What to Think About When Adding Up the Cost of a Disney Trip

What to Think About When Adding Up the Cost of a Disney Trip

So you are planning a Disney Vacation. Does not matter if it is Disneyland, Disney World, a Disney Cruise or a combination there of, there are things you need to remember to add into the cost.

You have figured things such as the cost of hotel, park tickets, cruise fare, airfare and ground transportation. What else should you add in? There is food, tips, port adventures if you are doing a cruise, souvenirs, park tours, spa time if wanted and any shows or side trips that cost extra. At WDW there are shows like Cirque and the Hoop De Doo Review along with other shows outside of the parks, these cost extra. If you go to WDW you may want to do a day at Universal to see Harry Potter. (Sorry Disney only fans.)

When deciding what type of park ticket to get talk to your entire group. Will they be content limiting themselves to going to one park per day or will they want to park hop. If you are at WDW do you want to go to Disneyquest, the water parks or maybe even golfing? If so you have to get tickets that cover the parks you wish to go to. Think about getting a Premium or Premier Annual Pass for one member of the group so the entire group can get discounts when they are together. Just make sure the person with the annual pass makes the purchase. Any cash for the purchase should be given to the passholder out of view of the cashier. AP are not allowed to make purchases for others except for their children.

Are there any other costs you should consider? Yes! Do you have a camera and/or video camera to capture those magical memories? Do you have enough memory storage or film? What about batteries and chargers? Maybe you would like a laptop to download the cameras too. That way you can see the pictures and videos. You could even stay in touch with family and friends back home by e-mail or logging onto social networking. Speaking of that, depending on where you are there WiFi internet connection may be free or there may be a charge. Disneyland has free WiFi at the hotels, resturants and some other areas but you are charged for internet access on the Disney Cruise. I'm not sure about WiFi at WDW.

Do you have the clothing you want? If you go on a 7 night cruise you may want something more formal for semi formal and formal nights. Do you want to dress up for Pirate Night? If you are just going to the parks are you doing a romantic dinner where you might want to dress up some? Do you want all Disney outfits while you are there? Some people have t-shirts of different colors and Disney characters/designs on them for each person in the group for each day. These cost and can be gotten or made long before your trip and packed away. Comfortable shoes are important no matter what Disney destination you go to. Swim suits are a good thing to have as all the hotels and the ships have pools.

What about luggage? Do you need new suitcases? Do you want to get Disney suitcases or DIY Disneyfy them? I painted Disney characters on each suitcase so we could see them at the airport and we could easily identify each member of the family's bag from others. Otherwise they all were the same style and color. When considering luggage consider airline fees and size limits for bags.

If you are taking a cruise you should have a passport. These can take 6-8 weeks to get and cost about $100 per person. You may also want to consider Disney Gift Cards, Prepaid Debit Cards or American Express Travelers Checks to make purchases safer and easier.

We are planning a 4 day Disney Cruise and week at WDW trip in 2014. We figure the cost just for the trip is about $6,000 for two of us. This is staying at a Deluxe resort (Port Orleans French Quarter) and mid level cabin with a veranda. This is not too bad a cost to plan for two years in advance. What will make or break the trip is the extras. We figure that will be between $2,000-$3,000 if we do all the extra things we wish. Knowing the cost we can better plan our savings.