I would really love to say “I feel like going to Disney World for a week”, and not have to worry at all how much it cost. But like most of you, I have a budget. Disney World vacations have four main cost categories: lodging, food, tickets, and transportation. You can have very different trips with the same length of stay and the same budget – it all depends on how you decide to divvy up your dollars.

Want to see some examples in action? Check out Same Cost, Different WDW Vacations: $2,000 | $4,000 | $6,000

Today we’re going to break down how many days of admission you can get for a specific dollar-value budget. You can combine this with information on the cost of lodging and food (coming in future articles) to decide how many days you can afford and how to slice your personal budget pie. Our goal here is to help you figure out how long your Disney World vacation could be for the money you are able to spend.

About the Numbers

Disney World tickets are sold in lengths from 1 to 10 days of admission, and they vary in price depending on the date. There are about 20 different prices each year for a 1-day ticket. For multi-day tickets, the more days you add the cheaper they are per day. (More about Disney park ticket choices: Walt Disney World Ticket Options: FAQ – Park Hoppers, Water Parks, and More.)

It’s not super-helpful to pick one of these prices and say: “$1,000 will buy three 2-day tickets or two 3-day tickets for a family visiting on October 13.” This article is about ballparking your budget, not getting down to the dollar values – so we need to simplify. To keep these numbers manageable (but still very useful!) here’s what I’m going to do. If you’re in a hurry feel free to just read the parts in bold and skip over the explanations.

Disney World Tickets: What You Get for What You Pay in 2022

Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, the numbers. (2023 is up next.)

In the chart above, start in the column for the number of people. Then move down to see how many days admission you can buy for $500, $1000, and so on. Or, if you want to know roughly how much a 3-day ticket will cost for your family of 4, move down until you find the cells that contain the number of days you want. Then look at the dollar value on the row(s) to get an idea of what you’ll need to pay.

The Park Hopper, Water Parks & Sports, & Park Hopper Plus add-ons are a flat price no matter how long the ticket is, but I’ve shown them here for convenience.

I want to talk for a minute about the ranges, because they can be a little confusing. If you see “4-7 days”, that doesn’t mean you can get any number of days you choose between 4 and 7, although it’s true that if you can afford a 7-day ticket you will definitely have the $$ for the shorter ticket. Instead, it means that depending on the starting date of the ticket, the longest ticket you can buy might be anywhere between 4 and 7 days.

You might be thinking that some of those ranges aren’t terribly informative and you’d like to narrow it down a bit more. Never fear, we’ve got you covered. The chart below shows the 1-day ticket prices for 2022.

If you’ve got a time in mind for your visit, take a glance at that chart. If the month you’re thinking about is redder, expect to get the low end of the range for days of admission. If it’s greener, expect the high end. The reddest of red and the greenest of green on that chart are the days that were excluded. If your visit includes several of those days, you should double-check the chart against the actual prices for those dates.

Disney World Tickets: What You Get for What You Pay in 2023

The median price of a 1-day ticket went up by $5 in 2023. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you add up the effects on the longer tickets, it’s enough to see some shifting around. Here are the numbers using 2023 prices.

Again, we see some of those ranges are pretty wide, so here’s the 1-day ticket prices over the whole year to help guide you towards the right part of the range.

Tips on Budgeting for Tickets

My first tip is to remember that you don’t have to go to the parks every day of your vacation. In fact, many people who take, say, a week’s vacation to Disney World don’t want to spend every day in the parks. Even at four days, it’s a question. (You Have Four Days at Disney World. Should You Go to All Four Theme Parks?)

My second tip is to really consider the various add-ons and how they might fit into your vacation style. Depending on your length of ticket, the add-ons might cost more than a couple of extra days admission. (Which Disney World Ticket Add-Ons Are Best for You?)

Third: if you’re on the fence, know that you can always add Park Hopper and Water Parks options after you arrive. (The cost will not be pro-rated.) You can also usually add on days to a partially used ticket. This used to be “always”, but if you’re visiting in a busy time you might find that there are no park reservations left for the park you want. Depending on overall reservation availability, you might not even be able to add days. Still, if you’re visiting with lower crowds, you can consider being conservative and planning to add on an extra day if you want it. Especially since the reverse doesn’t work – Disney won’t give your money back if you want to shorten your ticket.

Finally: consider buying from an authorized reseller. No, I’m not talking about the shady outfits on Rte. 192 advertising “Theme Park Tickets Here, CHEAP!” Those guys are a good way to lose money, not save it. Instead, I’m talking about a third-party vendor that has a contract with Disney to sell discounted tickets. Our Ticket Calculator checks prices for your dates at the most popular authorized ticket wholesalers to find which one is offering the best prices for your date.  You can easily save 5-10% or more by choosing not to buy directly from Disney.

How do you choose to line up ticket prices and length of stay with your budget? Do you have any favorite tips?  Let us know in the comments!