How much cash for a family of 3?

[WickedNicole]

We are heading down next month for 7 nights, 8 days. We are stayign onsite and doing the dining plan, so food is paid for. We will of course have to tip on our meals, buy our tickets (military $165 each with the WP&M options added), and we will have our car, so planning on at least one tank of gas when we are down there.

DS has his own spending money, we may do mini golf, which should be less than $30 for the 3 of us.

So my question is, how much money would you bring with you? Not including our costs to get there and back.

 

[Marionnette]

We are heading down next month for 7 nights, 8 days. We are stayign onsite and doing the dining plan, so food is paid for. We will of course have to tip on our meals, buy our tickets (military $165 each with the WP&M options added), and we will have our car, so planning on at least one tank of gas when we are down there.

DS has his own spending money, we may do mini golf, which should be less than $30 for the 3 of us.

So my question is, how much money would you bring with you? Not including our costs to get there and back.

Since I don't know how big your tank it, I'm just going to say take whatever you pay at home to fill your tank and add 10% because gas prices around Disney can be pretty high.

For table service tips, take a look at the menus at allears.net for wherever you plan to dine and get an estimate of what your bill might be. The add another 15%-20% for the tip.
http://www.allears.net/menu/menus.htm

Other tips that you might want to include would be for bell services, mousekeeping or valet parking. Those would be at your discretion. I tip bell services $2-$3 per bag, depending on size. Valets usually get $3-$5 for pulling my car around (leaning toward the high side if it's raining). Mousekeeping gets $2-$3 per person per night. More if we have a particularly big mess to deal with like leftover room service trays.

I also like to have a little cash handy for small purchases, extra food or emergencies. For a week-long vacation, I tend to bring an extra $200 and hope that I come home with most of it.