Travel Guides Family Friendly Disney
Kent Phillips/Disney
Matt Berry
A family vacation to Disney World can be a magical experience, but that experience can be notoriously expensive. Between the theme park tickets, souvenirs, food, flights, and accommodations, a Disney World vacation may take a bit of savvy vacation planning to Imagineer into reality. Fortunately, Disney provides a bit of budgetary relief when you’re planning your Disney World vacation.
If you purchase a Disney World travel package, which includes both theme park tickets and a Disney World resort stay, then you can pay for the travel package in installments. Much like a layaway program versus a credit card or loan, the payment plan doesn’t charge interest. You can reserve your Disney resort stay and park tickets with a down payment, then pay for your vacation in installments leading up to your arrival date.
A family vacation to Disney World can cost thousands of dollars. However, by taking advantage of Disney’s payment plan, you can tackle vacation costs over several months, helping you to plan a memorable Disney vacation without breaking the bank.
The fine print of Disney payment plans
Garth Vaughan/Disney
You can reserve your resort hotel and ticket with an initial minimal down payment of $200. Disney allows you to reserve a Disney resort out to the end of its availability calendar, so the amount of time you have to pay for your Disney vacation will depend on how far in advance you plan. However, you’ll need to pay the entire amount due at least 30 days before your arrival date.
Disney’s payment plan is completely flexible. You can choose to pay monthly, weekly, or in a few large sums. It’s really up to you. As long as the payment is made in full 30 days prior to arrival, you won’t incur any additional costs other than the cost of the travel package. We should mention that you aren’t required to purchase theme park tickets in a payment plan package. You can choose to only place the resort on the payment plan. However, there is no payment plan to purchase only theme park tickets.
If something comes up, you can also cancel your trip for free, as long as it’s canceled 30 days before the arrival date. If you cancel beyond the 30 days, you’ll owe a $200 cancellation fee.
Advantages of the Disney payment plan
Kent Phillips/Disney
The Disney payment plan can make your trip more budget-friendly, but financing the vacation can also enhance your overall experience. While perhaps cost-prohibitive without a payment plan, opting to stay at a Disney resort provides a quintessential Disney experience. Being completely enveloped in the Disney bubble just adds a bit more magic.
Along with its atmospheric charm, Disney resorts provide additional perks for its guests. For starters, you’ll enjoy a 30-minute early entry into the theme parks. While this doesn’t sound like much, you can knock out the uber-popular rides during this time window. Resort guests also have early dining reservation access, which means you’ll have an advantage in scoring in-demand dining experiences, such as the character breakfast. And transportation isn’t an issue, as you can take monorail, gondola, bus, and boat rides for free to visit the parks from your resort.
But the biggest advantage of the Disney payment plan is that financing makes Disney vacations more accessible, allowing more families to experience Disney World’s undeniable magic.
