How much spending money do you bring?

[kevschickee]

We are a family of 4 and have the reg dining plan so we will only have to pay for 1 meal a day for each of us. We won't be renting a car and only need a cab for our trip to seaworld. I have a round about figure but I wanted to see what everyone else did. So how much do you bring?

 

[sskem96]

We don't get the dining plan, and we always figure $100/day, so I think that would be more than enough for you since you're only paying for 1 meal/day and we generally get 1 or 2 meals and maybe a snack of some sort. We have breakfast and snacks in the room.

Of course, it will depend on your souvenier spending habits too. I usually take $1000 for a week just to be on the safe side, but always come home with at least a couple hundred dollars left over.

 

[kldmom2000]

We generally bring $1000 to be safe as well... our trips usually range from 5-7 nights. When we do the 5 nights, we usually come home with $$$.... we have the DDP and are using ME and not venturing off Disney property

 

[mjkacmom]

We never had to buy food OOP with the dining plan, and my parents, who weren't on the plan, actually split our cs with us. We used garden grocer for snacks and breakfast, but really could've used just our snack credits, which we had 13 left on our last day! I think we spent about $300 in cash for the week.

 

[Macduffy]

There are four of us (me, DH, DS3 and DS 20 months). I bugeted $230 for "extra meals" - we are going for Free Dining so this is b'fast (mostly just for DH and baby as DS and I don't like b'fast). and a couple extra TS meals.

I budgeted $15/a day per person for souveniers (I guess that's the average) so that's $420

My guess is that it will be MUCH more. We'll see....

 

[mom2faith]

We are a family of 3, and we budget like this:

Tips - go on to All Ears and you can find out the average cost of the meals and you can budget your tips. Also, we budget for Mousekeeping.

Other - we plan and budget for (1) ride photo, (3) refillable mugs, etc

Other plans - This year we are planning and have budgetted for Characters in Flight, My Mini Cake Surprise, Pirates League Makeover for DD, etc

Daily Budget - After all that is accounted for, we then have $50/day for extras. Last year, we did not spend this much, but it was nice to have and know we had enough.

We only bring cash and travellers cheques and do not use credit cards, that way we do not go over budget while we are there.

 

[Mama to Three]

I bugeted in $100 a day for us. We are planning to eat breakfast each morning at the condo, pack lunches for the parks, and eat most suppers at the condo as well. We are a family of 5 so I'm thinking that will over snacks, souvies, and hopefully have some left over. We also have $100 Disney gift card and will be getting a gift card on my DD's birthday too which will be nice.

 

[mom2faith]

Oh - another note. Last year I planned for the extra meal a day, and this year I am not.

We left last year with 6 CS credits and we bought a bunch of snacks on our last night just to use all our snack credits. The portions are HUGE!!! We shared CS most of the time.

This year, the only meals outside of the DDP are - oatmeal packets for me (I do not like a big breakfast and DD and DH can share one) and I am going to La Nouba, and while I am there, DD and DH are going to Planet Hollywood. Since we get the Planet Hollywood Coupon with our MYW package, it will cost DH less than $20 to take DD there.

You will have enough food, I am sure of it!!!

Amy

 

[kalc12345]

We won't be bringing a whole lot of extra cash. We are on the dining plan so our meals are covered. We are driving down so I am going to bring extra snacks and water with us. We go to Disney a lot so we don't buy souviners. We will only need extra money for tips and gas.

 

[WantToGoNow]

We will be going for 9 days and I plan to have $1,000 in addition to the gas/hotels on the way there/back. That gives us $100 a day plus a little extra for travelling (rest areas, gas stations, etc). My kids (8 and 5) will have their own souvenir money that they are saving but I will buy them things as well. It's better to have extra than not enough.

 

[JoshChristineplus3]

We usually budget about 200 a day for the family of 5 but weve never used the dining plan. Also, it got a bit pricier when DH and I went alone a few years ago for 2 weeks and um...consumed a lot more adult beverages to the tune of 8-9 dollars per drink hehe
If you are on the dining plan etc I'd say 100 a day would be more than enough and give you some for souvenirs etc as well.

 

[taitai]

We never bring cash with us. Whatever is in our wallet when we get to the airport. EVERYTHING goes on plastic. We usually can manage to scrounge a couple bucks to tip the porters but that is it.

In terms of budgeting, we are very frugal so we don't really spend anything while there but for food. We are absolutely NOT souvenir people so there is no danger of us going wild on tshirts and stuff.

Our system works for us.

 

[kaismahma]

Other - we plan and budget for (1) ride photo, (3) refillable mugs, etc

Other plans - This year we are planning and have budgetted for Characters in Flight, My Mini Cake Surprise, Pirates League Makeover for DD, etc

.

Mom2faith or anyone else. Can you tell me what the ride photo is and do they do this on all the rides? What is the Mini Cake Surprise?
Thanks!

 

[momminnie]

I'm gonna take breakfast foods and snacks also. My DS10 will have his own souvie money so hope most of that is taken care of. So I think $100 a day for the 3 of us will be plenty.(I hope)We will be on vacation for 9 days.

 

[gr8nurs1271]

This trip is a first for three of us, two of us will be celebrating birthdays and it will be our last family vacation before our girls go to college. We're not having a budget! If my babies want a $40 sweatshirt, I'm getting it for them!

I know it's crazy but I may never get to Disney again! Tell me I'm not crazy!

Colleen

 

[Madzac]

It really depends on what you want. I allow about 75 dollars total per child for the trip which usually allows them each a shirt and a couple stuffed toys and maybe one more thing.

Just wanted to say it is unlikely with the regular dining plan that you will need to buy extra food, especially with kids your ages. The dining plan is so much food! And you can use a snack credit for many breakfast things! We were often too full to really buy snacks. Also, we also bring some poptarts and otehr easy bfast foods to have in the room.

 

[Macduffy]

This trip is a first for three of us, two of us will be celebrating birthdays and it will be our last family vacation before our girls go to college. We're not having a budget! If my babies want a $40 sweatshirt, I'm getting it for them!

I know it's crazy but I may never get to Disney again! Tell me I'm not crazy!

Colleen

OMG you are NOT crazy!!!! If your girls are anything like me you'll be doing Disney with them again before you know it! When I went to University I went through that *stage* where I was better then, well, everything LOL, but now I frequently drag my mother all over the North America to do mother/daughter/grandkids stuff.

 

[KimberlyE]

I can add one tip to save you money - buy shirts, toys and some souvenirs on-line at the Disney Store Outlet. (I hope that's okay to post.) I have a present each day for my little guy. He can explore the gift shops and we've told him that Mickey will send him a great gift each evening when we come back from the park. He's only 4 so I purchased $20 in Disney dollars and am handing them out as rewards for good behavior/chores. He will have those to spend but that's all.

We're also on the Deluxe Dining Plan so I think we'll have too much food as well. We may save our snack credits and load up at DTD's Goofy shop for treats to take home.

 

[monorailsilver]

I brought $1300 with us last August. It was for the 5 of us-dh, me & our 3 kids-7, 4 & 2.

I spent between $300-$400 on souvies. We came home with about $200 & the rest was food including Chef Mickeys, WCC & Ohana's.

 

[pixidust princess]

We are traveling on the regular dining plan. I have $100.00 a day budgeted for general spending money. This includes the day we leave the house and our drive home. I also will have $100.00 for tips for TS meals, gas and lodging money, and will bring water and breakfast food from home. I am hoping to come home with some money, but want to go prepared. We don't buy a lot of souveniers, but I plan to start some Christmas shopping while there.