How Much It Costs to Go to Disney World – Trip Cost Report

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Disney World Trip CostsHave you ever wondered how much it costs to go to Disney World? If you guessed expensive you’d be right! A trip to Disney World is definitely not cheap but to us it was definitely worth it. First, I’d like to let you know that I didn’t pay full retail price. I took advantage of a factor that not everyone qualifies for. As a Florida resident Disney World gives me special discounted rates on the hotel and park tickets. Other than that everyone can get the same prices I did on everything else.

Disney World Ticket Costs

I did a lot of research in this category to find the best price and the best match for what we wanted to do. We had two options as far as what type of Disney World tickets to get. The first was a 3 day Magic Your Way ticket which allows you to enter one park per day of your ticket. The second was a Park Hopper pass which allowed you to visit as many parks as you would like each day but it came with an additional cost. Ultimately we decided we were only going to go to one park each day anyway so we just stuck with the Magic Your Way Ticket.

I also scoured the internet to find the best prices possible on tickets. Unfortunately it seems that Disney didn’t seem to have any discounts on the tickets. I didn’t want to buy the tickets from a third party because I wouldn’t be able to tell if they were genuine or not. Instead I found what seems to be the one exception that was able to get me a discount on the tickets.

My Florida resident status saved me some major money and seemed to be the only way to get a discount! Our tickets cost $180 each after tax for a three day Magic Your Way pass.

Total Ticket Cost: $360 for three days of fun in Disney World!

Disney World Hotel Costs

We decided to stay on the Walt Disney World Resort for a couple reasons. First, by staying on the resort we were able to have free shuttle transportation to all of the theme parks each day. We also could park at the theme parks for free if we wanted to drive ourselves. If you aren’t staying on the resort you have to pay $14.00 a day for parking… ouch!

Another reason we stayed on the Walt Disney World Resort was the fact that everything was included in the rate we were quoted and there were no hidden fees, resort fees, WiFi fees or anything else. Although they don’t provide breakfast it was cheap enough to bring our own so it wasn’t a deal breaker for us. We ended up staying for four nights and once again got the Florida resident discount.

Total Hotel Cost: $322.64 for four nights at the Disney All Star Sports Resort

Transportation To/From Disney World

We decided to drive to Disney World. It is about a 6 hour trip which isn’t that bad and it was cheaper than flights if you just consider the gas cost (I know there are other costs as noted in my mileage reimbursement and redbox posts). We also wanted to have the convenience of having my car in case we wanted to leave early or go somewhere else that the resort transportation wouldn’t take us.

We were glad we drove because during our trip Tropical Storm/Hurricane Issac couldn’t decide if it wanted to go to Orlando, my home or somewhere else. Luckily Issac decided to go away from both Orlando and my home and the transportation wasn’t necessary but if we flew we wouldn’t have had that option.

Part of driving included $10.50 in tolls to get there and back. We could have avoided the tolls at the cost of more time. To us it was worth it to get there earlier so we could go to Downtown Disney and on the way back we wanted to get home to be able to get home and relax.

Total Transportation Cost $116.95

Food at Disney World

The night we arrived we ate at Planet Hollywood at Downtown Disney. It is a more expensive restaurant but part of our Disney World Resort package included a $15 coupon to Planet Hollywood which brought the cost down to that of a normal Disney restaurant.

Other than that, we brought food from home for breakfasts and ate lunch and dinner at the Disney Dining establishments in the park or at our resort. I’d say we averaged about $20-$25 a meal and always drank water and the snacks that we packed instead of buying extras. We didn’t get anything extravagant and just ate at the quick counter service establishments. The prices were high but as I mentioned Wednesday, theme parks can price gouge and get away with it.

Total Food Cost $156.03

We had a great time and spent under the amount that we had budgeted for the trip! Overall it was a great success!

Total Trip Cost $955.62

Have you ever been to Disney World? Was this in line with what you would have expected it to cost? Share your Disney World stories!

Photo by @CDHarrison

Filed Under: Vacation

How Theme Parks and Movie Theaters “Price Gouge” for Food

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I’d like to start with a quick update for those who have been asking why I seem to have dropped off the face of Earth with my commenting and what not… I left Friday afternoon for a trip to Disney World and just got back yesterday afternoon! I’ll be writing up a report and have some great post ideas from the trip but need a little bit of time to organize my thoughts.

Have you ever noticed that theme parks and movie theaters charge a LOT more for food and drinks than you would pay in any other setting? As I mentioned above, I just returned from Disney World and their concession prices reminded me of the sky high prices of concessions at movie theaters. Disney World vending machines charge $2.75 to $3.00 for a 20 oz bottle of soda. I can get the same soda from a vending machine in front of a grocery store for roughly half of that cost.

Why Do Theme Parks and Movie Theaters Charge More?

The answer should be fairly obvious but to get there I think we need to evaluate the answer to another question or two first. Do you pay these prices? Do you see others paying these prices? If the answer is yes to either of these questions you have your indirect answer. Movie theaters and theme parks wouldn’t charge these outrageous prices if people would not buy the items at their prices.

In fact, I’d be willing to go a step further and say that they likely optomize their prices so that they can make the most profit possible. I’d venture they test different prices in different locations and see how the product sells. A simple example would be at $1 they sell 100 sodas, at $2 they sell 90 sodas at $3 they sell 75 sodas and at $4 they sell 50 sodas. In this case they makes $100 at the $1 price point, $180 at the $2 price point, $225 at the $3 price point and $200 at the $4 price point.

In the above example the seller doesn’t sell quite as many sodas but they do end up maximizing their revenue. Obviously they would consider the cost as well and instead maximize profit but you get the idea.

So How Do They Pull It Off?

The reason why you pay these prices is the fact that you are a captive audience in these situations. At the movie theater you likely aren’t allowed to bring in outside food or drinks. They have the only option for concessions stand items if you don’t want to break the rules. Most people just accept it and pay the prices because the theaters have done the research to find the perfect price point to make the most money possible by pricing right below your maximum allowable wallet pain threshold.

The biggest factor is people don’t plan ahead when they know they’ll be part of a captive audience. As far as theme parks go, many people arrive at the parks and before realizing how high the prices actually are. By the time they figure out how much things cost in the park they don’t want to waste their precious time (theme park tickets aren’t cheap) traveling outside the park and just pay the prices on the menu board.

Most people don’t know you can do bring in outside food and drinks to some theme parks. Other people are lazy and some people are willing to pay the prices. Whatever the reason is, it works in favor of the theme park. I did see a few people eating food they brought into the park but I’d venture to say it was less than 10%. We personally fell in the last group for lunch and dinner. We wanted something hot and fresh so it was worth it to us. We budgeted for it and could afford it. We didn’t pay for drinks or snacks though. We brought and refilled water bottles and carried small filling snacks with us each day.

We knew we would be a captive audience and planned ahead for what we were willing to pay for. Do you buy concessions at the movies and theme parks? What do you do to save money and where do you budget for some extra spending money?

Filed Under: Life, Save Money, Vacation

Combat Lifestyle Inflation: Save Half of Every Raise for Retirement!

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I decided I was going to be prepared for retirement after seeing all of the headlines in the news of people not having nearly enough money for retirement. Obviously you have to have enough money saved to cover your income needs while you’re retired. Something a lot of people don’t think of is the fact that the lower your income needs are the less money you have to save for retirement.

Lifestyle inflation, or the increase in consumption that normally comes along with an increase of pay, is a choice and not a requirement. If you aren’t paying attention it can sneak up on you before you know it. Instead I have decided to fight lifestyle inflation in a way that will actually help my retirement in two ways!

I Plan to Save Half of Every Raise for Retirement

The first way this is going to help me be prepared for retirement is pretty obvious. If I save more money now I will have more money at my disposal when I retire. The best part is that I’m not just increasing my savings rate for a short period of time. Instead I plan to permanently increase my savings rate for the foreseeable future every single time I get a raise.

My thought process here is that if I haven’t adjusted to having the money it will be like it never existed. While it is tempting to celebrate I’d rather not spend quite as much and instead prepare for my retirement. I am already saving a healthy percentage of my income but it wouldn’t hurt to sock away a little bit extra every year. If I save enough I may even be able to retire early!

The Less Obvious Advantage: Combating Lifestyle Inflation

Combating lifestyle inflation is a great advantage of saving half of every raise for retirement. Instead of increasing my expenses by the full amount of my raise I’ll only be increasing them by half of my raise at most. In fact, my lifestyle will probably stay close to the same if my raises stay around the rate of inflation or a bit above it.

I don’t really have a need to live a fancier lifestyle than I already live and honestly the spending would probably become routine. I would just expect the little things that once brought me joy. This is a common occurrence when lifestyle inflation kicks in. Once you get above a certain level the additional money and things it buys just doesn’t add as much happiness as you think it will.

The best part of combating lifestyle inflation is that your overall expenses are lower. When it comes to retirement you only need to replace your expenses, not how much money you made every pay period. If you keep your expenses low that means you don’t have to save quite as much to replace a now lower amount of expenses.

If you’ve been diligent in your saving for retirement, applying this principle could allow you to retire earlier than you originally had anticipated prior to applying it. The other option would be to retire at the same time and have more of a buffer in your budget.

So would you consider saving half of every raise for retirement? Which effect do you like better, saving more for retirement or combating lifestyle inflation?

Filed Under: Basics, Budgeting, Save Money

Random Thoughts, Round Up and Carnivals #18

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Random Thoughts

I know you’ll likely hate me for this… but I’m going to say it anyway in case your kids haven’t been pestering you already. Christmas is only four months away! Have you started saving yet? What do you mean you haven’t started? I reminded you three months ago that Christmas was seven months away and to get started saving! In case you forgot here is the post… Even if you haven’t started saving yet that’s OK because we still have four months!

On a more in season note, school has started for the local kids down here in Florida and that means a lot for me down where I live. You see, I live in a beach tourist town and when kids go back to school that means something pretty major for the residents down here. Tourist season is almost over!

Over the last few weeks I’ve noticed that traffic has gotten lighter and it no longer takes me twice as long to make it home on Fridays. Don’t get me wrong, I love the tourists! They bring in a ton of money to the local economy. Every visitor helps create jobs in the area and keep our economy going. Luckily I work in a job that isn’t dependent on tourism so I can enjoy the empty roads and beaches over the next few months.

After that the snowbirds come down from the North and Canada for a few months and before I know it college spring break will be hear once again! I’m getting ahead of myself though… I need to slow down and enjoy the empty beaches while I can!

Round Up

iHeartBudgets writes Should You Hire a Professional? He evaluates when it makes sense for him to hire a professional versus when it makes sense just to do it himself. It isn’t the typical how much do you make an hour deal either. He shows it isn’t just a monetary decision.

Financial Samurai writes about how he plans to make $200,000 in just 20 hours a week. It is an ambitious goal and I’d love to be in the same position one day. It takes a lot of hard work to get there but I bet he gets it done.

Michelle at Making Sense of Cents writes Do You Want to Be Self Employed? She shows both sides of self employment and asks if it really is the best decision for you personally. There are benefits to both sides so you really need to know what is best for you, not what is best for others on the internet.

Dominique at Passive Income to Retire writes about how to Negotiate Your Salary and Benefits. This is so important and can make you tens of thousands of dollars extra over your career. Don’t ask for a hand out though. Make sure you have reasons.

Finally, after this week’s life insurance movement Jeff Rose has some tips to get Cheap Term Insurance. These are decent tips if you are in the market for some term life insurance.

Enjoy your weekend!

Where are you planning to take your next vacation? Did you know that you can get a steal of a deal by visiting the Florida Gulf Coast during non-tourist season? The beaches may be a bit cooler but the area is still beautiful! If you’re in the area let me know and maybe we could meet up!

Filed Under: Round Ups

Why Redbox Isn’t As Cheap As You Think

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Redbox Isn't As Cheap As You Think

Redbox Isn’t As Cheap As You Think

Redbox has become a very popular option for renting movies at the low cost of $1.20 a night for DVDs and $1.50 a night for blu-rays (before tax). In fact,

Redbox is pretty much the only way we rent movies now! We only rent movies when we are going to watch them later in the day and we always return them the very next day so we are only charged for one day. Even though we only keep the movie for one day there are additional expenses we really should consider when renting a movie from Redbox.

You Pay More Than Just the Rental Fee to Use Redbox

Most people consider the cost of a transaction as just the money that gets charged to their credit card or the money that comes out of their bank account. That is not the case though. You really need to consider all of the costs to complete the transaction from getting to the Redbox machine to getting the movie back.

Getting To and From Redbox

The biggest cost for us, other than the movie rental, is getting to and from Redbox. The closest Redbox is two miles from our house. They don’t always have the movie we want so sometimes we have to go four miles to the next nearest Redbox. Of course, we don’t just drive one way, you have to drive there and back so that means we drive 4 to 8 miles to rent each Redbox movie. We also have to return the Redbox rental which kicks us up to 8 to 16 miles driven for a one night Redbox movie rental.

Now that I know how far I have to drive to rent a Redbox movie I have to assign a cost to each mile. There are two main ways to do this in my opinion. The first is just fuel costs and the second is a fully loaded mileage rate that includes depreciation, maintenance items, insurance etc.

If I just want to use fuel cost I need to calculate how much money gas costs per mile. I know my car gets 30 miles to the gallon in the city and right now gas costs about $3.50 a gallon where I live. I take $3.50 and divide by 30 miles to get a cost of  11.7 cents per mile. So, for the nearest Redbox I pay $0.94 cents in gas for each one night rental and for the next closest Redbox I pay $1.87 in gas for each one night rental.

If I want to use a fully loaded mileage rate I defer to the IRS mileage reimbursement rate of 55.5 cents per mile. This is pretty close to accurate for most cars and just in case you were wondering you don’t make money off of mileage reimbursement. So for the nearest Redbox I pay $4.44 in vehicle costs and for the next nearest Redbox I pay $8.88 in vehicle costs if I use this method… ouch.

Redbox Doesn’t Seem so Cheap Now…

The total cost for a one night Redbox rental including gas or full vehicle charges varies anywhere from two to eight times the one night rental cost for me. Of course this assumes that you drive to and from the Redbox machine from your home to both pick up and return the rental and don’t run any other errands when you’re out.

There Is a Way to Avoid Gas Costs

You can avoid the gas costs and vehicle charges by simply picking the movie up when you are out running other errands. Depending on your situation it might make sense to hold on to the movie an extra night rather than making a special trip just to return it. These Redbox machines are actually close enough for us that we could ride our bikes there if we wanted to or take a walk. We normally drive though.

Will This Deter Me from Renting Redbox Movies?

Nope, not one bit! We normally only pick up movies when we’re on our way to or from somewhere. There are quite a few Redbox locations directly on my way to and from work and there are many locations on our way to many of the errands we normally run. After this analysis though we might hold on to a movie one more night rather than paying for gas to make a trip solely to return the movie.

Do you rent movies from Redbox? Had you ever thought to consider the gas and vehicle costs or do you only pick up movies when you are already out running errands?

Photo by Valerie Everett

Filed Under: Life
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