What do you spend daily on your DVC stay?

[NCRedding]

We went over MLK weekend for 5 nights at WDW, one night on the road travelling. Party of 3 with two teenage girls. Other than park tickets, our total averaged $110 per day. I was pleased with that number. We ate TS 3 times during trip, they had 1 additional TS.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Typically, $50.00 to $75.00 per person per day is probably a good estimate.

I agree, it's about the same for us. Sometimes more, sometimes less depending on what extras we do and where and what we eat.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We just got back. We did the DDP for a family of 5 (3A and 2C) for 8 days $1200 it works out to be about $240.00 a day plus tip which ranged between $18 and $25 a dinner (18% traveled with others as well). We had about $800.00 in gift certs and cash. We came home with about $30 bucks. This included all tips, Pirate League (3 kids the $50 pkg), beers and margaritas, souviniers. So basically we spent about $2,000.00

See, that's why I don't like the dining plan. We found we spent a LOT more per day when we did the dining plan. I'll take my $50-$75 a day over the dining plan any day!

 

[zorro77]

Recently we have been a family of 3 and have breakfast at our home (OKW) and then lunch at the parks. If we are not including our tickets then we spend no more than $100 a day for the three of us. Not that we are on a budget but we will eat our dinner at home about 50% of the time. Now if we go out like dt to party that will change a what we spend more because of few drinks adds up fast. We usually only do a couple of dinners in sit down restaurants during our stay that we plan. We have been DVC members since 93 and make two trips a year each for two weeks. We do not set a budget but like freedom to do whatever comes along. OKW is so relaxing and eating on balcony late at night is nice and can just take your time to enjoy. Only 86 days till next visit.

 

[DISNEY FIX]

I almost wish I could do dinner in the room but we view it as one of the novelties of being at WDW. We don't do fancy expensive and we have cut way down on the buffets. Even if DW wanted to cook I would probably object because going out is fun. We don't eat out at home. So food seems to be the majority of the cost on a daily basis. We are TIW people and if it isn't accepted we probably won't eat there. The souvenir spending has gone down each trip as well. Even I don't know how many more t-shirts I can handle.
Thanks for breaking you trips down to a daily $$$ basis it really helps us see where we fall in the range of things.

 

[dvcdisney]

For our family of 4 (2 adults, 10 yr old, and a 5 year old) where our 10 year old eats constantly, we are budgetting $200-$250 per day.

We're not big breakfast eaters so we tend to eat something in the room (cereal/pastries etc). We will be snacking through lunch since, in the past, someone's always complaining about not being hungry for the food options. But we do tend to have large sit down dinners. So our ADRs are very important.

 

[christa112]

Diane,

How big is your family? How are you only spending that a day? If you are eating out at a QS and TS each day.

Just the 5 of us at a QS is around $50 and $138.00 for a dinner at Chef Mickey's. That is not including our 5 snacks we have, which is usually between $20-$25 a day.

I feel it pretty much is a wash for us. We would be spending it either way. I like the convienence of the DDP not having to carry tons and tons of cash around. Plus the fact that I am not cooking while on vacation. I don't like to cook when I am home.

See, that's why I don't like the dining plan. We found we spent a LOT more per day when we did the dining plan. I'll take my $50-$75 a day over the dining plan any day!

 

[ToddyLu]

Without children DH and I don't really have a budget. We have bought $200 worth of T shirts for him..a $400 Nemo print. We never know what we might get down there. We have done it with the DDP and without...seems that DDP works best for us. We do not spend as much on souvenirs anymore. It is the one vacation we do a year, so I mean how much can two people spend? It is usually the same stuff every year. We do not drink, golf, spa or do water craft sports. If I had to give a number outside of food ($1000) it would be about $500 for two people for 10 days. We just don't worry about it that week and have a great time.

 

[twinklebug]

Diane,

How big is your family? How are you only spending that a day? If you are eating out at a QS and TS each day.

Just the 5 of us at a QS is around $50 and $138.00 for a dinner at Chef Mickey's. That is not including our 5 snacks we have, which is usually between $20-$25 a day.

I feel it pretty much is a wash for us. We would be spending it either way. I like the convienence of the DDP not having to carry tons and tons of cash around. Plus the fact that I am not cooking while on vacation. I don't like to cook when I am home.

I'm not saying either approach is wrong, but I think the big difference in the numbers we see here is how people eat while on vacation. Some folk feel a vacation means total rest and relaxation and cooking is one chore to be left back home with the dog sitter and others see cooking as a daily routine with a few meals out as a treat.

I fall into the latter category. Too many meals out tends to make me ill anyway (allergies) so we're very selective. One of the reasons I love DVC is it gives us a separate "kitchen" to stock and use.

 

[skyman8963]

this is a rough estimate of what we spend for a party of 4 ages
DH old DW young ( and always will be) DS 8yr DS 4 yr


rooms paid for
tickets 1036
meals 996 usually on plan, comes with a snack
souveniers 150 each, allowances and such 600 total
groceries 100 love to have snacks in room,

we do not usually buy food in the parks except for meals we take our own water with us, usually freeze 6 a day and keep in a cooler, we use the singel packs of fruit punch or something flavored

so all total 2800 for 6 days

 

[BEASLYBOO]

It's not a per day thing for us, some days we eat all of our meals at the villa and some all in the parks etc. We generally have 2 nice sit down dinners during the 4 days and luckily we use the Fla resident discount tickets. If I average it out including park tickets, food for the villa, 2 ADR's, snacks (Dole Whips, Popcorn, Churros) , drinks etc. (children are 13 now so we've bought every/any thing there is over the years) and no souvenirs, for 4 =$220 a day, 4 days of parks.

It's not bad really!Now that I think of it. Of course we've gone for a couple of days and eaten our way out of house and home, 3 meals a day at Disney adds up. The DDP does'nt work for us because we sometimes eat a big breakfast, sometimes skip lunch, seldomly eat dessert and depending on how tired we are from the parks we may not want to go eat dinner out,so the DDP is too restrictive and way too much food.

 

[londonderrydisneyfan]

Not including tickets we (2 A, 3Ch) plan on spending ~ $125 per day when we go down there later this month. We will try to eat most of our meals in our room but this is our first trip by ourselves without the dining plan so we have no idea if we're actually going to do that.

 

[culli]

Last time for 2 adults 3 kids for 10 days:

- Food from Garden Groc was about $500
- 1 char breakfast about $130?
-- misc souvenirs etc $100
- misc snack/beer etc about $150
- MNSSHP - about $200
- We have AP's probably go about 20 days a year


So without APs we are at about $120ish a day for a family of 5, we usually get a 2br. Our grocery bill is a little more than at home but not much.

Can't think about much else. We buy all our snacks/water from GG and eat in almost 100%. I find eating out to be torture with the kids. They are really good but it is so $$$ for what you get and trying to get your ressies and waiting etc. just not worth it to me. For us it is soooo much easier to eat in the room, and a huge cost savings for us with DVC. We figure we get a big bang with DVC between saving car rental and food costs.

 

[Hollymom1229]

For DH and I we average about $100 a day above the cost of park tickets. We like to eat on TS a day at WDW, either lunch or dinner, and we use TIW for that. We also have a few adult beverages along the way. But we also do a quick grocery trip on the way to the resort to grab milk, cereal, snacks, and some beer for the room. That way breakfast and evening refreshments are enjoyed at significantly less than Disney prices.

 

[LindaBabe]

Had AP, the average was $30 per day BUT I need an ecv, rented off property, which doubles it to $60.

 

[corpcomp]

I happened to track this last trip to see if getting the DD plan was worth it. Family of three, we spent just about $100 per day on food (annual passes).

 

[DenLo]

I think if you really want to figure how much you spend per day at WDW not including your room you have to include everything. That means park passes (or AP averaged based on the number of days you use it per year), souvenirs, dining plan or TIW card (averaged for the number of days used in a year), gas if you drive around and/or car rental, tips for meals and mousekeeping, photopass photos, photo pass cd and any other little photopass items you succumb to later and bottle of water, drinks, snacks and that little something for later. And there are probably more items that I can't even think about.

Now that I listed all of that, I don't want to know what we really spend per day.

 

[jekjones1558]

This thread gives me something to think about on our upcoming trip (just DH and I). I have never really paid much attention; it is what it is. Maybe I would rather not calculate! If I were to add in airfare, rental car, ECV rental, park tickets, food, tips, shopping--I might not like the numbers I see.

 

[Mom B]

We tend to budget about $100 a day for food for the two of us, some days more, some days less. We rarely buy souvenirs, maybe a few postcards. We did spend about $75 at the Vero Beach gift shop mostly because I wanted the Disney travel bag that was offered for a premium with a purchase, and about $75 at one gift shop at WDW because I wanted to get a picture frame for our family WDW picture from this year and a couple things for the grandkids who didn't make the trip. For our family group of 13 total we spent about $400 for groceries and the kids spent what they wanted on counter service, but generally it wasn't much because they were trying to run a "low budget" trip too. Now if you figure in the $900+ on a member cash rate for 2 nights in a Treehouse at the end of the trip since we didn't quite have the points to spend...well...as a PP said, I just don't want to think about it! I'll stick with the $100 a day and just ignore the rest because I don't want to make THAT calculation!

 

[Husurdady]

Around a $100.00 aday............Don't include the first day, my dw knows where all the SUPER WALMARTS are located, and the summer vacation of 2009 she found another new one ,we are talking $175.00 to $200.00 for just the 3 of us.And that is with no meat purchases. WELCOME HOME.