My Disney Disaster

[Maggie'sMom]

I agree with the PPs. You can charge things to your room and pay off the room charges later in the trip.

As for spending money for your kids, put off buying souvenirs until the end of the trip. It's a good policy to have anyway because in the beginning they will want just about everything they see. Plan an afternoon or evening at the end of your trip to go to DTD and shop there.

 

[melifeld]

Buy and hide souvies from the Disneystore before you go. Then leave them on the kids pillows the next day.
If it's a small stuffed animal let the kids carry it around in their backpack while at the park. It lessens the temptation of wanting to buy a $20 one when you walk by all the souvie stands.

This is exactly what I am doing. I just ordered some stuffed toys from disneystore.com. They were having a buy one get one free plush toy sale. I'll just hide them from DS and take them with us to surprise him while we are there.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

Buy and hide souvies from the Disneystore before you go. Then leave them on the kids pillows the next day.
If it's a small stuffed animal let the kids carry it around in their backpack while at the park. It lessens the temptation of wanting to buy a $20 one when you walk by all the souvie stands.

better yet, just say no, enjoy the parks, and save even more.

 

[Magic Mom]

better yet, just say no, enjoy the parks, and save even more.

 

[Mommee]

OP, for souvenears it's our policy for the kids that the first 2 or 3 days are for "window shopping" only, and they can't actually BUY anything until later in the trip. They have ALWAYS changed their minds at least 14 times, and they actually enjoy the hunt to figure out what to spend their money on. Maybe something similar would work for you?

 

[Reese]

You can figure your tips by looking at the menus and prices you have booked.
http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm has the prices and menus.

Our kids are never allowed to buy anything until later in the trip. We use the first few days as window shopping to allow them time to change their minds several times.

The counter service resturants will give you ice water for free. Bring some koolaid singles to flavour it with. We always bring some cereal, crackers, granola bars to have on hand and eat breakfast in the room before going.

Also on the dining plan we found that you get a lot of food. For a lot of our counter service meals we would pick a dessert that travels well (rice krispie, cookie) and have them for a snack in a couple of hours.

 

[jagruti6]

I find that my kids don't normally ask for stuff when were in Disney, and I usually don't spend anywhere near what I budget. I would plan for TS tips and use your snack credits. You can pay out of pocket later in the vacation if you need to like others have stated.We also bring stuff to have a breakfast in the room. Also we usually get souvenirs towards the end of the vacation so we can shop around for what we really want first. The one thing that your kids might want for the first two days though is a autograph book. So I would budget for that or make personalized ones from home for your kids. You could also get a few little Disney trinkets from Walmart or the dollar tree to give the kids the first 2 days. I am sure you and family will have a great trip.

 

[Zookeeperof4]

For the DDP tips....I found most of our tips were about 25$(We are a family of 5). So to figure a base of 25$ per meal(They say the tip is based on a percentage of your meal cost..FYI for those who dont know they WILL figure out the tips ammount for you and its on the bill...it will say 0$ for the meal and then the tip ammount.)

For giftes...thats a little harder. Just remember that many rides end in little shops as the ride exit. If you do not plan on hearing the pleas for things just take their hands and walk out...we did. Honestly my kids were not unhappy at any time doing this. Then we just made planned stops....we would say ok we will go in this store. My kids had 100$ and each came home with money. I know some people 50-100 is a good ammount for spending. we are a budget minded family so 100$ was plenty for them each and we were there for 5 days.

 

[dreambound]

You need to cancel the dining plan. It's not a necessity. Then you can charge all the food to your room for the first two days. That alone will save you some cash. Eat quick service. Bring breakfast foods for the room.

I totally understand not wanting to break the kids' hearts, so I won't even suggest cancelling the trip because I can tell you aren't going to make that choice, but nothing will spoil the joy of a WDW trip than coming back to financial problems. You need to think beyond the vacation. I've gone deluxe, 12 day trips, eaten at signature restaurants. I've also camped in a tent in cold winter at WDW, stayed at Pop Century, and eaten chili we made in the room. All of those trips have been wonderful and spectacular. The dream is spending time with the family and riding rides, having a great time together.

You can still have that, but you should let some of the elements go that are going to make life that much harder when you get back. If you'll be broke the first two days of your trip, then you'll be broke if anything happens after you get back, like a car breaking down, etc. Don't go back home after the trip to find yourself struggling financially.

Meg

 

[Zookeeperof4]

You need to cancel the dining plan. It's not a necessity. Then you can charge all the food to your room for the first two days. That alone will save you some cash. Eat quick service. Bring breakfast foods for the room.

I totally understand not wanting to break the kids' hearts, so I won't even suggest cancelling the trip, but nothing will spoil the joy of a WDW trip than coming back to financial problems. You need to think beyond the vacation. I've gone deluxe, 12 day trips, eaten at signature restaurants. I've also camped in a tent in cold winter at WDW, stayed at Pop Century, and eaten chili we made in the room. All of those trips have been wonderful and spectacular. The dream is spending time with the family and riding rides, having a great time together.

You can still have that, but you should let some of the elements go that are going to make life that much harder when you get back. If you'll be broke the first two days of your trip, then you'll be broke if anything happens after you get back, like a car breaking down, etc. Don't go back home after the trip to find yourself struggling financially.

Meg

I can totally see your point on canceling the dining plan however with a family of 5(as my family had 5) I will say this...the dining plan saved us a HUGE ammount having it. I can promise you this ...once you see the receipts from what you would have had to pay out of pocket you will realize you are actually saving a good deal of money utilizing this plan.
The thing I would say to do without is the hopper. It is not a true necessity. There is so much to do in each park that you really will be busy and wont want to waste time hopping into a bus and going somewhere else. I promise you that.....

 

[dreambound]

I can totally see your point on canceling the dining plan however with a family of 5(as my family had 5) I will say this...the dining plan saved us a HUGE ammount having it. I can promise you this ...once you see the receipts from what you would have had to pay out of pocket you will realize you are actually saving a good deal of money utilizing this plan.
The thing I would say to do without is the hopper. It is not a true necessity. There is so much to do in each park that you really will be busy and wont want to waste time hopping into a bus and going somewhere else. I promise you that.....

You're only saving money if you're doing table service. No one NEEDS to eat at TS. Those meals can cost over $100 for a family of 5, so with the dp, yes, you save money, but you save even more if you skip the TS all together. The dining plan is also notoriously a ridiculously large amount of food. Quick service and breakfast in the room, or making pb and j at lunch can save a TON of money.

And yes, drop the hoppers too. The trip will STILL be fun.

 

[Zookeeperof4]

I guess you are right on the meals...but for our family they used the down time in table serve meals to recoup. We only ate our QS and TS meals ideally...if we did breakfast we didnt stop for lunch. If we didnt do breakfast we ate an early lunch....ect.
Yes for a family of 5 it can be over 100 to pay out of pocket. And yes, no one needs to do the TS plan but it does help elliminate the need to be standing in some lines for autographs and pictures. We still did stop at times but mostly just for the charcaters we did not see at the meals.
For the meal plan ofr us...we had three kids under 9. The plan was 10$ a day each. They for sure got their money worth of meals between two meals and a snack a day. Our meal plan was 40 a day I think and the meals we ate for TS averaged about 27-30 a person. So I feel that we did get our money worth of eating.....PLUS we had the ease of knowing beforehand that we did not have to do creative budgeting to be sure we had money to eat by the end of the trip, as it was paid for already. Plus you do get a lot of food...and for us having this plan we were rarely hungry....and we used our snack creds for snacky things when we returned to the hotel at night.

I think if my kids were older or if I went with no kids...we may try to the QS plan once to see how we like it. I do not like to be tied to time slots and this trip even though we had ressies we were not under any real time issues...we always ended up being there on time. But I like to be more of the fly by the seat of my pants at times...LOL...eat while I walk and that type of meal...so I guess it really depends on the type of family you have and the what you think you would really eat.
We are a PBand J family at home....on vacation I like to feel a bit pampered....but thats just us....

 

[Butterflies31]

We where just informed by the travel agent that the hotel we booked Port Orleans riverside, Provides our family with a $500.00 Gift card!!!! AWSOME SO now Im sure we will be fine
THANK YOU ALL!!!!

 

[Magic Mom]

I'm glad it worked out. But I have to ask, did you both really sob for an hour about this? Or was that added just for good dramatic effect?

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

I'm glad it worked out. But I have to ask, did you both really sob for an hour about this? Or was that added just for good dramatic effect?

Can I add one more question? Did you have no clue when you made the reservations and paid for it you were getting the gift card? If not, you really need to read your information better.

 

[design_mom]

Also, on our recent trip, my kids (9 and 5) each spent $15-20 on souvenirs and came back happy. They spent the first part of the trip "window shopping" and bought in the last couple of days of the trip. DS bought a couple of Disney pins. DD got a small plush and a fancy pen.

If you can afford to let your kids spend a little more, that's great, but IMHO, if they've got too much money then they spend all their time thinking about what they can get rather than enjoying what Disney offers for the admission price.

 

[livie1205]

Can I add one more question? Did you have no clue when you made the reservations and paid for it you were getting the gift card? If not, you really need to read your information better.

That was pretty rude....this is their very first trip and not everyone knows about these deals..maybe the TA did not tell them about that deal when she booked it for them.They prob went to TA and said "book us a trip" then said TA did not mention the gift card.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

That was pretty rude....this is their very first trip and not everyone knows about these deals..maybe the TA did not tell them about that deal when she booked it for them.They prob went to TA and said "book us a trip" then said TA did not mention the gift card.

That was stinking good advice. She would have saved so much grief had she known what she was purchasing! Or what she had purchased. She had talked to the ta earlier about rescheduling, and it never came up. She also has a crappy ta. That isn't rude either. Merely a fact.

 

[poohfriend]

We where just informed by the travel agent that the hotel we booked Port Orleans riverside, Provides our family with a $500.00 Gift card!!!! AWSOME SO now Im sure we will be fine
THANK YOU ALL!!!!

that she booked you under that rate $500 gc rate...if you had any other sort of discount, you would not receive the card.

For SOME families, the Winter/Spring room only rate plus tickets and plus a meal plan is a better overall rate than the giftcard. I would check both!!!

 

[Magic Mom]

that she booked you under that rate $500 gc rate...if you had any other sort of discount, you would not receive the card.

For SOME families, the Winter/Spring room only rate plus tickets and plus a meal plan is a better overall rate than the giftcard. I would check both!!!

Good advice, especially since the TA doesn't seem to have all her ducks in a row.