How Much Money Should I Bring To Walt Disney World?
It’s one of the first questions that comes to mind when people start planning their Walt Disney World vacations. . . . . how much money should I bring? It’s a good question! Unlike hotels, park tickets and flights, the expenses that you’ll encounter at Walt Disney World aren’t as straightforward or definitive. That doesn’t mean they’re impossible to estimate though!
Today, in what I assure you isn’t going to be the most exciting conversation we’ve ever had here at 2 Foolish Mortals [just warning you in advance], I’m going to tell you some of the ways I go about figuring out how much money to bring with me when visiting Walt Disney World and how much money I’m planning on bringing with me during my next visit. It might not be a thrilling discussion, but I’m hoping that you find it to be an informative one, so grab your notebook! We’re heading straight for the weeds with this one!
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There are 2 types of expenses that you’ll encounter with a Walt Disney World vacation; planning expenses and daily expenses. The first type, planning expenses, are all the numbers and costs that you’ll encounter during the planning phase. This would include things like hotels, park tickets, flights and other transportation. These are the expenses that, as I mentioned above, are fairly easy to pin down. Though they might fluctuate during your planning process, once you’ve made the purchase the number is locked in. On the other hand we have daily expenses. These are the expenses that you’ll encounter day to day during your vacation. This is where we’re going to focus our attention today.
Daily expenses at Walt Disney World include things like food, drinks and souvenirs. They might also include wheelchair or stroller rentals, special experiences or rideshare services. Unlike planning expenses, the amount of money spent on these daily expenses can be impacted by a number of factors that change what you’ll end up spending. For example, if you’re wanting a snack or make an impulse purchase of a bubble wand. That said, there are ways to determine what you’re most likely to spent with a little bit of leg work. Unsurprisingly, it involves a little bit of planning and research. Don’t worry, it’s not as scary as it sounds. . . . plus we’re in this one together!
The first things we’re taking a look at today is food. Unfortunately, because Disney Magic has no nutritional value on its own, those of us visiting Walt Disney World will need to buy food to sustain ourselves rather than saving all our money for souvenirs. [Sad, but true.] With that being the case, food can often take up a sizable chunk of a Disney vacation budget and, for guests who have not planned accordingly, can get out of control rather quickly. How do you prevent that from happening? Like I said, a little bit of planning and research.
There are a lot of different food options available around the Walt Disney World Resort. Generally they are broken down into categories that include quick-service [also known as counter-service], table-service and [what I’m going to call] specialty dining.
Quick-service or counter-service is Walt Disney World’s version of fast food. As the name suggests, guests order and receive their food from a counter and seat themselves rather than having a server take and bring their order to them. Quick-service restaurants can be indoors and have lots of available seating [Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe] or can be kiosks with limited to no available seating [booths around World Showcase during EPCOT festivals]. Most notably, quick-service locations are usually the most affordable with the average entree being under $10.00 for kids and under $15.00 for adults.
Table-service or full-service restaurants are exactly what they sound like. These are places where you’ll be seated at a table, order your food and have it served to you by a Cast Member. As you might expect, with more quality and service comes a higher price tag. . . . . it also requires gratuity.
With so many different styles of table-service dining and levels of quality comes a wide range in pricing. What this ultimately means is that you could be spending anywhere from $15.00 to $65.00 per person. If you’re considering table service dining, it’s best to look up the restaurant you’re considering and take a look at the menu. This is quite simply the best way to get a realistic snapshot of what you’re looking at cost wise.
Specialty dining is what I consider to be all the dining options around Walt Disney World that are more about the experience than the food. Examples of this might include character dining, dinner shows [Hoop Dee Doo Review] and fine dining [Victoria & Alberts]. Though these are technically table-service restaurants, I consider them to be in a category all their own for a number of reasons; including price.
Like other table-service restaurants, what you can expect to pay for specialty dining falls within a very wide range. Usually, this starts somewhere in the $30.00 range for kids and can be as much as $190.00 per adult. Again, if you’re considering making a reservation [which you will most definitely need] at one of these restaurants, you’ll want to take a look at the pricing and menu ahead of your trip to get an idea of what you can expect to pay.
Deciding where and how you’ll enjoy means while on your Walt Disney World vacation is the first step in figuring out how much money you’ll need to bring with you. [To that point, your budget may also dictate where and how you’ll end up enjoying meals.] Once you’ve settled on where you want to eat and figured out the price range for those locations, some simple math can give you a general idea of how much money you can expect to pay over the course of your vacation. . . . at least as far as food is concerned.
What I Do:
When planning my own Walt Disney World vacations I don’t like to spend excessive amounts of time or money on food. In most cases, I’ll save specialty dining for when I’m celebrating something or doing a family reunion style trip and only book table-service once or twice over the course of my trip if I’m interested in a particular restaurant or menu item. I also like to bring along breakfast items and snacks. This not only allows me to stretch my budget, but it saves a lot of time. . . . which is a topic we’ll get more into some other time.
As an example, on my upcoming trip I’m packing breakfast and some snack items. This will make it so that I don’t have to rely on buying a $12.00 breakfast or $8.00 snack out of necessity. Doing this not only saves money [allowing me to spend it on what I really want], but it also saves a lot of time. . . . . which is something we’ll get more into some other day. Based on what we discussed above, this means that I can expect to purchase 2 meals at around $15.00 each per day of my trip; or spend around $30.00 per day on meals. By doing a little bit of math, I can then determine that I’ll need about $420.00 to cover meals for the duration of my trip.
Of course, I’ll also need to factor in the cost of any table-service restaurants I’m planning on enjoying. I’ll do this by looking up the restaurant I’m looking at, checking out the menu in the My Disney Experience App and getting an idea of what I can expect to pay. Then, I’ll include that number in my estimate. In some cases this may not change your original estimate. For example, I’ve reserved brunch at Olivia’s and know that the Chicken and Waffles does not exceed the $15.00 I’ve allotted myself for meals. No need to make any changes to my budget in that case. But let’s say I’m planning on eating at Sci-Fi Drive-In Theater. A quick search of the menu using My Disney Experience lets me know that $25.00 is the most I’ll pay for an entree. If I’m thinking that a cocktail might be in my future, I can add another $15.00 to that amount. Putting those numbers together, including a tip, lets me know that I’ll need to add $48.00 to my estimated budget; bringing me to $468.00 to cover meals for the duration of my trip.
Now that we’ve got the necessities taken care of it’s time to factor in snacks. There are lots of snacks to choose from at Walt Disney World, most of which come in at $10.00 or less. There are some notable exceptions though. This includes the iconic turkey legs that are currently $13.25 each.
Just like with restaurants, having an idea of what snacks you want to try is the best way to figure out how much you’re likely to spend. This is particularly important if you’re plan is to go crazy with snacks. However, for most guests, planning on one snack per day is probably reasonable.
What I Do:
Like I said earlier, I like to bring my own snacks with me to Walt Disney World. This usually includes dried fruit, nuts and granola bars. That doesn’t mean I don’t like to enjoy the delicious offerings at the parks [or resorts] though; I just buy what I want rather than something to hold me over until my next meal.
When I’m not traveling alone, the way I budget for snacks is bringing $10.00 per day. I do things a bit differently when I’m traveling solo though. Because so many of the snacks at Walt Disney World are sharable, it’s usually enough food for me to consider a meal. [This is will not be the case for everyone though, so take your personal needs into consideration here.] This being the case, I’m including snacks in the abovementioned $30.00 per day.
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Money Saving Tip:
If you’re a fan of popcorn, consider purchasing a souvenir popcorn bucket. These popcorn buckets aren’t only a great way to remember your trip, they’re also refillable. Standard popcorn buckets are around $12.00 and you can refill them for only $2.00, which is a great deal considering bucket-less popcorn is $6.25 each.
Finally, we’ve arrived at beverages. Walt Disney World serves up soft drinks [bottled and fountain], milk, juice, coffee, tea, cocoa and water. You can also find slushy drinks, beer, wine and cocktails. Generally speaking, you can expect to pay around $5.00 for a bottled or fountain beverage [including water, juice, regular coffee, tea and milk], $7.00 for a non-alcoholic slush drink, $10.00 for a beer and $15.00 for a cocktail.
When it comes to beverages, I personally think we slip out of necessity territory and into that place where you’re probably spending more than you have to. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to stay hydrated. . . . I just don’t think spending $5.00 per drink is the way to do it.
What I Do:
Personally, I think that drinks at Walt Disney World are an astronomical waste of money. Rather than spending the $5.00 every time I need to wet my whistle, I prefer carrying around a water bottle. With the bottle fill stations and free cups of water [available at counter service locations], it’s never empty and the water’s always cold.
For those moments when I’d like a flavored beverage or sports drink, I bring along single serving packets of drink mix. This way, I can enjoy some lemonade with my chicken nuggets or have some electrolytes when it’s hot out without the extra cost.
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Money Saving Tip:
Walt Disney World Resort hotels sell refillable souvenir mugs for $19.99 that include free refills for the length of your stay at all of the Walt Disney World Resort hotels. This is a great way to save money on fountain beverages, coffee and tea.
Next up, we need to talk about stroller, wheelchair and ECV rentals. This isn’t something that everyone visiting Walt Disney World will need to concern themselves with, but if you do it’s an important number to factor into your budget.
Strollers are available for rent at all of the Walt Disney World theme parks and Disney Springs. Guests have 2 stroller options to choose from including a single stroller [recommended for children 50lbs or less] or double stroller [recommended for children 100lbs or less]. Single strollers are $15.00 per day or $13.00 per day for a Multi-Day (length of stay) rental. Double strollers are $31.00 per day or $27.00 per day for a Multi-Day (length of stay) rental. There is also a $100.00 credit card deposit required for strollers rented at Disney Springs.
Wheelchairs are available for rent at all of the Walt Disney World theme parks, water parks and Disney Springs. Wheelchairs are $12.00 per day of $10.00 per day for a Multi-Day (length of stay) rental. A $100.00 deposit is required when renting a wheelchair from the water parks or Disney Springs.
ECVs or Electric Conveyance Vehicles [sometimes called electric scooters] are available for rent at Walt Disney World theme parks, water parks and Disney Springs. ECVs are $50.00 per day plus a $20.00 deposit for guests renting from theme parks and $100.00 for quests renting from water parks and Disney Springs. Unlike other rentals, Multi-Day (length of stay) rentals are not available for ECVs. However, ECVs can be held for guest leaving the park and returning back later in the day and your daily rental is transferable between all locations. In other words, you just pay once per day. . . even if you change locations.
Renting strollers, wheelchairs and ECVs directly from Walt Disney World might not be the most affordable option out there, but it can be very convenient for the right people. [In the past, we went into some of the pros and cons of renting wheelchairs from Disney and outside companies. Whether you’re considering a stroller, wheelchair or ECV, I recommend giving the post a read. Though we focused on wheelchair rentals, much of what we talked about could apply to any type of rental. You can check that post out HERE.]
What I Do:
For this particular visit to Walt Disney World, strollers and wheelchairs aren’t on my radar. However, I’ve got some experience renting strollers, wheelchairs and ECVs from Walt Disney World using both daily and length of stay rates. Personally, I like renting directly from Disney. I’ve talked about this in the past in regards to wheelchairs, but the same holds true no matter what you’re renting.
In terms of whether I go with daily rental or length of stay, it really depends on the needs of who I’m traveling with. If it’s more likely than not that we’ll be needing or wanting a stroller or wheelchair every day, I’m going with the length of stay option.
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Last, but certainly not least, we’ve got to talk about souvenirs. Though they are far from a necessity, I think it’s safe to say that most everyone who visits Walt Disney World looks forward to having something they can bring home as a reminder of their vacation. The big question is what exactly that is and how much it’s going to cost. Fortunately, there’s a something for every budget at the many shops around the Walt Disney World Resort, from free celebration buttons to a $49,500.00 Swarovski-covered Cinderella Castle. Because there are so many items to choose from, the best way to go about figuring souvenirs into your budget is to determine a number you’re comfortable with and sticking to it. Don’t worry, you’ll still end up with plenty of fun options to choose from!
What I Do:
When I’m on vacation, I like to budget for one big souvenir purchase per trip [per person]. For me, somewhere around $100.00 is what I would consider reasonable for a big souvenir. This could be something like a Loungefly Mini Backpack, hoodie, Spirit Jersey or piece of art. This amount of money could also get you 2 to 3 adult t-shirts, 2 play sets, 3 good size plushies or any other combination of souvenirs that you might be interested in.
I also like to keep a general idea of what I’m most likely to want in mind when budgeting for souvenirs. For example, if I’m hoping to get my hands on a t-shirt [usually around $30.00] and pin [usually around $12.00] from each of the Magic Kingdom mountain attractions, I can expect to spend roughly $126.00 on those purchases. Visiting shopDisney.com is a great way to get an idea of what you can expect to pay at Walt Disney World Resort for souvenirs.
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Of course, it goes without saying that the amount of money you should bring to Walt Disney World really depends on what you’re capable of, financially speaking. Although it’s fun to splurge, we don’t recommend [nor do we think it’s necessary] to get saddle yourself with mountains of debt simply so that you can enjoy Walt Disney World. Not only are the parks filled with fun things to do, but there are lots of ways to cut costs. [In fact, we talk about a lot of them right here on 2 Foolish Mortals.]
If you’re a frequent Walt Disney World visitor, how much money do you usually bring along with you? Share your thoughts, some of your favorite cost cutting techniques or whatever else is on your mind in a comment down below!