How much money do you bring??

[ehstrojette]

after tickets and lodging are paid for how much money do you travel with. I want to make sure i have enough to have fun. We will be going to eat at Chef Mickeys one night and cooking at the house the rest. Counter service and snacks at the parks for 5 people for 5 days. Bfast will be at the house each morning

 

[RNtheRN]

A LOT

 

[larryz]

Place your wallet on the ground and step back...

 

[wilde_oscar]

you can get by on like $9 for 5 or 6 days. Oh did you mean at WDW? American Express will have a hit man looking for you when you get home.

 

[pepe of ohio]

I gather from your post that you are staying off site, this makes carrying cash and amount tough. Staying on property is really easy, you leave an imprint of your credit card at the front desk and all charging privileges can be added to your room key, no need for cash or very little. Off property, you;ll have to pay out of pocket or use your credit card. When they didn't have the charging to room keys many years ago, we always figured 50 dollars per person per day covered food and such but that was alot of years ago and prices were way cheaper. Our last trip was January 2008 and the wife and I didn't really spend alto on food, we did a grocery stop on the way to our resort, did pool lunches and snacks, shared alto of meals, they are huge servings so I guess for the 9 nights we were they food and incidentals ran us 400.00. We did not have the dining plan and did not do alot of TS meals so the 400 bucks was great for the 2 of us. hopes this helps.

 

[Silver Queen]

I can't be much help because I stay on property and use my KTTW card, but have you checked out the Budget Board?

 

[Native NYer]

We bring cash (no set amount really), ATM cards (so we can get more cash ), and a credit card. Since we stay onsite, we just charge everything to our room.

 

[ehstrojette]

if you stayed off site what would you have spent?

I will use my debt card as much as i can and will go with about 100 per day in cash. I know it will cost alot of money but just want to have a heads up on how much.

what did you spend last trip for those who keep track?

 

[snowman1035]

We stay off property and when planning our trips I budget high for spending. For a week I like to have at least $1000.00. I also budget at least $550.00 for food. I figure high for the spending which covers for things the DS and DD want and should we want to have a nice meal out or see a show. I have gotten away with $600 spending and have been fine. I liked it when we stayed on property, you just charged to room. We also eat breakfast at our villa; go to the parks; have a snack at the park; leave park for a break; then dinner at our villa and then back to the parks. This year we are taking our grandson for the first time and I am sure we will need those breaks. He is 2 and we are just so excited to take him!

 

[Dimaline312000]

For just food and souvneirs I usually bring quite a bit. I don't have an exact amount of what I bring each time but it's over $1,000. But that's just me, it's really up to you how much you bring but make sure you bring enough for everything you want to do.

 

[stitchlover]

I will be honest with you I currently have about $950 Disney Dollars sitting in my jewelry box that will cover:

tips at meals (we are on DDP)
California Grill OOP
Afternoon Tea OOP
Sea Raycer for DH and DD
Resort Mugs
Picture Package at Akershus
Picture Package at O'Hana breakfast
Cape May breakfast OOP
6 breakfasts OOP
Bibbiddi Bobbiddi Boutique for DD
Pins/Lanyards for DD and DH
Autograph book and pen for DD


On top of that I assume that in a 10 day visit we will spend an additional $800 to $1000 dollars.

 

[Rylee]

The last few trips to Disney, we have been a family of 6... 2 real adults, 2 Disney adults and 2 children. My best friend has the same size family, and for any vacation, we both usually budget $200 a day for food.

Obviously, this amount can vary from day to day but it is also just about the same as what the Disney Dining Plan charges per day, for a family our size.

At Disney, we purchase the DP but for beach vacations, even with a full kitchen, a take out breakfast, lunch in the condo and dinner at a nice restaurant, this guideline works for us.

 

[3kidzmom]

To have that kind of money to blow at Disney I on the other hand, am in a very similar situation as yours--BUDGET. On our third trip in 5 years, I have learned to have a great trip on a small budget. We also stay off-site with full kitchen. I cook a full breakfast each morning (just as I would at home), pack pocket snaks (fruit chews and cheese crackers, maybe lunchables home made trail mix, grapes, orange slices etc. enough to carry in a small ice chest). We ask for free ice water and refill at the water fountains throughout the day. We do budget for counter service (burgers or pizza and drinks), but I have found that snacking throughout the day (while keeping the blood sugar fairly stable) everyone isn't horribly hungry at meal time. I also schedule at least 2 special table service or character meals--our splurge. For those nights I know we'll be at the parks I take our slow cooker and our meal is hot and ready when we get back to the room.

The kids get $25 in Disney Dollars to spend as they wish over the course of the vacation (we have been both 4 and 5 days). This avoids any 'junk' that will end up in the trash can anyway. They usually like to spend their on a t-shirt from their favorite ride or the candy shoppes!! I budget for $150 in groceries (same as at home for a week), and $75/day for the parks. I have found that is quite sufficient for the requisite turkey legs, dole whips, popcorn, etc (we share everything!--everyone pretty much just wants a taste of everything). However, this year I am budgeting $100 for our day at Epcot we've never been and I plan on tasting A LOT of new things!!!

 

[hannah03]

Last year I budgeted $100/day based on some posts here and found it hard to do. Maybe I wasn't doing it right This year I'm budgeting $200/day and it had BETTER be enough

 

[LauraAnn630]

Breakfast at the house will work out fine. We thought wed have supper at the house to but we didnt. We were at the parks and everyone wanted to eat there. Even on our park day off we ordered out because we were to tired to cook and do dishes and we were on vacation! But the plan WAS to cook and eat at the villa. We threw a lot of food out when we left.

Every year we take more money and every year we spend it all! (not all on food)

If you plan to go back and cook even easy meals its going to eat up a lot of time. We walk 9 miles a day in the parks and it make ya pretty tired.

Im sure someone has the thread with menus and prices. You can get a better idea of where youll eat and how much you will need. Cosmic Rays at MK is good.

 

[ehstrojette]

We figured that we would pick up food for dinner for the Villa on our way home that way we dont waste any food. We will probably eat out at area places so it will still save us some money but it wont be as much as in the park. Chuckie cheese,Cici's,Ponderosa ect.. or some local favorites. We figured we would eat dinner before heading back for night time things at the parks. Our WD day is cut short with P&PP so that is our Chef Mickeys ADR and they dont have anything at night at AK so we are ok there

 

[Leleluvsdis]

We always do breakfast and lunch and snacks from the grocery store, and do an early dinner in disney. We drive down, so we pack snacks and goodies for the ride down, and hit the grocery store when we get there. MAJOR money saver

 

[bolo]

we're a family of 8 and staying for a week. we'll have breakfast in the room and bring some snacks along in the parks. we're figuring $200/day for everything...food, souveneirs, etc. doing only CS plus 2 adrs (late lunch). for us to do the ddp it would've cost that just for food, then we'd still have tips...yeah, tips on table service for 8 would add a significant amount!

 

[disneymom71]

I like the idea of Disney DOllars but I'm not sure they still have them at disney stores....three years ago I gave my kids 250 for each of them to have their own money to spend.

 

[karmalicousss]

ALOT!