How much money to take?

[Debwid]

Hi, we are trying to work out how much money to take with us on our holiday in May. We were going to take £1,000 in currency and credit cards for purchases but DP is now questioning this. If we get too much money we will lose out when we change it back. I don't think we will have that problem.

We are going 23rd May for 2 weeks staying at Fantasy World Club Villas. We have full kitchen facilities so we will stock up at the supermarket and eat some meals in the accommodation.

There are 3 of us, me, DP and DD (7).

We have 14 days Disney Passes and 2 day Universal passes - Universal were free and Disney were 14 days for price of 7 so we ended up with more than we will probably use.

I know we will have to pay parking each day. Are there any other costs apart from food and purchases in shops?

I appreciate that this is probably down to individual choice but if you could give me some ideas of costs that would be great.

We have $471 so far........

 

[buzz for boys]

My honest opinion on this is you will you sped what you have!!!

We are a family of 6 that got by on $800 a week last trip simply because thats all we had!!
On previous trips we easily spent double that amount.
My advice is get as much spending money together as you can and then pla your meals souvenirs around what you have rather than the other way around.

We had an equally ejoyable holiday with less spendig money than usual - so please try not to let how much spends you have / dont have stress you out

I terms of essential costs you are right in that every theme park day will cost you $12 parking (unless you are staying onsite)
Petrol (or gas) will amaze you how cheap a full tank is we filled a 7 seater on $35 and that lasted us 10 days


HTH Louise x

 

[wayneg]

My opinion is take the $471 you already have and use a fee free credit card for everything else(Post Office, Halifax Clarity or Santander Zero)
We leave next Saturday for a week and I will be taking about $75 in cash, rest will go on Post Office card.

Cash is often not covered on insurance, after losing(got it back) over £500 in my wallet a few years back I will not carry so much money again. Credit cards are accepted everywhere right down to paying for an ice cream or a parking meter, only place I use cash is toll booths.
You also won't be stung for changing into $'s then back to £'s(worst thing you can do)

There are 3 of us, we spend £70-£100/day so for a 14 night trip £1000-£1400 all depends where we eat and what we buy.

 

[starrysky]

I agree with all of the pps responses just to add we normally take enough cash for meals etc and budget an ammount for that days spending. So if we don't use the full budget one day it rolls onto the next. Any big purchases like going clothes shopping we do it on the credit card but again we set ourselves a limit and keep track on the reciepts. Make sure that you factor in the sales tax when shopping its not huge but it can add up.

The other thing we do is change some of our money into dollars and then keep some sterling as a back up that way its not all in dollars. Ok you might not get a great rate to change it there but to be honest we have never noticed a huge difference. That way you are not stuck with dollars to change back. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Debwid]

Thanks for all your responses. I need to think about it. I didn't really want to get another credit card but that might be a good option.

 

[torsie24]

We take very little cash. I think I'll just get $100 or so in case we need anything in the airport and then for any little bits the first day or two.

We stay onsite so use our Disney room key for small purchases. Then we use a fairfx for
bigger ones and pay off our room charges with a MasterCard.

This is a big trip for us so I'm allowing us £3-4k for 3 weeks. But then we don't tend to buy many souvenirs, or go shopping, or eat many TS. So last trip we spent very little. Well under £1k in 2 weeks.

So will be nice if the same happens this trip. I always find once I'm on holiday I'm really happy just being there and buying lots of stuff isn't a big priority. More so with Disney trips I think as your tickets are all paid in advance so unlike most other holidays you don't need to decide what to do each day and you don't need to spend extra money to be entertained etc. (eg when we go to the canaries we might choose to do a boat trip etc which could add an unplanned £200 to the holiday)

 

[dizzyredhead83]

It's hard to decide where the budget ends isn't it. You can get so carried away. If you have a small budget it is fairly good to stick to and a high budget is still easy to spend

For the 2 of us we work it out on average $50 per day for food (we don't tend to eat at the parks on the evening), $12 for parking each day (which isn't everyday of the holiday) and then take about £300 each to spend on whatever for ourselves. This is about what we went with last year when we went too as the park lunches cost us $13 for the 2 of us then it depended where we ate on the night.

 

[fd1972uk]

I have in my mind that the 3 of us would cope fine with £100 per day for our holiday, so I'd say £1400 - £1500.

However I haven't been to America for 10 years, and last was as a couple, we went with £1000 between 2 of us and we had a ball.

In terms of what you take, guess this is just a matter of preference, we always take cash, but maybe for something such as Florida with the parks it'd be more simple not to be lugging around loads of money in parks when a bit of plastic will do the job.

Guess the cash I would take would just do for quick snacks and other small things, for shopping and dining I think I'd personally just go with a card.


FD

 

[2Tiggies]

Are intending to visit the US again anytime in the near future? I personally never change my money back. I just buy continuously whenever the rate is good and save what is left from previous trips.

 

[fd1972uk]

Personally I don't come back with a penny, LOL, just take the money I have and intend to spend it in one way or another, guess that's what it was intended for.


FD

 

[Debwid]

Are intending to visit the US again anytime in the near future? I personally never change my money back. I just buy continuously whenever the rate is good and save what is left from previous trips.

well the last trip was 10 yrs to Vegas!

Hopefully it wont be that long again. I work in the public sector though so who knows with the current situation.

 

[Kath2003]

We budget £20 per person per day for food, plus £2/day for transport - works out at about $30-$35/day per adult. We always wind up with lots left over. We use debit cards mostly whilst we are there and withdraw cash if we need it. We don't take a lot of cash with us; I think I took $100 last time. We also get lots of our cash in singles before we go for the bus fares.

And no, we never change our money back. One year I had so much left over that we didn't change ANYTHING for our next trip. We also keep all the change. It all adds up - I think I have about $15 in change and singles from last year.

 

[disneydaft]

We are just back from 2 weeks on idrive. (it was a week but we extended it to 2 before we left)
We took $2000 cash which cost about £1300 plus spent about £700 on my debit card. So about £2000 for 2 adults and an infant. We never did Disney and had annual passes for universal and seaworld. Though I did have to pay off a balance of $200 from 2005 on my exes seaworld account, she must have cancelled her card when we seperatated

We probably spent an average of $100 a day purely on food and tips. $550 at the outlets and the rest on park souvenirs and transport / junk. Oh and $90 for transfers.

Last September with the dining plan we probably spent about £1500. It can definitely be done cheaper but I personally like to splurge a bit when I'm away.
Saying that I reckon if we had to we could get by on £500 for a fortnight if it meant we were in Florida.

 

[Eliza32]

We stay at POP, so have no parking to pay.but we have no DDP either. We also take 2 long drives during our fortnight - once to St Augustine for a day and once to St Pete's/Clearwater, so we use more gas than most probably do.
We take an 'allowance' of $75 per day between us (2 adults) and this covers food, gas, day-to-day purchases such as shopping for the room from Publix etc. We do use the Visa Card for a couple of meals out and for some mall shopping, but when we went in September, the visa bills was only £211, and we came home with $80. I guess it all depends on how much you can afford, and how much you like to shop.
We have now been to WDW many times, and I find myself buying less and less souvenirs now, so the spending money seems to go further these days.

 

[fd1972uk]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who doesn't seem to require loads of spending money.

When I saw the thread I was thinking "Oh well we got with £5000 and it usually pushes us through, have to skip a Caviar or two, but ah well, pass me a Sherry darling!". Was thinking yeah it's fine for you Richard with your free flights....................


FD

 

[Debwid]

It's funny seeing the different responses and how people budget. I guess the issue for me is I like to spend where as DP likes to save At the same time we will go and enjoy ourselves and wont be watching every penny. I have paid for the holiday as I wanted to go whereas DP wasn't bothered. DP is providing the spending money though.

I am still thinking of applying for a Post Office card as that does seem a good option.

 

[wayneg]

I am still thinking of applying for a Post Office card as that does seem a good option.

Its been our best option for a few years now + cashback if you are applying for a new one

£14 here http://www.quidco.com/post-office-credit-cards/

£18.18 here http://www.topcashback.co.uk/post_office/

 

[Debwid]

Its been our best option for a few years now + cashback if you are applying for a new one

£14 here http://www.quidco.com/post-office-credit-cards/

£18.18 here http://www.topcashback.co.uk/post_office/

Even better. I just had a look and it's 3 months interest free on purchases but we don't go until May so that is no use. I was going to wait until April to take out the card but of course this deal might change. How long has the cashback deal been on? I now have the added complication of working out whether to go for it now and cash the £14 and pay off card straight away, or wait and hope the £14 is still available in March / April time.

 

[wayneg]

I got cashback for mine years ago but don't know if its been on all the time or if it comes and goes, there everytime I have looked.