Spending money?

[TwinTinks]

Keeping in mind that everyone has different spending habits, I am still curious as to how much spending money one brings to WDW? We are a family of 4 (two four year olds) on the dining plan.

 

[sammielynn]

I always take more than we need but we watch what we buy. No expensive meals, and only one or two souviners. I have $150 on my Disney Visa Rewards card, $70 in disney dollars and will take about $600 in cash and hope to have cash when we come home. Hotel and tickets are already paid for.

 

[comicguy]

If you already have the dinning plan then I would suggest about 150/day for extras like T-Shirts, stuffed characters, etc... You will most likely come home with money at that rate.

 

[DisneyaholicRaquel]

It's 2 of us (1 adult & 1 child) staying for 11 days on the DP. We are taking $2500 but, probably will not spend that much!

 

[bellarella]

I must be an odd ball. Not counting food, tix, hotel, and airfare, we spent less than $200 total for a 6 day trip for 4 people. This included gifts for people back home, balloons one day for the girls, sand buckets at the hotel, and some extra sunscreen. We each got one souvenir. I'm not big on getting "stuff" on vacations.

 

[Makdyn]

I am taking about $900 and my kids have about $100 each for them that they earned or recieved. We are going for 8 days on the dinning plan. a family of four dd 5, dd 2, my mom (who will have her own spending money) and me.

 

[kinntj]

I'm figuring at LEAST $100 a day for spending. This includes the little extras, souveneirs, and some food that might not be on the dining plan (take credits for character dining). We're going for 7-10 days (don't have that figured out yet) next year.

We'll probably bring more, but the kids will have their own spending money in disney $$'s so that will help.

 

[disneyjunkie]

My son and will be on the dining during our next trip. I'm planning to take $1200.00 for our 6 night trip. This money will be used to cover the yummy snacks that aren't included in the dining plan,ride pictures and for shopping.

My son (he's 14) will also have some money that he has saved up.

 

[kizmac]

I think the figure of $100-150 a day is pretty good. If you are someone that doesn't buy many souvies you will not spend near that a day while on the DP. You may be able to come home with quite a bit of money left.

 

[Fall1]

I would say $100/day will be more than enough unless you are planning on buying many souvies. This should cover drinks (extra water and alcohol -if you drink)
When I was little my parents used to allow us to buy one souvie on day 1 and another on our last day so instead of buying things all trip long we would be planning for our last purchase. It worked well.

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

You were right to say there are many different speding styles!

If you want to keep the costs down, then the best thing to do is know what is out there to buy and prepare the kids (and yourself) before you go. You are lucky that all the basics are taken care of, so it's *your* decision how much more the trip will cost.

For us we keep it pretty simple - this is what we did when our kids were 5 and 3 (close to your two) They were each given $20 to spend on souveniers for the week, we explained it before and they understood they could always come back later and buy something (so they didn't spend it all the first day). We then bought each girl a tee-shirt ($15) and gave them a smooshed penny book ($6) (you fill them with flattened pennies - 50cents a smoosh - we probably did about 5 a day) They were told they could choose one penny design at each machine (they are in all the shops and major rides) So total kid budget for week - $87

Beware of the laynards! They are very cool, but can bust your budget! The laynards are worn around the neck and then you buy or trade pins to place on it. A starter set, laynard and 4 pins is $25. We brought laynards from home and then the girls used some of their $20 to get it started. (I think pins range from $4 - $10) When our kids were younger - we just said no and they stopped pestering us. But they are very addicting I have one and add to it each year.

We usually get my husband and myself a shirt ($40).

Costs that could add up would be alcohol and breakfast. A muffin and drink will cost you at least $5 a person. Having cereal in your room - a lot less. Will you need gas money or are you doign Magical Express? It's all about choices!!

So for us, we would need about $250 - $300 a week if we were on the eating plan. We go about once a year, so the merchandise doesn't call to us as much as it used to. But if you want to splurge - go and have fun! We have done it both ways (watching costs and not) and it is a great trip both ways as long as you have your expectations in line before you go.

 

[sassymom]

I am taking about $900 and my kids have about $100 each for them that they earned or recieved. We are going for 8 days on the dinning plan. a family of four dd 5, dd 2, my mom (who will have her own spending money) and me.

This is almost us to a T. Except it's DD5 and a DS2. We're bringing about 1,000 for spending money, planning $112 right off the bat for the double stroller rental. We are on the dining plan and everything else is also paid for we'll be there for 7 days.

 

[jillyjoey]

I must be an odd ball. Not counting food, tix, hotel, and airfare, we spent less than $200 total for a 6 day trip for 4 people. This included gifts for people back home, balloons one day for the girls, sand buckets at the hotel, and some extra sunscreen. We each got one souvenir. I'm not big on getting "stuff" on vacations.

You are not the oddball. Our last trip, I budgeted $100 per day and we came home with lots of cash (yeah). This was adding some uplanned for souvenirs, a pair of shoes, some emergency underwear for my son (that we bought at Epcot!), film, unplanned for snack (fudge & candy), and some other incidentals (winetasting at Epcot) that were not in budget. This year we are doing 7 day with parkhopper and dining and I am planning on $500 total spending money and kids have to earn their souvenir money before we go (letting them each earn up to $100 a piece.) I am hoping I will again come home with cash.

 

[sandy6879]

Three of us - me, my fiance, and my dd9. We will be on the dining plan. I'm taking about $100/day for extra snacks. We may head over to Sea World or Universal for a day so that will cover the food over there as well. I hate taking home stuff from vacations. DD likes doing pressed pennies, so she has her own money for things like that.

 

[TwinTinks]

Wow! Thanks everone for your reponses! This really helps me. I am so excited about this trip in June. We are driving, so now we just need figure gas expenses (yikes).

By the way, since we are driving, would it make sense to use our vehicle to drive to the parks or use Disney buses (we are staying at POFQ)?

Also...anyone know offhand the cost of the monogrammed Mouse ears (hat)?

 

[sassymom]

Also...anyone know offhand the cost of the monogrammed Mouse ears (hat)?

I would love to know too! As for driving or taking Disney transportation, IMHO why pay for gas to drive back and forth and parking when you can travel for free, if there's too much of a line for busses then you can take the car. That'll leave you that much more spending money.

 

[stahshee]

I must be an odd ball. Not counting food, tix, hotel, and airfare, we spent less than $200 total for a 6 day trip for 4 people. This included gifts for people back home, balloons one day for the girls, sand buckets at the hotel, and some extra sunscreen. We each got one souvenir. I'm not big on getting "stuff" on vacations.

I here ya! We are a family 0f 7 and i am bringing 300 Disney dollars and planning on bringing 200 more . My kids have a spending limit of 25 each. They have been to the world and have plenty of souvies from previous times. so i am only planning on 500. mind you i am bringing drinks and ssnacks and breakfast items even though we are on on the dining plan.

 

[carone0318]

By the way, since we are driving, would it make sense to use our vehicle to drive to the parks or use Disney buses (we are staying at POFQ)?
:

We don't drive, but we do rent a car and with little ones we prefer to drive at times rather than take the bus. We normally stay at BWV and we can walk to MGM and Epcot and we also got MK via Epcot Monorail, but if we go to AK we drive and if we were to go to MK for the late hours we drive. With little ones the last thing I want to do is wait for the bus at 10/11pm at night. So we don't do one or the other, but we use both depending on the situation.