how much? Food/souvenier budget for teens

[ONULawbag]

Help! My husband and I are taking his younger brothers and sisters to WDW, and we're trying to double check our budget figures. While DH and I have been to WDW MANY times with DS(3) in tow, the others have never been. We'll be there 6 nights from May 31 to June 6. After that, we're heading to my folks in Vero Beach for a week. They are graciously paying for everything while we are there, although we still plan on paying for the kids food-- they eat alot!

Let me give a bit of background: several years ago, DH's mom passed away (cancer) and dad took it pretty hard. Because DH and I were in a better school system and better able financially to help (I am an attorney, and DH is in upper mgmnt for a large software company), we now have guardianship of his brothers and sisters. The next two oldest are recently married, leaving 5 (2 girls, 20 and 18 attending local college for BS in nursing; 3 boys, 16, 15, and 13). They are all straight-A students, and involved in lots of extra-curriculars, incl. sports. Amazingly, they have adjusted very well to being uprooted and "taking orders" from big brother and SIL. SO, we've promised to take them to WDW. There will be a total of 8 (DH, myself, DS(3), and 5 brothers and sisters).

We've paid for the rooms (ASMu- their choice, over GF and fewer days!), park tickets, plane tickets and car rental, as well as the Aloha show (their choice over HoopDeDoo) Now,we are trying to plan for food and souveniers. While we don't want to go crazy, we don't want to skimp either. We know that the last night, we'll be eating at the Trails End buffet. We are not planning on eating in our rooms. We are planning on at least one sit-down meal a day (prob dinner), and counter service and snacks/water for the rest. Have I mentioned they have huge appetites?? Also, they will not have any of their own $ for souveniers.

We currently plan on giving each "kid" $100 each day for their meals and souveniers. Does this sound reasonable? Too much? Too little? I don't think they'll get into the pin trading, but will probably snack alot.

I apologize that this has gotten longer than I'd planned, but wanted to give as much info as poss. THANKS for all of your help!

 

[Gillian]

That sounds like more than enough to me! Do they have to pay for the sit down meal out of that? What about breakfast?

What you might want to do is take a look at the menus over at Deb will's site - http://wdwig.com/dining.htm - and get an idea of the cost of food. She has both counter service & sit down menus, with prices, for the parks & resorts.

Breakfast & lunch, counter service, shouldn't be more than $25 per person, and will probably be closer to $15. Figure another $15 for snacks & drinks, and that still leaves $60-70 for other stuff. That's a lot of money. What I would do is look at the menus, decide on what they'll typically need for food, and then add on what I want them to have for souvenirs.

My neice & nephew are HUGE eaters! We love taking them to buffets because they get the most food for the money. That might work for you as well.

By the way, Trails End is the cheapest buffet on property! Only $15.99 for dinner and $9.99 for lunch. What a deal!

 

[ONULawbag]

Thank you Gillian. I'll definitely make myself familiar with the menus there, and adjust accordingly. However, from what you've told me, we may readjust to $75 per day.

We'd been estimating $15 for breakfast, and $15 for lunch, and $25 for snacks/water, etc. We'd read that the waters were expensive, so we were budgeting high with that in mind. We did plan on making them pay for their portion of the dinner which we figured would be about $30 (Checkbook and budget practice! LOL), which would leave them with $15 per day for souvenirs.

 

[campingcorgi]

Well, you've asked our opinions--so here goes:

You must be an absolutely incredible person and it sounds like you have a wonderful family!

Now, if some of the $100 a day is to go towards your bigger meals (and it should) then I'd just subtract that amount from their total. That way you won't have anybody wanting to skip a nice family meal to save some money. $75 a day will be PLENTY for the other needs and they can work on the budgeting themselves. I'd just make it clear that the $75 is all--no asking for more if you blow it all--and for the younger ones especially I'd pass it out daily.

Have a super time--with that many teenagers around you deserve it!!!

 

[ONULawbag]

Thanks campingcorgi. The more opinions I get, the better prepared we'll be. As for my family, they really are wonderful, and I give their folks all of the credit.

I agree that we ought to just give them the $$ daily. Although they are pretty good about not asking for extra money, I imagine all bets are off once they get to WDW. I'm just a bit paranoid about the food budget, now that our grocery bills rival our house payment! LOL

 

[prncess674]

wouldn't it just be easier to give them a smaller amount each day. Won't you be eating breakfast and dinner together as a family. sounds like a lot hassle to collect from each person at each meal. Give them a daily allowance based on what meals they will be away from the family for. Also instead of paying $2.50 a pop for water and since you will have a rental car. Make a stop at a local grocery if for nothing else but to buy water. If each person brought in one water a day to the parks you could save big $$$. The rest of the day's supply of water could be purchased in the parks.

I realize you are well off but no sense in throwing money out the window. I have a great job as a computer consultant and still plan on buying a case of water when coming into town.

Budgeting $25 a day for snacks/water per person sounds overly generous in my book.

 

[Gillian]

They also have water fountains and ice water (or just ice) is free at counter service restaurants. We usually buy a case or 2 of water on the way in. It's nice to have and does save money. Refillable soda mugs can be a money saver if you eat at the resort food court.

$25 for snacks & water breaks down to about 4 waters ($2.50 each) and 4 snacks ($3-4 each) per day. If you also expect that they will eat 3 meals a day, that's a lot of snacks.

Giving them less would be a great lesson in money management!

 

[hercamore]

Hi,

I must say you are very generous and have fun on your vacation.

I guess I would give each person $35-40 a day for food for breakfast and lunch, treats and give them each a bottle or two of water from the grocery store to take into the parks. Such a money saver. I do this with my kids.

I would also give them $100 upfront for week for the souvenirs and take them to downtown disney one night. Make it a night of it, teens love the Rainforest down there.

I'd take care of the family meal check for all. Less hassle that way.


herc.

 

[ONULawbag]

Thanks everyone!

I think that we will stop at a grocery and get water to take into the parks. You are all right about not throwing $ away for no reason. I'd rather use that $ for something fun!

While we are planning to eat breakfast together, the way the ASMu is set up, DH and I have found that it seems to be faster to just meet up at the table, rather than wait around to pay all at once. We are definitely investing in the refillable mugs Since we are assuming that most lunch meals will be counter service, we just thought that it might be cheaper in the long run if the kids had to pay the cashier for their meals, rather than just ordering and having us pay the final bill. Usually, kids are more reasonable about their food choices when they actually have to part with their own $. Along the same vein, we're assuming that if we give them their $, and tell them "that's it," we'll save in the long run as opposed to constantly having to dole out $ each time they pass a snack/water cart.

It sounds as though $40 per day would be sufficient for all of their food/snacks through dinner.

I like the idea of giving them their souvenir $ up front. That way if they see something that they just cannot live without, or wait until Downtown Disney, they can go ahead and purchase it.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[hercamore]

Hi,

You are so right about everyone buying their own bkfst and lunch individually rather than a group when you're dealing with teens. My ds likes the disney dollars to spend (its cool) and he goes and buy a big sandwich meal with the works. My dd will usually want lighter fare from a different vendor. LOL Saves time with decision making to let everyone do their own thing and meet up to eat.

You might also purchase disney dollars (avaiable at disney store) for the one time souvenir allotment. Make it extra special.


herc

 

[prncess674]

I was thinking about your situation last night and it occured to me having a family of 8 each walk around with a daily food budget in either cash or Disney Dollars was alot of cash to be carrying around. The potential to loose money (even adults) is a risk in a theme park. It seems that your kids are responsible adults and would use charge priviliges appropriately. Why not give everyone a resort key with charging priviliges for food only. You know that everyone will be eating breakfast at the All Star Food Court so it should be relatively reasonable per person even if they get the "big breakfast". Lay down ground rules that if they eat lunch away from the family that they should only be eating at Counter Service restaurants. Each kid could then be given a small snack budget of cash. That way if the snack budget is lost then it is not as big of deal. Each kid would be responsible for turning in their receipts. Resort keys are numbered so you can get a print out each evening and see what each kid has charged and if you are staying on budget. I have a feeling if you were to do it this way you will probably come out ahead.

 

[Ralphly]

Can I apply these princapals to the WIFE?: rolleyes:

 

[disneyjunkie]

Why not get a bunch of meal vouchers from connections or simple escapes?

I think you snack budget is fine. I budget $20.00 each for DS11 and I. We hate to pass up all the great treats that can be found around the parks. Any money not used gets rolled over to the next day.

DS has a set amount to spend in the shops each day. That's based on how much he's saved, how much my parents gives him before we leave home, and how much I give him to spend. He divides the total by the number of days we'll be there, and that's what he has to spend each day.

 

[erinch]

you could save a bundle by buying one of the brita sports bottles for each person. They have filters which take out that special "disney" wather taster, and are refillable at the ubiquitous water fountains. A huge savings.

If you only give out souvenir $$ at DTD the problem is that they lose the opportunity to buy sounvenirs specific to the park. I cherish my figment collection and Tower of Terror Goofy--and dragged the entire family back to MGM to get that Goofy only available there.

I just posted our "youth group" solution on another page, but you might find it helpful:

I have several times taken youth groups of 30 kids to WDW. (In my younger, stupider days).

We gave the parents, in writing, a list of expenses the kids were expected to cover. We collected their money, and put each kid's money in 2 separate envelopes, one for souvenirs, the other for food, laundry and other essentials.

We doled out their day's share from each envelope, per day. They could "borrow" from their souvenir money, and once that was gone, it was gone. We kept an agreed upon amount in reserve for the last day, so we didn't have to worry about them spending all their last day food money on last minute souvenirs.

But they could not borrow their food money. That went by the day so we didn't have to worry about them running out and either having to bail them out or let them go hungry. We also kept some in reserve for the candy/chips/drinks on the way home.

 

[Beckles]

Do you really think the "kids" are going to want to buy a lot of souveneirs? My brother and I went for our first and only trip to Disney (though I have been back to Orlando and Universal many times since, and gone to Downtown Disney a few times) when we were in high school and neither of us had any interest in souveneirs at that age, maybe we were weird, but I really don't think so ...

Have you thought about how you're going to handle these large amounts of cash? Just for Disney you'll need $50/day x 7 days x 5 kids = a lot of cash! (okay, $1,750 to be exact) ... even a daily trip to the ATM could be problematic if you have a $300/day ATM limit like some banks have ... that's not even counting your own cash or cash for the second week of your trip ...

If you do Traveler's Checks, you'd have to get each kid their own ... not sure if there's age limits on them, but I think there might be ... even if your hotel would cash Traveler's Checks, they might not do $250 or more per day ...

Princess is probably right, room charge privileges are the way to go here ... I don't know how it works at Dis though, can they provide a breakdown by person of the charges? (So you can spot-check them, maybe half-way through to make sure no one is over-spending by too much ...). Another option would be prepaid credit cards for each of them ...

 

[erinch]

When I had a group of 25 teens on a service project in DC, we took them to the Old Post Office food court for dinner. I blithely handed out $10 bills to each kid --- visibly -- right there in the food court.

Then slung my purse, under my sweater, on the back of my chair.

And... was surprised... although you won't be, when my purse was gone, along with the $13,000 in travellers checks. (That was fun to explain to American Express!)

Moral is, whereever you handle all these transactions, don't do it "on the street"

 

[primax]

$100 dollars a day, wow - can I come with you. I will pay my own way down, buy my own tickets, pay for my room ..... and will do this all for just $100 a day.

Yes, very generous

 

[MrsPete]

Have you considered getting the Connections Quick and Casual vouchers for lunches? Each of these vouchers costs $11.25, and it allows the person to have a complete meal (entree, side order, drink, and dessert) from most fast food places in the parks or resorts. This would allow you to know for certain that they kids had food -- they could not spend these vouchers on souveniers accidentally.

 

[ONULawbag]

Hi everyone! Thanks for all of the help and great ideas. Here are some of my thoughts on your suggestions, so if you can provide any more input to clarify any incorrect information, I'd appreciate it.

Disney Dollars: We've considered them, but weren't sure how much $ to convert to Disney $. I like the idea of using this for Souvenir $, so that it is easier for them to differentiate between food, and "fun $."

Connection vouchers: It was my understanding that these were only good at certain locations, and DH is hesitant to be "locked in" to certain places. He likes the idea of when we decide we're hungry, we can just spontaneously grab a bite to eat, rather than having to hunt for a place to eat that accepts the vouchers. Let me know if this is not correct, or if they are only not accepted at the smaller snack carts.

Charging to the room: Although we believe that the kids would be responsible, DH and I are just too nervous to do this. Reason? Because every time that we have done this (with just DH, DS and I), we've found that it is toooo easy to forget what and how much you have charged, and we've ended up spending more $ than we'd planned. We are good at chiding ourselves, but I'd hate to have to lecture the kids about overspending while we're on vacation. I'm sure that I nag them enough as it is

Daily budget: We do plan on giving them their $ in the morning before we leave our rooms, and they are pretty good about not flashing it around. I don't like the thought of having to dish out $ in the middle of the parks, and tempting whatever criminals happen to be wandering around. That said, I have found that most people in the parks are good, decent people.

Travellers Checks: The policies may have changed since I was 13, but I used to be allowed to get them. I'll look into that, as that might be a good idea to just give them the $40 in travellers checks each day. As for Disney cashing only a certain amount each day, I will also call and check that, too.

Souvenirs: DH and I really have no clue as to whether or not they will want souvenirs. LOL We are pretty sure that the girls will indulge, but the boys? They are a total mystery. We take them to Cedar Point (an amusement/water park) a lot during the summer, and except for the youngest, they don't get souvenirs there. We think that may be because they are so familiar with it, that they don't feel the need for souvenirs. But Disney is a whole new ballgame. They may not go souvenir crazy, but since they know that it may be quite a while before they return, we think there is definitley the potential for a souvenir spree.

Whew! I think I've addressed all of the points you've brought up, and may have generated more questions for you to answer

Thanks again everyone! You've been a HUGE help!!!

 

[prncess674]

I can tell you about Travellers Cheques (TC) since I know a lot about them from working as a bank teller in college.

TCs may be used by anyone, including children. However, personally I wouldn’t let the 8 year old have TCs in his name. Back when I used to sell them we sold them for a charge of $1 per $100 or $2 per $100 for dual signature AMEX TCs. If you decide to get a large amount of TCs in $20 increments you should call your local branch bank and verify that they have that in stock. Most people usually get $50 and $100 TCs so make sure they have what you are looking for before trekking over.

AAA offers Visa TCs complimentary to it’s members. One person can go and purchase the TCs and then bring them home for each person to sign the checks that will be assigned to them. Some banks will give you a hard time about not signing them right then and there but stand firm J.

Having TCs in eight people’s names might become a logistical nightmare. If a TC is lost or stolen you will need to give them the serial number of the TC. If they were in 8 different names you would need to keep a list of each TC each person was carrying on a specific day.

If you decide to go the TC route I personally would have you and DH sign all TCs and then each evening go down to Guest Services and cash the following day’s TCs. Distribution of the cash could be done in the room. (Make sure each kid has a fanny pack or back pack to secure money. Money should never be loose in a pocket in a theme park because it can easily be lost on a ride. Also remind the kids that souvenirs may be sent back to the resort).

There is a bigger risk carrying cash into the parks but it is unlikely that more than one kid would have money lost or stolen. One kids day allotment lost is bad but is not a vacation ender. Having the entire family’s vacation cash allotment stolen would be a tragedy.

TCs are accepted at all counter service restaurants in WDW but they aren’t as quick as cash and some small snack carts might be hesitant to take one.

Another option is the VISA gift card. AAA charges $4.95 per card and can have up $1,500 per card. They work like a stored value card. This may be a good option for you and DH for larger purchases such as the Luau and rooms if you are completely against using credit cards or resort room charging during vacation. The cards are replaceable if lost or stolen and are accepted anywhere you see the VISA symbol. There is no charge for an additional card on the same “account” so you and DH could work from one pile of money.

I don’t purport to know the right solution for your family I am merely stating some suggestions and information for you to think about. Have a great trip.