Unaccounted costs incurred?

[Woth2982]

I once got sick with bronchitis and had to pay $80 for a prescription because I was out of network.

 

[Woth2982]

One trip we missed packing my daughter's toiletry bag. After getting directions (from the front desk at Paradise Pier Hotel) that we could purchase toothbrush and toothpaste in the gift shop (around $10) we get into our room to find that toothbrush and toothpaste were part of their toiletries in the room. Lesson learned there...

One trip I miscounted my daughters clothing and had to buy a couple of outfits. Oh, darn for her!

One trip we got there and discovered she had no underwear packed. So, off to the gift shops we went...

Hmmm... I think I have packing issues.

Oh I forgot to pack underwear once! Finding adult underwear in Disney World was NO easy task!

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

My son was too enthralled with the lights, motor action show and peed his pants. We waited in the bathroom while my husband bought a new outfit. It wasn't cheap and I was mad I didn't get to pick it out, haha! But all is well, his little sister likes star wars too.

 

[Hikergirl]

My last trip (not to WDW) I didn't pack enough socks. Oddly enough there was a shop that only sold socks, but they were pricey.

 

[scrhsa]

On my first day in the parks --as my Grandmother used to say--"Aunt Martha" visited. I was scrounging around for quarters What was frustrating was that I was at that time in my life where I didn't think "Aunt Martha" liked to visit anymore

 

[bigbabyblues]

My husband was watching our son at the pool one evening. There was a lady and a little kid, he thought around 3 years old. Lady talking on her phone and not paying much attention to her child, child jumps/falls into the shallow end of the pool at doesn't come back up, lady doesn't notice. Hubby got in and got the child out without thinking about his cell phone in the pocket of his shorts (he wasn't wearing swimming trunks, he wasn't planning to swim).

Evening in May was chillier than we planned for, so we bought 4 sweatshirts.

 

[Dashzap]

My husband was watching our son at the pool one evening. There was a lady and a little kid, he thought around 3 years old. Lady talking on her phone and not paying much attention to her child, child jumps/falls into the shallow end of the pool at doesn't come back up, lady doesn't notice. Hubby got in and got the child out without thinking about his cell phone in the pocket of his shorts (he wasn't wearing swimming trunks, he wasn't planning to swim).

Wow, so glad he was there! I've heard of this happening but have been lucky enough to never witness it.

Was the mom not grateful enough to replace his phone?

 

[chewysmom]

Last year my dd somehow injured her knee while at WDW. We had to make a trip to Walgreens for a knee brace, and we had to rent a wheelchair and were seriously kicking around the idea of urgent care. (Our co-pay would have been $175! ) none of those were planned expenses.

Luckily, her knee only got better as the week went on.

 

[QueenIsabella]

You've gotten a lot of great ideas here. The only thing I'll add is, now that you've heard about them, you can plan for them. Unfortunately, you'll likely get hit with something completely different, just because life is like that. Just when you think to pack enough underwear and socks...

The only thing I would add is, having a spare credit card (or room on your card) for emergencies isn't a bad idea. I know the Budget Board is anti-credit card, but having access to credit for an urgent care visit can be a godsend. Pay it off when you get home. Just don't count every souvenir purchase as an "emergency"!

 

[unrequited23]

After working for a builder for several years, I add an automatic 10% contingency on to any project I'm budgeting. So, if your trip budget is $4,000, I'd put aside $400.

 

[crisi]

Pack feminine supplies, cold medicine, headache relief, sunscreen, sunburn lotion, benadryl, extra socks, and an extra pair of shoes. Also anything baby related - have diapers sent via a grocery delivery service or just ship them down. Remember chargers - or batteries if you still have camera or something that needs them. All that sort of stuff is pricey at Disney.

Bring a water bottle, and if you don't like Disney's tap water (its a little sulphurous) a water additive like Crystal Light or Mio. Bring ice water into the park with you in the morning and refill with a cup of ice water as needed.

By an inexpensive raincoat or camping poncho and if traveling in cooler seasons, remember you'll want long pants and jackets and sweaters. Dollar store ponchos aren't worth even the dollar, and Disney ponchos are expensive.

Bring snacks into the park - granola bars, nuts - if its hot, don't bring anything that will melt in the heat. Also consider "breakfast" in the room - even if its cold pop tarts. Extra meals at Disney are expensive.

Definitely bring a credit card - and consider ordering from Amazon if you forget something you need. By tomorrow, Amazon will ship you new underwear - you may have to rinse out the pair you are wearing. My husband has traveled all over the world on business and says "if I have a credit card, my phone, and my passport....it may be expensive, but they can loose my luggage and I'll be fine."

On the loose the luggage front, if flying and using ME and checking bags, pack a carry on with a change of clothes, spare underwear, sunscreen (less than 3oz!) and a swimsuit if you want to swim. You won't get your luggage until later, and if it does get lost, you can get yourself through a day.

 

[Sagginit]

My first two trips as a tween were with my father and this thread is bringing back memories of all the things he forgot to include or pack that we paid extra for there.

For us that included:

- ponchos (although we went for 8 days in July two years in a row so they got their use and we had them for a few more years)
- we didn't have sunburn cream or aloe and scorched there
- my father thought we could just use the hotel shampoo and conditioner, our hair was like straw from the chlorine and sun and two showers a day, the gift shop only had some fancy leave in conditioner left that was mucho expensive, the worst part was it had herbal extracts so it made our scalps tingly
- he didn't look at a single menu before he left and didn't understand that I was a "disney adult" at the age of 12, him and my brother didn't want to share meals so much to his annoyance he paid a lot for each meal and food was wasted, my brother still talks about the chocolate teapot I ordered, it was filled with an apricot cream and could have fed four, but they each ordered their own desert and the thing cost over $15 I think

We typically have the meal plan but use snack credits on water so we will splurge on some snacks. I always buy souvenirs and sometimes we buy more or need more than expected. Our last trip we didn't have room in the suitcase so we needed an extra bag. We bought a reusable shopping bag for a few bucks and used that as our personal item in the airport to get extra stuff on board with us (totally worked though as the bags were small enough). I pack like I am going to be gone for 2-3 extra days (so extra socks, undies, shirts etc) and bring every possible toiletry in travel size to avoid having to buy in the giftshop as that place can be highway robbery.

 

[pigletto]

I'm not sure this counts, but having just returned I can assure you it isn't really possible to go to the outlets to "look around" and if you plan to go at all.. you want to budget for it.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We have the DIw card but I'm still amazed about how much we spend on food and wine at dinner. We're lucky that it really doesn't matter financially just a surprise.

 

[serenitynow]

Once on a trip in December, our toddler lost one shoe, somehow, while in the stroller. Of course the shoes were brand new and since he was growing so fast, we rarely had more than one pair of shoes for him at a time. And to be honest, he refused to wear shoes or socks at home. I was sure someone would find it and turn it in to guest services, after all, what can you do with one left shoe, but no one ever did. I even called Lost and Found after we returned home, the shoe was never recovered.

So it was either buy him a really expensive pair of kids Disney crocs to wear in the parks in December or carry his not so little behind everywhere we couldn't take the stroller. So we bit the bullet, bought the crocs and spent the rest of the trip trying to make sure he did not slip off the crocs somewhere. Not fun. And not in the budget!

 

[StuckInKS]

Once on a trip in December, our toddler lost one shoe, somehow, while in the stroller. Of course the shoes were brand new and since he was growing so fast, we rarely had more than one pair of shoes for him at a time. And to be honest, he refused to wear shoes or socks at home. I was sure someone would find it and turn it in to guest services, after all, what can you do with one left shoe, but no one ever did. I even called Lost and Found after we returned home, the shoe was never recovered.

So it was either buy him a really expensive pair of kids Disney crocs to wear in the parks in December or carry his not so little behind everywhere we couldn't take the stroller. So we bit the bullet, bought the crocs and spent the rest of the trip trying to make sure he did not slip off the crocs somewhere. Not fun. And not in the budget!

This happened to us too...kid lost one shoe at the park and we couldn't find it anywhere. Luckily it was summer so we bought a pair of Mickey crocs. Definitely an added expense we were not expecting. We had our stroller stolen another year. Disney gave us a free rental the next day, but we eventually had to purchase another. Other than that, our only other unexpected expense was that menu prices were higher than we planned for using the online menus. We are avoiding that this year by purchasing the dining plan and over-budgeting for tips. I plan to have at least an extra $1k (on top of tips, souvenirs, etc) on hand, and I will also have our debit card which we can easily transfer money from our savings account in case of an emergency. Since we drive down in our 10-year-old vehicle, anything can happen

 

[vratiana]

Unexpected costs for me:
Once I booked the trip, suddenly seeing absolutely adorable Disney merchandise everywhere I go that I need/want for the trip. I still have 4 months to go and I only have so much willpower...

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

Any trip between October and March, you should pack a fleece jacket. People may tell you about how hot it was when they were there, but it totally depends on the year and could change quickly from one day to the next.

I have seen a lot of people wearing ugly $60 Disney sweatshirts because they were so cold.

 

[scrapquitler]

Just wondering if there are unaccounted costs that you incurred during your trip that were not on your original budget? I want to have some kind of cushion for this....but I rather foresee what that might be....and how to plan for mistakes, mishaps, and extra magic. Any advice would be great appreciated!

I forgot to pack sunscreen, and I ran out of Bengay, so I had to buy both of those items. I also decided to buy a poncho on a day when the rain was coming down really hard (usually I just get a little wet, but it was a non-stop all day rain that day).

My plan is to expect $100 or so extra, then I'm not surprised.

 

[pinkprincess30]

We had planned to put most of our trip on our rewards credit card and the night we arrived our card was declined at the grocery store. I paid with cash & when I got out to the car I called the company (it was very late at night but thank goodness they had 24 hour service). Turns out our card was flagged for fraud because of the strange location. They were able to get it figured out so that we could use the card. Had it taken longer to get the fraud alert lifted I certainly would have wanted more cash on my person! You know what they say... Cash is King!