Spending..

[claireanddylan]

OK, so this is a bit of a random question.. but how much spending do you take (obv rough estimate) when you go on hols.

We are going for two weeks, not on a dining plan and only partake in light shopping since there is only two of us We will have our tickets in advance inc Cirque, disney, universal etc

We have three ADR so will need to take a bit more for those as they seem slightly more expensive than where we've eaten in the past.

How much do you budget per day?

We can't remember what we took last year and can't find the receipt

 

[flortlebap]

We budget around $15 per person, per meal, and closer to $40 or $50 each depending on which TS. Probably about $5 each for snacks, and then souvenirs on a credit card. We usually come home with some left over

 

[General Panic]

Till we started using the meal plan we used to budget around £20 a day for food and soft drinks per person. Thats using the counter service locations not the table ones.

We don't alcholic drink on hols and don't drive so our main extra was souvineers and they will of course vary depending on the person. I never spend a lot on them myself but my brother estimates $100 for his "goodies"

If you have a credit card along you can't really run out of funds as everywhere takes them.

 

[flortlebap]

Till we started using the meal plan we used to budget around £20 a day for food and soft drinks per person. Thats using the counter service locations not the table ones.

We don't alcholic drink on hols and don't drive so our main extra was souvineers and they will of course vary depending on the person. I never spend a lot on them myself but my brother estimates $100 for his "goodies"

If you have a credit card along you can't really run out of funds as everywhere takes them.

I love that $100 horrifies you... I once spent $530 in World of Disney...

(that was when we had an exchange rate which meant it only cost around £265)

 

[Lisa x]

I think it's a pretty hard one to answer because my husband and I take £3000 with us for two weeks, that's for two of us and we always spend it

We both drink alcohol during the day and in the evenings so spend quite a bit on that, nice evening meals, shopping, souvenirs etc!

My sister on the other hand has just come back and they spent £1400 for two weeks for 6 of them, they like to eat in the villa in the evenings because the kids love the pool!

 

[Kath2003]

We budgeted £25 per adult per day for everything - food, drinks (inc. alcoholic), shopping, tips etc. and had no problems staying in budget.

 

[wayneg]

We average $100/day (£60 or £20pp) for all our food, petrol, purchases(don't buy much) supermarket and snacks.

You can spend a lot more or next to nothing, I won't pay restaurant prices for alcohol, $16 buys me 1.75L of Smirnoff Raspberry vodka, lasts us all holiday, prefer a quiet drink at the end of the day, saves a fortune compared to drinking out.

 

[General Panic]

I love that $100 horrifies you... I once spent $530 in World of Disney...

(that was when we had an exchange rate which meant it only cost around £265)

Lol , i didn't make that too clear either , meant to type it's a $100 a day he gives himself

Mind you too some maybe that's not a horriify thought but it is for me

 

[Portugal1000]

If we are not on DDP we take $200 a day for 3 of us but rarely spend that much. About $120 a day if we are on DDP. We always know that we are going back so don't mind if we have lots left over.We go for 3 weeks this year not on DDP so have $4200. We hardly ever pay for anything on credit card. We don't buy presents for people back home. My son usually has about $200 on top of what we have that he has saved from birthday, Xmas money.
As other posters have said, you could quite easily get by on alot less and still have a great time.

 

[tinkerpea]

1st yr we went staying on property at Pop for 14nights we didnt have DDP and must have easily spend around $1000 on food for 3 adults and 3 kids under 5!!! also spent around $500 on other stuff, this is because we did alot of TS meals and character buffets we also was buying the kids light up toys etc it was my DH 1st trip and my well around 15th!!

The 2nd time it was our wedding and so I wont count any wedding costs just non wedding, we was on the DDP and had Dh parents who apperently dont like to have to pay the tips or drinks if they can get away with it "never would i go with them again" even though we had DDP (not free we paid it) you still have to pay tips whichare a killer when theres 6 of you! and the others drink alcohol.... I reckon we budgeted around $100 a day for 2 adults and 3 aged 3,3,8 and some days we didnt spend all that others we spend more,


our 3rd trip we had got alot better so we set a sticter budget we had 2 adults 3 kids 6,6,8.
we had free DDP i had pre booked alot of TS meals and so knew the tip prices we now always make sure we have $100 a day (for tips drinks and anything else) we wont drink alcohol unless its an evening meal and only sometimes did we have a cocktail due to needing to pay tip on that plus the DDP we then keep around $500 extra for the end of the holiday so we get any souviners toys etc that the kids would like (we give them pocket money so they take around $60 each) we get anything they might like from us!
We have never owned a CC so have never taken one with us its always cash that we have saved for!!

Personally i think if your not going to plan many TS meals then you can get away with around $30 pp but TS bumps that up! we enjoy our TS so we always have to either get the DDP or hope its free this yr we are doing 7 nights off property for Universal and seaworld plus shopping! so we will have to make sure we stick to a set day amount for food!

 

[tinkerpea]

I love that $100 horrifies you... I once spent $530 in World of Disney...

(that was when we had an exchange rate which meant it only cost around £265)

That place is lethal!!!!! at the end of one holiday a few yrs ago we bought each child a monorail the extra people an epcot ball (between them) plus other stuff we had to carry this back we had around 10 big bags between us!!!!! i would not like to think how much that cost us

plus my DH loves STAR WARS and so we have a trip to the Lego store where he gets to pick up big boy Lego i was so shocked at what that stuff can go for we now have a glass cabenet with my disney stuff and his er.....Lego! so we have to make room in the budget every yr for that!

 

[Elise79]

I have a budget of $200 a day for 2 A & a3 yo! However when it was just the 2 of us it it use to $100/day!

We don't usually spend the full amount but with DD I like to know I have enough - I can't say no very easily and DH is worse!

This isnt actually cash as we have a US bank account so any left just goes towards paying our DVC dues for the next few months!

 

[kittykitty87]

My boyfriend and I will be taking about £700 each. We would rather have too much then not enough

Plus it also means I can buy myself a little something while we are out there

We are staying off site and we are not on any meal plans!

 

[chmurf]

we spend a lot.
We are taking advantage of the exchange rate between euros and $ (let's hope it lasts ... not going into politics here, but things could change for us in france ... enough said)
We're going with an almost empty suitcase and usually end up buying one or 2 large suitcases in the US. We shop a lot for clothes. Actually we don't buy clothes at home, we wait until we get to florida. We even travel with worn out clothes so we can leave them in florida and have room for even more.

Spending money really depends on what you inted to do during your holidays.

 

[Emma1987]

Well, me and my BF are going away with my parents but we will have our own spending money. We are staying off site and have our Dis/Universal tix bought in advance.
We will have $2000 for the two of us. Don't plan on shopping cause we both hate it lol...If we need stuff we'll pick it up and then a few little souvenirs. And then some alcohol and a couple of ADR's
A couple of trips to other places including Kennedy Space Centre will be thrown in there so we have to budget for those. We don't see the point in spending 2 weeks just on property.

 

[madmumof2]

As much as you can afford!

Last time it was just me and my two children. We had $2000 ish and came back with a tenner! lol

This time it's me, my partner and our three children! We're hoping to take $4-5k.

Which makes around $250-350 a day. We have lots of ADR's booked, no dining plan, and part of the reason we only go every 3 years is so we can save and spend lots without having to worry about a budget

 

[Disneymad]

In general when I add it all up afterwards we spend in the region of £100 per day.

This is for 2 adults, perhaps 90% of meals on site including the occasional beer/cocktail, bit of shopping but we're not 'big shoppers' or anything, just usually a few clothes, trainers etc.

 

[wayneg]

Saw a friend this morning, just got back from a weeks cruise then a week in Orlando doing the parks. He said he couldn't believe how cheap it was, took £500 in $'s then credit card for when that ran out. ended up only spending $60 on credit card. They had breakfast included in hotel which filled them til evening meal where they shared almost every meal which were too big for one each.
He is already planning going back next year

 

[CupcakeLisa]

we have the ddp and are two adults and taking $100 per day

 

[CAROLINE4]

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!