Walt Disney World
We hear all too often from parents when they come back from Disney “the kids had a great time! But it was a lot.” A trip to Disney is exhausting to be sure but it can be fun for all members of the family.
A successful Walt Disney World it’s all about planning. It’s about making a bucket list and prioritizing your “must do” for the trip.
Ways to Keep Your Family Happy at Disney
Make a Must Do List
Use the app!
Buy the PhotoPass
Skip ParkHopper Passes
Eat when you can
Take an afternoon break to the hotel
Relax, you are all on vacay
Take short trips
Typical Costs When Travelling
Accommodations – The hotels on property are amazing and fun and a lot of money. Also, really think about how many hours you’ll be using that hotel. We typically spend less than 8 hours in the room to sleep and a brief stop-by for an afternoon break. Really weigh if you are putting your dollars in the right place.
If you want to stay at a Walt Disney World hotel we recommend going for the mid-range hotels. We’ve stayed at Port Orleans Resort – Riverside from $219/night and at Coronado Springs Resort from $222/night. Both were lovely, the restarants are family friendly, and the pools were great.
Our favorite hotel off property is the Wyndham Lake Buena Vista Disney Springs Resort from $199/night. It’s part of the Disney Spring Resort so you get access to all the benefits of staying on property. We were able to book our FastPasses and take a bus to and from the parks. Disney Springs is just over a pedestrian bridge so it’s easy to get meals and do shopping at the stores. We LOVED the pool and splash area. The rooms are basic, but we don’t spend any time lounging in our rooms so it works well for us.
Park Tickets – In 2020, single day tickets are $109/person. Addin a Park Hopper – which allows you to visit multiple parks in 1 day – adds $60/person. After going to Disney a few times, we really recommend not getting the Park Hopper if you can manage it. It is overwhelming to do multiple parks in one day. We always end up crying at some point trying to make all our plans work across many parks. Focus on doing all you want to do in 1 park and then move on.
Another ticket consideration is the Special Events. We highly recommend slurging on the Special Events tickets. These events are extra costs but that means there are less people in the park. That means shorter lines and more time for fun in the park. We went to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and fell in love with these events.
Disney does run great deals to reduce your hotel + stay + meal plans. Always check the website for discounts to make your Disney dreams come true!
Food – We’ve done both the Meal Plans and self-pay. The advantage to the Meal Plans is that you don’t need to carry a credit card and you always have lots of coupons for meals and snacks. We tend to only eat meals when on vacation so the snack coupons get unused. The advantage of self-pay is not having the pressure of unused coupons at the end of your trip.
Food at Disney is expensive either way. Plan on spending at least $75/adult and $40/child per day in the park.
Transportation – If you are staying on property, the busses are best. We used the bus from both hotels which adds about 15-30 minutes to your transportation time to any park.
If staying at a Disney Springs property, we splurged and used Uber to get to the parks and used the complimentary busses to get back to the hotel.
Suggested daily budget – $300 for hotel, park tickets, transportation and food. (Note: This is a suggested budget was set in 2020. However, if you stay in fancier accommodation or eat out more often, expect this to be higher!)
Money Saving Tips
1
Skip the Park Hopper
Make the choice to completely do one park a day. This saves you $60 per person, per day!
2
Give your kids a budget
Disney is Temptation Island for kids. Give them a budget in cash and when it's gone, it's gone!
3
Stay off property
We used Expedia to get a great deal on a Disney Spring Hotel and airfare which saved us about $100 this last trip.
4
Buy the Photo Pass before you go
They charge you extra if you order all those cute photos after your trip. Just know that you'll want those memories and buy the pass before you go!
My Must Have Guides For Traveling
Everything you neeed to know about traveling.
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What can I expect from Walt Disney World?
We love Disney. It’s a special place for our family. When Walt Disney created Disneyland he wanted to create “a place where both kids and parents could have fun together” and that dream lives today. It’s exhausting and it’s expensive. It’s a treat destination for sure but it’s worth every memory. Our first trip to Disney with Katrina was when she was 4 and it was tough. We didn’t make adult fun a priority. I overscheduled our trip. I used our FastPasses unwisely. It was a mess. We’ve lived and learned and know how to manage Disney better.
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Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween
Content coming soon!!
What are your tips for Disney travel? We’d love to hear it!
September 21, 2018
