How much to budget for a short trip to Disney world and on a budget?!

[yoursweetpotatoesarebland]

Potentially we will be in Florida at Easter and wondering if we could fit in 3 or 4 days at Disney but it seems impossible to find day ticket pricing (and apparently you can’t even buy them outside of the US!)

Ive found headline prices through Google but is that like legoland where no one really pays the on the gate ticket price? Theres offers on but only if you’re going for a week or longer 🤷🏻‍♀️

I thought we could book a cheap ish premier inn equivalent if i could find a good deal on the tickets and take a packed lunch but Im drawing a blank right now… has anyone done this or have any suggestions/ recommendations?

thanks 🙂

A weeks ticket will probably be less than four individual days passes.

Although I must warn you, it really can't be done on the cheap. It's very expensive, there are rules on what food you can bring in and there are no deals on tickets.

Thanks - do you have any links to what food you’re allowed to take in? It says on the Disney plan website (which looks fairly official) that snacks / sandwiches etc are all allowed but nothing with a strong odour or that needs heating so I thought I’d be okay on that front.. definitely would want to be aware though!

Interesting that you say there are no ticket deals - that’s what I wondered. There are 14 days for the price of 7 but day tickets don’t seem to be accessible in the same way 🤷🏻‍♀️

Impossible to do on a budget. Everything is extortionate.

I’d honestly not bother going for a couple days there is no deals and I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of bringing food etc , if your going to do it it’s one of them things that you do properly

Day tickets are at least $150 per person per day at peak times (which Easter is) depending on the park. The only ‘cheap’ tickets are via scams such as timeshare presentations as far as I know. It’s cheaper to get a UK 14 day ticket, but it isn’t cheap… you can get a cheap hotel though.

easily thousands.

It varies by park and time of year but from memory it’s $190-250 per adult per park. That’s why the 7/14 day tickets are so much better value.

You can find cheap accommodation and we took packed lunches in no problem.

It's very, very expensive.

Consider as well Easter is peak time, as crowded as Christmas Day. So unless you're gonna budget for lighting lanes as well... I'd say not an option to do it cheap I'm Afraid

We’ve used these in the past to buy shorter duration tickets www.undercovertourist.com/

There is a forum called The DIBB which will give you awesome great advice.

Not sure how old your kids are, but I prefer Universal, less busy, phenomenal attention to detail, even the queues are detailed to stop you getting bored. Three days is enough to get through all of it and you can get fast passes so jump the Q once on every ride. We went to the one in LA for a day and got in everything.

But the Florida one is amazing and there are affordable hotels fairly close by.

I’d also just do universal.

Holidaying on a budget saps all the joy out of it. You'd be far better of doing activities that didn't constantly have you worrying about money.

It's impossible to do on the cheap and even if you minimise spend while there you and the kids will constantly be wishing you could have some merch, food etc like the rest of patrons.

Just to add, when the kids were smaller we always packed a lunch, it was fine. The dining plan isn’t worth it. Although some of the snacks are fun. There are various people on instagram who do Disney hacks and dining reviews.

We normally get a villa or condo, Airbnb or booking.com are great.

get Uber rather than drive if you are close, it is cheaper than all day parking which is around $30 a day.

Sorry, final tip from me is to look at attractiontickets.com, that is who we use

Not thousands 🤷‍♀️

thanks for all the really helpful tips! I don’t think there’s a time that we will do a week / two weeks there - but while we are in Florida anyway so flights are sorted (a major part of the overall cost) I thought maybe we could squeeze it in… but yes - definitely the deals seem to be on the longer ticket lengths!

maybe we’ll just do a hotel by the beach for a few days instead 😆

(and to be honest I don’t think I’d enjoy a week there! A few days is definitely enough for me!)
I was thinking a day each at magic kingdom, universal and Epcot or something?

There is something about Magic Kingdom at rope drop which Inlove. The reality is that Disney is starting to look quite tired compared to Universal.

At Univeral they have three parks now, plus the Boardwalk is great when you are done with the parks., The Hogwarts express links two of the parks with a multi park ticket, plus a great water park. My kids prefer Universal, but deffo takes 2-3 days. The rides are far batter, lots of 4D immersive rides like Transformers and Spider-Man. The new epic universe has How to Train your Dragon and Super Mario World which is quite something.

I’m going to Epcot for a day with a friend I’m staying with and we’ve paid £150 each as it’s an expensive date.

Wowsers. Where did you book the tickets?

My American friend booked them.

You can buy tickets from the US site using a VPN (like Tunnelbear - just download a VPN app, open it up and select USA) This allows you to view and purchase tickets directly with Disney.

They do have some offers, but nothing as good as the UK offer of 14 days for price of 7. The more days you buy the slightly cheaper it is.

You can buy base tickets which give you 1 day per park, or park hopper which are slightly more expensive but allow you to say spend a morning in Magic Kingdom and then move to Epcot for the evening.

We have been to Disney World a lot, usually for 2 weeks, we have even done a month! But have also done 3 day visits and its amazing what you can squeeze in. I would suggest one full day at Magic Kingdom, 1 full day at Epcot and a 3rd day split between Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. The water parks are also fantastic for a rest day in between.

Taking in picnics is no problem. Although supermarket food in the US has risen hugely over the last few years.

As others have said, Universal is also fantastic especially if you have teenagers. Tickets are more affordable compared to Disney but still spenny.

Are you UK based? If so join a page called it’s Orlando time and The Orlando forum. There’s and Orlando DIY page also. People take photos of at the gate ticket prices all the time

Firstly it might be better to look at universal for an overnight trip? It’s more affordable. If you book a premier hotel ( more money sorry) you can get free express passes for both days.
Disney massively expensive, and it is huge. to be honest, if you are only going for a few short days you want to make the most of it, which means spending more money to buy fast passes and lightning lanes. If you don’t get them, potentially you’ll waste half your day queuing for attractions.
at peak times the queues can be up to two hours per ride. Rides last less than 5 minutes for the most part.

so in short, short trips, throw money at it to get the best experience. Sorry. No issues taking lunches into the park though.
it’s Orlando Time on Facebook is really good for tips and advice. Also beware there are a lot of crazy, Disney obsessed folk online!