Walt Disney World and the word “budget” are rarely ever in the same sentence.
The family vacation spot has become so expensive that Disney lovers are on a quest to find creative ways to save a dollar or two without compromising their fun experience — like borrowing helpful items from others.
To ease the burden of Disney’s sky-high prices, parents are turning to “Buy Nothing” groups on Facebook to borrow used items from fellow Disney-goers, like strollers, unused rain ponchos and even popcorn buckets that allow for cheap refills, as originally reported by the Washington Post.
The premise is simple: families share and pass along items that might otherwise go unused, fostering a community built on frugality and kindness.
As the saying goes — one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
After a recent Disney trip, Kelsey Rush-Walko, a Pennsylvania mom of two, generously plastered Disney trinkets like Mickey Mouse ears on her hotel room door for other families to grab.
She even left behind things she couldn’t travel home with outside her hotel door and posted about it on one of these Facebook groups to let others know.
“Anytime you can help somebody save money is a vibe,” she told the Washington Post.
These helpful groups come at the perfect time as Disney recently hiked prices across the board for its two main US-based theme parks — Disney World in Orlando and Disneyland in Anaheim.
The steepest increases hit Disneyland’s Tier 6 one-day pass — the ticket that is purchased on the busiest, highest-demand days — jumping $18 to a record $224 per adult. That represents a 126% spike over the past decade.
The five-day Park Hopper, which lets visitors enter Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure on the same day for up to five consecutive days, increased $39 to $655, up nearly 108% in 10 years.
Annual passes also saw sharp hikes. The Inspire Key, Disneyland’s top-tier annual pass, rose $150 to $1,899 and the Believe Key, the second-highest tier pass, went up $100 to $1,474.
At Walt Disney World, peak one-day tickets broke the $200 barrier for the first time, rising $10 to $209, while annual passes rose $20 to $80 across all tiers.
The price changes happened shortly after Disney announced plans to expand, adding the first new park since Animal Kingdom opened in 1998.
According to a long-term blueprint from the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District — dubbed Comprehensive Plan 2045 — the Mouse House has supposedly carved out space for a “major theme park” and two smaller ones, likely water parks, to roll out over the coming decades.
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