How much spending $$ for 1 adult in WDW

[MizlurksaLot]

Last time I went to Disney, it was a totally last minute trip. I had about 240 dollars when I went down, and my mom put about $60 dollars that I had left behind in my bank account so I could get it out while I was there. Basically, I wasn't able to do much that cost any $$ except eat. Even then, it wasn't what I'd call "great food" - breakfast was whatever was cheapest, usually ice cream, or a fruit cup, lunch was often a pack of crackers (brought from home) and dinner was usually pizza (sometimes fresh, sometimes left over).

Well, this time, I've given myself eight months to plan. I've got four months to go, and I'm sitting down to figure out my funds. I was just wondering what all of you would say is a good amount of money for 1 adult to really have a good time (food included), and bring back a few souvenirs for themselves and 4 other adults and a one year old (she'll probably get the most stuff )

We have UPHs for 8 days. We'll be there for 10 days, the last two days we're spending at US/IOA.

 

[MomofKatie]

$100 per day.

 

[MizlurksaLot]

that's $68.75 per pay check - not too bad, I can do that

 

[TonyS20]

I would check out the menus and see which restaurants work best for you. Go to http://allearsnet.com and see. Do you want to do character meals? Sit down? Counter service? 3 meals a day?

For a pretty rough estimate on food, I would say $10 for breakfast, $15 for lunch and $25 for dinner. I would include $10 for snacks and extras. Add more to this to include alcohol or dessert to your meals.

As for souvenirs, we spend $40 on my parents, $20 on my brother and $10-15 on each niece/nephew. We spend about $100 on ourselves. Therefore, we budget about $250 for souvenirs. That will be a personal thing you will need to evaluate.

Good luck!

 

[Taja]

It really depends on how you define "a good time"! Once you do that, you can develop your budget.

I'm doing a low-cost WDW trip in September and am budgeting $50 per day for food. I rarely need that much, but I'm meeting someone from another site and we have 3 PSs booked, which average $30 each. I know in the heat I'll purchase at least 2 or 3 bottles of water (taking one in with me in the morning, and picking another one up if I return to the room in the afternoon). I'm also budgeting $25 for food and incidentals on each travel day, although I rarely spend that much.

The $100 a day suggested by MomofKatie sounds like a fairly sensible amount. Enough to buy souveniers for yourself and special people, without going into debt!

Enjoy your planning!


__________________
Taja

 

[beansmom]

I have allowed $500 for food for dd and me for 7 days...I had bypass surgery so we would basically be sharing most everything. I even planned Boma's and Jiko's into that...not really cheap but gotta do it.

I think if you eat mostly counter service, $500 would be plenty, depending on how posh your souvenirs were.

 

[MizlurksaLot]

I do have a few meal vouchers, so I can take a little out for food. By the way, I have a question about the breakfast vouchers - I know you can use them for some of the character breakfasts (not sure if we'll be doing one yet, but we might), but what about the down payment? If we use a voucher to pay, will we get our down payment back? Will it be automatic or will we have to ask for it?

As for souvenirs, I probably won't go too crazy, except for gifts for my niece. Her 1st birthday is a few days after I'll get back, so a lot of her birthday gifts will probably come from Disney World