How much spending money should I bring?

[smhwalker2011]

we're the kind of people who will go around the world (epcot) and have to buy at least one thing aha. usually a couple sweaters, some mugs. and the occasional haul of disney snacks LOL.

going with 2 teens, 1 adult, 1 senior.

how much spending money should we have with us for the week? 6 nights, 7 days.

 

[Holeshot1982]

A grand and a credit card for back up! LOL

 

[mkla2015]

Sweaters- $40-60
Mugs- $10-20
Snacks- $3-10

Just depends on how much you plan on buying.

In March, we did a big trip and didn't limit the kids. DD5, DS3, DH, and myself over 9 days spent around $600 including a trip to BBB and gifts for friends & family. No oop snacks though since we were on the dining plan.

 

[agavegirl1]

Rack up a bunch of Disney VISA points and use those. It makes it feel like you are getting everything free. No, really, use a Disney Visa for routine purchases over time and pay it off without incurring interest. Then, make the balance your budget for extras.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I usually try to bring a grand and budget out how much per day in the parks. If I know I'll be spending a little more, like say at Epcot (Mouse Gears is my catnip) I'll bring a little more that day, but it's generally 200 bucks a day for a five night/6 day trip. I don't buy on the last day if I can help it, but since I never use up the allotted 200 a day I always have extra cash in case I see something I *really* want. And I save my change all year round and usually wind up with enough cash to use for tipping servers and the Mousekeepers every day so it doesn't come out of my 'Fun Fund.' I also have the Dining Plan so my meals are already paid for. The spending money is strictly for stuff I want.

I don't have credit cards. Got rid of them years ago. They were too easy to use, especially in places like WDW.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We are two adults and we bring 200 for tips (non V/A trip) on gift cards by charging to room and settling later. And 400 hundred cash for sundries of gifts and such. We never spend it all. We use mostly gift cards. The cash usually stays in the safe and we magic band it all.

 

[grecorj]

With 4 people you could easily spend $60-$80 on drinks/snacks in one full day at a park, esp. if it is hot. Those Mickey Bars add up!

Souvenirs: some days we will spend $0, others we will spend spend spend. Hard to gauge. One of my teen sons will spend every nickel he can get his hands on right away -- his brother will wait wait wait and have $$ to spend on Day 7. Lol. But stuff is pricey in the parks. A tee-shirt can be $30.

Will you be giving the teens an allowance? Or yourself lol. We've tried to do this by thinking of most $ we'd like kids to spend over course of trip and then only giving them 1/2 up front -- so when they have $0 on day 3 we can give them a little extra and everyone is happy.

 

[Kaimo]

we're the kind of people who will go around the world (epcot) and have to buy at least one thing aha. usually a couple sweaters, some mugs. and the occasional haul of disney snacks LOL.

going with 2 teens, 1 adult, 1 senior.

how much spending money should we have with us for the week? 6 nights, 7 days.

We are going for 6 days in Nov/Dec and I am planning on spending $1,000 (hopefully actual will be less) on misc. Wife and I may get a shirt or sweatshirt from a park or two and 2 DD's (11/12) will want various things. i don't see spending it all...... but want to budget for it just the same.
I think if you realistically set aside $100 day for a family of 4 that is probably a good starting point. But knowing everyone's tastes vary.... lol

 

[PSUGuy]

We go during Food&Wine and that changes things for the 2 of us. We bring 6 to 8 hundred in cash, some smaller bills for tips, then we pre load a Disney Gift card which comes on a wrist band with another $500 for the food kiosks. The three ADRs for dinner we have we just use a credit card. We usually come back with some cash and we've got a few bucks on the gift card from last Oct. though late in our 9 day stay we often have to put some more cash on the gift card.

Bill From PA

 

[MainMom]

Double whatever you think is a good amount.

 

[SaraJR]

my friend says 100$ a day

 

[Jenny Sanders]

We are on the dining plan, so I budget extra money for items not covered on the plan, like alcohol. Then, I have a separate account for souvenirs. I also have a few Starbucks gift cards, because I refuse to use a snack credit to buy a coffee. That being said, it's an insane amount...Double whatever you are planning.

 

[TandLMommy28]

Add up what you think you will spend and then double it. At the very worst, you spend it all. If you don't, you take home the extra.
We limit our kids to $100 each per trip. Hubby and I rarely spend $100 between us. I hate clutter so I'm not one to buy souvenirs most of the time. But there's always little things that pop up. And it's good to plan for emergencies. My son got an ear infection on our trip and we almost had to have the doctors on call people come out and that would've been somewhere in the range of $400 (they said insurance would reimburse us but we had to pay it upfront). We ended up getting a hold of our own pediatrician and avoiding it... but you never know what might happen. It's good to bring extra money for the unplanned!

 

[pktbMouse]

work out how much you want to spend per day then times it by 5 and you still wont be even close..LOL

 

[itchin2go]

(Mouse Gears is my catnip)

I am with you!

 

[msmama]

I agree with whatever number you come up with - double it. Then, if you're lucky, you come home with something.

 

[ebonyeyes]

WOW! So glad I stumbled upon this thread. We are a family of four DD13, DS13, DH& I. Haven't decided if we will purchase the
DDP or not. We like the convenience of meals being paid in advance BUT think we could eat for less... Ours is a 10 day trip in August. We were thinking $2k for meals and "stuff" if we opt out of the dining plan. Probably half that if we choose to purchase the dining plan. I am hoping this will be good...

 

[beck00]

For our May 2014 trip (6 days/5 nights) we brought a little over $600 in Dis gift cards, 2 full tubes of quarters and pennies (for penny presses and emergency laundry), and our debit cards. We had the dining plan and charged a few misc items in parks to bands/room. Was charged less than $150 upon check-out, and came back with almost $200 in cards. We really didn't hold back, but DD(6) didn't really want anything...crazy, I know!!!

 

[yodamom]

One million dollars

 

[vanyel]

I don't buy many souvenirs - I always want lots but I discovered a few years back that things that I had to have while I was there usually ended up not mattering too much after I got home so I cut back. I usually buy a mug and maybe a t-shirt and that's about it. My office staff started something a few years ago - we bring back postcards instead of souvenirs for the office because it would be too much to buy everyone something. Works for us except this will be the 3rd trip in 4 years so they might not want more Disney postcards .