How to Create a Realistic Expense List for a Disney World Vacation (Part 2)
On the first official morning of your Walt Disney World vacation, you plan a character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. Since you arrived late the evening before, you want to ease into things. You have an entire week packed with park days, so this breakfast is a treat! Your kids are going to love it! Everything goes smoothly. The food is good, the characters are perfect, and then the check arrives. Wow. You didn’t realize that dining with characters was so expensive.
We see it all the time and do not want you to be the person sitting at the table next to us whose eyes bulge when they get the bill at 1900 Park Fare or any other restaurant. The shock, followed by visible financial strain, becomes apparent as the rest of the family finishes their meal, oblivious to the burden. Whether you can afford it doesn’t matter anymore, as you pay the bill with a pit in your stomach.
You spent countless hours planning this vacation, researching dining experiences, and determining the best way to tackle the parks. You even bought ponchos from a Dollar Tree store, so you wouldn’t have to buy the expensive ones in the park if it rains! After paying for airfare, hotel room, and tickets, you thought you were home free. Unfortunately, you didn’t give much thought to the other expenses, and now you’ve already spent $250.00 for breakfast and have another character meal with princesses planned at Epcot later in the week. You promised the kids that there would be lots of princesses!
When we initially developed this budgeting series, it became apparent that the most challenging part of creating a budget was preparing a list of realistic expenses. Like our example above, most people spend considerable time planning a Walt Disney World vacation. For some, it becomes part of their life for six months or more leading up to their trip. Those same people often have some sort of budget. However, they fail to do enough research, causing them to fall short of creating a realistic budget for their Walt Disney World vacation.
So, for part two of our budgeting series, we will teach you how to create a realistic list of expenses. That way, you won’t be the victim of unexpected bills that send you down a rabbit hole of worries during your vacation.
Making Your Expense List
In part one of our series, How to Create a Budget for Walt Disney World, we reviewed the five steps to creating an accurate budget. Step one is to make a list of expenses. You should account for every realistic expense you can imagine.
To help you do this, we’ve created a free set of PDFs that you can print if desired. Each sheet contains a list of expenses by category. For example, here is a screenshot of the sheet for transportation and accommodations. Since these are mostly pre-paid expenses, we’ve added a column where you can check if the expense has been paid.
We’ve also included a set of sheets for table service dining, quick service dining, snacks, beverages, souvenirs, extra-ticketed events, unique experiences, Lightning Lanes (Single Pass and Multi Pass), and other extras. Those extras might include lunch at the airport while you’re waiting on your flight or similar. We strive to list as much as possible so you don’t miss anything. But it’s a good idea to walk through your arrival and departure day in your mind to account for extras.
Some people like to include pre-vacation expenses like clothing, sunscreen, or other items. We will leave those items for you to decide whether to account for them in your vacation budget or everyday household expenditures.
These sheets are designed to help you. When you finish, you’ll enter each expense into our free Disney World Cost Calculator. It will help you calculate the total budget.
Where to Get the Expense Amounts
Now, you might be wondering where to get the individual expense amounts. You’ll have to research that. But here are a few places to begin your search.
- Travel Expenses
- Minnie Vans (Learn How to Calculate Cost)
- Transportation To and From the Airport (Mears Connect, Private Car Services)
- Accommodations
- Hotel Cost (Disney’s Website or Travel Agent)
- Tickets (Disney’s Website or Travel Agent)
*If you’re on the Disney Dining Plan, the plan’s cost is included in your room package. But you’ll still want to account for any meals, snacks, or beverages you purchase outside the plan.
- Dining
- Table Service and Quick Service (Disney’s Website)
- Snacks and Beverages (Check the My Disney Experience App or Disney’s website for exact prices.)
- Refillable Mugs (Check our Disney World Refillable Mug Guide)
*Remember the Resorts Gal Budgeter has the pre-calculated expense of every table service restaurant at Walt Disney World. All you have to do is enter the number of guests in your party for each dining reservation. It even adds tax and a tip for every meal. It also calculates the average cost of quick-service dining for every meal, plus snacks, beverages, refillable mugs, and more!
- Lightning Lanes
- Each month, we publish a list of Disney World Lightning Lane Pricing. Reference: The Resorts Gal Guide to Lightning Lanes at Disney World.
*The average price of Lightning Lanes (all types) is built into our paid budgeting spreadsheets.
- Souvenirs
- We recommend setting a budget for souvenirs for children ahead of time. Some parents like to give children a Disney gift card they can use, and when it’s used, that’s it. My parents always did this for my son, niece, and nephew. It was a nice gesture and something they wanted to do for the kids when they weren’t traveling with us.
- Extras
- Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (Check Pricing)
- Special Event Tickets (Check Pricing)
- This includes Disney After Hours, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, and Disney’s Jollywood Nights.
- Enchanting Extras (Check Pricing)
- This is a lengthy list of items, including dessert parties, Savi’s Workshop (lightsabers), and more!
Get Your Copy
You’ll need to sign up for our complimentary budgeting email course to get a copy of our free budgeting expense PDFs. We’ll send you a copy of the planning sheets and access to our Disney World Cost Calculator, which we cover extensively in part three of our budgeting series. Sign up below and get started today.
Is it possible to have a truly unique and memorable Disney World experience without breaking the bank? Yes, enroll in our free email course and get your first lesson today.
You will receive a series of emails that teach you to budget. You can unsubscribe at any time.
