How much do you bring?

[pamtaro]

So, aside from hotels, park tickets, dining, etc.... how much do you usually bring with you to spend on just 'things' like souvenirs and such? I'm thinking around $1,300 for the six days that I'll be down there, and I'm not sure if I'm just being crazy, or if it's normal to bring this much.

Thoughts? Comments? Insults? How much do you usually bring to spend?

 

[NemoCat]

$216 a day seems a little high to me, but if you can afford it, i say go for it! honestly, i am not sure how much i spend on just "things" when i went to WDW in 2010. i had not been since 2000. i am sure i spent quite a bit. i always try to budget before i go to DL(about once a year) and i usually go a little higher than planned! you never know what you will find in the parks......

 

[Eureka]

We are probably out of the ordinary from what I read here but we don't really budget for souvenirs when we are places. The kids aren't very interested in buying a lot, so we get a couple things and then they have their wallets if they want more than we are willing to spend. When we're at Disney or somewhere like that, they are usually content with a t shirt. That said, bring your $1300 if it's budgeted and you may be pleasantly surprised to bring some money home.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

We are going as a group of 4. It will be me and my hubby and our 2 sons (7 and 8 months). I am budgeting $200 per person for our 8 day trip. Now I know the baby won't spend that much and my hubby prolly won't spend that much and more than likely I will only get stuff for the kids lol. I am also putting the souvenir money in the form of visa gift cards so once the money is gone we can't spend anymore lol

 

[mommajo143]

We typically have $50-100 a day. On arrival & departure days this covers luggage fees & supper at the airport. Honestly, we usually have cash left over. All our gift cards get spent but cash typically comes home. We limit kids to one item a day to assure plenty luggage space and DS2 almost always chooses a balloon one day and small items most every other day. DS6 typically gets 1-2 toys and then likes to get shirts for his favorite rides. DH likes to get popcorn and a ball hat. I usually get a coffee mug magnet & a few pins, but with no KTTW I doubt I'll wear a lanyard this year. $200 sounds like a lot but maybe it isn't for your family? We have almost $1000 saved for 11 day trip.

Our first trip in 2010 we took way more ($1500 for 9 days) and brought home a lot so that's part of why for our family of 4 we bring less now. YMMV... Every family is different.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Well, it's just my husband and I, but I usually bring $300 for souvenirs/extras for a week and a half long trip. We usually spend about $100 of that. We're not souvenir type of people. I don't wear Disney stuff so most money we spend is on practical things that remind us of Disney around the house. I have a painted clay fish from the Mexico pavilion that I use to store paper clips at work that I love. Usually its just little things like that.

When we were kids my Mom would give my brother and I $150 each for a week at WDW. She'd give it to us in increments every day. I blew mine every day, whereas my brother always left Florida with $150 .

 

[mommajo143]

When we were kids my Mom would give my brother and I $150 each for a week at WDW. She'd give it to us in increments every day. I blew mine every day, whereas my brother always left Florida with $150 .

How old were you when you travelled? DH & I are considering giving DS6 (very nearly 7) a lump sum this time ... We don't know if we should hold off another year or two though. He loses things at home so having him $200 seems risky.

*edit: just saw that your DM gave it in increments. We may try that. $20/day is not too risky.

Well, it's just my husband and I, but I usually bring $300 for souvenirs/extras for a week and a half long trip. We usually spend about $100 of that. We're not souvenir type of people.

I agree - if it was only DH & I $150 would be plenty. We don't buy a lot of "stuff" just things we really would use, except DH popcorn

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We spent about $200 for 3 tshirts, 2 Mickey ears, and 2 small souvenirs per kid. We were there 7 days.

 

[Susiequsie60]

Don't want to hi-jack, but this is sort of just the same question with a little different phrasing:

What do you think is reasonable per day for each adult? I realize that "miscellaneous" spending can vary greatly by person, but what do you think for food and incidentals? And honestly, I also understand that ALL spending, including food, can be very different - but what do you guys budget?

 

[danceintherain]

We're not souvenir people, so we hardly ever spend more than $100 total during our trips.
That number may go up once we have kids who actually care, but even then we'll probably only budget $50/kid since most stuff ends up getting forgotten quickly at home anyways.

We did pressed pennies with DS the last time, and the was enough for him.

 

[jcmaro]

We are going as a group of 4. It will be me and my hubby and our 2 sons (7 and 8 months). I am budgeting $200 per person for our 8 day trip. Now I know the baby won't spend that much and my hubby prolly won't spend that much and more than likely I will only get stuff for the kids lol. I am also putting the souvenir money in the form of visa gift cards so once the money is gone we can't spend anymore lol

Be careful with visa gift cards, they charge monthly fees. I didn't know this until last week. I received a $50 visa gift card at the end of June as a thank you for this program I run. I went to use it the other night and it was declined. I called to check the balance and there was only $8 and some change left. It had been eaten up by $5.95 monthly fees. So disappointing.

 

[Susiequsie60]

Don't want to hi-jack, but this is sort of just the same question with a little different phrasing:

What do you think is reasonable per day for each adult? I realize that "miscellaneous" spending can vary greatly by person, but what do you think for food and incidentals? And honestly, I also understand that ALL spending, including food, can be very different - but what do you guys budget?

I apologize - I realize my question is NOT the same as the OP. My bad. Just ignore me . . .

 

[danceintherain]

Don't want to hi-jack, but this is sort of just the same question with a little different phrasing:

What do you think is reasonable per day for each adult? I realize that "miscellaneous" spending can vary greatly by person, but what do you think for food and incidentals? And honestly, I also understand that ALL spending, including food, can be very different - but what do you guys budget?

We spent less than $50/day/adult on food during our last trip. I think I had budgeted $350/adult for the whole trip, and it ended up coming out less than that. We did do a grocery trip to keep a few things in our room, but we'd usually do a counter service breakfast, a table service lunch, and counter service dinner.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We aren't big souvenior people either.

Well DD would buy everything and anything she see's but I have to put a limit on it or my luggage will get overtaken by her stuff. And my house will be overflowing with things they don't play with after a week.

We do get the kids Mickey Ears every trip.

A Mickey stuffed animal with the current year. A new frame with the current year and a photo album with the same logo. Every trip.

The kids always get a balloon on Main Street the first day.

I like to get something for my desk at work.

SO likes mugs.

DS will get something sport themed. One year he got the ball and bat set from Epcot. He's more of a snack person. He wants to eat snacks all day long. He's not a big souvenior person unless it's something he truly likes.

DD will get everything if I allow it.

For the most part I let them look during the whole trip and then towards the end of the trip they can pick the 1-2 things that they truly loved. That way we aren't buying things out of impulse.

We also like to bring home WDW snacks. I especially love the caramel apples.

So I budget about $300-400 for the trip for 4 people.

 

[PinkGreenBlue26]

I'm not sure how to budget for this either-but I like the idea of setting a limit per day or a lump sum and see how that works..

I'm thankful that my mom is getting my son a Disney gift card for Valentines day and she'll get him one for his birthday in April (so he'll be pretty good by June) ..I know he'll want a tshirt and a small stuffed 'friend' to add to his collection

 

[wallawallakids]

We actually do not spend much on "extras" in the parks so I am probably not really one to ask but I will tell you what we do. We do not give our kids money for trips. They are to bring their own money if they would like to buy something. We do try to give them "earning opportunities" before the trip however. Like extra chores where they can decide if it is worth it for them to do or not. We recently told my son he could have $5 if he cleaned up the basement. He did it but he asked his brother to help, so they split the money. I find this works really well because by the time we go on the trip, some of the kids will have $20 some will have $40 but all will have something to spend.

Hubby and I usually spend a small amount. On our last trip I bought a set of magnets for our refrigerator. So maybe $20 total? Not sure how much they were. And on our cruise, I bought a sweatshirt. Our last trip to DL hubby bought a picture coffee table book. I think that is the most we have ever spent on something to take home! I think you will be surprised about how little you actually spend.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

How old were you when you travelled? DH & I are considering giving DS6 (very nearly 7) a lump sum this time ... We don't know if we should hold off another year or two though. He loses things at home so having him $200 seems risky.

*edit: just saw that your DM gave it in increments. We may try that. $20/day is not too risky.

I agree - if it was only DH & I $150 would be plenty. We don't buy a lot of "stuff" just things we really would use, except DH popcorn

I was 11 and my brother was 14. The one rule was that once the money was gone, it was gone. No amount of begging or promising to do a bunch of chores when we got home would get us more money . My Mom was also really good at, if we wanted something she knew was just an impulse buy, she'd make sure that it was something I really wanted to spend my money on.

That first trip when my brother was 14, he actually lost all his money. He had been hiding it in an envelope (maybe from his sister? ) on top of the TV armoires they had in the rooms at the Polynesian at the time. No one knew he was stashing it up there. He forgot it and realized it when we were about an hour from home (a 12 hour drive). My Mom was so mad, but she called the Polynesian to see if, by chance, anyone had turned it in. One of the housekeepers had found it and they actually mailed us a check!

Don't want to hi-jack, but this is sort of just the same question with a little different phrasing:

What do you think is reasonable per day for each adult? I realize that "miscellaneous" spending can vary greatly by person, but what do you think for food and incidentals? And honestly, I also understand that ALL spending, including food, can be very different - but what do you guys budget?

It's just my husband and I and we typically do one TS meal a day (sometimes 2), a snack a day (I budget for it, but it happens only maybe twice a week because I always feel full), and a CS meal a day. We don't drink alcohol. I budget $150 a day, in case we're doing two TS meals, but usually come home with money. In reality, it probably costs $800 for the two of us for food during a 7 night trip, but I like to over budget just in case.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

Be careful with visa gift cards, they charge monthly fees. I didn't know this until last week. I received a $50 visa gift card at the end of June as a thank you for this program I run. I went to use it the other night and it was declined. I called to check the balance and there was only $8 and some change left. It had been eaten up by $5.95 monthly fees. So disappointing.

Really? I know there's like a fee for them but I didn't know some have monthly fees. I have never seen that before and we've gotten lots of gift cards before. Maybe I should go with MasterCard or Amex then.

 

[hops&dreams]

I think you're getting such varied answers because it all really comes down to personal preference and spending habits.

For example:
For our first trip, we brought $300 in cash for random stuff. Well, we had never been to WDW before and were very frugal with our money. We bought beer some nights, but usually split one when we got back to the hotel. We weren't buying snacks that weren't on DDP, because we were trying to "spend" those included in the plan to get the most bang for our buck. We each only got 1 or 2 souvies, and they were very well thought out. Most of our TS meals were buffets that already had gratuity included. With the $300 in cash that we brought, we brought about $150 of it back home with us. That trip, we were very budget conscious, as we were in our lives at that point.

Our 2nd trip - we spent willy nilly, and didn't keep tabs. I will tell you that about 4 or 5 days into our 10 day trip, DH and I did a loose tabulation of what we'd spent so far, and we joked that it was already over the $300 that we had brought on our first trip. We reigned it in after that and probably spent between $450-500 in spending money on the whole trip. But that trip, we were drinking alcoholic beverages at every meal, stopping in for a drink in Epcot's Mexico, or saying things like "yeah, go ahead and do the Pick a pearl for DD. It's not just a pearl, it's an experience!" We went to DTD and bought (severely overpriced) cigars to smoke as we walked, we bought DD a smoothie or something while we were having beers with our cigars... we just let loose. We weren't budget conscious at all, and we NEEDED that vacation as stress relief after some very demanding projects. We were glad to be in a relaxing place and were willing to spend the $ for creature comforts.

 

[eliza61]

So we are souvenier (sp) people as we like to have mementos of our trips.
I'm a dvc member and I love getting some thing with the WL or BC logo on it.

Anyway, generally we purchase some type of apparel each trip (tee shirt or sweat shirt). I love disney watches.

Usually we spend around 300 bucks total on a gift for each. My dh loved the shop in Africa, right outside of the Kilomanjero safari ride. Use to always pick up a nick nack for the house.

My next trip I'm saving up for one of those ski sweaters in Norway. Love, love love them but those suckers are pricey!!