How much to save for Disney?

[nathaliabrown]

We are going in Sept. We have the free dinning. Whats the min we should save for spending. It will be my hubby, me, 10 (girl) , 3(boy) , 1(girl)

Theres been a recent change in hubbys job .... DRAMATIC. So we are having to do cheap

 

[Leleluvsdis]

DH and I just got back and we took a little over $600 and only spent about a little under $500, and that included all our counter service and snacks for 9 days. We didn't get many knick knacks just a couple things for the kitchen, and mother's day gifts. With having free dining I would say would be safe with the same amount, unless you want to get some goodies while you are there. We did not b/c we know we will be going back again.

 

[brymolmom]

Need to know how many nights you're staying to guess....

First of all - estimate your TS gratuities - go to allears menus and take approximate value for what you think might be ordered to figure out how much you NEED to take for these. For my 8 night stay I've figured we'll need about $150 for that (we're doing the Luau and grat. is included on that one - so this is for 6 TS meals - but a couple are breakfasts/lunches which keeps costs down). With a 10 year old and getting an 'adult' meal at an adult price- for sit-down places that could mean $30 or so per 'adult' in your party which makes a mean $15 per meal for tip not including the child meal - and that is for tipping on the low side and that is probably a low estimate for total cost per adult at many restaurants.

Oh and since you have a 1 year old too - I'd do mostly buffets as she will be able to eat whatever for free - no need to worry about ordering anything off the menu and paying OOP.

After that - bring some cereal in your luggage for breakfasts - and grab milk in food court with snack credits.

Share a lot of your CS meals to make them stretch farther.

Have the 3 and 10 year old ask for some spending cash for a bday gift or do chores to earn a few bucks before you leave. Or just limit them to whatever you can afford - $20 each or whatever.

Some tips for mousekeeping and ME drivers - but not too much needed there.

That's it - other than that - I wouldn't say you NEED to spend money on anything. So I'm guessing you could make it (depending on trip length) - with $300 total for your stay at WDW.

 

[nathaliabrown]

Thanks...we are going for 6 nights

 

[MinnieVanMom]

I always under estimate the tips and how many people have their hand out. First is the luggage check in at the airport person, even though we pay for our luggage, he needs a few bucks. Then the ME driver has his hand out for putting the stroller under the bus and then giving it back. Then the man who drives the golf cart to take us to our room, then the bellman who delivers our luggage, then the maid needs a tip daily, then the TS of course needs a tip, then the bellman again to pick up the luggage, the luggage check in people also want a tip. Ok, I tip a lot.

An expense I forget about is parking fees at the airport. That is usually about $75.

For just tips, I bring about $300 in $5 and singles. I use Disney gift cards for the TS tips.

 

[Darcy03231]

I would give each child a set amount for souvenirs and when its gone, that's it. One thing I did with my niece last fall was to take pictures of everything she thought she wanted in the gift shops and on the last day we were there she could review all the pictures and pick the one thing she really wanted. She ended up picking a polly pocket type Tinkerbelle doll that was $12.

There's a lot of food on the dining plan. We did the CS meal for lunch each day and the TS meal for dinner, except for one morning when we did a character breakfast. We used the snack credits for breakfast. I found by the time we had breakfast, lunch with a dessert and dinner with a dessert we we really weren't hungry in between. I did buy a few ice creams/snacks out of pocket, but we mostly ate off the dining plan.

 

[EthansMom]

Figure out how much you NEED (for tips, TS gratuities, parking, etc..). Then, determine how much $$ you could allocate for each person to spend on souvenirs. Last year, we let the kids (then 7 and 4) have $75 each... and that sometimes seemed too much.

Take a look over at the Restaurants Board to see the information about using snack credits and counter service credits wisely. You can often use snack credits to purchase items you wouldn't normally consider (say, a cinnamon roll for breakfast). And counter service credits for adults and children are all one kind of credit (at least, they weren't last fall)... so the kids aren't limited to children's meals for counter service. You could get an adult-sized meal and split it between the two younger kids. And counter service breakfasts include a juice instead of a dessert... so if you use CS credits for breakfast, you could get your meal, a bottle of water (to take for later) and a juice. Honestly, you can save a LOT of money by using your credits to the best advantage.

 

[PirateDad]

Sounds like you would need a double stroller too so you might look into a stroller share if you haven't done so already. Rental for a double in the parks is $31 a day so that's a real budget buster.

We spent around $600 for charges to our room for our recent 7 night trip with free dining, including a little over $100 for an out of pocket meal for some relatives and $200 in souvenirs. That was a lot less than I had expected. We had plenty to eat from the dining plan and the tips were not as much as I expected. Our worst expense was $300 for dog boarding (ouch).

 

[denimar]

We went through Shades of Green to make our reservations at Pop Century so we weren't allowed to do the dining plan. We're taking a little under $3,000 to pay for our trip. That includes are room. I've overestimated so we should be bringing money back home with us.