Need help from disney geniuses!!

[disneyvirgins05]

my husband, myself and our two and six year old daughters are heading to disney in a couple of days for the first time. I think I am prepared after scouring the internet and reading a couple of books for some helpful hints and money saving tips but I have no idea what to assume we will need to bring in terms of spending money. we would rather use all cash if possible while down there but i am not sure how much to bring. i know everyone is different and you can not really say but anyone have any guesstimates? maybe someone who has been a couple of times in the past couple of years? I did try and pack snacks and waters and things to save some money just throughout the day on those things.
Thanks!!

 

[kilee]

First, WELCOME TO THE DIS!!!! This is a great place to get all the info you need for the perfect trip!!!!

As for spending money--- what will be included: souvineers, meals, parking, hotel, transportation??? How many nights? And how many sit-down vs counter meals do you intend to do?

 

[nataliesdaddy]

I concur with Kilee - need to know mkore particulars like what do you mean spending money? You are going to bring food into WDW? I don't think they allow that anymore post 9/11. Plus we need to know how many days you are there... We are going 7 days WDW in June + 4 days at universal and a day at discovery cove - we got the food package - so one counter service, one sit down meal and one snack are included per day. If I say how much money I am bringing on top of the room, passes, and food package ...

I would say we will spend... uhm... probably upwards of ... $100 to $150 per day. But that is just spending money i.e. no food ... Might be $75 to $125 per day. Its hard to tell because we have never gone with a meal package before. So maybe we don't spend much on food this trip. Last trip we were probably doing 200 to 300 per day because we did a lot of sit down character meals, my daughter just had to have every princess outfit she could wear to the parks, and we went to cirque du soleil, and Emerils and we bought a slew of magic tricks at Magic Masters at Downtown Disney.

If you are on a tight budget - pay 5 or 6 bucks for the Walt Disney World autograph book and chances are your children will spend the rest of the trip excited just meeting the characters and getting autographs. We did that one year saved tons of money that way because my daughter could have cared less about anything other then that.

 

[WDW LOVR]

We always plan on $300/day spending money and $300/week for souvineers and we always have plenty of money. And we usually eat at one sit down per day and have our share of the pricey drinks around the world!

 

[disneyvirgins05]

we are going to be in disney feb 2-9 and staying @ the animal kingdom lodge. we will be eating all meals there as we do not have any kind of meal plan. i am going to tell my 6 year old to pick one souvenier from each of the four parks and that will be it for souveniers. we will pick some tiny things for our two year old as she does not care so much.

 

[kilee]

As for the gifts and incidentals I would plan $100-150 and you should be set. As for food, that will depend on where you plan to eat. Did you make any PS's??? You'll want to possibly do that before you leave. This will ensure some sit down meals. Possibly a character meal or 2.

We are a family of 3 (my son is now 12) and we budget $500 for 1 full week for food at WDW. However, if we stay onsite this number could go up alittle bit. We try to eat all breakfast's in our room (granola bars, muffins, bagels, fruit, ect). This really saves money. We always start w/ our first bottle of water at the parks. We usually refill once or twice as we don't mind the water taste. Then by noon we each usually go through an additional 3-4 drinks (water or soda) throughout the day. We each usually get 1 snack during the day (popcorn, ice cream, pretzel, ect). We usually do 1 sit down and 1 counter service meal a day. We do usually try to travel offsite for a 2-3 dinners too. We can eat at Perkins for a 1/3 of 1 sitdown meal onsite. However, character meals and the theme of places like Prime Time and Ohana's can't be beat.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

You are going to bring food into WDW? I don't think they allow that anymore post 9/11.

You most certainly can bring in snacks/drinks- especially if you have young children with you (she has 2 and 6yr old with her). We've never even gone BEFORE 9/11 -all our trips were afterward- and no one ever gave us any grief for bringing snacks/bottled water with us. They opened our backpack/etc. up and saw it all right there- never even raised an eyebrow about it.

 

[bishop1989]

Obviously you can go over any budget when you start spending on souvenirs.
PLan accordingly when you budget to eat. Save money by bringing Pop Tarts, etc for breakfast. Eat a large buffet lunch such as at the Crystal Palace and this will carry you over foe awhile. It does depend on how many sit down restaurants you eat at and how many food courts or walk ups you use. But, overall $150 a day in food should be close.

 

[disneyvirgins05]

i was going to pack cereal to have breakfasts in our room but just packing it it was getting squished. where can i buy these things when I get there?

 

[nataliesdaddy]

i was going to pack cereal to have breakfasts in our room but just packing it it was getting squished. where can i buy these things when I get there?

Well if you are flying in to Orlando the Dis has a sponsor that is a towncar service. Http://www.wdwinfo.com/transportation/transportation1.htm They will stop at a local place for you to do some shopping if you want. Last we went we stopped and got softdrinks and munchies - and I brought some munchies from home also.

Since you have a 6 year old I would highly recommend a character meal. Breakfast at Crystal Palace has pooh, tigger, eeyore, and piglet. Or a dinner at Chef Mickey's with Chip and Dale, Mickey, Pluto, Minnie, and Donald the Duck. Those are 25 per adult... I think 11 dollars for kids.

And if your son gets one souvenier per day ... then for sure get an autograph book and pen... your 6 year old will likely spend tons of time saving you money by getting signatures.

 

[kilee]

All of the hotels have "cafeterias" that have these items, but they are alittle pricey for what you're getting. If you have a car there is also dozens of grocery and conveinent stores within 1-5 miles of WDW property that are easy to get too.

 

[nbandfour]

We give each of kids a certain amount of cash to spend at Disney, on anything they want (not food), and when it's gone, it's gone. Strangely enough, they usually haven't spent even half of it. Guess they're cheap dates...

I second (third, fourth) eating breakfast in the room. Saves money, and, more precious, time.

nb

 

[funhouse8]

I always bring a suitcase just filled with food - Snacks and breakfast foods when it's empty it makes it easier to bring home the souvineers or dirty clothes.