Our son is officially three years old! To celebrate, we decided to go away for the weekend and introduce him to the magic of Disney. We didn’t visit any of the parks this time (he’ll get to experience those next month in Tokyo), but we had a ton of fun at Disney Springs. Here’s how we spent our money over the two days in Orlando:
Hotel: $187
We stayed at the Buena Vista Suites Orlando on Saturday night, and it was exactly what we needed it to be. It was close to Disney Springs, our room was spacious – important when you need to set up a pack and play for a baby – and the hotel offered both free parking and free breakfast. We definitely made the most of those! There was an on-site resort fee of $20.25 (included above), but the overall cost was still reasonable compared to other hotels in the area.
Food: $218
To no one’s surprise, this was our biggest expense. As I’ve mentioned before, we like to eat well! We also had a big lunch planned at Rainforest Cafe as part of the birthday celebration. For the three of us, the cost of that lunch was about $83, so that was our biggest meal expense. We also indulged in some tasty snacks from both Salt & Straw and Gideon’s Bakehouse. We weren’t actually able to eat dinner at Disney Springs on Saturday night due to the crowds (Note to make reservations!), so we ended up grabbing Tijuana Flats nearby.
Rides: $45
I had done a little research before we left, so I knew that the carousel and train in the marketplace area of Disney Springs would be a big hit with our kiddo. What I did not know is that they run on tokens, which each cost $5 (or you can get six tokens for $20). We ended up needing three tokens, but our big ride expense was the $30 we spent on our Aerophile balloon flight! This was the “early bird” ticket cost for both our son and I to ride. Even with the wind, we both had a great time – though it’s worth noting that the ride he keeps talking about is the train…
Souvenirs: $25
Since this was a birthday trip, we told our son he could pick out a toy to bring home. After much deliberation, he decided on a remote control Mater from Cars. He’s already managed to wear out the batteries, so I think this was a solid choice!
Dog Sitting: $50
Of course, when we spend the night away, we need to make sure our pups are taken care of too! This covered the three times they needed to be let out while we were gone.
Total: $525
No one said a weekend at Disney would be cheap! Even without a park visit, this is definitely not a budget-friendly location. That being said, we did find some ways to save, like staying off property and grabbing early tickets for the hot air balloon flight, and we were happy to celebrate with our kiddo. We’re fortunate to only live about an hour and a half away, so we could also do a day trip to make it more cost effective – if we didn’t have both kids with us, I think we would have opted for that. That being said, we were very happy to have somewhere nearby to grab a nap!