Back to the discussion on the budget
Tips & Misc $275
I always like to have a 10% over run line in my budgets. This way when you miss calculated something, forgot something or prices just go up; you are covered. The total of everything else was $2725
so 10% of that is roughly $275.
Out of that money well use it to tip skycaps, mousekeeping and anyone else that does the heavy lifting or the dirty work for us (not included in this is wait staff). All the tip money will be set aside ahead of time. I hate not having change for tips. One of two things happens then
either you tip way too much because you didnt have any smaller bills or gud forbid you have to skip the tip all together. Both of which happened to us in Hawaii.
So my solution is to have envelopes ready for tips. I put money for tips in envelopes for both our arrival day and our departure day. That way it is ready to go and I know I have small bills. Lots of DISers do the tip envelopes for mousekeeping everyday. I will too. I think you should tip daily for maid service- not on check out day. Reason being is that your maid will likely change every several days due to their work schedules. So unless they pool tips or have some other system in place that I dont know about; the maid that cleaned your room for most of your vacation could get stiffed if your check-out day was her day off.
Heres a little known fact about me
The shortest time that I have ever been employed at a job was for 3 ½ hours. I tried housekeeping at a resort on the lake the summer before college. 3 ½ hours was enough time for me to know to look for something else.
And when did towel animals become a must have in order to have a great vacation? I love a towel creation just as much as the next person but if I read one more whiny post or review about how they tipped their mousekeeper and still didnt get a towel animal and how disappointed they were I think I might have to send out some nasty grams. Get over it people! If you made close to minimum wage do you think youd sit around and fashion white cotton face cloths into works of art? No you wouldnt. Youd do it when you had time during your regular rounds. End of rant
thank you.
The Food Budget $900
This is actually one of the first things that I did a lot of work on because I had to decide to
DDP or not to DDP.
We have done the dining plan twice before
once for free in 2005 and we paid for it in 2007. It worked out well for us and I do feel that we got good value from it in 2007. But it was really too much food. Now most of you know that they took the appetizer away from the TS and the gratuities are now out of pocket. I dont mind that the appetizer is gone but I have a problem with the gratuities not being included. If I pre-paid for my meals then I want it all pre-paid. But that being said
if the plan will still save us money then I will do it.
Figuring out the food budget is a lot of work
first I figured out where we would want to go for all 9 TS meals and the estimated cost of each (the average value/cost for us is $51 per meal).
Then I looked at CS meals and came to the conclusion that for us a CS meal is worth or would cost us $20 for the two of us (I have left DS out of the equation for now).
The snack credits are worth an average of $3 each to us.
Cost for the dinning plan:
(9 nights x 2 adults) x ($37.99 x 6.5% tax) = $728
Tip on TS = 9 x $51 average cost per meal x 18% = $83
Total = $811
Lets go backwards in our calculations because I think it gives a clearer picture.
The one day cost for one adult on the DDP (including tax) is
$40.46
I figured that for us the credits were worth the following per person:
Snack $3
CS $10
TS $25.50
For a total of $38.50. Plus tax makes it
$41.00
Thats a break-even. So I decided against the DDP. With a toddler in the mix I think its better to have the flexibility of paying out of pocket then being tied down to a pre-paid plan that wasnt going to really save us any money.
Now that might not be the case with everyone. I think the DDP is still a great value for people that pick the most expensive TS restaurants that they can for each meal. And I think its a really great tool for groups for people that are traveling together. If we were traveling with friends (it will never happen at Disney because Im too OCD, but we can pretend) it would simplify the paying of the bill for one, and second everyone could order what they wanted regardless of price
making it an even paying field for families with different budgets.
What I ended up with for a food budget is this:
Groceries for in room breakfasts, soda, water, snacks $50
Breakfasts (2 TS, 1 CS and airport food) $95
Lunches (9 CS, 1 TS) $215
Dinners (5 TS, 4 CS) $352
Snacks in the parks $50
*DSs food ???? $100
Tips $80
Total $942
I figure that we will save about $40 in soda/water if we bring it with us from the hotel room so that brings us to $900.
*I have no idea what my son will be eating in October
so I am planning $100 for him if I have to buy him meals. Hes allowed to eat off our plates at TS restaurants but my crystal ball is in the shop and I just dont know what to plan for him. $100 should cover it if need be.
In future updates well get to the fun stuff like our itinerary and where we are going to eat!
I dont have a thread of the week for you but I do have a beauty tip!
I recommend using Heel of Approval cream from Bath and Body for your feet if you have dry skin. I got some for Christmas and have been using almost every day and what a difference it has made.
Happy DISing
about the magic wand!
Yikes on the filter 
! My two were always finding places to cause trouble when they were that age!
Crawling into tents and making up sleeping bags.
