How to budget spending money?

[keltiesmom]

My family will be taking our first trip to Disney next February. We are trying to get the most bang for our buck, the place we are likely to stay at doesn't do a breakfast, but I figure we can bring oatmeal and cereal with us for the hotel in the morning. I plan to bring snacks and refillable water bottles, but I'm not sure what to expect for meals. We are a family of 5, our kids will be 5,2,1 so it will probably be mostly CS meals. Is $100 a day reasonable for food, or not enough,

 

[Ptwolfman]

That amount seems ok. Keep in mind that there's a Denny's and an IHOP on Harbor across from where the busses stop. You can also go to 7-11 and get lunch to have at your hotel if you take a swim or nap break. Haus of Pizza is a very inexpensive choice as well and they deliver to many of the local hotels. HTH

 

[Renae De Liz]

In 2009 I too budgeted $100 a day, and that was for my husband, me and my oldest son, and it was not enough. I'm not big on souvenirs, so instead we could pick 1 big meal a day (Goofy's Kitchen, Storytellers Cafe, Blue Bayou, etc) and spend the rest on smaller more inexpensive food items throughout the day (Jamba Juice, Frozen Bananas, Wetzel Pretzels, etc), and that could EASILY take us over $100 for 3 people, and that includes little to no souvenirs. $150 a day would have been comfortable for us to get both meals and few items for the 3 of us I think.

So for 5 people, I would guess $100 is not enough, depending on what you want out of your days there. If you want to experience sit down dining options at Disneyland and DTD then I'd estimate for all 5 of you it would up towards $100 just for that meal unless you all share.

If you don't care about food and bring most snacks/meals yourself, then I'm sure you could get a few things a day for all of you (both items and small snacks in park) for $100 a day.

 

[awdsmama]

Myself and DS-7 went this past spring and I didn't spend nearly as much on food as I thought I would have.

I bought a pack of bagels and jar of peanut butter, that was our morning breakfast/snack that we either ate in our room (HOJO) or on the walk to the park.

I brought water bottles for us to use during our stay. I also bought a box of capri-suns for my kiddo as well as lemonade packets for me. I froze some of hte capri-suns so they'd stay colder in the park longer.

I went to Costco and bought a big box of the Nature Valley granola bars and a big box of the fruit roll-ups. We came home with a good amount of both and they are easy snacks for in the park.

As for meals -- do any of you have a birthday close to the vacation date? If so, there are a few websites to register on to get coupons. Do a search for the Patina Group and Rainforest Cafe. There are locations for each in Downtown Disney. Those both saved me a good amount of money.

Mimi's Cafe on Harbor has decent priced food as well as good portion sizes IMO. You could have your kids split a plate and save a bit.

Also - search on here for info on the chicken at Plaza Inn--- WONDERFUL meal as well as a great deal because you can easily split the plate it's soo much food.

 

[Bungle]

A lot of the portions at DL are HUGE so there is the option of sharing. However, I would put aside more cash, it is better to have more than you need than to run out. Packing a lunch is a great idea. Sandwiches, juiceboxes and fruit like grapes are cheap and healthy and that would save some money for bigger meals. Costco is a great place to pick up supplies.

For us this time we are staying somewhere with a full hot breakfast because the light breakfast we would fix in the room at hojo would just not stand up to all the physical activity we were doing.

Also if you have a car the restaurants around DL are fantastic too, chinese food is a good option with little ones because with rice the dishes stretch really far.

 

[awdsmama]

Oh and if you won't be having a car and don't have a way to bring the food with you --- Von's grocery deliveres I believe. That could come in very handy for you depending on how much stuff you need.

 

[mouseymommy]

We also bring snacks onto the park with us. We freeze the Capri Suns too. My DH loves soda and we usually buy one for him when we buy our meals, but this next trip we will be bringing that in too. We are also a family of 5, 2 adults 3 kids. We often share meals. We get 3 adult meals and split them between us. Allears.net has all of the menus and the prices. You can also find them on this site. That has been very helpful to me as I budget our trips.

 

[nikkislaght]

Family of 6 here and we save a ton by doing this.
Couple of months before we leave for DL, every weekly shop I buy some kind of non perishable food item , this way I dont feel like I have spent a lot of money on food two days before I leave.

I go to the Dollar tree and get the tuna and cracker packs..
We have these for lunch along with fresh fruit and carrot sticks, olives, and broc or celery.
I also get the mini cereal packs there..

Everytime I visit a fast food restaurant I always leave with a couple of packets of their sauces .. or mayos, and use this for the veg.


Cheese sticks and jerky or summer sausage.
Big lots (if you have one near you) sell mini summer sausages.

We also take granola bars, fruit snacks.. choc of some kind and some chips.
You can now get snack packs of ranch, salsa and nacho cheese in the chip isle of the supermarket.


Walmart sell Nutella to go.. this is awesome.. it is a small container with sweet bread sticks and a section full of Nutella.. oh yeah.!!
We take the peanut butter to go packs too.
This way the kids can either have it on toast in the morning or in the park later in the day..
We freeze water bottles and use a thermal sleeve to keep them cold.
and take crystal lites ..

When we get to Anaheim, we go to Vons in a cab. get , milk , yogurts,. bread, a cooked chicken , pack of salad.. (you have the dressing in the snack packs of ranch.) cheese, and a few other things and we are good to go for two meals..

We then eat one night at DL.
Then go to Denny's, Bubber Gumps, and the cheese cake factory. and other restaurants near DL the rest of the trip.

If you are taking at least 4 bags for 5 people you will have no trouble throwing non perishable foods into everyones bags to even the load..

Have fun

 

[Malcon10t]

My family will be taking our first trip to Disney next February. We are trying to get the most bang for our buck, the place we are likely to stay at doesn't do a breakfast, but I figure we can bring oatmeal and cereal with us for the hotel in the morning. I plan to bring snacks and refillable water bottles, but I'm not sure what to expect for meals. We are a family of 5, our kids will be 5,2,1 so it will probably be mostly CS meals. Is $100 a day reasonable for food, or not enough,

$100 a day should be plenty, as long as you aren't including any character meals. I usually budget $30 a day per adult, and add any character/special meals from there.

 

[scrapshappen]

We used to budget $100 a day for a our family of 3 and that worked pretty well until we added a fourth and the older one got bigger and prices went up.

If that is all you have to spend, you can make it work by following in the suggestions here to take food and not buying a lot of souvenirs.

When we go on other trips, we do pack breakfast and lunches and try to eat out only once a day. However, when we go to Disneyland, our family likes churros and dole whips and eating at the park or DTD and we spend about $200 on souvenirs in four days. So we figure closer to $150 per day.

So I would say it all depends on how thrifty you want to be. Neither is right or wrong, just a matter of personal preference and budget.

 

[Stitch35]

Our family of 4 (DH, DS6, DS4, and myself) spends $50/day on food. We eat at the hotel, bring tons of snacks and drinks with us. I always make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch or dinner. We only eat one meal in the parks, usually CS and it runs between $30/$40 (cheaper if you go ala cart if you don't want the sides). We also get a few churros or dole whips or cookies every day. None of us feel deprived and it allows us to do multiple trips per year.

 

[Mr Snappy]

to me, the way to have the most impact is two things.

1. Eat breakfast in your room before you leave each day. Go to Target, Walmart, or bring with you. Cereal, breakfast bars, juice, donuts, fruit. Not only does this save a TON of money, you save time as well. If your room does not have a fridge, a cheap foam cooler works well with the ice supplied by the motel. I realize some people love their big breakfasts, so this obviously does not apply to them.

2. Refill your water bottle. We usually start off with 3 or 4 frozen bottles of water and refil throughout the day. We still will get a coke or similar, but for 4 or 5 people, it is easy to spend $16-20 EACH TIME you get bottled water or soft drinks in the park.

 

[Mr Snappy]

Wow,
I just looked at the trip count-down on my last post and realized I only have two days until we get on the plane to come out to Cali....better start packing!

 

[firefly87]

When we go, we always bring the kids lunches in with us and then buy the adults meals in the park. We usually bring in pb&j's or Uncrustables for the kids, along with the small individual Pringles chips, string cheese, cut up fruit like apples or bananas, granola bars, juice boxes, waters. That way we practically spend little to nothing on kids food (unless we get an afternoon special treat or snack).

Portions are big in the parks and you and your husband could easily split meals, as most have said here.

On another note, for souvenirs for the kids....we give them each $5 per day. They can spend that $5 that day or save it and get another $5, the next day and so on. So they can spend it on small things each day or save it up and get something more expensive towards the end of the trip. It really helped me with determining if this was something they really wanted or was it just an impulse buy.

 

[keltiesmom]

We are going for 6 days and will probably have about $1500, I just don't want to blow it all on food! Our kids each get cash for Christmas from their great grandmas so they will have their own spending $, probably around $100 each. We probably won't be back for 5+ years so I don't want to wish I had picked something up that I didn't. Thanks for all of the great tips!

 

[starry_solo]

Don't forget taste pilot's grill in DCA. There, they have condiments (lettuce, tomatoes, onions, etc., that you can pile onto a hamburger). With that, two people can usually split an entree (or make a nice side salad if you prefer your burger plain)

Plus, they also have thousand island dressing which you can use for your other fresh veggies.

 

[hollyshoffbrau]

$100 a day seems reasonable esp if you are eating in your room prior. I would just prep the fam with their $ budget for each meal ahead of time. (In my case by prep the fam I mean remind my dear hubby we have a budget )

What the PP said about buying snacks/water ahead of time is spot on. I talked w my hubby and we figured out our per meal per adult budget ($15 in our case max including drinks) and we will be having our kids (2 1/2 and 1)split an adult meal too.

If everyone stays under each day than a treat or dessert can happen.

I also bought the gifts ahead of time from disney store on clearance and the 99 cents store which had a bunch of mickey mouse clubhouse stuff.

 

[lurpee]

Check out restaurant.com as well. I bought a GC for a couple restaurants.