How much money to bring????

[stephen99]

I am going on Jan 20 for 6 days. I have a 10 yo and an infant. This is my first time going and I have no idea how much money to bring. I am going to use cash. I used my credit cards on the hotel, passes, air, etc...any ideas? I am just looking for a ballpark.

Thanks for all the help!

Steve

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

How much you'll need will depend upon what you'll need to pay for when you're there.

How are you getting from the airport to the hotel? If you're renting a car, you'll need to pay tolls along the way. If you aren't staying onsite, you'll need to pay for parking ($8/day). Are you taking a shuttle bus? If you haven't paid for it yet, Mears will charge about $29/adult RT. Plus you should tip the driver.

How do plan to eat? Are you big eaters? Light eaters? Picky eaters? Do you prefer to have a sitdown meal 3 times a day or will you just grab counter service and go? Will you be buying any groceries to keep in the room? All these factors will influence how much money you'll need to bring.

Are you big souvenir shoppers? Some people can go to WDW and return with nothing more than a t-shirt or refrigerator magnet. Then there are others that view WDW as a giant Mickey Mall. If you want to avoid spending too much money, close your eyes after exiting the attractions. Every ride empties into a gift shop. Disney likes to make it very convenient for you and your money to part.

I can tell you that we (DH, myself, DD14 and DS12) can survive on $125 per day very nicely with a rental car, onsite hotel and one sitdown lunch per day. We always carry Brita water bottles instead of buying water in the parks and we don't souvenir shop very much.

 

[stephen99]

ok ...we are getting a limo to and from DW. We are sharing it with a friend and his family. That is already paid for.

As for eating I would prefer to sitdown for dinner and breakfast...lunch i can go without.

As for the gifts...a couple of Tees and thats it. Do you know about the meal vouchers? I've heard about them, but never looked to hard at it. I was going to bring about $1000.00, but i dont want to come up short. If i bring more, my lovely wife would be happy to spend it.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

ok ...we are getting a limo to and from DW. We are sharing it with a friend and his family. That is already paid for.

Don't forget to bring cash to tip the driver. It should be about 10% of the total bill each way. Do not tip the airport-->WDW driver for 20% of the entire trip; you may not get the same driver on the reverse trip.

As for eating I would prefer to sitdown for dinner and breakfast...lunch i can go without.

Check out AllEarsNet.com - Menus From Around the World to get an idea of costs. The prices quoted do not include tax (which is 6.5%). You should also factor in a gratuity for your server at sitdown meals. Traditionally, that would be at least 15% of the pre-tax bill.

As for the gifts...a couple of Tees and thats it.

T-shirts run in the $15-$20 range plus tax.

Do you know about the meal vouchers? I've heard about them, but never looked to hard at it.

It appears that finding meal vouchers will be very difficult. The usual sources (Hotwire, Connections & SImple Escapes) no longer have any and probably will not be getting new ones. You might be able to find some on eBay or DISAuctions.

 

[canwegosoon]

In actual cash, I have gone to WDW with $20 in my pocket...everything on room card or CC, there are only a few ventors that will not take media (cc/charging). To/from the Airport I would do 100.00...Parking, gas, tolls but even there many places taking CC.

 

[SandrainNC]

We took $2,000 spending money with us back in November. Most of it was in traveler's checks. This was my way of controlling us and not going over our planned budget. When it was gone, that was it. No using the cards (except for gas for the car). Hotel and tickets were already taken care of and not included in this. Also we drove. It was me, DH and my 3 year old. We were there 9 nights. We came back with $600 which I was surprised because I love to shop!! Our hotel did have free breakfast, so that saved us some money. We did 3 sit down meals on Disney property, 2 sit downs outside of Disney property. For lunch we just snacked for the most part (but bought my son lunch. A couple of times we did have counter service lunch (I think 3 times). I am the type of person who would rather come back with extra than to run out and have to go find a bank (I don't like fees from other bank machines) while I am on vacation. Have fun! Sandra

 

[my3kids]

Lots. Than add a lot more.