Is this a realistic budget

[matdamom]

We are planning on going to WDW Dec. 15-22, 2005. I've listed our budget below. Does this seem realistic? Any tips/hints will be appreciated.
The plan is to drive to Raleigh, NC - we have friends there who will let us leave our vehicle with them. Then we will hop Amtrak to Orlando. My mom/sf will pick us up from the train station - since they will fly down the day before and pick up the rental van we will use.


Gas/Food to NC: $150
Amtrak tickets : $280 (5 round trip tickets from Raleigh NC to Orlando)
Rental Van $225 (splitting cost with my DM/SF)
Gas/Food in FL: $150 (this is for a grocery stop and driving around gas)
Meals at Disney $500 (character meals + others)
Meals Offsite $100
Lodging FREE (my DM/SF have points at Cypress Pointe)
Tickets $1012 2 ad/2 ch 6-day park hoppers - no exp military disc.
MVMCP tix $130 2 ad/2 ch - advance purchase
Souveniers $300 ($100 per child - the adults don't need anything)
Total: $2857


I have My Points Gift cards to pay for all of us to eat at Rainforest Cafe and also My Points Gift cards to pay for all of us to eat offsite at Macaroni Grill. We will probably do one breakfast in the park, but the rest lunch or dinner. The rest of the time we will eat breakfast at the condo where we will stay. I will pack drinks to take in the park and we drink from the fountains most of the time.

It looks good and do-able to me, but I would like to see what the experts think.

 

[EthansMom]

Since you are paying so much to get the tickets with "No Expiration", you may want to come up with the extra money to get the 10 day tickets and use them on a future trip. It will cost you a few dollars more in the short term, but save a lot in the long term.

Also, it looks like one child is under 2. Are the others also young? If so, then $100 ea. for souvenirs is a LOT of money. On our last trip, we let each of the kids (13 mos. and 3.5 yrs.) pick out one toy during the week. (We spent several days with DS3.5 comparing the merits of different spaceship toys before he found the right one.) Total souvenir cost was less than $50.

I'd say that $30 for one toy is plenty. You could throw in say $5 per kid for a balloon and $15 per kid for a spinning light toy. That's $50/child. Use the rest to buy Mom and Dad a t-shirt if they see one they really want.

 

[matdamom]

At the time of our trip, the kids will be 6, 4 & 2. Our son could probably care less, and might get one thing the whole trip. The girls always want more, of course. I could limit each girl to $50 at the parks, and then save the extra for things at the Character Warehouse. (Last trip, I got a bunch of stuff there and had it shipped home) Thanks for the suggestion - $100 each is a bit much. Especially since I'm sure the Grandparents will get them something each.

Also, I just found out that I can save about $21 on our train tix with the Orlando Magicard! Woo Hoo!