$ while at Disney

[gottalovethem]

My question, how much extra $ do we need to bring. We have the dining package, are staying at CBR. Excluding souviniers, how much should I anticipate spending each day? One adult and three small children.

 

[stahshee]

We are a family of 7 and we are doing 100 extra per day. We will also have 300 disney dollars

 

[belle&beast]

We spent very little money outside of souvenirs when we had the dining package. I think one day DH bought a lemon slush at MK Toontown for DS while I took DD on the Barnstormer. I think it was just to keep him occupied- he is 2 and was too little to go on the ride. And the only other thing I bought was a Dole Whip because I heard how wonderful they are (and it was delicious!) Otherwise the rest of our $ was spent on souvenirs. We had plenty of food on the dining plan and the kids were rarely hungry outside of mealtime. I think you may need more money if you have to buy a lot more water to keep hydrated if you are going in the summer. We went in January and it was 60's to 70's most of the time, so nobody was too hot.

 

[B9erSteve]

I love a good breakfast, since the meal plan allows for 1TS 1CS and 1snack per day I figured that we'd be spending some money on Breakfasts. Also I plan on attending the Luau, Hoop-de-doo, and the Fantasmic dinner pkg. Since all of these require 2 TS meals I figured that I'd be buying some dinners as well. In addition, I figure that we'll need to eat while traveling to WDW and Back home. I budgeted about $600 for the 9 Days we will be gone. (~$67/day Family of four) I also figure that I will be tipping. If I get good service on the Dining plan I will tip a bit extra even though the plan covers tipping. Hopefully, that will encourage good service and not the lackluster service that some on this site complain about. Plus we will need to tip the mousekeepping staff. About $200 should cover the various tips that I require on the trip. I have a small transportation budget in case I need to pay for a cab to go somewhere that we need. Then souvenir money should be all that is left. I estimate that I will be spending aprox $1700 for the week (about $190/day) Quite liberal but I figure that it will be a while before we do this again so we shouldn't have to worry about money.

 

[karigraphy]

How do you plan to travel with your money? Will you use travelers checks, ATM card (are there machines and are they $$ to use), bill most items to your room, use debit card to pay?

Karen

 

[B9erSteve]

Debit Card. I'll carry a bit of cash on me but the majority of my spending will be on debit. Just prior to my trip I usually transfer the money from savings to checking. I carry a Palm and keep track of daily expendatures that way. As far as ATM machines go... I'm not sure about WDW but Disneyland has them. The fees bug me so I'll take out enough money so that I don't have to hit them too often.

 

[Mike N Kathy]

About 1500 for the week we brought

 

[Haworthfamily]

Where are the ATM's in Disney are there lots?
We went in 2000 and I remember one in Epcot.

We have to take credit card to WDW and my Debit card won't work in the USA at point of sale, only in an ATM.

I'm not sure how many Dollas to order to take.

Sarah X

 

[Waseller77]

We used very little extra money each day, outside of souvenirs. We might have averaged an extra $5/day. We were also on the dining plan and maybe once or twice we actually spent money on a snack. There is so much food with the dining plan that if you plan your meals right, you won't need extra food. That being said, we did eat a granola bar/pop tart in the morning before leaving the hotel.

 

[frdkngcbra]

With a family of five we usually go with about $100 a day for food and souveniers. We try and usually have travelers checks or cash and avoid the ATMs as much as possible(Dont like paying the fees)

 

[ashleyl]

We are a family of 4 and are NOT on the dining plan. What can we expect to pay? We will be there 8 days.

 

[B9erSteve]

Ashleyl, You don't mention the ages of your children so I will assume that you have two young ones who don't eat much. ( I have a 4 and 1 year old) I've not been to WDW before but I know how much that I spend in Disneyland. Since my kids don't eat much, I can usually get by on about $25 for breakfast, $25-30 for lunch, and depending upon the day we may do counterservice or sit down for dinner. $30 for CS or $55 for TS. So $100 /day is a good rule of thumb. If you have big eaters then that will impact your costs greatly. This is why I, Ultimately, went for the dining plan. For $38x2 and $11 x1 (1 year old is no charge) or $87/day my family eats better than we would on a budget and under the $100 mark.

 

[jjoobrien]

We spent very little when we went this past May. We did not take our 1 year old, so we allotted money for one nice gift for her, but decided we didn't need anything for ourselves because the trip and nice dining was a treat enough! We were in Orlando 5 days (did water park, too), and spent about $300 extra (outside of our normal meals). I would say that $300 included drinks, snacks, gifts, and park pictures. I know you are going with a larger family, so that may not help you much, but we knew when we went, about what type gifts we wanted to buy and about how much we wanted to spend. We could have spent more than that, but decided it was just "stuff" and we valued the trip itself!!!!!!