How much in spending $$?

[aja319se]

My family has booked our first WDW vaca and I'm determined to do it with no credit cards!! I figured that after all is said and done I should have about $2400.00 in spending money for 6 days. Is that enough? We plan on cooking in our SSR kitchen at least half the time and having garden grocer deliver.
We are a family of 4. I will also send a box of goodies down prior to arrival.

 

[Darcy03231]

That's more than enough. I just spent 6 days/5 nights with 3 of us between US/IOA and WDW. We ate table service for all of our lunches and dinners, with the exception of one dinner. We had table service for breakfast one morning and the other mornings we ate breakfast in our room (cereal, yogurt & fruit). I spent, including $100 in souvenirs for each child, a total of $1,200.00.

 

[cinderella1976]

I agree, thats more than enough. On our trip there in 08' for a family of 5, we spent $1300 including toys and extra food costs. Our kids ages last yr were 7, 5, 2 and I am a shop-a-holic when it comes to disney so....

 

[ang]

You have plenty for food and extras.

 

[DVCBELLE]

If you have that much and are willing to spend it - I would invest in the Dining plan. I am not sure if you would be adults (10+) or have some kids but the most the DDP would cost you is $120 a day plus your tips. I would say that would cost you $850 at the most - about $100 less if you have under 10s. You will have enough food and not have to cook on vacation or worry about getting back to the room when you are ready to eat.

Then you would still have about $1550 left - which is PLENTY - actually way too much.

I would give everyone (even adults) a $100 spending for the week. This leaves you $1150 - I am not sure what else you would spend it on!!

If your tickets are out of that money as well - you should still be fine.

 

[brock20l]

Very helpful answers here: it's just going to be me and DBF on my trip, but I too was wondering exactly how much to budget, since we are planning on doing most breakfasts in our rooms, counter-service lunches, and table-service dinners. ...however, I better keep my estimates on the high end, because I AM a shopaholic!!

 

[Jachred]

Very good answers so far! I went for 8 days, had the Dining plan. Ate some breakfast stuff in my room. It was me, my GF and her son.. I used my PayPal card for the 1% rewards, and put $1000 on it. we made a deal we wouldnt spend more than $125 in any one day, but could carry the prevoius day over... just to be sure we diddnt splurge to much at the beggining of the trip. We tried to spend it all, but only managed to spend $600 and that included a boat ride around Downtown Disney. I am not that big on Souvaneers so maybe add another $200-$300, and you'd be all set.. I think you'll see its a bigger task to spend than you think!

 

[imhzgrlnotu]

I plan on buying most of the souvenirs before we go, then buying most of the rest at the Disney outlet store there. At the parks and resorts I plan on getting a bunch of pressed pennies too, so it should be pretty cheap but I'm still worried about not having enough (We're taking $1000 for 2 adults/4 kids. That doesn't include meals because we're on the dining plan, so basically just extra stuff that they don't need lol.)

I know I def. want to get the girls princess hats (the pointy ones), and my son MM ears, I know those won't cost nearly $1000 lol but if anyone knows a general price range, in the park and/or at the outlet store, I'd love to know ahead of time!

 

[DVCBELLE]

I plan on buying most of the souvenirs before we go, then buying most of the rest at the Disney outlet store there. At the parks and resorts I plan on getting a bunch of pressed pennies too, so it should be pretty cheap but I'm still worried about not having enough (We're taking $1000 for 2 adults/4 kids. That doesn't include meals because we're on the dining plan, so basically just extra stuff that they don't need lol.)

I know I def. want to get the girls princess hats (the pointy ones), and my son MM ears, I know those won't cost nearly $1000 lol but if anyone knows a general price range, in the park and/or at the outlet store, I'd love to know ahead of time!

I am pretty sure both of those are in the $15 price range. There are different versions and of course you could spend more or less. Our last trip my son wanted steamboat Mickey ears - I was going to buy them - I think they were $13 and was so happy when I finally decided to buy them that they were only 6.99 - I guess maybe they discontinued them!

 

[imhzgrlnotu]

I am pretty sure both of those are in the $15 price range. There are different versions and of course you could spend more or less. Our last trip my son wanted steamboat Mickey ears - I was going to buy them - I think they were $13 and was so happy when I finally decided to buy them that they were only 6.99 - I guess maybe they discontinued them!

Thanks so much! I was figuring probably $25 each, but I'll be able to get a couple extra for family kids for that price

 

[SCQ86]

My family has booked our first WDW vaca and I'm determined to do it with no credit cards!! I figured that after all is said and done I should have about $2400.00 in spending money for 6 days. Is that enough? We plan on cooking in our SSR kitchen at least half the time and having garden grocer deliver.
We are a family of 4. I will also send a box of goodies down prior to arrival.

WOW!!! That is more than enough. I usually do $100 a day per person. Then I add $100 an adult for adults and $50 for kids for souvies, that's when the budget is tight. And that is eating in WDW!!!

I would sock away a nice chunk for your next trip!!

 

[brock20l]

we made a deal we wouldnt spend more than $125 in any one day, but could carry the prevoius day over... just to be sure we diddnt splurge to much at the beggining of the trip.

I looove this idea! -- I think I will definitely work with this format when we go in December, and just keep that running total in my brain...or better yet track it in the Notes app on my cell phone to keep even closer tabs.

 

[aja319se]

I feel so much better! I was hoping I was being generous but woo hoo sounds good to me! I'd rather be too prepared than not enough! I will budget each day in the park for the 4 of us. THANK YOU ALL
I love the DIS!!

 

[familyfirsttimer]

Not to sound like I have a problem or anything but don't forget about drinks.
I know in Epcot starting with a Margarita in Mexico and working around to the 1/2 yards in the UK, you can spend some $$.

That being said with your overbudget, you'll still be fine!

 

[PrincessBetsy]

My family has booked our first WDW vaca and I'm determined to do it with no credit cards!! I figured that after all is said and done I should have about $2400.00 in spending money for 6 days. Is that enough? We plan on cooking in our SSR kitchen at least half the time and having garden grocer deliver.
We are a family of 4. I will also send a box of goodies down prior to arrival.

That is more than enough for spending money, especially if there are only 4 of you. I would probably cut it down quite a bit and save some for your next trip. Have a great trip!!

Very good answers so far! I went for 8 days, had the Dining plan. Ate some breakfast stuff in my room. It was me, my GF and her son.. I used my PayPal card for the 1% rewards, and put $1000 on it. we made a deal we wouldnt spend more than $125 in any one day, but could carry the prevoius day over... just to be sure we diddnt splurge to much at the beggining of the trip. We tried to spend it all, but only managed to spend $600 and that included a boat ride around Downtown Disney. I am not that big on Souvaneers so maybe add another $200-$300, and you'd be all set.. I think you'll see its a bigger task to spend than you think!

Setting a budget for yourself is a great idea! We always do this, even for food since we don't use the dining plan. We kind of make a game out of how much money we can save (I know it's really dorky hehehehe!). There are 4 people in our family and we try and limit ourselves to $25-$30 for lunch and dinner and usually $20 for breakfast. We also set an amount of money for souvenirs, but we usually don't spend it all and save it for our next trip.

 

[tina_la]

We spend about 1000 to 1200 for 5 of us the past 2 years we have gone and that included gas (about 350) to get there. We had plenty of extras and did the BBB, haircuts, drinks, hats, christmas ornaments. I did let the kids know upfront this past year what thier souiver limit was and that helped cut down on too many items but still got a ton of junk to bring back. You should have more than enough

 

[writermommy6]

Wow, these are just for "extras"? I'm happy that we'll have $500 for extras on this trip. The whole trip (for 6 of us) is about $4000 and that's for 9 days and a van rental.

 

[carj]

We went last summer with 2 adults and 2 kids. We ended up spending right at $1100 for food and souveniers for a 7 night trip. We did not do the dining plan but did have several character meals.
$150 CRT
$100 Garden Grill
$50 Ohana
$40 1900 Park Faire
That was $340 and the other $800 was for all our other meals and souveniers.
We ate just fine and the kids got plenty of souveniers.

For several days, my husband was at a conference for part of the day and he ate off site, which is included in my totals.

We did share some CS meals because my kids like to eat a tiny bit, several times a day. It seemed like we were always buying some kind of chicken nugget meal and sharing it. We did this, not only to save the money but so that we weren't wasting food either.

We also bought kids meals at the food court and saved the grapes and ate them while waiting for RD in the morning. I thought that worked out really well because both of our kids LOVE grapes!