How much did you spend at Disney?

[vicki_c]

Why would you pay for meals for your 2 yr old? If you have the dining plan she would be included? Plus I thought that 2 yr olds ate free?

Two year olds only eat free at buffets and if you share your food with them. Not a regular a la carte locations if you order food for them. A two year old doesn't get dining credit on the DDP.

 

[maggs1035]

My hubby did the driving experience, he loved it! Now we are going back in May and he's doing the "Experience of a lifetime" at Daytona

 

[DisneyFansInLINY]

Been to WDW many times but these are most recent trips:


Our trip in January 2011 8 nights 5 BLT 3 Parent's vacation house 2 adults 1 child
$518.20 r/t airfare for 3 from JFK to mco on JetBlue (had a $65 credit)
$800.00 for 5 nights in a studio at BLT renting points (eBay listing was $850 but got it down to $800 after cash back programs)
$899.00 for 5 nights of deluxe dining plan for 2 adults and 1 child (paid using Disney rewards earned from Disney Visa)
$501.20 for 2 8 day park hopper tickets (used mousesavers discount at undercover tourist plus upgraded at park and had a ticket for DD already)
$1000 in gift cards earned and gifted for spending money
3 nights at my parent's vacation home
1 week rental car for $45
Additional oop $300

Actual money spent from our pockets: $2164.40 (not including earned and gifted gift cards)

Our May trip 2012 *7 nights 5 at the Dolphin 2 at BLT 2 adults 1 child 1 infant
$350 r/t long island to mco for 2 people and 1 lap child. DH flew free for his conference
$366 including tax and fees for 2 nights at Dolphin pre conference stay
$475 total for 3 nights of conference (DH just had to pay this for myself and DD as DS was free, and that isn't per person! His company paid the rest and as you can see we got our $475 worth and then some), for 3 nights at the Dolphin with 3 meals a day including an amazing Universal dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, admission to Islands of Adventure and private lavish party at Wizarding World of Harry Potter, $100 dining credit at Disney World, 1 day after 2pm tickets to Disney (used 1 but saved the other 2 to use on our next trip)
DH's company paid for our airport parking as well as transportation to and from the airport and Dolphin
$410 renting points for post conference stay 2 nights at BLT in a lake view studio
$389.66 for 2 nights of deluxe dining plan 2 adults 1 child
$1500 in Disney rewards and gift cards earned and gifted
$905.04 2 adult 1 child 7 day convention park hopper tickets

Actual money spent from our pockets: $3195.70 (not including earned and gifted gift cards)

Our upcoming Christmas trip 9 nights 2 Beach Club 7 Dolphin 2 adults 1 child 1 infant
$75 for r/t flights long island to mco for 2 adults 1 child and 1 lap child for fees and early board (signed up for 3 cards for Southwest visa when they had the 50,000 points and qualified for companion pass for DD)*
$1421 12/25-1/1 7 nights at Dolphin including taxes and fees
$181.75 for Fantasia 2012 NYE dinner for 2 adults 1 child
$149.61 breakfast for 2 adults 1 child at CRT
$75.59 for 2 adults 1 child Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party
$320 for 2 nights 12/23-12/25 in a studio at the Beach Club renting points
$389.66 for 2 nights of deluxe dining plan for 2 adults 1 child
$555.86 for 2 adult 1 child 6 day park hopper tickets ($955.86 using mousesavers undercover tourist ticket discount then another $400 cash back from my BOA card offer)
$1490 for $1550 worth of Disney gift cards for spending money (plus*we will have $350 in earned and gifted gift cards)
$155 for 3 night SUV car rental
$50 for 1 day SUV car rental
$100 for upgrade AP Florida resident (my license is from Florida)
$100 Tables in Wonderland
$40 upgrade for DH and DD's tickets
$0 2 after 2pm 1 day 1 park tickets (leftover from DH's conference)

Actual money spent from our pockets so far: $5103.47

 

[angierae]

We spent quite a bit on our 9 day trip this spring (me, DD and a friend of hers) but that was by design - when DH couldn't go at the last minute I dropped the DXDP upgrade back down to the free DDP we had, but kept a few of our extra meals as OOP - so we paid for two meals OOP and I took the money we got refunded from dropping DH off the reservation and dropping down the dining plan and decided to "go for broke" with the extra money. It had already been budgeted for the trip, after all!

So DD and I both got ears, and we had a nice meal in the airport when our flight was delayed, and I probably spent over $100 on pins, and I bought souvies for a few friends if I saw something I knew they'd adore, and I splurged on extra snacks because we all need mickey bars, right?

So I probably spent $900 that week, all told, between extra OOP meals, tips, souvies, money for the girls to play in the arcade,we were there on Easter Sunday so I had Easter Baskets made up at the resort for each of them with a few things in them, etc.

But our first trip? I took a prepaid visa with $150 on it, and that's all I spent. DD had about $200 of her own money.

 

[FortForever]

Great cheap souvenirs:

Bring a roll of quarters for each kid and about 20 pennies. There are penny smasher machines hidden everywhere and kids like finding the machines and smashing the pennies. Each machine has a different design. If you have another $10 slip into the gift shop without your kids and buy the collector's album for displaying their pennies.

Great suggestion!
This is what I did with my kids when they were young. They still have the albums of pennies and quarters and my grandchildren are adding to them.

I went to Disney World many times as a child and would get one souvenir each visit. I have wonderful memories and pictures to remember those vacations by.

Last time I went to Disney (May 2012) I spent exactly $0 after lodging, food, tickets, and gas. We're going for another week in November and I plan to buy a Christmas ornament, so may spend $20.

After reading this thread, I'm thankful we live in Florida. Our hotel for six nights in a few weeks is costing less than $500. We have annual passes ($17 a month) so no ticket costs. We only eat a couple of times a day at counter service only so no tips or huge food expenses. We could not afford to spend $5,000 on a vacation.

We just got back from spending eight days on the world's largest cruise ship in Jamaica, Haiti, and Cozumel and only spent about $2,000. Disney is just crazy expensive these days!!

 

[LJSquishy]

My husband and I went in February and spent a week there. We aren't big on souveniers aka dust collecters so the only money we spent on "stuff" was for our nieces and nephew. We got one item for each child. If we had kids, we would only allow one item per child anyway.

We had the DDP (free) and spent cash on gratuity, each tried Saki in Epcot and also got a few other alcoholic beverages throughout the week. Other than that, we didn't spend any additional money.

We used our snack credit for a light breakfast (yogurt parfait, cinnamon roll, or muffin) and between that, a CS lunch, and a TS dinner, we didn't even think about having any of the delicious snacks in Disney World. We did "make" ourselves try a Pineapple Dole Whip Float (yummy! We shared one) and I ate a Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcake (LOVED it!) all by myself, haha. But there is just so much food. We took advantage of the resort mugs for hot cocoa in the mornings and coke in the evenings (perhaps we enhanced it with Malibu Coconut Rum....teehee).

Anyway, we aren't big on Disney-themed items so we had no desire to splurge on anything. We did walk through a lot of the shops, though, and it was fun to look at everything. I just wouldn't want them in my house.

 

[lisajl]

we are just back and spent roughly $100 a day.

 

[AmericangirlinFrance]

Wow, we are cheap. I will price our upcoming trip. We are going Dec. 10-13. 4 days, 3 nights at Pop. Just me and DH.

We live in FL so we usually go for weekend or short trips. We have seasonal annual passes, which were $260 pp this year.
- Doing the math, I will spend about 16 "park days" at WDW this year (16 times where I used my park pass) = $16.25 per day
- DH will spend about 12. = $21.67/day

Pop Century hotel: $75/night = 225

Gas to get to Orlando and back: about $60

We bring snacks and breakfast food from home. We are just eating counter service and even then we split a fair amount of those. I would say we spend $40 a day on food (and less than that sometimes). I will probably buy a Christmas ornament or a coffee mug = $20.

So, grand total for hotel, park passes, food, souvenirs, gas, everything = $616.68 for 4 days.

(And really, quite a bit less since our park passes have long been paid for and we will probably spend a lot less than that on food)

This doesn't work for everyone. But doing it on the cheap allows us to go much more often.