We went out in December 2004 and were staying for 3 weeks with a 3 day stop off at Washington DC on the way back. We took £1000 for each week (2 adults, 2 under 7 year olds) and worked out what that would be per day which seemed very reasonable.
When we arrived we went shopping and bought cerial, juice, sweets, fruit, crisps etc and just bought milk from the on site food hall for breakfast or went off site if we were visting somewhere else. We ate from each place we visited, Disney, Universal etc but ate from counter service with a couple of "special meals" thrown in.
The cost of eating in the parks is practically the same as eating out over here so whilst it's generally considered to be expensive, in relation to what we pay here - it's not!
We took out 5 suitcases and came back with 6, two were filled to the brim with goodies!!!
The only downer for me was that I contracted Viral Meningitis on the 22nd December and missed Christmas completely. I came out of hospital 5 days before coming home so what I saved by being in hospital was very quickly spent before coming home!!
At the end of the day it was our first time there and I deceided that if I was never to go back I wanted to at least have some very visible memories, if I didn't collect Disney pins or be a member of the WDCC then the spending would have been alot less.
What you buy is up to you but the £3000 was a great safety amount and will be the same amount we take out when we go back in 2007. Each night I worked out what we'd spent and what we had left and what that worked out to be per day for the rest of the trip and so knew what the limits were and just saved the spending for the end.
Take what you can afford, but leave the big spending until the last few days before you head home, that way you know you you won't run out.
Have a fab trip and just go with it!!
Kind regards
Paula-Jane