Are you in the very early stages of planning and just want a vague idea of how much to spend? This is the place for you!
I have a lot of clients that would like a quote, but aren’t quite ready to book…. They just want a rough estimate of how much to save up for their trip. Hopefully this bit of information will help you out! Please note, this information does NOT replace an actual quote… it is just designed to give you a rough idea of what you can expect to spend on each portion of your trip. This information is accurate as of July 2021.
I have a lot of clients that would like a quote, but aren’t quite ready to book…. They just want a rough estimate of how much to save up for their trip. Hopefully this bit of information will help you out! Please note, this information does NOT replace an actual quote… it is just designed to give you a rough idea of what you can expect to spend on each portion of your trip. This information is accurate as of July 2021.
Hotels
The first thing to think about is where you are going to stay. Each resort on Disney World property fits into one of four categories: Value, Moderate, Deluxe and Deluxe Villas. These resorts go in order of least to most expensive, respectively.
Value Resorts
The value resorts are Pop Century, All-Star Music, All-Star Movies, All-Star Sports and Art of Animation. The values START at a cost of $160 per night, for a standard room at the All-Star Resorts. A few things to note about the value resorts… first, Pop Century costs a little bit more than the All-Stars (starting around $170), and Art of Animation costs more than Pop/the All-Stars. Second, the standard Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation are (almost) NEVER eligible for discounts/promotions. These rooms start at about $250 (without tax). Their family suites, are, however (starting around $550). Third, there are family suites at Art of Animation and at All-Star Music. These rooms hold up to 6 people (plus one additional child under the age of 3), and are more expensive than the regular rooms (they are more similar in price to moderate resort rooms). All other value rooms hold up to 4 people (plus one additional child under the age of 3). If you have between 5 and 8 people, it likely will be most economical to get two value resort rooms. Depending on how many adults and children are traveling together, it MIGHT be possible to guarantee adjoining rooms (such as if you have 4 children and 1 adult). If you have 3 children and 3 adults, however, this wouldn’t be guaranteed. It is possible to enter a request to be next to each other, though.
Moderate Resorts
The moderate resorts are Port Orleans Riverside, Port Orleans French Quarter, Coronado Springs and Gran Destino Tower, Caribbean Beach Resort and the Cabins at Fort Wilderness Campground. The moderates START at about $300 per night, for a standard room. Port Orleans French Quarter is (almost) NEVER eligible for discounts/promotions. Additionally, the pirate rooms at Caribbean Beach look cool, but they are the farthest away from the main building/food court. Port Orleans Riverside and Caribbean Beach Resort each have rooms that will hold five people (plus an additional child under the age of 3). The rooms that hold five have two queen beds and a bunk-size pull down bed, which is designed for a child age nine and under. Since all children are different, this might work for a small 10 year-old, but it might not for a large eight year-old. The cabins are able to hold up to six people.
Deluxe Resorts
The deluxe resorts are the Grand Floridian, Contemporary, Polynesian, Wilderness Lodge, Yacht Club, Beach Club, BoardWalk Inn, and Animal Kingdom Lodge. The deluxes START at a cost of $530 per night, for a standard room. These resorts have the biggest range of prices between them. Generally speaking, Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge are usually the least expensive. The Grand Floridian, Contemporary and Polynesian are usually the most expensive. The Yacht Club, Beach Club and BoardWalk Inn are typically somewhere in between, in terms of price. Many of these rooms hold up to five people, plus an additional child under the age of three. These rooms often have a pull-out sofa, in addition to the regular beds.
Deluxe Villas
The final category, the Deluxe Villas, include Disney's Riviera Resort, Saratoga Springs, Old Key West, Bay Lake Tower (at the Contemporary), Animal Kingdom Villas (at Animal Kingdom Lodge), Beach Club Villas, BoardWalk Villas, Boulder Ridge Villas and Copper Creek Cabins (at Wilderness Lodge), Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, and the Villas at the Grand Floridian. Each villa holds a different number of people, but the largest hold up to eight people. Deluxe villas start around $510 per night for the smallest villa (that will hold 4 people). Typically you can expect the villas at the Grand Floridian, Contemporary and Polynesian to be the most expensive (think over $2,000 per night if you have the maximum number of people). I would expect Saratoga Springs and Old Key West to be the least expensive. The others would be somewhere in the middle.
Tickets
The next thing to think about is tickets. There are two price ranges for tickets…. One is for guests between the ages of 3 and 9. The other is for everybody that is 10 and up. Children under three don’t need a ticket. Currently, a 5-day base ticket is about $560 per guest age 10 and up, and $540 per guest ages 3-9. “The more you play, the less you pay per day," so, the longer you stay, the less it will cost to add an additional day onto your ticket. It is about $85 per person to add the Park Hopper option onto a base ticket. Everybody on one reservation must have the same type of tickets/dining plan.
Dining
Disney offers two dining plan options, the Quick Service Dining Plan and the Disney Dining Plan which are available for guests 3+. The number of dining credits you receive is based on the number of nights you'll be staying in an on-site Disney hotel. The Quick Service plan provides 2 Quick Service meals (no table service meals) and 1 snack/non-alcoholic drink per night of stay and 1 resort-refillable mug per person. The Disney Dining Plan provide 1 Quick Service Meal, 1 Table Service Meal, and 1 snack/non-alcoholic drink per night of stay and 1 resort-refillable mug per person. To estimate prices, the Quick Service Dining Plan is about $57/night/guest ages 10+ and $24/night/guest ages 3-9. The Disney Dining Plan is about $95/night/guest ages 10+ and $27/night/guest ages 3-9. Everybody in your party needs to be on the same plan and it is automatically for the length of your hotel reservation.
Hopefully that can help some of you get a rough estimate of how much to save up for your trip. There is obviously a lot of variation in prices depending on room type/resort/time of year. These numbers are based on regular (non-discounted) rates for 2021. You can expect them to go up each year. Happy planning!
-Brittany
-Brittany