4 People (49,47,21,20) at CBR 7 nights. 2 days at USO. Did 6 day hoppers as well(we never went back to Universal for second day). Flew SWA from DFW and Rented a car.
Park Tickets $2262.80
Universal Tickets $1171.48
Rental Car $350.83
Parking at Airport $95.83
Airfare - $995.88
Resort $1670.89
Food, Souv., Misc. $2404.89
Total $8952.60
Not Sure how many can afford this, but they charge what the market allows them to. TBH we did play it loose with the magic bands, we ate and drank (adult beverages) as we desired. Nominal souvenirs.
That food/souv/misc category is
really high. It sounds like you enjoyed the heck out of the trip, so it was money well spent.
I'll throw my two cents in re affordability. We used to live in Florida and Florida residents have it sooooo good. Annual passes with modest blockout dates cost something akin to a 3-4 day ticket. Sheesh. Hotel discounts abound. We had a number of weekend trips where we left for WDW at 6:00am on Saturday morning and took off for home at 9:30pm on Sunday night. The total cost was always outrageously small as we'd only pay for one discounted night in a hotel and amortize the annual pass prices over the course of five or six weekend trips, plus one longer trip during the year.
Well, now we live in Michigan and driving down for the day literally isn't an option. So we find our efficiency in a few ways:
- Transportation efficiency.
- Buy DVC resale.
- Longer trips.
- Minimizing table service meals and loading up on groceries.
None of this is particularly unique or world shattering. But the efficiency shows up in a big way.
We fly to MCO to take Magical Express. I tracked flights and booked our Southwest flights the moment they went on sale. We get rides to and from the airport at home in Grand Rapids, MI, so there's no parking to be paid. We don't rent a car.
Our next trip will be a 12-night, 13-day visit in late-March/early-April. We're staying at the Poly in a studio for the whole trip. There is implicit efficiency here: we'll take a bus to and from the AK three times on our trip, and that'll be slow, though driving is slow too. Otherwise, we'll be exclusively traveling via boat, monorail, and foot. This is (i) exponentially more fun than driving, (ii) substantially cheaper than driving, and (iii) incomparably more magical than driving like I do every day. For example, we take the EPCOT monorail when we go to DHS, walking through EPCOT and by the EPCOT resorts to get to DHS. It's one of our favorite activities and negates the need for a car.
(I've stayed a multiple values, all of the moderates, and most of the deluxes. The value of staying somewhere that provides primarily boat, monorail, and food transit is so significant I can barely stand it. It makes the trip
feel so different. I always told my wife that my favorite trips were the ones where we drove to WDW, parked the car at the hotel...and then I forgot where the car was when it was time to go because I was so fully immersed in the trip and we never drove.)
We also bought UK tickets as they provided a larger number of days (14) and include Memory Maker. I'm not willing to pay $170 for MM...but $0? Yeah, that'll work.
We rarely buy souvenirs in the parks, but I budgeted a nominal amount in case we made a splurge or two. It's unlikely, but better safe than sorry.
Finally, food. We have a few reserved meals (BOG, Tusker House, Sci-Fi), but for the most part, we eat in the room and at quick service spots. It's much more fun to play in the parks and pools than it is to spend two hours in a restaurant. As a result, we eat healthier and cheaper meals. We'll bring at least one and possibly two suitcases of groceries in addition to using Prime Now for a delivery of perishables. A few hours of planning will save many hundreds of dollars. Nevertheless, I include some wiggle room in the food budget in case a snack or 10 jumps out at us and we decide on an extra table service meal or two.
The end result:
Transportation: $1,567.84 (four round-trip tickets from Grand Rapids, MI to MCO)
Lodging: $2,619.24 (includes amortized portion of upfront purchase price and annual dues)
Tickets: $2,085.00
Memory Maker: $0
Souvenirs: $150.00
Food: $1,100.00
TOTAL: $7,522.08
Look, that's still an immense amount of money. At least I think it is. But for our 13 days - we'll get to MCO at 1:00pm on arrival day and fly out at 6:00pm on departure day - that's $578.62 per day. Divided by our four people, it's $144.66 per person per day. Sure, that's a lot more than we spend per person per day at home, but it's not astronomical for a big annual vacation, if that's a significant priority.
