Spending Money

[juliette]

This might have been asked before but I still would like your help guys We are going for 10 days at the end of June and I am wondering how much money we should take. It will be my husband my girl 11 and my son 5 and myself. Everything is paid for from hotel to car rental to all tickets. Just money needed for food and souviners. I have no special dinner reservations just going to Ice cream social. I am also planning on one stop to buy some snacks and breakfeast food for the room. So I just need some ideas on what past guests spend. Thank you guys for your responses

 

[Ratpack]

We (me, DW & DD4) usually budget $75 to $100 a day for food and souvenirs. Now that may seem low to most but we just eat moderately at WDW and limit our souvenirs. And we usually come back with some money. It will really depend on how your family eats and what they want to buy. One Tip we do to save on food is bring stuff for breakfast in the room, split a meal and kids meal at lunch at a counter service and then each get something either counter or sit down for dinner. carry snacks in the parks for those little hunger pains between meals.

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

We just got back from 9 nights at a campsite in Ft. Wilderness. My two kids are 17 & 18, so my expenses are basically for 4 adults who have been many times before.

Souveniers from Ron Jon's (Cocoa Beach), Kennedy Space Center, and WDW totalled approx $240 and included:

2 ride pictures
1 CD
1 set salt/pepper shakers
1 paperback book
2 license plate frames
1 watch
2 sweatshirts
5 t-shirts
1 swimsuit cover-up skirt

Total food expenses spent while on the trip came to $700. This included $120 for dinner at Ohana's and $85 for dinner at the River Roost Lounge. We ate breakfast and some lunches at the campsite. I think we ate dinner out all but one night. Below is a listing of food expenses for the 3 days we were in the parks:

Day 1 total $40.04 - Visited two parks; ate breakfast & lunch at campsite
AK (Cart) Ice Cream $7.50; MK (Enchanged Grove) Lemonade & Ice Cream $5.31, MK (Columbia Harbor House) 4 meals w/ ice water $27.23

Day 2 total $58.88- Visited two parks; ate breakfast at campsite
Epcot (Germany) 3 sandwiches w/ ice water $22.65, Epcot (Land) Latte's & ice cream $16.86, Studios (Market) Turkey leg & 2 hot dogs $12.37; Studios (Fantasia) Hot Choc w/ mug $7.00

Day 3 total $61.12 - Visted two parks; ate breakfast at campsite
Studios (Commissary) 4 meals w/ ice water $26.59, Studios (cart) 3 ice creams $7.50, Epcot (UK) Fish/Chips & coffee $8.40; Epcot (Canada) 2 Beavertails $8; Epcot (US) 3 sandwiches w/ ice water $10.63.

If we ate in the parks and ordered 4 adult meals w/ ice water, it would run between $25-30. It really helps if you have a cooler stocked with things for breakfast and even meats for sandwiches if you are going to spend the day by the pool. We kept beer and beverages in our cooler as well, and would have something before going out in the evening (taking WDW transportation of course) ... this kept our alcoholic beverage purchases to a minimum. We requested ice water when ordering meals and this also saved us many $$$$. Also, a couple of snacks in the backpack helped as well.

One day after going to Typhoon Lagoon, we stopped at the Winn-Dixie grocery store (it is about 1.5 miles or so from Goodings ... from DTD, go to Crossroads and then take a left) to stock up on milk/bread/ice, etc and they were fairly reasonable, especially if you asked for their Rewards card .... I save $7 on my $50 order just from that. Also, we got take out Chinese and a pizza from places at the same plaza.

We could have easily spent more money on food, but could have easily spent less as well.

 

[worm761]

have you checked out the menus at http://www.wdwig.com/menu/menus.htm
you can check out what each restaurant has and about how much it costs.

 

[CuteKatCar]

Hi!

We are a family of 4. Our kids are DD7 and DD10. This is our 5th trip coming up in June. I started giving my kids a daily limit. They have saved quite a bit of their own money. This year they are getting $15.00 per day which is $120.00 total. I have already bought Disney Dollars at the disney store, so they have their own "money". If they go over their budget, I put it in, but I take it out of their "kitty". (sometimes they see an expensive item and we may not be in that park again so we get it).

I don't include any clothes that I want them to get (I pay for that) or any gifts that they want to bring home to other people.

It does teach money management and also (and more importantly

), it makes them think hard about their decisions. We all know how easy it is for them to spend OUR money, but when it comes to parting with their own money, it's not easy.

I also budget on the high side. I am figuring $125.00 per day for food. We do eat a lot and we eat well and I am figuring an additional $300.00 for souvienirs.

If we go over budget on the food, then we eat only counter food the next day.

Anna

 

[Lynn CC]

That depends on how much you and your kids eat and weather your going to go for character meals, some nice restaurants or counter service. Our last trip there was DH and I (who normally don't eat a whole lot, but DH likes a NICE meal) and DS 14 ( who is always hungry).
We went to some nice breakfasts, usually counter service lunch, and then nice dinners. Diner included Palios, Le Cellier, Alfredos, Wolfgang Pucks, Liberty Tree Tavern, Yachtsman Steakhouse, etc... we went all out for dinners. Usually those sit-down meals came between $100 and $150.(we didn't drink any alcohol) Sitdown breakfasts usually ranged from $50 - $60. And Lunch at counterservice was usually around $30 - $35. We spent well over $1500 on food for 10 nights. We were planning on $250 a day for food and Souviners, and we came under that by a little bit!
DS and DH also got a lot of snacks (I had my share too) Ice creams everyday, popcorn, candy at the candy store,corndogs etc..it seemed like the more we ate the more hungry we got LOL.
We didn't buy a whole lot of things to take home, we have so much Disney stuff. We just bought T-Shirts, Sweatpants, Shorts, Mugs etc. So that didn't come to as much as some people would spend.
We also played a lot of mini golf at the 4 mini courses they have there, I think we played 8 nights out of our 10 night stay, so that can add up too.

Have Fun!

 

[E&B's Mom]

I usually busget $100 per day for meals etc for a family of 4. Again, it ,may sound low, but we usually only do one character breakfast and one nice meal, and eat cheaply the rest of the visit. In addition, the kids bring their own money. They are now 5 & 7 and have been saving allowance and disney dollars so each will bring around $100. DS has no idea how much money this is, but we will use it as a learning experience for him. DD learned the concept of money at WDW too!

 

[juliette]

Thanks for all the reponses I also figured out about 100 a day We are going to buy snacks and breakfeast items for the room. As for my son and myself we dont eat much so we could share a meal in the parks. As for telling my older daughter to strart saving money she doesnt know we are going its a SURPRISE. Both kids are graduating one from 5th grade and the other from pre-K I am still hoping to hear more from you guys

 

[Trekker]

OK - I'm on the other end of the spectrum - When I go on a big family vacation, I do not want to have to keep track of what I spend. I prefer to over budget and have money left.

IMHO $100.00 per day for 4 people is low.

My daily budget per person!


$25.00 - one sit down meal (Epcot WS or Character meal)
$5.00 - 2 snacks at $2.50 per in the parks (soda, ice cream, popcorn, water, Turkey leg, etc)
$10.00 - one counter meal (like Cosmic Ray's in MK)
__________
$40.00 per person

$160.00 per day for 4 people
$ 40.00 per day for Souveniers - That's only $10 per person - try and find something for $10.00

$200.00 per day - budget for food and Souveniers.

This may sound high but I do not want to be worrying about $$$$ on vacation. I would rather have $$$ left over....

Take for what it is worth!

 

[beansmom]

I have to agree w/Trekker...I want to splurge on vacation...otherwise, what the heck am I working for???

I try to be very frugal all year round just so I *can* spend (semi)freely on vacation. I budget about $100-125 per for three people for food and we have individual spending budgets. DD saves her allowance and that's what she spends. Last time she had over $500. I get about $350-500 because I buy for the house, too.
DH gets about $250.

 

[juliette]

I ment $100 for just food As for souvniers that a whole other story. As my husband and myself we are suckers for I want that I need that PLEASE mommy PLEASE daddy.

 

[mulgar]

Hi all,
Ok its my honeymoon.
We have 5 Ps'
San Angelo
Cindy's for dinner
LeCellair
The Japenese Steakhouse
And Chef Mickey's for breakfast
Just the two of us

So how much do i budget
We will eat all meals on property as we have no transportation other than disney
Shawn

 

[carone0318]

Please go to www.wdwig.com and look at the menus. You will basically know what you need for your meals that you have planned and will have a pretty good idea of what you would need for other places too. I can tell what the costs of our meals will be because I basically know what my family will order. If I am unsure, I take the highest priced thing on the menu and calculate my cost from that. They process has worked fairly good for me.

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

Agree that reviewing menus is a good idea. Don't forget that state sales tax is 6.5%. Alcoholic beverages can range from $4.00 (cheap beer) to $8.00 (tropical drink) each. If you drink wine, then the sky's the limit!!