Money

[Mikey_B]

Heading stateside for the first time next year and would appreciate some advice regards to money. I'll be in orlando for 2 weeks staying with a friend and plan on visiting all the parks in the area.

How much money will I need for the essentials, such as food and parking at the parks?

What's the best way of taking the money over there? I'll probably get a few Dollars from the UK but is it better to pay for most things with a credit card or take travellers cheques? Are there any credit cards that are better to use in the US, e.g. any that give low commission on currency exchanges? And for example is Visa preferred to Mastercard or vice versa?

Thanks in advance folks.

 

[fizz13]

Welcome to the Dis
I know that lots of people have got differing opinions on the best way to carry your cash abroad. I tend to use credit card for most things and carry about $50 in cash per day in case I can't use card. The travellers cheque card is supposed to be really good, you just preload it with as much money as needed before you go, and then use it like a credit card everywhere, but without the fees, think I will try this next time.

As regards to how much money, that really is personal preference. It depends if you plan on eating mostly counter service stuff like burgers, or having a sit down meal in a restaurant every day. So to give an example,

Parking at each park: $10 per day
Quick brekkie of pastry and juice:$5
Counter lunch at park $8
Sit down meal $50
TOTAL: $73 per day approx.

Of course you can cut this down by cooking for yourself in a villa etc, this is just a rough guide. Hope I've helped, feel free to ask away,

 

[Miss Stitch]

Last year we spent on average $100 a day for two adults and three children. We have breakfast free in our hotel 9.00 amish and only ate counter service at either lunch about two and then a snack about 7 back at the hotel. We also had enough money for plenty of drinks, mickey bars etc. and quite a few souveniers. We also had a couple of takeaways delivered to us. It helps that we enjoy counter service (not a big fan of posh meals). Next year we are aiming to be able to spend $200 a day, but that is only more so that we can buy more stuff to bring home.

 

[castanea1985]

We always take about $2,000, but always end up using the plastic...basically because we love buying things when we're there!!
You get a decent exchange rate out there.. but be careful you don't get stung with foriegn interest rates.
If you use Barclays here, you can use the Bank America ATM's out there without any charge.. so that would be a good way to extra cash!
You could roughly estimate your daily expenditure, and try and work out how much cash you'd need!
Good luck, and enjoy your holiday!!
Tracy

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Hi there
There are 3 of us & this year we will budget about $120 per day for food & other bits. Spending money on top of that (eg for clothes, perfume etc) plus we have pre-paid a couple of shows / meals & have bought all park tickets.

We normally take mainly cash or t/chq & buy when rate is good (like now!) from M&S or elsewhere if they price match the exchange rate.

I normally use my c/c and read on another thread that the post office c/c currently offers one of the best rates for conversion - but I haven't got one!

Hope this helps.

 

[bazzanoid]

Buy all your tickets in this country before you go - it's cheaper, plus Disney's 14-day Ultimate Ticket is a UK-specific offering - the closest you can get in the US is a 10-day Magic Your Way ticket at a much higher price for the same perks.

We prepared at least one meal a day in the villa, and spent about $20 each per meal out and about on average. Denny's is a good place to head for nice variety, large meals, and most importantly, cheap. Avoid Perkin's if you can, the selection is ok, but a little more pricey and not as great quality.

Parking, as mentioned above, is $10 per day - you can visit more than one disney park and just wave your parking ticket at them.

If at Universal and you want to save your feet (the parking garages can be a long walk if you don't get near the front), take the valet parking option - it's $16 plus tip, but well worth it IMO.

We took cash and traveller's cheques with us - always shop around for the best rates in the travel agents and also ask Travelex for their airport rate - often it can be better to pick up the currency at the airport on the way, as they often handle high value transactions, and subsequently offer a better rate as a result.

If you've got a Nationwide Credit or Debit card they offer no charges, just a straight conversion rate.

As with this country, you can use Visa or Mastercard - i've yet to see a place that doesn't take one or the other.

Plan to have plenty of available funds for spending - it's easy to go through a few days and think "wow, i've not bought much yet" and suddenly you walk into a store and proceed to buy the contents because you love everything on sale....

Your fuel economy will depend on what car you have - we had a Pacifica offering about 18 miles to the gallon, picked it up full, filled it up twice during the two weeks we were there - normally trips to/from theme parks locally (about 30 minutes each way), with two long trips - one to Silver Springs (2 hours) and to Busch Gardens (1 hour 30). Must have cost us about $90 total?

HTH!