How my family of 4 spent nearly $10,000 on a Disney World vacation — and what we'll be cutting next time
Matt Cabral
- My family of four recently spent nearly $10,000 on our eight-night trip to Disney World.
- Since we spent more than a day in each of our favorite parks we didn't splurge on Genie+.
- We learned dining is hard to budget for and character meals aren't totally worth it anymore.
When it comes to making magical memories at Disney World, my family of four has been there, done that, and got the T-shirt … and the collectible popcorn buckets.
We travel from Rhode Island to the Orlando park once — sometimes twice — a year and love it.
Still, each trip teaches us something new — especially in terms of how much value we're getting for our money.
Here's what we spent on our most recent eight-night trip in November:
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Disney resort and park tickets: $5,746 for eight nights at Disney's Port Orleans Resort, plus seven park days for a family of four
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Food: $2,000 for full-service restaurants for six of the eight days, plus snacks in the parks (Estimated, it's probably a bit more.)
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Add-ons: $677 for four tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party event
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Transportation: $1,462 for flights from Providence Rhode Island
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Total: $9,885
We used money-saving tips from previous Disney vacations during the trip and learned some lessons. Here's what was worth our time and money and what we'd do differently next time.
Staying at a resort we know and love is the way to go
After years of staying at different on-site properties — from Disney's budget hotels to its dollar-busting deluxe resorts — we've learned we really like Port Orleans Riverside.
The mid-tier resort's Louisiana Bayou style is comforting and immersive.
My 11-year-old son likes the standard room's "Princess and the Frog" pull-down bed, and my 14-year-old daughter loves the Mickey-shaped beignets from the French Quarter side of the resort.
Matt Cabral
Port Orleans also comes with free transportation to the parks and a water taxi to nearby Disney Springs.
Best of all, we love capping a long day at the hotel's River Roost Lounge, where Disney World's best-kept-secret — performer Yehaa Bob Jackson — puts on a rousing, family-friendly show four nights a week.
Because we stayed at a hotel we already love, we knew exactly what we'd get for our money and could focus on finding the best deal.
Sorting through Disney's dozens of resorts for the best offer can be daunting, so concentrating on a single resort — and the promotions tied to it — removed a potential headache from our planning.
I think spending more days at the parks saved us money
Matt Cabral
We spent two days each at our three favorite parks — Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios — and one day at Animal Kingdom.
Seven full park days might seem excessive, but tickets in a resort package get progressively cheaper as you add more days to your itinerary.
More than that, though, having two full days at our favorite parks meant much less rushing around to fit everything in and experience our favorite attractions.
With ample time, we didn't feel pressured to spend extra on the park-hopping upgrade or Genie+ line-jumping service, two costly add-ons we've paid for in the past.
Genie+ alone can cost over $160 a day for a family of four.
We'd definitely do dining differently next time
We were confident while planning our resort stay and park days, but our history of dining at Disney World messed up our budget.
In the past, we took advantage of some version of a free dining promotion, which allows Disney hotel guests to essentially eat for free during their stay.
It wasn't available when we booked our November trip.
Spoiled by the free eats of the past, we booked many of our favorite restaurants without giving much thought to the cost.
We knew full-service meals for four would be pricey, but we were still consistently surprised when the $200 to $300 bills hit the table.
Matt Cabral
Our biggest takeaway, though, is that we want to cut back on character dining on future trips.
My kids now fall into the adult pricing tier — and their enthusiasm for meeting Mickey isn't what it was when they were toddlers.
Paying $300 for a buffet with characters walking around wasn't especially magical. We had a much nicer, more affordable dinner at Steakhouse 71.
Matt Cabral
Of course, the best dining deal is still Epcot's Food and Wine Festival, a family-favorite event we almost always plan our trips around.
We spent our Epcot days sampling smaller bites around the World Showcase that served as budget-friendly breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.
A Christmas trip is fun if it's planned carefully enough to dodge pricey airfare
We haven't been to Disney during the holidays in nearly a decade, so we wanted our kids to see the parks decked out for Christmas.
As such, our November visit had to land late enough on the calendar that we'd catch the seasonal festivities but early enough that we could still enjoy our beloved Food and Wine Festival.
Fortunately, this specific sweet spot wasn't the worst time to book a flight.
Although it wasn't quite a bargain, our family's nearly $1,500 airfare to Orlando was far less than what we'd dish out closer to Thanksgiving or in December.
Of course, what we saved on flights was re-invested into tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, the Magic Kingdom's special holiday event.
Matt Cabral
The party was worth it, but we had to plan carefully to get our money's worth for the five-hour, sold-out celebration.
Fortunately, visiting the less-busy second parade and getting to the parks before the party began helped us get the most holiday magic for our money.
Still, we could've managed our evening a bit better.
Next time, we'd spend less time waiting for attractions that have been marginally made over for Christmas — like Mad Tea Party and Tomorrowland Speedway — and focus more on meeting event-specific characters, such as Jack and Sally from "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
Overall, if we return to Disney this year, we're going to rethink our dining budget
We haven't decided yet if we'll make it back to Disney World in 2024.
Then again, we say that at the start of every new year and always end up planning a trip as soon as that tax return arrives.
But when we do decide, we'll have even more money-saving knowledge — especially when it comes to our dining budget.
Heck, if we just cut out the character meals, we may even make it back to Main Street, USA, more than once this year.
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