Spending..

[happytraveller]

Yes like my little sis said (Lisa x) we are a family of 6 and we spent £1400 in two weeks! We only ate counter service twice in mk and that was $40 each time because I eat children's meals as well.
I can honestly say we didn't scrimp the kids had ice-creams when they wanted them and treats from the candy shops in the parks. Where we did save money is we brought packed lunches nearly everyday with frozen large bottles of water/juice. (not bad if you have a pram you can put everything in) : we also left the parks around 3.30 and ate dinner at home shopping at public then went back out for the evening to the parks or stayed in the villa to play in the pool!
Hope this helps!

Well that's inspiration at a time I need it

 

[Julia Ann]

i think we took 600 for 2 weeks last time we went 2006, but we are not big spenders, not big eaters and were on a bit of a budget. It depends if you want to buy a t-shirt or cuddly toy after every ride....as each ride usually has it's own gift shop. I think the exchange rate was much better then too, so that does factor into it.

 

[bazzanoid]

As a couple, we like to go with toooo much than not enough. Our aim is specifically to come back with some, but knowing we went with enough to not worry if we could afford something or not. Generally, we go with £2000 each, plus a separate food & gas budget which is planned to a fixed amount depending on intended day trips, ADRs etc, and even then knowing we have ample 'spare' cash with us means if we go over, we go over.

Some days we spend nothing from it, others we may hammer a few hundred in one go, for example last time we were there i picked up a mickey-ears sterling silver & austrian crystal bracelet for DW as an xmas present that set me back $300....

We also think before we go if there is any 'big' purchases coming up that we can get cheaper in the US, e.g. I am picking up a dSLR camera and a lense or two next time we go so am budgeting an extra $1000 and a trip to costco orlando... (yep, your UK costco card works in the US)

 

[claireanddylan]

Thanks guys,

I think we're looking to take about £1500 so about $2400 ish. We will buy all our tickets in advance. We arn't on a DDP but we arn't big eaters and don'y drink. Reason I am a bit cautious is I have booked some ADR (four in total) so wasn't sure if they would hit our budget hard. How much should you tip after your meal?
I don't buy many things really. I like the disney princess stationary for uni

 

[wayneg]

How much should you tip after your meal?
I don't buy many things really.

They recommend 15-20% before tax, it will say on the bottom of your bill but leave what you feel the service is worth, I had no problems leaving 15-20% for most meals last year but 2 (Ohana & Kona Cafe) I left $5 each, poor service at both.

 

[bazzanoid]

How much should you tip after your meal?

Ah, the burning question......

It's common etiquette to tip a minimum of 15% as a guide, rounded to the nearest dollar. Any less, and the server will feel you did not approve of their service (and therefore should have said so giving him/her chance to correct the problem during the meal rather than at the end - of course, if you did and they still didn't provide good service then less is justified regardless!!). Some servers just shrug off less, especially if you are clearly non-american, others do take offence. I once had an all-out argument in a ponderosa with our server as we did not leave a tip (for very good reason) at all, and she was not a happy bunny. In the end the restaurant manager came over, and having observed both her lack of service to us and the argument, pulled her off the serving floor and gave us a full refund......

 

[claireanddylan]

OK, so if we spend $6o we would tip about $10?
Gosh I would hate to be in that position.

I had this with a taxi driver, she wouldn't give me my change. I had every intention of tipping her but I was annoyed she was tipping herself effectively.

 

[wayneg]

OK, so if we spend $6o we would tip about $10?
Gosh I would hate to be in that position.

I had this with a taxi driver, she wouldn't give me my change. I had every intention of tipping her but I was annoyed she was tipping herself effectively.

If your bill came to $60 total that would be $56.34 + $3.66 tax

You only tip on the $56.34 so 15% = $8.45 or 20% = $11.27

If I was tipping on those figures I would leave $8 for average service or $10 for good service, if they did anything like give us free drinks, a birthday/anniversary card, free cupcake etc then I would tip $12-15

Apparently taxi drivers can get very grumpy with tipping, my Brother once tipped one in NYC, the driver threw the money back at my Brother, they don't like coins.

Tip what you feel the service is worth, don't be pressured into giving anything if you had bad service, talk to the manager if its so bad.

 

[bazzanoid]

Yep, 10 bucks on 60 would be about right for me, i tend not to work it out as closely as Wayne, but that's purely because i can't be bothered, as long as i do the 15% minimum it's all good - after food all i want to do is sleep normally

 

[wayneg]

i tend not to work it out as closely as Wayne,:

Being self employed for almost 30 years, doing my own accounts it just comes as 2nd nature to have finances down to the exact penny. I can spend an hour trying to find or lose a penny, more often than not that penny leads to £'s of errors. Thankfully easy numbers like 15% or 20% can be done in your head in seconds although Disney make it easy for anyone that struggles with tipping, its offsite dining where you usually have to work it out.

 

[penlanspice]

This is one of those how long is a piece of string questions.
We just got back from 12 days and took £1600 for the 2 of us and my sister, we bought quite a bit of stuff and were pleasantly surprised how well it lasted.
We usually take around £2600 between the 2 of us for just over 3 weeks and usually end up getting a little more cash at the end of the holiday, but we do buy quite a bit.

 

[tinkerpea]

OK, so if we spend $6o we would tip about $10?
Gosh I would hate to be in that position.

I had this with a taxi driver, she wouldn't give me my change. I had every intention of tipping her but I was annoyed she was tipping herself effectively.

This is something that when on the DDP Dh & I was always really dreading the 1st yr we wasnt used to the tipping and we was also paying our meals it really adds up!
2nd yr we had DDP(not free paid OOP) and it was also our wedding so had family with us well as we was a table of 8 each TS meal even if we was seated at different tables where we couldnt even speak to eah other we was charged 18% just for booking it together so usually the meal on the DDP would come to around $250 ish and the tip would be hmmm too much Dh and I due to his parents usually saying Oh where just gonna wait outside was the ones who ended up PAYING the tips for everybody( never will i holiday with them again)
last trip Dh and i knew that some meals was just him and me and others was our 3 boys and my mum too so we would have 6 and get charged the 18% wether it was great or not,so we put all our tip money onto a giftcard and used only that for meals and drinks.....This worked perfect and we will do it again this yr!

Just a quick story we was in a Disney's Coral Reef and our service was TERRIBLE the waiter didnt ask us our drinks order for 20mins after sitting down didnt explain menu choices was snotty towards our children never got us refills and when my son asked for a refill told him he shouldnt be drinking so much!! I told him it was only his 2nd drink!!! at the end he gave us the bill and said what did we want to put the 18% on we told him we wanted to speak to his manager, we told the manager all of the above and said we would not be giving him the full amount! the manager then told us we had no choice we was a table of 6 and on the DDP, I told him kindly we was sorry but he didnt deserve the tip,the manager then said If we insisted on not paying that HE would have to make the waiters tip up and that a note would be put onto our reservation that we refused to pay the tip!...............
Needless to say i still didnt leave anything but $3.00 i was utterly disgusted and we walked out!
Never had this problem anywhere else and it certainly didnt effect the rest of our ADRs but i was really upset with the thought that we had bad service and yet we was threatened to that we could have this note on our reservations

 

[Elise79]

This is something that when on the DDP Dh & I was always really dreading the 1st yr we wasnt used to the tipping and we was also paying our meals it really adds up!
2nd yr we had DDP(not free paid OOP) and it was also our wedding so had family with us well as we was a table of 8 each TS meal even if we was seated at different tables where we couldnt even speak to eah other we was charged 18% just for booking it together so usually the meal on the DDP would come to around $250 ish and the tip would be hmmm too much Dh and I due to his parents usually saying Oh where just gonna wait outside was the ones who ended up PAYING the tips for everybody( never will i holiday with them again)
last trip Dh and i knew that some meals was just him and me and others was our 3 boys and my mum too so we would have 6 and get charged the 18% wether it was great or not,so we put all our tip money onto a giftcard and used only that for meals and drinks.....This worked perfect and we will do it again this yr!

Just a quick story we was in a Disney's Coral Reef and our service was TERRIBLE the waiter didnt ask us our drinks order for 20mins after sitting down didnt explain menu choices was snotty towards our children never got us refills and when my son asked for a refill told him he shouldnt be drinking so much!! I told him it was only his 2nd drink!!! at the end he gave us the bill and said what did we want to put the 18% on we told him we wanted to speak to his manager, we told the manager all of the above and said we would not be giving him the full amount! the manager then told us we had no choice we was a table of 6 and on the DDP, I told him kindly we was sorry but he didnt deserve the tip,the manager then said If we insisted on not paying that HE would have to make the waiters tip up and that a note would be put onto our reservation that we refused to pay the tip!...............
Needless to say i still didnt leave anything but $3.00 i was utterly disgusted and we walked out!
Never had this problem anywhere else and it certainly didnt effect the rest of our ADRs but i was really upset with the thought that we had bad service and yet we was threatened to that we could have this note on our reservations

Just to say you are within your rights to have it removed - it is an automatic gratuity not a service charge.

If I had been spoken to like that my next stop would have been guest services!

We refuse to eat at CR now - last time we didn't even get as far as been seated as DD had enough after 30 mins and we had plans to meet friends after dinner so we left and went and got CS. Never eaten there and had a really good service experience.