How much money do u really take to disney?

[heatherleigh]

We do Disneyland, and plan on bringing about $2K for a family of 6 for 6 days with no meal plan.

 

[crisi]

We've done trips where we stop at a grocery store and spend $100 for two people. Have breakfast in the room, pack in peanut butter sandwiches and snacks, eat one counter service meal a day, splitting it and don't buy souvieniers.

We've had trips where we've spent $200 on a bottle of wine and $600 on La Nouba tickets for a family of four and where my husband bought a $300 watch. I had a trip where I bought a $1500 original animation cel (not that trip, but another not cheap trip).

If you really want to do Disney on a budget, grocery shop and skip souviniers. You can manage to get by on $10 per day per person pretty easily after tickets if you aren't worried about most of your food or souvieniers.

And obviously, if you want to spend, Disney will let you spend as much as you wish.

 

[wolf29]

Myself & 2 sons (7&9) spend about $100 a day on average. We have been lucky enough to get free dining a few years in a row, which helps immensely. We buy glo-stix, trading pins, etc., on eBay beforehand, so our $$$ goes towards souvenirs, 1 or 2 meals outside the plan, a stop @ Target on the way from MCO for provisions, and a little back to school shopping (we travel late Aug).

 

[torianne31]

My family of 5 did a 10 day trip 5 years ago. We budgeted $1500 for food, souvenirs and incidentals. We drove down and took food with us. We ate breakfast and lunch at the hotel (OKW Studio) and ate dinner off property with coupons. We also bought souvenirs off property. Instead of buying alot of food at the parks, we all wore fanny packs full of snack food and refilled our water bottles. Needless to say, after about 8 days we still had pretty much all of our money left(around $1000) so we SPLURRRGEDDD the last two days of the trip on pretty much anything the kids wanted and had a blast

DH and I are returning to WDW soon and are budgeting the same amount of money as for our original trip. Now we are a "family of two" going, and are only going for 5 days, but we plan on doing more sit down meals and signature drinking....errr... I mean DINING

 

[Priorityonecb]

I agree with the rest. It depends on your family. Or, if this is an annual trip or once in a lifetime. The first time we went to WDW we thought it was our once in a lifetime trip and we spent a fortune on everything imagineable. Now that we go yearly or more we hardly ever buy souveniers and usually get the dining plan so almost everything is covered.

 

[peimikes]

We usually take about $1000-$1200 or a little better for a 10 day trip for 2 Adults and a 3 year old. Not much for too many gifts, t-shirts that sort of thing spend less than half on these. Most of the cash go to Tips, snacks and drinks. We had the DP last trip. The DP is well worth it and very flexable.

 

[dawz1026]

We went last month and spent-3500-resort and tix,1500.00 car rental and are u ready for it...3200.00 in cash. I am nauseated telling you all this. We never spent this much before..ughhhh

 

[torianne31]

We went last month and spent-3500-resort and tix,1500.00 car rental and are u ready for it...3200.00 in cash. I am nauseated telling you all this. We never spent this much before..ughhhh

Jiminy Cricket!!! Am I too old for y'all to adopt me??? I could be DD (39ish).... I'd love to be able to go all out and splurge on a vacation like that.. but my danged frugal (ok.. cheap.. I tell ya CHEAPPPP) side keeps rearing it's ugly head.....*My motto is: why spring for pixie dust when regular dust is FREEEEEEEE.... umm... you can't fly...but.. well.. ya can still jump real high*

 

[ramsfootball92]

Jiminy Cricket!!! Am I too old for y'all to adopt me??? I could be DD (39ish).... I'd love to be able to go all out and splurge on a vacation like that.. but my danged frugal (ok.. cheap.. I tell ya CHEAPPPP) side keeps rearing it's ugly head.....*My motto is: why spring for pixie dust when regular dust is FREEEEEEEE.... umm... you can't fly...but.. well.. ya can still jump real high*

I am cracking up! I rented DVC points for a few years before I took the plunge but was very frugal because I was a single mother with 3 kids (before I was married a year ago if you noted the discrepancy in my signature). After I bought the DVC I was still, okay I'll say it nicely, frugal. Anywho, my Mom passed away very unexpectedly and I had a splurge trip. So I am right there with the $3k spending on just the fun stuff for one trip. And no, I can't adopt. I got married and inherited 2 more lovely kiddos

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

Since we have the dining plan (DxDDP), for DD10 and I usually it's about $1000 I bring in spending money. That covers tip, car rental, 'spa day' at the GF, two stays at the Neverland Club for DD and a few things from Art of Disney for me.

It really does depend on your family's touring style.

 

[torianne31]

I am cracking up! I rented DVC points for a few years before I took the plunge but was very frugal because I was a single mother with 3 kids (before I was married a year ago if you noted the discrepancy in my signature). After I bought the DVC I was still, okay I'll say it nicely, frugal. Anywho, my Mom passed away very unexpectedly and I had a splurge trip. So I am right there with the $3k spending on just the fun stuff for one trip. And no, I can't adopt. I got married and inherited 2 more lovely kiddos

Sorry about your mom, but I've got to say... with the "Brady Bunch" y'all already have going on... would you REALLY notice one more mouth at the dinner table.. even if that mouth was a little "long in the tooth" so to speak?

I rented points for our first trip to WDW and stayed at OKW. We would have done that again this year except we got a good rate on the Dolphin with DH being a Starwood Preferred Guest thingy. And I guess I SHOULD say the only reason we have around $1500 on this trip to splurge and stuff is 'cause his company is paying for his food, flight and reimbursing us for the hotel room. All we had to buy outright is the park tickets, my flight and my food.. otherwise it'd be fanny packs and granola bars again

 

[JCMHutch]

Spending money is a hard decision for vacation. I prefer bringing money so that I don't have any bills for the trip a month after I get home.

I usually plan on around $25 a day for misc. spending. Whatever isn't spent is rolled into the next day's money. Since DH & I go to Disney yearly, we don't really buy a lot of souviners anymore. The past two trips we have gotten a gift card at check-in so we didn't really have to bring spending money. The cash mostly went for restaurant tips, tips for the Magic Express driver and airport food.

Also, separate from my $25 a day, we bring an envelope with $20 a day for tips for our daily TS meal. Since we are on the DDP we don't need cash to pay for the meal, just the tip. We take a $20 out and use that every night for dinner. Last trip, it covered the tips just fine and allowed DH to get a beer with dinner most nights (if it was over he put in the difference).

One thing I started doing this past year is just asking for Disney gift cards for my birthday and Christmas. I also focused on using my Disney Visa and accrued $100 dream dollars for the trip (as long as you pay off the Visa every month, the rewards cards gives you free Disney money).

 

[ajh88]

Ahead a time a make up a envelope system seems odd I know. But if helps me just pull the envelope so my cash don't end up all ove the place.

I do this too.

Our upcoming trip is budget minded - we are celebrating a graduation, but will only be there for 6 days.

I budgeted:

$25 per day for miscellaneous expenses ($150)
$50 per day for souvenirs ($300)
$100 for the outlet mall
$20 for mousekeeping tips ($4 per night x 5 nights)

This is based on experience from past trips. DH and DD enjoy pin trading, so we buy lots of pins on ebay (we have over 100 to trade for this trip and I got them for less than 75 cents each in auctions) before the trip. This time, we have the regular DDP, so I have some dining budget for tips based on how much I estimated the meals will be.

The $50 per day on souvies might even be a little high - but we know DSS wants to go that new RideMakerz shop at DTD to make a car and since it is his high school graduation, we'll likely indulge him a teeny bit. DD has some of her own money saved up and I usually let her bring about $20 per day of her own money for the "little" stuff that always seems to add up.

We also try to hit the outlet mall at the beginning of the trip. No matter how much stuff we end up buying, it always seems to be about $100. It's the one place we let DD go a little wild - and it sort of gets the shopping out of her system early. The last 2 trips we've ended up getting cool Christmas gifts for people for $1 each (last year it was a set of 4 lithos, one for each park, the time before, it was a set of 4 coins).

All that being said, we drive, so I have money for gas ($350) and meals while traveling ($250) in there too. We buy gas cards ahead of time so we don't have that as cash and I buy a few fast food gift cards ahead of time too.

I like to have access to more money if we need it, but brining ONLY cash for souvenirs and "miscellaneous" helps me to keep those expenses under control.

 

[Polyluvr]

We also spend between 2500-3000; and that's w having DDP, tix already paid for.

We don't pay attention to pricetags or say no to the kids while @ WDW.

And I like to have some good wine and nice cocktails; pay for 1 of the kids clubs for an eve so DH and I can have a kid free eve/dinner.

And DH and the 8 yo plat some golf; and I like a spa visit.

We also like the character breakfasts OOP and use the DDP for dinners.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

Werll we have $1700 saved up so far lol from our extra money and will save more... but its funny because I know i will buy the $20 sink stopper cuz im a CVSer too!! LMAO!!!