$$$Spending Money$$$ for DL Trip

[toromom]

Good Morning,

Excited newbie here trying to figure out whats a good amount of cash to take for our families first trip to DL

Myself,DH,DS12and DD9,we plan to do at least 1 character meal (Minnie and Friends)and also considering doing Ariel's..... sounds like this one might be a good one for princess interaction. We have a 3 day park hopper pass and we will also spend a day at Sea World and a day at Universal Studios.

What would be a good amount/range to take for souvenirs and food???? From reading the board it sounds like there are lots of restaurant options within the park and surrounding areas so we would not eat every meal in the park,but we would definately like to try some of the DL restaurants that I have seen recommended on this board before.


TIA!!
Toromom

 

[araes2102]

Let me first say that I too have never been and am planning a first trip... We have a similar family composition though and here is the way I am figuring things (anyone feel free to let me know if I am way off base here): $150 per day for food in the parks (we will eat breakfast and probably a light lunch at our hotel) & $100 each for souvenirs plus another $100 for souvenirs to bring home for other people. I would guess spending $ on your days at other parks will be similar to what you would spend at Disney. Personally I spent a lot of time looking at the menus posted on mousewaits to figure out our food budget, might be helpful for you check those out

 

[JadeDarkstar]

look at some of the menues and see if you guys can split any. I can honestly say the burger at village hus was awsome and huge me and dh could have shared one and will in oct.
My son was fine with the pizza kids meal, or chicken kids meals. from village hus or golden horseshoe.
we can split alot of things next time we will split one of the chicken dinners at plaza inn.

suviners id plan about 25 a day per person but that's just me. and with three of us four days coming up in oct i plan on 100 for each of us.

another 200 for food (as we will share) and I am debating about getting chr meals this time or not.

 

[joelnkelly]

We are a family of 4 and staying Sat-Sat, with our spending habits (while on vacation) I figured out $150 per person per day. Since we do one big vacation each year I have a hard time telling the kids no to anything. This allows them to go crazy and plus leave extra.
Also, this is our first trip to DL so who knows if only trip out to west, so I wanted to make sure we didnt have any restrictions. I started saving a year ago for this.

 

[hlbtimes2]

It really depends on your eating and spending habits. We are a family of 4. When my kids were younger (they are 10 and 13 now), eating off the kids menus, we planned about $100 per day in food. Now that we all order off the regular menu, we spend about $150 a day. Thats 2 meals in the park (average about $60 per meal) plus some little drinks or snacks during the day. On the day we do the character meal, we typically eat a lighter 2nd meal, so it still averages out.

A treat at the candy store will run you $3-4 for something chocolate. $8-10 for a caramel apple. Popcorn in a souv. bucket is $6.

Other spending money: t-shirts are going to be about $30-40. A hoodie will be about $45-70. Stuffed animals are about $12-25. Bubble guns seem to be the big craze right now- they are about $15.

 

[jilld11]

We are a family of 4 for 4 nights, 5 days and we plan on eating breakfast at hotel everyday (full hot breakfast). $600 total per day is lots (joelnkelly) can I come w/your family.lol.
I am only planning on $200/day inc. one character meal (prepaid) and one BTR BBQ. That is $800 total for the whole time, but have $1000 put aside just in case. We travel all the time (not Disney often though) and this is easily enough for our family.

 

[martikus]

We found the food pricey. You can see prices for places at allears.net so at leeast your character meals you know up front.

We usually spent $30 for 3 of us (DH, me, DS (5)) per meal. More if we did sit down of course. We did one character meal (Plaza Breakfast) and had planned ahead of time for that cost.

If you are going, going, going in the parks you can probably get away with counter service instead of sit down meals. DH & I really enjoyed splitting the Turkey sandwich & onion rings at Hungry Bear.

One night we walked down the road a bit and got subway. Not only was it cheaper, but we felt a little healthier eating it!

I'm a mean mom - DS was only allowed 1 souvenir for the trip. He could buy it on day one or anytime there after but that was it. I had a mental limit of $30, but he chose a $13 star wars set! I've heard some parents do gift cards for each kid and when it is gone it's gone.

 

[jennabennabofenna]

Id say $150 per day, depending how many meals you eat IN the parks...

When we spent 3 days in the parks we spent about $250 in food (me, DH, DDs ages 3 1/2 and 12months)

We did ariels grotto which was about $110, snacks here and there in the parks, and ate the rest of our meals offsite.

 

[Sillysox]

Our past two trips, we budgeted about $200 a day, but that was intended to cover food, snacks and souvenirs. (we are a family of four also) I would refill my wallet each day with the day's amount and usually there was some left over. we found that by the end of our 4/5 days we had about 100 left over and that was good for the going home day, ie grabbing lunch on the way to the airport or an extra souvenir or whatever.

We also made sure our kids had their own spending money (I think we gave them each $40 and grandma gave them each $20) and that was to purchase whatever they wanted. They were free to buy souvenirs or ice cream or, in my son's case, churros every day (lol!). We told them that we would buy them what they needed for food and drink and they would have to buy whatever extra they wanted. I would pay for them to have a couple of souvenir t-shirts that I picked out, but toys or anything like that would come out of their own money.

It worked out really well!

 

[jilld11]

Our past two trips, we budgeted about $200 a day, but that was intended to cover food, snacks and souvenirs. (we are a family of four also) I would refill my wallet each day with the day's amount and usually there was some left over. we found that by the end of our 4/5 days we had about 100 left over and that was good for the going home day, ie grabbing lunch on the way to the airport or an extra souvenir or whatever.

We also made sure our kids had their own spending money (I think we gave them each $40 and grandma gave them each $20) and that was to purchase whatever they wanted. They were free to buy souvenirs or ice cream or, in my son's case, churros every day (lol!). We told them that we would buy them what they needed for food and drink and they would have to buy whatever extra they wanted. I would pay for them to have a couple of souvenir t-shirts that I picked out, but toys or anything like that would come out of their own money.

It worked out really well!

Thos sounds just like our family and I am assuming for the same thing.

 

[joelnkelly]

We are a family of 4 for 4 nights, 5 days and we plan on eating breakfast at hotel everyday (full hot breakfast). $600 total per day is lots (joelnkelly) can I come w/your family.lol. .

Sure , the more the merrier. $600 seems like a lot but like i said, this is our one big trip for this year, so I saved up all year. I didnt want to feel like we had to budget on this trip so with this amount we figured the kids could splurge and so could we. I know they are never going to spend that full $150 a day, so that means we hopefully will have plenty left over when we get back home. Which will be a nice plus.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Perhaps the girls could dine with the princesses while the guys get a burger & fries and ride Screamin' *Single rider* To pre pay and save a few $$ for Ariel's I'd suggest purchasing Character Meal vouchers from GAT hover over Tickets, click Disneyland Resort, Step 5 select Dining, these include tax & tip! You'd need the Premium Dining voucher for Ariel's. For our upcoming visit I think DD & I will dine with the princesses while DS eats something quick and rides whatever he'd like, perhaps RSR with 3 FPs *if we've already ridden it once that day* the 3 of us will eat lunch @ BTR BBQ

 

[T0rrent]

You can also save some money by bringing in some snacks in your bag. Last christmas, the wife and I kept some resealable bags of chips ahoy cookies and granola bars as well as a couple bottles of water in our bag. Worked out great when we were stuck in a long line and needed a little something to munch on.

 

[nbliss]

Last year we took 2k for a Mon-Fri trip (family of four, kids were 8 and 5). I didn't want to budget, saved all year. Ate at the parks, but not every meal. Had one character meal, kids got snacks in the park, shirts, hats, autograph books, photopass cd, Splash mountain pic, character meal pics, kids got something each day. Ended up paying for hotel with $350 of that, $80 for cab to and from airport, 75 for parking at our airport, and had $100 left over. We did it all with cash, not one credit/debit card. We too took some out each day, left the rest in the hotel safe. So technically, if you take away the hotel and what we had left, it was about $1550. I plan to do the same this year.

 

[nbliss]

btw, it was our first DL trip with our kids, too, which is one reason we wanted to take a good amount of money.

 

[joelnkelly]

btw, it was our first DL trip with our kids, too, which is one reason we wanted to take a good amount of money.

I bet it was a nice feeling not having to worry about any budget! that is how I want our first trip to DL to feel like!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

cheap trick that worked well for us.
free water, free ice I stopped and got some at nearly every counter service place in the park or it seems like it.

one tall skinny Pepsi (not sure if it was half litter or smaller) filled three med glasses of ice )

 

[toromom]

Thanks everyone for the comments/tips/suggestions!! They will be very helpful for planning purposes... The per day of 150-200 is definately reasonable and I was actually thinking more along the lines of nbliss's budget.
I would rather have too much than not enough


Thanks again guys

 

[mmlover74]

The gift card for my son (age 6) worked. He knew he had so much to spend and it helped him make choices when buying. When he saw how much something cost, he would quietly shake his head no. Not once, did he ask us for more money, so he could get something higher price. I was proud of him for that.

This was the first time we split meals whether between my son and I or my husband and I. The kids meals were too big for him and it kept me from eating too much.

 

[Vowelmommy]

We give each child a gift card for $100. Then they can get one amazing huge thing, (DD has her eye on the castle play set ), or a smaller thing every day, or whatever they choose. I have $100 gift cards for DH and I as well, for treats, souvenirs, etc. I also have a $200 gift card for snacks, drinks, everything that is not meals. I am planning $100 a day for meals. We are going all counter service this trip, it is going to be too crowded, and we are not there long enough to spend hours and hours in restaraunts. So altogether that is
$400 spending for children
$200 spending for adults
$200 for snacks and drinks
$300 for meals

$1100 total