Family who live at Disney World for half the year reveal costs involved
Topics: Disney, Disney World, Money, Travel
Mia Williams
Featured Image Credit: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images
Topics: Disney, Disney World, Money, Travel
A couple with two children have revealed how they manage to live at Disney World, Florida, for half of the year, as the annual pass-holders speak about their 'Disney bubble'.
Living at Disney World is perhaps a dream held in the hearts of millions of children across globe, after all, it claims to be the 'most magical place on Earth'.
But the Ewing family have made it a reality for at least six months of every year.
Lauren and Adam are the parents of two girls aged 10 and 12, and claim that Disney has always been a special place for their family.
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Speaking to PEOPLE, Adam, a real estate developer, admitted: "This has just always been our go-to place.
"I mean our honeymoon was spent at Disney World."
Lauren, a stay-at-home mom, estimates that the family spends about '60 to 70 percent' of their year living at the resort, after developing a community of friends.
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the family experienced a series of 'life-changing events' that led them to leave their 10,000-square-foot home on 140 acres of land outside Athens, Georgia, and purchase an RV.
They planned to travel the the country together as a family, but slipped into staying at Disney World for a proportion of the year.
Adam said: "I grew up in the generation of you have to go to school and get a college degree and work 40 years to enjoy 20 before you die.
"And it's like, no man, my kids are little once. I want to enjoy them while they're little."
But a Disney lifestyle comes with a Disney price tag, and many would expect living at the resort for half of the year would rack up a bill with more zeros than possibly imaginable.
The Ewings' stay at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort, which Adam says is close enough to the park to hear 'the fireworks going off at Magic Kingdom' in the evening.
The price to reserve an RV slot changes with the season, but the family claims that during the last spring break, it cost roughly $300 per night.
During the recent spring break, the Ewings claimed to have spent the most they ever have on the accommodation, coming in at an eye-watering $8,000.
They follow the '26 days in, 24 hours out' rule at the campsite, meaning they can't live there for more than 26 days consecutively.
"We usually go to Tropical Palms in Kissimmee and stay for the night," the family wrote on Instagram. "The move day back in is always such a happy day."
But when it comes to day-to-day life, the Ewings don't spend every minute of the day with Mickey Mouse.
They said: "Most of the time, it is that normal life, working out, doing school work, regular work, and then we'll go to the parks… mostly at night.
"We don't do the whole day at the park unless somebody's in town."
And when it comes to food, they try to eat most of their meals at the campsite.
Adam added: "We can get caught up eating out in the Disney bubble if we're not careful and before you know it, we haven't eaten at home in a week or two."