Need trip budgeting help!!!

[shari2shop]

Okay.. we are going to try to go in December... about 6 months away!!!! Now it is time for me to get serious and start figuring out how much money we need for the trip.

Does anyone have a blank form/chart/spreadsheet/anything that has everything that we might need money for???? I want to chart out several differnt trip options (different lengths stays, different resorts, ect)

Any help figuring out costs would be appreciated!!!!

Shari

 

[C.Ann]

I decided in March that I want to pay for a trip to Disney for the first two weeks of December for myself, grown DD, and my granddaughter - who will be five then.. I've never been able to figure out how to do a spreadsheet on my computer, so I decided to use the "envelope" system instead..

I marked the envelopes as follows:

Transportation to and from Florida from upstate NY.
Transportation and gas while in Florida.
Hotel/motel.
2 Adult/1 child's 5-day Park Plus tickets for Disney.
2 Adults/1 child's tickets for MVMCP
2 Adults/1 child's tickets for 2-day passes to US/IOA
2 Adults/1 child's tickets for Sea World
2 Character Meals in Disney for 2 Adults/1 child
Food money (both in and out of parks)
Spending Money
Emergency Money

------------------------------

I then started selling every day items I have around the house on eBay to finance this trip.. (My DH is quite ill & on SS and I only work part-time so I can NOT use money from our normal living expenses - aside from the change that I save..)

I then started doing research - TONS of it - both on the DIS boards and through the various travel search engines to find the best possible deals that I could so I would have a good idea of exactly what the dollar figure is that I need to obtain.. I found all of the menus (and prices) for the various eating establishments (and Character meals) on Deb's Unofficial Disney site and was able to come up with a realistic figure of what it will cost us to eat in the parks.. I am constantly watching the hotel/motel specials, car rental specials, airfare specials, etc. and in doing so have come up with an "average" figure of what it will all cost..

There's a lot of "work" involved, but it's fun to plan and it gives me peace of mind to have a pretty good total in mind even though the trip is months away..

Is there anything specific you need to know? This is just a quick overview of how I am proceeding..

 

[PugLover]

This is how I plan to break down our budget:

Airfare
FairyTale Package (includes resort stay and UPH tickets)
Rental Car costs and gas
Food (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks)
Souveniers
Extra Activities (Ex. renting of boats/watermice, tours)
Tips (housekeeping, bellman, valet at resorts)
Emergency Money
Trip preparation money (clothing, film, batteries, travel books)
Dog Sitter for 8 days

The airfare, FairyTale package, rental car and dog sitter prices are easy, those are set without variation.

For 8 days I plan to budget 950.00 for food (2 adults) as we plan to try a few of the upscale resort restaurants.

Souveniers I plan for 300.00, same amount for extra activities.

I have been reading the boards to determine the monies I will need for tipping and will have that cash divided in envelopes to be distributed during our stay.

I ususally bring 250.00 - 300.00 for emergency money. The trip preparation needs fell under our normal household budget.

I feel more comfortable over estimating costs and coming home with some extra money then under estimating and coming home to unplanned bills. Whatever is left over from our trip due to overestimating goes directly back into our vacation fund at the bank.

Hopefully people will keep posting ideas and their budget outlines here so us "first timers" can get it right

 

[house_of_princesses]

Unfortunately, my DH always tells me "Book-it Danno! We'll worry about paying for it later!"

Somehow, we always do! But this is NOT in my comfort zone. Part of this is psychology... there's a bill looming in our future, tighten the belts! You're forced to save. We have yet to pay anything other than interest on our mortgage. Being married to my DH, that's one blink shy of a miracle! Perhaps by giving yourself a deadline to fill those envelopes, you'll be more disciplined?

HTH!

 

[Cinders]

Do you have Microsoft Works? I use the Travel Budget Planner on there. Its under User Defined Templates then Travel Planner, Budget. It will break your expenses down by daily and total allowances needed.

 

[mickeysaver]

Room
Tickets
Food
Gas and Service for car immediately before and during trip
Film & Development
Goodies
Pet Care
Tips for MouseKeepers
Clothes/Travel Items

This about covers our way of budgeting. I have roughly a $4000 budget for our December trip. We will be going to the parks for 5 days, doing MVMCP once, going to PI 2 or 3 times, and going to DQ once. We will spend time with family the first 3 days of our vacation and then be able to relax at WDW for 7 days. I can't wait! Mickey

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says.............................Our method is very basic.
1. We have to get to Orlando (airfare)
2. We need to get around Orlando ( car or limo)
3. We need to stay somewhere (hotel)
4. We need to get in the parks (admission)
5. We need to eat ( food)

Add up those five and that is your basic budget.
Then add on the extras, that are different for everyone.

Some want golf, some want trinkets, some want tours etc...

Add it all up and that is what it will cost you.

Then simply start an account and pile money into it until you have right amount!

 

[prncess674]

I have a simple spreadsheet (read easy to use) that I put together in Microsoft Excel that I can send to anyone who is interested. It has all the major categories listed plus room for additonal items you may want to list. It breaks down expenses by day.

Rachel

 

[dday2021]

I am working on an excell spreadsheet for budgeting puposes. It is in the "alpha" part of development but I am willing to share it with anyone who would like to take a look at it and give me any feedback on how to improve it. Just PM me with an email address and I will be glad to send it to you.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I do my budget EXACTLY like DisneeDad said.

 

[Jordan's MOM]

I do things a little bit different. I determine-estimate how much I can save during the year for the trip and then make my budget from that. How much I do in fact save or have makes the choices for me. Some things are set in stone, such as the ticket prices, but the other things are very much flexable. For example, Can I afford ASMo for 60.00 a night or can I afford WL for 200.00 a night? Can we afford 1 character meal on this amount or 3. In other words we spend what we have saved and no more. For our trip this year I reserved ASSp, but as we get closer it looks like we might can afford WL, so I can just change the reservation. We will decided when it's time to make PS's how many sit downs we can afford with in our saved budget. If we end up with more money than I had expected, we will add another nice meal, this year that will be CG, if we are under the amount we were hoping for, I will drop a meal somewhere. It works for us.


jordan's mom

 

[MK Familystone]

Sorry my LOTUS 123r3 not compatable with web MS, so
here goes:
flt/time date 6/03 6/10 6/17 6/24 etc 12 /15
bos-mco
mco-bos

Alternate airport

mht-mco
mco-mht

track the air fare weekly from your airport and Orlando(MCO)

Sign up for e-mail alerts from your airline, I use SWA and
get notices on tuesday, thats why the above dates, and Delta on a random notice.

Repeat the chart on another sheet substuting the Resort Rates for the dates you are thinking of going. go to each Resort website and note the NON-PEAK PERIODS AND SPECIALS.

DITTO : FOR RENTAL CARS.


FINALLY: Summary sheet list the item on the left like other postings have suggested but make 2 or 3 columns for options .
Options:
AIR FARE
RESORT ON SITE
RESORT OFF SITE
RESORT ON/OFF/ FREE BREAKFAST
RESORT TIPPING

PASSES/GATE/ADVANCE/COUPONS/TRAVEL CLUBS
PASSES # DAYS NEEDED OR NOT USED NOW USE FUTURE

RENT CAR - MYERS TRANS
RENT CAR/ PARK PARKING FEE/RESORT PARK FEE

CREDIT CARD?
CASH BACK,FLY MILES,DISCOUNTS, CAR INSURANCE COVERAGE/ATM

Using the credit card now, 6 months from now might cash availble for the trip.

Finally your daily plan of your trip.

EX. We didnot buy HOPPER PLUS passes when my boys were small because they were very slow in learning to swim and could not appreciate DTD.

ENJOY!

THE MAGIC HAPPENS!

 

[jaw62901]

What every I have left over each month after paying for bills, car stuff (oil change) gifts (regular & x-mas) & food, I put the rest away for a vacation or what ever I may be saving for at that time. Only after all the bills are paid, do I put the rest of the money aside for my WDW trip in December.

The way I have it set up now, I know that each month between May and November I have to set aside about $410 to take care of all of the WDW expenses that I will need to pay. This usually leaves me with bwteen $190 & $290 left each month to put in a emergency fund incase of car problems or unexpected illness (knock on wood this doesn't happen). Probably in August I will move the money saved so far, in my account to a savings. Currently I minus the $410 out of the account so it is like it's not even there and won't even miss it.

The only reason I am staying in a club level room with a king bed at such a deluxe resort as the Swan is because I got a great AP rate for my Dec 26 to Jan 3 solo trip. If it hadn't been for the deal I got, I would have stayed at either a moderate or one of the value resorts since it is really expensive for the week of x-mas to new years.