Disney World is expensive, but does that mean there are no ways to save money? Absolutely not! Here, we will help you in planning a trip to Disney World on a budget. The list includes some tips and tricks to imply to make every penny count.
Over the few years, the prices of almost everything at this place have only seen an increase. From ticket prices, ride prices, hotels, food, lodging prices, and travel prices, the budget has increased. With the pandemic hitting the world, the prices have increased, keeping all the safety measures in mind.
For a few years, many new attractions and rides have opened at this place. Many attractions that were previously discontinued have also re-opened. The park has also seen the opening of many new restaurants and cafes.
Planning a Trip to Disney World on a Budget
Well, in case you are planning a trip to Disney World on a budget, there are some points that you must keep in your mind.
Here is a list of seven vital things that you should keep in your list while planning the budget for a vacay at Disney World.
1. Pay-Per-Ride and Genie +
Pay Per Ride
Most of the rides of Disney World are included in the Genie+ that you purchase. However, there are certain exceptions as well.
Disney World usually keeps at least two attractions of the park as pay-per-ride. These attractions are not included in the Genie+ package.
The key point is that the pay-per-ride attractions are usually the best attraction and ride in the park.
Hence, to enjoy this, guests are asked to pay separately. The price of these attractions and rides can fall anywhere between $7 and $15 per person.
It is not mandatory for a person to have a Genie+ to get themselves a pay-per-ride. You can also choose only to have Pay-per-ride and skip Genie+.
Genie +
It was only the last year that the Fast Pass+ was discontinued at Disney World. In place of it, the new Genie + was brought.
In case you are wondering if there are any similarities between Fast Pass+ and Genie+, then there are.
These two are similar to each other except for the fact that Genie+ does not come for free. The cost of purchasing a Genie+ $15 per ticket. One ticket is available for one day only.
Genie+ is a paid system. You can skip standing in the queue when you purchase one of these.
Along with that, you can also secure the return window that is available next for yourself. This service is applicable for over 54 attractions in Disney World and Disneyland combined.
If you want to get the Genie+ only for certain days of your vacation, then you would have to purchase on individual days.
In case you wish to purchase the Genie+ in advance, then you would have to purchase one ticket for each day of your vacation.
The tickets are available for purchase from 12 am. To make it to the Lighting Lane on time, the best thing is to purchase the Genie+ by 7 am.
To make things easier and skip the queue of the rides you want to be on, shortlist them at the time of purchasing the Genie +
Since a person can purchase only one of these if they wish to, they are often left with four options:
- Get both Pay-per-ride and Genie+
- Purchase Genie+ and not Pay-per-ride
- Purchase Pay-per-ride and not Genie+
- Neither purchase Genie+ nor purchase pay-per-ride
Choosing one of the above options depends largely on the attractions and rides that you wish to go at. Hence, the best thing to do would be to shortlist these rides and attractions beforehand.
2. Food
Besides the crazy list of rides and attractions, there is another thing that Disney World is extremely popular for. And that is undoubtedly, the array of food present all over the park.
From restaurants to cafes to street food, you would find everything here. The thing is, all of these are so tempting that it is extremely difficult to miss out on any.
However, the sad part is that in 2022 the price of all the foods has seen an increase. Although, a person can debate that the price increase is not too much per food. However, it does become a problem if you add up the increased price on all the food.
Hence, when you plan your budget to visit Disney World, you would definitely want to keep this in mind. This is for the fact that the price of everything has increased.
From the staple Disney food to the foods served at the cafes and the restaurants, every food has got some extra pounds added to it.
Along with the regular food budget, you might also want to add and keep some extra pounds separately. This is for the festival that always goes around in EPCOT. That is right! EPCOT always witnesses some exciting festival that has some delicious foods. And we are extremely sure that you do not want to miss out on that.
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3. Transportation
Starting from this year, the Magical Express service, a free ride from the Orlando airport to the respective Disney World hotels, has been discontinued. Many transport replacements have replaced it, but sadly, none comes without a cost.
Mears Connect has immediately replaced Magical Express. To board on this, you would have to make the recommendation first.
The bus leaves from the same place where the Magical Express used to leave. This transport would take you to your hotel. Be ready to stop a few times in front of other hotels.
Apart from this, a couple of other transport facilities are also available. One of them is The Sunshine Flyer, which has also just started its operation this month.
One of the unique things about this transport facility is its look. The look of these buses heavily draws inspiration from the 1970 cars.
Here is the cost comparison of both the transport services:
- Mears Connect: $27 for children and $32 for adults.
- The Sunshine Flyer: $25 for children and $34 for adults.
Hence, the transport you choose must largely depend on the age of traveling with members. If you have more adults, you should choose Mears Connect. If your group consists more of children, we suggest you go with Sunshine Flyer.
4. Special Events
It was only last year that two fresh After Hour events were introduced at the Magic Kingdom. These events replaced the big holiday parties that previously used to take place at the Magic Kingdom.
The prices of both of these events were higher than the prices of the events that they replaced. Hence, when calculating the total budget, you must also consider adding the extra pounds that got added.
This is also because even if the previous shows come back, it is very likely for them not to be of the previous price. There would be a price increase. Hence, it is always a good choice to keep some extra pounds added, just in case.
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5. Magic Bands
Planning a trip to Disney World on a budget means flaunting the Magic Band for many, many days, are we not right?
Magic Bands are one of the key attractions of Disney World. The moment you enter the park, you are made to wear one.
If you are wondering, Magic Bands, comes with its own set of benefits. One can say it is a pass for the park. It lets you in on your hotel and plays the role of a park ticket. Along with that, it also lets you take credit in the park.
These Magic Bands previously used to come as free and the hotel reservations. However, the sad part is that since 2021 these have become payable. Hence, the price of the Magic Bands is something that also needs to be added to your budget.
There are many styles and designs of these Magic Bands. Hence, you can purchase the one that clicks you the best. The price ranges somewhere between $19 to $60.
You would find all kinds from the basic designs to some cool designer stuff. Well, it is obvious for anyone to find this a little expensive. Therefore, it would be good to know that getting a Magic Band is not a compulsion in Disney World.
What you can use instead is a Magic Mobile. You can make use of this by downloading the My Disney Experience app on your smartphone. Your smartphone can thus act as a Magic Band. It can thus store your tickets to the park, keys to the hotel, and every other thing that your usual Magic Band would do.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you have visited Disney World before and have a Magic Band from there, you can reuse it on your next visit.
In addition to all this, Disney World is all set to introduce Magic Band+. It will launch soon, and we sure cannot wait for it. This band has some crazy features that we cant wait to experience.
As of now, we are not sure how much this will cost. But, we are sure it would be a little pricy considering all the features that it is providing. Hence, in an approx, you shall also want to include a little pounds extra on your next Disney World visit for Magic Band+.
6. Souvenirs
Like many other things, the price of souvenirs has also increased at Disney World. We all love to get ourselves some souvenirs at Disney World.
Now the thing that not people are aware of is that there has been a huge increase in the price of all the souvenir items.
Along with that, we all are aware that Disney World is celebrating its 50th anniversary all 2022 long. Hence, we are sure that there will be souvenirs to mark the celebration as well. Therefore, make sure to include these prices on your Disney World vacay budget too.
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7. Other possibilities
Certain spheres would also come across a price increase. Although there is no confirmation on the same, it is always good to know about them and add them to the budget. Let us thus have a look.
Disney Dining Plan
With the price of food increasing, we cannot help but wonder if the Disney Dining plan is about to make a comeback. Even if it does, we are sure the price would not remain as before. We are sure that Disney World is sure to increase the incentives of Disney Dining plan.
This would make the plan way more expensive than it was previously. Hence, if and when it returns, you would have a choice to compare it and check if it is saving anything at all.
Ticket Price
There are high possibilities for the Disney World price to increase. There are two main reasons for such.
The first reason is that the ticket price of Disneyland saw an increase only last year. In comparison, the price of the Disney World ticket remained unchanged.
Another big reason is that the ticket price of Disney World has remained the same for a very long time now.
These two reasons make us wonder if Disney World is about to announce an increase in ticket prices.
Final thoughts
The article fairly gives us an idea of all the points to consider and keep in mind while planning a trip to Disney World on a budget.
While it is impossible to plan everything, we can always do a round-off.
The best idea is to keep a little extra pounds handy just in case. Because hey, none of us here wants to skip doing anything because we ran out of cash, do we?
