Disney World on a budget is not necessarily two things that are often tied together. That said, if you plan smartly and make a few travel modifications you’ll find that you’ll be able to experience the best of Disney World on a Budget! See how we booked a week of Disney for a family of 4 for UNDER $5,500 USD
We live in Canada, and for simplicity sake I have kept all totals in USD which is the local currency of most of our purchases. Conversion isn’t great for Canadian Currency at the moment, but it could be better one day. The only exception is the flight portion, which we redeemed our frequent flyer points (Air Canada Aeroplan) and paid a nominal fee of $353 Canadian for the entire family. A note on this – we saved and saved these points and really earned a lot with the affiliated credit card. We booked 7 months in advance which is the sweet spot for reward bookings.
These flights are included in the total but not broken down in the blog post, it will be a line item at the end of the post to see the final total.
DISNEY WORLD TICKETS
Alright, this is the biggest expense of the trip. We were able to jump on the Canadian Residence Offer which offered a 20% discount when you purchase 5 days or more park ticket. How we made sure to keep the costs low, we did NOT add the park hopper option. We purchased for a family of two adults and 2 children under 10. Purchasing 4 days was the same amount, if you only wanted to do 3 days, and visit other things, you would save about $228. Don’t forget time of year and the first day of the use of your tickets determine the total cost.
Undercover Tourist has specials from time to time on Disney World Tickets, they are another great resource for deals and sales.
Total price: $2241
About the 20% off promotion Fro Canadians:
Canada residents save 20% on 5-day or longer Walt Disney World theme park tickets! Book through May 9, 2024.This is a date-based ticket that requires you to select a start date at purchase. Valid for ticket start dates as early as January 11, 2024, and until September 28, 2024. Ticket is valid for admission beginning on the selected start date and must be used within a limited number of days, depending on ticket length and type. Learn more about the ticket use period.
Disney World Parking
One thing you must factor is parking. We stayed off resort, and so we ended up paying for parking every day we visited the park. This was an additional $30 USD a day, which total to $150. (If you were staying on a Disney Property, this is included, more on that later).
ACOMODATIONS
We stayed at a townhouse in the Regal Oaks Resort literally around the corner from Disney World Resort (I believe our drive to Hollywood Studios was 10 minutes or so). We chose this option for the following reasons:
1. We wanted several bedrooms, and a separated living room and a full kitchen. Having a similar option on resort was very out of budget for us.
2. We had a full washer and dryer in our room – which we used
3. The Club House which was part of our accommodations included a great pool and activities for the kids.
4. Parking was included in our accommodation.
When we did the math of getting 2 rooms at Disney, or a suite style room, it was more cost efficient to book our townhouse which gave us tons of space and peace of mind. Sure we had to pay for parking at Disney World, but the space, the price for the week and all the inclusions made up for that and we certainly saved money in the end.
Total price: $1400 USD for 1 week
FOOD
Food is where you go either all in or save. We decided to save and never felt like we were missing out on anything.
Publix, a local grocery store, has a deli and sandwhich counter (like subway) We often would grab some sandwiches for our park days so we never really spent money at the actual parks for meals. For breakfast and dinner, we purchase groceries to be able to make it at our house. We purchased snacks and energy drinks for the park days – so were never really short on food. Getting back to dinners, we only went to restaurants 3 times for dinner. Once was at Hollywood Studios were we had dinner at the ABC Commissary (A quick service that was about $50 for dinner.)
We also went to Olive Garden, and The Polite Pig in Disney Springs – both dinners were around $70. Other dinners were made at home.
One some park days we would purchase snacks as a treat from the park (popcorn, cookies, donuts) – but the focus was almost always a packed lunch from home to eat to help save money. (It also helped us avoid fried food all the time)
Bring water bottles to avoid purchasing water onsite, and you can get fresh water from any quick service food location. The water is triple filtered, and there were fountains all over the parks. Very easy to refill.
Total price: Food $600 for a week, family of 4
CAR RENTAL
There isn’t much to write here, but I focused on specials and savings and booked early. Our rental was around $360 and our gas was $75 (we only had to fill up once). We also were upgraded on our rental, so what should have been a Volkswagen Jetta, was actually a GMC Suburban. LOL
Total price: Car Rental + Gas $435
GIFTS AND SOUVENIRS
This was mostly the kids who made purchases – and they had received Disney Gift Cards for Christmas, so these weren’t expenses from our pockets, it was their own purchases. I’ve included the expenses in here, but it wasn’t something we had to budget for. I purchased 1 T-Shirt and 2 Starbucks mugs (I collect the been there series from all over the world, I had to get them from Disney!) Which was about $50 total. Honestly we didn’t go crazy with gifts.
Total price: $300 USD
Alright, so we’ve gone through the list of our expense, to recap here is how it broke down:
- $2241 USD Family of four, 5 day tickets no park hopper option
- Parking at Disney $30 a day $150
- Aeroplan Point 158,000 Points + $260 ( $353 CAD in fees.)
- $1400 USD Accommodation Town House 5 Min from Disney World 1 Week
- Car Rental + Gas $435 USD with Avis (booked early for savings)
- Food $600 for a week, family of 4
- Gifts and souvenirs $300 USD
GRAND TOTAL OF $5,386 USD
Bottom line, it is possible to experience the magic of Disney World in Florida on a budget. Will my kids remember if they went to the best restaurants or if they stayed on Disney Property or not? No. But they will remember the time we had together as a family. We budgeted our vacation to be a fulfilling and fun as possible, without going overboard, and you as you can see heading to Disney World on a budget is entirely possible.
I would love to know your cost saving tips! Tell me about them in the comment section below.
Thanks for reading!
The Snowboard Mom 