Family of 5...How much cash to bring?

[2mickeys1minnie]

We are leaving in 8 days :banana: and I am trying to get packed and organized. We are a family of 5...dh, myself, ds 8, ds6 and dd 2. We are on the free ddp and I have already secretly purchased some great souveniers from kb toys and the disney store to bring for the kids. We are also having a box shipped to our hotel w/ water and snacks so it's there when we arrive. How much cash do you recommend we bring? We are trying to be very frugal on this trip. Thanks!

[alicenwonder99]

Well, since you are trying to be frugal, I wouldn't worry about bringing too much money. I hardly bring any cash when I go to WDW, just enough "just in case". I will usually just use my debit card. But I don't even spend that much using my debit card, either. Here's what I usually spend money on:

stroller rental
stuffed animal for each child
extra snacks (not covered on DDP)
t-shirts for whomever in the family wants one
food at the airport (last year, our flight was delayed 6 hours because of a snow storm back home)

Since you have the DDP, souvenoirs bought, water and snacks shipped, then you probably won't have to bring too much money.

Are you planning on renting a stroller? Are you going to let each child buy something? Just make sure you have a credit card with you for an "emergency".

HTH

Mary

[MarkBarbieri]

We always rely heavily on credit cards rather than cash, especially when we travel. However, you still need cash for tips, some shops, etc. I'd probably bring around $200 in cash and try to avoid using it unless needed.

You want to bring enough so that don't have to hit an ATM on your trip but not so much that losing it or getting it stolen would cause you problems.

[MarkBarbieri]

One thing that my wife and I always do is split our credit cards. We both carry our main card but we each carry one that the other doesn't carry. This way if I lose my wallet, we can call in both of mine as lost and still use her remaining one until we get replacements for the others. This worked great when she left her purse in the bushes along a river in Mexico.

[2mickeys1minnie]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I had forgotten about the stroller rental cost - thank you. Can I charge that to a credit card as well or do you have to pay cash? How much is it for a double rental? DH and I will both bring 2 credit cards (diff. accounts) and a debit card plus a little bit of cash. I think we have all of our bases covered. The kids are bouncing off the walls with excitement (ok so are we :Pinkbounc) 6 days to go and I can't wait to just get there. :yay:

[MarkBarbieri]

I believe that you can pay for the stroller rental with plastic. Even better, I think you can rent them for multiple days on your first day. Then you don't have to go through the entire hassle every day. I'm afraid that I don't know the specifics as my DW is usually the stroller renter.

[ruadisneyfan2]

I believe that you can pay for the stroller rental with plastic. Even better, I think you can rent them for multiple days on your first day. Then you don't have to go through the entire hassle every day. I'm afraid that I don't know the specifics as my DW is usually the stroller renter.

This is true. Mickey gladly accepts plastic for stroller rental and we've bought multiple-day stroller rentals. You just tell them how many days you want to buy and they date-stamp your cards each time you rent. They actually forgot to stamp our card once so we had a left over rental in 2005. We were told the unused rentals never expire so we used it during our 2006 trip. :thumbsup2
The card will specify if it's a single or double stroller.

[ndgqmiller]

We Have The Same Question. We Are A Family Of 5 With The Dining Plan. How Much Spending Money Should We Bring For The Extra Things. T-shirts, Ears, Autograph Books Etc.. Extra Drinks, Just Having Fun With Out Breaking Budget!

[kg66]

Seems to me the double stroller was around $15/day. We did the double because it had room for a backpack with snacks, jackets, and of course tired little ones. I'll check the Disney page and get back to you with a price. TTFN

[kg66]

Just checked Deb's site at AllEars: Single $10/day, or $8 day Length of Stay
Double: $18/day, or $16/day Length of Stay. Hope this helps your buget. The last time we went we thought our youngest would be fine, but we ended up picking up an umbrella stroller at WalMart for $10. I've heard of others who have also done the umbrella stroller thing, and then gave it to a family at the rental kiosk that didn't want to lug it back home.

[kg66]

Just checked Deb's site at AllEars: Single $10/day, or $8 day Length of Stay
Double: $18/day, or $16/day Length of Stay. Hope this helps your buget. The last time we went we thought our youngest would be fine, but we ended up picking up an umbrella stroller at WalMart for $10. I've heard of others who have also done the umbrella stroller thing, and then gave it to a family at the rental kiosk because they didn't want to lug it back home.

[2mickeys1minnie]

We are back from our trip so I can now answer my own post! We spent 8 great days at POFQ w/ the free dining plan. We also brought alot of our own souveniers from home (glow sticks, spinners, etc.) Even with all of that we still spent about $300 for the entire week. That included the stroller rental for 7 days, some souveniers, the kids wanted to get tattoos in MGM (5 bucks a pop), 4 refillable mugs at 11.99 each (which were totally worth it) etc. We also paid out of pocket for one of our meals and purchased some family pictures from our breakfast and dinner at Chef Mickeys and Ohana. Hope that helps! Have a great time. We can't wait to go back!

[mrsltg]

There's a difference between spending money and cash to me at WDW. Cash is what I bring to the parks for incidentals and such (usually about $40), spending money is what I plan to spend for my vacation. We usually don't spend the cash we bring with us but it's good to have just in case.

If you are planning on being frugal I would say for five people plan for $100 per day total. You won't approach this but it's always good to have extra. You never know if someone needs to visit the doctor or something like it. Otherwise you'll go home with a bunch of cash!

Have a wonderful trip!

[WAHMto5]

I also purchase most of our extras like t~shirts, toys, ect.. at the Disney Store before we go and we also go on the DDP. I like to budget $100.00 a day for little extras and stuff like the mugs at the resorts, ect. Last trip, we actually came home with $$, which was a great feeling!

[kribit]

Guess my dh was right when he said I'm going "overboard" with the spending money?!?! :) Hotel paid and free dining...and I'm planning on bringing an extra 2k. Guess I'll be coming home with money...won't dh be happy!!!

He asked me "exactly how much does a stuffed pooh cost anyway?" :teeth:

[Hope73]

About 500 it may sound like a lot but once you buy a few shrits and extra food it ads up.

[ndgqmiller]

Thanks, we just wanted to have a ballpark figure!

[runwad]

Geez i guess we are really cheap, we had the DP and I bought t-shirts and light up spinny thingies and brought them and had 160 in gift cards and came home with $40, we just didn't need anything to eat or drink with the DP. Oh and our kids were 5, 7 & 9. They had their own money $10 each to buy a pin and thats it :rotfl:

[ndgqmiller]

Geez i guess we are really cheap, we had the DP and I bought t-shirts and light up spinny thingies and brought them and had 160 in gift cards and came home with $40, we just didn't need anything to eat or drink with the DP. Oh and our kids were 5, 7 & 9. They had their own money $10 each to buy a pin and thats it :rotfl:

I think we are going to bring about 400.00. Since we are on the dining plan and we have autograph books, ponchos and glow sticks, drinks, snack and breakfast items. I think the kids can each get a shirt and ears and be happy. Were blessed to be able to go! This is our first time and we are very excited. I don't want to go overboard, but I also don't want to be saying no the whole time!

[ndgqmiller]

BUMP :Pinkbounc

[mum of two pirates]

be able to plan anoughter trip next year. :thumbsup2
y kids have $400 saved a piece already and I have over $1500. I do not want to want for anything I want to buy it all, But we are going for 18 days. This is our first ever familey vacationa nd we have been saving and planning for over 3 years. We are starting our 7day cruise with 11 at wdw and I so can not wait to go. We leave in 64 days. :cool1:

[kcrew]

Geez i guess we are really cheap, we had the DP and I bought t-shirts and light up spinny thingies and brought them and had 160 in gift cards and came home with $40, we just didn't need anything to eat or drink with the DP. Oh and our kids were 5, 7 & 9. They had their own money $10 each to buy a pin and thats it :rotfl:

Hmmm...I guess we are even more "frugal". My 3 kids each went with a $25 gift card and none of them spent it all(1 actually bought nothing). I spent a grand total of $71. This included 3 cups of coffee and 1 beer with dinner not included w/DP(all for my DH), a "light" lunch/tip for 6 at Sci Fi (just for the experience) and a pack of camera batteries because I accidentally left mine in the room! Honestly, noone wanted anything else. :confused3

[disneygal33]

We are a family of 5. When we went in May we were on the DP. We spent about $1000 in souvenirs, extra snacks,tipping etc.
This time I am taking 2k. I don't think we'll spend nearly all of it, but I like the option of spending it. But then I am dangerous when it comes to shopping in Disney :rolleyes1