How much $$ do you bring??

[mkladycasey]

I was doing some math today and realized with the way I get paid, I only have 2 more "regular" paychecks before our family trip in December (I'm in Sales). I want to make sure I budget accordingly!!

We are a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children, 5 & 7) - we are paying OOP for food, and are staying on-site. We're thinking a couple of TS meals, but mostly CS. We're not really big eaters and we're not big spenders on souvenirs. We're staying 7 nights.

How much money do you bring with you (or plan to spend) on your family vacation??

Thanks!

 

[jellybeans0607]

We are a family of 5(dh, me and kids 8,4,3) we went in august for free dining and brought $1500 in cash. We spent about $1200 of it in 6 days.
If I was going without the dining plan i would want probably about $2500.

 

[Darcy03231]

A lot of counter service meals are big enough to split between 2 adults (wrap sandwiches a Pecos Bills for one) unless you're really big eaters. At a minimum I would plan $100/day for meals (counter service only) and another $20/day in snacks, drinks, etc.. On the days you plan a table service meal you'd have to up that. If you go to allears.com there are menus and prices to give you an idea as to what your table service meals will cost. I would give each child a set amount for souvenirs and when its gone that's it and plan a certain amount for myself. Other items to take into consideration would be tips and cab fare if you don't want to wait for a bus. If you stay on a strict budget I would say $200/day. If you're going to splurge, $300/day.

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

If you want to cut down the costs, bring some PB&J and some bread with you. Or you could get a taxi when you get down there and run to the local Publix or something and pick it up. We are planning on using www.gardengrocer.com to get some stuff - especially since my girls only drink Silk soy milk!! Have a great trip!!!!!

 

[KadysMom]

Did you check to see if you fall within the free dining period?

 

[Neesy228]

We are a family of 5, and just recently returned from a 10 day Free Dining trip...we spent a total of $650 during our trip - and that was pretty much letting our kids (7,5,2) get whatever they wanted souvenir-wise. (I thought it was going to be much more.) We cut costs by having a fridge in our room and we ordered bottled water. We rarely eat breakfast, but when we did, I had Pop Tarts and cereal bars in our room etc etc....

If you're not on the DDP, meals will be expensive. If you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, assume around $40 per meal per day for the 4 of you. Many will be less, some will be more. Our cheapest TS meal the entire trip would have been about $120, so factor that in too. Then allow some amount per person for souvenirs/snacks/drinks etc.

If I were you, I would plan on estimating high at $1,100 for food, and another $1,200 for other incidentals - drinks, snacks, souvenirs, tips, refillable mugs etc etc....If you have extra money left over at the end - just put towards the upcoming holidays!

Have a great trip!

 

[dreamin_disney]

We are a family of 5, and just recently returned from a 10 day Free Dining trip...we spent a total of $650 during our trip - and that was pretty much letting our kids (7,5,2) get whatever they wanted souvenir-wise. (I thought it was going to be much more.) We cut costs by having a fridge in our room and we ordered bottled water. We rarely eat breakfast, but when we did, I had Pop Tarts and cereal bars in our room etc etc....

If you're not on the DDP, meals will be expensive. If you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, assume around $40 per meal per day for the 4 of you. Many will be less, some will be more. Our cheapest TS meal the entire trip would have been about $120, so factor that in too. Then allow some amount per person for souvenirs/snacks/drinks etc.

If I were you, I would plan on estimating high at $1,100 for food, and another $1,200 for other incidentals - drinks, snacks, souvenirs, tips, refillable mugs etc etc....If you have extra money left over at the end - just put towards the upcoming holidays!

Have a great trip!

we are a family of three and on the ddp. its our first trip too so i'm worried about spending to much. Glad to read your family of 5 only spent $650 and letting them get the souvniers they wanted. Hopefully we can get by with 1/2 that. Do you think its possible? We are on the ddp, not big eaters, plus i have $60 in disney rewards and $62 in disney dollars for extra snacks but we might not need it, so that would be money for souvenirs. DD is 9 and will have her own money to shop with. We figure we will buy her only 1 thing from each park

 

[PattnFmly]

We are a family of four (DS's are 7&9) and we went in April with a budget of $120/day for meals/snacks excepting our two character breakfasts which I had allotted money for separately. We stayed in POP and typically spent $30 for breakfast at the food court, $40 for lunch and $40 for dinner and we ate at mainly counter service. I'll admit, it was really tight. We didn't snack much (popcorn three times and ice cream twice) and next time I'll have to allot more since the boys will certainly eat more! But we had a budget and we stuck to it without pain as we have been there before and did double check the allears menus before we left so we basically had an idea of what we'd be eating! Sometimes I budget a little too closely (especially at home!) but since that's what gets us to Disney I do it anyway. Seriously though, if you check out the menus and visualize what your family would probably eat it'll give you a great idea of how much each meal will cost.

 

[5stljayhawks]

This is for a total of 14 days. 2 days down/back. 12 nights at WDW Fort Wilderness campsite. In my home budget, I have allocated the cost from Daycare PreTax program which we contribute (max of ) $5000 per year. Then we get this back w/o being taxed, about a 30% return. Me, DW, DD5, DS2.9,DD.7

$900 -Lodging -
$700 -Food 90-95 % of meal will be at the camper or brown bagged. 1 Breakfast w/MM
$1000 -Gas @ 3 per gal. $1300 @ 4 per gal.
$400 -Tickets 1 kids ticket 7 days - 4 tickst MNSSHP
$150 -Bippity bop boqu.
$150 -Disney Pre trip stuff ebay/walmart pal mickey trading pins, halloween decorations for camper
$500 - Cash

 

[mdurette]

We don't bring much cash - we use the room key to charge back to our room and then pay for it all on a credit card.

If you wish to buget yourself - then I would purchase a Disney Gift Card for XX and use that.

Safer than carrying cash!

 

[cheerforchelsea]

I never take more than about $500 cash...If we do a character meal I put it on my debit card...I have my debit card for back up but I usually have enough cash to cover most everything. We only eat 1 meal a day in the parks and take sandwich stuff for a meal in the room...along with granola bars for breakfast.

 

[Neesy228]

we are a family of three and on the ddp. its our first trip too so i'm worried about spending to much. Glad to read your family of 5 only spent $650 and letting them get the souvniers they wanted. Hopefully we can get by with 1/2 that. Do you think its possible? We are on the ddp, not big eaters, plus i have $60 in disney rewards and $62 in disney dollars for extra snacks but we might not need it, so that would be money for souvenirs. DD is 9 and will have her own money to shop with. We figure we will buy her only 1 thing from each park

I'm not sure we could have done half that...I think that if we really wanted to, we probably could have cut out - maybe - $100 of that. You have to remember that even with the DDP you still have to pay for tips and extras at the TS meals. Our tips for all of our TS meals ran $15 to $20. That's a big chunk of $300 already. I would try to budget for a little more if you can...that way you're not feeling like you're telling the kids no to things that they'd really like to have.

If you have any other questions about it - just PM me! I'll be happy to help any way that I can since we just went through it all!

 

[littlemermaid95]

We have $450 worth of points from our Disney Visa, and I was planning on only taking about $500 cash, then charging the rest. I'm surprised to read that so many people take large amounts of cash with them.