The only two constants in life are death and taxes. Now, it appears the latter is coming for one of the joys in life: a Disney vacation.
A few weeks ago, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recommended that the Florida Legislature remove property taxes on state residents and replace them with a dedicated tax on tourists. While most counties in Florida have a tourism tax that is capped at six percent, this new tax would explicitly target guests coming for theme parks and beaches and add thousands to an already expensive trip.
While that proposal did not pass this legislative session, the Legislature did pass a bill requiring 75 percent of all tourism taxes collected to go to property tax relief, forcing Orange County and others to consider raising their tourism taxes.
Now, two popular Disney Cruise destinations are raising taxes for guests arriving at local ports. These taxes will go into effect on July 1 and will affect cruise guests in Mexico and Hawaii.
Mexico Cruise Tax
On your upcoming Disney Cruise to Mexico, you can expect to pay a $5 per guest tax to be added to the cost of your trip and collected by the cruise company. Originally, Mexico wanted to collect a $42 fee per person, but the cruise industry worked with the Mexican government to keep the fee low, for now.
In August 2026, the fee will go up to $10 per person, and in July 2027 will increase to $15 per person. Finally, in 2028, the tax will increase to $21 per person.
This is just one of the new taxes that will take effect in July. The other is for guests heading to Hawaii.
Hawaii Cruise Tax
The Hawaii State Legislature recently passed the Transient Accommodation Tax, which will require cruisegoers to pay 11 percent of the prorated cost of their cruise for the days they are docked in Hawaii. This tax will be levied on the cruise ships but passed on to the cruisegoers.
Disney guests who go to Aulani are used to paying this tax, but this is new for cruise guests. Hawaii is using this tax for “certain environmental and tourism projects.” Among the uses of the money are projecting Hawaii’s parks and reefs, making buildings more climate resilient, and making tourism less harmful to Hawaii’s environment.
With these three new taxes on Disney vacation set to take effect on July 1, guests can expect to pay even more for an already expensive vacation.
How will these increased taxes impact your Disney vacations? Let us know in the comments.
The post Check the Fine Print: New Taxes Raising the Price on Your Next Disney Vacation appeared first on Inside the Magic.
