a wayfinder's tool
Planning for Disney can be fun, but the hidden expenses not so much. We'll walk you through your trip one category at a time so you can choose what applies to your family for this trip. You'll leave with a fully thought through, personalized budget framework to fill in as you go. This way, the planning stays fun and the only surprises along the way are good surprises!
The framework walks through every category of a Disney trip budget, one at a time:
what goes in a disney budget
A Disney trip budget covers ten categories. The framework above walks through them one at a time so you can decide which ones belong to your trip, then fill in your own numbers as you book.
The last category is the one that catches people out, because every item in it is bought during the trip rather than planned before it:
the questions families ask
A Disney trip budget covers ten categories: getting there and back, where you are staying, getting around the resort, park tickets, Lightning Lane, dining, photography, Enchanting Extras, souvenirs, and the small extras that do not fit anywhere else. Most families account for the first four without prompting. The rest are the ones that turn into surprises, because they are bought during the trip rather than before it.
The most commonly missed costs are the ones that are not tickets, hotel, or flights: stroller or ECV rental, portable phone chargers, sunscreen and rain gear, travel insurance, tips for housekeeping and bell services, laundry, childcare, pet boarding at home, and spending money for kids. None of them are large on their own, which is exactly why they are easy to leave out of a budget and surprising when they arrive together.
Work through the trip one category at a time and decide what applies to your family before you look at any numbers. That is what this framework does: it walks through each category, you choose which ones are part of your trip, and you leave with a personalized framework to fill in with real prices as you book. It does not estimate or total anything for you, because the prices that matter are the ones you are actually quoted.
Yes. Lightning Lane is bought separately from park tickets at both resorts, so it belongs in a budget as its own line rather than as part of admission. The framework gives it its own category for that reason.
What a package includes varies by package, which is why the framework asks you what yours covers before it walks through the categories. Anything already inside your package is marked as covered, so it does not get budgeted a second time, and everything outside it stays on your list.
