If I had a dollar for every time I was asked this question, I would be able to book a Disney holiday once a year, haha! I thought it was about time that I put together a blog post covering the costs when planning your Disneyland holiday. Firstly, if you’re not in my Family Travel Addicts Facebook Group and Disney Mums and Dads Australia Facebook group, you’re missing out! You’ll find a heap of info on planning a holiday with kids there, so come over and join us.
How much do it costs to take a trip to Disneyland from Australia?
Flights
You should be aiming to pay under $1000 pp return depending on the time a year that you’re booking. Obviously, in December, you’ll be paying big bucks. I personally would never pay over $1000 pp for flights to the states. Both times we’ve been to Disney we have flown directly from Brisbane to LAX with Virgin Australia (they are fantastic to fly with). For the first trip, we paid $860 return, and the second trip was $960 because we had 2 internal flights to add on. How do I get them that cheap? I watch and stalk online sites for cheap flights and then take them to Flight Centre to match (I've since been told Flight Centre no longer match flights).
Accommodation
If you plan on staying on-site at a Disney resort, you can expect to pay 2x the price you would if you stayed off-site just across the road. We stayed at the Park Vue Inn during our first visit and on the second visit, we stayed budget at the Eden Roc Inn & Suites at the bargain price of $130 AUD per night! I book all our accommodation on hotels.com because it’s in AUD and you get a bonus night for every 10 nights booked. Seriously though, as long as it’s clean and close, you’re never in your room, so I don’t see much point in spending too much money on accommodation. If your budget stretches, for sure stay on site! The Disney experience is pretty amazing, but you sure do have to pay for it. I’m planning to save like crazy and stay on property just once so my kids get to experience it.
Disney Park Tickets
Now tickets depend on how long you want to spend at the parks (Disneyland and California Adventure). We are a family of DISNEY ADDICTS, so we opted to get the 10-day Disneyland and California Adventure Park Hopper, which allows unlimited visits for 10 days. It’s not the cheapest option, but it’s only a little more than the 3-day pass! These 1- day passes are only available to Australian and New Zealand residents, and only available here in Australia from a travel agency.
Prices
10-Day Park Hopper $548 AUD adults (10+) and $521 AUD children (3-9)
3-Day Park Hopper $410 AUD adults (10+) and $410 AUD children (3-9)
Food
I budget a minimum of $200 AUD per day for food. Some days we spent less and some days we spent more. We did go to Target and Walmart to stock up on snacks, drinks and a few breakfast things to save money. I recommend doing this and you’ll save a heap!
Travel Insurance
You need travel insurance if you’re travelling to the states as health care is mega expensive. For a family coverage with OneCover, you can expect to pay around $250, but the price will vary depending on how long you’re travelling.
ESTA
Before you can even think about entering the USA, you need to purchase an ESTA online, which is basically a visa that allows you to travel to the States. There are a few dodgy sites that charge 5x the usual $14 USD fee, so make sure you only book through the official site. The ESTAs are $14 USD each and you can pay via credit card or PayPal online. If you don’t have your ESTA, you will not even be allowed to check-in for your flight!
Car Hire
You can expect to pay $60 AUD for a small 5-seater car and around $100 AUD per day for a 7-seater van. I book via CarRentals.com because it’s in AUD and if you watch prices and the car comes up cheaper, you can contact them and they will happily reduce the price for you.
Extras
Spending money is a tricky one because it's so hard to know how much each person would spend. If you do plan on shopping a bit, there are some fantastic outlets not far from Disneyland if you do have a car. I cover the rest of our USA holiday in this post, which is quite extensive and includes everything you need to know about booking a trip to the States.
Bron
Awesome hints, Cheree! I can’t wait to get there someday. Thanks for giving me some goals, as now I know it can be done with 4 kids!
Nat
Can you tell me what the food options are like in the Park please? Is it all greasy or sugary fast food?
ohsobusymum
So many choices! It's nothing like our theme parks here. You'll find lots of healthy options and actual meals (not just fast food).
Sarah
So many delicious things, you can’t imagine! And definitely not all bad for you! Kids meals are big and always come with fruit & milk or juice... we are a family of 7 & split 5 meals between us & were all full!! & you’re so busy you’re generally not snacking all day (unless you want to try all the delicious things!!) Hahahah!!
Kylie
Also when looking at motels outside park quite a few offer free breakfast. Have a big breakky & take a few extras (donuts/danish/fruit) as snacks for the day. This is what we usually do.
Ally
Great tips, saving this post to go back later, planning and saving up for our trip next year 2020!
Ang
We often left the park for a meal ie brunch or early dinner at Denny’s or IHOP across the road . So much cheaper ! Then ran right back in . Just bought snacks in the parks
Noeleen Bowen
We went to Disney California 2 years ago for my daughters 10th Birthday, we stayed at a cheaper hotel across the street but would highly recommend staying in the Disney park hotel you get so many benefits including not waiting in lines, straight in, an hour earlier than everyone else. We lined up for at least an hour and a half with hundreds of people. After 13 hours on the first day we were so tired and it would have been good to be staying in the park as we were exhausted walking back to our hotel. Also a must were the quick passes to the rides and the Disney water light show that night was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life! It truly is the happiest place onEarth. Also I would recommend at least a 5 day pass as it took us 2 days and nights just on one side.
Melissa
I know flights in Dec are more expensive but I am planning on going this December from Brisbane - LA. I have been keeping an eye on flight prices but what is a 'good' price for December do you know? I like you bulk at anything over $1k each but I know I'll have to pay more for that time of year which is fine (gulp) but I still don't want to get ripped off. IYKWIM
Kate Comer
Ahh fantastic tips and can't wait to go! We are planning a trip in 2022 and love the extra motivation to save x
Glenn Hampson
When I went to Disneyland with the wife and 3 kids we stayed at Howard Johnson across the road which has recently been refurbished.Its like a 50-60s style but its very funky, super clean and really comfortable.We could see the nightly fireworks from our balcony and we were 5-7 mins walk max from the parks side entrance.Make sure you get there on time in the morning or go later in the morning if you cant get there first thing as the security screening does take some time to get people through
Alicia Warbrick
Hi recently single married for a long time have one child thinking of travelling for her 10th birthday on my 40th to Disneyland Florida from Sydney Australia do you think I can do this out of my league….
Cheers Alicia
Cath
This was my starting point to begin planning, but the prices are in need of an update post-COVID.
Currently flights, travel insurance and disney tickets have increase significantly since then.
Once I got a read on how significant the change has been between 2018 and now, I was able to use this guide really effectively to plan for food and what to budget for.
Thank you.