How To Plan A Disney World Trip On A Budget
There are two kinds of people in this world. The first kind are the people that LOVE Disney everything. You know (or may be) these people. The people that plan a Disney World (or other Disney Park) trip, every year. And if they do travel internationally, it’s on a Disney Cruise. I mean, there are dedicated Disney travel agents because so many of these people exist! The second kind are the people like me, who hate taking up precious vacation time on a trip to Disney. I know what you’re thinking, “How can anyone possibly hate the most magical place on Earth?!”
I know I’m in the minority when I say that I was absolutely dreading taking my children to Disney World. My idea of a vacation does not include waiting in super-long lines for 2-minute thrills. But what’s the difference between a super popular museum like the Lourve and Disney World you say? Culture. Thought admittedly, the Mona Lisa is over-hyped. My idea of a vacation also does not include spending the same amount (or more!) per person as a week in Cuba in order to avoid some of those lines. I have a budget to consider.
For those of you out there yelling at your screens right now telling me that I have it all wrong… I feel your judgement. However, this post isn’t for you. This post is for all the parents out there who got basically bullied by their kids into planning a Disney World trip because everyone else in the class has already been at least once, most of them twice! Bourgie kids.
I only spent $2,300 taking my family to Disney World, and this is how I did it.
- Stay Off-Property
- BYOF (Bring Your Own Food)
- One Park Per Day
- Limit Splurge Purchases
Stay Off-Property
Staying on-property at Disney World can get very expensive. Further, only the most expensive rooms offering the benefit of the monorail directly into the park. The other properties give you access to the parks via a bus system, which I don’t think is much different than parking. However, there are several great off-property Airbnbs within a short driving distance from the parks. The Airbnb we rented, was $200/night for 3 bedrooms and 15 minutes driving to the parks. Parking at the parks is $20 for the day.
The one detriment in staying off-property is that you probably won’t be able to come back to take a break if you need to. Since our kids were 7 and 9 at the time, we took our breaks within the park and didn’t feel the need to go back to the Airbnb.
Bring Your Own Food
The other great thing about booking an Airbnb is, of course, the kitchen! Disney World allows you to bring a small cooler and backpacks into the parks, which can save you a ton of money on park food. We bought $130 worth of groceries, and ate most of our breakfasts at the Airbnb. Also we took plenty of sandwiches, waters, and snacks to the park. We actually managed to go the entire day at Magic Kingdom without buying a single meal! Though it was cold, so we did buy several cups of coffee to warm up.
Travel Tip: Florida weather can be unpredictable! Pack accordingly. Otherwise you end up like me, wearing the save lovely sweatshirt in every picture.
Travel Tip: Disney has recently changed its rules about what is allowed in the park. Ice in coolers are no longer allowed. Read the new rules and prepare accordingly.
Because we saved so much money, and the kids were really good about not begging for every treat that they saw, we were able to buy them each souvenir “ears.” We did end up buying lunch the next day at Animal Kingdom, and 4 pizzas from Pizzafari was $45.
Pick One Park Per Day
I did a ton of research when planning our Disney World trip (I was highly committed to not spending a dime more than necessary). And the one piece of advice I read consistently across the millions of blog posts out there, was to not bite off more than you can chew. As I love to travel slowly anyway, these seemed like good advice. Pick one park per day. Since we were going to be there 2 days, we picked Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. Our four 2-day non park-hopping tickets were $835 total, though I think prices have gone up slightly since then.
Another tip is, if you are at Disney for more than a week, build one or two full rest days in between park visits. I called our days at Disney World the “dog days of Disney.” There is a lot of walking, and a lot of standing. If you’re going for a week or more, you will need full rest days where you do nothing but enjoy the Florida sun. The other tip is to use the app!
Travel Tip: The My Disney Experience app not only tracks all your fast passes and reservations, but keeps track of the wait times at each ride or character meet and greet. It also houses all your pictures taken in the park.
Splurges That Are Actually Worth It
I know I sound “Scroogey” when it comes to visiting Disney World, but there are a few splurges that are actually worth the money.
Princess Breakfast
The first splurge is the “princess breakfast” INSIDE Cinderella’s Castle at Cinderella’s Royal Table in Magic Kingdom. The breakfast is $50 a person. What?! A $50 breakfast worth the splurge? YES. If you book 6 months (the earliest you can book) in advance you can take the very first seating at 7:55 AM. Yes you read that right, 7:55 AM. 1 hour before the park opens. So if you think to yourself, “yes, I would pay an extra $50 to get into the park an hour before the public,” then splurge on the breakfast! With an added bonus of meeting all the princesses in one swoop, and they come to you! No waiting in line (except for Cinderella).
Travel Tip: If you eat pretty quickly, you can hop in line for a ride without the line being long and without using a fast pass.
Photo Package
This brings me to my next splurge that is worth it. The photo package. The photo package costs $170 for the entire time you are visiting Disney World, you will get to download all photos taken in the park. This is including pictures from rides, character experiences, and from the photographers that are parked in prime locations around the parks. It may seem expensive, but it’s worth it. This way everyone in the group can actually be in all the photos! What’s even better, is if you know someone who already has the photo package, you can share it! All you have to do is link through the My Disney Experience app, and the friend has to be nice enough to download all your photos and send them to you. For large groups this splurge is really a steal.
It’s not all bad
So I realized after planning my Disney World trip, that it’s not all bad. I’m not all ba-humbug okay! The staff at Disney World are the best bar-none. When we went it was my son’s 7th birthday. We got him a free birthday pin at the nearest store on main street, and every single person that saw his pin wished him a happy birthday. It made him feel so very special.
Travel Tip: They also have “1st timer” pins which they also give out for free. Bring a sharpie so you can write your child’s name in the space on the pin so that all the staff will greet your child by name. Otherwise it’s $3 a pin to get the name written.
*I have received comments that the name writing on the pin service is free. Though someone did try to charge me $3, it may have been that I was not asking for the correct service*
Also, we messed up with the princess breakfast. *face palm* We ended up being more than an hour late for our reservation (way to eff up people free pics), but the Magic Kingdom staff were on top of it. They called up at the Royal Table and by the time we actually got to the castle, they had a table ready for us.
And last but not least, I actually lost my kid! It was the scariest worst 5 minutes of my life when I couldn’t find my son in the waiting area of the Dumbo ride. I was screaming and frantic. The staff was calm, they walkie-talkied each other and found my son, who had actually left the ride. He found a footman (because footman are there to be helpful) and calmly told them that he couldn’t find me either. When we were reunited, I just collapsed on the floor hugging him and the staff let us cut the Dumbo line, and ride the ride.
So all in all, my kids had a wonderful time, and hopefully got it out of their system ;). If any parents out there are dreading a Disney World trip, no need to fear anymore. Just go on the cheap, oh and don’t lose your kid.
Have you ever been to Disney World? If so, how were you able to save money without taking away from the experience? Let me know in the comments!
There are no trains from the most expensive hotels on property. It is a monorail. There are free buses from the other on property resorts – you can actually stay at a value resort for less than $100 per night in the right season. The pins are always free as is getting your name (or anything else) written on it. If you use MDE and FPs correctly, you will rarely wait in a super long line for a two minute thrill. Also, one and two day park tickets are extremely expensive – the more days you go it gets very inexpensive for each additional day. It can actually be more economical to spend more days in the parks and then you also get to experience all 4.
Hello Jen. Thank you for reading through and commenting. Are you comfortable sharing how much you have spent for 4 days at Disney World? My thoughts are that even though it does get more economical per day the longer you go, in total you are still paying more. So though the tickets are go down to $90 a day (or whatever they go down to for 4 days) you are still spending over $360 a person as opposed to my $200 a person for 2 days. Unless you were already planning to go for 4 days, it’s not necessarily more economical overall. I have made the correction to replace the language of “train” to “monorail” thank you. I have gotten the comment on the writing on the pins and made a correction in the article. Though I still stand by that someone asked me to pay $3, not sure why, or if I was asking for the right thing.
Love this!
Thank you Trish!
Just an FYI, Disney doesn’t charge $3 to put names on pins in sharpie.
Thank you for the read and the comment. Not sure if it was because I got the pins from one of the shops on Main Street or not, but that person definitely told me it would be $3. I would have gotten my son’s name had it been free. If I ever have to go back someday I will try again!
Great article! But, Disney does not charge $3 to write names on pins. That service is free.
Thank you for the read and the comment! I’m not sure why the person told me it would be $3? Perhaps it was the location I got the pin from. I definitely would have gotten my son’s name on it if it was free.