Went to Disney January 2022. We did a 7 day trip, visited all 4 parks for a family of 5 and paid in cash! We started planning 6 months out, budgeted and saved! It is possible! We hope to go back in another 5 years but in the meantime continue working on babysteps 4,5, and 6.
@@Nostalgiowe always do. Cash for everything. That way we know exactly how much we are spending. No surprises. We did meet people that opened a separate debit account to specifically use for vacations. That seems like a good way to do it too.
I think there needs to be a new official baby step: 3d - saving for Disney World! While you’re still gazelle intense from paying off your debt & building a 3-6 month emergency fund, maintain the intensity so you can quickly save enough money to see gazelles in real life, debt free, on Kilimanjaro Safaris at Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Ft Wilderness is my favorite place to stay!
Great tips!! Here are a few we’ve used. Research: determine the “Must Dos” (and a back up) plan and budget for those top “Must Dos”. Determine your souvenir budget (even dining budget) and put the amount on a gift card. Helps with the blind spending on your debit card. Lastly, look into renting DVC points. You can rent points from DVC members and stay in Deluxe Villas cheaper than if you were paying cash. 1 and 2 bedroom and grand villas have full kitchens and washing machines/dryers. You can have groceries delivered and make your own meals as well as do your laundry.
My thoughts exactly and so glad someone said it!! We live close and could go, but Disney has gone WOKE and not something our family wants to support. Plenty of other fun options!😄
When you really break it down, Disney, and everything about it is a complete rip off. I get the "magic" of it, but $3,500 gets you A LOT more elsewhere.
It gets me a lot more but my kid could care less about going to Paris (at least for the moment). Disney is more about the kids...at least it should be.
We stayed at the Disney All Star Sports Resort a few years ago. It was dark, low ceilings, dingy. I would not recommend. We have also stayed at the Waldorf. It was a splurge but if everyone is sleeping well, it’s very clean it was worth it. This year we might use Costco to help plan the trip to save money or an Airbnb.
Seriously! No true. I've stayed there and at the other of the similarly priced options and they were all clean and pleasant. By the time you get back to your rooms in the evening paying for a higher end place to stay is a waste of money. You shower and sleep. What do you need a swank place for. I will say the rooms are small. But again. Shower and sleep.
Our son lives in Orlando, so we went to WDW for our 6th trip a month ago (Jan 2022). We vowed not to return--at least for many years. Crowds were higher than we've ever seen. Rides broken down. Ridiculously long lines. If we hadn't bought Genie+ ($15pp), we would have probably only been able to ride 2-3 rides from open to close (Magic Kingdom). Even dining options were scarce given the crowd levels. And this was supposedly in the low-attendance week of previous years. So adjust expectations if you're going there this year and keep an eye on the ride times on the app before you book. BTW, they also just raised ticket prices. :(. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but want you to be aware that the magic is much less as the cost is much more.
Ever since Bob Chapek came along a lot has changed. May wanna go to Universal Studios next time? Plus Universal is growing (Epic Universe, VelociCoaster, etc) in the right direction compared to Disney.
Lines are very short now. And the wait times, we found were overly exaggerated. Most were just a few minutes. Literally a few minutes even though the posted were 40 minutes or more.
Oh my gosh Rachel I loved the cost breakdown. It just makes it so manageable! Thank you so much for all the tips. We want to go to Orlando next June so the planning is starting to happen.
The last time I was at Disney World (Christmas 2005), you pulled a paper tab Fast Pass at the ride with your return time printed on it. Free and easy! Disney will find any means to separate you from your money. BUT…it really is a magical place and everyone should go at least once in their lifetime.
We go to Disney frequently and we're able to go for 5 nights, 6 days for $2100 total! Look for deals leading up to your trip and stay at cheaper hotels. We always stay at All Star resorts because we don't have to spend money on a rental car or parking when we fly down. Costco is a life saver for deals to Disney. We also pack our breakfast food in our carry-on luggage with some snacks to help save a bit on food costs in the parks.
We went to Disney and rented an air b&b maybe 20 minutes out from the area. It was awesome! We got to use the community pool and no one was there. So it was like having a private pool. It was a 3 bedroom so my kids got to sleep in separate rooms so my baby didn't wake up my toddler. Also my husband and I had our own space. We made our food in the kitchen and we could do laundry. So we packed only carry-ons for the plane and saved money on baggage. We could rent a smaller vehicle because we didn't have to accommodate all the luggage in our rental car. We saved all year for this trip and went in November for Thanksgiving. I have family there but i couldn't stay at their house because there wasn't enough room with my kiddos. We did 3 days at Disney. We went to sea world and Legoland. It was around $6k with plane tickets and car rental etc. But we planned it. There was no regrets coming home. We really enjoyed it. Do you do have to pay for parking when driving in. So there definitely is some pros to staying in a hotel there though.
2:30 We just went to Disney World at Christmas week, went to Magic Kingdom only all day (9:00AM to 11:00PM) and purchased the Genie + for $60 ($15 each). We were able to ride every ride in the park using this app. There were a few rides we had to wait in the standby line, but was it worth it? definitely! We skipped at least 6 lines that were a posted 60 minute wait. Did 1 day at the pool at the resort, did the next day at Seaworld. Had a great family trip that we saved for.
Beat this…During college (90’s) a roommate that graduated the year before me went to the Disney Culinary school. We (Me, wife, and kid) drove dow, stayed at their place 15 minutes from Disney, ate the kids meals at Disney for lunch and only ate out in the evenings, buying dinner for my friend and his wife, too. 5 days = $400. Found $60 in the ocean, so, really only $340. Score! Ah, the good old (broke college student) days!
Nice to see your all in cost explained and itemized. I think a huge expense that is missing is airfare. Depending on where you are flying in from that could be another $1k-$2k easy adding $100-200 to your monthly savings. We have made a choice to not take our kids to Disney, but you video is a great vacation planning tool for all of us. Thanks.
Staying off property absolutely does save you money unless you're choosing 5* places. I was shocked that you suggested the Animal Kingdom village as an option, $546 per night?! I'm going this summer and paying $45 a night for a Days Inn on I drive, just 15 mins away from the park. Accommodation is the biggest drain on the budget, with the amount I'm saving there, Genie+ and even a table service meal here and there aren't an issue.
My daughter is a Disney concierge. She does all the booking and planning for her clients. She and her husband go to WDW several times a year. They also do the cruises and have missed them because of Covid
We drive through Orlando on the way to our grandparents’ house, about 4 hours into our trip. When our kids were little, we would stop at the turnpike rest stop that had a big fountain in the middle, a gold statue of Mickey, and a frozen yogurt shop. We’d take pictures with Mickey, get froyo, and throw some pennies in the fountain. They were convinced that was Disney World when they were small. Then we upgraded to a stop at Disney Springs and rode the small rides available there and got fun snacks and toys for under $100. There’s a lot of free entertainment- music, dancers, Christmas tree village with fake snow, etc. - that has all of the Disney magic. For theme park rides, water park, and zoo animals, we get a season pass to Wild Adventures in S. Georgia for $100/each.
Politics aside, we are going to WD to give my children memories that will last a lifetime. It’s not about left or right it’s about spending time with the people that matter most in our lives.
This cost breakdown is very confusing.... 5 nights at All Star is coming to $725, leaving $1753 left over for tickets. However, AKL is coming out at $2730 for 5 nights, leaving less than $800 for tickets...for 4 people? I'm really confused with this.
Thank you so much for the information. I know it's a lot going to Disney and I know when we was young we decided to get a hotel with a kitchenette in it and we can cook our food for breakfast lunch and dinner and and I remember us doing that maybe y'all can try out the Airbnb if you didn't want to get the hotel and see if it has a pool be kind of private just like the hotel with the kitchenette and at least you can wash your clothes if you in the Airbnb so when it's time to go you have clean clothes and you don't have to worry about washing when you get home just thought.
Maybe my math is wrong but shouldn't the midpoint Option 2 be 1,600.00-2,000.00 (depending on # of nights) more than Option 1? RC is only showing just over $1,000.00 more. It's literally $400.00 more each night...(4 or 5 nights). Just saying.
I cant' believe you're promoting Disney. I'll take my money (my money - the government didn't give it to me as a payoff for being controlled) and show my kids American history across this beautiful country we've been blessed with. 🙂
We did no genie+ for Epcot and Magic Kingdom. We rode in total per park 5-7 rides. It was well worth it without Genie+ and may i mention that this was only 2 weeks ago during peak summer crowds. Genie+ is a scam, and so can Disney be. If you love Disney do it right and budget.
The target debit card links to your regular checking account and still gives you 5% off without having to have their credit card. It does take a day or two longer to clear your checking account than if you used your banks debit card though.
@@heatherj3030 I don't want any CC linked to my checking account. For me I save up the money for the gift card, get it then within a few days pay it off with cash I have save. Easy for me but Thank You.
We haven’t been to Disney World, but have been to Disneyland twice here in California and I actually hated it. So expensive and large crowds. I wouldn’t even think of going all the way to Florida to experience the same thing.
We went to Florida with are kids who where 14,17,And 21 they still talk about it today and dream about going back it was in December so it was pretty special
Staying in a value one room hotel room for 5 days with kids is not fun. The rooms are cramped, one bathroom. The pool is nice, but if you're "saving" money by not having a rental car, you can really miss a lot more fun.
How so? The advice could be used for any trip, could it not? I mean, some of the prices on food and stuff was beyond like when she mentioned. Not eating out would save $100. Even when I do eat out it is max $15. Granted, I don't eat out anymore.
Went to Disney January 2022. We did a 7 day trip, visited all 4 parks for a family of 5 and paid in cash! We started planning 6 months out, budgeted and saved! It is possible! We hope to go back in another 5 years but in the meantime continue working on babysteps 4,5, and 6.
Do you mind me asking how much roughly it cost? I’m trying to figure out how much we should budget and save for
No one pays in “cash.” They take card only at concierge or even at the TCC. But you do you y’all. Glad it work in your favor.
What did you pay for the entire trip - minus souvenirs?
@@Nostalgiowe always do. Cash for everything. That way we know exactly how much we are spending. No surprises.
We did meet people that opened a separate debit account to specifically use for vacations. That seems like a good way to do it too.
I think there needs to be a new official baby step: 3d - saving for Disney World! While you’re still gazelle intense from paying off your debt & building a 3-6 month emergency fund, maintain the intensity so you can quickly save enough money to see gazelles in real life, debt free, on Kilimanjaro Safaris at Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Ft Wilderness is my favorite place to stay!
Great tips!! Here are a few we’ve used. Research: determine the “Must Dos” (and a back up) plan and budget for those top “Must Dos”. Determine your souvenir budget (even dining budget) and put the amount on a gift card. Helps with the blind spending on your debit card. Lastly, look into renting DVC points. You can rent points from DVC members and stay in Deluxe Villas cheaper than if you were paying cash. 1 and 2 bedroom and grand villas have full kitchens and washing machines/dryers. You can have groceries delivered and make your own meals as well as do your laundry.
The cheapest way to go to Disney World:
Don't go!
My thoughts exactly and so glad someone said it!! We live close and could go, but Disney has gone WOKE and not something our family wants to support. Plenty of other fun options!😄
When you really break it down, Disney, and everything about it is a complete rip off. I get the "magic" of it, but $3,500 gets you A LOT more elsewhere.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
It gets me a lot more but my kid could care less about going to Paris (at least for the moment). Disney is more about the kids...at least it should be.
We stayed at the Disney All Star Sports Resort a few years ago. It was dark, low ceilings, dingy. I would not recommend. We have also stayed at the Waldorf. It was a splurge but if everyone is sleeping well, it’s very clean it was worth it. This year we might use Costco to help plan the trip to save money or an Airbnb.
Seriously! No true. I've stayed there and at the other of the similarly priced options and they were all clean and pleasant. By the time you get back to your rooms in the evening paying for a higher end place to stay is a waste of money. You shower and sleep. What do you need a swank place for.
I will say the rooms are small. But again. Shower and sleep.
Our son lives in Orlando, so we went to WDW for our 6th trip a month ago (Jan 2022). We vowed not to return--at least for many years. Crowds were higher than we've ever seen. Rides broken down. Ridiculously long lines. If we hadn't bought Genie+ ($15pp), we would have probably only been able to ride 2-3 rides from open to close (Magic Kingdom). Even dining options were scarce given the crowd levels. And this was supposedly in the low-attendance week of previous years. So adjust expectations if you're going there this year and keep an eye on the ride times on the app before you book. BTW, they also just raised ticket prices. :(. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but want you to be aware that the magic is much less as the cost is much more.
Ever since Bob Chapek came along a lot has changed. May wanna go to Universal Studios next time? Plus Universal is growing (Epic Universe, VelociCoaster, etc) in the right direction compared to Disney.
Lines are very short now. And the wait times, we found were overly exaggerated. Most were just a few minutes. Literally a few minutes even though the posted were 40 minutes or more.
My two tips: bring your own poncho's (way overpriced in parks). Also bring a small collapsible stroller.
Oh my gosh Rachel I loved the cost breakdown. It just makes it so manageable! Thank you so much for all the tips. We want to go to Orlando next June so the planning is starting to happen.
The last time I was at Disney World (Christmas 2005), you pulled a paper tab Fast Pass at the ride with your return time printed on it. Free and easy! Disney will find any means to separate you from your money. BUT…it really is a magical place and everyone should go at least once in their lifetime.
Free Fast Pass is long gone...
We go to Disney frequently and we're able to go for 5 nights, 6 days for $2100 total! Look for deals leading up to your trip and stay at cheaper hotels. We always stay at All Star resorts because we don't have to spend money on a rental car or parking when we fly down. Costco is a life saver for deals to Disney. We also pack our breakfast food in our carry-on luggage with some snacks to help save a bit on food costs in the parks.
We went to Disney and rented an air b&b maybe 20 minutes out from the area. It was awesome! We got to use the community pool and no one was there. So it was like having a private pool. It was a 3 bedroom so my kids got to sleep in separate rooms so my baby didn't wake up my toddler. Also my husband and I had our own space. We made our food in the kitchen and we could do laundry. So we packed only carry-ons for the plane and saved money on baggage.
We could rent a smaller vehicle because we didn't have to accommodate all the luggage in our rental car. We saved all year for this trip and went in November for Thanksgiving. I have family there but i couldn't stay at their house because there wasn't enough room with my kiddos.
We did 3 days at Disney. We went to sea world and Legoland.
It was around $6k with plane tickets and car rental etc. But we planned it. There was no regrets coming home. We really enjoyed it.
Do you do have to pay for parking when driving in. So there definitely is some pros to staying in a hotel there though.
2:30 We just went to Disney World at Christmas week, went to Magic Kingdom only all day (9:00AM to 11:00PM) and purchased the Genie + for $60 ($15 each). We were able to ride every ride in the park using this app. There were a few rides we had to wait in the standby line, but was it worth it? definitely! We skipped at least 6 lines that were a posted 60 minute wait. Did 1 day at the pool at the resort, did the next day at Seaworld. Had a great family trip that we saved for.
Beat this…During college (90’s) a roommate that graduated the year before me went to the Disney Culinary school. We (Me, wife, and kid) drove dow, stayed at their place 15 minutes from Disney, ate the kids meals at Disney for lunch and only ate out in the evenings, buying dinner for my friend and his wife, too. 5 days = $400. Found $60 in the ocean, so, really only $340. Score! Ah, the good old (broke college student) days!
Nice to see your all in cost explained and itemized. I think a huge expense that is missing is airfare. Depending on where you are flying in from that could be another $1k-$2k easy adding $100-200 to your monthly savings. We have made a choice to not take our kids to Disney, but you video is a great vacation planning tool for all of us. Thanks.
These are so many good tips! Using a travel planner is huge because things are ever changing.
Rachel did a great job with this video! 👍🏼
Staying off property absolutely does save you money unless you're choosing 5* places. I was shocked that you suggested the Animal Kingdom village as an option, $546 per night?! I'm going this summer and paying $45 a night for a Days Inn on I drive, just 15 mins away from the park. Accommodation is the biggest drain on the budget, with the amount I'm saving there, Genie+ and even a table service meal here and there aren't an issue.
My daughter is a Disney concierge. She does all the booking and planning for her clients. She and her husband go to WDW several times a year. They also do the cruises and have missed them because of Covid
We drive through Orlando on the way to our grandparents’ house, about 4 hours into our trip. When our kids were little, we would stop at the turnpike rest stop that had a big fountain in the middle, a gold statue of Mickey, and a frozen yogurt shop. We’d take pictures with Mickey, get froyo, and throw some pennies in the fountain. They were convinced that was Disney World when they were small. Then we upgraded to a stop at Disney Springs and rode the small rides available there and got fun snacks and toys for under $100. There’s a lot of free entertainment- music, dancers, Christmas tree village with fake snow, etc. - that has all of the Disney magic. For theme park rides, water park, and zoo animals, we get a season pass to Wild Adventures in S. Georgia for $100/each.
Politics aside, we are going to WD to give my children memories that will last a lifetime. It’s not about left or right it’s about spending time with the people that matter most in our lives.
Never thought about the water bottle and broker thank you
Love this!
This cost breakdown is very confusing.... 5 nights at All Star is coming to $725, leaving $1753 left over for tickets. However, AKL is coming out at $2730 for 5 nights, leaving less than $800 for tickets...for 4 people? I'm really confused with this.
Thank you so much for the information. I know it's a lot going to Disney and I know when we was young we decided to get a hotel with a kitchenette in it and we can cook our food for breakfast lunch and dinner and and I remember us doing that maybe y'all can try out the Airbnb if you didn't want to get the hotel and see if it has a pool be kind of private just like the hotel with the kitchenette and at least you can wash your clothes if you in the Airbnb so when it's time to go you have clean clothes and you don't have to worry about washing when you get home just thought.
And look for military discounts, if you are eligible
What about if you are flying from the west side of the country?Just checked flight for 5 ppl from San Fran to Orlando is $3600
Thank you so much for all the info!
I live to paycheck to paycheck, but on a budget. I pay my bills, the 4 walls are covered and yet I'm still not happy. What's going?
Maybe my math is wrong but shouldn't the midpoint Option 2 be 1,600.00-2,000.00 (depending on # of nights) more than Option 1? RC is only showing just over $1,000.00 more. It's literally $400.00 more each night...(4 or 5 nights). Just saying.
Yep, the math ain't mathin' here....
I cant' believe you're promoting Disney. I'll take my money (my money - the government didn't give it to me as a payoff for being controlled) and show my kids American history across this beautiful country we've been blessed with. 🙂
Definitely go see the national parks before Trump puts oil rigs all over them.
Just bought my Military Park Hopper yesterday! Great timing Mrs. Cruze
We did no genie+ for Epcot and Magic Kingdom. We rode in total per park 5-7 rides. It was well worth it without Genie+ and may i mention that this was only 2 weeks ago during peak summer crowds. Genie+ is a scam, and so can Disney be. If you love Disney do it right and budget.
I get gift cards at Target with their card then I go to Customer Service right away or the next day with cash. No bill.
The target debit card links to your regular checking account and still gives you 5% off without having to have their credit card. It does take a day or two longer to clear your checking account than if you used your banks debit card though.
@@heatherj3030 I don't want any CC linked to my checking account. For me I save up the money for the gift card, get it then within a few days pay it off with cash I have save. Easy for me but Thank You.
We haven’t been to Disney World, but have been to Disneyland twice here in California and I actually hated it. So expensive and large crowds. I wouldn’t even think of going all the way to Florida to experience the same thing.
We went to Florida with are kids who where 14,17,And 21 they still talk about it today and dream about going back it was in December so it was pretty special
@@ronigarcia3351 Yes - it can be crowded but their holiday decorations are still pretty great!
Does it help half as much if you only have one organic foot
Staying in a value one room hotel room for 5 days with kids is not fun. The rooms are cramped, one bathroom. The pool is nice, but if you're "saving" money by not having a rental car, you can really miss a lot more fun.
Holy. All of this sounds like a massive headache.
You are not wrong.
Will probably never go to Disney since I am on the wrong side of the globe but still watching this anyway.
How about NO!
I'm not giving them a single penny...
Bonus tip: Use a travel agent.
Two questions: who makes your lovely light blue sweater? Is Tylenol really $50K at Disney?!
I love Disney world ❤
If you can’t afford it, don’t go. If you can afford it, go and live it up.
This is not cheaper. Rent air b and b don’t stay at a Disney resort.
The cheapest way to go to Disney? Don't
The cheapest method would be to head to Paris Disney.
Let's be real: nobody gets the 3 day ticket. Reason: They don't include Magic Kingdom (which is the one everyone wants to go to)... Freakin' Disney.
That's a special pass with a special price. You can buy a normal 3-day ticket, too. It's just more costly.
I wouldn’t go to Disney if you paid me to go.
Stay off property!
I wouldn’t go to Disney for free!
These shows are getting less and less relatable.
Just saying...
How so? The advice could be used for any trip, could it not? I mean, some of the prices on food and stuff was beyond like when she mentioned. Not eating out would save $100. Even when I do eat out it is max $15. Granted, I don't eat out anymore.