Help me plan for spending on our vacation!!

[kMarie7]

Hello all -

We are going to Disneyworld on Tuesday! Woohoooo!! Can't wait!

But I'm getting a little nervous about our spending money - or lack there of. Can you tell me how much you end up spending daily on unexpected things at Disney??

The main part of our trip - airfare, park tickets, hotel - are paid for and we have the disney dining plan so most of our meals are covered (besides tips). We are bringing snacks, juice and milk for the kids and breakfast food to keep in our room.

So I figure $20 a day for tip (we have a party of 7 and I hear they automatically add 18% to your bill - is this correct?) We are traveling with another family so really we will be splitting the tip as we all have the dining plan so $20 should be plenty, right?

What else am I forgetting? I wanted to have room in the budget for souvenirs, but I'm not sure how much we'll really be able to afford. Is it possible to do Disney with $300 pocket money for a whole week? How far will this really take us??

Thanks in advance for any insight. I just do not want small things to pop up on us unexpectedly and ruin our plans.

 

[budbeerlady]

$20 a tip might run you a little short unless most of the 7 people are children.

I would imagine more like $200 for a weeks worth of tips. Do you want to buy T-shirts? Anything like that? I usually try to give Dd $50 to spend over the course of the week on souvenirs. She can either get 1 thing or several but that is all the $ she gets.

Are you buying a refillable mug? Or anything like that?

 

[angierae]

Your best bet for tips is to go to the menus for the restaurants you'll be planning on eating at (allears.net has great ones) and add up what your family is likely to order, figure out 20-25% of that (Yes, it's 18% for groups but your family might order something more expensive than you think they would) and plan that for your tips for that night. It's much better to over budget than to under budget!

 

[kMarie7]

I should have clarified - although we are traveling as a party of 7 there are only 4 to our family so we will only be paying tips for four meals and 2 of those are children. One child is under 3 so they are technically eating off our plates with the dining plan, so really we are only ordering 3 meals. That's where I'm getting the $20 from. Does that sound right?

Our kids are 2 and 4 so I'm not sure how much they will be wanting to buy as far as stuff. I'm trying to think of things we could get ahead of time and bring for them, such as glowsticks for the fireworks, pens and autograph books, sand toys for the beach etc.

refillable mug - I was thinking about it, but since we are bringing milk and juice for the kids (I was told we couldn't get those in the mugs?) and since we will be in the parks and not at the hotel most of the day it might not be worth it. I might get just one for myself but if there is coffee in our room for the mornings I will probably skip it. DH drinks nothing but water. I drink soda occasionally with meals but that should be covered with the dining plan.

 

[budbeerlady]

Yup, ages help as you are only tipping for 3 and 1 is kids menu. I am over planner so I look at each menu and put the estimated tip in an envelope to take with me that night.

Do you ever buy drinks or a glass of wine? There goes $8 each time. Just a heads up many of the restaurants sell light up tinkerbell or captn hooks on a glass. I think those are $5. Dd bought one with her money 2 years back.

Are you buying mouse ears for the kids?

 

[lisaross]

You are on the dining plan, so as long as u have enough for tips - perhaps 25.00 per kid for souviners thats all you'll need - also just to buy milk for the cereal u bring for the room!

Hello all -

We are going to Disneyworld on Tuesday! Woohoooo!! Can't wait!

But I'm getting a little nervous about our spending money - or lack there of. Can you tell me how much you end up spending daily on unexpected things at Disney??

The main part of our trip - airfare, park tickets, hotel - are paid for and we have the disney dining plan so most of our meals are covered (besides tips). We are bringing snacks, juice and milk for the kids and breakfast food to keep in our room.

So I figure $20 a day for tip (we have a party of 7 and I hear they automatically add 18% to your bill - is this correct?) We are traveling with another family so really we will be splitting the tip as we all have the dining plan so $20 should be plenty, right?

What else am I forgetting? I wanted to have room in the budget for souvenirs, but I'm not sure how much we'll really be able to afford. Is it possible to do Disney with $300 pocket money for a whole week? How far will this really take us??

Thanks in advance for any insight. I just do not want small things to pop up on us unexpectedly and ruin our plans.

 

[kMarie7]

Yup, ages help as you are only tipping for 3 and 1 is kids menu. I am over planner so I look at each menu and put the estimated tip in an envelope to take with me that night.

Do you ever buy drinks or a glass of wine? There goes $8 each time. Just a heads up many of the restaurants sell light up tinkerbell or captn hooks on a glass. I think those are $5. Dd bought one with her money 2 years back.

Are you buying mouse ears for the kids?

Thanks! Setting the tip money aside ahead of time sounds like a great idea. That way I won't have to worry about it at the last minute. I will check out the menus.

I would like to have a glass of wine or a drink with some meals, others I just have water or soda. That's something I hadn't thought much about though - I'm sure at $8 each the cost for drinks can add up fast!

$50 each sounds like a good amount of personal money for the kids. I am the big shopper in the family so I'm sure it will be me wanting to spend more money on them. Setting a limit will help!

How much are the ears?

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

I still think $20 for tips is pushing it. There are only 2 adults in our party and I have sat down to figure our tips and we are mostly doing breakfast and lunches and tips range from about $10 to $15, for dinner closer to $20. I think I might increase that just a little.

I personally wouldn't feel comfortable with only $300 for a week to cushion that, but that's just me, and children are unpredictable, you never know what might happen and you need more money. $300 is probably what I would take for a long weekend trip.

 

[kMarie7]

Yea I just sat down and wrote things out. Looks like we will need more like $450-500 if we want a little bit of wiggle room. My original goal was to have saved $100 for each day so $700 so that we could have more freedom to buy extra snacks, drinks, souvenirs... whatever.... but things came up and that's just not going to happen anymore. *sigh*

Oh well, we should be able to take at least $450 and hope nothing big comes up. We have a back up credit card for emergencies if need be. Just don't want to get in over our heads and spend anything we really can't afford. Thanks all for the help so far.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

With a credit card for backup, I think you will be fine.

 

[AnjieNet]

Yea I just sat down and wrote things out. Looks like we will need more like $450-500 if we want a little bit of wiggle room. My original goal was to have saved $100 for each day so $700 so that we could have more freedom to buy extra snacks, drinks, souvenirs... whatever.... but things came up and that's just not going to happen anymore. *sigh*

Oh well, we should be able to take at least $450 and hope nothing big comes up. We have a back up credit card for emergencies if need be. Just don't want to get in over our heads and spend anything we really can't afford. Thanks all for the help so far.

I'd hold off on the souvenirs until the last day. You'll get an idea of what both of your kids are pining for and whether or not you can afford it now. If you can't, take a pick of the SKU and you can order it later when you have the funds. Might make a good Christmas present.

Last time we went to WDW, we were a family of 3 on the DDP for 5 days and spent about $300 though we brought $1000, just in case (of what, I'm not sure!). We obviously aren't big spenders but we ordered more expensive things on the menu for our sit-downs, just because we could. That drove our tips up. We drink from a water bottle in the parks as none of us are soda fans so that keeps costs down. Our favorite treats are Mickey bars and Rice Krispie treats which are reasonably priced and we usually used snack credits. Our DD only wanted one souvenir, a baby Pluto, which was pretty cheap, considering. All that said, your revised amount of $450 should do it. Keep tabs on what you've spent and got left. I printed off cute little tip envelopes from the wonderful ladies on the DISign thread. When we go again, I'll make sure they are filled with cash before we head down. Great idea.

 

[Darcy03231]

Make sure you print out a packing list and check that you have those items in the suitcase. Some of my purchases can include thiings I've forgotten/lost, such as the SD card for the camera, suntan lotion (actually we brought a bottle, but lost it somewhere in the parks), over the counter medications, etc. I now know to pack extra SD cards, suntan lotion, etc. and check it off on my packing list as it goes in the suitcase.

Others things I find we spend money on are extra drinks/snacks. A bottle of water runs $2.50.

Souvenirs - you can spend as much or as little as you want. I made my kids wait until the last day to shop. During the week we took pictures of everything they thought they wanted, including the price, and then they took their money and shopped on the last day. You'd be amazed at how many times their changed their minds during the week. The only things we bought early were mouse ears and trading pins.