bsmcneil
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 22, 2006
Thank you! This is super helpful!I think it can vary quite a bit from family to family, depending on your spending habits.
I have 2 kids of similar ages, plus DH. We usually budget $150-$200/day for food (including snacks), because we like table service and character meals. We might budget on the low end this coming trip, because we've done most character meals by now. So the type of meals and number of park days are things to consider when you budget (our park days are more snack heavy).
For souvenirs, I don't budget much ($50-$100 total), because we're not big shoppers. I agree that the Disney Visa is a better deal sometimes, but I never carry my wallet when we go to the park, so I prefer to charge it on my magic band and pay later with GC. For our coming trip, I will have to budget more for souvenirs, because my DD wants a droid and my DS wants a lightsaber. But that's something I can plan for ahead of time.
I tend to buy less in GC than what I think I'll need, because I can find other ways to save money if I run out of GC funds, but I'd have a harder time finding a way to spend money leftover. I don't like having money tied up, even if we go quite often.
I am with you on the "err on the conservative side" especially after a really annoying experience with traveling to Aulani (which happened to coincide with a once in a lifetime pandemic).