Looking For Savings Tips

winterwonderland2011

Earning My Ears
Joined
Aug 31, 2010
Messages
41
I am new to this site and would like any advice on saving money. And what amount is a good amount to bring for "spending" money?? I want to have enough to do anything my 3 year old wants.... Any advice is appreciated!:tigger:
 
I want to have enough to do anything my 3 year old wants.... Any advice is appreciated!:tigger:
Do you have a dining plan? How many nights? How many adults and children? Will you be doing counter service or table service dining? Are you planning to purchase her a trinket in every gift shop? I know most 3 yr olds have the "i wants" whenever walking thru a store. Do you have a reservation for BBB? Do you plan on mini golf or water sports?
 
Ok we will be there 5 nights 4 days and its me, my husband and my 3 year old daughter. Whats the difference in table dining and the other? we will not do BBB because she will be 2 mths shy of being 3. :( the mini golf i have not thought about. I will be reserving 2 character breakfasts and the very merry christmas parade.. Thanks fo your help!:)
 
Well go to allears.net and look at the menus and prices for each meal you plan to eat. For table service don't forget to add in tax and tip.

children's t-shirts $10-$20 (so if you allow her 5 shirts that would be $100)
princess costumes depending on how many accessories you want can run $40 $100
plush animals start around $15 (once again only you know how many she would want)

$3-$5 per snack or bottled drink (multiply by the number you may want)

Pressed pennies $0.51 (2 quarters, one penny)

Autograph book and pen - $15-20

Budget $15 per person per counter service meal

Dont forget parking fees at the parks if you are staying offsite

Mini golf: Adults: $12.52; children (ages 3-9) $10.39 per round

Water Mouse: $20.75 - 1/2 hour

21' Suntracker Pontoon Boat(Maximum 10 passengers): $33.02 - 1/2 hour

Canopy Boat (8 person maximum): $25.00 - 1/2 hour

Cane Pole Fishing: $ 3.77 1/2 hr

Specialty Cruise (12 person maximum) starts at $120.00

Guided Bass Fishing (live bait additional) - Maximum 5 persons; $183.96 for 2 hours at 6:30am; $174.52 for 2 hours at 9:00am

Pony Rides at Fort Wilderness - $4

Carriage ride 25-minute ride for $35 (tax included)
 

I want to have enough to do anything my 3 year old wants.... Any advice is appreciated!:tigger:

This part would make me nervous!
At Disney there is something to want/buy about every 10 feet! A child could want the Princess Mickey Ears more than anything and 1/2 hour later they want the Belle dress w/ shoes & tiara more than anything! (Don't ask me how I know?? :rolleyes1 )
Things can cost A LOT at Disney World!

If your talking about "doing" and not "buying" than I think you could check out the Theme Parks Attractions forum. They might have more details.
http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2

My DD4 absolutely loved Breakfast at the castle when she was 3 but when she was 4 we did Norway Princess dinner and she loved that too. We've actually had better interaction with Princesses/characters around the parks than at the meals, though.

Happy planning!!!!
 
Couple of tips -

BBB - bring cans of hairspray glitter, color or anything else fancy and do BBB in your room. It will make it fun when everyone comments on her 1 of a kind hair and it costs you $3 for supplies all week. (Think Dollar Tree)

Dresses - These are everywhere for cheap. Ie. Wal Mart, Target, etc. I find them all the time at Thrift stores. Maybe even borrow some for the trip.

Shirts - I went to Disney store and they always have $5 shirts there it seems. Buy one for each day and give them as a surprise each day. I actually went to Goodwill and shopped all year for them and so came out spending next to nothing! I also made some cool clothes for the kids - ripped my sons pants and then sewed animal print behind it so it looked like he was really a tiger. DD made her a mini mouse pair of pants, princess pants, etc with paint. She loved it!

Snacks - Krogers and others have disney themed snacks - Chip and Dale trail mix, Hannah Montana craisins, Cars fruit snacks. Pack a small "purse" for her each day of the trip with a Disney Pez, some small bubbles (for lines) and a few snacks. She will be over the moon.

Autograph book - I made one. Printed it off and our office supply store did the binding for $2 I think. There are some on these forums I think. I don't have mine on this computer so I can't share right now.

Souvies - I bought up stuff at Dollar General, Dollar Tree, etc. Even bought stuffed animals beforehand at a clean garage sale. Surprised them with the fun stuff each morning in the room so they always had new stuff.

Lighted things - Again at Dollar stores they sell the bracelets, necklaces, etc so you have tons for use at night. Some people have even found those Disney character spinny things for cheap beforehand - $15 - $25 at Disney.

Money for stuff - Our kids were given $10 - $15 per day in their bags of Disney Dollars. On the first day they saw Legos and a castle that they wanted so they just saved their money each day for that. In the end they said it was worth it!

All of this would work great for a 3 year old. Even the money would be okay if it was less maybe.

Good luck! You will have a blast, but remember there are always ways to spend a fortune at Disney!:rotfl:
 
We've now taken our DS 7x to Disney starting when he was 13 months old. We've done the souvenir shopping in probably every way imaginable. Along with some of the extras like mini-golf.

My first suggestion is make sure you have your DD booked as a 2 year old since she will not be 3 until after your trip. That means any buffet or family-style meal you eat, you will not have to pay for her meal. BUT all the others if she does not share your meal, you will have to pay for hers separately even if you get a dining plan (any of them) because the pricing starts at 3. Kids meals at Quick service are typically 4.99 each and include a drink and dessert. --If you want some really specific estimates, pm me. I have my receipts/purchases from my trip in May when we used the QSDP and I wrote down most of the totals.--

The PP's suggestion about Allears.net is a great one. I still check their menus for the pricing and choices for every trip. They also have alot of info on each of the Dining plans. The dining section here on the DISBoards also has tons of great info.

Honestly at 2 almost 3 years of age for your DD, with the number of days you're going to be there, I am not sure I would try alot of the extras. BUT do take a break midday and return to your resort if you're staying on property. Kids that young need to unwind from all the stimulation even they don't/won't nap. And the resorts all have fabulous pool and play areas.

We let our son "play" mini-golf at about that age and it will take about 3x as long. It was cute and we went at a less crowded time so it wasn't too big of a deal-just let others play through.

For the souvenirs, remember if you fly, you only have so much room to get it back!! And you have to carry/check all that stuff. We are moving toward allowing our DS one item per day and now that he's old enough one trading pin per day. That's still probably going to average out to $150 or more for a 5-day trip. When our DS was younger, we would buy him a stuffed animal early in the day and he typically didn't ask for anything else because he was entertained by it and gave him something to hold onto. You can even find the "beanie" size ones most places.

Also if you have a Disney Visa, or want to try to get one before your trip, there are several locations that give a 10% discount for using it to pay for your souvenirs and even some other perks. All the other discounts I know about are either AP holders or for DVC members.

Hope this helps.

Have fun planning your trip!!
 











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