How Much $$$ to take?

[a_hobden]

Hi my DGF (17) and me (19) will be going over to WDW for 2 weeks on april the 22nd. Everything is paid for Flights,Hotel and tickets so we dont need to worry about them but I have no idea how much to take for food shopping ETC.... Were staying onsite at POP. If anyone has any ideas on what would be enough or what they would take to cover the 2 weeks please share thanks in advance

 

[IanBond]

This must be the most asked question on here
The answer is surely how long is a piece of string!!
Depends what you want to do Ie restaurants ,take away ,counter service etc!!
To give you some idea When we last went for 2 weeks we took $300 for every day we were there and a Credit card
We stayed offsite ate in the hotel resturant every night,Sizzler or Ponderosa for Brekkies ,Parks for lunch,Bought a lot of souvies- Pins mainly!!
Only tickets we paid for out there were MVMCP A few trips to Walmart,Bought all our Christmas pressies some clothes etc
AND
we brought $1000 home with us Used CC once $38
So it all depends on what you want to do,But bear in mind just about everything is cheaper in The US than it is here..

 

[AndRu]

Length of string? Exactly!

It all depends on how much or little you want to spend. I don't know about eating at a park hotel restaurant as I've never stayed in one, but even in the parks just a basic hot dog/burger meal with a drink can be quite expensive. On the other hand, meals at one of many restaurants on International Drive / 192 are very reasonable for much better quality. Oh, and buy any sweets/snacks out of the parks simple things like peanut M&M's cost $1.50 inside a park but only 50 cents outside and the way I go through these the costs (or savings) rack up!

As for shopping, it really does depend on what you want. Prices are generally cheaper in the US than here. We bought some new CD's whilst there including Guns N Roses greatest hits, Keane, Gwen Stefani and Good Charlotte all for around for $10 each, i.e about £6/£7. You'd be hard pushed to buy them in the UK new for those prices. The same can be said about DVD prices. The difference on gameboy games is even greater, what they sell for £30 in the UK sells for $30 in the US - basically just over half the UK price! Clothes? Get over to the Florida Mall or Premium Outlets and see some really good stuff at great prices. If you're not label concious and just want some good quality clothes at even lower prices, find a Walmart (they own ASDA) who carry a great range of 'George' clothes.

You could (literally) go shopping / spending mad in Orlando. Our philosophy is go out with virtually empty suitcases, be prepared to buy another, and enough money to fill them. Lets put it this way, I won't need any new shirts for another 18 months!

 

[gilld]

Hi my DGF (17) and me (19) will be going over to WDW for 2 weeks on april the 22nd. Everything is paid for Flights,Hotel and tickets so we dont need to worry about them but I have no idea how much to take for food shopping ETC.... QUOTE]


I think really the only answer is LOTS...not because evrything is so expensive but really because it isn't!! What I mean is, because things are so cheap you'll end up buying loads.

We actually take next to no money, but use an ATM to get a small amount of cash, charge all meals outside the World to a CC and charge everything in the World to our room and then settle with a CC.

We used to use Travellers Cheques but don't bother any more.

 

[gurleym]

I suggest going to allearsnet.com there you can find menues for every restaurant and counter service place with the prices listed. Granted some of the menues may change from time to time but you will get the idea of prices. You can then get an idea of how much it will cost. Keep in mind you will not want to eat large meals for every meal we usually eat a light breakfast then eat a bigger lunch usually a table service meal (these are also cheaper at lunch), then we just grab something simple at a counter service. Oh and don't forget to plan for snacks the ice cream is great while waiting for the parades.

As far as souvies go that depends on what you like. t-shirts go for around 20, pins for pin trading start around 6.50 and up, mouse ears around 10 or so. just depends on what you are looking for. If you have a car you can go to the outlet mall to the character warehouse there is also another one can't remember the name and find items cheaper (it is merchandise that used to be in the parks, some you can still find in the parks but this is usually half the price).

 

[Goofyish]

To give you an idea of onsite food check out here:

WDW Menus

 

[pooky_uk]

This is a real toughie and I myself asked this before we went for the first time.

A great deal depends on the exchange rate too - we were lucky and got 1.86.

So, for me, hubby and DD (7) we took £2000...for 10 days in Orlando (staying in PO Riverside) and 4 nights on the Disney wonder.

Whilst we managed on the budget (about $240 a day) - half of that went on food each day and we mainly ate in the foodcourts!! - this could have been done a lot cheaper but we were on site and did not eat anywhere else apart from on Disney property!!

We stuck to our daily buddget - we knew we wouldn't be able to buy loads -which pained me greatly @ premium outlets!!!! But, hey, we were there and were having a FANTASTIC time ....adn from the outset we knew our budget restrictions and tried to stay away from temptation!!

You could spend thousands and thousands out there as yes, there are some real bargain - elctronics, designer wear etc. but on our budget those things were still in the "expensive" category though in reality they were dirt cheap!.....compared to UK prices.....I am still kicking myself for not buying the timberland boots for $49!!!!

 

[Miffy2003]

I have been to Orlando on a very tight budget ($140 per day for all food, sounviners, groceries etc for a family of 2 adults and 2 children) and we had a fantastic time and I didn't feel we "wanted" for anything.

A lot depends on how much shopping you are likely to do. It's a great idea to check out the menus listed above to give yourself an idea of what you might spend on food and then you can go from there

 

[luvtinkerbell]

Hi my DGF (17) and me (19) will be going over to WDW for 2 weeks on april the 22nd. Everything is paid for Flights,Hotel and tickets so we dont need to worry about them but I have no idea how much to take for food shopping ETC.... Were staying onsite at POP. If anyone has any ideas on what would be enough or what they would take to cover the 2 weeks please share thanks in advance

my sister and i took 300pound per week for food last time we went and spending money well thats anybodys guess as much as you want to spend back to food money look on allearsnet. dining and youll get a fair idea of how much food costs good luck

 

[tartangirl]

I can never figger out how much to take, we normally take about £600 worth of dollars but then use credit cards whereever we can until we reckon it's OK to start using up the dollars.

I am taking a different approach this year. Those wonderful people at Nationwide have a debit card that doesn't charge for taking money out abroad and thus gives a better exchange rate than you can get exchanging money. I took out one of these specifically for Florida so I'll move some ££££s in before I go and just get money out over there the same as I would in this country. With this approach I only plan in taking the dollars I have left from my last trip.

Having said that I cant help looking at the exchange rate and thinking good time to buy dollars.

 

[paulh]

we budget for fam of 4 for food and drink £100.00 ($190at todays rate we use nationwide cc better rate no comision charge) but never spend that much we are allays on the safe side we will have one big meal a day dinner or evening meal if we have a big evening meal we have a light breakfast the next day toast or dounuts with coffe when go to water parks we make sanwitches (dvc) some of our best meals can ne the cheapest cheese and ritz crackers by the pool with beers depends on what you make of it
Paulh

 

[paulh]

what happened to my countdown

 

[maureen4200040]

Hi,

I did'nt really plan a budget on our trip in 2003 but between two adults we took $1300.00, plus one hundred pounds in english money(no c/c or d/c cards). We did'nt really eat as much - as the portions were large we shared a lot of meals, and I also found a lot of the time we missed meals because we was'nt very hungry.

We brought quite a few souveniors, send postcards, brought phone cards and even went to the supermarket to buy bread rolls, ham, salad etc to put in the hotel room fridge.

When we got back to the U.K we still had all our english money plus $275.62 in dollars.

I"m going back in September for 2 wks with my 12 yr old niece, she will have at least $250.00 for her treats & souveniors. I will be taking at least $1500.00, I will take my debit card but it will only be used if we have an emergency. If I was going without a child I would'nt take my debit card i would just managed with what money i had.

Everyone's budget will be different you just need to take what money you can and manage. :thewave:

 

[carl_w]

Well I took only a small amount in dollar bills ($100) and then about $700 in travellers' cheques (they're as good as cash) for a week's stay. Used the credit card for everything else (Egg Visa) and when we got back I found I'd got a very reasonable exchange rate through them.