How Much Does A Disney Vacation Cost!

Understanding the costs involved in planning a Disney vacation is crucial for making informed budgetary decisions. We delve into the various components, including tickets, accommodations, food, and optional extras, to help you effectively budget for your unforgettable trip.

• Breakdown of ticket costs and park hopper options 
• Overview of accommodations: value, moderate, and deluxe resorts 
• Detailed food budgeting across categories of dining 
• Exploring additional costs for services like Lightning Lane and Memory Maker 
• Summary of total costs and tips for saving on your Disney trip

Transcript

Justin: 0:06

hey, friends, justin here with the people mover podcast, and welcome to episode number three of 2025. And today we're going to be talking about one of the questions I get all the time and that is how much does a disney vacation cost? So let's kick off that intro and get started.

Announcer: 0:20

Welcome to the people mover podcast, the length of the iconic ride and your ultimate guide to Disney World and Disney cruises. Whether you're a first-timer or a seasoned fan, we've got tips, tricks and options to elevate your magical journey. Find us online at magicvacationfamilycom. Buckle up and let's dive into the world of Disney.

Justin: 0:43

Once again, all of our episodes are brought to you by magicvacationfamilycom. My wife and I. We are travel agents. So if you do need help planning any of your Disney vacations, our services are 100% free. All you have to do is go and submit a form through magicvacationfamilycom.

Justin: 1:00

Now today, like I said, we're going to be talking about how much does a Disney vacation cost, and really got to break it down into kind of four different categories. Right, you have your tickets accommodations, food and then kind of the extras that go with that. So all right. So topic number one we're going to be talking about tickets here. So if you take a look here, four-day single park tickets for a family of four we're looking at about $1,600. That's about 400 a person.

Justin: 1:26

Now there are additional options, like adding a park hopper, which gives you the ability to visit multiple parks a day, so you could go from epcot over to hollywood studios or hollywood studios over to animal kingdom. I mean, you could go anywhere you want. We've done all four parks in one day before it's exhausting, but you really could do that if you wanted to. But anytime you have the park hopper option. It is about $60 to $80 per person per day, so that could add an extra $240 to $540 for a family of four, depending on how many days you add that. Now, keep in mind you don't have to do that every day, and nor do we. We always usually add it for one or two days because, like Magic Kingdom, it's one of those parks for me where we could go in the morning, go back to the hotel, have some lunch, do some swimming, let the kids kind of get refreshed, and then go back at night for those fireworks at the Fantastic Magic Kingdom. So I could definitely do that there. But, basically, if you're looking at a total ticket cost for family of four without the park hopper option, you're looking at about $1,600 to $2,000. And I'm adding a little padding there just because, depending on the time of the year, it could be more expensive. So it's safe to say roughly $1,600. It could be a little bit more. It's rough. It's safe to say, you know, roughly $1,600. It could be a little bit more, but that is a good ballpark to be in. If you head to the park hopper option. Like I said, though, you're looking at anywhere from about $1,840 to about $2,540. So, like I said, it's all dependent on you. If you need help planning this out, needing some suggestions, make sure you message us at magicvacationfamilycom and I can definitely help you out and give you some of my advice for how I would do tickets.

Justin: 3:10

Now that we got tickets figured out, let's talk about accommodations. Now accommodations can really come in three different types. Right, we have our value resorts, which are going to be your budget-friendly options. Those are going to average anywhere from about $750 to $1,000 for five nights, which is fantastic. We always stay at Pop Century when we go down and it's great. That's considered a higher tier value resort. We love it, my kids love it. They love the theming. It's right by the Skyliner. They're able to utilize kind of all of the amenities that are perfect for my family, especially because we're at the parks most of the day, so we just need a place to lay our head. But $750 to $1,000 for five nights, that's going to get you around about $150 to $200 a night for a value resort. Now, the moderate resort option. Those resorts are definitely a little bit nicer. Some of them can be a little bit closer to parks. It really depends on the placement and what you're really looking for to get out of them. I like all three of these types of resorts here. We really like the Disney Port Orleans, but I would say that's going to cost you around about $1,500 to $1,750 for five nights. So that's getting us up to about the $300 to $350 per night range, and then that's going to jump us up to the the $300 to $350 per night range and then that's going to jump us up to the next tier, which is going to be our deluxe resort.

Justin: 4:29

Now, the deluxe resorts I've stayed at before. I love them. They are definitely fantastic, especially if you want to be a little bougie, if you plan on spending more time at the resort than at the parks. Or what I find is the once-in-a-lifetime kind of trips, or once or twice in a lifetime type of trips that parents are taking their kids down to Disney for they like to splurge and go with the really nice resort because of some of those different amenities that are there. Plus, they're pretty close to the parks too. So, for example, the Contemporary it has the monorail that you ride in right through the hotel and then you can actually go right to Magic Kingdom so you can actually see the fireworks directly from your hotel. Same with the Polynesian and also same with the Grand Floridian. So those are fantastic deluxe resort options, but those are also going to cost you quite a bit more.

Justin: 5:17

We're talking about $3,000 to let's just call it $3,500 for about five nights. So that's anywhere from $600 to $650 per night for a deluxe resort. So if we kind of do the math on this one right now, for the family of four, the value resort, like I said, is going to be about $750 to $1,000. Moderate resort $1,500 to $1,750. And then the deluxe resort is going to be around $3,000 to about $3,500. So that's our accommodations.

Justin: 5:48

All right, so let's move on to category number three, which is food. Now I have these broken down into kind of three different categories inside of food as well. We have our quick service meals, which are going to be places that you can order like a cheeseburger or a hot dog, chicken fingers, french fries, stuff like that Quick service meals for about five days for family fours and it costs you about 750 to 1300 bucks. Table service meals this is about five meals for a family of four. That's going to cost you about 500 to $800. So about 25 to $60 per person. Now, table service meals are great because it really gives you an opportunity to experience some of the dining at Disney other than just those quick service meals. However, you don't have to do those, so that's really up to you and what you'd want to do. But let's say you did five of those. You did, you know, five dinners or four dinners, whatever. You're roughly looking at $500 to $800. And then soft drinks and snacks you're looking at another 200 to $400 for the family of four. So, depending on your dining choices, anywhere from 1,050 to 2,500 bucks for food.

Justin: 6:55

And now category number four, the extras. Now, these are ones that you don't have to do at all. Right, you could just say forget it, I'm not doing it, I'm going to save all of this money. But if you're looking at extras like Lightning Lane, which is the skip the line service, that's going to cost you about $240 to $400 for four days. Now, you don't have to do those every day. You can just decide that you want to do the Lightning Lane for one park or two parks. That's kind of ad hoc. You can do whatever you want with that. So that's completely up to you. You want with that. So that's completely up to you.

Justin: 7:25

Now, looking at Memory Maker this is the unlimited photo service, right? So all those professional photographers that they have around the parks. You can get all of those photos which then you can download and share to your friends and family, make photo books, whatever you want with it. That is only $199. Now, that's one price for your entire trip and that is going to be all available on your Disney experience app. So, like I said, with the total cost for the extras for a family of four you're only looking at about $440 to $600. So, depending on what experience you're trying to get out of your vacation or you decide that you're going to skimp on table service meals and focus on getting the Lightning Lane and Memory Maker you could definitely do that. Looking at the total cost right Without extras the basic costs for tickets, accommodations and food value resort, you're looking at about $4,700 to $6,400.

Justin: 8:19

Moderate resort you're looking around about $6,300 to $8,000. And then a deluxe resort you're looking at about $7,800 to let's just call it, $10,000. And then, if you added all those extras for the value resort, you're going to be looking now at $5,230 to about $7,7500. Moderate resorts can be $6,500 to about $8,500. And then your your deluxe resort you're going to be looking at definitely $8,000 plus. So I'll just give you the ballpark range of about 8,000 to 10,500.

Justin: 8:55

Now remember, with the extras, you don't have to do them. You can do it ad hoc, so those prices can definitely vary. Also, there are some quick money-saving tips as well, like bringing your own water bottle. You can pack your own snacks, share meals as well. So think about those things that you can do as well, and we can talk about that more. If you visit us at magicvacationfamilycom, I can give you some of those tips. But there you have it. A Disney vacation can basically cost you anywhere from $4,700 to let's just call it, $10,000 for a family of four, depending on where you stay, how you eat and whether you choose any of the extras. So, once again, this is episode number three of 2025. See you next time.