How much do you take for spending money?

[KellyHonos]

I always plan for a grand, just in case. Yes everything is paid for, yes I do not need a thousand dollars worth of souvenirs, nor will they fit in my luggage, but in that thousand dollars, I tip servers, bartenders, mousekeeping, disney express drivers, possibly mini van drivers, etc. I also bring extra wiggle room money for breakfast, because even though we have the dining plan, we find we struggle with breakfast because we generally use our 2 snacks for breakfast but then in the park we end up needing to pay for an ice cream cone or pretzel. We just like to be prepared no matter what. we also account for the difference in tax in Florida. Florida taxes more heavily than MI

 

[AColeman]

We're a family of 4 (Dh, Myself, DS 9 and DD 6). This is our first trip to Disney, so we've really got no -real- idea what's going on, so like most things, Momma's just winging it. Haha. We are on the DDP (Probably cheaper OOP, but I'm one that just wants to KNOW its already paid for. Whew). I've paid for add ons and extras as "Mom", but I intend to give each kiddo a $100 GC for them to spend however they see fit. Other than that, I plan to take about another $6-800ish for drinks, what nots for the DH and self, tips, and whatevers. DH is more of a drinker and I'm more of a "Oooooh, that's shiney". Hehe. Of course out of my "oh, that's shiney" money I will likely buy the kids their first set of ears, a T shirt, and any extra little snack things we see that we want to try out. So, all in all anywhere from 800-1000 for 6 park days.

 

[aliciamakino]

Just back from our 7 day (4 park days) trip. I have analyzed all our spending (food and souvenirs), family of 3, $200 on souvenirs and $900 on food. That included a few "special" experiences: Bon Voyage Character Breakfast, Dinner in the Castle, Lunch at Be our Guest and HEA Dessert Party. Over our initial budget. But overall, not too bad.

 

[Jessicadhx]

Theres two of us going, on the Dining Plan for 2 weeks.
We've got about £1700 planned, of which around £600 of that is going on extra tickets (universal/discovery cove etc) and the other £1000 ($1,300) is going on extra food/snacks, alcohol, tipping and the occasional taxis. We won't spend big on merchandise, just a little bit here and there and I reckon this amount should cover us, but I wouldn't want any less.

I just don't want to be thinking 'hmm can I really afford another cocktail?'

 

[Linda Goudailler]

We are a family of 3 adults staying one week in deluxe studios. We charge meals, tips and purchases to our room and then apply a $1000 Disney gift card on the 6th day to the bill and VISA the rest. We take $200 cash for the following which are mostly TIPS: airport shuttle, airport skycap, Magic Express, bellman, daily housekeeping, and drinks/snacks at places not accepting Magic Band charges.

 

[tguz]

We aren't big souvenir people but my son will get a DW shirt, my girlfriend will get a Pandora charm, and I like to get a couple Disney pins. I would like to get a Disney T-Shirt but most all of them are cotton and I prefer the dri fit type shirts. Not sure why Disney hasn't went to dri fit type material like all the brands have. I think I may buy a Disney gift card or two over the next few months for my son and let him buy this or that knowing exactly how much he has to work with.

 

[ScoutsMom21]

We carry very little cash with us at WDW. Probably no more than $300. We rely on our Magic Bands and the credit card linked to it. We just find that to be more secure than having to worry about losing a wallet. Then again, we're not big souvenir shoppers. A few ornaments for our tree, a couple of stuffed animals for the kids, and a splurge or two in the Japan and Morocco pavilions at Epcot (two of our favorite shopping spots).

 

[maryj11]

So here's a question, and I don't mean it to sound snarky. What are you all buying with all this money?

We aren't souvenier people. I hate having clutter. I hate having something that will just accumulate dust, that I need to find a place for in my house, that is just "stuff." We do breakfast on our own, take in our own water bottle, and then it's usually CS meals. We have done TS meals in the past (usually a little less than 1 per night we're there), so obviously we need to tip that. We don't drink, so no alcohol. Here and there we'll get a snack I guess, but that's not even one per person per day. Pretty much our vacation is our trip itself, not stuff that we buy. I guess we're not the norm?

There are only 2 of us and we only buy maybe 2 things each. I usually buy a t shirt and a park pin sometimes 2 pins. They are the pins like that says HS, MK with Year on it or a certain ride like Tower of Terror or Splash Mountain. Anyway I usually don't spend any more then 100.00 all week on souvenirs.

 

[maryj11]

There are 2 of us and I just figure 100.00 a day, plus I have my Disney Visa reward card that usually has about 200.00 on it. My granddaughter who goes with me brings her own spending money she gets from working odd jobs. She usually has about 100.00. Her spending money is not for meals but whatever she wants to spend it on like souvenirs or snacks. We don't get the dining plan but do eat at 1 sit down restaurant everyday. We don't eat 3 meals a day though usually just 2 with a couple of snacks. If I run out of money I use my Disney Visa.
I put mouse keeping tips in envelopes before we leave and tip about 3.00 to 5.00 a day. I also tip ME about 3.00 or 5.00 We only have 2 carry on bags.

 

[makthompson]

When our kids were small they saved up their money through allowance, birthdays, Christmas, and report cards. They were allowed to take 100 each of their own money. It taught them responsibility of having their own money and keeping track of it. I also spent a lot less, because they would want something and by the time we got home they were done with it or wouldnt play with it anymore and got tired of "wasting" money on things they really didnt want. i would let them know they had enough money to buy it and they would say. "oh I dont need it that bad, I would rather save it for something else." Usually my DH and I would buy a t-shirt or 2 and we would put it on the card to not have to keep track of money. Other than that just enough for tips

 

[MudQueen22]

Our best souvenirs are the pictures.
We do buy t-shirts and at least one Christmas ornament, however.

 

[RamblingMad]

I bring my credit card.

I know we'll spend about $200 a day on food. Breakfast is usually Star Bucks at our hotel. Then, we'll do a sit down lunch and dinner. Some days we'll be higher, and some days we'll be lower.

The usually stuff we end up buying: blanket for fireworks and ice cream.

The quality of the souvenirs in the shops have declined since the Great Recession, so we end up buying less and less each year. I'd would be odd if we spent more than a hundred the whole trip.

 

[Smittolis]

As a family of 5, we usually get a good grocery shop (garden grocer) to help offset some of the food costs, once all these have been taken into consideration, we budget $100 on top of that. The kids have their own gift cards of $75 for their trip to spend on what they want, and we look at $100 for all 5 of us with the occasional dining reservation on there. We don't penny pinch by any stretch but we find we do very well with this amount when staying on site. We spent well below this on our last trip even when we said we would spend what we wanted. Ironically, we spent more when we were really watching the money! haha....

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I give each of my 5 kids a $200 Disney GC for souvenirs and when it’s gone it’s gone. I don’t usually do the dining plan and for my family of 7, we usually spend about $3500 on food per 14 day trip. My DH won’t usually get himself any souvenirs and I’ll usually spend about $300 on myself for souvenirs per trip. This is all after ticket costs. We’re DVC, so we don’t “pay” for lodging. Disney is super expensive!

 

[Tiggerlover91]

DH and I are having a "discussion" about spending money.

We have our trip paid for. We are doing the Deluxe Dining Plan. So all of our food is paid for. Since we have 2 snacks a day, DH thinks we only need to take about $500 for souverniers and such. I'm thinking that we need to bring a bit more.

I'm sure that there is a middle ground somewhere, but wanted to ask everyone's opinion. TIA.....

For just my son and I, I am taking $750. We are going to be there for 5 days. I have us budgeted out at $150 a day. Then if you take that and divide by the two of us...that's $75 for my son and $75 for me. I SERIOUSLY doubt we'll spend that much money a day...even eating kosher meals everyday. We will be doing the majority of our eating in the kosher restaurants offsite and that can cost a pretty penny. We will probably only do one meal a day in Disney or just snacks....some popcorn or an ice cream bar to hold us till we eat offsite. I don't plan on buying a lot of souvenirs. I just like to pick up a shirt or two and I'm good!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

For just my son and I, I am taking $750. We are going to be there for 5 days. I have us budgeted out at $150 a day. Then if you take that and divide by the two of us...that's $75 for my son and $75 for me. I SERIOUSLY doubt we'll spend that much money a day...even eating kosher meals everyday. We will be doing the majority of our eating in the kosher restaurants offsite and that can cost a pretty penny. We will probably only do one meal a day in Disney or just snacks....some popcorn or an ice cream bar to hold us till we eat offsite. I don't plan on buying a lot of souvenirs. I just like to pick up a shirt or two and I'm good!

My 19 yo DD keeps kosher (she’s more religious then the rest of us) and we preorder meals for her wherever we eat in Disney. She says they’re not the best she’s ever had but it works if you don’t want to leave property for whatever reason.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

My 19 yo DD keeps kosher (she’s more religious then the rest of us) and we preorder meals for her wherever we eat in Disney. She says they’re not the best she’s ever had but it works if you don’t want to leave property for whatever reason.

Thank you for sharing with me! I'm aware of the kosher meals within Disney. I've done them at Cosmic Rays and Pizzafari. For CS they aren't bad at all. I don't do TS anymore because I don't want pre-packaged food kept warm by a heat lamp. Like everyone else, I would like a nice hot meal or a freshly prepared pizza or sandwich while on vacation. So that's why I don't mind driving off property.

 

[Gman76]

Very little cash.

EVERYTHING we do in life goes on a credit card to earn points. Either get free trips, or get 1-3% cash back depending on card.

(yea... a few places and situations still need some cash - mostly tipping)