What is your OOP limit for a Disney Vacation?

[Marionnette]

We all have our ways to save and our preferences for where to stay, but we all have one thing in common - we all have finite budgets and we set limits on what we are willing to spend on a vacation.

So, without getting into the # of days, ages of the travelers, method of getting there or how you eat once you're there:

What's your per person OOP limit for a Disney vacation?

For me, that limit is around $1200 per person and that includes everything from airfare, resort, tickets, food and souvenirs. If the cost looked like it would exceed that threshold, I would be re-evaluating the trip. I figure that I can take a nice cruise for nearly the same cost and Disney is not the only way to vacation.

 

[pjlla]

My "pull the trigger" number is pretty close to yours. Many years ago when my kiddos were younger I was able to do about $1,000/per person for a 6-7 day trip during slow season (January), with 5 or 6 day Park Hoppers and an off-site 1 bedroom suite. That usually included one character meal, some eating at the resort (free breakfast or sandwiches in room).

Booked/booking a trip for DD and myself this fall to Disneyland.... heading to California for a conference, so I'm not figuring the airfare into it, because we would be buying that anyhow, but it is stunning to me how much I am paying just for 3 day Park Hoppers! I think my mental budget limit is going to have to increase in the future!....................P

 

[TwoMisfits]

My limit for all my vacations is about $1K/person (if we were only a 2 person family, I might increase to $1200/person, but since we're not and we can spread hotels/rentals over multiple people, I stick with my number). In fact, I try to split that number over 2 7 day+ trips/year.

Although I only count my timeshare maintenance costs in my hotel "cost" when I use it for a vacation (since it's been paid off for a LONG time...but my other trip, I do usually have full hotel costs...

Note, one vacation is ALWAYS non-Florida AND driveable in my numbers (but uses hotels)...the 2nd vacation may be Florida, may involve driving or flying, and is usually the one I use the timeshare...

For this year's Florida vacation, we are driving down with a 2 day vacation add on in Charleston, SC and auto-training back. Our current per/person costs...

Orlando 9 days timeshare - $110/person
Charleston hotel - $55/person
Auto Train - $75/person
Gas/wear tear car - $50/person (most will be drive down)
Universal Annual and Power Pass cost share (bought last year and used, so splitting cost over 2 years) - $125/person
Parking - $0 (Annual Pass)
Merlin 3 pack attraction tickets - $20/person
11 days of eating (1 usually CS or offsite meal out, 2 grocery meals and alcohol in) - $20 (kid)-$40 (adult)/person for $30/person = $330/person - this is REALLY high for us but I'm putting the huge number in as buffer...
Souvenirs/Pics - $0 (I just use my camera and get any freebs from my annual pass...

Total per person cost is $765/person (may buy a ticket to Legoland or Aquatica or a Groupon for a cool tour of Charleston to bring us up to about $800-$850/person)...

Our 2nd trip of the year will be Pittsburgh/Columbus
Gas/wear tear of car $50/person
Hotel Pittsburgh - 3 nights free (expiring hotel points) - with free breakfast
Carnegie Museums - free (we have a family science museum pass we already use monthly)
Pittsburgh meals - free (visiting family for any not included)
Columbus Hotel 5 nights with parking - $150/person - includes breakfast, snacks, dinner and alcohol/beverages
Convention Passes and tickets - $25/person
COSI - Free (museum pass)
Chocolate Factory - $2/person (usable on the chocolate)
Groceries (for lunch) - $20/person
One meal at BD's (family favorite) - $15/person
North Market Ice Cream/treats - $10/person
Bicentennial Park and/or Columbus Commons - $0/person
Souvenirs/Pics - $0/person (again, my trusty camera, although I may buy birthday or Christmas gifts for my family which would come out of that budget if we see something amazing)

Total $272/person

So, both trips are about $1035/person right now but my Florida food costs are purposely way over budgeted, so we're really at my $1K real number or less...but I want to make sure I have the money to add on something if I want...

I also have $400+ Disney Dollars to use up on my now no longer used Disney Visa that we may use to splurge on a Disney Springs Activity or Meal, which would have $0/cost to me. Sometimes I also grab a MyPoints giftcard to Landry's to do the same splurge at T-Rex, Bubba Gumps, or Rainforest Cafe for $0/cost to me. This would also greatly lower our Florida OOP food costs.

 

[disfanforlife]

Mine is $1,000 per person. But I am not including resort in that - if I did I think it would be about the same as yours since we are DVC. Some trips end up being less and some more depending on where we eat and how many souvenirs we buy. Having AP's and discounts certainly makes that number higher or lower depending which trip we buy our AP's for too.

 

[dashofsunshine]

We usually keep it around $800 per person for Disney. Maybe a tiny bit more if we want to splurge

Edit: there's two of us. I just took our usual trip total and divided it in two, lol.

 

[cmarsh31]

OOP, under $1000 - but that doesn't take into account gift cards, Disney Visa rewards, or airline miles (hopefully enough for 2-3 out of our 4 tickets this year). My goal is around $3500 for the 4 of us.

 

[Vernie822]

Without getting in to length of stay, etc like you said.. I would say $3000 total/$1500 per person for a longer trip.

 

[eeyoresmom]

We own dvc but factoring in the cost of dues to cover that vacation we come in around $850 pp. DVC and spreading out an AP to cover multiple trips helps keep the cost down. Now, when you're bringing 6-8 people $850 pp doesn't seem cheap.

 

[5kidsmommy]

We stay for a week. Our limit is about $800-$900 but we are a larger family and honestly we usually spend less than that. Our next trip will be a week long and for everything including gas down and two extra nights of lodging plus food we will at about $6000 for a week at WDW and 3-4 travel days. This trip will only be 5 of us going and our costs aren't going down that much as our kids leave home. I will be able to save about $1000 between swag bucks and discounts on gift cards since our trip is a year out, so out of pocket the trip should only be about $5000.

 

[tvguy]

I guess it just depends on how badly you want to go. Our last trip to DL was the first week of December 2014 and it ran about $1,400 a person for 3 nights. Just depends where my budget is. We went from a family that in the 1980's went once a year, to a family that goes maybe once every 5 years because of the cost now.
We used to be Magic Kingdom Club members, and got nice discounts, but they did away with that. Then when we became stockholders and got discounts but they have done away with that too. I did get $360 in stock dividends, so if I just save that up for about 10 years we can go again!

 

[dizzyinwdw]

$3k family of 4

 

[verleniahall]

Wow - ours is $3,000 per person, but we stay moderate and have the deluxe dining plan and we are there for over a week

 

[parith1114]

For our upcoming trip we are at $750. We've done more and we've done less, but on average I would say $1000-$1100 per family member.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

The most I've ever spent on a Disney vacation was $3400 for 4 Disney adults ($850 per person) - 7 nights, off site timeshare, 5 day water park fun & more tickets (no hoppers) from UT, a mix of CS, TS, off site and in condo dining, drove down and back from Virginia.

This was our most expensive trip. After that, trips got cheaper because we bought 10 day no expire hoppers with WPF&M to use over several trips and started stockpiling Disney gift cards purchased during 4x fuel points promos for food. It has kind of become a game for me to see how low I can get a trip to cost.

Our last trip was $1200 total for 2 Disney adults ($600 per person) - 4 nights/5 days All Star Sports, team bus down and back from Virginia, 3 day hoppers, QS dining plan. Some of DD's trip was covered by team fundraising, and we got team discount rates for the whole package from Disney.

Here is the breakdown from the $3400 July 2010 trip.
Family of 4: Me, DH, DS (13), DD (11), Friday to Friday stay.

Condo: $554 (half maintenance fee $375 + $179 RCI exchange fee)
Vacation Village at Parkway (1000 sq ft 1 bedroom, 5 min from WDW gates)

WDW Tickets: $1119.80
Undercover Tourist 5 day plus Water Parks option, no hoppers (3, 4, 5 day tickets all cost the same)

Sea World 1 Day Pass: $0 (free - Dad on the DD's softball team works for Safeway. His suppliers also supply for SW so he gets great perks!)

Parking: $56

Photopass CD: $99.95 (prepaid discount)

Travel Cost: $450 (2 nights hotel w/ breakfast included $162.29 + gas/food for Virginia to Florida & back. We had to drive due to my DD's Southeast Regional Softball tournament in Altamonte Springs the week before the WDW trip. We would have spent the travel money even if we had not added on Disney)

Souveniers: $81.66

Food:
Groceries: $92.50
Friday: Included in travel costs
Saturday: Breakfast & late Lunch in condo, Sea World (free passes), husband threw away these receipts. We were only there for a few hours after DD's last softball game - had popcorn, 2 sodas, 4 ice cream bars and 4 beers.
Sunday: Breakfast in condo, Blizzard Beach lunch & dessert - $38.82, beer, $46, Dinner @ KFC - $27.60
Monday:Breakfast in condo, Epcot - Sunshine Seasons Lunch $50.57, Akershus Princess Storybook Dinner $228.41
Tuesday: AK - Chef Mickey's Breakfast $146.69, Pizzafari Lunch $42.63, snacks $13.75, Dinner in condo
Wednseday: Breakfast in condo, MK - Pecos Bill Lunch - $44.12, snacks $10, Hoop De Doo $225
Thursday: Breakfast in condo, DHS - snacked all day vs a real lunch $42, Chick-fil-a Dinner $21.16
Friday: Breakfast in condo, Typhoon Lagoon - packed lunch, huge sundae @ Happy Landings $10.50

Food Total: $1039.76

Total Trip: $3401.17

 

[TwoMisfits]

Of course, op asked about Disney and thanks to their whacked-out ticket prices/annual passes, for out of towners, it is likely very difficult to keep everything below $1K/person when just base tickets are about $375-$400/person. It's why I'll now only do Disney as a 1 day add-on for my trip (I have non-expiring 1 day tickets in reserve for when we feel like some magic)...and maybe plan 1 "blow out" trip every 5-10 years or so when everything is new (which is sad b/c I did Disney every 3 years as a child and every year from 2000-2012, save 1)...but value is value to me and value is no longer there for more than a day every few years and a big trip every 5-10 years...

 

[hsmamato2]

I would have to look at my latest numbers..... I think I am spending up to about 300.00 per person per day on last check, or maybe it was 200.00(?) I don;t know but I do know I wouldn't spend 1200 per person per day,that's not happening. Now I have to go look at my numbers lol

 

[hsmamato2]

Ok I am looking at my actual numbers.... my upcoming (short trip) has 2 scenarios,either with or without a major park day involved(mostly no major parks,just water,etc.)
Without a major park, I'm at approx. 51.00 per person,per day incl hotel and airfare,food,water park,etc.
If I add a one day ticket splurge for us, I'm at 76.00 per person,per day. So disregard my above number. I don't think we've ever gone above 200 per person per day all in.
BTW OP good way to word the question,minus the confusing details = the per person per day cost!

 

[Fabnsab]

We got back last week from our trip. We spent $2700 for 3 adults, 2 kids.

We stay at Wyndham bonnet creek, spend two days in the parks, and cook most days in the condo.

Gas from Ohio
2 nights hotel down and back
Magic kingdom day
Breakfast at BOG, dinner at peco bills
Legoland day, snacks and lunch
Movie and lunch at Disney springs
Souvenirs
Memory maker
Groceries
Parking

We enjoy pool days at the resort so that's what keeps our costs down.

 

[Hikergirl]

Around $1200 per person that includes everything and staying onsite.

 

[disneychrista]

I have never put a number on it. My upcoming Disneyland trip is about $900 for me. That number includes gas, hotel, dining, tickets and minimal souvenirs (I am not big on the souvenirs so will likely spend <$25)