https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 30 Apr 2026 13:45:39 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670887 Wed, 28 Dec 2016 12:35:50 +0000 babynumber1 2670887@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: For our family of 3 and 1 infant we spent 5 days and nights. Single park tickets and stayed in the suite at the Art of Animation (highly recommend!) and the total was right at $3,000. We did several character lunches and dinners and ate in the park or the resort for meals. We did not do the dining plan, but it would be have been about even.</p> <p>ETA: We drove from NC and had a room in SC for 2 nights total. That was also included. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670725 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 20:19:33 +0000 littlejoy 2670725@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I was told to budget $1k per person ... not sure if that includes plane tickets or not. We're waiting until Kindergarten, as I vividly remember my family taking me when I was that age. You guys will have a blast!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670678 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 18:21:45 +0000 petunia354 2670678@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: We stayed in a standard room with a garden view but were able to still see fireworks from our room which was cool. I think the Poly has some of the biggest standard rooms, it was more than enough room for the three of us and I think 4 ppl would be fine but it would be tight for the 5 of you. Have you looked into renting DVC points and staying in a suite? I know the Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary and the Villas at the Grand Floridian have multi bedroom suites and kitchens which would be perfect for you guys!<br /> ETA: I just looked at our bank statement out of curiosity and it cost closer to 6000 for the 3 of us. Completely insane but it was a gift to ourselves after our 2nd loss and was worth every penny for our family :happy:<br /> @looch: We booked in March and traveled the first week in October. Free dining opened up in either April or May but Disney has started putting exclusions on the free dining and wasn't available to people staying at deluxe resorts, so we couldn't apply it to our reservation. I didn't know that ahead of time so I was pretty bummed when I found out but we were already staying at a discounted rate because of the time of year so I couldn't complain too much! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670592 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 14:47:26 +0000 Winnie13 2670592@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: We are Disneyholics! I think the meal plan is a great option for people traveling out of state. You can save your credits and use it on a character meal as well. I would say you will end up spending about 30-40 per meal for your family for quick service depending on items ordered. Snacks usually run about 10-15. I know the dining plan has a lot of different options, and it may be worth while to price it out.<br /> Also, I don't know if Disney counts a baby for space in the room. I would definitely call about that. You may be able to get a room that sleeps 4 and that can save you some money! I agree with the memory maker! That is definitely worth it for your trip!<br /> Helpful tips - Fast Passes are scheduled 30 days in advanced. Definitely don't wait on this as they fill up. Once you use your 3 fast passes, you can get more for the rest of the day. Try to get mornings if you can.<br /> If you want to do one character dining, reservations can be made up to 180 days in advance. Definitely don't wait on this either... times fill up fast!<br /> It sounds like it will be a wonderful trip! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670582 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 14:25:25 +0000 looch 2670582@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@petunia354: When did you book your trip? I am curious if the free dining was included at time of booking, or if they opened it up after the fact and added it retro. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670580 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 14:22:20 +0000 winniebee 2670580@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@petunia354: Thanks! THat seems like a really good deal. What type of room did you have at Polynesian? I would love to stay there but with a baby and 2 kids feel that we would need a suite of some sort?! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670576 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 14:08:35 +0000 petunia354 2670576@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We spent around 5k for the 3 of us to stay at the Polynesian in a garden veiw room in October for 7 nights. We had a 6 day park hopper, memory maker for $149 &amp; meal plan. We also paid for a dinner show and Mickeys not so scary halloween party.</p> <p>It was a splurge but we don't plan to go back for a few years. I do have to say that it was SO worth it to stay on the monorail since DS did nap a couple afternoons and he loved going to the pool in the afternoon too and staying on the monorail made it so easy to go back and forth between parks and hotel. </p> <p>Good luck, planning is so overwhelming but fun too! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670569 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 13:54:58 +0000 808love 2670569@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: $1100-1200 for tickets, $1000 for hotel (more for a suite but you won't spend much time in hotel at all), $100 a day for food. It will be less but then character meals and snacks would eat up the difference. $150 for Memory Maker. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670552 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 13:04:33 +0000 winniebee 2670552@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Miss Ariel: Thanks! We def. don't do desserts at every meal! I'd rather get the kids an ice cream cone mid-aftrernoon at the park! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670549 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 12:58:16 +0000 Miss Ariel 2670549@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm not sold on the meal plan. For each meal i believe it includes an entree, drink, and dessert, but I wouldn't anyways buy a dessert with each meal. I think you definitely can save money with it, but if you aren't going to maximize each meal you might be better without it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670541 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 12:34:42 +0000 looch 2670541@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Charm54: Yes, Memory Maker! We had one photog that told us that he always take a picture of just the parents together, that alone was worth the cost, lol.</p> <p>If you're onsite, you can link it to your magic band. We've not stayed on site recently, but I imagine that's very convenient. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670536 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 12:28:54 +0000 Charm54 2670536@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: @winniebee: we just purchased Memory Maker for our upcoming trip - it's $149 if you purchase in advance (I think $170 if you wait until you're there). We are going with several families so we were able to link up via the My Disney Experience app and split the cost between us. It was only $30 a family - such a steal! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670535 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 12:27:37 +0000 winniebee 2670535@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Charm54: helpful thanks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670534 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 12:26:32 +0000 Charm54 2670534@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our trip in March (2 adults and a 3yo) is $2800 for 7 nights at Caribbean Beach Resort, 6 day park passes and dining plans. It would probably be about an extra $500 to add an extra child (park pass and dining). We were able to get the Stay Play Dine promotion which helped cut costs down quite a bit. </p> <p>We are staying at a moderate (which sleeps 5), but you can definitely spend more $$ on the hotel if you want fancier accommodations. The Art of Animation suites might be good for your family, they are $$ than the average room but not as crazy as the prices at deluxe resorts. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670532 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 12:25:44 +0000 looch 2670532@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: I am not sure, to be honest, and I can't find it easily on the site. I'd guess it's somewhere around $200. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670528 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 12:20:31 +0000 winniebee 2670528@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: oh that's a great idea. how much is that? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670526 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 12:15:09 +0000 looch 2670526@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I thought of one other thing that you might want to include in your budget...the photo pass. I don't know about you, but whenever we go on vacation, our photos are terrible, so one year, we got the Disney Photo Pass package, where you can get your photo taken by any of those Disney photogs. My husband and I were able to also be in all of the photos, which was really great, all things considered. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670524 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 12:08:59 +0000 winniebee 2670524@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks everyone!</p> <p>Thinking:<br /> 1. staying at a Disney Resort so we do not have to rent a car.<br /> 2. leaving on a Saturday and returning on a Friday or Saturday (6-7 nights)<br /> 3. doing 5 day pass of some sort - one day maybe just do the pool or something else entirely<br /> 4. open to meal plans as we would either eat at our resort or in the park<br /> 5. want at least one character meal</p> <p>Was thinking we would need to spend 5K on this vacation, less flights- we may have some Southwest points for airfare, but maybe not. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670520 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 11:57:36 +0000 yoursilverlining 2670520@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are going next month for 4 days/4 nights, staying at the Port Orleans Riverside resort in whatever the name of their deluxe room (it wasn’t that much more than the standard river-view rooms) and have park Hopper tickets for 3 days for 3 people and we paid $1924 for the room and park hopper tickets.</p> <p>We also have reservations at Cinderella’s Royal Table for dinner which you have to pre-pay for and which was $195 for the 3 of us.</p> <p>I didn’t do a dining plan because it didn’t seem like a decent enough deal for the restaurants we wanted. I estimate we’ll spend another $1k on food. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670500 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 11:23:25 +0000 looch 2670500@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If you're open to having to prepare a few meals for your family while on vacation, take a look at Costco Travel. They have packages for WDW that include multiple room suites, airfare, car rental and park tickets. </p> <p>Then I'd compare that to the Disney packages via Disney agents and account for both free dining and if you had to pay for dining.</p> <p>We spend about $2800 on lodging, airfare, car rental and park tickets for our family of three, with one character meal (usually breakfast at Animal Kingdom) and groceries for the 4 days additional.</p> <p>My personal feeling is that there's no shortage of magic when you're doing a WDW vacation, no matter where you are staying. We've done offsite for the last 2 times we've gone and are planning to do another trip in a couple of years where we're staying onsite at the Polynesian (it's on my bucket list). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670497 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 11:21:43 +0000 bubblegum 2670497@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: I think that's a great choice. Staying on property keeps the magic going and also provides transportation to the parks and to and from the airport as well. BIG PLUS! At least for us it was. However how much do you wanna spend you have value resorts which are the cheapest and than the price goes up as does the luxury. I know Art of Animation has suites that can accommodate your family and they're a value resort so it's a win win especially in you don't plan on spend a bunch of time in the resort. As far as the meal plan I say do it!! It saves soooo much money and is a great way to get table meals at a cheaper rate (if you choose the meal plan that includes table service). I would say an on site hotel and meal plan for 4 ( the baby doesn't choice because he/she will be free for all for everything) I would budget at least $3000+ </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670491 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 11:13:24 +0000 Mrs. Pickle 2670491@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>How many nights? Do you want to stay on property? What about a park hopper? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670490 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 11:13:12 +0000 winniebee 2670490@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@bubblegum: I think since we plan to only go at most every 3 years, we are willing to pay more to stay on park and possibly do a meal plan (if that is more convenient). I think we would do a 5 day park pass of some sort. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670488 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 11:04:17 +0000 bubblegum 2670488@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think it depends on what exactly you're looking for. Do you want to stay on property? Do you want the meal plan? What type of meal plan? What type of park tickets do you want? It depends on what you're willing to cut corners on and what you're not. I've done both ways. On and off property, with and without meal plan, and more and less days in the parks. The price can be majorly different but so will the experience. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-would-you-budget-for-a-disneyworld-vacation-excluding-flights#post-2670483 Tue, 27 Dec 2016 10:57:04 +0000 winniebee 2670483@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We would like to plan a Disneyworld vacation for next spring (2018). Our kids will be 5, 3, and (hopefully) 10 months old then. Of course, our older will be in K so it will likely have to be during a school vacation week. </p> <p>How much would you budget for a Disney vacation for a family of 5? The youngest would obviously be free in the parks. I think we'd need to do a suite of some sort. Open to staying in Park or even just closeby.</p> <p>I'll want to book it around a year in advance to make sure we get the rooms we want, so I'd like to start on a budget. </p> <p>Thanks! </p>