What's your budget for a family of 4/

[abbyndrewmom]

Hi, I love seeing all the different budgets and comparing how ours works out.

3 day/4 night WDWvacation in March for 2 adults and 2 children 4 & 6:

Transportation: Driving $200.00 in gas

Acccommodations: 3 nights on the road $180.00 total
1 night at Amerisuites $43.00 plus tax

Canadian at par package (3 nights ASMv &uph) $850.00 (minus $85.00 my commission as a TA)

Food @ WDW $120 X 4 days = $480.00

Food on the road $100.00

Souveniers and other shopping = $200.00

which should put me right around $2,000.00 dollars.

We are spending the first few days in Tallahasse with SIL so no cost there and the WDW portion is an added bonus since we would have had to drive down anyway. We will probably spend more shopping but as it will be for kids cloths and stuff for school and work I don't count those.

Allison

 

[taylor1293]

Originally posted by mudnuri
Boy- adding in your film developing is a great thing to do!!

If I add mine- though we will have our digital too...(something about "old fashioned" pictures with me)...we do not have a photo quality printer, though the camera is very good....I normally develop pictures while on vacation, at an overnight place, wal-greens or walmart etc. Guessing from how many pictures I normally take, and doubling that since its our first disney trip..I'd say 35-40 rolls, at $7 a wack- thats oh no...245-280..

I've got to go through and actually figure out EVERYTHING going into this trip, to come up with a "real" budget...including the dog babysitter, and gifts etc.. I haven't added that stuff yet..shhhhhh don't tell DH!

I'm looking over the menu's right now where we plan to eat, and deciding if the vouchers would/will benefit us..so far it's a no..except if we do rainforest ..

Brandy

I prefer taking pictures the old fashion way too. We will use a digital, but most of my pictures will be from my camera.

Boarding the dogs (or getting a babysitter) can be so expensive . Last trip that cost was $320 for us, which ended up being more than our travel expense!

I debated for a long time about those vouchers, lol. Decided not to use them the last 2 trips but finally gave in this trip. We only bought 1 adult/1 child of the vacation kingdom lunch vouchers to use for the 4 of us at the Rainforest. Then we purchased breakfast vouchers for our character meals and Q&C vouchers for lunch. Hopefully it works out to a decent savings!

Teresa

 

[myjulybabes]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for sharing, I'm starting to plan our first ever trip as a family, so this is really helpful. Though some of the numbers nearly gave hubby a heart attack. LOL I hadn't even thought about boarding our pets! There goes another few hundred! eek! (we have 6 pets....)

 

[beattyfamily]

Originally posted by myjulybabes
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for sharing, I'm starting to plan our first ever trip as a family, so this is really helpful. Though some of the numbers nearly gave hubby a heart attack. LOL I hadn't even thought about boarding our pets! There goes another few hundred! eek! (we have 6 pets....)

I hear you! We have 5 toy poodles and it will be $405 for the week plus we budget in the shots they'll need for the kennel to take them! Another $135 and that's at a clinic.

 

[cyndibelle]

were lucky there cause my hubby does all the computer work for our vet so our golden retriever gets all his care for free...and that sure can add up to alot of money....

 

[myjulybabes]

Originally posted by beattyfamily
I hear you! We have 5 toy poodles and it will be $405 for the week plus we budget in the shots they'll need for the kennel to take them! Another $135 and that's at a clinic.

Wow! What shots are they requiring? I've never boarded my dogs and cats before. They are up to date on regular shots, plus both dogs already get the bordatella (kennel cough) vaccine yearly because they are in obidience classes. Anything beyond that?

Our vet has cut us a deal on boarding there before so we could flea bomb the house, but I'm not sure they would so we could go on vacation! LOL Kind of a "group discount" thing, since we have 2 dogs and 4 cats. Wonder if any place else offers group rates? hmmmmmm

 

[ahake]

What about a close friend or relative to come over once or twice a day to feed and water the pets? That will save some big bucks!

 

[Desnik]

This definately is a budget trip for us. We are moving into a new house the week we get back
We do go every year, so this trip is just for us to get a break from all our stress from all this house stuff!!LOL

Family of 4: DH, Me, DD(5yo), DS(8mo)

BWV 5 nights-$570(Rented points, preferred view)
2 adult 4 day PH-$408.96(DD has days left on a old PH)
Appx. $50 for DD activities at GF(pirate cruise & tea with Alice)
$200 for boarding our dog
$150 for gas & tolls roundtrip(we're driving)
Apprx. $60 for Story Book Breakfast
Additional $400 for food
We are driving straight through, but will arrive a day before our ressie for BWV starts. So, approx. $90(ASSp)
I should add that we(DH & myself)do not eat breakfast. DD will eat BF in the room that we will bring from home. We will make lunch our big meal and eat something quick/light for dinner. DH will have his formula and baby food! We do not have any PS's, DH wants to "play it by ear." DD has every toy under the sun and is very spoiled!!LOL She gets a new toy almost daily. I have $50 Disney$$ for her to spend and we are really going to try to keep it at only that amount!!

So, our total is: $1979

We usually spend $3000. That is when we stay for 7 nights and have to buy DD a park pass, and are not renting points.

 

[da disney fans]

WOW! My wallet hurts after seeing some of these numbers. I hope we'll be able to afford Disney trips when we have kids. This upcoming trip is going to be just me and my husband, and I'm still amazed at how much it's going to cost...

$688 - 2 roundtrip tickets from Baltimore, and 4 nights at the Hilton Garden Inn Seaworld International -- from Expedia.com
$403 - 2 4-day Park Hoppers, bought at the Disney Store, as Maryland tax is cheaper. Buying from Disney would be about $408.. hey, $5 is $5!
$48 for Mears transportation to and from the airport
We're budgeting about $160 for food for the two of us (our hotel has fridges and microwaves in-room, so we'll be eating breakfast and snacks there with food from home or nearby grocery store)
We haven't really come up with a souviniers budget, but we're not really the type to go nuts. We'll probably allow a couple hundred for that stuff.

All in all, our grand total should come out to less than $1500.

 

[rams408]

Family of 4, 2 children ages 6 and 9.....

Gas to drive from Texas $200
Hotel on the way $ 50
Food on the way $30

AP's $1395
FW campground (11 nights) $442
Take with us food $100

Food $700
Water mouse (2) $ 60
Mugs $25

Souv/Misc. $200

Grand total-----$3202

We will go back 2 more times and those times will cost about the same, but without the passes, for a total of $1807 each time, for about 11 days each.

For a year (annual pass) that's 3 visits, 33 days total, for $6816, which comes out to $51 per day, per person.

Not bad, for Disney


rams408

 

[beattyfamily]

Originally posted by myjulybabes
Wow! What shots are they requiring? I've never boarded my dogs and cats before. They are up to date on regular shots, plus both dogs already get the bordatella (kennel cough) vaccine yearly because they are in obidience classes. Anything beyond that?

Our vet has cut us a deal on boarding there before so we could flea bomb the house, but I'm not sure they would so we could go on vacation! LOL Kind of a "group discount" thing, since we have 2 dogs and 4 cats. Wonder if any place else offers group rates? hmmmmmm

THat $135 is for kennel cough and distemper (sp?). Because it's 5 dogs the grand total is $135. It would be lots more if I went to my vet for the shots! I save the vet for illness and do the clinics for shots. Saves lots of money that way.

I get a discount putting all 5 dogs in one suite. It's $41 a day rather than $15 a day per dog... Ouch!

We have no family or friends nearby who could walk our dogs 3 times a day.

 

[2TxAgs]

First trip - Dec 2000

Airfare for 5 from Dallas - $1290

7 nites lodging (split between Caribbean Beach and HIFS) - $703

4 day PHP for 2 adults/2 kids (youngest wasn't yet 3) - $680

Food - $411 (we ate in the room each AM, and had the free bkfst at HIFS, no character meals, but those cinnamon nuts and pizzas really add up)

Rental car - $180

Misc - $500 - this category includes film, souveniers, tolls, airport parking, swim diapers, tips at hotels, laundry - we opted for dealing with less luggage with 3 little ones, and doing laundry instead, campfire marshmellows, etc.

Total - about $3800


The following year we found flights for $650 total, and stayed at the HIFS during the buy-one-night-get-one-free special, so we shaved off nearly $1000 for another one week trip.

TxAg

 

[reeddi]

Ok here we go. Family of 4 two adults and two DDs 8 and 3
First we are getting the military tickets for 3 of us for US and WDW.

Gas for trip - $175
Tickets for US - $256
Tickets for WDW - $507
Hotel at US (HRH) - $150
Hotel for rest of trip - 0 We are sharing a condo with family for free
Food - $600 most meals at condo for pretty cheap
Parking - $47
Kennel for dog - $150

Grand total - $ 1885

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

We went in June 2003. Here is our breakdown:

Gas and hotels (1 night each way) to get there: $400

6 Nights at Wilderness Lodge Woods View AP rate $125 = $750

7 day PHP for DH and DS = $550

Park admission for DS2 was free; I had AP from last trip, so free to me.

Food: $150 per day. One PS per day (Character Dining!!), counter service for other 2 meals = $1050 (included snacks in park and some I had brought)

Souvenirs = $300 (Tshirts, light up parade toys, mickey ears, characatures of both DS's, etc)

Total $2850 (actually, I came home with over $100 left from food budget)

As a PS, we will get in one more trip on my AP, and DS and DH have 2 days and 3 plusses left on their PHP, so next trip will be quite the bargain

 

[pjlla]

Originally posted by WDWhoneymooner
WOW! My wallet hurts after seeing some of these numbers. I hope we'll be able to afford Disney trips when we have kids. This upcoming trip is going to be just me and my husband, and I'm still amazed at how much it's going to cost...

$688 - 2 roundtrip tickets from Baltimore, and 4 nights at the Hilton Garden Inn Seaworld International -- from Expedia.com
$403 - 2 4-day Park Hoppers, bought at the Disney Store, as Maryland tax is cheaper. Buying from Disney would be about $408.. hey, $5 is $5!
$48 for Mears transportation to and from the airport
We're budgeting about $160 for food for the two of us (our hotel has fridges and microwaves in-room, so we'll be eating breakfast and snacks there with food from home or nearby grocery store)
We haven't really come up with a souviniers budget, but we're not really the type to go nuts. We'll probably allow a couple hundred for that stuff.

All in all, our grand total should come out to less than $1500.

OKAY... someone please correct me if I am wrong... I just bought my PHP tix at my local Disney store here in wonderful TAX FREE New Hampshire.... HOWEVER, we are charged the florida tax rate of 6.5% on that PHP ticket purchase! Are you sure that you were only charged the Maryland tax rate? If so, I should have driven to MA, where the tax rate is 5%, rather than pay the 6.5% florida rate. I know that I wasn't charged this tax in error, because it was the same situation when I purchased them two years ago here in NH. Just wondering.....

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

Just wanted to mention that you need to be sure at look at days at Disney when comparing, maybe on a cost per day basis???

For example, many of the lower totals did 4 day trips instead of 10 days as we did.

And, I like the way this thread shows that you CAN go for less if you're willing to do AllStars or offsite. Unfortunately, I'm sold on the Wilderness Lodge and the proximity to MK--I think I will have a hard time settling for anything less than a deluxe.

Likewise, bringing food and eating offsite certainly saves the $$$, but for our family there was nothing more special than the Character Dining meals. Our boys loved it, and it was worth it to me to not eat fast food every meal AND to not have to battle the autograph lines in the heat.

We are looking a DVC resales right now; I envision our family going at least annually for 10 days or so.

Just wanted to share

 

[TandyR]

4 PHP: $820.24
Groceries: $150.00
dining out: $980.00 (includes three charitor meals, a romantic dinner for DH and I at CA Grill)
Sea World tickets: $171.00
Kids Club: $80.00 (DH and I are celebrating our 10th Wedding anniversary a couple month earily so we can eat at CA Grill while we know the girls are having a good time at the Cubs Den)
Train with a sleeper: $979.40
bus to the train: $71.50
car rental: $287.48
Addventures in Cooking: $60.00
tips and gifts and stuff: $400.00

total: $4004.62

We are DVC and staying at VWL 316 points you decide how you want to count them.

Just thought I should edit this and say we vacationing from Feb 10th-21st...that counts travel days.

 

[Misty89]

HI-
we are still in the planning atges, but here is my estimate budget( which, btw, has been giving me some grief over the past week, because we cannot come to terms with a package or buying seprately.

airfare....est $713 from milwaukee ( non stop- what a deal!?)

hotel...all stars movies.( again, planning on using the great help i have go from here,) 2 nigts at holiday rate 127= 254, 3 @ value rate 77$.total= 485$.00 - want to stay onsite....was OS last year and i want to try a new way- hoping to make 2 ressies to get the value rate after the new year...

tickets... 4 day reg park hopper est, 706$.

food- (here is where we want to spulge, me being a kid my self)
trying to budget 1200$. i want to do as many dinner and character breakfasts we can , (our first time we were there, we hada late PS for cindys so we just had a very light lunch)


going to allow 400 spending cash ( 100 per person)

so grad estimate is around...2,791.00

most of this all estimates because we are not going ( hopefully) until dec 30th 2004. i cant really gets rates this far out that are solid.
we are going to hopefully do this vacation all cash so thats why we picked out so far in advance, so we can save up.

 

[crisi]

Jesse -

That is a good point, park days are more expensive than pool days. And people who manages to get 30 park days in a year off an annual pass are going to do a lot better on a $ per day basis than someone who has four day hoppers.

Another thing I like to keep in mind is that our vacations are expensive compared to many....we will have seven expensive dinners in a week and spend our nights in a darn nice hotel. But we only go for a week every other year. A lot of people will go four times during that same period - and eat out nice during each of their vacations twice and spend just as much money for 28 nights over two years at POR as we do for our seven. We do the Quality over Quantity vacation. There are plenty of people on these boards spending just as much as we do, but doing the Quantity over Quality vacation (not that anything Disney is low quality)

 

[Chim Chiminy]

This is the budget from our most recent trip in August 03. Eleven night stay.

Travel (gas and 1 night hotel on return trip)--$240

Room--four nights Contemporary NGW through SOG--$397
seven nights BCV 2 bedroom--314 points

Food--budgeted $1300, actual total was $1237.71
This included snacks, water, candy. We did at least one sit
down meal every day.

Park admission-- 3 adult and 1 child AP's purchased at SOG $1394

Parking--at Seaworld $7 (free admission for military)

Souvenirs--$434.40 This is where I underbudgeted. A lot was
spent on gifts to bring home for friends.

Pleasure Island Pass--1 at $18

E-Night tickets--$47.50

Internet connection--$3.50 (at .35 each connect)

Family Boat Plan--$212 at the Contemporary Marina

Stroller rental--$8 at AK (for my exhausted and hot 10yo)

Mickey Ponchos--$18.76 we went during rainy season and our
cheap ponchos didn't cut it.

Grand total comes to $2623.87

Of course now that we have the AP, we are planning a surprise trip in the spring. Using points for our stay. Plus a two week trip this summer, also on points.