Short on cash

[Jasminesmommy]

is it possible to have a good time on $700 to $1000 for 6 days with 2 adults and 2 kids ages 6 and 4???

 

[HauntedMansionGeek]

Absolutely...if that's just your spending cash. If your airfare and room is already paid for, I would say yes, you can do it for 700-1000$.

Be careful which tickets you buy...do some thoughtful thinking on which ones will give your family the most value and eat lots of meals you prepare in the room.

There are lots of other great budget ideas on the budget forum here at the DIS...so check there to see what else you can do to keep your costs down.

Have a fun trip..it's so neat to see DisneyWorld from a child's eyes.

 

[C.Ann]

Is the $700 to $1000 for food and souveniers after EVERYTHING else has been paid for?

If so, I would say yes - as long as you don't go into it with the mind-set that you are somehow being "deprived" because you don't have more money..

With careful planning and a great attitude, I'm sure you could have a blast! How could you NOT?? You'll be in the happiest place on earth - right?????

 

[Jasminesmommy]

thanks for the reassurance. everything except food and souvinors are paid for.

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by Jasminesmommy
thanks for the reassurance. everything except food and souvinors are paid for.

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

Then worry no more!! Just check out all the great planning tips all over these boards (Budget Board; Disney For Families Board; etc.).. You'll get some awesome money-saving fun ideas and I'm sure it will be a big help to you in making this an absolutely WONDERFUL trip!

Have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[LoriZH]

I thought you were going to ask for a loan with that heading, lol.

That is MORE than enough cash for the four of you, you'll be surprised how much you can save on food and souveniers if you budget just right.

Have fun and don't worry!!

 

[tinaluis]

We spend about that much for three weeks for 2 adults and 3 children, so you should have plenty for 6 days. Of course, we've been there many, many times before so we usually don't do too much souvenier shopping, we usually have about 10 Q&C meal vouchers and we usually eat breakfast in our room to save on $$ and time because our DDs dawdle over breakfast. We don't do any character meals either, which is fine with us. You'll have a great time. Enjoy!

 

[Doc and Family]

You should have no problem.

Our boys often split meals, and we usually eat one sit down a day. Our boys prefer breakfast in the room, so we bring stuff from home, pop-tarts, cereal, etc.
We snack all day long, so we dont spend a fortune every day on a nice sit down meal.
Our last two trips we averaged $65-100/day for food, extras and souveniers. And we bought our boys way too much stuff.
If this is your children's first trip, enjoy it through their eyes, it will open yours in ways you never imagined.
Also, we find by letting our boys dictate certain things we do, they feel more in control and have very few "meltdowns".
Finally, HAVE A GREAT TRIP!

 

[PhotobearSam]

I would give each Kid a set amount of Money for their souvies and treats. Tell them in no uncertain terms that is it and they can spend it on whatever they like but when it's gone...IT'S GONE!!!

That way you won't feel like you are a bad parent to not buy eveything they want. I would get them things from the dollar store before the trip to give them...(Disney stickers, Lollypops, glow bracelets and necklaces etc...)

Seperate the money into an env. for each day and when it's gone stop spending...(have one extra env in case of emergency)

You will have a great time...Have a great trip..

The budget board here is awesome.See you there.

 

[punkin]

I have done WDW on 1200 including all hotels, food, souveniers (we don't do much of that) and airfaire (really cheap flights-$370 for all of us) for 4 people for a week. Yes it can be done (a lot of budgeting and scrimping on food and lodging via priceline, but doablr). If you have $700 just for food, you've got it made.

 

[loriandmatt]

ok - if you are staying at a place with a kitchenette...use it.
if you aren't, and you are flying, make a trip to wal-mart once you get down there and pick up a cheapo cooler. (cheaper than paying the 10 or so bucks a day to rent a fridge in your room at WDW resorts.) While at wal-mart pick up portable grub items, breakfast stuff, lunch/light dinner stuff, drinks.....you will be surprised as to how much money you don't have to spend on food when you do this and make a point to use the food you just bought.

When you are buying meals - split them. the portions of some of these meals can be huge. Unless your kids really put it away, you can save $$ by spliting meals.

If you are planning on buying a meal that day, try to make it a very late breakfast or a lunch. The prices of the breakfast buffets are much cheaper than the dinner. Lunch is usually a bit less expensive than dinner prices as well. Do your homework though, different places stop/start serving breakfast/lunch/dinner at different times.

If you already have an AP or the soon to be defunct DC.... you can get some pretty good discounts at certain restaurants at certain times on certain days with either of these. Again, you have to do a little homework to find this info out, but can save you $$.

Good Luck and happy planning.

- lori

 

[Jasminesmommy]

Thanks for all the info. We are staying at the Allstar movie and its for my daughters birthday. I just recently moved to another state and ended up spending all our "Disney" money on the move. I never realized how expensive it was. So now after I made all kinds of PS (CRT, Ohana, Rose & Crown, Breakfasaurous, and many others) I feel bad that I can't do it now. I was looking forward to having the money and pumping myself up since March that its hard falling from that disney High and having to budget. If it wasn't for my daughters birthday I would cancel for a latter date.

P.S. Any body wanna give me a $2000 loan J/K

 

[lynetteSC]

Enjoy your trip! Be sure to get your daughter a BIRTHDAY button from City Hall!

 

[pstepka]

We spent just a tad over that for a family of 5 and did 2 character breakfasts (we had 11:00 seating so that counted for our lunch), two dinners at Cape May, two dinners at ESPN club, and bought the kids 'stuff'. We do NOT buy souveniers to bring home for other people, but instead buy our kids and us a few things to bring home.

We also ate breakfast in the room - poptarts, cereal, etc.

You'll have no problem!

Pam

 

[michygoomy]

We spent less than $1000 our last trip (family of 4), no splitting meals or anything like that. We were not depriving ourselves, that's just what we ended up spending at the end of the week! We did only three sit-down meals (Beirgarten, Chef Mickey's and Rainforest), and Chef Mickey's was for a late breakfast. One character meal was enough. The food court at All-Stars was great, we loved the food there and the prices were good. We ate breakfast in the room for the convenience, and because we don't really eat a big breakfast (DH doesn't eat breakfast at all). We also saved on beverages, DH bought his soda at our grocery stop on the way in and brought it every day in a cooler bottle. I had a big cooler bottle of water for the kids and I--that's more a matter of convenience than budgeting, because you can't take purchased drinks on the rides. I only spent about $100-$150 for souveniers for people outside the immediate family, by choice. My two kids had a budget for suveniors and got just about everything they wanted, even those "impulsive" purchases. I even bought myself a new camera bag while there.

I think you'll be just fine and will have a WONDERFUL time! I'm jealous, even though I just went to Disneyland this Sunday! I need another fix!