How much do you spend on a Disney vacation ?

[butterscotchcollins]

I've never spent more than $4k for 2-3 adults staying at Moderates and getting Park Hopper passes - the biggest cost is the Resort so if you can cram a lot in in 3-4 days, you can save a decent amount of money vs. a 7-10 day trip.

 

[disney212]

DVC so that makes a huge difference. Annual Passes spread over 4 trips minimum at 9-10 days each trip ran around 200 for each trip per person so $400, airfare we used a companion pass for 1 flight each year on DL and miles for another Dl flight then switch to SW and use points/cash. We go in fall, Winter and spring but avoid holidays so much cheaper. Say 800 or less in airfare each year. Rental car less than 100 per year, we only rent for a day or two but don't always rent, I use my corporate discount. $150 for TIW split across 4 trips. We mostly eat at the lounges but food is our biggest expense, love cocktails. We try to keep it to 3600_4000 a year for 2 trips and we stagered our dates to get at least 4 trips per AP. We already broke even on our DVC purchase price, yes we would have stayed delux. So with our dues we do great as only 2 adults going studios are perfect for us. Examp!e. Bought AP Dec 8, 2018 and stayed 10 nights, used DV C discount which was great in 2018. Returned Feb 2, 2019 for 9 nights, returned Oct 19, 2020for 9 nights, final AP visit was Nov 29, 2019 for 10 days. We always fly in super early and fly home super late to get not park time. We have 0 issue with driving up to 2 hours for a cheaper flight. We fly out of Louisville, Dayton, Indy, Cincinnati, Lexington or Columbus.

 

[DisLiss]

Our trip planned for late August/early Sept. of this year was going to cost us approx. $8000. That is for 7 nights and 8 days at WDW, with 7 day park hopper plus tickets.
That's going at quite nearly the cheapest time of year, staying at Pop, with 2 adults and 2 older kids. Plus we had free dining and a deal on our transportation.

Now, if we wind up going next June instead (our back-up trip in case this one doesn't pan out) we figure it's going to cost us probably another $2K. Ugh. The transportation will cost more. And we'll be paying for all of our food instead of just a small portion of it. Plus, there have been room, ticket, and food price increases since we booked the Aug./Sept. trip. So that's a bummer.

 

[NKHarris329]

For saving money we look for specials/sales, rent DVC points, travel off peak, purchase tickets on Undercover Tourist (or other reputable 3rd party site), get grocery delivery and eat at least 1 meal a day at the hotel, bring our own snacks to the park, split meals where practical, bring our own water bottle, only do one or two sit down meals, don't buy souvenirs, fly with Southwest and watch those prices to rebook at lower fares, use points for flights or gift cards.

It is easy to go crazy and spend a ton of money at Disney, and even when taking steps to save money Disney IS a luxury vacation. However, you can put in a bit more effort and planning up front and save a fairly significant amount. One of the easiest ways for my family to save money is to minimize eating at Disney. We can do grab and go breakfasts or I can make a breakfast casserole that lasts for the week (assuming we have a kitchenette). We always take a mid day break at the hotel and it isn't a big deal for any of us to grab a sandwich and chips or single serve mac & cheese there. As long as I can shove a granola bar/trail mix/fruit at my kids before they get hangry no one cares that they don't have a Mickey shaped whatever. Dinners we usually do at the parks, but we often find we can split meals. I don't need to drop $10 a plate (minimum) on breakfast, lunch, and dinner for every person. Throw in a Mickey Bar and a bucket of popcorn or some other snack? We end up spending $200+ per day on food for my family of 4 like that.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

I found this thread to be very interesting,
We paid 1700 for 2 nights at ASM & 2 day tickets for 4 people that was all paid for with Swagbucks.
Then we drove costing us about $400 in fuel
Spent about 1500 on offsite hotel/airbnb and food. ($350 Sheraton vistana / 200beach house )

 

[cedricandsophie]

For 4 of us using our dvc points and staying 14 nights, which we go every March, most of our money goes to food. We stay at a deluxe with points, we may go to parks one day so 4 Park hoppers for a day is about $750 , we don’t rent a car, aur is about $300 from chicago do that’s another $1200. We eat breakfast in room. Share lunch at the pool and then go out for a nice dinner with a bottle of wine. Our food tab is usually between 2000 and 2500.

 

[stace1214]

We're two adults, two kids. We like to do a split stay- Pop for 3 nights and then a deluxe for 5. We usually spend around $6000 total including flights, meals, hoppers, souvenirs. We stay at whichever deluxe we can get the best price at from our travel agent and try to spend less by eating breakfast in the room. We go every 2-3 years.

 

[_19disnA]

How much Disney costs depends mostly on your budget and what your preferences are. Staying offsite and eating meals elsewhere would obviously cost less then staying at Disney and using one of their meal plans. Other key variables to consider would be driving vs. flying and if you plan to rent a car.

 

[pooh2001]

approximate costs - not set in stone - DME to and from airport
Pop preferred room for 7 nights at average $200 = $1400
5 day Park hopper for 2 adults = $800 ( so we can do 1/2 days in DHS and AK and spend more time in EPCOT and MK)
We would have 1 day free to do laundry, pool, Disney Springs, relax
Airfare - depends when we leave = $700
Food and any extras = $1200 ($200 per day but could be much less)

We are ordering food from Garden Grocer
3 dinners in our room and all breakfasts in our room

Approximate total = $4100

 

[winnieofpooh]

We typically spend around $3k-$4k on our trips right now. We typically do 6-7 days and stay at a value resort. But we recently stayed deluxe on our honeymoon and I'm having a hard time switching back to value, so I expect to spend a lot more on our future trips.

When planning our future budget for trips with kids, I think we'll be close to the 10k mark.

Edit: Our upcoming December trip is just shy of $4k for 7 days at a standard Pop room for 4 adults, with 4-day park hoppers and free dining.

 

[bakerworld]

We sent our eldest, hubby and her eldest WDW over Presidents Day weekend.
4D MYW for 2A/1K - $1228
Frontier Air - $1623
Hotel - DVC
DGC for spending - $500

 

[scrapquitler]

Our trip last October. DH, me and DS 16. We went for 3 weeks (22 nights, offsite) and we drove in a rental car. We bought annual passes (platinum)
Rental car/gas tolls about $1200
Condo rental $1600
Annual Passes about $4000
Food, beverages, snacks, souvenirs about $2000

So it was about $8800 for the trip, but that comes out to about $3000 a week for the three of us. And we also used those tickets for a long weekend in January (and that trip cost is only about $1500). We had another trip planned for next week which is cancelled, and we hope to go again for 2-3 weeks this fall, and our tickets for that are already paid for because of our AP.

 

[taaren]

• Plane tickets - Can usually get them for about $60 each way, I collect points so about half my trips are on points. Call it at $120 + equal amount of points for two people.
• Hotel - DVC maintenance fees of about $1400/year, this year we were supposed to get 6 two-night stays out of it, 3 of those were studios, 2 were 1 bedrooms, 1 in a 2 bedroom. Ignoring buy-in costs of DVC (which I do since we paid in full when we bought in '08) you can call it at $233/trip for 2 nights on average. We often fly in the night before so we can rope drop, and I use Marriott points somewhere near the airport or wherever is cheap for that, so no cost out of pocket for 3rd night.
• Tickets - Annual Passes (Flex) $600/person. Spread over 6 three-day/two-night trips. Call it $200/trip.
• Food - Usually take a $100 GC for food and it works for the two of us. I've checked out having spent more sometimes, but we share meals and snack our way through the day. Oh, and usually I spend another $50 on Earl of Sandwich alone, especially since friends and family want us to bring those sandwiches home. So $150/trip

All in all a 2-3 night/3 day trip to Disneyland for me and my son works out to $703 + a lot of SW and Marriott points if we can manage to get a weekend every other month of our AP year in. Then my wallet takes a break for a year. In retrospect, that's pretty good bang for my buck for vacationing in Disney! APs/DVC/reward points are really integral to those savings though.

 

[dhardawa]

Usually around $4,000 for three Disney adults. We only go during free dining, so I have no food costs. I’ve done the math and it’s highly in my benefit to get free dining. We stay at value or moderate resorts and room discounts aren’t much.

The best deal I ever got was in 2007, I believe. Southwest Vacations had airfare, value resort, park hopper tickets, and the dining plan for $599 per person. That was for 7 days. This was also when the dining plan included an appetizer and the tips.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

Right now through Costco Travel there’s a deal to stay at the Boardwalk for 5 nights w hoppers under $3k. I am sooooooo tempted

 

[easyas123]

Oh really? Interesting....

 

[Disney Kidd]

We are planning a trip in November. It will be my 22 month old son, my husband, and I. My son gets free admission and airfare.

Flight- My SW points cover this. $0
Hotel- My Hilton points cover this. $0
Tickets- 4 day ticket - $973
Food - giftcard for Raglan ($50 for $75), Jaleo ($80 for $100), and possibly T-Rex ($80 for $100). I also have $200 Disney gift cards so far and will continue to get more. It is my own financing plan! I buy a $100 gift card (at 5% off) each month leading up to the trip to cover food. Prob spend around $600 on food/snacks, but we are planning some pricey character meals!

That puts the trip at 1573! I'm hoping they will have a deal on tickets by then to bring that price down!

 

[superme80]

We are planning our first Disney World trip for 2022. By the time we go, we will probably have 5 Disney adults. I am going by what the Disney site is telling me. I was completely on board with either staying offsite or value. My husband has decided he wants to stay in "that hotel with the animals". So our cost has gone from $7200 including flights to $12,000 including flights. I will be looking for deals, but this is just no deals on anything.
Normally we go to Disneyland. We drive down, stay off property, eat breakfast in our room, and bring snacks with us. That normally cost us around $3000, but that was when my kids were Disney Kids.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

We are planning our first Disney World trip for 2022. By the time we go, we will probably have 5 Disney adults. I am going by what the Disney site is telling me. I was completely on board with either staying offsite or value. My husband has decided he wants to stay in "that hotel with the animals". So our cost has gone from $7200 including flights to $12,000 including flights. I will be looking for deals, but this is just no deals on anything.
Normally we go to Disneyland. We drive down, stay off property, eat breakfast in our room, and bring snacks with us. That normally cost us around $3000, but that was when my kids were Disney Kids.

Cost can vary widely depending on what time of year you go - take that into consideration as, if you can be flexible, there is always some kind of “deal”
to be had.

Alternatively maybe try talking him out of AK Lodge - it’s a bit far from everything and it’s bus transportation only (unless you plan to have a car and that won’t be a factor.)

Lastly we’ve always stayed Moderate or Value because we spend all day every day in the parks - consider what a daily itinerary would look like and if Resort-only days or pool breaks are involved (if they’re not, the justification of cost for a Deluxe is much harder).

WDW is a horse of a totally different color, you’re going to have so much fun!!

 

[superme80]

Cost can vary widely depending on what time of year you go - take that into consideration as, if you can be flexible, there is always some kind of “deal”
to be had.

Alternatively maybe try talking him out of AK Lodge - it’s a bit far from everything and it’s bus transportation only (unless you plan to have a car and that won’t be a factor.)

Lastly we’ve always stayed Moderate or Value because we spend all day every day in the parks - consider what a daily itinerary would look like and if Resort-only days or pool breaks are involved (if they’re not, the justification of cost for a Deluxe is much harder).

WDW is a horse of a totally different color, you’re going to have so much fun!!

Oh I don't mind Animal Kingdom Lodge. I just never thought he would suggest it! Thankfully we are homeschoolers, so we are not tied to a school schedule. Everything is pretty new. I'm sure I will be on this section soon for help on saving!