Do you think we'll have enough cash?

[SDFgirl]

Thanks you all. I appreciate the dose of reality. We are going to add $300 to our spending money for this trip. Hopefully $950 should do it!

 

[maxiesmom]

I would double it. I went thru over $400 on a 5 night Free Dining stay this past December. When an adult beverage easily costs $12 having a drink or two adds up fast! Plus you may want more snacks that the plan covers, or want to pay out of pocket for an appetizer or two.

 

[jmkford4]

We spend more OOP in airport meals and snacks and also in alcohol than I though we would. I went about $200 over budget and I am CHEAP. I think you will be fine as like you said this is just the amount you want to stick to. If you really want to make sure I would pack a small breakfast or meal for whenever you are going to be at the airport. That is what I am planning this next go round. It makes me sick to pay double or triple the cost of airport food when I could have brought it from home.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

Thanks you all. I appreciate the dose of reality. We are going to add $300 to our spending money for this trip. Hopefully $950 should do it!

This is what we typically spend and our trip tends to be similar to what you have mentioned as far as spending. I think you will be fine with that budget. You could always spend more but you don't have too...

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

You are correct in that the tip is included with your CRT meal. I have always calculated out our DDP tips before we leave and I find that it winds up with breakfast tips about $15, lunch tips about $20 and dinner about $25. That is without alcohol purchased. So if all your meals are dinner, except for the one OOP breakfast, you're still looking at about $125+ in tips, plus the alcohol and tip.

I think your original $650 would probably go a long way - if you're now planning to take $950, you should come home with at least a couple of hundred.

We take about $400-500 cash with us for a weeklong trip, but charge souvenirs to our room and that goes on my Disney Visa. We usually come home with some cash.

 

[writersblock42]

I think it is def doable. If that is how much you want to spend stick to it. I would reduce the alcohol a little bit. For example, do you need to drink every day? If you only drink every other day that will save you $100 right there. I think that tips will probably run closer to $150 rather than $100. If your dds have birthdays/other holidays coming up ask for Disney Dollars from your family/birthday guests. If you have a Disney credit card, you can earn Disney dollars on it for every dollar that you spend.
I don't plan on spending more than a couple of hundred outside of food but we are not big souvenir people so I am saying yes, stick to your budget-everything else is paid for so you should have a great time even sticking to a budget.

 

[ajh88]

I think you've gotten lots of great advice/input, but I'll just add what I do to "cushion" the budget if you will.

I just specify a certain amount of money (usually $20 or $25) per day as "miscellaneous" - this might cover something like a photo package at a meal (won't apply to any of yours, but just as an example) or an unexpected "must have" snack or souvenir. So, if your trip were my trip, I'd add a cushion of $175. Whatever doesn't get spent one day just rolls over and if I bring it home, awesome, and if not, at least I planned a bit for unexpected costs.

I think if I started with $650 as my "base" and added my cushion, I'd feel pretty good about it. Have a great trip!

 

[SDFgirl]

I think it is def doable. If that is how much you want to spend stick to it. I would reduce the alcohol a little bit. For example, do you need to drink every day? If you only drink every other day that will save you $100 right there. I think that tips will probably run closer to $150 rather than $100. If your dds have birthdays/other holidays coming up ask for Disney Dollars from your family/birthday guests. If you have a Disney credit card, you can earn Disney dollars on it for every dollar that you spend.
I don't plan on spending more than a couple of hundred outside of food but we are not big souvenir people so I am saying yes, stick to your budget-everything else is paid for so you should have a great time even sticking to a budget.

No, we don't need to drink every day. I just averaged it out - some days we'll have 1 or zero drinks, some days 3 or 4. I don't think we'll actually drink as much as I'm allowing in the budget...but I like to over-budget so I'll be prepared. With 3 kids, I definitely don't have the energy to go as strong as I used to!