How much $$ per day...

[Kaye]

...do you budget for the parks? We are a family of 4, DD is 8 and DS
will soon be 5. They have some of their own spending money, but we
will also chip in. I've read that some budget $50/day per person. Does
This sound about right. We only have ps for CRT, but will probably eat
one sit down meal a day--no more, maybe less. Thanks.

 

[TKelly123]

That's about what I am budgeting for. I figure less than that would be scrimping and if we end up having extra money - we'll do something extra

 

[WDW2002]

This amount always seemed high to me, until I did a bit of research

Breakfast should not be more then $5 - $ 10
Lunch $10 - $15
Dinner $15 - $20 (assuming sit down, no alcohol or dessert)
Snacks $5

total for day $35 - $50.

You can of course, spend way less by bringing & eating breakfast in your room. Bringing snacks to the parks w/ you (in place of lunch or in place of snacks or both). I have always spent way less then the $50 a day per person when we have gone to Disneyland (yet to go to WDW) but that is eating the breakfast provided at the hotel, snacks for lunch and then eating dinner.

 

[KP2]

As a family of 4, we averaged $40/person per day. As meals were either at the PO Riverside foodcourt or in the parks. No off site meals. This amount did not include the overpriced bottled water.

 

[ellyn2000]

This may sound like an obsession, but I give my kids an amount of money before we leave and that's it for the trip. I've found they budget it very well since they know there will be no more given to them for the rest of the trip. I encourage them to buy very little at the early part of our vacation in case they run up on a "must have" later on. I book several PS for our trip and put that money for each PS in a labled envelope (including gratuity). I'll do an envelope each month leading up to our trip and then it's not a budget drainer when departure day arrives. I do an envelope for gas money (we drive) and housekeeping tips. Then I find it takes very little cash for the rest of the trip. Breakfast and lunch is usually moderately priced and I buy souveniers at the outlets for the most part. I don't end up having to charge up the credit card on vacation (unless I just want to).

 

[Kaye]

Great tips, Ellyn2000. I put housekeeping money in envelopes, but hadn't thought about
the rest of the trip. Luckily, my kids are not souvenir crazy--they actually enjoy the smaller toys they can carry around with them and we have collected Disney Dollars for their spending, so hopefully that won't be an issue.

I'm going to get my $$ organized starting tomorrow. Then it will only be 12 more days!!! I think I will separate the $$ out for each day.