money

[vfb2girls]

I am sure this has been discussed before but I would like everyone who has lots of disney experience to let me know about how much money we need to take for a 7 day stay at the world. We are staying on site, will not be renting a car, and it is only myself and husband. We are only planning on eating one big meal a day, and the rest of the time we will use counter service. So with this in mind how much money should we bring to assure we have a good time. We still want to stick to a budget, but also have a good time. And nothing will be put on the credit card except the towncar service. Also everything including the tickects and resort is paid for. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[disneysteve]

We carry very little cash in WDW because we believe in charging everything we possibly can to maximize reward points. Since you are staying onsite, you can skip the credit card in the parks because you can charge everything back to your room.

Food spending varies widely based on posts here at DIS. On our last trip in November, 3 adults and 1 child (8 years old) averaged under $17/person/day. We ate breakfast in our condo and mostly counter service with a few buffets, character meals and offsite restaurants thrown in. You can get a really good idea of your onsite food expenses here: http://www.wdwig.com/

Only other expense is souvenirs and only you know what kind of shopper you are. Also, if you want to do any special things like a boat rental, add that in as well.

Steve

 

[MELSMICE]

It all depends on what kind of meals you enjoy and if you want a few drinks with your meals. We usually budget $100 for a nice meal for DH & myself. I'm not a drinker but I do enjoy a specialty drink with dinner occassionally, so that could run $7 or more just for that. DH enjoys a few mixed drinks with dinner. I also enjoy having a dessert with a meal, so there's another $7 or so - but that's just us! You can do it for less.

For counter service, figure anywhere from $5-$7 per meal depending on what you get to drink. Breakfast - muffins & coffee, about $5 per person also. Snacks in the parks - $10/day per person to be on the safe side.

Honestly, this would probably be way over budget, but just to be on the safe side I would say $150-$200 per day if you are going to eat at least 1 large nice sit down meal every day. You can always come home with the money & put it in the bank for the next trip!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

If you have not been to WDW before you are in for some sticker shock for meal prices. For all meals you have to also figure 15%-20% for tip as well as the 6.5% sales tax added to everything. You might want to go to the menu section of Deb's board at http://allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm to get an idea of pricing.

With what you have said, I would agree with Melsmice's comments and suggest about $1,000 for the week, and be able to take some money home.

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by Cheshire Figment
For all meals you have to also figure 15%-20% for tip

I would agree with Melsmice's comments and suggest about $1,000 for the week, and be able to take some money home.

Of couse, you only need to figure a tip for sit-down waiter served meals, not counter service which it sounds like you plan to do more of.

I'm always surprised by the wide range of opinions when the food budget question comes up. As I said earlier, in November, we averaged $17/person/day and I think we ate pretty well. Even if you double that, for the 2 of you it would still come to under $500 for a week. Unless you plan a lot of gourmet meals or a lot of alcoholic drinks, that should be plenty.

Also keep in mind that it is quite easy to share meals at Disney. Prices may seem high at first glance until you realize that you may not need 2 full meals. My wife and I will often get 1 appetizer and 1 entree for the 2 of us, so basically we both eat for the price of 1 meal. We usually drink water (tap, not bottled). When we do get a soda, the 3 of us will share one large (which is far too much for any one person to drink by themself).

Steve

 

[crisi]

A typical day for us before children, we'd budget about $100 a day.

We'd have pop tarts in the room, so breakfast is "free"

For lunch we'd go to Peco's Bills. I'd have the chicken wrap - skip the fries, for about $6.50. Hubby would have a double cheeseburger with fries, $6.50. Split a $2 pop. Bill: after tax, somewhere around $16.

A typical sit down meal for us would be to go to Le Cellier in Canada for dinner. We'd split a bowl of cheese soup ($4). My husband, a big steak eater, would get steak ($25) and I'd get salmon ($19). We'd split dessert ($6). Add 2 sodas ($2 each) and 2 coffees with dessert (another $2 each) - and tax and tip you are looking at a $75 meal.

Add a Kringle mid day - $3.

Day would run around $94. Note that none of this is "gourmet" (Le Cellier is a really good restaurant, and a little pricey - but its cheap compared to the $38 steak and $24 salmon at the Flying Fish) and we haven't had a beer or glass of wine, much less a $7 umbrella drink.

There are definately ways to eat cheaper. Eat sit down at lunch. Don't eat sit down at all. Split entrees. Order the cheap entree. Don't eat dessert. Drink water.