Spending money and other info...

[Dad2Buzz]

Hi all,

Myself, wife and 2 kids (9 & 7) are going to Disney for 2 weeks next May, I am currently gathering info and number crunching in advance (and trying to budget accordingly. )

I have been to Florida a few times, but not for many years, in fact I was about the same age/s as my kids now.

We will book the 14 day ultimate ticket for the Disney parks, but plan on visiting Sea World, Busch Gardens etc. We are going to take £3000 spending money for the fortnight, does that sound about right? I was hoping to avoid car hire, what is the cheapest/easiest/best way to get to Sea World/Busch Gardens without a car?

Also, I can currently get a better price through Thomas Cook, if I stay at a Disney resort (Port Orleans Resort), but booked through TC, do we still get free daily Disney transfers to the parks?

Thanks!

[chmurf]

Originally Posted by Dad2Buzz

We will book the 14 day ultimate ticket for the Disney parks, but plan on visiting Sea World, Busch Gardens etc. We are going to take £3000 spending money for the fortnight, does that sound about right?

it sounds about right. (Don't take it all in US cash)
that's roughly $300 per day.
If you're only eating onsite and don't have DDP, then it will bite into your budget pretty dearly (probably $150+ per day for food if you do 1CS and 1TS a day * based on the DDP price)

I was hoping to avoid car hire, what is the cheapest/easiest/best way to get to Sea World/Busch Gardens without a car?

cheapest way to get to seaworld is to take the Lynx 50 at Downtown Disney (or TTC) it will drop you at Seaworld's entrance and cost $2 per passenger each way

Busch Garden tickets often come with a free round trip by bus to Tampa. Check the tickets when you buy them off the official website for Busch, and get those that get you the free transport.

do we still get free daily Disney transfers to the parks?

Of course, you do.

You also get Disney Magical Express if you stay at a Disney Hotel. Check with your TC since this one needs a reservation

[torsie24]

FYI, the transfers to the parks are every 10 minutes or so opening to closing, so don't feel like you need a timetable or anything.

Something about the way you woreded it "daily transfers" gave me the impression you might think they're timed or something so wanted to clear that up.

All you need to do is show up at a bus stop whenever suits you and wait a few minutes for the right bus.

[scoobydooby]

If you are planning to eat on Disney property you can check out the menus for quick and table service to gauge how much you will need to spend. Don't forget the tax and tip when working out the actual cost. You can see all the menus at www.allears.net

Your costs will vary wildly depending on whether you eat at table, quick service or a mixture of both. Eating off site is much cheaper. We eat all our meals on site, one TS and one QS a day but its costly.

[ukool]

If your staying on site id look at the DDP, we got it free and svaed us alot of money. Also look at Travel city direct. I have just booked with them and they were pretty cheap and fly with virgin.

[helenlovesdestroy]

Hi, this will be my family's first trip to wdw in oct and I haven't been to Florida before. We have 14 day ultimate ticket and plan to do just disney parks only. We also have DDP. I'm starting to panic as you are all talking about £3000 for spending and we will only have £1000 to take for a fortnight and we do like to shop!!! Do you think I will need more than£1k even though we have meals covered? Any advice on how much to allow for tips and any other things I might not have thought of?

[Holstar]

Originally Posted by helenlovesdestroy

Hi, this will be my family's first trip to wdw in oct and I haven't been to Florida before. We have 14 day ultimate ticket and plan to do just disney parks only. We also have DDP. I'm starting to panic as you are all talking about £3000 for spending and we will only have £1000 to take for a fortnight and we do like to shop!!! Do you think I will need more than£1k even though we have meals covered? Any advice on how much to allow for tips and any other things I might not have thought of?

It really does depend... We're a family of 5, staying on site for 12 nights on DDP and then in a villa for a week.

We've budgeted about £3500-4000 for the entire trip. That's tips whilst staying at WDW (we're not planning on eating out during our time at the villa), petrol and parking (when off site, parking on WDW property if you're staying on site is free), spending money and other drinks and snacks.

Although you're on DDP, you need to consider your tips - it's not really free dining as such as it's custom to tip 18-20% at a table service meal. So, for us, our bill for a table service might be $120 which is covered by the dining plan, however we would be expected to tip 20% which amounts to about $24. That has to come out of your pocket!

We're doing a table service every night, and within our budget, we're allocating about £350 for tips. So, that's not just dining tips, but room keeping (completely optional - some tip, some don't), luggage, taxis etc.

I do think it's doable - but tips will bite into your budget somewhat (unless you're not planning on doing table service and are just sticking to counter service meals!).

xx

[scoobydooby]

It's doable for sure If you are on the DDP with a table service everyday though and if you plan to tip room service daily and buy some bottled water daily, that's about £500 spent. That still leaves £500 to do what you want with. You can use your DDP snack credit to 'buy' breakfast every day too if that helps. You can spend a tonne at Disney/in Orlando. Or not. I have a house full of crap the kids have 'needed' in WDW that represents money we didn't need to spend. I think for kids spends you must let them know the limits before you land and then just stick to them. Some people take a pile of cash to buy clothes/IT goods that are cheaper over there. It can offer big savings but its wholly unnecessary if that's not part of your family's plan. My DS (14) had about £450 worth of clothes and trainers on our last trip but them I've spent zilch on that stuff since we got home so I've saved money I would have spent anyway. It's not a necessary part of our WDW budget though. You just need to know what you must spend, what you want to spend, what you can afford and budget accordingly. We took £800 on our first post children trip in 2006 and managed without going over budget with no DDP. We ate in cheaper places, bought less stuff that was unnecessary and planned better for our budget in advance because we had to.

Just work out your must spends and enjoy

[Dad2Buzz]

Thanks for the advice guys

I will have to research DDP a bit, I am not sure how restrictive it is regarding choice. I have seen they sometime give it away as part of an offer.

I will have lots of other questions, but can't think of any right now.

[scoobydooby]

Originally Posted by Dad2Buzz

Thanks for the advice guys

I will have to research DDP a bit, I am not sure how restrictive it is regarding choice. I have seen they sometime give it away as part of an offer.

I will have lots of other questions, but can't think of any right now.

The regular DDP (1 table, 1 quick, 1 snack per day at the moment) has limited restrictions. It includes entree and desert and none alcoholic drink for TS and main and side, desert and none alcoholic drink for quick service. So if you prefer appetisers they cost extra, if you want alcohol that's extra. I would not pay for it, I would probably spend that much on food but if I had to pay I'd rather have the choice of appetisers etc. That said, I will pay to upgrade the free QS plan to the regular one as I did this year because it will save us well over a grand. It was nice when the regular plan was free! Snacks are, as a general rule, most snacks up to $4 (or is it $5 now....). You need to do the math with this. Free dining tends to mean full rack room rate. The more people you have in a room, generally, the more you save on free dining as opposed to a discounted room rate.