for the 100000000000 time...how much spending money do you budget

[ktrask]

Our trip: DD (4 turning 5 on trip), DH & I (both 35). AOA LM room, 7 nights 8 days. 5 day park ticket, no hoppers. Will be getting a BBB appt (saved money and put aside already), as well as tickets to MVMCP (included in already budgeted money). We have the DDP.

So I'm trying to figure out how much to budget for in order for non dining plan meals, souviniers, and a little extra just in case. We aren't huge souvinier people. In past trips DH and I tend to get Epcot souviniers from the different countries rather than Disney merch.

I'm thinking of giving DD a $50 gift card to spend as she would like. Total additional budget money that I'm guessing right now is $500...but I'm wondering if that is enough or not.

So..how much would you bring?

0-$250
$250-500
$500-$750
more than $750

?

 

[worm761]

If you are not including tips and don't drink alcohol then $500 should be plenty. Personally, we take around a thousand. But, we need tip money, we drink alcohol, spoil the kids, and I like to buy the perfumes in Italy.

 

[RomeGal]

We are going in May with 2 kids (7 & 8) and I have gotten them prepaid Disney gift cards with $50 each to choose their special take home souvenirs. We also have DDP (we were not going to but I got a CM friends and family discount on it and it ended up being way cheaper!) - I figure an additional $50/day for random crap. Could we save that money and manage not to spend anything? Of course. Will it be easier to just work it into the budget? Absolutely for us. We are taking oatmeal and cereal/bagels for breakfast (also staying at AoA but in a Cars family suite...) we will be there 7 nights as well.

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[IUTBAM]

I just bring my credit card...and pay it off when the bills comes due. I used to analyze every detail of our spending on vacation, but I don't do that anymore. We've gone so many times that we hardly ever buy souvenirs, unless it's something really "special."

 

[DJBass]

When we went the 1st time DD was only 4 and DS 2. I bought 1 tshirt, 1 princess beach towel, a large minnie doll, a small stitch for DD4. dS 2 got a dinosaur from AK, a tigger, a mickey tshirt and hat. I got a hat and dh got a hat. That's it. Now DD is 8 DS 6 and they know they have $50 limit plus whatever they save on their own and additional $ from birthday gift. So about $100-ish each for 8 night stay. I am pretty sure they will get 3 items each - i know for sure DS wants to do build your own lightsabre and build your own dino plus a tshirt or new towel.

Not sure about DD. but we've taught them concept of saving and decision making around their spending choices - as it is they know we are not doing birthday parties outside the home this year to save money for the trip and no summer soccer to save for the trip. We don't spend what we don't have. Trade offs.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Depends kn how much we have saved for the trip. We charge everything to the room and pay the cc off when we get home, but we don't spend any more than is in the savings account for the trip. None of us are big on souvenirs.

Our kids usually have whatever birthday/etc money they have saved, and we usually give them $50 each. DS12 is planning to buy a soccer jersey from Epcot, and DS10 will spend most of his at the Lego Store. Whatever they have is theirs to spend how they wish, but when it's gone, it's gone. We pay for all their meals and snacks, though.

 

[mistysue]

You didn't say where your meals are, but assuming you need to tip 1 table service, tip mousekeeping and eat one meal, I would plan $50/day for that. Then you can eat your third meal at a counter service without worrying about your meal price. That right there is $400, and will probably cover an extra CS or two for your arrival/departure day.

I buy my kids whatever they ask for... Last trip DD got one of those dolls with her own face. Outside of that in 13 days the kids spent about $200. My husband is the one I have to reign in, but if yours isn't crazy and trying to buy every addition of anything that looks like a board game I could see souvenirs with one kid easily being kept under $100.

 

[mom_of_3_mousketeers]

I budget about $100/day for tips, souvenirs, extras (lapu lapu's....mmmmm.) I also have $500 in padding, just in case. I always end up bringing money home (or it's the extra in the Disney checking acct since I don't use cash).

 

[Ametista]

My answer was $750+ but thats for a 2 week vacation and its a little high. We consider eating out spending money too. We eat out maybe every other night, the rest is in the townhome and we don't shop much either.

You have already included just about everything in your budget and I don't think you will eat off the dining plan (except free cookies at MVMCP!!!!!!) so I would say $300 for surprises, meals/snacks, souvenirs, airport food, all that stuff.

But we are cheap. For us a keychain from Target is a great souvenir.

 

[Ofinn]

I budget about $100/day for tips, souvenirs, extras (lapu lapu's....mmmmm.) I also have $500 in padding, just in case. I always end up bringing money home (or it's the extra in the Disney checking acct since I don't use cash).

This is exactly what I used to budget when we did the dining plan. Now that we use the TIW I budget around 200.00 a day. I spend less money with the TIW overall. I always budget another an extra 1500 than I actually spend. I like to have a good cushion when I go on vacation for any unplanned expenses that might pop up.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I put 250 to 500, but I don't include food money or tips in that - just money spent on tchotckes and gemjaws and doohickeys and such. I don't even count the $60 I budget in for the "thunderstorm? Wuh-huh? Where did THAT come from?" ponchos we buy if we're caught in a downpour unexpectedly.

 

[LovesTimone]

I am not sure whether you are or are not on Dinning plan?

If not on the dinning plan, you should double that amount. Character meals, will run at least 100.00++ for breakfast, dinner even more and thats for only one meal for the 3 of you. I ate at Chef Mickeys in Jan 2013, and for 2 adults it was 110.00 plus tip,

DH and I are heading down in NOV. we are doing the DDXDP, even with that, we will budget about 150.00 a day, for us. We enjoy adult beverages with dinner and some times with lunch while on vacation.

This year I will be doing a bit of christmas shopping, so that is extra too.

 

[DJBass]

I was just offering budget for spending money for the kids sorry didn't realize you wanted more. Regarding DDP vs OOP though, I disagree that you need to budget more. I've done detailed, very generous cost comparisons even paying OOP for character meals and it's going to be about $300 cheaper for us to NOT get the dining plan. The DDP is prohibitive if you 1) don't eat desserts and 2) want more flexibility for kids under 10; 3) don't waste money on sugary drinks and coffees at the parks AND if you order some groceries for snacks and breakfasts. We are doing 4 character dinners, plus eating at table service restaurants and allowing one purchased snack per day, counter service at the water parks etc and it's much cheaper to not do the dining plan.

 

[mm1971]

Our trip: DD (4 turning 5 on trip), DH & I (both 35). AOA LM room, 7 nights 8 days. 5 day park ticket, no hoppers. Will be getting a BBB appt (saved money and put aside already), as well as tickets to MVMCP (included in already budgeted money). We have the DDP.

So I'm trying to figure out how much to budget for in order for non dining plan meals, souviniers, and a little extra just in case. We aren't huge souvinier people. In past trips DH and I tend to get Epcot souviniers from the different countries rather than Disney merch.

I'm thinking of giving DD a $50 gift card to spend as she would like. Total additional budget money that I'm guessing right now is $500...but I'm wondering if that is enough or not.

So..how much would you bring?

0-$250
$250-500
$500-$750
more than $750

?

We budget $250 each person for the week. We have a family of 4 so about $1k. For three would be $750. Remember that you will need to tip your TS meals from this amount as well. Sometimes we spend it all, others we don't. It really depends on when we have gone. MY kids love to get a few pins each time so that is about $20-30 each already.

 

[wiigirl]

If you are not including tips and don't drink alcohol then $500 should be plenty. Personally, we take around a thousand. But, we need tip money, we drink alcohol, spoil the kids, and I like to buy the perfumes in Italy.

Same with us...usually ~$1k

 

[KELLY]

We take 1500.00 for 2 weeks. My girls will have there own money. That is for 2 weeks in the world and we are on the QSDP. We will pay OP for a couple of TS meals, PL and hopefully a bounce back offer. Last year we went for 10 nights and only spent 500.00 plus the 200.00 for the bounceback offer. Normally we spend more.

 

[gorkt]

I put about $500, which is what I usually plan on spending, but usually I end up spending less. I am just not a big souvenir person. I am good with a t--shirt and a coffee mug. When my kids Were that age, I let then pick out one or two small souvenirs, and one this trip, I'll give them a gift card and let them bring their own allowance, so I'll probably spend less than $500 again.

 

[pearlieq]

I'd call it about $100/day and be pleasantly surprised when you have money leftover. That would roughly break down to a daily expenditure of:

$20 for the tip on a roughly $100 TS meal for the 3 of you.
$30 for one CS meal for the 3 of you.
$10 for random snacks/drinks outside of DDP
$25 for souvenirs
$15 for misc things that always come up--tips, forgotten toothpaste, a cab at the end of a long day, etc.

This could easily be cut in half if you pack some breakfast foods for your room and/or use snack credits to cover the bulk of your breakfasts, bring along some packaged snacks and beverages/water bottle from home, and limit the souvenirs.

 

[dizluvah]

we do $100 per day (for DH and I) we have not been back to WDW with our 2 yr old DD yet