How to offer to pay for Disney

Maybe frame it as your kids want your cousins to come

and it would be lovely for all of them. Making memories that sort of thing

not on the same scale but I often pay for my son and his partner to come on holiday with us
they don’t have any kids though but I like to spend time with them

i say we are going to xxx or yyyy would you like to join us

normally give them a choice of 2 /3 countries
and say that I can afford to pay up to £££ for them and ask them to pick a hotel and resort they would like it’s always AI so no worries about food and drinks

they normally do a week or 10 days and we do 2 weeks

Food portions, in the parks. We went last year. Absolutely shocking rip off.

Yikes. Not a lot of sisters would permit their sister to spend ££££s on them for a hol without feeling guilty the whole break! The portions are nothing like they used to be..

Oh I’m so happy for you, the children will all have such fond memories of the trip because of your generosity

I will be honest, it can be a very expensive holiday and I'm well aware that a lot of people will go once and that's it. But my girls and I absolutely love it there, I don't spend money on much else, don't smoke or drink, don't go out a lot throughout the year, don't have expensive hobbies etc, I work from home so my car costs are low (no parking and low fuel costs over the year). So for me it is worth it.

We went in November, stayed at one of the moderate level Disney resorts and also 1 night in a Universal hotel. Had Universal park tickets, Epic Universe tickets, obviously the Disney park tickets, Disney Dining Plan.

For 3 of us I paid around £2500 for flights with Virgin, Disney hotel, tickets and dining plan was just under £5k, Universal tickets for the original parks and Epic Universe and hotel for 1 night was £2258. Christmas party tickets came to around £500. This was for 10 days in November.

Then we took around £4000 spending money. I'll be honest, it sounds a lot for 10 days, considering we had the meal plan so already had most food paid for, but by the last few days of the holiday I was panicking a bit that I was going to run out of money! I spent more than I expected on things like Ubers to off Disney places, meals that weren't included on our meal plan and then a few gifts & souvenirs.

There are cheaper resorts on Disney, hotels off Disney are even cheaper again and you can save money in other ways, don't go to the Universal parks (or don't go to Disney, depending on personal choice), eat out less if you stay in accommodation that has cooking facilities etc. For me, cooking on holiday is a no because I hate cooking anyway, so definitely don't want to be cooking on holiday 😂. We did go to Walmart on our first day and spent about $200 on things like cookie packs, snack size Pringles tubes, bottles of water, coke and juice, plus a few other bits. That way we didn't have to spend money or meal plan credits on those items while we were in the parks.

That makes it much simpler! I am just always super conscious that sometimes 'little things' aren't that little. What my friend spent on a few wee toys at Disney blew my mind!

How lovely! I wish you were my sister! I do know what you mean about how men in particular can be. If he does get funny then tell your sister to tell him to put their kids in the middle of the situation - what’s the most important thing here? The DCs not his pride.

If my ex and I disagree on something then we both put the DCs at the centre of the decision and we largely end up agreeing as we both want what’s best for them.

He’s an adult and can get over any pride issues he may have. Then - great let’s get on with the planning then, please don’t stress about money. We are assuming you can afford 0 (or whatever) and as long as you are ok with that then let’s not talk / worry about it again and get on with the planning. We just happen to be in a position to do this and I know you’d do the same. End of.

And I can’t think why someone would think this was a stealth boast. Jeez.

I wouldn’t frame it as a Xmas or birthday gift as then the cousins will be super aware of the disparity. I’d just be super honest - my kids would love to have their cousins there and I think it would be so much more fun with some more adults around. Would you like to come with us? Our treat and no strings. You don’t want it set it up that your kids will expect something similar from them for Christmas, I’d keep it totally separate.

And honestly I would struggle to accept this ‘and’ struggle to keep up with just the daily costs so have a think about how to make it totally stress free for them. If their kids are thirsty or want a souvenir and you’re getting for your own kids… then what? That would be a challenge for me already but I’d feel so uncomfortable saying no all the time if you’re saying yes to your kids.

Just for my own nosiness how much would this cost?

Agree. It's very kind, but I would feel so awkward.

But it seems your sister is happy, so that's great.

So lovely of you to think of yoyr family OP I really hope they take you up on it.

You could phrase it that they would also be doing you a favour because the cousins could all entertain each other, so you would have some chance to relax a bit (Disney is a bloody tiring holiday!!).

This is a lovely thing to do and I would be thrilled if somebody offered this to me. I feel like I have to warn you though so you can discuss the budget amongst yourselves. Disney is our family holiday, so we go pretty much every other year. Our last one was in November 2025 and we noticed a considerable increase in prices on everything even compared to 2 years ago, and I really do mean everything! Even though we know we are going to spend a lot while there and budget accordingly, we were shocked at the prices of things and even our daughters were putting things back on the shelf when they looked at the price. And usually they don't question it when we are paying 😂

It was silly things like looking at gifts and souvenirs, there was very little coming under $40 and that's before tax. The one night we went to the Christmas party and while waiting for the fireworks to start, I felt chilly so went into one of the shops to see if I could grab a little blanket for us. I expected the blanket I had seen to be around $40 and probably would have even paid $50, but it was $70!!

And even if you have the Disney dining plan, so meals 'paid for', you still have to pay service charge on what the total cost would be and because the price of everything has gone up, we found service charges felt really high compared to 2 years ago when we had last been there. They have also changed the rules on the Dining plan, so years ago if you had any unused meal credits, they would convert them to snack credits so on our last day we converted any meal credits into snacks and used them to buy some Disney sweets, biscuits etc that we could take home as gifts for family and kids friends. But they've stopped allowing this now, so make sure you do actually use up all your meal credits otherwise you lose them.