Help! Freaking about budget...leave on Friday!!!

[carone0318]

I leave on Friday I haven't packed a thing yet and am freaking out about my budget. I just want some insight on what you all think about my money situation. I am going for 9 days. My concern is my food and spending money budget, everything else is done! We are a family of 4. Dh, myself, dd (5) and ds (1). Don't let ds fool you, he eats more than my dd. I get off lucky when we are scheduled to go to a buffet, because he is free, but the menu restaurants I have to buy him a kids meal. We have 1 PS scheduled per day and looking at those menus I figure to roughly spend about $400. We are DVC and I am bringing food with me and also making a grocery stop to get the stuff I couldn't fly. I hope to make due with the food I bring until the daily ressies. I am also bringing $600 traveler's check for some souveniers. Do you think that this is a do-able budget????

 

[campingcorgi]

I don't think you'll need the entire $600 for souviners, so the extra can go towards extra food and snacks if needed. I think you'll be okay. Now pack and have a great time!!

 

[hercamore]

You should be fine.

The improtant thing is to keep your little ones hydrated in the florida heat...especially the l yo.

Be sure to buy water bottles at your grocery stop and take them with you to the parks instead of buying water there. $2.50 in parks.

Also, you probably don't need 4 orders of every meal. Share an adult meal with your son or dd. The portions are huge.

Have fun.

Herc.

 

[blanq]

It seems to me as though you have thought this budget through carefully, and know what your meals will cost after looking at existing menu. A budget is such a personal thing, but if you get in a jam you might be able to scale back a bit on the souvenier budget and you probably wouldn't feel slighted. Now, go pack!!

 

[carone0318]

Luckily, I do have a little more money if we go over. My original budget for food and stuff was $1500, but now I am cheaping out and want to bring it down to $1000. So, I do have some play! Everyone is right though, I need to go pack. Unfortunately, I work full-time, then after work have to take dd to gymnastics. I should get home around 7:30, wash clothes (that we plan to wear) and pack because tomorrow night we are staying at a hotel by the airport and I have to work tomorrow too.....

I just knew that this would happen! I actually think that I work better under pressure (at least that is what I will keep telling myself )

I just want to scream that I am going the Disney World, the happiest place on earth (even if it suppose to rain....)

Thanks again

 

[ChiTownZee]

And never underestimate the power of the $2.50 hot dogs!!!!

My favorite meal along with a Mickey icecream bar!

 

[RhondaS]

You should be just fine.

If your gang likes chicken strips, make sure to hit the Columbia Harbour House that is just across from the Haunted Mansion at the Magic Kingdom. The adult portion is very generous and easily split by 2.

You can get FREE ice water (all parks) at any of the counters and some of the carts. Just walk up and ask for a cup of ice water. You do not have to order anything else.

 

[IowaGirl]

Have that water plan---don't get caught spending 50.00 a day on bottled water for a family of four.
And everybody is going to want COLD water, so have plan to keep it cold through the day.
We brought empty gatorade bottles of ice and kept them in cooler bag in the stroller and insulated lunch bags in our backpacks. Or if worried about liking the water bring bottled in ice in a cooler.

Some meals are huge and can easily be split. When we ate at 50's prime time cafe, my DD and I could have easily split a huge sandwich plate instead of ordering two (then I would have had to have had dessert )

 

[chris1gill]

Since you're DVC & you will always be going back, it's time to buy your souveniers at the Character Premier store over at the Belz Mall, there are actually 2 stores over there & believe it or not, I see a lot of CURRENT stuff in there as well... we usually save at least half on whatever souveniers we buy. The first few years we went, we did buy souveniers, but now that we go every year no way do we need to be bringing all that stuff home!!! Now we focus on Sweatshirts & clothes & stuff... So I think your souvenier budget of 600.00 is way over what you'll need.

When you do your grocery shopping be sure to buy enough juice boxes or drinks, you can definitely go through a lot every day...

We're also DVC & we go for 12 nights usually, we never spend more than 350.00 on our dining out... we generally do lunch in the parks, sit down & carry out, whatever we're in the mood for.

 

[ducklite]

I do'nt know where you're PS's are, but I think that $45 is cutting it REALLY close for two adult and one or two kids meals, plus tax and tip. Working backwards, if you leave a 15% tip your total including tax has to be a little under $40. Figuring that your childrens meals will cost about $6 each, that leaves you with $28 to split between you and DH for entrees and beverages, plus the tax. Taking the tax off the top leaves you with *about* $13 each. Take out $2 for a non-alcoholic beverage, and you've got $11 each for an entree. That's going to be tough to do at full service restaurants. At buffets (even at breakfast!) you've blown your budget before you walk in the door.

I think you can all share enough to feed you son, or order him the meal and share with your daughter. The portions at most WDW restaurants are HUGE!

Anne

 

[Jane E.]

Remember to have fun! Thats why you're going in the first place. When we went we made sure to go to Walmart. I bought 24 bottles of water. Each night we'd put two on ice to take into the parks. That way they were good & cold when we put them in our backpack. Then we'd just refill them at the water fountains as needed. For breakfast we had cereal, granola bars, fruit, trail mix, & oj in our room. Our big meal each day was lunch. We had a ps for a sitdown restaurant for lunch most days. We were usually stuffed when we got finished. We found that by eating a big lunch we didn't fritter away our money on lots of snacks and sodas during the day. There were a couple of exceptions. In Epcot we love the deserts at that French bakery. When we eat at Epcot we don't order desert with our lunch. We always save that for France. For dinner we'd either go somewhere like TGIF or order pizza offsite & take it back to our room. By the end of the day we were happy to relax in our room and take it easy. The last thing we did each night was visit the jacuzzi at our hotel for a nice, leisurely ending to a busy day. Enjoy your trip!

 

[robinb]

To save even more on water, get a Britta water bottle with a filter. I saw them at Wal*Mart, Walgreens, Goodings and Publix when we were there in May, so you don't have to worry about buying one before you go. We filled it with ice and water when we left for the morning. Throughout the day we stopped at counter service restaurants and asked for cups of ice to cool things off. The CMs were always happy to get me some .