Looking for advice pertaining to spending money!

[Kelleigh710]

Alright, I admit. I can plan an amazing Disney vacation, and when I mean plan, that includes a spiral-bound book of itinerary, dining ressies, beyond the park activities, etc. I'm a pro. However, I always fall short in the realm of budgets so I am asking for all of you savvy budget pro's to help me out.

Here is the scenerio: My DH and I are heading to Disney from 10/4/12 to 10/13/12. We are doing a split stay between the Swan, BWV, and BLT. As you all know, staying at the Swan means I cannot have a dining plan. So for the first 3 nights, no dining plan. Then we are on the Standard Dining plan for 4 nights at the BWV and Deluxe dining for 2 nights at BLT.

My husband and I were married 10/12/11 and honeymooned in Disney and we have been several times prior. With that being said, we won't be buying crazy amounts of souvenirs, etc. because we have been so often and it's just us, no kids.

In your opinions, what would be a good amount of spending money to bring?

Thank you all so much in advance, I appreciate all the feedback I can get!

 

[lilpig]

As far as "fun" money I planned $100. a person. ( We came back with some, not much) Meals though that is tough, it depends on how you eat. I would think about where your would like to eat those two days and then look up their menus to get round about budget.

 

[sissy_ib]

Are you DVC members? IF so TIW may work better for you since you have those first three days at S&D. Plus you get the discount on alcohol.
As for souvenirs $100 a person should be enough. That is about what we spend.

 

[candielips]

We budget $10 per person, per day. So the $100 suggested by previous posters, is right along those lines for your stay.
For my DH, that means he can buy 1 vinylmation a day.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

It's just Dh and I, what I do is sit down with the menu and prices from www.allears.net and figure out about how much tips will be, I get pretty close and have extra in case I didn't calculate correctly. I need money for alcohol, Usually one or two drinks with dinner and maybe one while at Epcot.

We almost always bring something back for my cousin, her sister and her children and I would bring something to a friend at work, that was usually about $50 for all of them.My husband could spend a ton on souveniers, but I try to convince him not to.

Money for bell services and valet, ME. We use valet quite a bit.

Dh and I stayed between BWI and BWV in January for 7 nights and I took about $1000 just to be on the safe side. We had 4 nights on the DxDDP and 3 nights on the regular DDP. The Tip was included in one of our meals on the DxDDP.

I take plain envelopes and write the name of the restaurant, the reservation number and the time and put my estimated tip amount in them and pull them out each day, keeping the remainder of them in the room safe.

We unexpectedly did the Behind the Seeds Tour at Epcot one day, so that was an expense we hadn't planned for. We also went offsite to Sea World one day, and while our tickets were free (military) we had to pay for food and we bought the refillable mug for $10 and got $.99 refills, and paid to feed the dolphins.

If you are there during Food and Wine, you might want extra money for that and for Mickey's Not So Scary halloween Party at MK, DH and I loved it.

 

[davmill]

No souvenirs helps a lot. As for cash, I'd bring 500 for the both of you, plus credit cards. You never know what you may find, or what emergencies may occur.

 

[avalanche1977]

I usually just rely on credit cards, as I don't like to carry a lot of cash on me.

 

[Kelleigh710]

It's just Dh and I, what I do is sit down with the menu and prices from www.allears.net and figure out about how much tips will be, I get pretty close and have extra in case I didn't calculate correctly. I need money for alcohol, Usually one or two drinks with dinner and maybe one while at Epcot.

We almost always bring something back for my cousin, her sister and her children and I would bring something to a friend at work, that was usually about $50 for all of them.My husband could spend a ton on souveniers, but I try to convince him not to.

Money for bell services and valet, ME. We use valet quite a bit.

Dh and I stayed between BWI and BWV in January for 7 nights and I took about $1000 just to be on the safe side. We had 4 nights on the DxDDP and 3 nights on the regular DDP. The Tip was included in one of our meals on the DxDDP.

I take plain envelopes and write the name of the restaurant, the reservation number and the time and put my estimated tip amount in them and pull them out each day, keeping the remainder of them in the room safe.

We unexpectedly did the Behind the Seeds Tour at Epcot one day, so that was an expense we hadn't planned for. We also went offsite to Sea World one day, and while our tickets were free (military) we had to pay for food and we bought the refillable mug for $10 and got $.99 refills, and paid to feed the dolphins.

If you are there during Food and Wine, you might want extra money for that and for Mickey's Not So Scary halloween Party at MK, DH and I loved it.

I LOVE the idea of looking at the menus and figuring out how much tips may be ahead of time. What a wonderful idea!

 

[MinnieForMe]

We always like to have $300 in cash on us and then use our credit cards everywhere. The charges go on whatever card is giving us the best "rewards" at the moment. We pay it in full every month and have the start of our next vacation fund in points/rewards.

 

[dizluvah]

DH and I always budget $100 per day so $50 per person but we include waters, snacks etc in that figure (not meals) as we don't ever do dining plan.