Disney Trip Cost

My mom and I just got back from Disney World on Friday! It was a lot of fun. We bought the park hopper ticket option that lets you visit multiple parks and it was 100% worth it. I wasn’t entirely sure if I was going to like Animal Kingdom so I wanted to be able to visit a different park if it turned out it wasn’t my thing. It ended up being okay and it had one of my favorite rides, Expedition Everest. We stayed at Animal Kingdom from about 9a to 2p which is when we decided to go back to the hotel and catch a nap. Then we went to Magic Kingdom which is the real deal. We stayed at Magic Kingdom until 9p which is when the park closes.  Apparently Magic Kingdom does fireworks every day at closing so we got to see the Happily Ever After firework show. It was really nice and set to music from a lot of different movies.

On day two we went back to Magic Kingdom for about half the day and then went to Epcot for dinner. During our visit it was the Food and Wine Festival. We walked around all the different countries and couldn’t decide what we wanted because we were so overwhelmed.  There’s a lot of different countries with a lot of different foods and drinks. We finally picked Thailand where we had chicken and veggies covered in peanut sauce.  Everything we ate at the parks was actually really good. I only had one disappointing meal over the four days. While we were at Epcot, we also got a glass of wine each and shared one margarita while we walked around.

On day three we went to Hollywood Studios. Day three was the only day we didn’t park hop because of how I had set up the dinner reservation.  We did continue our routine of surviving half a day and then turning in for a midday nap. It was so hot and humid during our visit. I don’t know how people manage going during the summer. We had a really good lunch at Fairfax Fare and the place next door, whose name I don’t remember, had the best frozen margarita I’ve ever had. I’m literally sad knowing I will most likely never drink that margarita again. It was the perfect mix of sweet and salty.  Tower of Terror was one of my favorite rides and we got to ride it twice without having to wait too long.  Hollywood Studios is also where the new Star Wars area is. The detail at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was amazing but I wasn’t a big fan of the ride. It was very disorganized. I figure it will probably get better over time. The Star Wars area had just opened up this month.

The last day we went back to Epcot for half a day to explore some more. We had lunch there and then head to Magic Kingdom for our last night. We rode all the rides we wanted to ride again and had my first miss of a meal. All to quickly, it was closing time and we head back to the hotel. And now, here is the final breakdown of what I spent:

Disney tickets: Two park hopper tickets for four days. For us, the park hopper option was completely worth it.

Cost- $995; my half- $498

Flight: As I said in my estimate, I paid for the flight in points. It cost 65,000 points and $120 for checked bags for two bags round trip.

Cost – $120; my half- $60

Hotel: I paid for three nights of the hotel in points costing 120,000 points. The last two nights cost $280.

Cost- $280; my half- $140

Uber: We decided not to rent a car so we didn’t have to pay for parking. We stayed at Holiday Inn Disney Springs area which had a shuttle to and from the park every day. So the only Ubered from the airport to the hotel and back.

Cost- $67; my ‘half’- $37

Food: So we actually ended up getting one meal free. We had a reservation on the first day at 8:15. They told us they were running behind schedule by 30 minutes and we could either wait or cancel the reservation and accept a free meal voucher. Since 30 minutes put us at closing time and we wanted to watch the firework show we took the free meal voucher.  Food at the park was about what I expected it to be. The ‘quick service’ places were about $15 per plates. Sodas and water were $3.50.  The sit down dinner we had was closer to $20+ per plate. My mom and I split the food cost. Typically if I paid for lunch, she paid for dinner and vice versa.  I have been intermittent fasting so we only ate two meals per day plus margaritas, cupcakes, ice cream, etc.

Cost- $209. This doesn’t include what my mom spent because I don’t know how much that is.

Merchandise: I didn’t buy a lot of stuff. I ended up with a pair of Coco inspired mouse ears, a shirt, and a shot glass and I bought a gift for my friend.  My mom bought the shirt for me. Ears were $28 and the shot glass and gift were $20 total.

Cost- $48

Total trip cost: $992

My original estimate was $1,245 so I came in under budget by about $250! I would say this was mostly thanks to my mom because she paid for a couple of things where she could and bought my new Disney shirt. Overall, it was a good trip. I’m glad we were able to go and I’m sad to be back to real life starting tomorrow.