How much spending money?

[tjknitz]

It's me, DH, DD (7) and DS (4), we are on the dining plan and plan on bringing our own snacks for the parks. I realize we have to have spending money for tips at the restaurants, mickey ears and any other misc souvenirs. We will be there for a week - arriving Saturday Aug 29 - Sept 5th.

How much, generally, would you say is typical for spending money?

 

[nkereina]

You say money for tips so I am assuming you're on the dining plan? It's just DH & I but on our last trip, we had the dining plan and spent about $500 over the course of 5 days when we got our bill. That included about $200 in souvenirs, some tips (we did some in cash), a few alcoholic beverages, snacks, and a few QS meals that we paid for OOP since our credits were used up. Even bringing your own snacks, there are snacks in the parks that are must haves. We also like three meals a day so the regular plan usually has us come up short on credits. I'd say budget at least $100 per day and you should be good.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I try to have $150 a day with me for souvenirs and incidentals that may come up. I'd rather have too much money and go home with some left over rather than be there on a strict budget. We also have the dining plan.

(Since I save all year for WDW between the money for the trip and the spending money, I have a year to throw all of my loose change into a jar and this is what I use for tips and for leaving a little something for Mousekeeping each day. My Tip Fund is up to 80 bucks right now).

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We don't bring cash but do use gift cards to to pay off room charges. Tips will be 150 on dining plan. We have budgeted 300 for souvenirs. That includes a portrait each at haunted mansion. Two people.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I doubt that there is a "typical" answer, but we spend about $150/day on tips and other items. When we had less money, we spent less - sometimes almost nothing.

 

[Richard M Nixon]

The tone you'll get is that nobody can tell you. If you are looking for necessities (tips, perhaps a few bottles of water) then it's easy enough to calculate average dining cost and take tips from that, plus a bit of money for emergency snacks and water (seriously, buy it from the gas station). Discretionary spending is all up to you. When I was at WDW for a week, some days I spent nothing and one day I spent almost $3k, it all varies on tastes, party size, economics, etc. Perhaps it would be better to ask yourself what you'd consider "too much" and then define a maximum budget from that.

 

[wuzzy6]

The better question might be, "How much money do I want to spend on my trip?" Then, earmark that amount. If you don't spend it all, great! If you do, then you won't have been surprised!

 

[Richard M Nixon]

The better question might be, "How much money do I want to spend on my trip?" Then, earmark that amount. If you don't spend it all, great! If you do, then you won't have been surprised!

Yep, this.

 

[bdiddy]

Our family of 4 was there for a week and we had with us a $200 Disney gift card and two visa gift cards, one for $60 and one for $50 and DH and I both had $200 of cash. So we had a total of just over $500 and we came home with less than $100 in cash between the two of us.

 

[kangamangus]

Family of 8 and we budget about 1,000 for the week for souvenirs. We have tips in a different budget category.

 

[SM101]

There's just me and my daughter, and I typically budget about $150 per day if on dining plan; add another $150 if we are not. It covers TS tips; wine/cocktails for me....we also usually do afternoon tea at GF one day, maybe both go get pedicures another day, some souvenirs (very limited) and other treats.

That generally takes me above and beyond what we actually spend, which is why I don't put it on Disney gift cards. However, I'd rather have the money there than charging up my CC with extras and have to pay that down later.

On the balance, we're frugal when at home. But we take a couple of vacations a year (no, not all at Disney and most are not nearly that expensive) and like to enjoy ourselves then.

 

[BostonJP]

I've always planned for $250 a day (family of five) which includes souvenirs and all meals. If I was on the dining plan I would probably budget a little less.

 

[DisneyFive]

Believe it or not, we came away from our very first WDW trip spending very, very little. There are caveats to that though.

• We had the free dining offer. (which we've had every year, and wouldn't go without it to be honest)
• We pre-ordered Garden Grocer for water, fruit, snacks, breakfast stuff (about $125 worth)
• We had to pay the tips of course (about $200 total) for the TS meals, but I had Disney gift cards I had already purchases to cover that.

Besides that, each of the three kids had about $25 to spend on a souvenir, and I think I spent another $35 on other miscellaneous stuff. So out of pocket cash our first trip was only about $110 total believe it or not.

I couldn't believe it when we got home. The whole trip felt like one giant all inclusive vacation (and it was) We don't go to Disney to spend money, but rather make memories, enjoy ourselves with the rides, attractions, atmosphere, pools, and there is plenty of food on the dining plan for us.

To be honest, our next three WDW trips went about the same. (except for adding MNSSHP in 2013. That added about $350 while there)

Dan

 

[eyehartdisney]

I spent about 100 bucks a day without the dining plan per person. Sit down meal was breakfast.

 

[avic77]

What dining plan do you have?
Quick service you will not need to tip.
Calculate your tips for your sit down restaurants, put that in its own category.
The dining plan snacks were always enough for us along with the meals, actually more then we needed. I carried a couple bottles of water in the stroller but you can get free cups of water in the parks too.
After that I would say carry about $50 a day, most days you probably wont even touch it. Give the little one a firm budget. 4 is a perfect age to teach a child this lesson. Most souvenirs end up in the goodwill bin eventually. Dont go crazy the memories will last much longer then the pluto stuffed animal!

 

[caroline1851]

I don't spend a whole lot on souvenirs, etc.....DS13 and I went in June for 5 days and we spent $500 and that included all of our food. He just got one of those coin case things and collected all fo the pressed coins. Perfect cheap souvenir. We could've spent even less if I didn't blow $85 on a super overpriced lunch at Crystal Palace.

 

[kelmcg]

We usually go with the dining plan also, plan $20-30 per sit down meal for tips. Then set a budget with your kids. Our budget was usually 1 hat, 1 shirt and $50 spending money per kid for the week. So less than $100 per kid on souvenirs, is what we would go with. Also, find small light up toys at the Disney Store before your trip and hide them in the luggage......"Tinkerbell" can leave surprises for the kids each night!

If you are flying in, you can order food through Garden Grocer. We would always order a case of water so we wouldn't have to spend a ton of money on bottled water. We would order cereal, milk, spoons, bowls, juices, etc......the kids would eat breakfast in the room as we got ready for the day. This way they weren't "starving" the moment we got into the park. DH and I would grab granola bars and juice as we left the room and eat it on the way to the park. Since we would eat breakfast in the room we wouldn't waste our dining plan snacks on breakfast items. They were used on cupcakes, popcorn, Dole Whips, etc......we also didn't use snack credits on bottled water because we had bought a case and we would bring a few into the parks with us every day.

 

[GrumpyDad1974]

Considering your circumstances and our spending habits (because I don't know yours)... $400. This would include tips, anything not covered on DP, very few souvenirs (we just don't buy them) an occasional alcoholic drink and meals during travel to/from Florida. Despite what my parents told me my whole childhood... Disney is an affordable vacation for us.

 

[glohoffman]

I am not including tips in this..because we had that in a separate category last trip. My DD's were 5 and turning 3 on the trip. They each had $75 giftcards to spend. We packed our own snacks and water were on the dining plan...I honestly never bought a snack that wasn't on the dining plan...and we will had credits left over. My husband and I bought a blanket as our souvenir, I think it was &80. So total for souvenirs we spent $230 on a 5 day vacation. We never felt we were depriving ourselves, and the girls got everything they "had to have". We were too busy to be shopping all the time! This trip (in two weeks!) we plan to go on the same amount...maybe closer to $275 because we will be there for a couple days longer.