How much does it cost to travel to Disney – Budget and tips for saving

One of the most common questions for those who want to visit Magic land é How much does it cost to travel to Disney?

It really isn't one of the cheapest trips. This is because, in addition to the travel and accommodation combo, typical of every trip, you also need to include park tickets, visa, and more…

But you don't need to despair.

As it is sought after by tourists all year round, the city of Orlando offers numerous accommodation and transportation options within all price ranges. There are also many flights that make the journey to the local airport, reducing the cost of the air ticket.

In this post I will show you on average how much it costs to travel to Disney, detailing the main budget expenses. The numbers won't be exact, but they will give you an idea of ​​how much money you will need to make this dream a reality. 

There are expenses that cannot be avoided, but there are ways to make them cheaper. I commented on this throughout the text, but I also suggest reading the post 9 ways to save on your trip to Orlando.

Remembering that these prices were found by me for trips in 2022. Prices may vary according to dates, dollar exchange rate and other factors.

The calculations were made using the quotation of US$1 = R$5,60.  

How much does it cost to travel to Disney

Documentation

As I mentioned in the post how to plan your trip to Disney, the necessary documentation is the passport and the American visa.

Currently issuing a passport costs R$257,25, and the application must be made on the federal police website.

The visa must be requested from the United States embassy. The category for those visiting the country for tourism is B2, which currently costs US$160. All information about the visa is available in Portuguese on the embassy's website.

Anyone planning a stopover in Panama, Colombia or other countries should also be aware of the need to take the yellow fever vaccine. With the outbreaks in Brazil, it is possible that it is out of stock at your health center (fractional payments are not valid!), and the price in private clinics varies between R$130 and R$250.

The COVID-19 vaccine is also mandatory for entry into the country, but as it is free, it does not need to be included in the calculation of the cost of the trip.

Airline tickets

The city's airport is the Orlando International Airport (MCO), and there are currently four companies that operate non-stop flights between it and Brazil: LATAM, Gol, Azul and Delta. Choosing to fly directly with one of them, you will probably pay more.

Despite the rise in the dollar, prices for Orlando remain affordable compared to other international destinations, such as Europe or even other parts of the United States. Leaving Viracopos, for example, in Campinas, you can find flights for around R$4500.

With stopovers, however, you can find flights for less than R$2500. The cheapest route is usually with Copa Airlines, stopping in Panama. I've made this stopover several times to various destinations (New York, Los Angeles, Punta Cana) and I find it very peaceful.

If you don't live in a city with an international airport with flights to Orlando, I suggest looking for tickets including domestic flights. By purchasing a single ticket, you maintain your baggage allowance even for flights within Brazil. If you buy separately, remember to budget the cost of checking each bag.

If you have flexibility with your dates, I recommend installing the Passagens Imperdíveis app and activating notifications. There were many times that they published these same excerpts for less than R$2000. 

If you need to travel during a specific period, I suggest looking at the Promo Tickets, which offers tickets with up to 35% discount all year round.

Hosting

As I explained in the post types of accommodation in Orlando, you can choose between staying in:

• Houses
• Ordinary hotel
• Hotel within Disney or Universal complexes

The first option is usually the cheapest, and the price difference between types of hotels depends on the season and current promotions.

I went to Magic land in January 2018, high season, e My family and I paid around US$90 a day (at the time R$308 reais) for a four bedroom house in Davenport, about 25 minutes away from Disney by car. It's a great option for those going in a group, as it's much cheaper than many hotel rooms. From what I looked at Airbnb, the price usually stays at this price throughout the year.

A room for four people in hotels like Rosen Inn at Pointe on International Drive, one of Brazilians’ favorite places, It costs approximately US$191 (R$1069) per day throughout the year. The Celebration Suites, in the Disney-designed neighborhood of the same name, has a slightly friendlier price tag: US$134 (R$750) for a room for six people.

A budget hotel at Disney, with All-Star Music Resort costs from US$182 (R$1021), while a moderate one like the Port Orleans costs around US$318 (R$1786). If you have the budget, you can also book a bungalow for up to eight at Polynesian for ten thousand reais per day, hahaha. At Universal, the best value for money is the Cabana Bay, with rooms from US$132 (R$741), or the Universal's Adventure for the same price.

Travel insurance

Travel insurance is not mandatory for the United States, but I suggest you take out one. Unlike Brazil, where there is a public healthcare system, a simple visit to the emergency room to pick up an antibiotic prescription in the USA can cost hundreds of dollars.

With insurance, you contact the center and are directed to the nearest partner service center. Most policies already take care of all payment and There is no need to pay a penny at the clinic or hospital. You will also be protected in cases of flight delay or cancellation, as well as lost luggage.

The company I use on all my trips is Seguros Promo, and I highly recommend it! It compares the price between the main insurance companies in Brazil, and offers exclusive plans that can cost as little as R$9 per day for trips abroad. Payment can be made in up to 12 installments by credit card, using the code “ALYSSAPRADO5″ you even get a discount!

Transport

Public transport in Orlando is terrible, so I don't think it's worth considering this as an option when putting together a budget. Viable alternatives are: renting a car or using services such as uber ou transfers particular.

The daily car prices were better, but you can find them for less than US$100 per day. It is worth remembering that the pandemic caused a crisis among car rental companies, which not only sold their fleets but are also unable to purchase new vehicles as they are not being produced. The values ​​for 2023 and onwards should be cheaper, I was already seeing US$60/day before the pandemic.

To do the search, I used Rentcars, my favorite website for renting cars while traveling. With them Payment can be made in reais, without the IOF charge and paid in up to 12 installments via credit card. I always find the best values ​​using the website!

Don't forget that the price not includes third party insurance, and this is also not usually covered by credit card insurance policies.

Three expenses that should be added to the budget if you rent a car are:

• Parking
• tolls
• Petrol

This last one is not very relevant, as the price in Orlando is great and, the times I was there, I barely needed to fill up for two weeks.

tolls They are normally dealt with directly with the rental company, which offers the SunPass service, which costs around US$10 per day. It is only necessary if you are going to other cities (like Miami), as within Orlando it is possible to reach the main attractions without passing through any of them.

Parking is where the price gets high: in parks they cost around US$25 per day, both at Universal and Disney. As of 2021, guests staying at the complex are also subject to paying for parking at hotels, but parking in the parks is free.

If you are going to use uber, You can use the online calculator to see the price of your hotel for parks, shopping malls and outlets. Do Rosen Inn at Pointe on International Drive to Magic Kingdom, for example, it's between US$18 and US$24 at the normal rate.

One way to save on transportation is to stay inside the hotels in the Disney complex and take advantage of the buses they offer. Typically, those who opt for this plan start by staying within Disney, visiting all of the company's parks first. Then, simply move to Universal. There, you visit the Universal parks on consecutive days and then rent a car at the end of the trip to do your shopping and go to the airport.

This saves money on parking and car costs, but you may end up paying more for accommodation. You have to do the math to see what is most worth it! Having a car, even though it is an extra expense, allows you to do several different programs in one day without paying extra for it.

There are also hotels on International Drive and the region that offer shuttle service. space shuttle free to the parks.

Parks

Orlando has six main parks: Disney four (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom) and the two from Universal (Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure). Furthermore, there are also water parks – Disney’s Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon, Universal’s Volcano Bay and Aquatica – and other parks like Sea World, Busch Gardens (which is actually in Tampa, a nearby city) and the Legoland.

If you don't know which ones to visit and how to put together your itinerary, I recommend reading the post about Itinerary for Orlando – What to do in the city in 7, 10 and 15 days.

In the past, Disney ticket prices were the same throughout the year, apart from some dates like Christmas. Nowadays, prices vary according to the day chosen, and when purchasing tickets you need to choose the first day of use. The cheapest price I found for the four parks without park hopper (i.e., with the right to enter only one park per day) was US$550* (R$3095). 

Universal's two main parks cost US$224* (R$1259), with the right to enter both parks on both days. This is the ideal ticket, as this way you can ride the Hogwarts Express. If you want to add Volcano Bay, the price increases to US$273* (R$1535).

Entrance to Busch Gardens costs US$117* (R$658), but you can combine it with Sea World and pay US$177* (R$955) to visit both parks. Together with Aquatica, the three days cost US$189* (R$1063). 

*These values ​​are those shown on the official websites and are converted using the dollar exchange rate at the end of November 2021. They do not include fees or credit card IOF, and cannot be paid in installments. I recommend that you buy your tickets with travel agents or on websites like Decolar, which allow you to pay in installments and sometimes get lower prices because they are official resellers.

Sticks row

For years, Disney has had a policy of giving out free queue-skippers to all guests. In the past, you needed to go to a machine to collect a printed ticket with your queue-skipping time for the chosen attraction, but in recent times this entire process was done through the My Disney Experience app.

In 2021, however, free queue-skipping ended and was replaced by two new services: Genie+ e lightning lane. With Genie+ you pay once per park day, per person and you can book a queue jump for all the attractions available in that park throughout the day. Lightening Lane is for a specific attraction, usually the most popular in the park.

Genie+ costs US$15.98 per person per day, and Lightning Lane costs between US$7 and US$15 depending on the attraction. You not You need to buy neither of them, just as you can buy both if you feel necessary. With the right strategies, like those mentioned in this Disney Tourist Blog post, you can enjoy most of the parks without having to buy queue-skippers, but you will probably leave some attractions behind at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.

At Universal, queue-jumpers are called Express Pass, and it has an exorbitant price of US$79 per day. I only recommend purchasing it if you go in high season, like July. Other than that, even in January I managed to do both Universal parks on the same day, going through the main attractions without having to wait in long lines, You just need to use a strategy like I explained in this post.

As no queue jumping is mandatory, I will not add the amounts to the total budget. But you may want to add them to your accounts, depending on your planning.

Other attractions

In addition to the parks, Orlando offers other attractions popular among Brazilians, especially in the International Drive area. Some of them are:

• Orlando Eye
• Kennedy Space Center
• SEA Life Aquarium
• Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum

You can combine tickets for these two attractions to save money.

I will not include these tours in the calculations because they are completely optional, and many people (the majority, I would say), travel to Orlando without visiting any of them. I just wanted to tell you that they existed, and you can check the price of each one if you are interested. I heard really good things about the Kennedy Space Center, but I never went.

Food

When calculating how much it costs to travel to Disney, food is one of the items that can vary the most between each budget. This is because you can find establishments from all you can eat for US$8 to those that serve dishes that cost more than US$100.

In the parks, you have the option to choose between restaurants quick e backgammon dedicated. The first literally means “quick restaurant”, where you order your food at a cashier and pick it up at the counter. It tends to be the cheapest, and dishes cost around US$14.99 or less per person.

Those with table service are those where you receive a menu, are served by a waiter and the food is served instead of having to pick it up somewhere.. They are more expensive, and can cost even more if they include the presence of the characters. A meal at Chefs de France, table service at Epcot, it costs between US$15 and US$35 per person, while eating at Crystal Palace, with the Winnie the Pooh gang, can reach up to US$60!

A tip to save money on character meals is to reserve them for breakfast time.. I did this several times during my exchange working at Disney and I told a little about my experience in this post.

Another way to save money on food is to buy snacks at Walmart and take it to the park. Instead of spending $5 on a Mickey Bar (Mickey-shaped ice cream), you can use that same amount for a box of cereal bars that will feed the whole group. I also recommend buying breakfast and eating it at the hotel, so you don't buy this meal in the park.

On average, you will spend a little more than US$30 per person per day if you eat in restaurants quick dedicated at lunch and dinner, not to mention the initial investment in Walmart with snacks. I suggest budgeting $50 per day.

If you plan to dine out, I suggest choosing famous chain restaurants in the United States, which tend to have the most friendly prices. Brazilian favorites, like Olive Garden or Red Lobster, have dishes that cost around US$20 for dinner.

One last tip to save the maximum in your diet is traveling at a time when Disney is having a promotion free dining plan. This plan gives you credits to be used instead of cash to pay for meals. Normally this package is paid separately, but in some seasons when booking a hotel within the complex, even economic ones, you get the credits for free! Using them for breakfast, lunch and dinner, you can go a few days without spending anything on food! The free dining plan package was eliminated during the pandemic and it doesn't look like it will return anytime soon.

Purchases

Almost all When it comes to shopping, it's cheaper in the United States than in Brazil: cosmetics, makeup, clothes, electronics, sports equipment and so on... I've separated some of the most popular items to show how much they cost, but of course you can only include in the budget what you want and what's within your reality.

It must be remembered that, in the USA, sticker prices do not include taxes, which in Florida cost 6,5%.

The prices on the sites are for the current collections, but in Orlando there are two Premium outlets which I suggest you visit before from going to normal shopping malls. Outlets They are clusters of stores that sell products from previous years at a discount, and you can find everything from American Eagle, Nike and Adidas to luxury brands like Prada and Fendi. Unfortunately, there is no way to know in advance what you will find there or the prices. Here in this post I showed you the best places to shop in Orlando.

If you don't have time to shop, or want to save even more, my recommendation is to shop on Amazon.com and have it delivered directly to your hotel. The most famous virtual store in the world sells everything, and often with better prices than physical stores.

Remembering that here on the blog there is a post with the best products to buy in the USA, with tips on electronics, makeup, clothes, home things, toys, layette, vitamins, supplements and more!

How much does it cost to travel to Disney – Total price

To do the math, let's use the values ​​I presented here in the post. The bills are with individual prices, with the exception of accommodation and transport which I divided between FOUR PEOPLE If necessary, redo the calculation by dividing the total cost of the hotel and car by the number of people in your group.

A break to update this post – when I last wrote it, a 14-day trip cost around R$10k. Now it costs almost R$20k, help.

I hope this post gave you an idea of ​​how much it costs to travel to Disney on average, as well as some tips to help you make this trip cheaper.. The important thing is to research a lot to find the best prices! 🙂

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