What is your Disney budget once you are at Disney?

[3girlsfun]

The budget we have laid out sounds very similar to what everyone else has. The thing we haven't ever spent money on is mini golf, bowling, movies, etc. because our girls are still young enough that, those really are in our realm yet. The biggest splurge is the BBB.

We are thinking of doing the QS plan next time to try it out, and just do a couple of sit downs.

 

[pigletto]

This is the first time we have gone without the dining plan (we have always had it free and once we paid for deluxe dining) in 8 or 9 trips. It's killing me trying to make a budget. A) I am not a number crunching kind of gal enough to sit and pour through the menus, B) no matter what I estimate it seems like not enough and too much at the same time.
Currently our room, tickets, and travel are paid for. That is for 2 adults, a 16 yr old and a 9 year old.
All that is left is food and spending money. We aren't huge spenders. The kids usually have around $100 each (partly their own money and partly what we give them). We have a car rental booked for $200 for 9 nights.

That leaves food and tips and some groceries for the room. We have 8 table service booked and the rest are counter service. I thought maybe $220 a day for food would suffice. Most of our table service are the less pricey ones (lunch at Sci Fi, The Plaza, Via Napoli etc).
So I am looking at bringing about $2500 to cover food, tips, rental car, and misc. spending for 9 nights.

 

[3girlsfun]

I can totally understand that. It is hard to plan for what you are going to eat. We are going not on the dining plan next Christmas, and we will probably do a lot of QS, but, even planning for that is hard.

We don't do credit cards, so, it makes it more important to have an exact number.

What I did do was add up the amount of money I knew I would need in Disney, and bought a $500 and a $400 gift card. That made it way easier than having to keep up with receipts on the debit card and deal with cash.

 

[Judique]

Budget is a relative term. We have DVC so rooms are already in the budget. DVC was not free but it feels almost free because I don't have to take dollars out at trip time.

The point cost for my upcoming trip is 64 points for 6 nights in a studio. That translates to less then $450 for us. Then we have annual premium passes and are on our 3rd trip with them and 1-2 more to go, so maybe $100 for passes for this trip per person times the two of us.

Gas costs real dollars, so maybe $260 depending on cost per gallon.

Then the 2nd person is flying home early. Ticket was $109 plus car park at home airport of maybe $20.

We will fix coffee, juice and sweet roll or bagel for breakfast in our studio, then eat at food and wine booths and the occasional sit down or fast food place.

I'm going to buy a Vera bag. Up to $100 maybe?
Maybe a tshirt or something for us also...

So, travel food and lodging will be $250-$300.

Have collected many target Disney gift cards to cover at Disney expenses.

So, max $1500 before Disney food..2 people at sitdowns maybe twice ...we have BOG and Ohana scheduled - no alcohol - maybe $200ish? Then whatever we spend in epcot at the booths and at walk ups in other parks.

I doubt we will exceed $600 overall for food and less then $200 on souvenirs. Any extra gift cards will come back next trip in a couple months. I'm probably bringing $1000 worth.

Our trips are relatively inexpensive, but if they reach $2000-$2500 each, my Disney obsession can cost up to 10k in a year over 3-5 visits.

 

[Marionnette]

This is the first time we have gone without the dining plan (we have always had it free and once we paid for deluxe dining) in 8 or 9 trips. It's killing me trying to make a budget. A) I am not a number crunching kind of gal enough to sit and pour through the menus, B) no matter what I estimate it seems like not enough and too much at the same time.
Currently our room, tickets, and travel are paid for. That is for 2 adults, a 16 yr old and a 9 year old.
All that is left is food and spending money. We aren't huge spenders. The kids usually have around $100 each (partly their own money and partly what we give them). We have a car rental booked for $200 for 9 nights.

That leaves food and tips and some groceries for the room. We have 8 table service booked and the rest are counter service. I thought maybe $220 a day for food would suffice. Most of our table service are the less pricey ones (lunch at Sci Fi, The Plaza, Via Napoli etc).
So I am looking at bringing about $2500 to cover food, tips, rental car, and misc. spending for 9 nights.

Why not use Disney's prices for their dining plans as a guideline for your food budget? Just add an additional 10% to the cost to cover tips. I'm basing this on the fact that you have 8 TS reserved but the DDP would cover 9 TS over 9 nights. Plus, you don't tip at CS locations. I'm betting that it would be more than enough money to cover the meals you have planned.

 

[pigletto]

Why not use Disney's prices for their dining plans as a guideline for your food budget? Just add an additional 10% to the cost to cover tips. I'm basing this on the fact that you have 8 TS reserved but the DDP would cover 9 TS over 9 nights. Plus, you don't tip at CS locations. I'm betting that it would be more than enough money to cover the meals you have planned.

That's actually a very good idea and I have looked at them but I am going to add it all up today (with the holiday pricing), add the 10% like you suggested and go with that number.
The DDP doesn't really work for us anymore as we don't often eat the dessert, would prefer appetizers some places, and my son who is 9, chooses kids meals some places and adult meals at others. Add in that my dd is a vegetarian and not a big eater. She'd prefers to make a meal of an appetizer or two and snack later. So the dining plan just doesn't work for us anymore. I am almost certain we are going to come under DDP prices with the way we eat. It's just the last minute panic of "is this going to be enough? Are we going to regret ditching the DDP?" setting in.

 

[Disneychix]

I recently sat down and counted up what our dining is going to cost. I was shocked! I don't know why I was, I knew where we are booked to eat. But I currently have $450 cash and my dining comes to about $850. I do have the money but I was hoping I could cover all our dining with the cash I made through garage sales this summer. (guess not!)

Everything is paid for except dining and souvenirs. My kids don't ask for or get much. One small thing each.
We do buy groceries to cover some lunches and breakfast plus snacks. I usually just spend my shopping money that I would spend at home for this.

 

[ktmo]

We just got back from 5 nights. We were on the dining plan, so only needed to factor in tips. We spent around $100 a day.

 

[Skjhjb]

We aim for $100 per day in extras. We paid for the dining plan with our trip booking. But our kids are older, two of them with jobs. We told them ears were on us, but any souvenirs were on them. We also drive down, so we budget for gas and two hotel nights there and back, plus meals on the road. Like a PP, this is not an every year kind of trip for us, and most likely the last for quite some time. So we will probably splurge more than usual. I think this trip we are aiming to have at least $3000 to cover all the extras besides the trip.

 

[SEA333]

I just did our budget for what we will spend once we are at Disney. We have a $1600 budget that includes tips, meals (that aren't on the dining plan), gas, hotels to and from Disney, groceries, souvenirs, and the money in case we decide to add a day to our tickets for our departure day. I'm just curious what others budget for, and how much you have in that budget.

We are giving each kid a $50 Disney Gift Card that they have to spend at Disney in any way they choose (it has to be a DW card, not cash, or else DS13 would spend all his money in the airport on the way to DW, and DD would not spend cash at all!)

We have free dining, so we are bringing $500 for tips, incidentals, emergencies, cab fare from airport to home, and anything that we might want to buy when there. We are budgeting a separate $100 for Limo pickup for the trip TO the airport (we are surprising the kids with the trip and the limo ride), and $92 for the car rental while we are there - DH works for a major car rental corp office in their titles and licensing dept, so he gets a huge employee discount.

 

[crisi]

That's actually a very good idea and I have looked at them but I am going to add it all up today (with the holiday pricing), add the 10% like you suggested and go with that number.
The DDP doesn't really work for us anymore as we don't often eat the dessert, would prefer appetizers some places, and my son who is 9, chooses kids meals some places and adult meals at others. Add in that my dd is a vegetarian and not a big eater. She'd prefers to make a meal of an appetizer or two and snack later. So the dining plan just doesn't work for us anymore. I am almost certain we are going to come under DDP prices with the way we eat. It's just the last minute panic of "is this going to be enough? Are we going to regret ditching the DDP?" setting in.

Don't forget tax as well.

 

[crisi]

We don't really "budget" - I have a number in my head on what I want to spend and if my husband starts making choices that is going to push beyond that number, I intervene (usually bottles of wine at dinner). But by now we know each other pretty well, so I work the bottles of wine into our budget, and he knows the price range I'm going to say no at.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

For four of us (not on the DDP), I took $200 to the parks each day. I paid for drinks, snacks, CS lunches and other little things. For bigger purchases, like a few TS meals and shopping at World of Disney, I used the credit card which was paid off as soon as we got home. I never needed all $200 in a day, but had it with me just in case.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

This is the first time we have gone without the dining plan (we have always had it free and once we paid for deluxe dining) in 8 or 9 trips. It's killing me trying to make a budget. A) I am not a number crunching kind of gal enough to sit and pour through the menus, B) no matter what I estimate it seems like not enough and too much at the same time.
Currently our room, tickets, and travel are paid for. That is for 2 adults, a 16 yr old and a 9 year old.
All that is left is food and spending money. We aren't huge spenders. The kids usually have around $100 each (partly their own money and partly what we give them). We have a car rental booked for $200 for 9 nights.

That leaves food and tips and some groceries for the room. We have 8 table service booked and the rest are counter service. I thought maybe $220 a day for food would suffice. Most of our table service are the less pricey ones (lunch at Sci Fi, The Plaza, Via Napoli etc).
So I am looking at bringing about $2500 to cover food, tips, rental car, and misc. spending for 9 nights.

So when people say they are bringing 2500 are they actually bringing 2500 cash? Or just put it on credit and pay when u get home? I can't imagine carrying 2500 on me!

 

[4luv2cdisney]

So when people say they are bringing 2500 are they actually bringing 2500 cash? Or just put it on credit and pay when u get home? I can't imagine carrying 2500 on me!

Me either. I'd be a nervous wreck. But I think that is what many do. Gift cards and cash.

In the past, I sometimes carry my Disney Visa rewards card and always my Disney Visa. I lock up a spare credit card in the room and a little cash in case something were to happen to my cc. Now that we have magic bands, there is less risk of that (I think) but I'll still bring the spare and keep 'em both locked in the room.

Actually, I'm quite happy that the magic band may be all we will need to carry with us each day. I was always double checking that we didn't lose / forget cards, tickets, room keys etc. I'm really liking that part.

Our budget when not on the Dining Plan is around $150 /day, but we don't do many TS meals. We usually come in under budget.

 

[nansmama]

So when people say they are bringing 2500 are they actually bringing 2500 cash? Or just put it on credit and pay when u get home? I can't imagine carrying 2500 on me!

I don't carry cash. $100/day is the amount we charge back to the room. If we start going over that, we restrain ourselves. Normally we are under.

 

[martikus]

I plan about $1000 for gas, meals, tips and souvenirs. We just returned and we were real close to that amount (2 adults 1 child). No dining plan. We don't drink and only one souvenir each. We did splurge on 2 character meals this trip.

 

[pigletto]

So when people say they are bringing 2500 are they actually bringing 2500 cash? Or just put it on credit and pay when u get home? I can't imagine carrying 2500 on me!

My plan is to charge it all to my MagicBand and back to the room, and then pay it off when it hits $1500 (I think that is the charge limit for deluxes isnt it?) and again when we check out.
I will have to go down to the front desk and get print outs a few times because A) I don't want to overspend, and B) I catch mistakes that way, and have a few times. I think I'll look for an app or something for my iPhone so I can just throw the totals on there as we go and keep a running tally.

We did bring a large amount of cash once, planning to put it on our account at the Poly and use it for charging as we went. We had done it before with no problem. However they switched systems, had no idea how to put a cash deposit on the room, and we just had to leave it in the safe the whole week and pull it out as we went. I really didn't like that very much. I did have the DDP that time though so it wasn't as much money as we need this time.

 

[Skjhjb]

So when people say they are bringing 2500 are they actually bringing 2500 cash? Or just put it on credit and pay when u get home? I can't imagine carrying 2500 on me!

Gosh no...

What we did was use our credit card always, and then each night we signed on to our online banking and transferred the amount spent that day to the card.

 

[oneprincessjo]

We are going on DVC points and we already purchased our park tickets... So all we need to worry about is food, snacks and souvenirs when we get down there. We pulled $500 cash that is already put aside for quick service, snacks and souvenirs. We will put table service on our credit card. Last time we did EVERYTHING on credit, park tickets, food and souvenirs and it came to a total of $1100 I believe. We are a family of 3. 2 adults and one toddler.