Help, Leaving Tomorrow How Much $$$$

[Mven]

Leaving tomorrow morning and I have no idea how much cast to take for a family of myself DH, DS-2 and DD-5. Always have the credit card to fall back on, but still have no idea how much cash.

 

[pyrxtc]

just food and souveniers, $1,00 should be more than enough. I think $600 would be enough too.

 

[CharmedLife]

It depends on how long you're staying, and how comfortable you are charging on your credit card. If you're trying not to charge and only use the CC as a "fall back" option, then obviously you'll need more cash.

We are going in 2 weeks with DD5 and DS2 as well. We plan to charge any sit-down meals back on our debit card, and use cash only for minor purchases - snacks, small souvenirs, etc. Really we use our debit card for most things. So for us, about $50 - $75 / day is more than enough - last year we brought $600 for 7 days and had a lot of cash left over. If you want to use cash to pay for all of your meals, though, I'd definitely plan to bring more like $100 - $150 / day, depending on if you're doing counter service meals or sit-down meals.

Good luck deciding! Remember that there are many places around Disney to get more cash - they want you to be able to spend your money! And I'm never comfortable carrying around a wad of money, anyway, so as long as you have your ATM card, I would err on the side of a little less.

 

[Bellefan66]

It depends on how many people in your family? Where are you eating? What do you want to buy? We are a family of 5. We eat breakfast at condo, fast food in parks and a sit down at night,so that is about $1000 for a week. I budget $1500 for food and spending. My older 2, 17 & 20 have their own spending money so it's just hubby and our 10 yr old DD. It just depends on what you want. We feel like it's our "Dream Vacation", so we want to be pampered. Sit down meals at night, eating at nicer places is a treat for us,since here at home, eating out would be like Applebees or something like that. Also, we are basicially 4 adults and 1 child,so that is more expensive too.

 

[Mven]

Greatly appreciated. There are only 4 of us, myself, DH, DS-2, DD-5. We are planning on eating breakfast in, counter service lunch and dinners out. We are not big shoppers, just something for the kids to remember the trip. I guess I'm also wondering, how does that work, most of the children's menus are for ages 3-9. My son is only 2 1/2. How do they charge you for that at the CRT and Chef Mickey's?

 

[littleprissboutique]

We always take the money we have planned spending and put it into a savings account. Then when we get to Disney we have just enough cash with us to cover a no plastic problem ie power down or they have problems with plastic that day.

This way we dont have a lot of cash on us, and we charge it all. When our bill comes we just pull the money from savings to pay the bill.

Of course, we carry enough cash to cover tips, maid tips, ice creams / fast snacks, and coin machines like laundry. 250.00 bucks or so for a week stay. This is for 2 adults and one child

 

[rchristiansen]

We just got back a couple weeks ago -

We spent $1,000 (with our cash) for 6 nights 7 days. We purchased $125 of that in groceries as we were staying in a 1 Bed Room Villa at OKW. The other money went to souveniers, only two sit down restuarants and the rest on counter service. Food and Sourveniers are VERY expensive at WDW.

We took about $175 in cash and came back with about $50 in cash. We rarely used cash. You can even charge your bottle of coke back to your room at any snack cart.

I would simply charge with your room key. Then you will pay off your bill when you leave - they just charged the credit card number I gave them.

Don't "fall back" on the credit card though. Set a daily budget or you'll be SHOCKED at the amount if you don't pay attention to it. You don't want to come back from vacation in debt

 

[klj27]

We are not cash people! We were gone for 16 days and we brought $200. We charge almost everything so we can start earning points for our next trip. We usually bring a few checks with us. I think on our last trip we cashed two in the hotel for $50 each and we brought home about $75. (This was for a family of five.)

 

[kiddoc]

In reference to meals for 2.5 y/o--at character meals he will be served a regular child's meal, but you will not be charged. Also, he is free of charge at the buffets like Chef Mickey's. Really nice perk!!! I have taken both of my DDs prior to their turning 3 and sure did enjoy the decreased cost.