$- How Much?

[UTgirl]

I know that this is a personal preference questions. We plan on paying cash for our trip and not charge anything.

We are staying on site at WDW, we have the MYW package so other than that we will only be eating offsite a handful of times - driving down and back and then once at RFC. So a total of 4 times eating off site - we will also be going to DTD (do you have to pay extra to get into DQ?) I have a good handle on how much gas we will need.

In a nut shell - if you stay on site, have a MYW package - how much above and beyond this do you plan to take?

 

[1Prince2Princesses]

I know DQ is indeed an additional fee. It's around $35 per person.

 

[WDWorBUST]

A lot of that depends on how many of you there are. (adults & children). I'm assuming you have the dining package since you are talking about only eating a few times (there is a MYW package WITHOUT dining too - that's why I ask). I would think other than the meals you pointed out you won't have a lot of "food" expenses. If you drink alcohol that is excluded from the dining plan. We have done the dining plan twice now and other than the occasional drink or breakfast (and we stayed at Pop and would use a snack credit for a box of donuts for breakfast some so we didn't even have breakfast much out of pocket) we didn't spend much on food. The things that I think are the biggest budget busters that people will forget in the planning stages (especially if it's been a while since you've been or if this is your first trip) is the stuff like balloons for the kiddos (didn't have that expense for the longest and had not even thought about it when we went on that first trip with DD) the photopass CD or individual pictures or ride pictures. We would always get one pic from every park and that came in around $50 or a little more. Now we just buy the CD which WAS $99 but I believe has went up to $125 now....however for our family it's a great deal because we are ALL in the pictures. Those are my two weaknesses. There's always the souvenirs etc that you want (which balloons & photopass CD's fall under for me) and they can get rather expensive. I always bring small souvies purchased cheap from the Disney store and have "Tinkerbell" leave them for DD while she sleeps and that keeps some of the "I wants" away. So the short answer to your question is "It depends" - sorry I know that doesn't help.

 

[UTgirl]

WDWorBust,

I'm sorry I wasn't very clear on the specifics. We do have dinning with our MYW. You are correct, it really does depend on each individual group. I guess what I am looking for is just a ball park or average.

Thanks for the post!

 

[hickchick]

If you are are going for 5-6 days, I would think $500 in spending cash for a family of four?? Just a rough guess...

If you have dining included, and are driving down (so you have room to bring along snacks/juice boxes/etc to take to the parks) then your big expense will be souvenirs. I have always set a limit on this ahead of time with my DD - when we leave she knows she has $X amount of money to spend on souvenirs and when it's gone, too bad! This has really helped her keep from "wasting money" on things.

Before a trip, I buy a small notebook with a Disney cover and a few colored Sharpies (from Wal-Mart, Target, where-ever) and that is what DD uses for her autograph book. Collecting autographs has been more fun for her than shopping for souvenirs!

We have never bought any Photopass pictures before, but have done the free Disney VISA character photo at Epcot. Our digital camera takes great snapshots and there is usually a CM that is willing to take a "group shot" for us.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are a lot of ways to bring home great memories from WDW without going broke! Have Fun!!!