Saving money on any vacation is a tough thing to do, but it’s certainly not impossible. When traveling to Walt Disney World with a family it can get quite expensive when you have to pay for a hotel, tickets to the parks, food for when you’re in the park and outside the park, transportation, and flights. By the end of your vacation planning, you start to question whether you can actually afford to go. I’m going to show some tips and tricks on how to get everything and a two bedroom condo that sleeps up to 8 people for for less than $2,000 dollars. But Jorge, that is impossible! How do you do it?
In 2006 I was part of the Disney College Program, which was a life changing experience. I was assigned to work at the Magic Kingdom. During the program I made incredible friends and I also learned many tips/tricks. Since then, I have been going back often (if you’re a college student and wish to learn more about it Click Here).
BEFORE WE BEGIN: Make sure to get the Disney Rewards Visa (without annual fee) you will need it later. Use it to do all your shopping to accrue as many points as you can. You will get $1 per $100 you spend (If you would rather earn $2 points per $100 you can opt for the Premier Visa with a $49 annual fee). That earns you a lot of points by buying groceries and gas. Just make sure to pay it off right away so you don’t add any debt. We will use it for the majority of our vacation expenses to leave the cash for emergencies, but as soon as we get back home we will pay it all off from our $2,000 dollar budget.
So let’s begin! We have a budget of $2000 to spend at Walt Disney World for a family of four (4) traveling from Chicago, IL to Orlando, FL. We will do a one week stay in December of 2015 and visit two of Disney World’s theme parks. We will spend a day at the Magic Kingdom and New Year’s Eve at EPCOT (My favorite of the parks for New Year’s celebrations).
*ALL PRICES HAVE BEEN UPDATES FROM 2015 TO THE 2019/2020 SEASON PRICES PRE-COVID-19.
1. How to Get There?
The cost of getting there will depend on different factors from where you live, how you’ll get there (drive or fly), airline/baggage fees, rental car, cost of gas if driving and other costs. Now our $2,000 dollar budget is the most we will spend at Walt Disney World, but you also need to save money on getting there. If you live in the United States, Canada, or Mexico your cost of getting there will be the cheapest if you drive or fly on budget airlines. Unfortunately for those of you overseas, you will have to do your research on the best dates to save on airlines tickets and you have the added cost of a passport and United States visa.
From my experience, the cheapest way for a family of four that live in the United States from anywhere close to the Mississippi river to the east coast (Sorry west coast, but Disneyland would work better for you) is driving. I decided that driving my Nissan sentra which gives me about 30 mpg (miles per gallon) will be my most economical option. It will fit five, but there’s only four of us. There’s plenty of room in the trunk for luggage and a cooler for food/drinks.
Car Cost: ($0)
COST OF GASOLINE: At the time of travel I used an incredible app called GasBuddy to find out the average gas prices of each state (Download GasBuddy iOS | android). GasBuddy has a nifty Trip Cost Calculator where you can input your city and where you’re traveling to (in our case it’s Lake Buena Vista, FL). You input your car’s make/model/year and the calculator will tell you the best route, where to find the cheapest gas in your route and it will calculate your total cost. I ONLY use GasBuddy to find the price I will pay for gas each time I refill. Starting at Chicago, Illinois I will have to refill the tank once at each state (Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida).
FOR THE TOTAL COST OF GAS I use a favorite website of mine which is FuelEconomy.gov/trip/. This website is from the U.S. Energy Department and has the most up-to-date gas prices. Like GasBuddy, you input your car’s make/model, starting city, end city and the percentage of your driving within a city (I inputed 35% for gas refilling and travel within Orlando). It will then calculate the best route and your fuel cost one way. In my case, the website displayed a gas cost of $77.15 one way. We multiply that by 2 for our return trip and it comes to a total gas cost of $154.30. Let’s round that number up for gas fluctuations and driving in Orlando to $200.
Gas Cost: $200
So you’re spending for a family of four what it would cost you for a one person roundtrip airfare.
- TIP #1 – USE DISNEY REWARDS VISA card to earn points when paying for gas/purchases.
- TIP #2 – TRAVEL BY CAR
2. Where to Stay?
Undoubtly the most expensive part of a vacation to Disney, apart from tickets to the parks, has to be the nightly cost of staying at a hotel or resort. I remember the good old times when you could stay at a hotel for $100 a night or less and taxes were all you had to worry about paying extra for. Today we have parking per day fees, resort fees, meal plans, and surge pricing during peak dates. If you are driving, then you might not want to drive 17-20 hours without stopping to rest. You will have to add at least $200 dollars for your hotel stay on your drive there and on your drive back. If you’re flying then you can omit this./p>
2a. – Let’s find hotel on your drive there
Some years we stopped to sleep at highway “Rest Areas” with security, bathrooms, and even vending machines. The other times we stayed in a hotel in Georgia or Florida depending on the time we left Chicago.
An excellent way to get a cheap stay at a 3-5 star hotel is to use the Hotwire app (iOS | android) on your phone. They have something called “Hot Rates” that hide the hotel name to give you the best prices. They show you a map of the area with prices for each. Make sure to add the “Free parking” amenity or you’ll end up paying more.
I got all of you a special deal on Hotwire. You can save up to 60% off 4+ Star Hot Rate Hotels! Check it out!
I paid $65 for a 4-star hotel near Atlanta on my way to Orlando and $56 for a suite in Tennesee on my way back. Both hotels offered free continental breakfast. How awesome was that?
Driving Hotel Stays: $65 + $56 = $121
REMEMBER to use your Disney Rewards Visa card to earn points.
- TIP #3 – USE HOTWIRE APP FOR HOTEL STAYS IF DRIVING TO ORLANDO.
2b. – Let’s find a hotel at Walt Disney World
Resorts and Hotels
When getting to Orlando, Florida there are of course many options of where to stay. There are some close to Walt disney World and some further away, but by far the most popular are:
Average $99/night excluding taxes. — Buying with enough time ahead of your trip you can find these resorts available from about $129/night with Disney special offers. This would give a total for a one double bed room that sleeps four people for $903 for 7 nights without taxes. Now I’m trying to travel during the week after Christmas to spend New Year’s eve at EPCOT and the cheapest room available at the Art of Animation resort, which is beautiful, comes to $240/night or $1,680 for 7 nights without taxes. If you’re traveling with kids this would be an amazing Disney immersion, but not budget friendly. It’s also just a hotel room unless you pay about $358/night for a family suite. THIS A POSSIBLE OPTION (provided Disney has a special offer for those dates).
Average $184/night excluding taxes. — These are more beautiful resorts with plenty of amenities for a family with or without kids. Unfortunately if they are not already unavailable then you would be paying between $202/night excluding taxes for Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort to about $490/night excluding taxes for Disney’s Coronado Springs Resorts. NOT AN OPTION.
Average $345/night excluding taxes. — Now these resorts are incredible. They’re not only luxurious, but they provide the best quality out of Disney resort hotels. However, unless your budget is bigger than ours or you’re on a business trip, then this option will be too costly ranging on our dates from $375/night excluding taxes for Disney’s Wilderness Lodge to $690/night excluding taxes for Disney’s Contemporary Resort. NOT AN OPTION
Average $444/night excluding taxes. — Disney has truly outdone themselves with these beautiful luxurious villas with many of the ammenities from home, but with average prices for our dates ranging from $371/night excluding taxes for Disney’s Old Key West Resort to $670/night excluding taxes for Disney’s Boardwalk Villas it’s way too much for our budget. NOT AN OPTION
Average $219/night excluding taxes. Both of these hotels are incredible, but they are more geared to business travelers who are definitely not on the budget we’re in. NOT AN OPTION
You can find amazing deals for these resort hotels directly from their websites by searching on Google for “Disney Springs hotels” but if you really want a deal and you’re a year away from traveling sign up for MouseSavers.com Newsletter. They will send you special deals from area hotels to your email. Each year they also send you a link that they have only for their subscribers to get special discounts from undercovertourist.com for Disney theme park tickets. It’s a great deal! However, most of these hotels are a last resort for me as they don’t offer the kid friendly amenities or Disney magic we all like. NOT AN OPTION
Average $120/night excluding taxes. — Universal? What? I thought we were talking about Disney. Relax. Universal Orlando Resort offers great hotels at very reasonable prices. If you book in advance you can find hotel rooms for about $120/night without tax, but opening in summer of 2019 their new Universal’s Endless Summer Resort – Surfside Inn and Suites will cost you only $73/night + tax based on a 7-night stay. They also offer a shuttle to Disney parks from their hotels. During our dates, however, the only available hotels were $240/night excluding taxes. That comes to a total of $1,680 without tax. The distance between Universal and Disney it’s also not ideal nor is the amount of traffic. This is not for us, but it might work for your dates so please consider it. NOT AN OPTION
Average $99/night excluding taxes. — You get amazing prices at incredible hotels like the Hilton Inn Express which offered us a $72/night excluding taxes and the Hilton Grand Vacations at SeaWorld for $87/night excluding taxes. You can take an Uber or public transportation to and from Disney Parks or to the Disney Springs area and use Disney’s Free Transportation from there. Some hotels do offer shuttles to the parks for an extra fee. Some of these also charge a parking fee/night as well as resort fees. The transportation from SeaWorld to the parks was not the greatest and during late December the traffic in the area is insane. You’d be better off staying at the Disney Springs area. However, consider it for your budget as these are great hotels with budget friendly prices. NOT AN OPTION
Average $80/night excluding taxes. — Using our handy dandy Hotwire app ( iOS | android ), we were able to find a descent hotel for $48/night and a 4-star hotel for $94/night all excluding taxes. However there were some that offered a $29/night stay + taxes. The quality of the hotel was not great, the location was not as safe, and who knows how clean they may be, but if you’re on a tighter budget it is an option to consider, just please do your research. Like I mentioned earlier, make sure to put free parking in the amenities filter on the app. Some of the hotels even offer free continental breakfast. Florida also tends to get hot in the day and cold at night so make sure your hotel has air conditioning and heating, trust me, you will need it. The cheapest and best were in the town of Celebration in the Old Town area. It’s a great area to be in and close to Walt Disney World, but incovenient when it comes to transportation to the parks if you don’t want to drive there. Our total here for the 3.5-star hotel with taxes, fees and resort fees came to $739.74. Kississimmee is also full of hotels with great prices, but it’s also not as close to the parks as you would want. Like I mentioned before the traffic in December is insane around WDW. THESE COULD BE AN OPTION (Celebration, FL)
This is one of my favorite options because of the choice of having a full rental property for your family with all the amenities from home. I prefer to use the Airbnb app (iOS | android) instead of HomeAway or renting from Craigslist for better security and you have Airbnb protecting both you and the owners. You have to make sure you choose the entire place option on Airbnb and have free parking included in the amenities. You can find incredible prices if you’re willing to drive a little further (about 3 miles) to Kissimmee, FL, which also has amazing places to eat and things to do. We found a luxurious house in Kissimmee for $79/night which is $553 for the week plus $60 cleaning fee, $76 service fee and $44 for taxes to give us a total of $709 for the week. That’s about $100 a day for an entire house. Make sure to book this at least a few months in advance and that you read the reviews of the owners. THIS IS ALSO AN OPTION
Average cost $0-$200 – Of course this would be the best option if you have family or friends in the area. They may have the space to sleep you for free or you’d have to sleep on an inflatable mattress/couch. If you decide you’d like to help your family and friends with the added cost of having you there I suggest you at least pay them $200 for their water/electric bill. And of course help with groceries if you’ll be eating there. Unfortunately for my case this will not work. I need to guarantee my family a bed to sleep and I will feel more comfortable not being a burden to friends or family. NOT AN OPTION
Average $99/night excluding taxes. — Now this is for a deluxe 2-bedroom, 2 bath fully stocked and furnished condo onveniently located inside Disney World property just minutes the parks. So close to EPCOT you can see the fireworks from the resort. You get a bedroom with two (2) double beds and full bathroom. A master bedroom with a king bed, full bath that has a seperate shower and soaker tub. A full kitchen that comes fully stocked with pots, pans, plates, glasses, cups, silverware, dishwasher, refridgerator with freezer, range and oven. Plus there will be dish soap, coffee, and popcorn already available. There’s a full dining room and a living room with a queen sofa bed for extra guests. It also comes with a stacked clothes washer/dryer with sample detergent already in the unit. Each unit also has access to a patio on the first floor or private balcony on other floors. There’s FREE parking! What more can you ask for?
*** ATTENTION *** This is a resort for timeshare owners, but you don’t have to own it to stay there. I will show you how! You get access to all resort amenities including pools, hot tubs, lazy river, restaurants, cafes, mini golf, private lake and resort events even if you’re not a timeshare owner. My TOTAL CAME OUT TO $599. GREAT DEAL! — DEFINITELY AN OPTION
Q: What’s your choice then?
A: Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort OR Disney Value Resorts if you shop when Disney has offers
I managed to stay at Disney’s All Star Movies, which is a Value Resort, and spent $860 for a 7-night stay, but at the time they did not charge a parking per night fee. In 2019 it would cost significantly more during Christmas/New Year’s season.
My choice is the Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort and all you need is an ebay account and a Paypal account. Yes, you read that correctly, ebay, the auction site. Many don’t know that ebay has a lodging category with timeshare weeks being sold by owners and it’s completely legal and legitimate. Bonnet Creek is even aware and loves the idea. It’s a little tricky to find the right dates though. You can find better availability directly on the resort website, vrbo, or Booking.com, but it will be more expensive.
For Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort all you need is an ebay account and a Paypal account. Yes, you read that correctly, ebay, the auction site.
You can find a 5 day/4 night 2-bedroom suite that includes all I mentioned, plus one bedroom has two double beds with full bathroom and a master bedroom with a queen size bed (some have king size) and full private bathroom with shower and seperate sit-in tub for $499. Most sellers have them for about $599-$650, but there are plenty at $499. You can find a 7-night stay for between $700 to $1200 and in my case I paid only $599. Those 7-night stays are a little more difficult to find, but not impossible.
Q: How do you find this option on ebay?
A: Visit ebay’s “Travel Lodging” section and search for “Bonnet Creek” or click here. Make sure to select the “Buy It Now” option. Check the title and description of each listing for bedroom information and dates. You buy it from the owner and they input your name as a guest on the resort’s system. You get an email confimation with your name as guest. Print that and take it for your check in. You will be asked to go to an optional meeting where they will try to sell you a timeshare package, but it is completely OPTIONAL. I repeat you don’t have to go and if you do attend, they will give you a discount on park tickets, but YOU DON’T HAVE TO BUY ANYTHING!
My cost for a deluxe 2 bedroom/2 bath condo was a total of $599 and that was for 7 days.
BUDGET: $2,000 – $599 (Hotel) = $1,401
REMEMBER to use your Disney Rewards Visa card to earn points. If you buy a Disney Hotel/ticket package through DisneyParks.com with this card you will receive 0% financing for your vacation.
- TIP #4 — USE EBAY TO BOOK BONNET CREEK RESORT OR BOOK A DISNEY VALUE RESORT HOTEL
3. Where to Buy Tickets?
When it comes to tickets there are three options that Disney sells (as of 2020). Disney has now implemented Tier pricing which will vary the cost of the ticket depending on the day you visit. This was their intent to reduce congestion on popular dates and increase attendance during their other seasons. They added new ticket pricing in 2019 for a 4-day 4-park ticket as the Magic Select Tickets for $356 and the Magic Summer Tickets for $380.
UPATED: 01/28/2021 – Price Reflects COVID-19 changes. For COVID-19 Guidelines Click Here.
For all other tickets they have three tiers: value, regular, and peak which are:
One (1) Park Per Day Ticket
- Price Varies by Date
- Visit One (1) Park Only on One (1) Day FROM:
- Magic Kingdom
- EPCOT
- Hollywood Studios
- Animal Kingdom
- Typhoon Lagoon
- Blizzard Beach
Ticket With Park Hopper Option
- Price Varies by Date
- Visit One or More Parks on One (1) Day FROM:
- Magic Kingdom
- EPCOT
- Hollywood Studios
- Animal Kingdom
- Typhoon Lagoon
- Blizzard Beach
Ticket With Park Hopper Plus Option
- Price Varies by Date
- Visit One or More Parks on One (1) Day FROM:
- Magic Kingdom
- EPCOT
- Hollywood Studios
- Animal Kingdom
- Typhoon Lagoon
- Blizzard Beach
— Honestly the Park Hopper Option is not worth the extra cost. You will spend a full day at Magic Kingdom and not have time to visit other parks on the same day. If you’re a frequent Disney World goer then you can pay for one Park Hopper ticket and visit all four parks on the same day.
ATTENTION: You have many resellers of Disney tickets, but be careful because if prices are too good to be true, you’re more than likely getting fake tickets and will end up paying more.
You have 4 main options to buy your tickets and save money:
- Buy straight from DisneyParks.com
- Buy from a Disney Resort Hotel or Theme Park a day before you go.
- Sign up for MouseSavers.com Newsletter before February to get the special link to UndercoverTourist.com (genuine authorized Disney reseller) with awesome discounts.
- Buy at Wyndham Bonnet Creek if staying there, go to the meeting and take the tour (remember that you don’t have to buy a timeshare just keep saying “No, Thanks”). They will give you a voucher to buy them at a discount.
If you’re getting a multi-day ticket (minimum 3 days), you’re best option is signing up for MouseSavers.com Newsletter to get that special link sent either in February or April to buy at a great discount at UndercoverTourist.com. If you missed the deadline for the newsletter, then the best option is from DisneyParks.com, prices can range between $109/day (1-day ticket), $88 (5-day ticket), or $52/day (10-day ticket).
If you’re like me and only get a 1-day or 2-day ticket then the best option is to buy from DisneyParks.com or at a Disney Resort Hotel/Theme Park. The price will depend on the dates you choose.
My Cost: Since I only need a 2-day ticket I paid for the tickets on DisneyParks.com on one visit and my second time I bought the tickets at the EPCOT ticketing center a day before I went to the parks once I was already in Florida. I bought eight(8) -1-park/day Tickets ( 4 tickets to Magic Kingdom and 4 tickets for EPCOT) at $101 for a total with tax of $883.80
BUDGET: $1,401 – $883.80 = $517.20
REMEMBER to use your Disney Rewards Visa card to earn points or use your earned reward dollars to pay for the tickets through DisneyParks.com or at Disney Resort. We used the points for food at the parks.
- TIP #5 – SIGN UP FOR MOUSESAVERS.COM NEWSLETTER OR BUY MULTI-DAY TICKET.
- TIP #6 – CHECK UNDERCOVERTOURIST.COM FOR DISCOUNTS ON MULTI-DAY TICKETS.
4. Where/What to eat? (At parks & at your home away from home)
For your meals on your roadtrip I found that taking snacks/drinks from home is the best option. I packed two coolers: one in the trunk with ice for cold drinks/food. And a small one with sandwiches and other cold snacks in between the two kids or adults on the back seat.
For your meals at the hotel I found that traveling to the local Walmart and getting groceries as well as the cheapest cleaning supplies or anything you forgot from home is the best. Going really early in the morning is better or you’ll find empty shelves. TRUST ME! I spent $86 for food and other things. This was enough food for breakfast at the hotel and late-night snacks for the week. Don’t spend more on brand name stuff you’re only there for a week.
BUDGET: $517.20 – $86 (Hotel food) = $ 431.20
For your meals at the park, that’s where all the points you accumulated throughout the year come into play. Before our roadtrip we called Disney Rewards Visa and asked to cash in our points. We received a rewards card to be used for shopping at the parks with a total $189 worth of points. I used the Visa card to pay for everything and just paid the bill in full each month. We also added everything we bought for the vacation on the same card to earn more rewards we could use there.
NEW BUDGET: $431.20 CASH | $189 Disney Reward Dollars which are worth $1 dollar each
SO WHAT FOOD TO BUY AT THE PARKS?
The best thing you can do is not to buy regular meals. We found that the kid portion of meals were plenty. Most portions are bigger than normal restaurants. We also bought snacks from stands or quick service counter locations. You can get anything from hot dogs, fries, chicken fingers, chili, sandwiches, salds, and desserts for $14.99 and under OR you can buy a full meal at a casual dining location and share it between two people for a cost from $15-$35.
WHAT WE DID AT MAGIC KINGDOM: We bought four quick service meals ranging between $7-$15 each for a total of $48 plus drinks = $58. We paid using our reward dollars, our cost $0. And for dinner we had casual dining meals at Columbia Harbour House or Peco’s Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe for a total of $64 paid with rewards, our cost $0. Later that night we had some snacks churros/ice cream for a cost of $23 paid with rewards, our cost $0.
BUDGET:
- $431.20 CASH
- $189 Rewards – $58 (lunch) – $64 (dinner) – $23 (snacks) = $44 Rewards.
WHAT WE DID AT EPCOT: We bought four quick service meals at La Cantina de San Angel at the Mexico pavilion ranging between $8-$15 each plus drinks = $56. We paid for with our budget cash. And for dinner we had casual dining meals at Coral Reef Restaurant or Chefs de France for a total of $68 paid with cash. Later that night we had some snacks ice cream/pretzels for a cost of $26 paid with rewards, our cost $0.
BUDGET:
- $431.20 CASH – $56 (lunch) – $68 (dinner) = $307.20 CASH
- $44 Rewards – $26 (snacks) = $18 Rewards
As long as you have the Disney Rewards Dollards card loaded with points, you do not need to spend any cash at the parks since pretty much all locations accept is a form of payment. However, make sure you do have cash on you available as sometimes the system that charges credit cards may be down in certain establishments such as small stands.
- TIP #7 – EARN AS MANY REWARDS TO PAY FOR FOOD AT PARKS.
- TIP #8 – BUY FOOD FROM SNACK STANDS, QUICK SERVICE RESTAURANTS, KID PORTIONS OR DIVIDE A REGULAR MEAL BETWEEN TWO PEOPLE.
5. Where to shop? Where to get souvenirs?
By far the biggest and best place to find any kind of Disney/Marvel/Star Wars souvernir is at the World of Disney store at Disney Springs. Parking is free at Disney Springs so check it out. However, when it comes to pricing it is not the cheapest. If you want just a little something to take for family and friends then your best bet is Walmart or Target. We bought, 4 Disney t-shirts, 4 Disney baseball caps, 2 Disney pin lanyards and keychains all for $50 at Walmart. To buy pins we went to World of Disney at Disney Springs and bought the ugliest pins which tend to be the cheapest and the ones from past festivals like the Food and Wine festival are always on sale. Always buy the pins before you go to the parks. If you see a Cast Member (Disney employee) wearing a pin that you like you can ask to trade it for one of your ugly ones and they MUST comply and trade. So you get an expensive pin for the price of a cheap ugly one.
BUDGET:
- $307.20 CASH – $50 (Souvrenirs) = $257.20 CASH
- $18 Rewards – $15 (Disney pins) = $3 Rewards
While we were window shopping at Disney Springs we became hungry so we spent $34.23 on food/snacks/drinks lowering our cash budget.
BUDGET:
- $257.20 CASH – $34.23 (Disney Springs food) = $222.97
- $3 Rewards = $3 Rewards.
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- TIP #9 – WALMART IS YOUR BEST FRIEND (REMEMBER TO GO EARLY IN THE MORNING).
- TIP #10 – WORLD OF DISNEY AT DISNEY SPRINGS IS THE BEST FOR PINS AND OTHER SOUVENIRS. BUY THE UGLIEST/CHEAPEST PINS AND TRADE THEM AT THE PARKS.
6. What about FREE or cheap activities?
Disney Springs is by far my favorite free activity to just walk around, play at the Lego store, see the free drone nighttime show. We spent a whole day here looking around bringing sandwiches from the hotel for lunch. As mentioned above we did spend $34.23 on food for dinner and snacks.
We stayed at Bonnet Creek and on our days not at the parks we played mini golf for free, went swimming for free, relaxed at the lazy river, relaxed at the outdoor hot tubs/whirlpools, worked out at the gym, played table tennis, watched free outdoor movies, and so much more. We spent a whole day here.
We took a road trip to Clearwater Beach, FL to relax at the beach. Ate from the Dollar Menu at the McDonalds by the beach (4 $1 McChickens, 4 $1 Soft Drinks and a Large Fries to share using the McDonalds app we got a coupon for FREE large fries with $1 minimum purchase = $10). We parked at Surf Style where if you buy something you get free parking (we bought a water & gum = $2.25). Also there’s so many nice cheap/on sale/clearance souvernirs there. We spent a whole day here.
We went to the many outlet malls and checked out so many amazing deals. Anything you buy here would be out of your budget, but you can always use your Disney Rewards Visa to earn points for your next trip. We found the best deals at the Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets. We again ate at the nearest McDonald’s for a total cost of $9.80 (always look at McDonald’s app for coupons). Spent half a day here.
The rest of our stay we drove to ICON 360 Orlando to see the Orlando Eye got in free to some bars to dance. We drove to Celebration and found free parking and just walked around the town. We explored International drive and explored Universal CityWalk which has free parking after 6 p.m. Between all these locations we bought some food/snacks/drinks totalling $26.80.
BUDGET:
- $222.97 CASH – $19.80 (Both McDonald’s Meals) – $2.25 (Surf Style) – $26.80 (other locations) – $10 gas = $164.12
- $3 Rewards
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- TIP #10 – DISNEY SPRINGS IS THE BEST FREE ACTIVITY PLACE TO WALK AROUND/PLAY
- TIP #11 – TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HOTEL AMENITIES/ACTIVITIES
- TIP # 12- YOU’RE IN FLORIDA, ENJOY A BEACH DAY WITH WHITE SANDS AT CLEARWATER BEACH
- TIP #13 – SIGHTSEEING IS ALWAYS FREE AS LONG AS YOU FIND FREE PARKING
7. What about parking at the theme parks?
Even though Bonnnet Creek did offer shuttles to the parks at different intervals throughout the day, they charged a fee per person. We also realized that the schedule did not favor us nor did the fees. We could drive to Disney Springs and take a free shuttle to the parks, but found that we would waste a lot of time on travel. It’s specially tough with kids. So we decided to drive to the parks ourselves paying the parking fee at both parks. Plus it’s an amazing experience at the Magic Kingdom getting to parking and taking the tram to their transportation hub where you can either take a boat or the monorail to the park entrance. We paid $25 at each park for a total of $50.
If you end up staying at a Disney resort and you did not travel by car well you have free transportation to and from the parks using the buses, monorail or boat (Air Gondolas Coming Soon). If you did drive and are staying at a Disney resort, they charge a $13 overnight parking fee per night of your stay, but parking at the theme parks is already included in your resort parking fee so you technically park for free at the theme parks.
If you are staying at the Disney Springs area hotels or any hotel near Walt Disney World, many of them offer free or low cost shuttles to the parks. Like I mentioned earlier, for our trip we paid the $25 parking fee for both days.
BUDGET:
- $164.12 CASH – $50 ($25 +$25 parking) = 114.12
- $3 Rewards
- TIP #14 – PARK FOR FREE AT DISNEY SPRINGS
- TIP #15 – TAKE ADVANGE OF DISNEY’S FREE TRANSPORTATION (MONORAIL & BUSES)
8. Other expenses/shopping
Now on the day we visited EPCOT (New Year’s Eve) we called our Disney Rewards credit card and asked them if we had accrued any points. Remember we’ve been using the credit card instead of the cash to earn more points (We will use the cash to pay back the card as soon as we get back home). We paid for our gas, outside food, hotel stay, park tickets which was a total of $1,789.80. The card gives us $1 dollar for every $100 so we earned a total of $17.90. We asked them to add those points to our Rewards card to redeem them, which added to our $3 dollars we had left for a total of $20.90.
BUDGET:
- $114.12 CASH
- $3 Rewards + $17.90 = $20.90 Rewards.
Now we can spend the rest of our budget on any extra snacks, souvenirs, drinks, or clothing. We all decided to buy Disney gear like hats, t-shirts, Mickey/Minnie ears, etc. at the park before we leave to guarantee we will come back another year. We spent all of our Disney Reward Dollars $20.90 and $92.56 of our cash budget. We also spent $16 dollars on gas for the car from driving around Walt Disney World.
BUDGET:
- $114.12 CASH – $92.56 (Disney gear) – $16 (gas) = $5.56
- $20.90 Rewards – $20.90 = $0 Rewards.
- TIP #16 – DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF DISNEY REWARDS
- TIP #17 – USE A CREDIT CARD TO PAY FOR ALL YOUR EXPENSES SO THAT YOU CAN TRACK IT LATER WHEN YOU GET HOME.
- TIP #18 – KEEP CASH WITH YOU FOR EMERGENCIES, BUT DON’T SPEND IT UNLESS IT’S AN EMERGENCY. WHEN YOU’RE BACK HOME, USE THAT CASH TO PAY THE CREDIT CARD BACK FOR YOUR TRIP.
Total Cost of Family Vacation for 4 at Walt Disney World
- TOTAL TRIP COST = $1,994.44 CASH
- IF YOU DON’T USE REWARD POINTS = $2,201.34
ENJOY YOUR DISNEY VACATION!
If you have any questions, tips you’d like for me to add, or any suggestions let me know in the comments. Don’t forget to share this with friends and family!
I love going tot Disney! Although I like to immerse myself in the Disney experience, after so many times it starts to get expensive. I’m planning on going there for Spring break. I’m def gonna use the tips you gave. Thanks bro!
I agree, it’s always been expensive, but if you like to go there often it gets worse. I’m definitely trying some of these tips next time. Last time I took my family we spent a couple grand just paying for the the hotel and it was a value resort, but during Christmas. Thanks Jorge!