How to Create a Realistic Expense List for Disney World.

Imagine…

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 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, the planning process 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

Our first real step is to make a list of expenses. You should account for every realistic expense you can imagine.

Expenses include items like:

  • Table Service Dining
  • Quick Service Meals
  • Snacks
  • Beverages
  • Extra-Ticketed Events
  • Unique Experience (Example: Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique)
  • Lightning Lanes (Single Pass, Multi Pass, and Premier Pass)
  • Airfare
  • Hotel Costs
  • Car Services

Again these are just a few of the extras you might include. For example, if you have lunch at the airport while you’re waiting for your flight, that’s a vacation-related expense. We strive to list as much as possible in our budgeting spreadsheet 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.

Where to Get the Expense Amounts

Now, you might be wondering where to get the individual expense amounts. You’ll have to do some research. But here are a few places to begin your search.

*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.

*Remember our budgeting spreadsheet 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
    • The price of Lightning Lanes will vary per day, per product.

*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.

Here are a few extras you might consider.

  • 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!

Homework for this lesson: Begin creating your expense list, and know that it will take some time. If you would like to know more about our paid version you can learn more here. For a small fee, you can have a budget created in no time. (It also includes an expense tracker.)