soooooo...how much DOES Disney cost?

[Pamela H in Texas]

I would LIKE, if we manage not to have any more crises, to start saving up for a trip. What kind of money are we talking about?

 

I'm thinking admission, food, reasonable souvenirs, hotels, transportation....

 

and that is all on top of getting to FL somehow...

 

maybe 3 or 4 days? And we'd likely visit with family in FL 2-3 days also so I need to take that in account, but how much is the DISNEY portion going to cost?

 

Thanks for helping the clueless.

[MeanestMomInMidwest]

If I were to do it all over again, I'd pay to stay at one of the Disney hotels or resorts. Go to Disney-dot-com and you'll see that some packages are reasonable. The prices include hotel, park admission and some include some food in the park. Price varys on nights spent, number of days in the park and food options. We spent more than we should have on a non-Disney hotel, then admission and food. We did not buy any souveniers because anything sold at the park can be bought less expensive on the website. My kids were fine with this.

One parent at the fireworks had an awake, smiling kid (mine were exhausted & crabby by 8pm). I asked if the kids was a freak, and the parents said, no they were at an inside-the-park hotel so were able to go back and take a nap midday and come back to see the fireworks. When I got home and priced it out on the website, I saw that we had definately made the wrong choice. And there are lots of perks for staying at a Disney-owned hotel or resort that we coulda/woulda taken advantage of.

I know there are no prices in this long reply, but wanted to give you some food for thought.

ETA you can pack your own lunch/snacks in a backpack to save $ on food. We did this . . . and then forgot the backpack at our condo!

[Jennifer in MI]

It depends on how you want to do it. If you stay off-property and eat all your meals there or bring them to the parks yourselves, the only cost you'd really have (after transportation) is the price of the parks and hotel. There are a TON of hotels nearby and the price range is quite large. There are entire houses you can rent fairly cheap. If you choose this option, you will also have to pay for parking when you drive on property. I think it was $12/day.

 

You can stay on property at a Value resort. They start around $70/night. Then you have your tickets and food (no cooking in those rooms). The meal plan at Disney was a GREAT value for our family. It costs $37.99/adult/day and $8.99 (I think)/child/day. Disney considers you an adult at 10. The last time we went, we would've spent over $1500 on food for five days and the cost of the meal plan would've been well under that (holding a nursing baby or I'd do the math for you!). We went in Sept when they offered free dining - so it was completely free for us! Our entire trip last time was $1700 for five nights at a moderate resort (Port Orleans Riverside) for 5 of us (the baby didn't count yet).

 

A couple things we found - if you can afford it, stay for a week (or longer). It's worth it not to feel rushed. Also the cost/day decreases dramatically when you stay longer. Take a day off in the middle to relax and to non-park activities. Downtown Disney is a lot of fun!

 

Save money and get the non-park-hopper option. It's a lot cheaper and if you're careful and plan right, you won't need to go to more than one park in one day.

 

There are lots more hints, but I need to get this baby down for a nap. I just love Disney and there are SO many ways to do it on the cheap.

[Stacia]

Well, I don't even have a ballpark figure to tell you, but you may want to sign up to get the Mousesavers email newsletters. They have all sorts of deals, etc.... We've used deals they've listed, and so have many other folks I know -- so they're on the up & up.

 

Poking around on their site would probably give you a feel for ticket packages you can get, hotels, etc....

 

When we went to Disney, we ordered our tickets through Undercover Tourist (plus tickets for a few other things in Orlando too). Going through the Mousesavers site gave us an even lower rate than the one on Undercover Tourist's website.

 

I also saw it mentioned somewhere that you can now get into Disney for free on your birthday. So, if you could coordinate your trip like that, it might save you a little.

[ma23peas]

There are special rate codes available that will make a trip to Disney more affordable...I have taken advantage of these deals and saved $2500 on single trips...so please check out the codes section at http://www.disboards.com

 

If you have a family of four and stay at the value resorts...you can stay for 4 days (I would recommend 4 days for sure) for around $2000 for food/tickets/and gas...if you're flying down figure out those costs...If you take a camper down there and stay at the Fort Wilderness Lodge you can cut some of that out..but we really enjoy staying in the on site resorts, transportation is all taken care of you won't need your car for days and if we go to Disney and fly we never rent a car...they transport you for free to and from the resorts.

 

Tara

[kokotg]

Depends on how you do it. The cheapest on property hotels are around $80/night + taxes in the off season, more during busy times of year. Off property you can spend as much or as little as you want, pretty much. We rented a townhouse this past trip, 3 bedrooms, 5 minutes to the parks, a bit over $800 for the week. I like staying on property and will probably go back to that next time, but staying off property is definitely a way to save money.

 

Tickets are expensive, and the only area where you likely can't save much money. The longer you stay, the cheaper the per day price is. You can look up exact prices online, but we pay something like $8-900 for week long tickets for the 4 of us who need them. Although this past time we went during "homeschooling days" and got a great deal on tickets that way. If you have flexibility with your dates, you might want to look into that.

 

Food, again, you can spend as much as you want. If you're staying somewhere with a kitchen, you can eat breakfast at the place, pack lunches, and then cook dinner. If you want to eat on property and in the parks, food adds up fast. The meal plan gives you 2 meals a day plus a snack and runs somewhere around $40/day for adults. The past several Septembers they've offered free dining as a promotion, and that's a great deal if you can get it.

 

Disney has a calculator on their site where you can put in your dates and play around with package prices. Mousesavers.com is a good place to find out about discounts. It's all ridiculously complicated, really!

[Jennifer in MI]

Okay - I just priced out a vacation for you. January 6 - 13. Dining plan. All-Star Music. 7 day passes (non-park hopper (saved you over $400!)). It cost $2744. Not bad! That's without any of the codes or anything. And, of course, you don't have to stay that long.

 

The 7 day passes alone are $912!!! (Go up to an 8 day and it's only $12 more for your entire family! A 10 day pass is only $948 for all of you. This was why we chose to stay for a long time when we went the first time.)

 

We drive from MI to save money. For the six of us to fly it's just WAY too expensive.

 

Have fun planning!

[st_claire]

When we go, we stay off-site. We have friends with a time-share, and they can book extra getaways for really cheap prices. It's about $400 for the week I think. It's a 2 bedroom, sleeps 8 (2 on a pull-out, 2 double beds in 1 room, 1 master bed in the other). Also has a dining room, kitchen, laundry. Very nice. You will want to either drive down or if you are flying then rent a car. I know people who split the cost of the condo and car rental with another family to save on costs also.

 

With the kitchen, you can make you own breakfast, pack lunches, and eat dinner out. This lets you save quite a bit of money, but still have a nice meal out every day. You will also want to take a day off every 3 days or so as you will be tired, so don't plan for parks every day.

 

Give your kids a souvenir budget ahead of time (say $30 each or so) so they don't ask for everything there.

[swellmomma]

When my brother and his gf took my 2 oldest kids this summer to DisneyLand it was between $6000 and $7000, they never told me an actual figure, this included airfare from Canada, their hotel which was right across the street from the main entrance, all their food (sometimes off park, sometimes in park like the rainforest place), a 4 day pass, a character breakfast, and a gazillion photos taken by park staff, souveniers etc. Now because this was likely going to be a once in a childhood trip for my kids, and my son spent his 10th b-day in the park, my brother and his gf went all out without worrying about cost, and spent alot more than I ever would, but it was one heck of a trip (my kids even got selected to do jedi training and become padawan's) and they still talk about it none stop even in their sleep. I know if I ever have enough to take all the kids I will not be buying all the extras they did.

[Danestress]

Stay as long as you can because the price for extra days is relatively small. Use the dining plan if you can (we didn't, because my children who would eat of the children's menu on the plan are decidely opposed to "kids food" and want bigger, more adult meal).

 

If I were you, I would stay at one of the discounted properties in the park. We were able to stay at the military hotel (Shades of Green) which was convenient and very nice to stay at.

 

Really, I wonder if Disney is worth the cost. We had a great vacaton there and really enjoyed it, and I am glad we did. But it is expensive and you need to prepare your children. They need to understand that Disney's goal is to get them to spend MORE money on "stuff." the "stuff" is everywhere. My boys were not at an age where all that stuff was as attractive as it might have been to, say, a six year old girl. Also, there are billboards everywhere around Disney trying to lure you into other venues. So a good talk with your children BEFORE you to about gratitude for what you have, consumerism, and contentedness is a good idea.

[skissugar]

Well my advice.. go in the off season! check mousesavers.com and allears.net for special codes to help save.

 

We spend 100.00 a day on food. If we typically eat more cheaply on even days so we can do character meals on odd days. (we carry over the money each day not used).

 

Stay in a value resort on disney property. If you are going during off season you can typically get these rooms fairly cheap. They are small but really all you will be doing is sleeping there. This also allows you to use disney transportation.. and not pay parking fees every day like you would staying off property.

 

Park Hoppers are the better deal.. they cost a bit more But you can move from park to park at any given time in the day.

 

Check the above websites out they can help you get good rates on tickets, rooms, and food. :)

Christina

[asta]

I would live at WDW if I could.

 

Before we went last time, I bought t-shirts from the Disney Ink Shop (the only place to get customized stuff, BTW).

 

I had no cause to do so (DS is too old), but other moms on the Mousesavers board recommend buying trinkets and souvenirs from the Disney Store Outlet. The moms would buy stuff over a period of a few months, ferret it away, and then have a little something waiting on their kid's pillow every day when they were at the park.

 

In the long run, staying "off property" is no money saver (IMO). Parking is a nightmare at WDW, and is pricey (no in/out privileges). If you stay on property, you never have to use your car; you use Disney transport for everything. And, as mentioned above, when you get tired/hungry/sore feet/bad attitude, you simply go back to your room and eat/nap. If you fly into Orlando, and have used Disney's travel agency, they will even take you to and from the airport.

 

As a side note, Disney's travel agency isn't necessarily the most expensive option. I have had the option of using them, AAA, and a couple of other "member's only" travel agencies and have consistently gotten the best deal (eg: amount of goodies for the price) direct from Disney. Since I'm now in their database, I now get their advance marketing stuff - you know, those "codes" that get you the free stuff.

 

Call me a WDW fan.

 

 

asta

[joannqn]

I don't have any info on costs but I definitely recommend getting The Unofficial Guide to Disneyworld. I lived in Anaheim growing up so I know all about waiting in lines at Disneyland. My husband's previous employers took their employees and families to Disneyland for a company trip. We only had 2 days to stay but our trip was so much better than it would have been without the book.

 

The book includes so much great information. It provide hotel information. It provides summaries of each ride, including the scare factor for kids. It tells the best places to get food in the park. It tells you the basic menu, price range, shows, and best time to avoid the crowds for each restaurant. The book tells about the shows and parades and the best times and places to watch the shows from. It explains when and where to find the characters. It explains which rides have long rides at which times of the day. Included in the book are itinerary for those with kids, without kids, big rides included, scary rides excluded. The itinerary tell you go to this ride, get off, turn right, grab the express pass for that ride, head to this other ride, ride it, turn left, ride that ride, head back over to the express pass ride, etc. When we followed their itinerary, we had virtually no wait at all. The second day my husband wanted to wing it and we spent so much time in lines it was depressing. I'll never go to Disney again without the most current book in hand. The day we used it was the best Disney visit I've ever had and growing up there, I've been there many, many times.

[Ferdie]

It is expensive. We went in May as cheap as possible and still spent around $3,500 for a family of 5 for 7 days. That included free housing since a friend let us use her timeshare. Here is how it broke down:

 

Gas (TX to FL) $450

Hotel (1 night in AL) 120

Timeshare xfr fee + thank you gift 350

Disney tickets - 7 days 1, 200

Disney parking 100

Food (9 days @ $100/day) 1,000

Treats 250

 

We ate our breakfast and lunch in the timeshare and brought our snacks and water in a backpack. We ate dinner in the parks. My kids brought their own money for souveniers, (allowance and Disney Dollars from relatives for Christmas).

 

Staying off site worked great for us since our timeshare unit was spacious. It was worth driving back and forth to Disney each day to be able to come back to a 3 bedroom condo unit.

 

HTH

[TN Mama]

I am certainly no expert - we just returned from our first family trip a week ago today! I got lots of information from www.disboards.com and also from the Unofficial Guide to Disney World. We weren't planning on going when we did but came across a special we couldn't pass up and so we booked our trip just one week out! (That was quite hard for me as a planner, but it turned out better than I could have imagined!)

 

We stayed on property at Shades of Green, which is for military (active, retired, reservists) and I can't tell you what a benefit it is to stay on property! We got park hopper passes and would go to the parks early and stay several hours, coming back to the room in the afternoons to rest and then head back out for more fun in the evening. I loved the benefit of the Extra Magic Hours and I think we got in more rides that evening than any other time. My friend was there at the same time, but was staying off property and was having a hard time with exhausted kids.

 

Our breakfast and supper meals were included in our package at the hotel and honestly we only ate a real lunch one day. I was completely unimpressed by the counter meal in the park. Since we drove to FL, we were able to bring plenty of snacks with us. Each day we packed water, nuts, fruit, etc.

 

I also pre-purchased shirts, etc. for my daughters from The Disney Store and the Princesses came to visit the room each night when the girls were sleeping. We did give each girl some Disney Dollars to spend on our last day there also.

 

The trip for the 4 of us for 6 nights was right around $2000. I'm still on my Disney "high". It was just so fun!

[Pamela H in Texas]

thanks for the information....I'm hoping we can find some great deal. It'd have to be after January (vacation time for hubby). Past that, we're pretty open though it'd be easier if dd didn't have to take off time from college courses (mine are self-pace so I have freedom).

 

Hubby hasn't ever been to Disney. I took the kids in Jan 2001 so they really don't remember much. It'd be so nice to go together. I've also so badly wanted to go see family, esp since my grandfather was hospitalized a couple months ago.

[HFClassicalAcademy]

Loved it!! Depends on how you do it. We are a family of 6 and we went with some friends (family of 4 at the time). We decided to stay outside of Disney because with little ones, we needed a kitchen, various bedrooms, etc.

 

We ended up spending around $2500-$3000. Not bad at all! We drove down and split the cost of a large villa located outside of Disney. We ate breakfast and lunch at Disney and dinner back at the condo (our kids needed to be in bed at a decent hour!). We were there for a week, btw.

 

We are planning to go again and I don't know if we'll go for a villa on Disney or not. But it's so much easier to be on Disney than not!!!

 

HTH,

Liz in NC

[annabanana1992]

Our stats:

 

Family of 5 - 7 nights/8Days

Beach Club Hotel, Dining Plan

Airfare

Park Hopper tickets

A few extras - Princess Tea at Grand Floridian, Pirate Cruise, Cirque du Soleil

 

total cost $5,000

[Guest Mrsjwvsr]

Hi!

I just happen to be a stay at home, homeschool mom of four who sells Disney as an Official Disney Travel agent from home! On average, a family of four will pay around $1600 during Value Season for a value resort for six nights with 7 day Magic Your Way Base Tickets. Disney runs promotions ALL the time! The best way to find out about them is to get hooked up with an agent. You will pay the same price as you would if you called Disney directly or went to their website and booked it yourself, but you will also get helpful tips and tricks, updates on promotions if a better deal is offered after you book, and lots of other bonuses for no extra money!

I hope you and your husband are able to make it to Disney! It's awesome!

Free dining is usually offered, for the last four years anyway, around August-Sept. This has traditionally been announced in early April. Right now they are offering "Buy 4 nights get 3 Free" which is a great deal if you stay at a more expensive resort. If you stay at the Value level the free dining is a better deal.

Be Safe!

Chrissy

www.vwetravel.com

[Melinda in VT]

In the long run, staying "off property" is no money saver (IMO). Parking is a nightmare at WDW, and is pricey (no in/out privileges).

 

We've been to Disney three times, and always stayed off-site. (We get a condo for free thanks to my ILs generosity with their timeshare points.) Our last trip was last month.

 

I just wanted to correct this info on parking. We've always found parking at Disney to be easy, both when we get their before park opening and when we come back later in the day. (We do go during slow times. This might be different when Disney is busy.) You do have to pay $12 per day, but you can go in and out as many times as you want without having to pay again.