Some vacationers start the planning process with an all-up budget figure that they want to spend and make their various trip choices to fit that budget.
Others are keen to know what the various elements or overall package is going to cost, and then use these figures to drive the budget.
There’s no right or wrong approach. Budgets are very, very personal, and we all make choices at different times in planning a vacation to cut (or expand!) our cloth accordingly. Few people, certainly not us, have unlimited funds to throw at a Disney vacation.
But we do like to get good value in the choices that we make. If we know what we want (because we’ve done the research), then it just comes down to where we get that item or package from for the best value – acknowledging that even “best value” is interpreted differently by each of us.
Vacationing in Walt Disney World is not a cheap exercise. Which is kind of an obvious thing to say when you add up the costs of transatlantic flights, a nice hotel or rental house, theme park tickets, renting a car, food and drink expenses when you’re out there, regardless of whether you buy most of the items as a package or individually.
But the good news is that there are options in each of the major expense categories – flights, hotels and houses, rental car, and theme park tickets – that enable you to trim or expand your costs accordingly.
And even when you’ve made your choices you still have the opportunity of buying those vacation elements or the complete package from a number of different providers.
The easiest way of getting some indicative costs for your vacation is to pop to the websites of the primary Disney holiday package companies, plug in your details and choices and see what the costs are.
As an aside, in later steps we do provide information on going DIY and booking each vacation element individually (versus going with a packaged vacation), as well as various choices that you have in terms of Disney resort hotels and rental houses.
However, for now, getting an idea of Disney costs through the primary package holiday providers’ websites is a great place to start.
We would recommend that you consider taking a look at the costs from the following package holiday providers:
As part of the process of getting a quote you’ll need to make a few choices:
At this stage, all you’re trying to do is get an indicative idea of the primary costs associated with the Disney vacation. Jot down the costs for the flights and the hotel (combined), and the “additional” costs for the theme park tickets and the car, as you may choose to book these separately.
In subsequent steps we’ll talk you through the various options for flights, resort hotels, cars and theme park tickets, so further down the line you can refine your trip choices before booking your vacation, either as a package or on a piecemeal basis.
If you were thinking of renting a villa or a house, rather than staying in a hotel (the merits of which we discuss here), then don’t worry at this initial budgeting stage. The costs of renting a villa or a house are similar to those for staying in a Disney resort hotel.
So, now you have an indicative cost (or budget) associated with the flights, Disney resort hotel, car and theme park tickets for your Walt Disney World vacation.
You just need to add on an amount for your discretionary spending whilst out in Orlando to cover your food, drink, shopping, parking, fuel/taxis and additional activities.
We tend to budget around $50 per person per day. You may want to budget more or less – it’s a very personal thing!
But at least now you should end up with an overall budget number that is reasonably representative of your Walt Disney World vacation.
And with this number in mind, you can begin to look at how this compares with what you want to spend on the trip. This in turn will help guide and refine your choices in each of the vacation areas that we’ve highlighted here and that we discuss in much more detail in subsequent planning steps.