How much $$ should we bring with us??

[Disneyfun1]

We are down to 39 days and making final preparations to go, like going through the money. We have been saving during the year, one fund for the annual passes we intend to buy(right on track on that one), and one for the spending money. On occasion, we have 'dipped' into the spending money pot, but we may be able to have all that we wanted to bring before we go anyway(we are putting every available dime into the fund now!!). Regarding the rooms, they are just about paid off, and should have no problem on that. Just wondering what a lot of you would budget bringing for 10 days in the world. I do know we have about 8 PS at various places throughout the stay, and also have to pay tiffany towncar as well. What do you think is a good 'fund' to bring. I have my idea, but would like to see yours to see where i fall. Thanks for the help.

 

[jillhou]

Well - the first thing I would have to know is how many people are going. How many adults? kids? ages?

We would also have to know - do you intend to buy souveniers? Will you eat 3 meals int he parks each day?

I think for my family of 5 - 2 adults and 3 kids - we budgeted about $100 - 125 a day for food and drinks. Some days we went over and some days under. You can plan to spend just about any amount. It can really vary a lot!!!

 

[Disneyfun1]

Guess i left that info out....
there are 4 of us, 2 adults, 2 kids, aged 10 & 8-boys.

We dont usually eat bkft unless we have a PS for a it, just for the special days, i think we have 2 or 3 planned. Lunch and dinner can be light sometimes, again except for the PS we have, which i think is about 5-6 for lunches and dinners total.

Last year we spent about 300-400 on souviners if i had to guess the amount, so about the same this time around too.

 

[MJames41]

That depends - how much have you got? Seriously though, figure out how much you want for souvenirs, and, since it sounds like you have many meals figured out, you could try wdwig.com for the menus (and prices). For the meals you don't have PS for, I would suggest at least $5 per person for breakfast, $10 per person for lunch, $15 per person for dinner and $10 per person for snacks (all per day). Hope that helps.

 

[imgoingtodisney]

Are you paying for any other admission? I need to bring money for Sea World & Kennedy admission for 2 ad & 1 child also. 5 day hoppers are already bought. Also Im paying for the MK fireworks cruise. Did you figure in tip money?

 

[cassie]

I would say at least $150 a day should be enough for food and snacks. When I was there I put aside $100 a day for me and 2 grandkids younger than yours. It was plenty...

 

[candykisses]

We budget $150/day for food and snacks. Our family is 2 adults and 2 boys ages 7 & 14. Some days run more , some less.

Even when we added another adult to our group we still used the $150. and that was fine.

DH and I don't eat breakfast and the boys usually grab something in the room (cereal or Poptarts) we have a counter lunch and a sit down dinner.

 

[Trekker]

In an effort to keep the resort board on topic - Disney Resorts - this thread has been moved to the budget board

 

[BambiTamby]

All the money you can find!!!

Be prepared to start hemmoraging money as soon as you get to WDW!!!!

 

[Wish Upon A Star]

Hmmmmmmmm . . .well the thing is . . .everyone is different, and every circumstance is different . . .For us, we set aside $225 per day for food, souveneirs and extras. There are 4 of us . .2 adults, 2 children (DD 12 DS 8) . . .honestly, we never spend that much, but we have it just in case . . .For instance . . .we do a character b-fast every day . . .which ends up costing us $60 . . .these are buffetts and we eat at around 10 am. During the day if we are in a park we get drinks and ice cream or something, then if we are hanging out by the pool there is always those yummy drinks at the pool lounge . . .mmmmmmmm frozen toasted almonds . . .lol 1 frozen toasted almond costs $6 . . .the beer I believe was $4 . . .so the bar total gets kinda up there, with kids doing virgin daquiris . . .then off to dinner . . .sometimes we eat really really well, like at the Coral Reef . . .(hub's favorite) I believe last year we came home with around $500 left over . . .but its always good to carry more . . . .just my opinion . . .The first year we went as a family (99) we spent more on souveneirs . . .the 2nd year (00) we spent more on food, in fact we ate like royalty . .lol Don't get me wrong, we ate some nights at MK at Pinnochio's Village Haus (which is quite good) and then at the Electric Umbrella in Epcot (another good spot) We didn't always eat at $$$$ restaurants . . .who can afford that?? We also did the Luau last year and went to Sea World . . .so that was included in the $225 per day . . . .Well, I can go on and on . . .at WDW you can either spend very little $$ or lots of $$$$$. That's why you should always plan on bringing more . . .that way you'll have it just in case . . .Hope this helped!

 

[SandraC]

We wanted to put as much as we could on VISA so we would not have to carry lots of cash. (saved for three years, knew we had the $$$$ to pay off the VISA).

We took $400.00 to spend on counter meals and other cash expenses. We came home with $50.00. That was for 9 days/8 nights, 4 people. dh, me, dd 7 yo and ds 15 mo

 

[sablair]

Here is an estimate of what we spent a month ago.. not exact, but pretty close.

Four of us: DH, me, DD (7) and DS (15). We had everything paid for (airfare, hotel, passes, rental car) except our meals, souveniers, parking and cost of sitter for our toddler and boarding our dog. We took $1500 and a credit card.

We spent $1300 in 7 days... eating onsite (counter service) and offsite, inclucing two meals that were $100 (Chef Mickeys and RFC)... no alchoholic beverages and we didnt buy drinks in the park (did buy desserts at times), but went to publix and stocked up. We also bought disney quest tickets for four of us. It was about $100 a day for food... a little less on some days and more on others. We didnt eat frugally, but we definately didnt splurge either. We spent $200 on souveniers. 75 to board the dog.. $56 for airport parking... 150 to our sitter. $50 for a trip to publix for drinks. $25 for a trip to walmart for film and misc. That is about it.

We wrote our expenses in a little book daily, just to have a record for future trips and to track our spending. We found that knowing where we stood really helped us to make decisions that would keep us within budget (didnt want to have debt on the credit card unless it was necessary). The kids really wanted to do a water park, but we had already splurged on DQ tickets... just having it written in the book helped us to resist the temptation to spend that extra $100 and we had a great time at the hotel pool that day instead. It was a good tool to show the kids and help them to understand the budget.... it helped us all to weigh what we wanted to do.. where we wanted to eat and see how it would affect the budget for the rest of the trip. We came home with money in our pocket We decided to not do two PSs we had planned because eating expensively wasnt as important to us as having time in the parks

Good luck!

Sheila

 

[sablair]

Oh Pooh Disneyfun! I forgot to tell you how we came up with our budget in the first place.. given that different people spend differently.. maybe this will help you.

To see how much to set aside for meals:

I first decided where we were going to eat. I checked out the menus at wdwig.com and read the boards here to get an idea of what we would like and the costs.

When we had a list of places we wanted PSs I totalled up the cost for all the set priced buffets, plus tips.

Then I printed out the menus from the other restaurants to get an idea of how much my family would spend based upon what I know they are likely to eat.

I wrote each day on a meal plan and listed the restaurant, the estimated cost of the meal (I added in $5 as a cushion plus tip to the estimates).

After I had written in the PS meals on the right days, I had to fill in the amounts for the other meals. I planned $25 for bfast offsite on days that we would do that and $35 for lunch. There were two open days and I just planned for $100 for meals those days.

I knew that we would likely eat Golden Corrale for bfast, pizza offsite if we just wanted to grab something, or go to a chain like Chili's or Fridays. If we had a big bfast I planned for a dessert/snack for lunch and then dinner that night. If we snacked bfast I planned for a counterservice lunch and a light dinner. This helped to estimate what we would spend.

In the end I had a plan for every single meal and the estimated cost. Now...... we varied GREATLY and didnt go by our plan, but I was surprised that if we chose to eat somewhere different, we either kept within the original amount budgeted for that meal or came in under.

The best part was having a plan to eat at really good restaurants and knowing we could stick within our budget and eat well the entire trip.

Sheila