One of your first steps as you plan your Disney World vacation is to get an estimation for exactly how much this trip is going to cost. And, if you’re like most, you’ll likely find yourself experiencing some sticker shock when you see the price. Keep in mind, that price you see on Disney World’s website is just for theme park tickets and hotel (should you choose to stay on Disney World property). That doesn’t include flights, dining, and souvenir shopping, not to mention all of those sneaky add-ons like Genie+, MagicBands, photo downloads, parking, and so on.
Disney World vacations are expensive, yes, but they also don’t have to come at full price. In fact, there is almost always at least a few different ways to save on your trip, from big-budget items like saving on hotel fare to little savings that add up over the course of a vacation, like being mindful of your spending on food. This guide is your tool to help you navigate the intricacies of saving money on your next Disney World vacation…it’s all in an effort to help make your next trip better than your last!
Of course, you may find yourself wanting to splurge to stay in that hotel you always dreamed of, or to add a couple of nights to your trip to spend more quality time with the family…and that’s absolutely okay! The purpose of this guide is not to necessarily make your vacation as low-cost as possible, with every corner cut and every indulgence slashed from the budget. Rather, this roundup of ways to save on your 2024 Walt Disney World vacation is here to help you assess what line items are worth it, and which ones you may not care as deeply about.
For example, if your hotel only needs to serve as a place to rest your weary head at night, then you can save a decent amount of money there, giving you more wiggle room to perhaps eat at more table service restaurants. On the flip side, if your family doesn’t eat all that much food on a regular basis, perhaps you can shift your vacation funds away from table service dining and move it towards upgrading your hotel, or adding an extra night to your trip.
Click here to read about how your next Disney World vacation may be PRICIER than the last.
Alright, enough of me furiously typing away at my keyboard; let’s actually review the ways you can save on your 2024 Walt Disney World vacation.
NOTE: This guide was last updated in June 2024. I will make every effort to make sure this guide is as up-to-date as possible with all of Disney’s current deals and promotions.
Current Deals and Promotions
Save on Rooms at Select Disney Resort Hotels This Fall and Holiday Season
- Save up to 30% on rooms for stays most nights from November 24 to December 25, 2024
- Enjoy other savings for stays most Sunday to Thursday nights from October 6 to November 21, 2024
- Plus, get FREE Park Hopper benefits when you take advantage of this offer and upgrade to a Walt Disney Travel Company room-and-ticket package that includes nondiscounted 4-day (or longer) date-based theme park tickets.
- Click here for more information.
Save on theme park admission this spring and summer
- Guests can purchase a 4-day, 4-park ticket for $396 ($99/day), valid April 2 through September 22. The ticket gets you one (1) day at each of the theme parks. No park reservations are required. Click here for more information.
- Guests can also purchase a 3-day, 3-park ticket for $267 ($89/day), valid April 2 through September 24. The ticket gets you one (1) day at EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom (Magic Kingdom admission is not included with this offer). No park reservations are required. Click here for more information.
Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Select Disney Resort Hotels When You Stay 5 Nights or Longer This Summer and Early Fall
- Save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resort hotels when you stay 5 consecutive nights or longer—or save up to 25% on shorter stays.
- Valid for stays most nights from July 8 through October 3, 2024
- Visit Disney World’s website for more information.
Annual Passholders: Save Up to 35% on Rooms at Select Disney Resort Hotels This Summer and Early Fall
- Must be an active Disney World Annual Passholder to view and redeem this offer.
- Valid for stays most nights from July 8 through October 3, 2024
- Visit Disney World’s website for more information.
Enjoy FREE Disney Dining Plan When You Stay at Select Disney Resorts in July, September, and December
- Get a FREE dining plan when you:
- Purchase a non-discounted 4-night, 4-day Walt Disney Travel Company package that includes a room at select Disney Resort hotels and tickets with a Park Hopper option
- This offer is exclusive to Disney Visa cardholders.
- Valid for stays July 1-31, September 1-7, and December 9-21, 2024.
Annual Passholders: Save Up to 35% on Rooms at Select Disney Resort Hotels This Spring and Early Summer
- Must be an active Disney World Annual Passholder to view and redeem this offer.
- Valid for stays most nights from March 25 to July 7, 2024
- More info is available on Disney World’s website.
Florida Residents can save on Disney World theme park admission
- Florida Resident Discovery Ticket is available for 4-day ($235) or 3-day ($219) options. Valid April 2 through September 28. This ticket requires theme park reservations. Park Hopper add-on is available for $40 per ticket.
- More information is available on Disney World’s website.
U.S. Military Members: Take Advantage of Great Rates at Select Disney Resort Hotels in 2024
- Active or retired U.S. military personnel can enjoy great rates at select Walt Disney World Resort hotels for stays most nights January 1, 2024 through December 20, 2024—when you book by December 20, 2024.
- Visit Disney World’s website for more details.
Evergreen Money-Saving Tips
HAVE FLEXIBLE TRAVEL DATES
One of the biggest and most immediate ways to bring the cost of a Disney World vacation down is to be flexible with your travel dates. Disney World hotel rates fluctuate throughout the season, with rooms costing more per night during “peak” seasons and less so during the off-season. As you might imagine, busy travel times like summer, the holidays, and spring break yield a higher per-night rate. Consider traveling during months like January, February, May, September, and November. Traveling during the off-season can help bring the cost of airfare down as well. No matter when you travel, limiting your trip to weekdays may also help bring the cost down as hotels will often bump up prices on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Adjusting the length of your trip will also help your overall vacation budget. We’d all love to spend a month in Disney World, but trimming a night off your trip can save you and your family hundreds of dollars. That’s money that can go towards a future vacation, or it can help fund other parts of the trip, like airfare or dining.
RESEARCH ALL HOTEL OPTIONS
Disney World is home to over two dozen resort hotels. These are often popular choices for those who want to be as close to the action as possible, but Disney’s hotels are priced at a premium. There are big benefits to staying on-property, not the least of which being Disney’s hotels follow the three rules of real estate. If you must stay on property, be sure to research the price points of the different hotels. Value Resorts can be priced in the low $100s, while Deluxe Resorts can easily top $600-700 per night.
If your biggest factor in determining where to stay is cost, then you’ll find much better rates off of Disney World property. Orlando has no shortage of hotel options, you may find some great deals not too far from Disney. If you’re traveling with a larger group, consider a vacation rental instead of a hotel. It will come with all of the amenities of being home, plus you will be able to board multiple groups under one roof, which likely breaks down to a lower per-person cost.
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE BEST WALT DISNEY WORLD HOTELS FOR FAMILIES.
BE WARY OF COSTLY ADD-ONS
No matter when you travel to Disney World or where you choose to stay, most guests will have the same major three buckets to account for prior to arrival: airfare, hotel, and theme park tickets. Beyond those three line items, there are several add-ons you may want to consider, depending on how long your vacation is and what your family wants to experience. If you’re visiting in the fall, you may want tickets to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom. Or, during the holidays, there’s Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
These after-hours parties are fun, but they are not inexpensive: in 2023, admission to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party ranged from $109 to $199 per person. That’s the price of a single day in Magic Kingdom, so you would essentially be doubling the per-person price if you bought regular tickets and a ticket to an after-hours event. This is the part of the article where I advise you to carefully crunch your numbers and determine if these events are worth it to YOUR family. If the answer is yes, go ahead and book the tickets! Just be aware that it will wind up being a significant portion of your vacation budget.
Similarly, the Disney Dining Plan is another costly add-on that you would be paying for up-front before your vacation even begins. The Dining Plan is Disney World’s way of providing a more all-inclusive feel to your vacation. At its core, it’s a prepaid meal plan that gives each member of your party a predetermined amount of credits that can be used across Disney World’s dining locations.
It is priced in a way that makes it very difficult (not impossible, just very difficult) to actually save money on the Dining Plan, and you will more than likely spend more on food using the Dining Plan than you would if you were to pay for your food out-of-pocket. The Dining Plan’s greatest strength is that it adds a level of convenience to your trip in that your food is entirely paid for before you arrive. And trust me, it’s plenty of food — you can definitely go without spending any additional money on food when you’re there if you booked the Dinning Plan.
CLICK HERE TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT YOU SHOULD GET THE DISNEY DINING PLAN.
STICK TO A SPENDING BUDGET AFTER YOU ARRIVE.
This tip almost goes without saying, but we tend to throw a lot out of the window when we’re on vacation. And it can be tempting to throw caution to the wind when it comes to our spending money on a Disney World vacation. But eventually, the trip will come to an end, and we’ll be left with a sizable credit card bill that could have been avoided with some mindful budgeting and planning ahead of time.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t enjoy yourself — you’re at Disney World, of course you should have fun! But you can absolutely do so while still sticking to a budget. Research menu prices ahead of time on Disney World’s website to get an idea of how much food will be, and use those numbers to set an approximate food budget for the day. Buy pre-loaded Disney gift cards to act as your souvenir budget, and only use those gift cards to buy t-shirts, Minnie Ears, mugs, etc.
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT MY GO-TO PARK BAG ESSENTIALS.
ASSESS IF YOU REALLY NEED GENIE+
NOTE: As of July 24, 2024, Genie+ will be retired at Walt Disney World and will be replaced by Lightning Lane Multi Pass. Much of the following advice still stands as the new Lightning Lane passes still require purchasing before use.
Prior to 2020, Disney World offered a complimentary skip-the-line system called FastPass+. The service was included with park admission, and all guests could take advantage of it throughout the day to skip the regular standby line. Since 2021, that system has been replaced with Genie+, a new service that functions largely the same as FastPass+ with one major difference: Genie+ isn’t free.
These days, Genie+ at Walt Disney World can rage in price from $15 to $25 per person, per day, but during peak seasons that price can creep upwards of $30. If you’re traveling with a family of 4 for five days in the parks, that adds up to hundreds of dollars if you choose to purchase Genie+ every single day. That doesn’t even include the cost of Individual Lightning Lane selections, which are an additional fee.
A lot of the tried-and-true strategies for shorter wait times are still true today, including hitting up popular rides at rope drop or right before park closing. Genie+ may still help on some days, but you likely won’t need it every day, especially at parks like EPCOT and Animal Kingdom, which have fewer rides. There are a lot of nuances to Genie+ (popular rides like Rise of the Resistance aren’t even included in the purchase of Genie+ and cost extra if you want to skip standby, so there’s that to budget for as well…), but the key takeaway is that a seemingly lower-cost add on can add up very quickly. Buyer beware.
CLICK HERE FOR FOOLPROOF TIPS FOR A FIRST-TIMER’S TRIP TO DISNEY WORLD.
SCOPE OUT LOW-COST SNACKS THAT CAN DOUBLE AS MEALS.
Once your trip is paid for and you are actually in Disney World, the largest line item in your budget is going to be food. It’s the one thing everyone is going to need throughout the day, so you have to budget for it. Budgeting for your food at Disney World is a bit of a balancing act. If you enjoy dining and the restaurants are an attraction in and of themselves, then you’ll want to make room in your budget for more table service restaurants. But some travelers see sit-down dining as a waste of valuable vacation time and would rather eat on-the-go. It’s all about determining what your family’s priorities are, and budgeting accordingly.
No matter your preferences, you stand to save a ton of money by picking some meals to trim back on and opt for snacking rather than going for a restaurant. Some snacks at Disney World are actually quite large and can easily count as a lunch or dinner. There are many ways to save on dining, and it can be as simple as researching your options ahead of time.
Click here to read about how Disney World will look and feel different in 2024.
