What's your budget for "spending" money?

[GEM]

I am just wondering what some of you budget for extra "spending" money while you are at WDW. I am trying to figure out my budget. I am NOT talking about regular meals, park passes, etc.

I am looking for figures for "extras" - souvineres, snacks, Water Mice and bike rentals, hairwraps, etc. All the extra stuff that really adds up! Anybody willing to share? Also, be sure and tell how many of you there are, how long you stay, etc.

Thanks!

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

We are usually there 9 nights and go 2 out of every 3 years. We camp at Ft Wilderness - myself, DH and two teenagers.

If you don't count meals/park tickets, I would say we probably only spend $100 to $150 extra total for the trip. We really don't feel the need to buy a bunch of "stuff." Also, we can take more trips if we keep expenses reasonable.

We just never felt the need to change our usual spending habits; i.e. we spend our money like we would if we were home.

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

2 adults and 2 teenagers / 9 nights / Ft Wilderness

We usually take a "big trip" every spring (2 out of every 3 years) and then at least two smaller trips during the summer. Our family has long gotten over buying "stuff". We know that if we keep things reasonable we can go on MORE trips more OFTEN.

Outside of food/lodging/park tickets, between $100-150. We don't feel the need to change our usual spending habits (e.g. That's too expensive! I can live without it!)

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

ooooo! I hate it when I think the post hasn't gone through and then I do a new one!!

Well, you get the idea.

 

[MJames41]

I work my budget this way.

First I figure how much I want to spend. I subtract out how much I think I will be spending on airfare and hotels. I then add days to the trip (it's always too short, of course). I then add more money to how much I want to spend.

I then subtract out $10 per person, per day for snacks, $5 for breakfast, $10 for lunch, $20 for dinner. I then add more money to how much I want to spend. I might add more days as well.

I then add money for special dinners (we love the Beach Club dinner and always get crab legs). I'll also take out for special things, like boat rentals, etc. I then add more money to how much I want to spend (I think there might be a pattern here).

Whatever is left, I split between my kids and I for spending money. Hope this helps.

 

[David from ma.]

We spend about 300 on photos and boats,bikes. boats cost 30.00 for 1/2 hr. x 3 is 90.00 we do it two maybe three times in the ten days. photos after the rides 12 to15 dollers it adds up.

 

[GEM]

Thanks. It's just DH and me. We don't buy much stuff either, since we have been so many times. This time, we will probably get a t-shirt each and some special Christmas ornaments (since we are going in December). We will probably also rent Water Mice one afternoon and bikes one morning. We will need a little money for snacks each day. I want to get a hair wrap. That will probably be about it. I was thinking of taking $50 per day. Does that sound like it will be enough?

 

[WDW2002]

I pretty much have broken down our budget to everything we are likely to do. Then I added $500 for the trip (15 days 1 adult, 1 teen, 1 child). This includes suviener (not covered by our change piggies), and any unplanned things. I have a feeling that I will be briging home most of this.

$50 per day seems reasonable (if not high), if it does not include things such as food and any planned activities.

 

[jennymouse]

My problem is, I'm a sucker for the photos. I'm going to try to restrain myself this time. I've got $50 a day budgeted for most days, but $100 a day on our Epcot WS days...we tend to buy more there. There are three of us...two adults, one child.

 

[GEM]

That's what I did, too! Right now I have $50 per day except for the day we do Epcot World Showcase. I have $100 budgeted for that day. I just can't help myself when I get in that huge store in Japan . . .

 

[TomM]

We usually spend $100-150 for misc. 2 adults, 1 5 year old daughter. Usually come home with money from the misc. envelope. It is easy to get away from you though, a snack here, coffee there, a photo albumn, a coffee cup, so we watch carefully.
TomM

 

[hellokitty]

we bring $100 for everyday we are there and I save an extra
200 for souvieners just for me and the kids.
there are four of us by the way.

 

[Free4Life11]

What exactly are these hairwraps?? How much are they??

thanks,
matt

(might give my sisters money for these, they sound intersting)

 

[hellokitty]

usually it is beads braided in your hair. my daughghter paid
$18 for hers (she got some fancy beads) anyway it lasted her
3 months in her hair!!

 

[disneysteve]

This is an incredibly difficult question to answer. There are way too many variables from person to person and family to family, even from trip to trip. On some WDW trips, we have bought so much stuff that we had to ship stuff home at Mailboxes, Etc. On other trips, the few souvenirs we picked up easily fit in our suitcases. (We are Disneyana collectors so our perspective is a bit different than most.) I recall one trip a few years ago where between my wife and I, we bought 13 new shirts. On our trip next week (can't wait!), we're planning to rent some type of boat one day, something I haven't done for many years, so that will factor into our spending total.

David made a good point in a previous post - don't forget about photo processing costs. If you are a photo bug, you can easily click your way through 6 or 8 rolls of film, or more, so include the cost of film and developing in your estimate.

Steve

 

[GEM]

Thanks! We have a really good digital camera, so we don't have that expense to worry about. We put all our good pics on our web album and only print out the two or three that we want to frame.

 

[SandraC]

We take abuot $400 cash for 7-10 days extra. I make a budget for everything, the extra $400 is insurance. The $400 covers counter service meals, snacks, souveniers ~ although counter service really should be considered in my meal budget, we often pay cash for them. I end up taking home a lot of cash. The item that always surprises me is the film development, film and new photo albums. $300!!!!!!!!!!!! S

 

[kdibattista]

2 adults, no children, 1 week stay -

We each get $200 for souvenir money to buy whatever we want, whenever we want. After that, I tack on ~ another $500 for misc stuff. Never really use it though (or at least all of it).

 

[tonilea]

Just back from a 10 day trip, we budgeted $100 per day for meals, snacks, and souvies. We ate some nice dinners, some counter service and some off site. But all in all $100 per day seemed to work well. It is just me and DH.

 

[Spoisal]

We don't have an "extras" budget - I divide our budget into 3 sections: 1) park tickets, 2) resort, 3) everything else (food/character meals/hoop de doo/souveniers/hair wraps/etc). Our budget for "everything else" is $1500. Oh, yeah it is an 8 day trip....