along with airfare alerts and hotel hacks to bring their prices down considerably. A family that puts in a lot of effort might be able to do Walt Disney World for a hair under $3k.
At the other end of the spectrum, luxury travelers may find that they spend significantly more than the amounts set forth here. If you’re looking to spend as much as possible, the sky really is the limit on costs. The Mouse is very good at extracting every last cent from visitors who are willing to fork it over, which is where travelers of every budget can run into problems–especially if they have FOMO and feel pressured to purchase non-essential upcharges.
We’ve heard of high rollers easily dropping $25,000 to $50,000 for a luxurious Walt Disney World vacation, and that could pretty easily turn into $75,000 for a longer trip, with additional people, or more upcharge add-ons. More than a few readers have reported dropping $40k (!!!) on their Walt Disney World vacations after all was said and done. That seems insane to us, but there’s clearly a market for it.
In our case–and likely in the case of many readers of this blog–we can be outliers on the low end of things, as the sunk costs of Annual Passes make our tickets $0* and we can get our on-site hotel costs down to as low as $100/night with via Disney Vacation Club Point Rentals if we move our dates around a bit and work around deals.
However, this is impractical to a lot of people, especially those without flexible schedules or planning their first trips. (*Of course, the AP itself has a very high upfront cost, but the per visit basis drops dramatically given how often we are in the parks. Obviously, your circumstances are going to differ considerably from ours as bloggers who write about Walt Disney World!)
Ultimately, this is simply a jumping off point with specific numbers that are only meant to give you a rough idea of 2026 Walt Disney World vacation costs. Hopefully this topic can be an open dialogue about Walt Disney World trip expenses and budgets, as the way we vacation certainly differs for others.
There are tons of hacks that can bring the cost down–see our Top 15 Tips for Saving Money at Walt Disney World for ideas on that front. Additionally, if your travel dates are flexible and you want to choose the least expensive times to visit (which also tend to be the least crowded dates), see When Is It Cheapest to Visit Walt Disney World?
To that end, Walt Disney World veterans who are willing to present some information about your own budget, such as how many people, duration of trip, hotel, dining, etc., when you visit would be much appreciated. Like I said, this post is only meant to be a rough baseline, and the more actual data points and examples newbies have before starting to plan for their own trips, the better. So thanks in advance if you choose to help.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts…
How much do your average vacations to Walt Disney World cost? Have you noticed an effective price decrease when pricing out 2026 Walt Disney World vacation packages as compared to 2022-2023? Think Disney is still worth the money, or has it become unreasonably overpriced? Where do you splurge and where do you “trim the fat” from your trip budget? Do you veterans have any data points of your own to help newbies out? If you’re a Walt Disney World first-timer, do you have any questions after reading this? We love to hear from readers, so if you have any thoughts or questions, post them in the comments!
Great article, but unfortunately it doesn’t even come close to the REAL increase in going to Disney World.
Let’s take the example of a family of four going to Disney World and staying on site. Let’s also assume an average room cost of $350 per night, to allow for some people staying at value, some at moderate and a few at deluxe. A $350 average seems about right.
Now, to replicate the experience before the pandemic, let’s look at three things that used to be free and that now cost money: the Disney Express, Magic Bands, and Fast Passes. Here’s what these three things now cost:
Magic Bands: $35 each x 4 = $140
Fast Passes: Genie+ is now $15 per day per person, so $15 x 4 x 5 = $300
Disney Express: $34 round trip on Mears x 4 = $136
TOTAL EXTRA YOU NOW PAY FOR WHAT USED TO BE FREE: $576
If you divide $576 by the room cost of $1,750 for five nights, this is a 33 % increase!!
Of course, you could just not buy magic bands or the Genie+, but my point here was replicate the exact same experience that used to be free. Not to mention that the Mears transportation and the Genie+ are inferior experiences. So you’re now paying for what used to be free and getting an inferior product.
Disney should be ashamed of itself. This is the reason why we cancelled our 10 night stay at the Wilderness Lodge this past May, once we heard the Magical Express was cancelled – that was the last straw. Universal, here we come!!
Hi Tom, thanks for the enjoyable commentary. You do a great job of providing information and insight. You make us laugh at times with your words.
Going next Saturday looking forward to it.
Family of 5 breakfast in room sit down meal every second day. Mix of quick service and takeaway for the other meals. Moderate CBR. 8 nights with two weeks hopper + passes 5300. Flights from Ireland 3300. Ubers from airports. 7 nights in universal surf side inn + 2 week passes 2700. 5000 for food and spending. 1 night, first night at Holiday inn 150. Total: €16500. If I knew the holiday was going to cost that much I wouldn’t have started booking it. Priced same holiday 2 years ago and it was 12500-13500. Kids doing droid building and lightsaber build and getting there own treats from the money they have been saving for the past two years.
We did a week long trip for 3 adults in Fall 2021 for about $7500, excluding flights and housesitting. This was 7 nights at the Dolphin x 2 rooms, 6 days of Park Hoppers, Uber/Lyfts to/from the airport and 4 trips around the property to get to resorts for meals, breakfast in the room each morning, 1-2 sit down meals per day with at least 1 meal with wine, the occasional ice cream bar or popcorn, and 1 souvenir t-shirt per person. It was a great trip and there were a lot of ways we could have saved money on hotels (1 shared room rather than 2 rooms to start!) and food (more groceries, more quick service vs sit down, less alcohol). Honestly we wish we had spent a bit more and done the light saber and droid experiences!
My family of 5 went to Disney World this past April. We flew from Seattle, stayed 7 nights in a moderate Disney resort and used Disney transportation, got 5-day non-park hopper tickets, used Mears Connect to and from the airport, only bought fast pass for 3 out of 5 park days, brought most of our own snacks, and still spent $10,500!
Walt’s rolling in his grave. Its crazy what it has come to for a family trip to the “happiest place on earth”….
Great analysis. Ironically we had a friend over tonight who took her 3 kids plus boyfriend to Disney world and then went to France a couple weeks later with just the boyfriend. She said that the WDW trip was more than twice as expensive as flying overseas and enjoying France. I get it that it’s 3 less people but wow.
Yes hi I will like to know howuxh if is doe my beautiful boys and my friend to fo fo Disney world on July 2,2022 bwcaksw my stepdaughtwe birthday is on the 4 Rh of July and it is a kids bday party my boys been acting up ans behaving so badly and not listening to their morhee who has eaiaw them and buy my children’s cute clothes sneakers doosaansals ans orhed stuff they need I had buy
Haha, Gerhard, Go Blue!! This was very helpful post. This June my family of 4 including 2 junior-high kids will stay at a Disney Resort for the first time ever – because the resort is paid for by a my attending a medical conference! This trip will be 6 days which would have been beyond our wildest dreams a few years ago – 2 park days, 1 water park day, and 2 resort pool/put-put/ explore and eat-at-other-resorts days. Total cost with cheap flights from NC and no rental car will be roughly $1200 for 2-day Park tickets (with Genie plus and Water Park), $2200 for Yacht Club Resort, (paid by my employer), $600 for airfare, and we will budget for $800 for food – 2 walk-up meals per day and yogurt/granola in our room for breakfast. Add Lyft-XL to and from the Sanford Airport, another $200 for a grand total of about $4,800. Yikes! But, this will likely be our last Disney trip. Next bucket list trip is Alaska Cruise.
In contrast, our last 3 Disney trips, between 2013 and 2017, were all done for $800 or less!! We have all the photos and memories to prove it!! These short but awesome trips were some of the kids’ best memories (and mine!) As follows:
Drive to park, ~12 hours each way = $150 gas, eat bag lunches on the road
Off-site great hotel with a SUITE and free breakfast buffet, $75 x 3 nights = $225
Park tickets for 1 EPIC day at Magic Kingdom (arrive before rope drop, roll sleeping kids out of park in their strollers after fireworks at 10 pm) = $425 for family of 4
One dinner in the park = $25 (adults share entree – Pecos Bills is generous!!)
The rest of the trip we eat fruit, PB and J, whatever snack fit in our backpack, and no extras.
We bought t-shirts, glow sticks, and a Disney toy for each kid at the dollar store ahead of time – $25 versus $$$ onsite
Grand Total = $850 or less
SOOOO if you’re on a budget… Yes it can be done!! Our kids could never have handled more than one park day in a row when they were age 5-10 (we never took toddlers) and they had no idea that other parks existed outside of Magic Kingdom. This year we will enjoy the “big rides,” the Star Wars and Avatar lands, and the perks that come with conference attendance – but those memories from the frugal trips are priceless!!
Well, I was considering a Disney Vacation for this fall but I believe you have all talked me out of it! It really does sound like Disney is price gouging.
We just booked a six day at Coranado Springs for the the first week of February 2022. 3700.00 including flight and hopper passes. We will have to pay for transportation from the airport. We knew this when we made our reservations. We haven’t been to WDW since 2014 so we’re looking forward to it.
It is very sad that Disney has decided to recover their pandemic losses by overcharging its loyal park visitors. I still remember when Sunday night TV included Walt, exposing us to a world of adventure. My family and myself have used our yearly vacation to visit WDW 23 times. The corporate changes since the old timers have left are obvious and I believe the reasons for the unjustified price increases. Like most of corporate America, the stock holders are valued over the customers.
For my wife and I from Canada I am afraid a WDW trip is becoming a dream, We were frequent visitors, but our last trip was 2018 and even then we went in September and took advantage of discounts. We really want to see WDW when the Christmas decorations are up, but it may be a fantasy now.
For 2 adults travelling next August for two weeks flying from the U.K. staying at a moderate hotel, no dining plan it’s $12791 that includes the new Genie ticket and car hire. Needless to say we won’t be coming for a while.
It could be done for less if I sourced everything independently but the saving would probably only be around $1000? I just used a package for ease.
Here in the U.K. when we go to Disney we always take the free dining package, as we like to pay for our food in advance, in the past there would be three of us in a room, but my DS is now an adult.
Looks like cruising in the med for a while.
We just got back from a week at WDW. Splurged and stayed at Wilderness Lodge. There were 3 of us…myself(with mobility issues) my daughter and my 5 yr old grandson. We had planned the Vaca for 2 years! Researched every angle and kept up with all the reopening and changes happening over that time. I had to cough up the extra funds in the end to do the deluxe Vaca we dreamed of for my retirement
We just booked a 7 day trip to WDW for Feb 2022 and for the two of us with 5 days at Pop and 2 at the Poly with 6 day park hoppers and Genie + it was over $3000. Adding plane fare and Uber/Lyft travel fees and we are at almost $5000 without food! The dining reservations online glitched and they released them in batches of three days instead of 60 days out so I missed out on getting the dining we wanted by a day.
Weʻve already committed and our stay is non-refundable but we wonʻt be doing it this way again.
I LOVE WDW & Just returned from a WDW vacation. It was beautiful, but I was shocked at the cost, lines, lack of staff & limited ability to get basic things done.(We previously had an extended family trip in 2018.) Although they encourage you to use the app., there are something s that can’t be accomplished online. More than once I was on hold on the phone for extended periods of time (more than 3 hours x2). Even during the trip, I needed to call because we hadn’t received info about Magical Express back to airport & was on hold for 45 min. before I gave up. Also noted that lack of staff has impacted the cleanliness of the parks. I was grateful that this trip was just my husband & myself & didn’t include kids & grandkids since the parks were packed & food reservations were tough to come by.
Went first week in November. Parks were packed long lines the worst time I’ve ever had at Disney. Dining reservations are a laugh. No matter what time you call it’s a 2 hour wait to speak to a person. All the nice perks are going away the magical express, free parking, daily room cleaning, and fast pass. Genie is a complete joke. We spent two days at Universal no problem with outlandish wait times, eat at any restaurant without reservations. Why does Disney make you pick a park and they are still overcrowded. Disney has magically taken away the magic.
Susan, it’s totally ridiculous. I’ve been going to Disney since it opened then with my family and now my friends as a yearly girls trip. I cannot believe the cost of a decent on-site hotel and park tickets and now additional charges to ride rather than wait in line for hours. . It’s time to rethink this yearly trip and travel to other destinations.
I couldn’t agree more with the feelings of getting ripped off and gouged. Our family of 4 has been going to WDW for Thanksgiving week every year since 2004. (Except last year due to Covid) We went this past week and our cost was TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS more than our last visit 2 years ago. And that is only visiting the parks 2 days with park hopper. Disney is extremely close to making this 19 year bi-annual visitor decide to nix future visits period. They have screwed the average family.
We’ll Tom, here is my take on this. My wife and I can afford to keep going, and will because we have three small DVC contracts. The contracts allow us to jump around to differ resorts. If we did not have those, we would be staying off site. The inflation on everything will catch up to Disney and I really think that most people will consider an alternative. With all of the great VRBO’s out there for a fraction of the Disney hotel cost, plus the option of doing your own meals, staying off site will keep increasing. Good to stay on site once or twice, but families can save with planning off site. I hope the bean counters at Disney can take off their dark glasses and see what’s coming. Staying on site is like Michigan football, they can win once or twice but shouldn’t get used to it. Nice Big10 championship!