Thanks for your interest; if you d like to see more of the raw assumptions and details of how I came

For the next edition of the Unofficial Guide , we interviewed dozens of families planning their first Disney trip, and Disney-specialist travel agents who talk to Orlando-bound families every day. Almost all of them said the cost of a Disney vacation was the biggest surprise , and more important to them than when to travel, where to stay, or how to beat the lines.
All money questions involve trade-offs, of course, and only you know what you re willing to do to save a buck. For every person who thinks a $65 per day food allowance is malnourishment, cruise reviews norwegian majesty there s another who says they can feed a family of 5 on $10 and some budget gazpacho made with leftover Taco Bell sauce and hot water.
To give you a realistic idea of how much to budget, we’ve created the following set of charts showing the kind of Disney World vacation your family can get for $500, $1,000, $1,500, and $2,000. Each column represents a different family demographic, and each row represents a different budget amount. Our starting assumptions are at the bottom of the page.
Most cells in the chart contain several options at different price points. These are usually different combinations of how many days you’ll visit the theme parks, and how many nights you’ll stay at hotels of different cost.
For example, a family of 2 adults and 1 child could spend $1,500 on 3 days of theme park admission, have a nice sit-down dinner every night, and stay 3 nights at a budget off-site hotel, then drive home on the fourth morning of their trip. Or they could save $25 by eating nothing but fast food meals for their 3 days in the park and only stay at a Disney value resort for 2 nights, driving home at the end of their third day. So there s an explicit trade-off between better dinners and more nights at a budget cruise reviews norwegian majesty motel, or simpler meals with better accommodations, but for fewer nights.
Here s the chart showing different price options for the following family types. Remember than Disney consider an “adult” anyone age 10 and up. So if you and your partner have a 10-year old and a 9-year old, you re a family of 3 adults and 1 child to Disney. Click the chart image to view at full size.
For most scenarios, the cost of Disney theme park tickets represent about half of your total vacation budget (roughly 40 to 60%). Admission to the theme parks is more than most people will spend on lodging or food, and that s a surprise to a lot of families.
When family or acquaintances would habitually refuse to even consider a week s vacation at WDW because, It s so expensive! I always asked their budget for the usual week at the shore or similar venue. And unless they were staying in someone else s home gratis, they were usually spending as much or more as a week s vacation at WDW.
I agree. I have friends that ask me all the time how we afford to go to WDW so much. It s not that much more expensive then a beach trip. My friends easily spend $2,500 renting a beach house for a week. Then you have groceries to buy and activities cruise reviews norwegian majesty to keep the kids busy. On top of that, they always come back saying how their kids complained cruise reviews norwegian majesty on the 2nd day that they were bored. You won t hear that at WDW! (though a nice beach vacation is great every now and then).
cruise reviews norwegian majesty Len you should have added a $2,500 category just because I suspect the 3-4 day trip could double in length for $500 more since the admission cost difference is very minimal by that point. It s mainly lodging and food costs.
I love this but I think that for first time families it is a little misleading because costs don t go up significantly after 3 days since park tickets become only a few dollars extra for more days. You are really talking food and hotel, which can be done pretty inexpensively depending on choices. So a week at Disney cruise reviews norwegian majesty might be only $600 more than 3 days at Disney, even if the 3 days were almost $2000. cruise reviews norwegian majesty Those park ticket costs add up so fast!
Amazing infographic! But, I had a question is there a set amount to add one more adult to the data? Our travel party is my husband, myself, my 17yo daughter and my 13yo daughter. So, we don t fit into the groups. Was wondering if there was a standard amount to add to each cost bracket, which I know would significantly change what we would get for the $$. Thanks!
What a great article! I agree it would be nice to see additional cruise reviews norwegian majesty price points, but that s easily done since you ve included the worksheet. One extension that I feel is worth mentioning is that you ve included a budget-offsite option cruise reviews norwegian majesty in addition to the Disney regular cruise reviews norwegian majesty rooms, but you don t include any off-site options that allow you to control food costs. We have often stayed off-site for roughly $100/night in a 2-bedroom condo with a kitchen using rentals (yes, during summer cruise reviews norwegian majesty season). This doesn t even feel like a budget option, but you can get the benefit of not having to buy any food at the parks unless you choose to, and this can be a significant savings. cruise reviews norwegian majesty At the extreme, you could eat no park food, cook everything, and keep your food costs to roughly the same as if you spent your vacation week at home.
The tradeoff is (I think) cruise reviews norwegian majesty that you spend slightly cruise reviews norwegian majesty more time cooking and slightly less in the parks, but if you can save several hundred dollars, you can get an extra day (or two) in the parks, which more than makes up for it. Let me know what you find.
I think it s not so much time spent cooking as the fact that you have to leave the park to cook/eat the meals, although I suspect cruise reviews norwegian majesty that doesn t matter to many who take a daily break from the parks anyway. Keeping that in mind though, I aimed for a middle-of-the-road approach that tried to most keep items comparable to your scenarios and minimize away-from-park time without cruise reviews norwegian majesty diving into the ultra-frugal cruise reviews norwegian majesty possibilities. cruise reviews norwegian majesty As an example I assumed Park snacks instead of bring-your-own snacks as that was an option available even to families staying on site as most rooms have a mini-fridge, and I assumed that all meals not eaten at condo were eaten in park even though obviously it would be cheaper to mix in some off-site restaurants.
I used the same ticket prices as yours as well, not assuming any annual passes as I felt those were not in the spirit of this analysis since first time visitors are not going to shell out for an AP, and I used $100 / night as the lodging cost.
The results were interesting. Down the line almost no matter what number of adults / children I plugged in, the cost was roughly equal (-50 to +200) at the same time point as the corresponding budget off-site option from your original sheet, with the difference rising in favor of the condo as the number of people in the party increased. For all the onsite cruise reviews norwegian majesty options the discrepancy between prices grew over time; at the other extreme the difference between Deluxe CS vs. condo CS for 2 adults and 2 children was $300 at 1 day and 1 night, $1400 at 5 days and 5 nights, and $3000 at 10 days and 10 nights.
Many of these condo homes or rental timeshares cruise reviews norwegian majesty come with pools or are in resorts with similar amenities to the Disney deluxe resorts, albeit completely without theming and pool slides. Also important, cruise reviews norwegian majesty the actual living space is comparable to a 2 bedroom cruise reviews norwegian majesty villa, a price point for lodging higher than any included in the original analysis but which has obvious benefits for some travelers.
I feel that the quick take-home from this is that if your pattern includes any form of break from the park (or you are willing to make it be that way), you can get exactly the same extra time for your money that you get by staying at a budget off-site motel, except that you have much nicer resort amenities (albeit again, with minimal theming and no pool slides) and space for your kids or friends to not sleep in the same room as you. An intangible that I feel worth mentioning is that not only does the cost benefit cruise reviews norwegian majesty rise as you increase cruise reviews norwegian majesty the # of people and the length of stay, but the value of that extra space vs. what you might be trading off for it goes up as you increase the # of people, and similarly the longer your overall vacation the more likely you are to have a pattern that includes a daily break from the parks.
cruise reviews norwegian majesty Thanks for your interest; if you d like to see more of the raw assumptions and details of how I came up with my numbers just send me an appropriate email address and I ll forward all the base data I used.
It would be nice to see a monoparental family comparison (1 adult and 1 child) as I am sure I am not the only single parent who has been to WDW with a child (under cruise reviews norwegian majesty 10 years old). Regardless, many thanks for this and all the other fantastic features of this site you guys rock!