Spending money?

[Cdnsar81]

Hi again! Everyone here is so helpful!...

I'm wondering how much spending money do you think a family of 4 would need for a week? Myself, 18,13,10
We have the dining plan but I'm sure they'll want some extras... I'm not big on buying souvenirs but I'm sure they'll want one or two.
What have you brought for spending?

 

[jroof13]

We brought 1,000 with us for a family if 3, we had more than enough. But a lot of that went to tips for dinner, we were on the DDP, but when you figure in you have to tip on what the meal would have cost it gets pricy. We stayed for 8 days. Probably game home with about $200 left over so for a family of 4, I may add on to that amount just a little bit. Just depends on how logg you are staying. It's better to save more than to not have saved enough.

 

[Mama2girlz]

We are bringing $1500 buy that includes 3 ADR's out of pocket. Each kid has $200 as well.

 

[Disneylover99]

I usually buy my kids a $50 gift card each when I get there. My kids are 10 and 7. I tell them to take pictures of things they think they may want throughout the days at different park stores. At the end of the week they decide what they want. The items they wanted at the beginning of the trip are generally different from the end. On our last night we go to The World of Disney in DTD and they shop. This approach usually saves us money, and we aren't bogged down throughout our park days with "I want this or that."

Our family of four might spend about $300 - $400 in cash in a week on tips, souvenirs and alcoholic beverages if we are on the dining plan.

 

[OnceUponATime15]

We are traveling without the DDP for the first time in 5 years this time. Trying RO with tix to see if we save anything. There are 3 of us, all Dis Adults. Staying for 8 nights/9 days I've put the amount I estimated (with exchange estimated in) for our meals onto a CC which has a zero balance as a full credit & we will charge our WDW ADR& QS meals to the room (on that card) as if we were on the DDP. As far as cash, the plan is to bring $500US to $600US for incidentals (tips, snacks, trinkets, off site meals, etc)

 

[minnie mum]

I agree that too much is better than not enough. On the DDP, look at the cost of the plan for your stay (total for the whole group) and take 18% of that to roughly estimate what you'll need for tips.

You only get 2 meals a day on the plan. Will you eat breakfast? If so, add money in for that.

What about water? Will you just use the drinking fountains or cups of water from CS restaurants, or do you want bottled water? We usually go thru 2 bottles each per day, so we buy a case from somewhere nearby on arrival.

Adult beverages?

Souvenirs are unpredictable. DH is usually happy with a shirt. I'm all over the place - one trip I might only buy a Christmas ornament. Other years I've been known to get a piece of jewellery, a Mickey Mouse watch, or a kimono. Or all three. When our kids were younger we gave them a limit of how much they could spend on souvenirs and they were allowed to get what they wanted on the last day. Saved us from a case of the "I wants" all week long. Of course they could supplement that with their own savings. Discuss with them what the appropriate amount would be. This will vary SO much from family to family.

 

[smashing]

For a family of 4 we took $1000 plus our 2 kids had $100 each of gift money to spend. We had the dinning plan so with that tipped daily for meals and mouse keeping. We ran a tab on the room for adult beverages which we paid out with the cash before leaving to avoid exchange rates on our credit card. I can't recall what we had left but we came home with $ left. We flew from buffalo so that also was used to cover meals in buffalo as well as a stop at the duty free store

 

[Loreli]

For me & my two kids I brought $500 for a 7 day trip in 2013. Then again my mom spent $750 on tips, mouse keeping, other incidentals and souvenirs for the 4 of us that trip. It's easy to drop $100+ a day on souvenirs if you don't have a plan like those mentioned above. I really thought we'd never go again so I wanted to let the kids get what they wanted as we toured.
When we go again in Feb 2016 we are really limiting the spending.

 

[RipperSB]

We don't really bring "spending money". Having the Magic Bands and a credit card linked is super-convenient! The cash we bring is mainly for tipping and food during travel days and, sometimes, used for the small snacks. It's usually about $200-$300 or so.

 

[mort1331]

SInce all of you are on the adult plan, depending on how you booked, I would look at paying OOP instead of the DDP. At $60perperson you have to eat a lot of buffets and CM to make that up.