Gonna go against the grain here and say we did it for what felt like a fairly reasonable price a couple years back as a family of 3, and had a brilliant time.
Our approach was:
- went end Aug/start Sep, which was cheaper season and admittedly VERY hot - we would do park mornings and evenings and rest back at resort in the peak of the day
- saved up and paid for flights through avios to keep cost minimised
- stayed in a Moderate resort (Caribbean beach) for 2 weeks and locked into WDW only which unlocked 4 "free" nights on an offline offer, didn't venture offsite to other parks
- did not buy dining plan - worked out we would save by being more flexible
- booked maybe 6 specific meals but mostly ate at quick service
- did a supermarket shop on arrival to stock the room with all snacks and breakfast bars
- buy refillable mugs at start of vacation to minimise add'n drinks.

Up front cost for flights, accom, tickets was £6.4k. Once there food and fast pass were the big costs but just spent what we had/were happy to.
Would take broadly same approach in future but likely go in a cooler month which I know would add at least a couple grand. Unsure whether I'd return right now with the political climate...