What Disney World Upgrades Are Worth It?

I'm not sure if you're aware, but Disney World is expensive. Even Disney on a budget can quickly escalate for a family of 4 or 5. While there are plenty of ways to cut back and save money on a Disney vacation, there are also several upgrades and options that can potentially pay off. From the time you plan your vacation until you get inside the park you'll get hit with decisions such as Dining Plans, Park Hoppers, and Lightning Lanes. Which ones actually pay off? Let's dive in...

• Park Hopper - When you're booking your vacation, it's easy to just push a button to upgrade your park tickets to Park Hoppers. You can get allured by the flexibility of going to any park whenever you want. But from a practical standpoint with a big or young family, moving between the parks can be more time consuming than you expect. For just one or two people, Park Hoppers can work to hop to the rides or restaurants you want to go to. But with kids you'll find it's nicer and more relaxing to spend time and explore each park. While you can certainly justify the purchase by moving between parks, I would recommend saving your money and enjoy each park. Not worth it.

• Dining Plans - Full disclosure: I've never opted for one of the Disney Dining Plans. I totally get the allure: prepaying up front so you don't have to worry about budgeting or overspending during your trip. But most people agree that the dining plans don't actually save you any money. Under the Quick Service Dining Plan you are allotted 2 Quick Service meals and one snack per night per guest, and under the regular Disney Dining Plan you get 1 Table Service meal, one Quick Service meal, and one snack per night per guest. Both plans also include a refillable resort mug (more on that in a bit). Given the price points of both plans, you essentially need to be strategic in planning out your meals and snacks just to break even or come out a few bucks ahead. But if you plan on only going on a few character meals or nice sit-down meals, then neither plan is really going to pay off. Plus, if you have younger kids they will probably not eat enough to justify the costs. Now if you are strategic or plan on using the Disney Dining Plan for character meals every day, it might be worth it. Otherwise I'd say it's not worth it.

• Memory Maker - The Memory Maker package allows you to own every photo taken by a PhotoPass photographer, both around the park at various signature photo spots and for every character meeting, as well as all your ride photos. On a short trip where you don't expect to get many group photos, you may not care to get all your photos. However, on any trip longer than four or five days with character meets, photos in front of the castle, Epcot sphere, or any other iconic spots, I would definitely spring for the Memory Maker. That goes double for runDisney weekends, where the Memory Maker will also entitle you to all the photos taken on the course and with characters. Definitely worth it.

• Lightning Lanes - The cost-benefit of Lightning Lanes could certainly be its own post. When Genie+ first came out we held out as long as we could on solid ride strategy. But after days of watching happy families stride past us in their Lightning Lanes we finally bit the bullet and haven't looking back. Now with the Lightning Lane Multipass (I won't even go into the Lightning Lane Premier Pass - if you can afford to shell out the money for it then you're probably not as concerned about your Disney World vacation budget) it's a bit tricky in structuring your entire day ahead of time, but the benefits can definitely be felt if you plan accordingly. Now I wouldn't recommend the LLMP for Animal Kingdom, and Epcot is really only worth it to ensure short wait for either Frozen Ever After or Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, but I would definitely say for Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios it is worth it.

  • Bonus: Lightning Lane Single Pass - I would personally only deem two Disney World attractions as truly worth purchasing Lightning Lane Single Pass: Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind and Rise of the Resistance. All the other options will typically have pockets in the day with shorter wait times to just go with Standby.

• Refillable Resort Mug - The common misconception when people get these as part of their Dining Plan or purchase at the resort is that these can be refilled anywhere including the parks. False! These can only be refilled at Disney World resorts (granted, any resort on property - not just your own). So if you don't spend much time at your resort or you're not a big soda drinker you might not be able to justify the expense. For the runDisney crowd, I've found being able to refill with coffee on my way out to the parks and Powerade during any afternoon or nightly stops was pretty helpful. These are really on the fence, but if you're planning on a longer stay with one or two resort days then I would say they're worth it.

• Refillable Popcorn Buckets - I've mentioned before my kids don't really eat big meals. But they absolutely love snacking throughout the day, and their are few snacks that placate my kids more than popcorn throughout the day. Each park as well as Disney Springs has multiple locations to get a $2 popcorn refill, and I find myself getting at least a couple refills each day. If you find a really cool collectible bucket you like then by all means get it, but the normal buckets are the most practical purchase as they typically hold more popcorn. (And you didn't hear this from me, but many vendors will let you use older popcorn buckets for the refills, so you may not need to buy a new one. Although I've been charged in full for a popcorn when trying to refill a 2-year old bucket, so just be prepared). Overall I'd say worth it.