How I Budget for a Disney World Vacation

 This post is meant to correspond with a video I made. I thought it may help to have things in a different format. 

In the Disney Facebook groups I’m a part of, people often ask how much they should save or budget for a trip to Walt Disney World. This is actually a hard question because there are many variables. I like to look at it by categories to help break things down. Full disclosure, this is definitely influenced by the Birnbaum books’ budget because I grew up with those.

Here are my categories:

Travel

Lodging (Hotels)

Tickets

Food

Other

I do further break these down which is part of customizing your budget. I’ll take you through what I mean and how I customize mine.

Travel

This is how you’ll get to Disney. I fly so I put what average airfare is for me. Or if I plan on using my Southwest points I’ll enter that. You can check rates if you don’t fly often (Google Flights is a good aggregator if you don’t have an airline preference). Since I fly Southwest I also add the Early Bird option for $25 each way. If I flew another airline I would budget for baggage fees, too. I’ll also put airport parking in this category if I’m leaving my car there.

Lodging

I always stay on Disney property which helps narrow down my options. Often I know where I plan on staying but if I don’t I’ll find a nightly estimate for the category or hotel I’ll stay at (i.e. value, moderate, etc.) To get the total I’ll multiply that by the number of nights.

I also put housekeeping tips in this category. I just do $5/day.

Tickets

For this, it’s whatever park ticket you plan on getting. Are you adding Park Hopper? Are you buying an annual pass? And of course, you would want to multiply that by the number of people in your party. I have an annual pass which I choose to budget separately instead of dividing that over each trip or adding it to the trip closest to when I renew.

I would also put Genie+/Lightning Lane (Fancy Ride™)  in this category if planning on using that. Personally, I think it’s better to plan/budget for it and not end up needing it. 

If I’m doing a tour or event like a dessert party or Christmas party I will put that in this category as well.

Food

This is a category with a lot of variables as well. I plan for $50-60/day for my trips. I’ve come to this number after years of travel to Disney World. I usually bring my own breakfast and some snacks. I’m also a pretty cheap eater: bring my own water, no appetizers or desserts. If I know we will be going to a restaurant with a fixed price like Boma, I’ll usually build that in, too.

If you’ve never been before, I recommend taking a look at menus and making a rough plan of what you want to eat. That will help you get an idea of how much to budget on average. Disney has their menus on their website, but I’ve also used All Ears and Touring Plans in the past. I would always round up the dollar amount a little because over-budgeting is better than under-budgeting in my opinion. 

I don’t drink, but I can tell you alcohol is expensive, especially in Disney World. So, if you plan on doing a monorail crawl or drink around the world, you may want to add more.

Other

Honestly, I just usually put $200-300 in here for souvenirs/incidentals. I also might put cash tips for things like bell services in here. Souvenirs are hard. If I would probably do $30 or $50/kid, but I don’t know. You know your kids better than I ever could.

So that’s how I budget each of my trips. Below is a screenshot of the Google Sheet for a hypothetical trip.

And here’s the video I did on this subject if that format is better for you:

Thanks for reading!

Holly

Trip Report: Coral Reef Dinner (Day 2, Part 4 | January 2021)

 The Living Seas was our next attraction. Then, we met up with a friend of my parents to get dinner. We had some time to kill before our reservation so we hung out in the aquarium. I tried to see the manatees, because they’re my favorite animal, but they weren’t out.

Then, it was time for dinner at the Coral Reef. I’m not a seafood eater, but this is a great ambience. I got the watermelon lemonade which is always a good drink choice. I got the vegan meal: vegetable skewers with Impossible Kefta. The rice was a little heavily seasoned for me, but generally I liked the dish and would recommend it.

The park was closed when we left so we slowly walked to the International Gateway and to the hotel.

We thought about swimming, but decided not to. Instead dad and I relaxed on the balcony for a little bit. Then, I showered and went to bed.

Today’s Highlight: So many character cavalcades!

Steps Walked: 21,145

Trip Report: Park Hop to Epcot (Day 2, Part 3 | January 2021)

 We decided to leave Magic Kingdom and park hop to Epcot so we made our way out. We stopped in the Emporium and I picked up several pairs of ears.

My parents were still shopping so I hung out at the end of Main Street. The Put Your Ears on cavalcade/parade came by. I guess I had great timing today.

The Dapper Dans were on the train station-so we started and ended our day at Magic Kingdom with them. The Hundred Acre Woods gang (Eeyore, Piglet, Rabbit) came out too.

We had to take a bus to Epcot because the monorail still wasn’t running. A bus was waiting when we walked up so our good timing continued.

First, we rode Test Track which is always fun. I really wish they would redo the queue though because it’s so boring. AM I the only one? 

We checked out some of the art kiosks since the Festival of the Arts was going on. As someone who struggles with stick figures, I’m in awe of how talented these artists are.

We stayed in Future World and went to the Imagination pavilion. I got distracted by Pooh playing in the grass with his butterfly net. He’s just too adorable. We did still get to see my favorite purple dragon-Figment. I had to take a picture of him and send it to my co-worker because she’s scared of him.

Then, we walked up the most tiring incline and went to The Land Pavilion. Of course, we did Living with the Land. It’s always fun and peaceful for me. Then, we did Soarin’. It’s beautiful, but it really scares me. I’m trying to get over these fears.

Up Next: Coral Reef Dinner

Trip Report: So Many Cavalcades (Day 2, Part 2 | January 2021)

 Next, we headed to Tomorrowland and did Space Mountain. It went down while we were in line-hopefully not a trend for the whole trip. It ended up only being about 10 minutes so not too bad. Dad and I tried to dab in our picture because we are totally hip and with the times.

The People Mover was moving, but sadly no people were allowed. Hopefully, we can enjoy it next time. 

So, we hopped on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin to defeat Zurg. I got 536K which is good, but no Galactic hero. We were traveling shortly after the Presidential Inauguration and I was obsessed with the Bernie memes so I had to try to recreate it in my picture.

We were hungry so we mobile-ordered at Peco Bill’s. We stopped in the Hub to do the order in case a cavalcade came by. The little Tinker Bell one came out so that worked out. I’m definitely a Tink fan so I was happy to see her.

On our way to lunch, we also ran into the Princess Cavalcade. I got the nachos for lunch which were good like normal.

I heard another cavalcade from the restaurant so I went outside to see it while my parents finished their lunches. I caught up to it. Then, Chip and Dale were out on the overpass thing by the Country Bear Jamboree. I saw Molly from All Ears, but was too scared to say “Hi!” because I'm a chicken.

My parents caught up to me and we went to Adventureland for Pirates of the Caribbean-another true classic.

Up Next: Park Hop to Epcot