How much spending do you take?

[scnrc00]

I am trying to plan for a last minute trip to WDW for September. We will be there from Aug.31-Sept.5. We are a family of 4, DH, myself, DD8 and DD12. We are trying to figure out how much money we should take for our trip. How much money do you usually take for a 5-6 day trip?


Added this down below but thought I would add it here too.
Well our room, tickets, and gas is already taken care of. And we are taking drinks, snacks and breakfast stuff. We won't eat a lot during the day due to heat and not being big eaters so one big meal in evening (counter service). And the girls have their own spending money saved up already ($50 ea) so we are just trying to figure out basic spending and food money. We were thinking $800 does that sound like it will work? We aren't big on souvenirs either but might buy a thing or two.

 

[Plum85]

I'm not sure as I don't travel with children but I'd take $1500-2000. I'm taking $4000 for a 16 night trip for two adults and most park tickets are paid for. It depends where you want to eat, how many activities you want to do etc

 

[Gorechick]

I'm taking $1500 spending money for our family. That's specifically for frivolous Disney souvenirs.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

Im taking $2000 and have some set aside already above that for the girls BBB trip

 

[Ennazus8810]

All depends on how much you plan on buying souvenir wise. We are taking about $1,200 for our family of 4 for 9 days. Last time we spent about 600.00 for 8 days. The girls don't eat much, and we are taking snacks and drink boxes with us. We also go 1-2 times a year, so we don't buy much in the way of souvenirs.

 

[Keli]

Dh and I won't spend more than $400 or so on our eight day trip but we're not big eaters and we tend to eat out only once a day when at Disney (usually not in the parks but we do snack a lot in the parks) we also eat breakfast and a dinner or two in the condo (wyndham bonnet creek) and all that keeps our costs down. But it's a lot harder to save money on tickets!

 

[woodies05]

My family are in Anaheim for 15 days and got Disney and universal and knotts berry and legoland planned and I thought $4500 spending was going to be tight?

 

[pigletto]

What does spending money include? I'd have a way different answer if it is supposed to cover all food than I would if it's just for souvenirs, tips and extras.

For example we're taking 2200 for 11 days. This is for 5 people.
It will cover, rental car, tank of gas, tips at Disney, upgrade on a 2 day ticket to a 7 day ticket for dd's friend (we all have AP's), all food at Universal for 2.5 days, tolls, 100 dollars worth of drinks/snacks/breakfast items for the room, 100 spending money for my 8 year old (dd and her friend have their own), and 400 to pay off the room when we check out of Universal.

I have estimated generously on all items and that should leave 400-500 left over for any extra souvenir items. I really think it will be more than enough and we've budgeted similarly in the past and come home with extra.

ETA) We've also gone to Disney for 9 days and used the DDP and Magical Express and had tickets and I think that trip we spent 250 on tips, Maybe 100 on breakfast items for the room, and gave each of the kids 100. So maybe 600 all in for 8 or 9 days.

 

[HayGan]

It all depends on what you call spending money. If you are simply talking about money for souvineers and misc. stuff then we never spend more than $500 on that stuff. If you are trying to include park tickets and food in that then it is obviously significantly more. The park ticket figure is easy to figure out but the food is different. For us we mostly buy groceries and eat at very few sit-down restaurants (in or out of the parks) so we usually budget $75 a day (family of 4 incl. 2 pre-teen boys) but know that we likely won't spend all of it.

 

[luvmylatte]

I have gone many times with my children and we (I) only take about 700.00 in "spending money". We get the free dining plan and we don't drive( we fly and stay at WDW). I only have a few souveniers to buy like Christmas balls and pens. Most of the stuff we buy is kid oriented but even my children know there is a budget and that we have to be able to get it home on the plane. so that curbs spending habits. I usually plan about paying about 20.00 for Brkfst....the one daily meal we pay for and then any alcohol I might have with dinner. I also don't buy anything souvenier wise till about 3 days in. That way I have had time to get over the initial feeling of "gotta have it". Hope this helps.

 

[woodies05]

Oh Wow, All of our trip is paid for apart from Knotts Berry and Legoland entry and Car hire... and we have free Breakfast in the hotel and Dinner also.
I'm starting to think $4000 maybe a little over kill to have saved then just as spending money?
What do you guys think?

Regards
Brendan

 

[scnrc00]

Well our room, tickets, and gas is already taken care of. And we are taking drinks, snacks and breakfast stuff. We won't eat a lot during the day due to heat and not being big eaters so one big meal in evening (counter service). And the girls have their own spending money saved up already ($50 ea) so we are just trying to figure out basic spending and food money. We were thinking $800 does that sound like it will work? We aren't big on souvenirs either but might buy a thing or two.

 

[VeeHam]

We are going for 6 nights and I am planning on $500 for food and souvenirs. This was a quickly planned budget trip. We have free breakfast at our hotel and will bring snacks and water to drink. We are not big souvenir people either so maybe $80 for that. My kids also have a bit of money saved that they may want to spend. We'll be doing counter service dining and dining offsite as well.
I think $4000 is way plenty. Have a trip.

 

[kirstenb1]

Gosh, I'm cheap. DH and I each carry 100.00 cash, and that's it. We charge everything we can, because we hate to carry cash. The cash is mainly spent on kiosk type stuff like ice cream or sodas. If we need more, we just hit an ATM.

 

[julluvsdisney]

Like many have already said it depends on what you mean as spending money. For us we are driving and spending 9 nights on site. for gas we will use our shell card . We have free dining so food is all set for the most part. I am budgeting 120 for tips. I know we will spend a little more for drinks or extra snacks. Each child has 75-100. My DH and I will spend about 100-150. so Id say we are bringing about 500.

 

[woodies05]

Wow thanks for the heads up, and maybe any tips you could think of for newbies traveling over seas with 3 kids would be appreciated.
btw the boys are 11 8 and 2

Regards
Brendan

 

[canadiankitten]

I am so glad that someone posted this!!! It's great to have a guideline as to how much to bring with you!

 

[wdwmom0f3]

We normally give the kids $100. or so each for souviners, and they tend to go over.

If on the dining plan I don't carry as much, but if not I budget about $150. - $200 or so a day for food. (and hope to get by cheaper)

I also spend about $200. on different items that we may want.

If there is something special that we know we want to try I set aside money for that too.

So, I would normally take about $2000. with us, or maybe half that and put the rest on our debit card because I hate carrying so much cash. We tend to always go for 8 or 9 nights to give you a better idea of how I try to stretch it.

 

[Beezle2]

I am taking 2 ten year olds in Oct for 8 days and after everything is paid for I will be taking about $300 for spending money. This is seperate from food, planned activites, etc. They will have their own spending money and I am happy with a new tee or something for myself so it should be plenty.

 

[Minnie-Mickey]

DD and I spent aprox. $250 during a 5 night stay in July. We bought nothing to take home. Keep the weather in mind. We spent most of the money on snacks and drinks as the weather was so hot. We did not eat full meals very often and I carried two water bottles full of cold water at the start of the day. Biggest expense frozen lemonade and an occasional water (my new water bottles for the trip leaked so they were just for the first half of the day)