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Last week, Bloomberg published an article reporting that some families are paying more than $40,000 for a week at Walt Disney World in Central Florida. For those of us who regularly go to Disney World, the immediate question that popped into our mind was, how is that even possible? But the deeper you dive into the article, a realization quickly comes to mind: not only is it possible to spend that much on a trip to a theme park, but Disney is actively courting those big-ticket spenders, which comes at the expense of the average Disney World visitor.
First things first, how does someone spend $40,000 on a week’s trip to Disney World? It’s not that hard when you’re spending $26,400 for a two-bedroom, club-level suite at the Grand Floridian. But it’s the final $13,600 that’s most concerning. That money went to specific add-ons to base park tickets. It’s those additional items that most families want and that make a Disney World vacation memorable. But not everyone can spend that much on those extras.
Disney CEO Bob Iger Credit: Disney
Related: Hey Iger, It’s the Price That’s Keeping Disney World Attendance Down
These extras include an additional $3,600 for the Park Hopper and water park add-on to the base tickets and an additional $700 for Disney Genie Plus to get Lighting Lane passes for your favorite rides. A Disney World Vacation has gotten to the point now where both of those add-ons seem like absolute necessities, especially the Lightning Lane passes.
But the average American family makes a little over $70,000 a year. A luxurious trip like the one described in Bloomberg will take up nearly 60 percent of their yearly income, and while some families can and do splurge for that type of Disney World trip, very few families actually can.
Despite that, the Walt Disney Company has marketed its theme park trips to those higher-end visitors, and with continual price increases, Disney may have priced a large portion of American families out of enjoying a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. So, let’s take a look at how Disney is marketing to high-end clients and just how much a Disney World vacation actually costs to see if, in the near future, it may be out of reach for the average American family.
Credit: Disney
Disney Pricing Increases
When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, a ticket cost $3.50 or $25.24 in today’s prices. When EPCOT opened in 1982, Disney added an all-inclusive ticket that cost $15 or around $48 today. That ticket would gain you entrance to both the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT. But since 1971, Disney tickets have risen 3,871 percent. That increase is more than nearly everything in American life, except for maybe college.
But Disney will argue that they have added so much more for the consumer since the Magic Kingdom opening in 1971. Disney added Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach water parks, and dozens of new hotels and restaurants to the property. Sure, the Walt Disney World Resort has grown exponentially over the past 50 years, and with significant plans for expansion, it will continue to grow.
But while it is true that Disney will invest the money it makes on theme park tickets and vacations back into the resort, the company is also making enormous profits off its Parks, Experiences, and Products division. While other aspects of Disney’s business are faltering, especially television and Disney Plus, Disney Parks have posted record revenues to help keep the company afloat.
Credit: Disney
In the third quarter of 2023, Disney posted a 13 percent increase in revenue, up to $8.3 billion. Now, that number includes all Disney theme parks worldwide, not just the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The narrative around Disney World all summer was that the parks were a virtual ghost town. But Fall has seen Disney World bounce back, and special events like Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween party were completely sold out, except for one date in November.
So, Disney’s price increases have outpaced inflation and continue to fuel other aspects of the company that have fallen on hard times recently. And the burden of those increases has fallen on the consumer who must pay for the vacation that many of them loved throughout their lives.
The True Cost of A Disney Vacation
Sure, there are families out there that can afford a $40,000 trip to a Disney park, but most of us aren’t that. So, realistically, what can a family of four spend when they head to the Walt Disney World Resort Orlando? Bloomberg looked at a week’s stay at Disney’s All-Star Music Resort and found that you would spend around $4,280, including food. While that’s affordable for most families, you will be getting just the basics, none of the glitz and glamour that you see in the commercials.
But even that number can be misleading. Bloomberg looked at off-peak pricing for its numbers. Off-peak generally means when kids are in school, and if you plan on going as a family of four, you can’t usually go when the kids are in school. Here’s a more real breakdown of what a family of four would spend on a Disney World vacation at its three levels of resorts.
Disney’s All-Star Music Resort / Credit: Disney
Value Resort:
For value resorts, there are only five to choose from: the All-Star Sports Resort, All-Star Music Resort, All-Star Movie Resort, Art of Animation, and Pop Century. For this, we looked at All-Star Sports, but most All-Star hotels would have a similar price range. A standard room is precisely what it sounds like, pretty common. It has two full-size beds and a bathroom. There is no view; it’s just the room.
The total cost for six nights seven days, including the Disney Dining plan, is $6,525. That cost would get you into the Disney World Parks and nothing else. You would get six days in one park per day without the Park Hopper option and no water park option either. You also wouldn’t get the Disney Photo Pass.
The Disney Dining Plan would get you two takeaway meals per day, per person. But remember, the number of meals is based on how many nights you stay at your hotel, not the number of days. So, for those six nights, you would only get 12 meals per person for the trip.
Credit: Disney
Moderate Resort:
When you step up in options, you step up in price. But for the price, you’ll get a bigger room and significantly better decor throughout the resort. The value resorts are loud; the moderate resorts are themed. The moderate resorts are Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, Coronado Springs, The Cabins at Fort Wilderness, Port Orleans–French Quarter, and Port Orleans–Riverside.
For the moderate Resort, we looked at Disney’s Carribean Beach Resort. Most of the moderate resorts were close in price, but Caribbean Beach offers better transportation options. You have the Disney Skyliner to get to EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This was also a standard room, meaning you’d walk to the pool, food, and transportation options.
The total cost for six nights seven days, including the Disney Dining Plan, is $7,820. You would have the same Disney Dining Plan as the value resort option and still none of the perks like Park Hopper or water park option.
Credit: Disney
Deluxe Resort:
For some strange reason, there are more deluxe resorts than any other category. Is that reason because Disney charges significantly more money for these resorts? Um, yes. We should never be naive about this. Disney is specifically marketing these types of resorts to higher-end customers, and for that, you will pay up.
There are eight deluxe resorts: Disney’s Beach Club, Disney’s Yacht Club, Disney’s Polynesian Resort, Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Wilderness Lodge, Boardwalk Inn, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and the Granddaddy of them all, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort. There used to be nine, but one has left the building. (Rest in peace, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser)
For the Deluxe Resort, we looked at Disney’s Beach Club. Beach Club also has better transportation options. You can walk to EPCOT or take a boat ride to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The Deluxe Resorts make things a little complicated. They can get VERY expensive. If you want to say at Grand Floridian, think about adding another $2,000 to this number, at least. This is a Resort view room, which means you’re looking at the parking lot or roof.
The total cost for six nights seven days, including the Disney Dining Plan, is $9,846.
Credit: Disney
Conclusion:
If the average American family makes approximately $70,000 a year, then even staying at one of Disney World’s value resorts is still around seven percent of that family’s yearly salary. And we know that if $70,000 is the average, there are just as many people below that number as above it.
The Walt Disney Company has priced out many Americans, but it doesn’t seem to care about that. Disney World is making as much money by marketing itself to the wealthy as it would by appealing to all walks of life. And by appealing to more affluent customers it allows them to upcharge them for everything once they arrive in the parks. And it’s those add-ons that are pricing out the average American family.
The Upcharges
If you think about it, Disney really does have a good setup. Not if you’re the consumer but if you are the business. You would get off the plane, head right to Disney’s Magical Express, and be at your hotel within the hour. But all that has changed (thanks a lot, Bob Chapek), but it really hasn’t changed that much. It’s a self-contained world, and for that, you pay a premium price. And once you check in, you plop your credit card down, and everything goes onto your MagicBand.
Credit: Disney
Eventually, when you check out, you get the bill. And that’s when it hits you. You got charged for every little thing that you did while you were on vacation. You didn’t think about it at the time because all you had to do was scan your band, but the reality of your financial situation comes into focus when that final bill comes.
Sure, everyone has tips for saving money, but once you’re there, they’ve got you. You can save a few bucks by not buying the water, but what do you do when your kids see that souvenir they must have for $100, and when you get home, they forget all about it? It’s those things that really add up.
Disney Genie Plus
Disney Genie Plus and the Lightning Lanes that it gives you access to have become a necessity at Disney World, especially if you are going during the busiest times of the year, which recently have become more frequent. The cost can range from $15-$35, depending on the time of the year. And like all other things in Disney World, you can expect a price increase soon. Rumors have been spreading that Disney is planning on making changes to the Disney Genie Plus service, but no details have been released yet. But if Disney allows guests to purchase Lightning Lane passes in advance, expect a higher price to go along with that.
Credit: Disney
Related: Disney Genie Plus Has Become A Must-Have at the Parks
Waking up at seven on vacation to purchase Disney Genie Plus and make your Lightning Lane selections is the worst. Still, a close second is that not all rides are included in Disney Genie Plus, and you must make additional purchases to skip the lines at those rides. At Magic Kingdom, it’s an additional $10-$12 for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and an additional $20 for Tron Lightcycle/Run. At EPCOT, it’s an additional $14-$17 for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it’s an additional $15-$25 for Rise of the Resistance. And finally, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, it’s an additional $11-$16 for Avatar Flight of Passage.
If you simply purchase Disney’s Genie Plus, that’s approximately $120 a day or $720 for your vacation. Once you add the Individual Lightning Lanes, the cost can go well over $1,000.
Sure, the old system was better, and it was free. But Disney is never going back to that again. Why give something away if guests are willing to pay for it? And we have shown that we are willing to pay extra for this perk.
Credit: Disney
The “Other” Costs:
Every piece of advice you get about going to a Disney Park will tell you that you should get to the park at rope drop, head back to the hotel in the middle of the day, and then head back to a different park at night. One slight problem with that: to do that, you have to have Disney World’s Park Hopper added to your ticket. Bloomberg estimated that adding the Park Hopper Plus option, which includes admission to Disney’s water parks, would add an additional $3,600 to your trip.
And then there are the other costs. You can’t go to Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge without building your own Lightsaber, and your little princess needs to get made up to look like a princess. That could cost you another $1,500.
And since we’re adults and you just spend thousands on a trip, you will need a drink or two or more. Since you’ll be the one paying for all this, it only seems fitting that you at least get something.
And So?
A Walt Disney World Resort vacation is a magical thing. If it weren’t, hundreds of thousands of people wouldn’t make the trip to Central Florida every year. But with inflation at its highest rate since 1982, families are struggling. Combine that with Disney’s continual price increase, and it is becoming more and more difficult for the average American family to afford that trip to Walt Disney World.
Walt Disney Dreamer Statue. Credit: Disney
It would be a Disney Fairytale to say that prices are going to drop and everyone will be able to go to the Happiest Place on Earth, but that really is just a fairytale. With the Walt Disney Company making more money by appealing to high-end visitors, there’s no reason ever to lower prices, and from a business perspective, if people are still coming, it would be foolish to do so. And right now, Disney is having enough problems with some of its other business practices, so there is no reason to mess with parks.
No theme park hack will make it any easier to take a family to Disney World. If it’s that important to a family, they can save and figure out a way. But Disney World is no longer the egalitarian park that Walt Disney envisioned. There is a distinct separation between those who can afford those extras and those who cannot, and that’s just a shame. Every kid deserves at least one trip to Disney World at least once in their young lives, and now that is getting harder and harder.
We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.
The median income would be when half the people are above and half are below.
average is the quotient obtained by dividing the sum total of a set of figures by the number of figures
The median is the value in the middle of a data set, meaning that 50% of data points have a value smaller or equal to the median and 50% of data points have a value higher or equal to the median.
I dont believe I would ever spend that kind of money to go on a trip. It has to be someone that has saved forever or has that kind of money for pocket change. A lot of people I know cannot even afford a one day ticket. So far my husband and I have been able to get annual passes but it gets a little tougher every year. Luckily we moved to florida 7 yrs ago and dont have to stay in their hotels any more or have to buy meals every time we go. We do buy gifts for some people some times, but have really cut back on this spending also. We love the parks, dont mind the crowds, ( meet a lot of people in lines) BUT also having annual passes at Universal is less than half of what Disney ones are and we live closer to there so we go there a lot more often……There are so many differences and depends on your tastes on rides though……