Hey Howdy Hey Samie and welcome to planDisney!
I love your question about taking a trip to
Walt Disney World Resort on a budget and will do my best to give you a little more insight into the process.
The biggest financial investments when it comes to planning a trip for many are transportation, hotel accommodations, food and park tickets, usually in this order. Depending on how far you are from Walt Disney World, transportation may not be a big financial investment for you as you might be able to drive to Disney. Hotel accommodations as well might not be an issue either if you can drive in for the morning and leave to go home at night, so another factor you might not have to pay for!
Food and park tickets may be your biggest expenses but again, depends on the type of experience you want to have. You are more than welcome to bring a bag with snacks and even a lunch or something in it and
keep it in a locker in the front of the park which is a very small fee so you do not have to carry it around the whole park. This will significantly save on your eating expenses as well, unless you wanted to get food at the parks but shopping around and
Mobile Ordering your food will help a ton to keep this budget minimal.
About park tickets, again, depends on the time of year and how many days you wanted to purchase. As a
Florida Resident, you will get a discount on anything from 4-day tickets to 1-day tickets with the Park Hopper Option so you can experience more than 1 park in a day. The specific prices for these vary a lot depending on the day of your visit. Weekends are more expensive than weekdays and peak vacation times during the summer and around the holidays are more expensive than off-peak times.
So, long story short, $700 for a Florida Resident is doable for a trip to Disney but there are a lot of questions that will help to fine-tune your details. The ideal trip would be in January, make sure to avoid Marathon Weekend, or in September when most kids are starting back to school as these times will be historically lower as far as pricing goes. For transportation, you may want to figure $200 if you are driving for gas and parking, again depending on how far you are from Disney. A 1-day park ticket with the Park Hopper option should come in around $200 or less. Anything else you can have for food, Genie+ or souvenirs.
Just note that these estimates are the back of the napkin math and can change greatly depending on many factors. The first place I would start is to figure out when you want to go to Disney and for how long. Then look at different seasons as mentioned above that may fit the bill for an easier time on a budget. You can then go from there on what you are willing to spend money on versus bringing from home to help with overall costs.
I hope this helps give you somewhat of a perspective on costs for Disney. As you continue to think about things and plan them out, feel free to
reach back out to me or
anyone of my fellow panelists to help answer any questions you may have!
Have a Magical Day,
Nick