DID YOU KNOW: Disney World Offers Payment Plans For Disney Vacations

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One thing that a lot of families don’t know when they start to plan their Walt Disney World vacation is that Disney offers Payment Plans! Today, we’re going to share everything you need to know about this awesome perk so you can start booking your vacation ASAP!

Payment Plans For Disney Vacations

A lot of people think that in order to plan or book their Disney World vacation that they need to have all of the funds available – whether in their bank account or on a credit card – at the time of booking. This couldn’t be further from the truth!

Some people call it a “Disney layaway plan”, some people call it a “payment plan.” No matter what you call it, we call it GENIUS!

Disney makes it pretty easy to spread your payments out over a period of time, giving you as long as you need to afford that magical Disney vacation.

The rules and timelines differ slightly depending on if you have booked a full vacation package or just a resort reservation.

Vacation Package

If you have a vacation package, you simply pay a $200 deposit (which is deducted from the total price) and you have 30 days before your vacation begins to have it paid in full.

Whether your trip is in 4 months or a year from now, you have that long to pay it off. You can make weekly/monthly payments or one big payment when the final payment is due. It’s up to you to decide how to structure your payment plan, so you can really customize it to suit your family’s needs.

Disney vacations can be booked 499 days in advance – that’s just over 16 months.

What does a vacation package consist of? A vacation package can have several variations. To be a package, you must have either park tickets or a dining plan added to the reservation, or both. Pretty simple, right?

Resort Room Only

If you are only reserving the room and not adding park tickets or a dining plan, you can still take advantage of the “payment plan”, giving you plenty of time to pay. You would simply pay one night’s deposit for the room and make payments or pay the balance upon your arrival at the resort.

Example Payment Plans

The average Disney vacation for a family with two adults and two children is $5000 before flights. (This figure averages families who stay at any level of resort and obviously, there are many ways to save and spend less – which we expand on in other posts linked below.)

If you book your Disney vacation package 16 months in advance, you will pay the $200 initial deposit and just need to pay $300/month each month until your vacation.

12 months in advance, you will pay the $200 initial deposit and just need to pay $400/month each month until your vacation.

6 months in advance, you will pay the $200 initial deposit and need to pay $800/month each month until your vacation.

Cancellation Policies

For the most up to date cancellation policies, call Disney directly or look at the cancellation terms on your booking.

As with any vacation, penalty fees may occur if you cancel your Disney vacation. If you need to cancel, contact Disney immediately as these penalties increase if you cancel within 29 days of your expected arrival. You likely won’t have to pay any additional funds – but it will reduce the amount of the funds returned to you.

Payment plans are especially great for when a great Disney vacation or resort deal comes available (for example, free Disney Dining or discounted moderate or deluxe rooms) and you want to take advantage of them – and know that you can budget for those deals over time or know that you have a big payment coming to you – like a work bonus or tax refund.

You can use the payment plan system with or without a Disney vacation planner. If you are using a Disney travel agent, don’t be embarrassed to let them know that you want to take advantage of payment plans – they are often incredibly knowledgeable and will be more than eager to help you plan. They want you to have an amazing vacation so that you bring return business to them – and refer your friends to them! 

Everyone likes to save money on their trip to the magic, so be sure to check out some more of our favorite money saving tips like our 10 TIPS TO SAVING MONEY IN THE PARKS and our top MONEY SAVING TIPS.

Head on over to our Facebook Group, Disney Express Lane, for more Disney information.

(NOTE: To clear up any possible confusion, the Disney Vacation Account was a service that Disney used to offer that was basically a dedicated Disney vacation savings account. It no longer exists – it was cancelled in 2017- but you can still take advantage of Disney’s payment plan as described in this post – no Disney Vacation Plan account needed.)


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Vanda Bean

Vanda is a Mom of 2 boys who is always thinking about or planning a trip to Disney World! Thanks to them and her work as a travel agent, she has become an expert on planning the perfect Disney trip and making wishes and dreams a beautiful reality. When she's not planning trips for others or visiting Disney herself, she graciously shares her knowledge and experiences here on Walt Express with our readers to help you plan your very own magical Disney vacation!

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