Budgeting question...

[uber-mom_of_3]

Hi!
A friend and I recently talked about what is the approx amount to spend a day for food and little extras. My thought for food was probably $175 - $200 by looking at the prices in my book. She said no way. We are a family of 5 - kids ages 6, 3 and almost 1.

Also, wandering what the approximate amount most people spend excluding hotel and park tickets.

Thank you!!

 

[mad4themouse]

How much you spend will depend on how you like to eat when you're on vacation. If you want a sit-down meal in a fine restaurant once a day, then you'll spend more. If you're doing character meals everyday, the cost is going to be way up there.

Check out wdwig.com for menus and prices for all the restaurants in the world. It will give you an idea of what there is to eat and how much you'll spend. My guess is that you'll be closer to $100 per day for your family on food. Some days you'll go over , some will be under.

The little extras are another story. You can spend a bundle on them or you can place a limited amount per day that can be spent on the misc. stuff.

 

[jlcbshaw]

This is how I plan for my family of 5. I allow the same amount of money for each person, I do not break it down by age, but I wouldn't worry about this amount for your 1 year old.

$7.50 for lunch and $12.50 for dinner, equals $20 per person per day( $100 a day.) Again this is just the budget, so when you get down there and spend $10 for lunch one day and $10 for dinner, then you are still in budget, likewise if you spend a total of $16 one day, then that gives you $4 to add to another day.

Now for some on these boards that may be low, however it has worked for us. This amount is for the "fast" service places like Cosmic Ray's in the MK. If you are planning on sit down meals then the price will have to go up. We have made 6 trips over the last 9 years and we have never had a problem with the amont budgeted for food. Also the amount of food is usually large, so your 3 year old and your 1 year old could even share, if your'e not brinnging in baby food for the 1 year old already.

I always plan on a sit-down meal and a character breakfast/dinner, you will just have to research the ones you want and the cost associated with those. So if a Character dinner runs $22.50 for adults and $15.00 for children, that equals $75.00 plus $30.00 for lunch, you would need $105 for that day.

Best of luck if you anymore questions feel free to send a PM.

CBS

 

[luvmarypoppins]

My budget for our family of 5 is approx. $150 a day. So I think your budget would be about $125. I would think your biggest expense would be milk for the baby if you do not have a fridge in your room, are buying it onsight etc. I have 3 teen ds. I always bring a ton of powdered drinks, gatorade, koolaide, ice tea etc. and get a refillable resort mug, maybe 3 to share. No breakfast because I want to get to the parks early. I would suggest just bringing cereal from home and purchasing milk etc. I bring disposable paper bowls and spoons. I also bring all the snacks and lots of granola bars. I only allow l good meal and 1 counter service meal a day. Sometimes I go over budget depending. We share desserts etc. Good luck. I am sure your 2 other children could share a meal because the portions are huge as long as they like the same thing. Souveniers are also a big expense. I would bring some treats from home and hand them out each day.

 

[tink2dw]

Before we leave home I budget for Souveniers. Last trip because we hadn't been to DL or WDW in many years I budgeted $100. per person for souveniers. Dd 14 had to save for her souveniers but then the parents had no say in what she bought. She spent $100. I spent about $75. Dh was thrifty and only spent $50.

We ate breakfast in our room. Bagels & Cream Cheese, Pop tarts, instant oatmeal.
For lunch we ate Counter Service meals.
And we had park snacks,goofy bars,frozen lemonaide,yummy!!
Most dinners we ate at our Resort counter service.

 

[bizwiz24]

Hi,

I agree with everyone, how much one spends depends on what one intends on doing. For example, in July I will be treating first-timers: my girlfriend, her mother, and her two siblings (ages 3 & 10). I would like to do character meals and sit-down restaurants our entire stay. I'm sure her mother will help out when she can, so I gave ourselves a $230 budget per day. This only includes food or anything they want to buy at the parks.

I hope this helps. Have a great trip.

Bizwiz24

 

[crisi]

I completely agree - it depends on how much you want to spend. If your idea of vacation includes $140 rounds of golf, $60 Cirque tickets, sit down dinners each night and souvienier shopping in the realm of $200 Mickey watches and $1000 original animation cells (and there are pricier things to buy), you will spend much more than someone who eats breakfast in their room, eats their meals to maximize value (eating offsite, bringing in sandwiches) and buys each person a pin as a souvienier.

(We spend about $300 a day in food for our party of four adults and two preschoolers. That was sitdown dinners every night - one at Narcooses which was pricier than the others. Alcohol with dinner, and also poolside beverages. One character meal. Counter service lunches for us and the kids and sit down lunches for the Grandmas. Most breakfasts in the room. Snacks. We were functionally budgetless this last trip - so this was pretty much as much as we wanted to spend)