How do you PAY for your Daily WDW Expenses?

[fairytinkerbell]

Do you charge your meals or pay cash? How much cash do you carry around?
:

Do you charge just your hotel or car?

How much $ do you allot for souvenirs ? What about meals? :

 

[danny1649]

Pay charge card off in full when we get home and get bill.

 

[Ilovestitch]

I charged everything on my first trip and was shocked how fast things added up without realizing it.

On my last trip, I took traveler's cheques (free at AAA)- I had a certain amount set aside for each day in envelopes so I just used that- when they were gone, they were gone. I did the same thing w/souvineers. That way it was all prepaid and there was no bill to pay at the end of the trip. -Stephanie

 

[oogieboogie]

Before a trip
- Prepay most if not all of the hotel room (since we have APs the tickets are set).
- Exchange as much money as possible into Disney Dollars (removes temptation)
- Put away cash for travel money (for flying/driving)

During trip
- Hotel should be all paid up
- Use Disney Dollars first until all gone, then use cash

 

[EsmeraldaX]

airfare, hotel, passes, dog's kennel, and deposit for rental car paid in full before we go. We make sure we have enough in our checking account to cover the cost of food , and any souvenirs we may want while we are there and we pay with our check cards. Once in a while, for larger items, I will pay with a cc for securitys sake , but only if I know I have the funds in my checking account to pay it right off.

We have a rule in our house. If we don't have the cash in our checking account , we don't need it.

I did not vote, because none of these really applied to us. We don't really carry a lot of cash.

 

[ladydancer]

Originally posted by Ilovestitch
I charged everything on my first trip and was shocked how fast things added up without realizing it.

On my last trip, I took traveler's cheques (free at AAA)- I had a certain amount set aside for each day in envelopes so I just used that- when they were gone, they were gone. I did the same thing w/souvineers. That way it was all prepaid and there was no bill to pay at the end of the trip. -Stephanie

I do the same as above. Free TC from AAA. The whole envelope thing ect. I wasn't sure how to vote as TC wasn't an option so I didn't.

I'll be going to pick up my TC tomorrow as were leaving next week.

 

[jimmiej]

I charge everything back to the room, which is charged to my CC. I do, however, keep up with amounts for food & souvenirs so it doesn't get out of hand.

 

[pumpkinboy]

I am good at math, so even tho I charge everything I possibly can, at the end of the day, I pretty much know how much we all spent, so things rarely get out of hand. We carry very little cash, and most of the cash we do have consists of Disney dollars that our kids have. (of course during the Epcot Food & Wine Fest, it's all different; you bring a roll of $1s and a few $5s and graze your way around the World Showcase. Yum!)

As for souvenir budget, our rough figure is an average of $10 per day per person.

Actually, The Unofficial Guide to WDW has really good budgeting suggestions for families. I'd reccomend especially the 2005 edition, just out this month. It has great tips and is really entertaining reading (same wry humor as always).

 

[shellybaxter]

I pay for everything possible in advance (room, flight, car, town car, etc) then pay off my disney store credit card (those are REALLY old - LOL). I then put my disney store card down for charging at the hotel. I charge EVERYTHING to the room. I then withdrawl cash from the ATM periodically and pay off the room charge. I usually come home with a couple of hundred dollars charged to the disney card, but that's it. Which isn't bad for a $5,000.00 plus trip.

Shelly

 

[fairytinkerbell]

bump

 

[LisaRay]

I have the hotel paid or the money for it waiting for the credit card bill to come. We also always order our passes ahead of time so that is done. The kids bring there own souvineer money. As for food and extras we do the envelope thing. I have $100 in one for extras.
Then I put the alotted amount of food money in an envelope for the 1st few days and keep them in the room safe. After we have gone through a few days of it we go to the ATM and get more cash and do the same.

If i don't then I know we will not keep good track of our spending. I also try to plan one of the PS's that we aren't dead set on for towards the end of the trip that way if it looks like we are over spending we can just cancel it. This doesn't work if it is one of those meals you have your heart set on.

The one thing I always end up charging back to the room are the photo's! We usually get one in MK and one at Splash mountain. Now my kids have added Buzz to that list and we aren't good at budgeting for these.

 

[cobbler]

I pay cash in the sense that I use a debit card. This way I don't have wads of cash being carried around.

As for hotel and car, well we drive down so that takes care of that, and hotel I pay a set amount every month before we go so that it is paid off by the time I get there.

Souvineers and food though, that is tough, we usually wing it.

 

[jfis1020]

My CPA (and DH!) sets a daily budget. We know in advance what "extras" we want to do (BB, TL, etc.). We do all of it on our Disney Visa (rack up those Disney Dream Dollars) and pay it off when we get home. We try not to carry too much $$$. Our kids all three have "Mickey Jars" that they maintain year round. They buy their own souvies. DS7 is our chief saver, adding a piece each year to his monorail set and has quite a layout. We also have relatives "trained" to purchase Disney dollars as gifts on holidays, particularly those "little holidays" that they like so send a little something since we don't live close(Valentine's Day, Halloween, etc.).

Main thing......be realistic about what things cost, set a budget and stick to it. Also, be prepared to have a "max" and not freak about reaching it. Afterall, it is a vacation and if you have to worry constantly about $$, it takes away a lot of the fun!

 

[Brian Noble]

I sell off the children, one at a time.

 

[jfis1020]

Originally posted by Brian Noble
I sell off the children, one at a time.

I should have thought of that.........I have three!

 

[Lora]

Hotel- credit card for travel nights; DVC points for WDW stay

Park passes - credit card

Daily and other expenses (meals, entertainment, souvenirs, etc.) - some are charged to the room and paid w/ cc - some are paid with disney dollars.

I create a disney dollar stash over a year's time. I use rebates, reward programs, garage sales, ebay sales, gifts, or whatever. I usually collect a pretty good sum this way and then when it runs out, the rest goes on the room charge.

 

[luvsTink]

Ahead (in cash); Air, Hotel and passes

Then, I set a VERY clear budget and bring that much cash and put it as deposit on the room and use KTTW cards. The only thing we "charge" to a cc is the rental car. Last trip we came home with 100.00 we didn't spend so I feel very comfortable with our ability to budget well...I go as far as to "guess" using Deb's menus what each person will eat to get a good idea of food budget.

Anne

 

[kadaten]

Charge it all!
Don't have to worry about cash (other than a little bit for Mickey bars and Dole Whips ).
Get 1% cash back on everything.
Pay the bills when we get home.

We already have AP's and we drive the 12 hours there, so it's usually just hotel, meals, and souvenirs. Souvenir budget? Don't really "budget" for that. If we see something we like, and the price is ok, we get it....just like being at home and seeing something nice at Target or the mall. If we don't see anything we really love, we come home empty-handed (not that that's ever happened...).

 

[stemikger]

I pay for the trip in advance and pay it in full when I get the bill. As far as meals and everything else Cash is the way to go for me. I don't like using credit cards unless I have to.

I take my cash for the day and don't spend more then that. I find you are more likely to go overboard with credit cards.

 

[ncbyrne]

I put everything possible on the AMEX Skymiles card. I keep a running total so I know exactly how much we have spent at all times. The bill is paid in total at the end of every month. The best part is the free air fare for more trips to WDW!