• Home
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Services and Products
    • Educational Guide
    • Travel Agent

Disney in your Day

A blog all about Disney

  • Disney World planning
    • Theme parks
    • Resorts
  • Disney Subscription Boxes
  • Gift Guides
    • Disney Stocking Stuffers Guide
    • Disney Etsy Holiday Gift Guide
  • Disney at Home
    • Recipes
    • Crafts and DIY
You are here: Home / Budget / How much you actually need to save for an amazing Disney trip [free budget calculator!]

How much you actually need to save for an amazing Disney trip [free budget calculator!]

September 27, 2022 by Becky Leave a Comment

Figure out Disney World costs for your upcoming vacation using this simple budget calculator and the info in this blog post:

Disney World costs - Disney in your Day

So you’ve decided – you want to take your family to Disney World. As you start browsing websites, saving articles on Pinterest, and talking to your friends, your excitement grows… but then some fear starts to creep in too.

You’ve pulled up the prices for tickets and it isn’t cheap. Are you going to be able to afford this trip? How much do you need to save to have a magical Disney vacation? How can you possibly figure all of this out?

That’s where I come in.

How much Disney World costs has long been one of the top questions people ask me. There are so many factors, but I know it’s helpful to have at least some ballpark numbers too – instead of just vague terms like “expensive”.

So I’ve created this Disney World budget calculator to help you get the ball rolling. Remember that this tool is just an estimate – it’s not meant to give you the exact price of your trip, but rather a general range of what you might expect to pay given your circumstances. It’s a starting point so you can play around with the details of your vacation and have realistic expectations about how much it will probably cost you.

3 easy steps to get an approximate cost of your Disney vacation:

  1. Put your info into the calculator
  2. Take that number and add in approximate costs of other items (like transportation, food and souvenirs – if you’re not sure, you can use some of my suggested price ranges below)
  3. Adjust aspects of your trip to get a reasonable cost for you
Disney World costs - Disney in your Day

For a better understanding of each category and Disney World costs, keep reading. If you already have a good idea of resort type, ticket days, etc., feel free to jump down to the calculator below!

Jump to the budget calculator
Contents hide
1 What are the factors I need to consider?
2 Items included in the calculator
3 What to add after you get your estimate from the calculator
4 The Disney World Budget Calculator
5 My number is too high! What can I change about my trip to bring down these Disney World costs?
6 FAQs about the Disney World budget calculator

What are the factors I need to consider?

Disney can seem more complicated than a “regular” vacation, but don’t feel overwhelmed. Like any trip where you’d have to figure out hotel stay, transportation, dining, what you’re going to see and do, etc., Disney has a similar approach. 

In this calculator I’ve included the major factors when it comes to budget and Disney World costs, and below I’ve given some more info about each of them (as well as the other possible expenses that are not in the calculator).

Items included in the calculator

Number of People

This should be a given, but the number of people traveling will play a huge role in how much your trip costs. Each person will need park tickets. Depending on your group size, you may need more than one hotel room or some sort of suite. 

Special Note about kids: Kids under 3 are free, while those who are 3-9 pay slightly less for tickets. That being said, it’s not significantly less than the adult prices so don’t think you’ll save a ton of money if you go when your kid is 9 vs. 10 (the big exception to that in the past was with the dining plans, which cost a lot less for kids – but those are still on hiatus and we don’t have info yet on what they’ll look like when they return). 

Theme park tickets

If you’re going to Disney World, of course you’ll need park tickets. If you know for certain how many days you want to be there, I consider this the most “static” aspect of the budget. The cost for 4-day tickets will vary a little based on dates, but not as much as a hotel or a flight. So if you know you want to go for 4 days, the ticket price is a good place to start.

  • The price per day goes down the longer the ticket length. (For example, A 3-day ticket might cost $125 per day for a total cost of $375, but a 6-day ticket is only $75 per day for a total of $450.)

Tip: If you already have a least 5 ticket days and you’re thinking about adding on more, the price increase at that point is pretty minimal.

  • Park hopping is another popular option, and it’s one set price for the length of your ticket – not per day. So if it’s $85 to add on a park hopper, you’re paying an extra $85 per person (whether you have 3-day or 10-day tickets).
  • Finally, Genie+ has to be purchased through Disney’s app on the day of your trip, but if you’re planning to use it you’ll want to factor in the cost for that as well. Genie+ is $15 per person per day. You don’t have to buy it every day if you don’t want to.

Resorts

Disney offers several different resort types for different budgets. They classify these as value, moderate, and deluxe. I’ve also added a “premium deluxe” category (my own phrase) to the calculator because there can be some massive price differences between some of the deluxe resorts.

In general, the values have your basics and will be the cheapest, the moderates are a bit nicer with more amenities, and the deluxes will have the best locations, pools, rooms, etc.

Learn more about the different resorts here!

The ones I’m considering”premium deluxe” are the ones that price higher within that category. These would include your monorail resorts: Grand Floridian, the Polynesian, and the Contemporary. They pretty much always cost the most due to their location.

A note about off-property

I’ve noticed when people are looking to save money on a Disney World trip, the first place they look is off-property hotels. This isn’t always a bad thing, but it’s something you want to make sure you’ve done a lot of research into before you book. Often these off-property hotels end up being close in price to Disney’s value resorts (especially after you factor in transportation costs like parking, rental cars, or ride shares).

Read: Staying off site at Disney World: should you do it?

Room type

Some of the resorts have different room categories. You can get standard rooms, but you might have the option to choose a suite, a certain type of view, etc. 

Number of people

The number of people traveling can affect what room type you can book, so keep that in mind. Value resorts only fit 4 in their standard rooms, so if you have a family of 5 you might be better off at a moderate (where they sleep up to 6). On the other hand, if you have 6-8 people, you might save more money getting two rooms at a value rather than a suite at a deluxe resort.

Length of stay

Of course like any hotel, Disney resorts charge per night. So how long you stay will greatly affect your cost (especially if you’re staying at a more expensive deluxe resort).

Disney World costs - Disney in your Day

Dining

The last major part of a Disney World trip which will cost you some money is the food. Depending on your food preferences (and again, the number of people!) this can vary. 

In general, Disney has “quick service” food options and “table service” options. There are also plenty of snacks and drinks!

Disney dining plans have been a great way to budget for food in the past, but they are currently on hiatus. Disney tells us they will be returning though, so the calculator will be updated once we have that information!

For now, I’ve included the dining plan pricing from 2020 (assume it will be higher once it returns!). You can choose to leave this out if you don’t want to include dining in your estimate, but in case you do I would use these parameters:

If you…Then choose:
Plan to eat mostly quick meals where you order your food on the app (or at a counter) and then pick it upQuick service dining
Want to do some quick meals and some table service (sit-down) meals, like a quick lunch and a sit-down dinner each dayDining dining
Enjoy fancy dinners and plan to eat a lot of higher-end or signature restaurantsDeluxe dining

What to add after you get your estimate from the calculator

Time of year

Time of year is a massive factor when it comes to budget. Cost per night can be significantly less during the off-season than during a busy time. For example, you might be looking to pay $230 per night at a moderate in September. That same room around Christmas could be closer to $400 per night.

For this calculator I’ve put in the cost for a “mid-season” stay. If you want to play around with a more accurate estimate, consider these little tips:

  • If you’re going during January, the first half of February, May, August, or September, assume your cost estimate will be slightly lower than the calculator
  • If you’re going during ANY holiday, March/April (spring break), October, or the second half of December, assume your cost estimate will be higher than the calculator
Christmas is a magical time to visit Disney – but it can be crowded!

Transportation

Are you flying or driving? The calculator doesn’t include this since there are so many variables for each family, but you’ll want to do some research to keep this in mind as well. If you’re flying you can research flight prices from your area. If you’re driving, take into account the cost of gas as well as potential parking fees.

There may be other transportation expenses as well – a shuttle to/from the airport if you fly in, for example, or the cost of a rental car.

For myself, I usually use these estimates when planning:

  • Airfare: $300 round trip per person from Philadelphia to Orlando
  • Mears Connect shuttle: $32 per person round trip

Other Expenses

These may be more of your optional items, but other things you might want to keep in mind when you think about your budget include souvenirs, if you do any tours or “enchanting extras,” and whether or not you buy MagicBands.

Like staying organized? Consider vacation planning printables – 41 pages of trip planning, including a budget worksheet, guide to characters, trip comparison worksheet, info about the Disney Genie system, daily itineraries, packing checklist, and much more.

Get your printables here

The Disney World Budget Calculator

My number is too high! What can I change about my trip to bring down these Disney World costs?

For this, you’ll want to have some flexibility when it comes to your trip and take a look at the things that are the biggest variables – i.e., the things that will affect cost the most. The top things to play around with:

  • Time of year
  • Length of stay
  • Resort type

The “max budget” trick

The way that I’ve found most successful in planning a Disney World trip with a budget is to determine what your “maximum budget is.” Of course, you’ll want to try and get it less than that, but it’s a really good starting point when you don’t know where to start.

For example, let’s say your max budget is $5,000. You have no idea how much resorts cost, but you’ve heard great things about the Beach Club and you want to go during your kids’ spring break so you put those details into the calculator… and get back a cost of $10,000.

Yikes! Is a Disney trip impossible?

No, but you’ll want to play around with the calculator to see how you can bring that budget down. If you’re absolutely set on going during spring break, then play around with trip length and resort type. 

Then you can see how much something may affect your overall cost. Perhaps a 4-night stay with 4-day tickets at a moderate resort is $5,000. You want to see if it will cost less to do only 3 nights with 3 park days, and that brings the price down to $4300. That’s less, but the more you think about it, you don’t want your trip to feel rushed and you want to visit all 4 parks. So, you may determine paying $700 more for that is worth it.

Find more ways to save money here

FAQs about the Disney World budget calculator

Disney World costs and budget calculator FAQs

Why aren’t flights or transportation included in the calculator?

These things just vary too much from person to person to give even an accurate approximation. It depends on if you’re flying, driving, how many people, if you have a certain airline, want to leave at a certain time of day, etc. The calculator is intended to be a tool to just determine all of the “Disney stuff” of your vacation. You’ll want to add in the flights/transportation after that.

Why isn't (fill in the blank) included on this calculator?

The calculator is intended to be a tool to just determine all of the “Disney stuff” of your vacation - basically, what the cost of your Disney vacation package (booked through Disney) will be. Beyond that, things can vary a lot and adding those elements in would make the calculator much more complicated. To keep it a simple tool, we started here for now with the hope to add more to it later.

Will the calculator be updated?

Yes, the numbers the costs on the calculator will be updated yearly as new pricing is released. If anything changes (like dining plans returning), information will be updated at that time. Beyond that we hope to add more features and options to it in the future.

What will be added to the calculator in the future?

As of right now, our top goal is to add a way to factor in time of year. We'll also be looking at categories where we can get more specific, or a way to have a calculator display an estimated range of your cost rather than one number.

You said time of year makes a big difference in cost. Why isn't that a question on the calculator?

The simple answer is because it's a much more complicated thing to do! It's on the to-do list, but we wanted to get this calculator out to you sooner, rather than waiting.

This number isn't the same as what my Disney trip actually cost. Why?

This is intended to be an estimate or approximation of your trip cost. Most likely the factor affecting your cost is time of year.

For this calculator I've put in the cost for a "mid-season" stay. If you want to play around with a more accurate estimate, consider these little tips:

  • If you're going during January, the first half of February, May, August, or September, assume your cost estimate will be slightly lower than the calculator
  • If you're going during ANY holiday, March/April (spring break), October, or the second half of December, assume your cost estimate will be higher than the calculator
If you've done that, give or take $1,000. It's still just an estimate, but it's intended to give you at least a general idea!

Just like many areas of my life, my motto here with Disney World costs is: one step at a time. Hopefully this breaks down the budget a bit better for you so you can compare the different aspects of planning.

So hop back on Pinterest, browse the blog, and talk to your friends – it’s time to get excited about your Disney World vacation!

Related Posts

  • All about Disney World 2023 packages and vacation planning
  • Disney World planning
  • How to choose where to stay at Disney World: 10 important tips
  • The guide to saving money for your next Disney trip
  • Why you shouldn’t wait for a discount on a Disney trip
Disney World costs - Disney in your Day

How do you determine your Disney World costs? Which factors are most important to you?

Filed Under: Budget, Disney World, Trip Planning Tagged With: budget, calculator, Disney World, saving money, trip planning

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About Me

Hi, I'm Becky!

I'm a huge Disney fan in my early 30's and always trying to find a way to put a little bit of Disney into everyday life. I live in Pennsylvania but travel to the theme parks several times a year - I'm an annual passholder at Disney World! In addition to Disney I love traveling, running, and theater.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
[popup_manager id="51"]

Archives

© 2023 · Disney In Your Day · Theme Design by Rakshi Creations