How to Have a Low Cost Disney World Trip
Here’s a secret: you don’t have to be a millionaire to take your kids to Walt Disney World.
In fact, you can have an incredible family vacation on a smaller budget than you probably think, even at the House of Mouse.
I grew up going to Walt Disney World, but it wasn’t until I began planning trips with my own money that I realized how easy it was to blow a budget at Disney World.
Between the ticket upgrades, Lightning Lane options, on-property dining, and special events, your low-key Disney vacation can quickly balloon into something that will stress you out, and take all of the fun out of the experience before you can even get there.
I’ve been to Walt Disney World dozens of times on a variety of budget price points, and I have got saving money there down to a science.
In the guide below, I’m sharing everything you need to know to plan a more budget-conscious trip to Walt Disney World, including tips on where to splurge vs. save, and ways you can embrace the magic while staying as low cost as possible.
My daughter and husband on the tea cups at Mad Tea Party in Disney’s Magic Kingdom theme park
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Can you even have a budget Disney World trip?
Before we get any further into this post, let’s get one thing out of the way: Disney World isn’t ever a cheap trip, no matter how many of my tips and tricks you manage to employ.
We’ve taken several 6-8 week long, camping-based road trips around the United States in the last few years, and (I swear!) these have been cheaper than taking my kids and I to Disney World for 2 weeks and staying at a moderate resort.
There are shoestring budget trips. And there are Disney trips. Pick one.
That being said, there are many ways to take your kids to Walt Disney World and have a BLAST without selling your house to fund the vacation.
Despite what the promotional materials might have you think, you and your kids don’t need to stay at the most expensive hotel on property and have sit-down dining three meals a day.
Know that Disney World will always have something for you to buy, try, or eat beyond your original budget. It's just a matter of reigning in unnecessary spending and re-alloting that money to what really matters to you.
If you want to treat your kids to a lunch at Cinderella's Castle, go for it. It's pricey, but worth the money if your children will make lasting memories. Just consider that you can't eat like that for every meal every day if you want a lower budget to stay in tact.
Plan more of your Walt Disney World vacation with these helpful posts:
16 Ways to Keep Your Walt Disney World Trip as Low Cost as Possible
Use Disney gift cards
Many grocery stores sell these nowadays, and even allow you to use your store perks or rewards system to get a discount on them.
Sam's Club or Costco sometimes reduces their Disney gift cards by $5-10 off of the marked price, which doesn't seem like much at first, but can quickly add up if you pay for your entire trip with gift cards.
At minimum, you’ll save $40-50, which is enough for a meal or a couple of snacks.
Do the math on the dining plans.
From time to time, Walt Disney World will run a dining plan special. This is usually where you’ll get a free children’s dining package with the purchase of an adult’s.
While anything “free” at Disney World is sure to catch your eye, you’ll want to fully break down the costs of the dining plan to see if it will actually save you money.
You’ll need to check to see if the dining plan covers just fast casual or more upscale/expensive dining. You’ll want to look at how many snack credits you get. You’ll need to consider if you get a free resort mug with the promotion.
And then, you’ll need to ask yourself how much you’d eat if you didn’t have the dining plan. If you’d already planned to do 2 sit down meals a day plus 2 snacks in the parks, and coffee/tea/soft drinks 2-3 times a day at the resort, it might make sense for you to get the dining plan.
In my anecdotal experience, I’ve never been able to make the math work. One of my kids will eat anything and the other eats nothing but PB+J sandwiches and chicken fingers.
So, at least 50% of my children’s meals are going to be purchased and then looked at, making the dining plan for him completely unnecessary.
I can buy a couple of boxes of Uncrustables, some fruit, some juice boxes, and some pre-packaged chips, and just throw those in the stroller from time to time, and he’s as happy with that as if I’d bought the $75 breakfast in the castle.
We also tend to go heavy on the snacks throughout our time at Disney World, which tend to replace at least one of our meals.
Our family, at least, would end up wasting money on the dining plan, even at a discount, since I’m positive we’d have meals and snacks left over. I’d much rather pay as I go to ensure that we’re getting the food we want without having to keep up with credits.
That being said, what doesn’t work for me, might be a great deal for your family! Just do the math before you commit either way.
Check for special deals on Disney resorts.
While the rack rate at the on-property Disney World resort can be shocking, don’t book anything until you’ve checked in the special offers section of the website.
From the Walt Disney World home page, click on the “Tickets and Parks” section, then click on “View Special Offers” from the drop down menu.
On the next page, click “Room only” to drill down into the resort deals that Walt Disney World has currently or will have in the coming months.
I don’t ever book my rooms at Walt Disney World until I check here first, which allows me to see where I can save on resort rooms.
These deals tend to make the on-property rooms more in line with what you’d pay for a comparable level of hotel off-property.
For example, the 30% off rooms special that Disney World runs fairly regularly brings down the cost of All-Star Sports, the cheapest of the value resorts, down to around $145 a night, which is close to what I’d pay at a Holiday Inn Express or Hilton Garden Inn along International Drive or in Flamingo Crossing.
This on-property discounted room rate become almost identical to off-property when you consider that you’ll be paying a parking fee on top of the listed off-property hotel’s nightly fee. (Disney hotels had a parking fee for a brief moment post-Covid, but have thankfully stopped nickel and diming people like that.)
Find a complete breakdown of the pros and cons of staying on- and off-property at Disney World here.
Also, don’t forget to utilize bounce back deals if you know you’re going to want to come back to Walt Disney World within a year or so of your visit.
You can book your next visit with a discount (usually in the range of 25%, but it varies) while you’re still at Disney World, or you can take the information with you.
Keep in mind that you’ll only have about 2 weeks post-trip to take advantage of the bounce back, which adds some immediacy to your decision.
Go during the low season
It must be the low season if Hollywood Studios is this empty!
Some people argue that Disney World doesn’t have a low season anymore, but that’s not 100% true if you look at the times of year that Disney runs deals.
In general, a business isn’t going to try and lose money on a discounted experience, so if Disney is offering a deal anywhere on property, that’s an indicator that they’re working hard to bring in overall sales at that time of the year.
I’ve found that you can still save money on rooms and your time in line when you travel in January, February, September, or (early) November.
Yes, you’re going to have to take your kids out of school to do this, but that’s a decision that your family will have to weigh against lower crowds and better discounts.
Avoid the week of Thanksgiving, the week between Christmas and New Year's, and any weekend that has a special event occurring (Star Wars, Food and Wine Festival, etc.).
Note that some rides may be closed for refurbishment in January, so check before you book to make sure your favorite ride is up and running!
Have breakfast in your room.
All Disney hotel rooms now have a mini-fridge in them (with microwave).
Bring oatmeal packets, cereal and milk, protein bars, or pastries for a quick breakfast for mere pennies.
Eating a very basic breakfast at the resorts or in the parks, even if you’re only getting pastries and coffee, can quickly add up to a $30+ meal for a family of four.
Use that money toward a character breakfast or a turkey leg later in the day by eating something quick in your room!
Go to a late character breakfast.
If one of these fun-filled, but expensive, character dining sessions in on your "must-do" list, make your reservations as late as possible (usually 10:30 or 11:00 a.m.).
Have a light breakfast in your room before heading to the park, then let your character breakfast do double duty as a hearty breakfast and a big lunch during this brunch time.
The breakfasts are incredibly filling, so your family will be happy and full well into the early evening.
As an added bonus, the character breakfast cost is significantly less expensive than a lunch or dinner character experience.
We really like doing these character meet-and-greet brunch buffets, and have sampled them all over the park.
My favorites include:
Tusker House at Animal Kingdom, where you’ll get American favorites mixed with some African-inspired dishes. $52/adult.
Hollywood and Vine at Hollywood Studios, which has an amazing American breakfast buffet including bananas foster French toast and a spicy chicken and donut. $49/adult.
Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary Resort, which has a great breakfast buffet including carved ham, a waffle bar, avocado toast, and pastries. $59/adult.
‘Ohana at the Polynesia Resort, where you’ll meet Stitch and friends while tucking into huge platters of eggs, bacon, biscuits, and more. $53/adult.
The Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom, where you can eat pastries, biscuits, chicken, waffles and more while parading around with Pooh and Friends. $54/adult. Read my complete review of the Pooh and friends character dining experience here.
All of these are fantastic with more to eat that you can handle. I like that there’s a wide selection of food available for even pickier eaters, including yogurt, pastries, and fresh fruit.
Plus, each of these has character meet-and-greets, so you’re getting two things done at the same time, which will free up more time later in the day for rides.
Overall, these are a splurge, but they’re much more doable within a budget than the Cinderella’s Castle character dining breakfast, which is pushing $80 an adult these days.
Keep those food costs as low as possible.
Drinks
Counter-service places will give you a glass of hot or cold water for free.
Bring your own packs of hot cocoa, instant coffee, powdered lemonade, or powdered juice packets, and you have a quick, free beverage!
We also took in bottled water and then just refilled the bottles throughout the day.
Snacks
If you are on the dining plan and have snacks, you can use your free snack at Starbucks for a fun treat.
There is a huge baguette for less than $4 for sale in the France section of EPCOT, and this cheap option is one of my kids’ favorites. The bakery will give you jelly for free with your purchase!
If you’re on a meal plan, you’ll have some meals covered, but your kids (like mine) might always seem to be hungry or thirsty.
My son with his beloved Uncrustables. We bring them into the parks by the box!
You can carry soft sided coolers and food and drink into Walt Disney World and so we did that to save us from buying all of the overpriced in park snacks.
Great snack ideas include:
fruit pouches,
individual chip bags,
individual cereal packs,
bags of Goldfish
Capri Suns or other juice boxes,
granola bars,
whole fruit like oranges, bananas, and apples, and
fruit snack gummies.
You can also take lollipops for your kids while they are in line, so if you have antsy waiters, you may want to have a few of those on hand too!
Meals
I’ve taken this a step further and packed us sandwiches when my kids were little and didn’t really care about sit down dining.
Our priorities then were much more about the character meet-and-greets, rides, and shows, and I didn’t see the point of paying for a lot of food for my kid to push it around.
Uncrustables are great to throw in a cooler, as they’ll slowly defrost throughout the day.
Skip the Lightning Lanes.
I know that this might be a bold statement, but you don’t need Lightning Lanes to have a good time at Disney World!
Yes, they’re helpful if you know you HAVE to ride a specific attraction or two, but they’re also an easy place to save in your overall budget.
I tested this theory out on our last two trips, and we ended up being just fine. Know that you’ll have to really go with the flow in order to make this work, but you can give up the Type A planner inside of you, it’s a fun way to experience the parks.
It’s also a throwback to how we used to visit the parks in the 90s before even Fast Passes were a thing. I look at the MyDisney app to see what ride currently has a low wait time, and we go there.
You’ll soon see how the crowds ebb and flow, and how the MyDisney app tries to redirect people when specific areas get too packed. You might have to wait until later in the day to ride some of the most popular rides, but that’s okay if you’re flexible.
If everything is too busy at a specific moment, we catch a show, take a snack break, or people watch for a little bit.
We’ve still been able to ride everything we wanted to do this way, including ride Guardians of the Galaxy, Ratatouille, and Seven Dwarves’ Mine Train.
Consider staying off-property.
Over the years, I’ve gone back and forth about how important staying on property is, but, honestly, it’s one of the best places to reduce your overall budget.
Because of the way that the Disney World hotels are set up, you have to pay well over $300 a night (and, honestly, it’s higher than that) to even think about getting a full-sized refrigerator or place to prep food.
For that price, you can go off property to rent a cute little apartment or condo, like:
this incredible 4 bedroom house with Marvel and Disney theming or
this 5 bedroom house with Mandalorian and Finding Nemo theming, a private pool and movie theatre room
Not only will you have more room, which is ideal for larger families or multi-generational travel, but you’ll have the ability to cook your own meals, which can really help with an overall budget.
If you still want a resort feel, we’ve had great experiences at some of the off-property hotels near Disney World like:
If you have to stay onsite, stay the campground or value resorts.
If you really don’t want to leave the Disney magic, you’ll want to look for the best deal on one of the value resorts at Disney World, or stay at the Fort Wilderness campground.
Let’s break down what a stay at each of those looks like.
Fort Wilderness Campground
The campground at Fort Wilderness is the cheapest place to stay in all of Walt Disney World.
If you have a camper (or a friend who will let you borrow one), you can get a night’s stay for around $100.
Now, this is really expensive for a normal campground, but it is absolutely the best bang for your buck if you want to stay on property at Disney World.
You can even tent camp here if you wanted to bring down your overall costs even more, as this allows you to get much better gas mileage to and from the resort than an RV or travel trailer would be.
While I have stayed at Fort Wilderness’ campground many times in an RV, I haven’t ever tent camped here.
However, I have tent camped in other areas in the Southeast, and let me be the first to warn you about the heat, humidity, and bugs that exist here from March until October.
So, tent camping isn’t my first choice for a Disney World vacation, but know that it is an option if you want to go ultra-budget.
Overall, Fort Wilderness is a really fun accommodations option as people go all out here with decorations on their campers and RV sites.
It’s also really big, so you’ll either have to rent a golf cart (an extra expense to consider) or take the shuttle bus that runs throughout the campground.
Value resorts
The value resorts at the lowest priced tier of hotels, and include All-Star Music, All-Star Sports, All-Star Movies, Pop Century, and Art of Animation.
Of these, All-Star Sports is consistently the cheapest, so I’d start there.
While the value resort prices may be anywhere from $40-80 more per night than an offsite hotel, it might be worth it for you to pay the difference for the free bus shuttle, Disney guest services, and the many amenities onsite.
Plus, as I noted before, when you add in parking money you'll need once you actually get to the parks, the margin between the onsite and offsite hotels looks a lot less daunting.
My value resort of choice is Pop Century because of its history-based theming, dedicated bus service (it doesn't have to share with any other resort!), and its availability of rooms (it's the largest resort in the Disney chain).
Read my full review of staying at Pop Century here.
While Pop Century is my favorite, we’ve stayed at all of the value resorts at one time or another, and there are only a few differences between them all.
Pop Century does have its own bus line and access to the Skyliner, the latter of which it shares with Art of Animation.
The three All-Star resorts share a bus line, which can make for a much longer line to get on the buses in the morning and evenings. They also don’t have access to the Skyliner.
Be smart with the Disney-specific clothing.
For us, shopping smart before our trip can pay off in a big way.
If you want to do as people do at Disney World and wear matching outfits, it’s still possible to do on a budget.
But, personalizing clothes can be pricey. And who wants to have to purchase a vacation’s worth of outfits that your kids will likely never wear again?
While I am not immune to wanting those cute photos with the matching outfits, I’ve learned that there are better ways to get said shirts and outfits than spending more than $100 per day on Etsy.
If you have a Target near you, they tend to have a good selection of Disney, Star Wars and Marvel themed t-shirts for both boys and girls.
Definitely check the Target online clearance section, too, as the Disney styles are constantly going on sale as new ones come in.
Another option is to purchase some very cheap (like $2) shirt blanks from Michael’s or Hobby Lobby and add an applique yourself.
The craft stores usually have Disney themed iron on decals if you want something super easy, or you can make a more complicated design on your Cricut or Silhouette crafting machine.
I have literally done an entire week’s worth of matching shirts for both of my kids this way, utilizing scraps of iron-on fabric that I already had, and stacking that onto Hobby Lobby sales and $2 SVG files from Etsy.
If you need to buy Cricut vinyl, be sure to check on Amazon, which has great deals on the multi-color packs of iron-on vinyl.
When my daughter was tiny, I also swooned over the boutique dresses and skirts online, but I wasn’t about to spend $60-100 on something that she’d probably get ice cream on the first time she wore it.
So, I bought some cheap Disney fabric from our local craft store, and made a pillowcase dress from it. And for less than $10, she had a custom Mickey dress to wear while we were touring the park.
(I promise that I am NOT a seamstress, so if I can made that dress, anyone can!)
Stop by the Dollar Store before you arrive.
The Dollar Store always has Mickey and Minnie trinkets and we will make little car to-do bags with goodies from here.
These might consist of anything from Mickey stickers to little Disney pencil boxes filled with crayons and pencils to coloring books.
It’s a great way to get your kids in the Disney mood, while your kids have new things to play with as you drive.
If you really want to save some money at Disney World, purchase themed toys from the Dollar Store, traveled down to the parks with them, and when the kids ask to buy a new toy or stuffed animal in the park, give them a selection of your pre-purchased toys and stuffies to choose from instead.
We’ve even surprised the kids with these by putting them around the room while they slept, and they’re none the wiser that these toys or stuffies didn’t come from the official Disney stores!
Press pennies and trade pins.
All over Disney World are little booths that you can press pennies.
They have a variety of designs in each one and my kids loved searching all over the parks for the penny pressers.
Take a sleeve of quarters since each machine ranges from $0.75 to around $1.25.
My kids loved looking for them, choosing which one they would make and then cranking them.
This saves us from going in and out of stores to buy more souvenirs, and you can even make penny pressing into a game as you search for the machines.
For a low cost way of keeping up with those pennies, pre-purchase a pressed pennies booklet with your kid’s favorite characters on the front:
Minnie Mouse booklet | Mickey Mouse booklet | Avengers booklet
Toy Story booklet | Disney princesses booklet
Another great option is pin trading. This has some up front cost, but can, overall, be a pretty cheap form of entertainment.
Many of the cast members, both in the parks and at the resorts, wear lanyards around their necks full of Disney pins.
You can trade pins with them throughout your stay and see which pins you can go home with!
You’ll need to purchase a starter kit and lanyard for around $40, and then use those to trade throughout your trip. My daughter really got into pin trading a couple of trips back, and she loves looking at the pins she’s found in between trips.
Bring glow sticks.
Lots of Disney's evening events have lights, fireworks, flashing lights and more.
They sell all of the glow stick paraphernalia you could ever want, but those tiaras, wands, and bubble makers are pricey.
We always buy a few from the dollar rack at Target or in bulk from Amazon and take them with us into the parks.
The second that my kids asked for one, I pull our cheap ones out.
Those glow necklaces and bracelets will make most kids very happy, and they’ll have that to focus on while you’re watching the parade or fireworks.
Consider fewer days in the park.
I’ll be the first to admit that Disney World tickets have gotten outrageous. Just stepping foot in the parks for a day (before drinks, snacks, or dining) can set you back hundreds of dollars.
And, they make use of dynamic pricing, so that cost can really skyrocket if you’re visiting on the busiest days such as the week between Christmas and New Year’s.
Plus, adult tickets here are for anyone 10 and up, so that also adds to your overall budget if you have a couple of tweens and teens. A 1 day adult ticket starts at $119, but, remember, you’re statistically paying much more than that as the $119 pricing is for the days that are the least in demand.
Mid-June tickets will run upwards of $160 per person for a 1 day ticket, while tickets in late November and December start at $175 per person for a 1 day ticket.
Complicating this even further is that the per day cost per person goes down if you spend more days in the park. If you were to buy a 10 day ticket in mid-June, your ticket would do down to $84 per person per day, but you would then be paying an average of $840 per person for that entire 10-day ticket.
Now, multiple that by a family of 4 with 2 tweens, and you’re looking at $3360 for just the tickets—no dining, no souvenirs, no hotel.
So, you’ll want to balance your desired time in the park with your overall trip budget.
That $160 mid-June 1 day ticket begins to look a lot more palatable, as you’d be paying only $640 for a family of 4 (including 2 tweens) for 1 day, or $1280 for 2 day tickets for that same group.
That feels infinitely more doable than the 10 day tickets, despite the per-day cost for the 1 or 2 day tickets being individually so much higher.
As a final suggestion, look for the 4 day 4 park ticket deals, which Walt Disney World will run from time to time. With this promotion, you can get 4-1 day park tickets so that you can see each of the 4 on-site theme parks, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios.
The cost per person per day does go down with these, so you should consider if that will fit in your budget to give your family more time in the parks.
One of these 4 day 4 park ticket packages for an adult runs $436 per person if you’re going in mid-June, which breaks down to $106 per day.
For a family of 4 with 2 tweens, that would be a total ticket price of $1744. That’s approximately $500 more than buying just the 2-day tickets, so you’d end up saving about the cost of a day’s tickets with that deal.
Add in non-park days to help stretch your budget.
The surrey rentals at Port Orleans resort at Disney World are so much fun!
Regardless of how many days your budget ultimately allows, you should add in a day or two outside of the parks.
Not only does this help pad out your vacation so that you can stay in the magic for longer, but it allows you to explore the Walt Disney World and Orlando more fully.
And, doing so is, in general, much less expensive than being in the parks.
There are also some great things in and around Walt Disney World that are free if you’re really set on saving money.
You can spend a day at one of the on-site water parks, relax by your resort pool, rent a surrey or bike at Port Orleans resort, shop at Disney Springs, explore the other Disney resorts, play a round of mini-golf, and so much more.
There really is something to fit every budget, and you won’t even need to get in your car to go anywhere.
See my best suggestions on what to do in Walt Disney World without a park ticket here.
