How much does a trip to Walt Disney World cost?

For simplicity’s sake, all prices in this article are in Canadian dollars and do not include Florida sales taxes, which represent an additional 6%.

For a short answer, the cost of a Disney vacation trip for a family of 4 with 2 adults and 2 children over 10 is around $3,000 per person, for one week.

This is an average, as a family might want to put a lot more budget on park tickets, Genie+ and experiences but have the bare minimum on the hotel. Or at the opposite, they may not want to deprive themselves on restaurants and only pay the base for park tickets.

What’s more, as school vacations are more expensive periods, the budget needs to be increased accordingly.

An Orlando trip to Walt Disney World varies according to duration, options chosen, dates and number of people.

To save money, the best option is to go by car. Read our article and our tips for getting to Orlando by car. This is most cost-effective with 3 or more people in the car.

For example, for a sedan, the cost is $350 for gas each way. Add a night or two at around $150 each night on the road, plus meals, tolls and snacks.

To buy plane tickets to Disney, expect to pay around $500 per person for a round trip. This may be more expensive during the holiday season or spring break.

Walt Disney World ticket prices depend on the time of year, the Disney park visited and the number of days selected.

A ticket to Animal Kingdom is the cheapest of the 4 parks. The popular Magic Kingdom will be the most expensive.

Single-day admission to the Walt Disney Parks can cost from $147 to $215 plus taxes per person, depending on the season and the type of ticket purchased.

For example, for our typical week, we can take a 4-day ticket with one park entry per day, which will cost between $163 and $215 per day. The total is therefore $652 to $860 worth of Disney tickets per person.

And that’s not counting the various options:

• Park Hopper (to visit more than one park per day) + $135 per ticket
• Water and Sports (access to Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon water park, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Golf Course and FootGolf at Disney’s Oak Trail, Disney’s Fantasia Gardens mini-golf course and Winter Summerland) + $95 per ticket

A trip to Walt Disney during the holidays, Halloween, Christmas or American Spring Break can be much more expensive than on other days of the year.

To save on your Walt Disney World tickets, be sure to read our guide to Undercover Tourist:

These paid options are not mandatory. At the same time, they are highly appreciated when the trip takes place during a busy period or when you want to keep a lasting souvenir.

The Genie+ can book a Lightning Lane entrance to attractions at a specific time, so you don’t have to wait as long. This service also allows you to download Disney PhotoPass photos and access the individual Lightning Lane, which is also available at extra cost.

Prices still vary according to the time of year, park traffic and high demand for the ride.

For example, I paid $20 for an individual Lightning Lane for Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, which was totally worth it. I waited 20 minutes instead of over 2 hours for the regular queue.

• Memory Maker: $252 (pre-purchased, otherwise more expensive)
• Genie+: Between $25 and $34 per person, per day
• Lightning Lane individual: $15 to $34 per person, per day, per ride

They are highly variable and depend on the family.

To dine in any of Disney’s fine sit-down restaurants with character encounters, at the famous Space 220 or the sumptuous Be Our Guest restaurant in the Beauty and the Beast castle, calculate $250 per day, per person.

For more economical meals, you can order groceries from a local Walmart and have them delivered to your hotel. Some hotels, like the Review: Residence Inn Orlando, Flamingo crossings Town center, even offer rooms with kitchenettes.

You can also opt for meals only in fast-food restaurants. Staying in a hotel that offers free breakfast is also a great way to save money. This means you can get away with about $100 or less per person, per day.

Disney parks also have all kinds of irresistible snacks, like a tasty pineapple Dole Whip dessert, a Wookie Cookie or a marshmallow Mickey for $9 each, which add to the budget.

Walt Disney World Resort hotels are divided into 3 categories:

• Value (with prices starting at $230 per night, like Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort and Disney’s Pop Century Resort)
• Moderate (for at least $300 per night, including Disney’s Carribbean Beach Resort and The Cabin’s at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort)
• Deluxe (starting at $550 per night, like Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows and The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian)

There’s also the choice of staying at an AirBNB, an off-site hotel or a Good Neighbor hotel, such as the Delta Hotels Orlando Lake Buena Vista or the Walt Disney World Swan Reserve. Another option is a nearby hotel offering free breakfast and shuttles to the parks, such as the Fairfield Inn & Suites Orlando at FLAMINGO CROSSINGS Town Center at $150 per night.

Taxes and resort fees, if applicable, must be added to the invoice.

To get from the airport to a Disney hotel and back, you can use :

• Uber or Lyft: $120 (check with Lyft, which may be cheaper than Uber)
• Mears Connect: $190

Secondly, the shuttles and transport system between the parks are extremely well organized. Renting a car is usually not necessary between the hotel and the parks.

If you’ ve used your own car to drive to Orlando, you’ll need to factor parking into your Disney budget. With a stay at a Disney hotel, parking is free at Disney theme parks for the duration of your stay at the hotel. However, you do have to pay for hotel parking, but at least you won’t have to pay for both places.

The cost of parking at hotels around Disney varies widely, from $13 to $45 plus tax per night.

This is so variable because it’s hard to resist! Especially when a souvenir store seems to pop up every time you get off a ride.

A superb Loungefly purse for $100, a magnet for $12 or Minnie ears for $50 are available in all the good Disney boutiques on the site. Of course, stores like Target, Walgreens or Walmart in the Orlando area offer much cheaper ones.

For the sake of argument, and to be realistic, let’s assume that an average of $50 per person will be set aside for souvenirs.

Don’t underestimate this portion of the budget! The temptations are great, and Disney always finds a way to make us spend.

Might as well,” or”We’re only here once, so we might as well make the most of it,” can lead to unexpected expenses in the family budget.

• Wi-Fi and data: $10 with Airalo
• Cooling towels and fans for those hot summer days: $35
• MagicBand standard or MagicBand+: $25 to $50 each
• Tickets for special events such as Michey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party: Between $215 and $270 each
• Bottled water, coffee, items forgotten at home, sunscreen, new clothes to buy for the trip, passport to be made or renewed, spontaneous expenses at DisneySprings, change in exchange rate, credit card conversion fees, etc.

To be conservative, let’s allocate an average budget of $150 per person for these “just in case” items.

To avoid the headache and mental burden of researching and booking everything, a travel agency is a good solution.

Their service is free, and you’ll get an all-inclusive Disney vacation at a single price. The person at the agency will make all hotel, plane, restaurant and ticket reservations.

Travel sites such as Costco Travel also offer Disney packages.

Many people have a lot of strategies and it’s mostly thanks to points! One of our readers saved over $7,600 at Disney thanks to loyalty programs and credit card points. On site, it can be easy to save money by paying with the Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite* Card to avoid the 2.5% conversion fee.

There are plenty of tricks you can use to save for a dream trip to Disney. Read our many guides on the subject: