Our Disney World Experience
Before you read this, please know I am not a Disney World Expert! The suggestions and ideas I share in this post are based off my family’s personal experience with our Disney World trip in December of 2018. If you are looking for a Disney expert who can answer ALL of your questions please talk with Megan from Marvelous Mouse Travels. Megan is a Disney vacation planner and she can help you plan every detail of your vacation.
Like I said before, I am no Disney World expert. However, I learned a lot from our most recent experience with Disney World and I would love to share some of those tips and suggestions for all of you reading this. A lot of these suggestions focus on how to do Disney World as cost effectively as possible (focusing on military families) as well as some general advice on how to make the most of your trip.
Airfare
We scored a HUGE DEAL on airfare! My husband was diligent with checking flights, and we booked them close to five months out. Although we had never flown Frontier Airlines before, we choose to given them a chance. When tickets are less than $80 per person round trip its really hard to pass that up! Not to mention, if you are flying with an active duty service member, you can check one bag per person for free (even if you aren’t traveling on orders).
If you are skeptical about Frontier you are not alone. We were initially skeptical about what such a cheap flight would include. We decided to book a trip to New York in September to give Frontier a chance. Well, it didn’t go great. Our initial flight out of Austin was canceled due to a maintenance issue and they couldn’t get us on another Frontier flight for two days. However, they did offer to reimburse up to $400 per ticket on another airline. We were able to book a flight out the next morning for $406 per person on Delta. When we returned from New York four days later, there was a $1600.00 reimbursement check in our mailbox for the flights. When we flew Frontier Airlines the second time to Disney World, our flights could not have gone better. Everything was on time and went exceptionally smooth.
Airfare Cost - $320.00
Lodging
From our experience, I would highly recommend staying at a Walt Disney World Resort. We had the option of staying at Shades of Green, however we found the Disney World Resort Hotels to be cheaper with their military discount. In addition to the best price, the Disney World Results also offered us:
Free transportation between the airport and our hotel
Free luggage delivery from the airport to our hotel room (yes, they picked up our bags from baggage claim and delivered them directly to our hotel room)
Free transportation to and from the Disney World Parks and Disney Springs
Free kids’ activities within the resort
Heated Pools (We used them in the month of December)
Playgrounds on site
The use of Magic Bands for park entrance, Fast Pass Entrances and Hotel Access
We stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort. Although the actual room was the perfect size for what we needed, we would choose a different resort for future trips. The downsides to this particular resort were:
The beds were extremely high off the ground (great for luggage storage). However, this made us a little nervous with our three-year-old who is kind of a crazy sleeper.
Our bus lines were significantly and consistently longer than any of the other Disney World Resort Hotels. At one point we actually called the resort from a bus stop to try and figure out why buses weren't coming to our stop.
Our room was very far away from the resort dining area and Main Lobby. We didn’t do the meal plan and we had a bus stop on our side of the resort. However, when we did want to go to the dining facility and even for check-in/checkout, we had close to a mile walk.
Lodging Cost - $1100.00 (6 nights)
Park Tickets
We purchased our tickets from Travel and Leisure on Fort Hood. With the Military Promotion Rate, we paid $250 for the 5-Day Park Hooper option (close to half off the regular price). These rates change every year. The 2019 rates can be found here.
Children under age 3 do not require a ticket.
Ticket Cost - $750.00 + tax
Dining
This is where it can get really expensive. We were quoted $1200.00 for our family of four (including two kids under 5) for the five-day Disney Dining Plan. I don’t even pay $1200.00 a month on food at home! We had a really hard time justifying this expense and decided to opt-out of any dining plan. However, if you plan to eat out or within the parks for most of your meals you might want to look more into it, because the park food is extremely expensive. I’m talking $5.75 for popsicles!
Our girls and $11.25 worth of popsicles!
Without the dining plan, we decided to order groceries to the hotel room. We ate breakfast in the room each morning and packed lunches every day. Disney allows you to bring food and water into their parks as long as it isn’t in a hard-sided cooler. I had grocery delivery set up for the night we arrived. We ordered from Walmart for a $10.00 delivery fee to the front desk, well worth the cost. For dinners, we either ordered dinner from Uber Eats or picked up something easy, like pizza from the Hotel Dining Facility. For the five days we spent in the parks, dinner the night we arrived and breakfast the morning we left, we spent under $350.00 on food.
Here is a general list of what we ordered for groceries:
Bananas
Apples
Mandarin Oranges
Bread
Peanut Butter
Jelly
Apple Sauce
Gold Fish
Cheese Sticks
Sliced Cheese
Turkey
Hard Boiled Eggs
Yogurt
Oatmeal
Cereal
Milk
Carrots
Cucumbers
Individual Hummus Packets
Microwavable Mac-N-Cheese
Lara Bars
Crackers
Tuna Packets
Sparkling Water
Our Food Set Up in the Hotel Room
*Please make sure your hotel room has a mini fridge before you decide to order groceries. The Value Resort rooms do not. Additionally, most rooms do not have a microwave. However, if you are staying at a Disney World Resort, the dining facility will have a microwave and toaster you can use.
Food Cost - $350.00
Stroller Rental
We don’t use a stroller anymore and haven’t for over a year. However, Disney is very different. We walked close to seven miles every day. If you have kids five and under, you will want a stroller. Stroller rentals within the parks are as follows:
Single Stroller Daily Rate - $15.00
Single Stroller Multi-Day Rental - $13/day
Double Stroller Daily Rate - $31.00
Double Stroller Multi-Day Rental - $27/day
Going off those rates, had we rented our double stroller from Disney World directly, we would have paid $135.00 + tax for a five-day rental. Not to mention we would have to deal with pick up and drop off every day at guest services.
We went with a different option and it was once of the best decisions we made. We rented a City Mini Select Double Stroller from Kingdom Strollers. They charge a flat rate of $75.00 for rentals between 4 and 7 nights. We had ours for six nights and used it in the park all five days. If you compare cost, we paid $15.00 per day for a double stroller compared to $27.00 a day for one from Disney World. Included in the rental cost are delivery and pick up from the hotel concierge, a rain cover and a cooler bag (perfect for packed lunches)! Each Stroller is also tagged with multiple bright orange tags that include your family name to prevent mix ups.
City Mini Select Stroller from Kingdom Strollers
Stroller Rental Cost -$75.00 + tax
Memory Maker
The Memory Maker is a new option available from Disney. Essentially you pay a flat rate for the rights to all photographs taken of you within the parks. This was huge for us because I didn’t feel like I needed to bring my camera or even pull my phone out for pictures and I got to be in them! For military families the Memory Maker is $98.00. If you want the military discount you cannot purchase this ahead of time, you must purchase it at the ticket window when you get to the park.
Memory Maker Cost – $98.00
The total expense for our 5 day, 6 night family vacation to Disney World was under $2800.00. This total includes our airfare, hotel, park tickets, food, stroller rental, Memory Maker, as well as an additional $100.00 for any miscellaneous expenses I might have forgot to include.
Things to Know Before You Go
Disney Gift Cards
Disney gift cards can be used throughout the Disney World Resort and towards your hotel balance if you are staying within the resort. We received a few gift cards from family for Christmas and were able to use these gift cards towards our hotel balance at check in.
We did not personally go this route, but I have also heard you can buy gift cards at Sam’s Club for a discounted price. For example, $200.00 in gift cards for $180.00.
Fast Passes
If you are not familiar with Disney Fast Passes and you are planning a trip to Disney World, please take some time to look into the option of Fast Passes. Fast Passes allow you to bypass the line for almost all rides and attractions. You can book up to three Fast Passes per day. Once you use those, you have the option of booking additional Fast Passes for that day, one at a time. Our Fast Passes were booked for us by our Disney Travel Planner, Megan, exactly 60 days out (the furthest out you can book them). We were able to walk right onto multiple, high demand attractions and rides. The Fast Passes can also be used for meeting characters and they give you priority seating at most of the shows.
My Disney Experience App
There is a Disney World App that I highly recommend downloading. It is called My Disney Experience. Within the App you can access park maps, view wait times, get directions, find character locations, make dining reservations, book Fast Pass Reservations and view all of your Memory Maker Photos. This was a huge help for us, and we used it constantly throughout our trip. If your phone doesn't hold a charge well, you might want to consider a portable charger to get through the day.
Water
Bring a water bottle! Like I said before, you are allowed to bring drinks and food into the parks with you. We brought Contigo water bottles with us and refilled at water fountains as needed. It is also important to note that all quick service restaurants will give you cups of ice water free of charge. Please don’t spend $3.00 on bottled water within the parks when you can get it for free!
Magic Kingdom Parade
The parade route for Magic Kingdom fills up very fast. I highly recommend finding a good spot to sit 30-45 minutes before the parade starts if this is something you are interested in seeing. We found a good spot right in front of the castle about an hour before the parade and used this time to eat lunch and relax a bit. If you are not interested in watching the parade, take advantage of this time and look into wait times for any rides or attractions you weren’t able to get Fast Passes for.
10 minutes before the start of the Parade, you can see how heavily lined the street is in the background of this picture.
Overall, our trip was perfect! The girls were mesmerized by almost everything and we made so many memories. If you have any questions about our specific experience, please do not hesitate to ask!
-Jayna
