Budget Spreadsheet

[a_sailor's_wife]

I'm in the first stages of planning our next trip (hopefully May 08 if the military works with us) to Disney! YAY! This will DH's 2nd time, my 7th, and DS2's 1st time.

We're having to plan this one on more of a budget than our last one this past April. I'm almost at a loss of what to budget for with a little one.

Does anyone have a spreadsheet they are willing to share? Or any other advice for that matter would be great.

 

[FLA NUT]

DS (2) was no problem to budget for, he honestly asked for nothing and required nothing extra. Although DH thought DS "needed" everything he saw, so he ended up with ears, another hat, spinning light thingy, etc. DS (10) was another story. He asked for everything he passed.

We always pack our kids favorite snacks and sodas/water. That saves alot of money and meltdowns from hunger. I do recommend budgeting for your DS a daily Mickey Bar. There is nothing better than seeing a toddler sitting back in his stroller watching the crowds go by with a Mickey bar smeared from ear to ear. Those moments are priceless and believe me, gone before you know it.

If you are not taking your own stroller with you, don't forget to budget for that. It can get costly if staying for more than a few days. I always take my own because I prefer the basket underneath and DS can recline.

Hopefully your son will not turn 3 prior to your visit so you don't have to purchase a ticket. I have one more summer of a "freebie" until I have to start forking out $200+ for DS.

 

[Dizneydaz]

Sorry, no planning sheet to share but on my DD7 first trips to WDW (she was 2 3/4 and then 4) one of the best things I brought along for her were some of those individual boxes of cereal (I just packed some in my suitcase-they don't take much room). Since she's not much of a "eat breakfast first thing in the a.m." person, I would grab a few boxes before heading out to the parks. Then she could eat them when she got hungry (she likes her cereal dry anyway) and an added benefit was we discovered while waiting to do baby switch on ToT that some birds were hanging out in that area. She had a great time feeding the birdies, while waiting for the rest of our group to ride ToT. She enjoyed it so much that we made sure to do it again on the next trip.

She still eats cereal as a snack! I always send a small ziploc bag of some (Rice Krispies, Frosted Flakes) in her bag when she goes to school in the a.m. and she eats it at school (recess-teacher allows it ) as a mid-morning snack.

You could just bring a box of cereal along with small ziplocs and refill them each day. Of course, don't all kids love eating their cereal out of those small boxes?