Disney World Price Increases Are Coming Soon — Here's How to Outsmart Them

It’s about to get more expensive to go to Disney World, and we’re here to prepare you!

Disney World has long been on the pricey side for a vacation destination, but each year, it seems to get more so. It’s not uncommon for Disney to have annual price increases, and if you’re worried about it, we’re here to teach you our best tricks for saving money

Annual Price Increases

The first thing we’re here to break down is the annual price increases. It’s fairly common for Disney World to increase a BUNCH of prices in October of each year. The list of things that increase can include a variety of services and offerings, like:

theme park tickets
Annual Passes
dining
experiences
parking
Lightning Lanes
tours
hotel rates
merchandise

We’ve sometimes seen these price increases happen toward the beginning of the month, and sometimes they fall later in the month. There are also occasions where we’ve seen random dining and merchandise price increases at other times of the year. But for a few years now, post-pandemic, it has been common to have the biggest wave of increases in October.

Now, these increases could affect you whether you’ve already booked your trip or not, so let’s break down what you can do to save money in either scenario. Of course, booking before October hits is a big way to lock in those hotel and ticket prices. But there are other ways as well!

7 Things I Wish I Did Before My Last Disney Trip

Disney World Discounts

If you’re in the pre-booking stage (you haven’t purchased tickets and/or a hotel), this is for you! There are a plethora of ways to save on your resort package or trip as a whole and keep things under budget.

For starters, Disney World offers several room discounts throughout the year, listed on the Special Offers section of the website. These can drop kind of randomly, so always make sure you’re checking to see if any apply to your trip before you book. Here at AllEars, we write articles with the details and info you need every time a discount drops, so you can subscribe to our newsletter to get those updates.

Less frequently, but still available from time to time, are deals on tickets and Dining Plans. Sometimes you have to book a certain number of nights at a Disney Resort to qualify for those deals, so make sure to read the fine print.

Another great way to save on your hotel room if you’re hoping to stay in a Deluxe Resort is to rent Disney Vacation Club points through an authorized reseller. Here at AllEars, we use David’s Vacation Club Rentals to save on DVC villas — paying a portion of the price that you’d have to pay if you booked through Disney. Make sure that if you go this route, you use a company that is authorized to resell…NOT a stranger on Facebook.

Finally, we often recommend using a travel agent who specializes in Disney vacations. We love our friends over at Mouse Fan Travel, as they have many years of experience planning trips, and their services don’t cost you any extra. A travel agent can help you find the best discounts available and apply new ones if they are released after your trip is booked.

Tips for Saving Money ON Your Trip

But what if you’ve already got your vacation booked and those price increases hit BEFORE you arrive? Well, we’ve got you covered in that scenario, too. One of our biggest tips is to save on food by bringing your own snacks into the parks — don’t spend money on things like bottled water and bags of chips when you’re feeling peckish after long line waits. If you’re flying in or driving without much space for packing food, we recommend ordering grocery delivery to your hotel through Amazon Fresh.

Buying souvenirs ahead of your trip can also save you some serious dough. Disney Store has a wide selection online and runs sales often, or you could snag some basics from Amazon. Many Orlando-area stores (including Walmart and Target) have souvenir sections with Disney items that are cheaper than in the parks.

Lightning Lanes also end up being a big splurge once you arrive on your vacation. If you’re not visiting during a busy season, you shouldn’t feel the need to purchase these for every day of your trip or even every park. Animal Kingdom and EPCOT can often be accomplished without Lightning Lanes, and if you go in with a solid strategy, you can get many must-dos done in any of the parks by waiting standby.

No matter when you go to Disney World, it’s a smart idea to make a budget and use these money-saving tips to get your trip as affordable as possible. If you need help sticking to that budget, use gift cards with hard limits to keep your spending under control on vacation. Whatever you’ve got to do to make it work for your group!