Typical Guest Expenses

[Wish I Was Here]

I have always wondered after a guest enters a park how much they spend on food and souvenirs that day. Also I wish there was a pie chart that showed how much Disney makes on food, drinks, and souvenirs each day. In other words, how does Disney make the most money from the guest excluding tickets?

 

[epcotisbest]

Not real sure there is a typical amount spent in the parks. I have been on days when I spent exactly zero for the entire day and days when I have spent a couple of hundred dollars. As for what Disney makes, there are huge markups on everything, never really thought much about what brings in the most profit.

 

[MaryJaneP]

Since Disney doesn't report such figures, we are left guessing or not even contemplating figures. All guests must buy tickets. We can guess that most might buy some food in park. We can also guess that less guests buy souvenirs than buy food, but that may be inaccurate. Also, since some souvenirs can be more expensive than occasional food, souvenir buyers may end up spending more total than food buyers. We doubt there is a typical figure but do not doubt that there are some budget types in Disney that divide the total revenues per day in each category by the total attendance figures and arrive at an average spend per guest. Of course, this is highly non-correlated to an individual guest who may, for a variety of reasons (budget, AP, etc) spend way more or way less than average.
For individual budgeting purposes, it is probably more helpful to figure out what you can afford to spend and work backwards from that (Tickets, food, parking, souvenirs).

 

[ShareBDwithMickey]

What is typical for me on one trip might be abnormal for someone else & vice versa. Some trips I have come back laden with things my heart told me I couldn't live without & my head couldn't put up a strong enough fight to stop me buying, even though my home is already rammed. Other times I have come back with some goofy candy, a new top & little else.

It just depends on what is there & whether it matched my favourite characters & my personal interests. I'm in the lucky position of having money I can afford to spend on items I don't really need but absolutely have to have, but if there's nothing that appeals to me then I won't buy anything.

Typical is subjective & personnal, spend what you can afford, buy what makes you happy & create memories to last a lifetime, in the end they are what will last not anysort of trinkets or momentos.

Set your budget & if you spend it all thats fine & if you don't then you have a head start on saving for the next trip.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Not real sure there is a typical amount spent in the parks. I have been on days when I spent exactly zero for the entire day and days when I have spent a couple of hundred dollars. As for what Disney makes, there are huge markups on everything, never really thought much about what brings in the most profit.

Same here. Some days I can go through a park and nothing interests me so I get out without hurting the wallet. Then theres other days I'm getting hit left and right with ... Oh I got to have that !!!! In order of most to least, on every trip I'll spend the most money on something from Art of Disney, then a sword from UK, then a lot of pins, then food items. My total food costs usually dont kill the budget, its the other things. But Disney is like any other place.... theres always big mark up so profits can be made.... thats what keeps them going.

 

[BJones82]

This is the million dollar question, if Disney can answer this (and chances are they are closer with Business Intelligence than people are giving them credit for) they can target marketing to guests before, during, and after their stay based on this information. Getting this information is a benefit of the Magic Band, they wont track it based on your personal info but I guarantee they track everyone between this age from this country spend this much this day using the magic band...

 

[LuckyOswald]

Like everyone said it's different for everyone. On my recent trip all we bought in the parks were some miscellaneous snacks (coke, popcorn during Electrical Parade), a LeFou's Brew (my fave!) and 5 pins. I don't like paying Disney prices for Disney food. I'd rather have a Big Mac than a burger from Pecos Bill's, for example haha. This helps make the trips more affordable for my budget.

 

[PrincessJenn5795]

My last WDW trip we were there for 12 days and every single day was different as far as how much we spent for food and souvenirs. I am sure every family has a different budget for their trips.

 

[fireworksandfairytales]

I worked merchandise at Epcot on my college program and I'd say on average people spent between $75-$100 at a time. And I mostly worked in the small gift shops near the front of the park, so it's not like there was a ton of selection. As for me on an average day in the parks my boyfriend and I probably spend about $60-$70 a day.

 

[yensid67]

I had always budgeted about $100 per park for souvenirs and a quick service meal for dinner. Like Epcotisbest said, there are huge markups of everything! My last trip I wanted to save as much money as I could, so we went to Walmart on 192(beside Midevil Times) and bought MOST of our Disney Park Item there! They have the same labels and much more of a selection for each of the local theme parks(WDW, UNI, Sea World) We saved a lot! We also did something different with our shopping...we took the first day to go shopping for all the things we wanted (Walmart) and got a few things in the parks. This way with a majority of the shopping done, we could enjoy our vacation a lot more with no worries of who and what we had to buy before we left the park!

 

[DisneyJunkie]

There are a lot of considerations to take in when it comes to guest expenses. For food, it depends if we're on the DDP or not. If we are, then we stick with our allotment of snacks and meals, and those are already paid for before we even arrive on the trip. Of course we will also bring packages of bottled water to cut down on stopping to buy one (at a ridiculous price) each time walking around in the hot Florida sun drives us to it. Any other little incidentals we bring some extra cash for, like souvenirs for ourselves or family at home. Sometimes my wife and I go without getting anything for ourselves simply because we didn't see anything there we HAD to have. And when it comes to the things I would bring back if something caught my eye, it's usually a coffee mug or a t-shirt/sweatshirt and those can be a bit pricey there.

 

[Wish I Was Here]

There are a lot of considerations to take in when it comes to guest expenses. For food, it depends if we're on the DDP or not. If we are, then we stick with our allotment of snacks and meals, and those are already paid for before we even arrive on the trip. Of course we will also bring packages of bottled water to cut down on stopping to buy one (at a ridiculous price) each time walking around in the hot Florida sun drives us to it. Any other little incidentals we bring some extra cash for, like souvenirs for ourselves or family at home. Sometimes my wife and I go without getting anything for ourselves simply because we didn't see anything there we HAD to have. And when it comes to the things I would bring back if something caught my eye, it's usually a coffee mug or a t-shirt/sweatshirt and those can be a bit pricey there.

Thanks for all the great responses guys. I am sure that Disney keeps all these figures under lock and key just like some other posters said. I have found that some items have a 4 times regular price mark-up. Although I realize there are real world prices and then there are Disney prices. I just budget for it.

 

[parkhopper1213]

I have always wondered after a guest enters a park how much they spend on food and souvenirs that day. Also I wish there was a pie chart that showed how much Disney makes on food, drinks, and souvenirs each day. In other words, how does Disney make the most money from the guest excluding tickets?

There is a Walt Disney World app that includes menus from all the dining and snack places. That will give you a good idea of food prices. The Walt Disney World stores also have items on line that give you an idea of what shop prices are at the parks.

There are lots of ways to spend less at the parks. Order ice water instead of drinks and consider sharing some of the entrees. Many of them are enough to feed 2. We've had the dining plans, but found them expensive and we spent the day making sure we got the meals and snacks we prepaid for.

 

[docdebbi]

I am Disney's dream guest. We never get the dining plan unless it's free (and by free, I mean, "costs less" when you consider that a room only and a ticket is cheaper than the package you need to get the meal plan).
So I need to feed six of us minimum, sometimes more when my parents come. We eat lunch and dinner in the parks, although sometimes at the resorts, but nice sit downs there, like California Grill. We do at least one sit down a day, often times two. calculate $70 a head by the time you get an appetizer, meal, dessert, beverage, and adult beverage. that's over $400 per meal, twice a day. then snacks and water. add a couple of souvenirs for the kids and pins for me and the son in law- that's over $100 a day for incidentals. now, do you want to calculate the portion of the Memory Maker cost divided per day? add another $20-$30 per day.
so..........almost a thousand a day???
you know what? I think I just talked myself out of going anymore.

or maybe I'll just leave the massive family at home and go alone!!

 

[epcotisbest]

I am Disney's dream guest. We never get the dining plan unless it's free (and by free, I mean, "costs less" when you consider that a room only and a ticket is cheaper than the package you need to get the meal plan).
So I need to feed six of us minimum, sometimes more when my parents come. We eat lunch and dinner in the parks, although sometimes at the resorts, but nice sit downs there, like California Grill. We do at least one sit down a day, often times two. calculate $70 a head by the time you get an appetizer, meal, dessert, beverage, and adult beverage. that's over $400 per meal, twice a day. then snacks and water. add a couple of souvenirs for the kids and pins for me and the son in law- that's over $100 a day for incidentals. now, do you want to calculate the portion of the Memory Maker cost divided per day? add another $20-$30 per day.
so..........almost a thousand a day???
you know what? I think I just talked myself out of going anymore.

or maybe I'll just leave the massive family at home and go alone!!

Wow, I can't even imagine...especially since most days we spend zero dollars in the parks, and often just a few bucks for snacks.