How much will we spend while ON our trip?

[Aflyingbuttress]

We had a medical emergency last week and now we're faced with paying a hefty ambulance and hospital bill. We leave for our trip in a little over a month and now I am concerned with having enough money to pay for our incidentals while at the park. I was hoping some experts could give me an idea of how much I should anticipate spending, realistically? Meaning, eating normally and not counting every dollar.

We're traveling Oct 29-Nov 6. So 8 nights, 9 days (our inbound flight lands late on day 1 and the outbound leaves early on day 9), so truly 7 days in the parks. Our hotel, park tickets (without park hopper), and flights are already fully paid for. We're using the Magical Express for transportation to and from the airport. We do not have a dining plan and it will be me, my husband, and our 4 year old.

Any thoughts? I know it's hard to estimate. I was imagining we would need at least $1500. Am I on target? Can we do it for less or will it be way more?

 

[ellie05]

There are too many variables. How many ADRs do you have and where ? Do you eat dessert and app? Do you drink alchol? How much souvenirs do you want ?

 

[Marionnette]

We had a medical emergency last week and now we're faced with paying a hefty ambulance and hospital bill. We leave for our trip in a little over a month and now I am concerned with having enough money to pay for our incidentals while at the park. I was hoping some experts could give me an idea of how much I should anticipate spending, realistically? Meaning, eating normally and not counting every dollar.

We're traveling Oct 29-Nov 6. So 8 nights, 9 days (our inbound flight lands late on day 1 and the outbound leaves early on day 9), so truly 7 days in the parks. Our hotel, park tickets (without park hopper), and flights are already fully paid for. We're using the Magical Express for transportation to and from the airport. We do not have a dining plan and it will be me, my husband, and our 4 year old.

Any thoughts? I know it's hard to estimate. I was imagining we would need at least $1500. Am I on target? Can we do it for less or will it be way more?

Only taking food into consideration, $1500 is more than enough for 2 adults and one pre-schooler staying 8 nights as long as you're not doing signature dining or character buffets multiple times per day. I budget $200/night for 2 adults, but we like wine with our meals, enjoy a cocktail every once in a while and do at least one table service meal per day.

If you think that you will be purchasing a lot of souvenirs, you might want to reconsider the budget. It will be the easiest one to control. Do your shopping on the last day, when you will have a good idea how much money you have remaining.

Some budget items that you may have not considered:

• Tips - Redcaps at the airport or the RAC desk at the resort, Magic Express driver, housekeeping, servers, bellhops
• Meals in the airport or on the plane - airport prices can be just as bad as the prices in Disney and airlines generally offer (maybe) a complimentary beverage and cookies/pretzels during the flight
  
• Baggage fees - if not pre-paid or if your bag ends up overweight
• Transportation to/from home airport - parking your car at the airport? getting a shuttle? bumming a ride with a friend/neighbor?
• Sales Tax - 6.5% for most purchases in Disney World, including food

 

[kymom99]

I think $1500 is more than enough. A lit depends on the kind of eaters you are but you certainly wouldn't starve on $1000 for food

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

We're not souvenir people. I could see us maybe getting a trinket for ourselves. For example, I remember being at disney when I was little and getting a couple of the little disney figurines that are glued to a piece of paper. I'd probably buy one of those. My husband will probably get a mug. My daughter will get at least a few presents but not much else.

We love to try new food so I anticipate spending money on that, but not necessarily big meals. We chose this week to go to F&W. We might have a couple of drinks, but we're not big drinkers. I was planning to do a couple of character meals but certainly not daily. We're probably more likely to graze all day than sit down to big meals.

I did think about tips generally bit that helps to see it laid out like that.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

So, maybe we will be ok. I was thinking about canceling our trip because I got so worried about it. But since it's mostly paid off we will probably be ok.

 

[ellie05]

We're not souvenir people. I could see us maybe getting a trinket for ourselves. For example, I remember being at disney when I was little and getting a couple of the little disney figurines that are glued to a piece of paper. I'd probably buy one of those. My husband will probably get a mug. My daughter will get at least a few presents but not much else.

We love to try new food so I anticipate spending money on that, but not necessarily big meals. We chose this week to go to F&W. We might have a couple of drinks, but we're not big drinkers. I was planning to do a couple of character meals but certainly not daily. We're probably more likely to graze all day than sit down to big meals.

I did think about tips generally bit that helps to see it laid out like that.

If you were planning to do character meals you should already have reservations. I think you can easily spend more at the F&W booths that sitting for a CS meal. Most food prices at the booths are $4-5 per food item and $8-12 per drink (it is small sample size portions). If you are not doing TS for every meal you should be fine. I think most people under estimate the price of souvenirs. With just the few things for your daughter and yourself you are talking around $200. Maybe go to the to the Disney shopping App and look at the prices. That would leave you with $185 per day for food during your trip, which should be enough as long as you are not doing character buffets.

Consider ordering water and maybe some snacks in advance bottled water is $3 per bottle at WDW.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

I mean, I have about 50 reservations right now because I couldn't decide. LOL I'm not planning to eat at all of them. We will probably do crystal palace, tusker house, and BOG lunch. I was going to do CRT but we cancelled it.

Is F&W $8-$12 for alcoholic drinks? We will probably be focused on the food part and not the wine part. I'm fine with drinking water. If we do have a glass of wine it will probably be just one.

I'm imagining Disney souvenirs will be expensive. Thats a good idea to look at the shopping app. I hadnt thought of that.

 

[Marionnette]

I mean, I have about 50 reservations right now because I couldn't decide. LOL I'm not planning to eat at all of them. We will probably do crystal palace, tusker house, and BOG lunch. I was going to do CRT but we cancelled it.

Is F&W $8-$12 for alcoholic drinks? We will probably be focused on the food part and not the wine part. I'm fine with drinking water. If we do have a glass of wine it will probably be just one.

I'm imagining Disney souvenirs will be expensive. Thats a good idea to look at the shopping app. I hadnt thought of that.

Disneyfoodblog .com has a complete list of the foods and beverages available at each kiosk, as well as the prices. Yes, alcoholic beverages can be $8-$12 each, but that would be for mixed drinks and beer/wine flights. Most wine and beer offerings are $4-$8, at most.

 

[ellie05]

I mean, I have about 50 reservations right now because I couldn't decide. LOL I'm not planning to eat at all of them. We will probably do crystal palace, tusker house, and BOG lunch. I was going to do CRT but we cancelled it.

Is F&W $8-$12 for alcoholic drinks? We will probably be focused on the food part and not the wine part. I'm fine with drinking water. If we do have a glass of wine it will probably be just one.

I'm imagining Disney souvenirs will be expensive. Thats a good idea to look at the shopping app. I hadnt thought of that.

Yes it is $8-12 per alcoholic drink. I think the best thing to ease your mind is go take a look at the F&W booth prices and kind of make a rough list of what you are interested in. I would also come down with the final list of restaurants and take a look at their menus. You should come up with a really good idea as to how much you will need. I would also contact garden grocer and order a case of water and maybe a few snacks you can take with you into the parks specially since you are doing the character dinning since that will eat a good portion of your $185 daily budget. Of course that $185 doesn't include the traveling days. Looking at the shop app will also give you a good idea of souvenir spending. I think $1500 is totally doable, but some pre planning will be needed to stay within the budget.

 

[momto4obkids]

If you haven't already, take a look at www.distripplanner.com
It's not exact, but it will give you a good estimate of what your meals will cost.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

Yes it is $8-12 per alcoholic drink. I think the best thing to ease your mind is go take a look at the F&W booth prices and kind of make a rough list of what you are interested in. I would also come down with the final list of restaurants and take a look at their menus. You should come up with a really good idea as to how much you will need. I would also contact garden grocer and order a case of water and maybe a few snacks you can take with you into the parks specially since you are doing the character dinning since that will eat a good portion of your $185 daily budget. Of course that $185 doesn't include the traveling days. Looking at the shop app will also give you a good idea of souvenir spending. I think $1500 is totally doable, but some pre planning will be needed to stay within the budget.

That is a great suggestion.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

If you haven't already, take a look at www.distripplanner.com
It's not exact, but it will give you a good estimate of what your meals will cost.

This is an excellent tool! Thank you. I had no idea it existed.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Yes it is $8-12 per alcoholic drink. I think the best thing to ease your mind is go take a look at the F&W booth prices and kind of make a rough list of what you are interested in. I would also come down with the final list of restaurants and take a look at their menus. You should come up with a really good idea as to how much you will need. I would also contact garden grocer and order a case of water and maybe a few snacks you can take with you into the parks specially since you are doing the character dinning since that will eat a good portion of your $185 daily budget. Of course that $185 doesn't include the traveling days. Looking at the shop app will also give you a good idea of souvenir spending. I think $1500 is totally doable, but some pre planning will be needed to stay within the budget.

Or if you have Amazon Prime, you can ship an order to the resorts. Water, snacks, etc.

We were just there, for 2 nights/1 day. There were 4 of us (1 infant, my almost 13 year old son, my 23 year old daughter and myself); DD paid for most of her stuff on her own. I spent (not including park ticket or hotel or gas as we drove) $270.

 

[Maxpowers]

Last time I was there with the whole family (2 adults 2 kids (1 and 2.8 at the time), we had the Disney Dining plan (for the adults since the kids didn't qualify) so this will skew it a little, but not worrying about what we were spending and not going nutz in 6 nights 7 days we put about another $850 in incidentals (booz, souvenirs, the kids food, tips etc...). But again we had the dining plan so I'm sure it would have been significantly more without that. I also consider us to be on the lighter side with regards to the amount of souvenirs we buy.

 

[Veronique]

If you want to save, you could get a UBER for a trip to the grocery and get everything to make breakfast and lunch in your room. We did that at Disneyland, it's a little repetitive (we ate bread+peanut butter or cereal for breakfast and tortilla+deli meat+ cheese for every lunch + we got snacks) and we ate at one QS (one $) restaurant and had one snack a day. Cost around 50$ / day.

We gave our son a budget at 4 years old (100$) so he chose carefully but had plenty (a lot of toys are 10-15$).

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

I'm not w big breakfast eater so I definitely plan to have something in the room. I think the prime pantry or garden grocer is probably a good idea for us. But uber is also a good thjng to keep in mind if we need something.

Are there refrigerators and microwaves in the room? My daughter doesn't drink milk and I haven't thought about that til this moment. Is there almond milk anywhere?

 

[Maxpowers]

You can also have groceries delivered to your room at a fairly reasonable price. I think we used this place last time:

https://www.orlandogroceryexpress.com/

 

[kymom99]

I'm not w big breakfast eater so I definitely plan to have something in the room. I think the prime pantry or garden grocer is probably a good idea for us. But uber is also a good thjng to keep in mind if we need something.

Are there refrigerators and microwaves in the room? My daughter doesn't drink milk and I haven't thought about that til this moment. Is there almond milk anywhere?

Refrigerators-yes. Microwaves-not in regular rooms.
Did you mention where you are staying?

 

[Darcy03231]

This can be really subjective depending on your spending habits.

I've generally found that counter service meals run $10-$12/pp for an adult and around $8 for children. Table service runs $30-$50/pp for adults and $15-$30/pp for children. www.allears.net has menu prices that will give you a better idea.

Other things to factor in: Airport parking or transportation, meals at airport, baggage tips, souvenirs, water/drinks/snacks in the park, sales tax (I come from a state that doesn't have one so its always a shock to me in the beginning of a trip), and alcoholic beverages.

Make sure you bring sunscreen, OTC medicine, batteries, memory cards, etc. with you as those items can add up fast!