We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Disney World can be expensive!
Disney World can be EXPENSIVE!
Not only are we seeing prices increase in the Disney World parks, but the way you get to the parks is getting more expensive also, with gas prices fluctuating and airfare prices surging. We wondered whether Disney World was becoming too expensive for the average family; here’s what YOU had to say.
The overwhelming majority of our readers said that yes, Disney World is too expensive for the average family, with one reader going so far as to ask the rhetorical question: “Does milk come from cows?” Another said “I understand the rising costs but I think it’s gone way beyond what an average family can afford.”
Many of our reader say that Disney World has gotten too expensive.
Many of our readers commented that Disney World “didn’t just get too expensive” and that it always has been too expensive for the average family. A lot of comments also discussed how it’s not just the increased prices, but is also how things that guests didn’t have to pay for before now cost money. One reader said “The biggest issue isn’t even the cost. It’s the cost to experience ratio.” Our readers said that it was things like having Genie+ instead of the free FastPass+ and still not offering the Disney Dining Plan, and no longer offering free parking at the Disney World hotels that is what’s sending Disney World over the edge into “too expensive.”
Paid Genie+ replaced the formerly free FastPass+
Another reader commented that it was about priorities: “If you save and prioritize it’s possible for more people who think they can’t.” They went on to say that it’s about what you choose to spend your money on. Of course, this doesn’t apply to every family, but it’s about what you’re willing to spend your money on, they said: “you can find frugal ways to do Disney and extravagant ways to do Disney and everything in between.”
Tower of Terror
Another reader said that they had priced other vacations and compared the to a vacation in Disney World and found that there wasn’t much of a price difference. “I don’t think it’s more expensive than other types of vacations,” they said. Of course with rising costs associated with travel, your physical distance from Disney World could play a major role in whether or not a Disney World vacation is attainable.
It’s expensive to travel these days.
With all that being said, there are some ways you can save money and make your trip to Disney World less expensive. We took the liberty of calculating a mock trip and found that it would cost about $7,600 for a family of four to vacation in Disney World in 2022. However, this price included things like Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, the purchase of MagicBand+, and Individual Lightning Lane Selections — all of which are not necessary.
MagicBand+
You don’t need to attend after hours events like the Christmas party or Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party in order to have a good vacation. You also don’t need to purchase MagicBand+. All of the necessary features (like accessing your Disney World hotel room or getting into the parks) can be accessed via the My Disney Experience app, through a paper or plastic ticket, or through the standard version of MagicBand which you can get for cheaper.
You can still use the original version of MagicBand
In the same vein, purchasing Individual Lightning Lanes for rides is not necessary. Most of these rides have standby lines with the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind which is currently using a virtual queue.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
If you’re planning a Disney World trip and looking to save some money, we’ve rounded up some of the cheapest days that you can visit in 2022, so you can save some money on your tickets into the parks. You can also save money by limiting the merchandise you purchase in the parks, and bringing snacks to eat in your hotel room so you can cut down on the food you have to purchase in the parks. Most of the standard Disney World hotel rooms come with mini fridges, so you can store things like milk to have cereal in the morning before you head to the park.
Mini Fridge at Pop Century
Disney will also occasionally offer discounts on hotel rooms or park tickets, so it’s worth checking the Disney World website to see if there are any offers available. For example, right now, Disney+ subscribers can save up to 25% on their hotel room, and there are also sometimes discounts for Florida residents, or other ways to save during Disney’s “slow” seasons.
Interested in reading more about ways you can save? We’ve rounded up 5 ways you can save $1,000 on your Disney World vacation, plus even more tips for saving BIG on your trip. And make sure to keep reading DFB for all the latest!
Click here to see the hardest dates to get a Disney World Park Pass Reservation in 2022!
Our friends at Small World Vacations can also help you plan a Disney World trip within your budget. They do all the hard work, so you can just enjoy your vacation. And the best part is that their services are completely FREE!
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What’s your biggest advice for saving at Disney World? Let us know in the comments!
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It 100% is too expensive.
When I was a kid, we had a family if 6 (parents and 4 kids). We went to Disney once per year.
We would get 5 day park hopper for $275. Now yhat is nearly the cost for a single day. If I was a kid now, my parents could never afford to go to Disney.
As Disney World costs increase, value verses expense becomes a major problem for the average family if not for the upper income average family. Current times dictate that people must choose where their money is best spent, Disney is fast falling out of the wise choice category.
Slow seasons…when is that…? Do they even have slow seasons anymore… more like less jam packed times of the year these days
Interesting reading your readers comments We are a family of 6 from the Uk
We normally stay on Disney property but too expensive so in a villa
It has cost us 12000 dollars for flights and. 5000 dollars for 3 week car hire
This will be our last trip sadly
Hotels are absolutely ridiculous in price through Disney! I learned from you guys ———renting dvc points is a game changer for me. Also I researched the least expensive times of year to visit 👍
For the average us citizens no, avg. world wide yes it’s far to expensive.
Pay these prizes to stand in line for up to 5 hours in the blazing Florida heat? Sounds like fun to me.
The cost of Disney World now, especially with all the nickel and diming going on has impacted our decision whether or not to visit. We were last there in Jan 2019 (our third trip, kids were 10 and 13). We absolutely loved it and planned to return in 2023 and my husband and I talked about visiting once or twice year once we were empty nesters. We decided to not return in 2023, largely based on price. Paying more for less is not attractive for us. We always stayed on the resort and we fly to Orlando so we appreciated all the incentives. We may consider again in 2026 as a family or later with just the two of us. Makes us sad. But it opens space in our calendar to check out other options…
As long as the parks are full, there is no incentive for Disney to change things on the financial front.
Between the WOK , Disney Board and the CEO they should all be replaced.
The price is too high, the crowds are too dense. Time for disney to expand a park or two to allow more choices to thin out the crowd. Perhaps go back to the e ticket routine and pay for the rides according to popularity system. Right now, too many people competing for too few rides. This encourages the bean counters to raise the prices instead of any attempt at making people happy.
Went to Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios last summer. Nobody in the parks looked happy in contrast to Universal Studios. My family were cussed at by someone’s grandchildren, but we didn’t let other people’s miserable experience affect our family’s experience. However, everyone enjoyed Universal Studios, because people looked like they were having fun.
We used to go all the time as a military family… but even those tickets have gone from $99 to $350. We can take our kids to Europe and Hawaii cheaper than Disney with travel hacking, free hotels and car rental, so we choose other trips over Disney!
As someone who has family traveled to WDW since the early 1980’s, I can tell you it has not only gotten too expensive for average families, but the experience is stressful due to having to spend most of the time on your phone app trying to navigate Genie/Genie+. Our last visit was exhausting mentally and not much fun compared to earlier visits with Fast Pass. It appears Disney is catering to the wealthy customers. We can no longer stay in Disney hotels due to cost. Disney has lost a lot of the magic we used to experience and we’re taking a break!
It definitely is. If I didn’t live in Florida and work for the Loews I wouldn’t be able to go as often as I do. I don’t know how average families do it. With the flights hotels tickets and stupid Genie. Everything is just so overpriced and adds up quick.
For many of the nickel and diming reasons above, our last trip was too stressful to repeat. We tried the pay version of Genie+, but with the constant checking of our phone for updates it became a net minus to our experience. We are avoiding the parks in 2023, using our DVC points to cruise instead. In 2024 we will be renting out our points as mentioned in an above post.
I know this next one does not affect a lot of people, but I think it illustrates the lack of forward thinking on Disney’s part. One of our great pleasures was to book Beach Club or Boardwalk so we could walk through EPCOT every night for a dinner reservation or just enjoy tapas at the various kiosks. The Park Pass system killed that because you can never count on getting in, along with making a Park Hopper less of a value. A less valuable purchase due to a rule change is just another hidden price increase.
We took our kids every year when they were out of school. We never had a problem getting fast passes … dinner, and never really on our phones. Now we can’t afford to go and really don’t want to live on my phone. We went to Universal in June 2022 and didn’t use our phone except for pictures. Family time!
Visit less often.
I do believe it is too expensive. Part of a family vacation is being able to relax and do something special. The average family has so many strains on their income that it’s impossible to add the extras such as Genie plus and special events. I think Disney is getting more and more exclusive because of the pricing.