(Estimating Budgets for Different Trips)

OVERVIEW

The budget figures on What to Budget are valid for a family of four, with one child between three and ten, and one ten or older, who are following the Basic Itinerary and the other instructions of this site.

The simplest way to define a budget for a different trip–slightly different, or very different–is to decide on the key components of your visit to Walt Disney World and then go through most of the booking process on the Walt Disney World website.

Doing so will give you the core costs of your hotel, park tickets, and dining plan. Add to this your transportation costs, and $30-50 per person per night for extras, and you will be close.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DECIDE TO SET YOUR BUDGET

You need to have a sense of the following to set your budget:

• When you will be going. Walt Disney World Resort Hotel price seasons vary tremendously over the year, and dining prices vary a bit. See this for help deciding when to go to Walt Disney World.
• Your family’s size and age structure on your planned check-in date. Kids less than three years old are basically free. Kids from three up to ten are charged a little less than older folk for theme park tickets, and a lot less for the dining plan. Kids 10 or older as of the check-in date are charged the same as adults. See this for how old your kids should be if this may be their only childhood visit to Walt Disney World.
• Where you plan to stay. Walt Disney World Resort hotel rooms are available for prices of under $100 per night to well over $500 per night. See this for where to stay at Walt Disney World.

ESTIMATING YOUR BUDGET

When you have figured the above out, basically just go through the Walt Disney World booking process up until the point where you are asked to confirm your purchase. This will give you your basic ticket, dining, and hotel costs. (See the To-Do List for help.)

If your target date is after 2012 do it for the same period in 2012 and add 5% to the total per year after 2012. (Be consistent in holidays–if you plan (gulp) to go during Easter Week 2013, use Easter Week in 2012 for your pricing–don’t use the same 2012 calendar week.)

Add your transportation costs, and $30-50 per person per day for extras, and you are done!

LINKS FOR WHAT TO BUDGET FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD

For the basic December trip recommended by this site

• See this for what to budget during the basic December trip
• See this if you are on particularly tight budget, for (difficult) ideas to reduce the December trip budget by more than $1,000

For help getting to much lower budget numbers,

• See this for links to current Walt Disney World deals and discounts
• For basic Disney World budgeting concepts, see Planning Your Walt Disney World Budget
• To design a trip around a specific budget target–e.g., what you can do for $2,500–see this
• For reducing your lodging costs,
  • See The Tightwad’s Guide to Where to Stay at Walt Disney World
  • See this for links to current Walt Disney World deals and discounts
• For reducing your dining costs,
  • For ideas on cutting your dining costs compared to what this site recommends, see this
  • For a period during which dining is sometimes free, see The Tightwad’s Guide to When to Go to Walt Disney World
• For reducing your transportation costs, see this

For Walt Disney World price seasons,

• See this for resort price seasons
• See this for Disney Dining Plan price seasons
• See this for Walt Disney World theme park admission tickets

For the Tightwad’s Guide to Walt Disney World, see this

For the Comfortable Guide to Walt Disney World, see this