Tom's Guide ran a practical test of three AI assistants by asking ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity to plan the same Walt Disney World vacation. The assignment was specific: a five-day trip for a family of five — two adults and three children ages 12, 10 and 6 — flying from Philadelphia, staying at a Disney resort and visiting all four theme parks from March 30 through April 3, 2027. The prompt asked for the full planning stack, not just a day-by-day itinerary. According to Tom's Guide, the requested plan included flights, hotel, tickets, meals, Lightning Lane strategy, restaurants, transportation, souvenirs and a packing list. The outlet's headline says one result came in $5,000 higher than another, though the provided source text only gives detailed figures for ChatGPT and Gemini. ChatGPT produced the cheapest estimate in the supplied text. Tom's Guide reports that it put the full trip at roughly $7,500 to $9,000, with a suggested realistic target of about $8,500. Its breakdown included $1,000 to $1,500 for airfare, $1,800 to $2,600 for the hotel, $2,500 to $3,000 for tickets and $1,000 to $1,400 for food. The weak point was lodging. ChatGPT recommended Disney's Art of Animation Resort, specifically a family suite, which Tom's Guide said was a sensible fit for five people because the suites sleep six and include extra space and amenities. But the outlet also said ChatGPT's $1,800 to $2,600 hotel estimate was far too low for the selected dates. Gemini returned a higher estimate. Tom's Guide says Gemini put the same trip at roughly $10,050 to $13,350, while saying a comfortable version could land around $9,500 to $11,000. Its cost assumptions included $4,000 to $4,500 for five nights in an Art of Animation family suite, $2,800 to $3,500 for park tickets, $1,400 to $2,000 for food and $1,200 to $2,000 for airfare. The difference came down to details that matter in real travel planning. Tom's Guide says Gemini accounted for the trip falling immediately before Easter Sunday in 2027, a busy spring-break period for Walt Disney World. Gemini also noted that children ages 10 and older pay adult ticket prices at Disney World, meaning only one of the three children in the prompt would qualify for a child ticket. The useful takeaway is narrower than a model leaderboard. This is one outlet's single test, not an exhaustive benchmark of ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity. But it illustrates a familiar failure mode for AI assistants in operational tasks: a plausible plan can still miss date-sensitive pricing, age rules or capacity constraints that drive the final cost. Who benefits: Users can benefit from AI assistants as first-pass planners that organize options and surface categories to check. Travel platforms and booking services benefit if they can combine conversational planning with verified inventory and pricing. Who's exposed: AI assistant providers are exposed when their tools produce confident estimates that understate real-world costs. Consumers are exposed if they treat those estimates as final budgets rather than planning drafts.