Budgets and hidden costs...

[thebadger]

Hello!

The countdown is officially on for us now and we are debating in the badger household on just how much $$$$ to take with us for our trip?

Quick recap, Me, Mrs badger and two badgers 16 & 7 years old, 2 week stay at CBR, 2014 Dining Plan, park tickets included...

On top of our spending money I am trying to figure out an estimated hidden cost budget.

1.Tipping when dining, is there a general % cost of the bill expected i.e if the bill would have been $90.00 a tip of $9 should be left (i.e 10%) or do different restaurants and eateries have different tipping amounts?

Do you tip in Quick service eateries? or just table service places?

2.Housekeeping, having done a quick search using the search function housekeeping or "mousekeeping" as it looks like its known, is this done daily? i.e fresh towels, make beds etc or every other day? do you tip per day or per week? noticed some folk from the search function didn't housekeeping at all

3.Spending money My idea was each person had a per day allowance my initial thoughts was $15pp pd. total $195 pp for the 13 days in total. Being honest mines will be spent mostly on beer again this is down to folks personal preferences but looking for any sort of feedback...

Thanks in advance

badger

 

[Elise79]

Tipping is at TS restaurants only and is usually 18-20% of the pre-tax amount.

We don't tip mouse keeping - other do so totally personal decision. If you choose to it is usually to tip $1 per person per day and do it daily as you will get different cleaners.

Other spends - we don't spend that much really so can't give you a figure. DD usually about $50 saved to spend herself.

 

[willeve]

First trip, very exciting! We tipped 20% at table service restaurants! easy to work out tip! Mind you, they do stack up, so make sure you put a realistic amount in your budget. Mouse keeping we usually tipped $2per day, but people will give you differing opinions as it is not a tipped position officially. On our first trip I gave my kids $5 per day to spend on ' Disney c**p', pencils, sweets, etc. they also had a larger amount for a 'big' thing, but this was just daily stuff. Not sure how a 16 year old would fare though!

 

[kevin harrison]

A tip to save a little. Base your tip on the bill BEFORE tax. Many visitors base it on 18% - 20% of the whole bill.

 

[Kath2003]

20% tip for good service at all table service; no need at counter service (though offsite I usually throw my change into the tip jar).
We also tip...
Housekeeping - $1 per person per day
Taxi - 10% or round it up providing the fare is fair!
Bellboy - $2-3 per bag
Bars - $1-2 per round
Day to day spending beyond food should be minimal. Maybe $5? It's a while until your trip so get the kids to start saving.

 

[stubb]

Hi your 16year old will love hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch! Your 7 year old will love all the merchandise!! Worth looking in the outlet disney store so much cheaper than the disney shops in the park.
Maybe a good idea to go to the outlet early on so that they can get t shirts etc for park days.
Sign up with the premium outlets to receive discount vouchers.
Buy cases of bottled water and also bags of sweets as you will need a sugar hit while walking round the parks. These are so much cheaper at target or cvs

 

[Ciorsdah]

How exciting!! Hope you all have a magical trip - take in the little things and don't worry about sitting on a bench to people watch for a short while

In terms of spends, as others have said tipping is 18 - 20% usually, but we tipped more at places where we received great service (it was my birthday when we were over there and got a very magical experience in Be Our Guest that was 100% down to our server so I think we tipped him about 35% of the bill!)

If you are planning on having a wee drink or 2 throughout the parks, be aware that your $15 won't go very far alcohol in the parks is quite pricey. What my BF does is take a trip to Publix or Walmart and he picks up some beers there and sticks them in the fridge in our room, then he has a wee beer in the room of an evening when we are relaxing.

The shopping is great, so be warned if you have shopping fans you'll likely need some extra spending money

However, that aside, have a wonderful trip!

 

[chmurf]

$15pp.pd spending money is a very small amount. Especially if you include alcohol for adults, and shopping for kids.

It really depends on your spending habits, and the budget you want to allow. But between the 3 of us (2 adults and 1 six years old) we easily spend $100 on average per day only for souvenirs, clothes, plush toys, and whatnot. And I'm not including extra snacks, beverages or that kind of items.

I would go with $20pp.pd as an "official" allowance, but budget $30pp.pd just in case (if it doesn't get spent, it will be a good down payment for your next trip )

 

[thebadger]

Thanks for the replies thus far!

Noted on tipping on the Pre-tax bill , I thought it would be tipping only in table service but thanks for clearing that up!

@stubb do you mean outlets at downtown Disney or off site?

@Ciorsdah how big are the fridges in the rooms? I presumed they would be very small.

I purchased the "unofficial guide" on ebay which has came in really handy for planning although I'll be firing up my plans on here for thoughts & advice and they recommend buying some supplies from garden grocer who deliver for $12 was looking at beers, juices, snacks etc so maybe something to think about?

 

[Ciorsdah]

The fridges are small, similar to mini bar sized fridges.

Space for a few bottles of water, a small bottle of milk and some cheese/bread and fruit for general snacks!

 

[orangetiggs]

If you like abercrombie and hollister and have a car go to altamonte springs mall, its about half hour drive but the savings are so worth it, its not on the tourist trail so discounts are better. We had 60% off entire store last year and yet florida mall shop was only 40%

 

[2Tiggies]

The fridges are small, similar to mini bar sized fridges.

Space for a few bottles of water, a small bottle of milk and some cheese/bread and fruit for general snacks!

True, but you will easily get a 4 pint sized bottle of milk (or a few of them) into the fridge door, just to give you an idea. Not sure if folk are aware, but the little metal rack/bar actually flips to accommodate larger bottles. Other than that, yes capacity is small, but not too small to accumulate copious amounts of left overs every few days that require a special trip down to a trash can

 

[~Piglet~]

Spending money My idea was each person had a per day allowance my initial thoughts was $15pp pd. total $195 pp for the 13 days in total. Being honest mines will be spent mostly on beer

Just to give you an idea of on-site charges I bought two pints of lager at CSR and didn't get much change from $19 We bought a case of beer at Walmart, as well as a case of water ($4 for 24 bottles).

There's enough room in the fridges for a days worth of bottles (we stacked them sideways to fit more in) just re-stock each night. The beer was never ice cold so of an evening we would fill our sink with ice from the machine on the landing and chill some in that

 

[pickers1982]

Fridges are great we got two big milk bottles in (for our morning cereal) and some beer water and fruit. Only big expense we had was tipping which at somewhere like Jiko or Le Cellier can really add up. When buying good s always remember your luggage allowance

 

[scoobydooby]

We tip 20% of the whole bill at TS places. $5 tip per day for Mousekeeping. $2 per alcoholic drink. 10% for taxis. $2 per bag for Bell Services.

I usually give my kids $100 for tat per trip and they save $100 each routinely as well. I have no rules. Don't care if they blow it day 1 or hoard it for a couple of big buys. The only rule is when it's gone it's gone. They know not to debate this with me! I don't expect them to buy their own snacks etc. we always get two cases of water as water is really expensive in the parks. Also some beers. I also buy the kids T shirts/Hoodies on top of this as they get well worn at home.

However. The big spend is the shopping malls. I'm taking a short 10 day trip with just my DD in May when we won't go near a mall so this will be a zero cost. However, in August I think we spent £2,500 clothes and shoe shopping in the malls.

So really. Aside from the tips. You can be as cheap or extravagant as your budget allows really. I do agree though that $15 a day each isn't going to last long.

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

For our upcoming 15 day trip I have $450 per day for family money .... we have free DDP so this will be used on TS tips at 20%, additional snacks (last trip there were VERY few of these as the DDP was generally more than enough), mousekeeping and the bell boys for shlaping the suitcases. It will also be used at the shopping mall where we always manage to spend a lot.

The boys will also have $55 per day each which is money they have saved from birthdays, Xmas and doing jobs about the house etc. As it's their money they can do with it what they want .... I know they both want to visit the Vans shop in the Premium Outlets. They will also use it to buy the odd Disney tshirt.

We are not big drinkers but we do usually have a beer with our TS evening meal and I know that the price for a beer is way more expensive than even London prices so I'm with the others in thinking that $15pppd is not a lot. Having said that I would imagine my $450 per day would seem totally over the top for an awful lot of people so really what I'm trying to say is you can make it fit whatever budget you feel comfortable with.

 

[~Piglet~]

Having said that I would imagine my $450 per day would seem totally over the top for an awful lot of people so really what I'm trying to say is you can make it fit whatever budget you feel comfortable with.

Very true! you can make your dollar stretch depending on what you buy

I love to buy souvenirs, clothes, photo frames etc for myself and family so I have never budgeted a daily amount. I hate arriving home and then thinking 'I should have bought that'.... which probably explains why I am still paying off my credit card from our last trip

 

[chocolateMinnie]

tipping is definitely our big expense. You think your dining is free and then realise a 'bargain' meal can cost you $50 in tips plus alcohol.

The kids get extra pocket money all year for Disney savings so we don't allow any extras for buying them stuff - when it's gone it's gone unless it's something like trainers that we would buy them here and are cheaper over there.

 

[tinks_1989]

We have just returned we stayed onsite for two weeks no car, never left the disney bubble. We spent $500 this included 2 weeks of tips cocktails, beers, a few taxis and a few souvenirs. We did have a $200 gift card as well. So you could say $700.

 

[thebadger]

Thanks for the further replies folks. Thankfully I have since landed a new job with quite a leap in my monthly take home pay so i thin kI can push the boat out an increase my $15pdpp

Greatpoint @chocolateminnie hence why I spent time looking at menus & prices! Not being a "tight" scot just doing my homework/research!