Final Trip Budget! *Fingers Crossed*
So, we have made additions, and gotten rid of things, I have counted up mileage, and looked at restaurants. I have looked for discounts, read over menus to try and figure out what exactly we are planning on eating, calculated tolls, found activity prices, DVC discounts, hopefully this is the final budget, since I have added a few more table service/signature restaurants in the last couple of days. This budget is for 11 Night/12 Days. We are staying at 3 different DVC resorts with points. 2 different 1-bedroom villas, and a studio for 5 nights. 4 hotels on our Florida Key portion of the trip, the map is going to look pretty fun with all of the driving!! So, there are also two of us, and we are not planning on going to any of the 4 main parks at the moment. We are planning on visiting Typhoon Lagoon, and that extra cost is added in. This trip sure looks a WHOLE lot different than when we started planning it, but I sat down last night and crunched all the numbers and hopefully we will have saved up enough for this one! You guys will get to follow along on the TR to see how well we did and if we came in *hopefully* under budget! So, let the final budget begin!!
Day One:
- Breakfast @ Port City Java $10
- Lunch @ The Pickled Palate $30
- Dinner @ Outback Steakhouse $25 (We have a 15% Off Coupon and a $25 Gift Card)
- Fuel $70 (2 Tanks at $35 each)
- Territory Lounge $20
Day Two:
- Breakfast @ Geyser Point Bar & Grill $30
- RV Show @ Florida State Fairgrounds $14
- Lunch $20 (No Idea Where)
- Dinner @ Flying Fish $200
- Fuel $35
Day Three:
- Breakfast @ Boardwalk Bakery $10
- Lunch @ Fish House, Key Largo $60
- Dinner @ Snapper's Oceanfront $100
- Fuel $35
Day Four:
- Breakfast @ Harriette's $20
- Snorkel Tour @ John Pennekamp Coral Ref State Park $56
- Lunch @ Islamorada Shrimp $50
- Hotel in Marathon, FL $225
- Dinner @ Island Fish Company $100
Day Five:
- Breakfast @ The Wooden Spoon $20
- Lunch @ BO's Fish Wagon $50
- Parking $15
- Dinner @ Latitude's Sunset Key $150
- Hotel in Key West, FL $200
- Fuel $35
Day Six:
- Fuel $35
- Breakfast @ Blue Heaven $40
- Road Snack @ Robert Is Here $15
- Lunch @ Crema, Miami $30
- Hotel in Hollywood, FL $160
- Dinner @ Sugar Reef Grill $100
Day Seven:
- Fuel $35
- Breakfast @ Cafe Club by Les Artistes $30
- Lunch @ Berry Fresh Cafe $30
- Dinner @ Chef Art Smith's Homecomin' $100
Day Eight:
- Breakfast @ Kona Cafe $45
- Typhoon Lagoon $100
- Lunch @ Quick Service $30
- Dinner @ Artist Point $150
Day Nine:
- Breakfast @ Quick Service $25
- Disney World Miniature Golf Tournament! $100
- After Tea @ Garden View Tea Room $100
- Dinner @ Quick Service $50
Day Ten: Our 10th Anniversary!
- Breakfast @ Starbucks $20
- Aerophile Balloon Ride $20
- Bowling @ Splitsville $25
- Lunch @ Quick Service $30
- Surrey Bikes @ Port Orleans $50?
- Dinner @ The Boathouse $150
- La Nouba $120
Day Eleven:
- Breakfast $20
- Canoeing @ Fort Wilderness $20
- Lunch @ Quick Service $30
- Dinner @ Frontera Cocina $50
Day Twelve:
- Fuel $70 (2 Tanks at $35 each)
- Breakfast $20
- Lunch $20
- Dinner $20
TOTAL $3500.00
If you have read one of my trip reports before, you will know that I tend to budget on the high side. I would much rather have too much set aside than not nearly enough, I don't want to have to be transferring more funds from savings to checking during the trip. We have a Sunpass on our car...I know we live in North Carolina, but that tells you how much we go to Florida...LOL! For the restaurants, we looked at every menu, some of them didn't have prices so I tried to make educated guesses on those. The good thing is that all of the Disney ones do! So we looked at appetizers, entrees, desserts, and drinks. Basically we figured out in each category what our options were, and from that, I budgeted the most expensive choice. So like at Flying Fish for example, there were 3 options for me of entrees that I would choose, so out of those three, I picked the most expensive and budgeted for that one. So the budgeted amount is basically the maximum amount we would spend at any of these locations. Hopefully, they will all be less than what I think, but if we decide to go all out and get an appetizer, the most expensive entrees from our choices, a dessert, and two drinks, plus tax, and tip, that is where the numbers came from! It definitely looks expensive from where I am looking...LOL, however, we have saved for this trip all year, setting aside money here and there, we wanted to be able to experience exactly what we wanted during our 10th Anniversary Trip! I think the average it comes out to is around $300 per day. That price is definitely inflated a little because of the 4 additional hotel rooms we are needing for the Keys portion of the trip, as well as all of the extra fuel we will be using driving down there, back and to Tampa, and back. normally those costs would have been a lot less. We would have only need about 5 tanks of gas instead of he 8 or so we are going to be getting.
Next, I am curious if any of you budget for your trips? If so, how do you do it? Do you go all out like me and figure out menu choices, and mileage and stuff? Or do you just pick a certain dollar amount and not go over that? The way we do it has worked for us quite a few times and pretty much every time I have come in under budget, which is great because the extra money can always go back into savings, plus it makes me feel better to know that I spent less than I thought I would, instead of the opposite which is more than I thought, and that is no fun for anyone when you come back from a vacation and realize you spent way too much money on it and now have to figure out where that extra is going to come from! So, that is about all for this one! We are like 17 days out now, so getting hyped! With our magic bands arrival yesterday, everything is getting closer!! If you guys have any questions about the budget or anything else, just let me know! Have a great day!
