How much money?

[Sunset_Princess]

im changing our money tomorrow and told my husband how much we were changing. We've obviously been saving it up specifically for holiday spending money but when you think of it as one big chunk, it's a lot! I then wondered how much we would actually need as I've just really saved a little I've what we take every year.

So, it's me and my DH and my 21 month old daughter.
We have QSDP
We have approx 9 ADR's, 2 of which are buffets
We will find plenty of gifts we want to buy
We have a car but last time we only put an additional $30 in during the whole trip and that included a drive back and to to St Augustine. This time we just have a St Petes trip planned.

How much do you think? We are by no means wanting to be careful with spending, we want to enjoy ourselves.

 

[scoobydooby2016]

Do you plan on going to shopping malls? That answer changes my response.

 

[Sunset_Princess]

We do have a mall day planned but aren't after anything in particular. I'm not the best at buying big things. Probably all be for my daughter!!

 

[california37]

How many days are you going for? To give you an idea-we usually go for about 18 days and there are now 4 of us (me, DH,DD6, and DD2) and we usually budget for $3000 spending. We have never done the dining plan. We are quite light eaters really-sharing meals etc and having snacks. Out of this we do plan to have 3 buffet character meals and at least 2 signature dining experiences. Both kids generally get any toy they really want and I get a pandora charm or two. We hit the outlets for clothes (and tend to go a bit crazy in the kids shops like Oshkosh) anything 'big' that we buy we would rather have the insurance by buying on credit card (I bought myself an 'expensive' handbag once.) I like to go and not worry about spending-we are on holiday so if I see something we get it. I hope Thai helps you to budget!! Generally we split the money as a spend per day and just roll any leftover into the next day... Usually means we have a bit for the last Disney spring shop too!!

Happy planning

 

[Nicnic]

We used to take as much as we had all cash, even when we had the old Disney room key with charging facility we still paid cash for a lot of things as we went. We even paid our charges at the end in cash before our CC was charged.

Now with the MB's and charging everything to your room (seems easier to charge things now) i still feel we have to have cash and now we've got the Halifax Clarity card we've talked about only changing about £500 into $'s this year, we're doing a a few days out of the Disney bubble and it gives DH some money at the shops to go off and buy some stuff, even though the card is in his name is keep it!!

We will just keep our cash at home and pay it off the card when we return. We do keep track of what we're spending and 'try' not to go over!

I would say all together we try and have about $3000 to spend. We're a family of 4 with 2 girls, 1 who will buy everything Disney and the other just turning a teen and wants all the expensive clothes and makeup!

We're also on the DDP and factor about $500 for tips and oop meals. We also like our designer clothing and go enjoy a shopping spree. Oh and we also like a drink or 2 on a night time and at $8-10 a go, that soon mounts up!

Take what you can if you've not got a credit card if even a pre paid currency card. I would rather have as much as I had and not have to worry. But you do need to think about the safety issue when taking all cash.

X

 

[Elise79]

Is it too late to get a pre-paid card or do you have a fee free credit card?

Personally I wouldn't change it all into cash. If you have a CC I would use this and just take a small amount of cash. If you don't and you can get a prepaid card at a decent rate I'd get one of those and top up what you think you will spend and you can always add more online if you use one of those cards - better than ending up with lots of left over cash. Plus remember your insurance will have a limit of cash they will cover.

I would probably say $50 for fuel & tolls. Depends what TS meals you have booked and what you are likely to eat but for ones that are one credit allow $50 per adult including tip, signatures $75.