Spending Money

[shaz105]

Hi

My name is Sharon Di-Leo me and my family are travelling to both WDW and Disneyland in August this year.

Something have change with my husband's work and his wage has been decreased. So that mean our spending money has been decreased as well. I was wondering how much you allocated for your trip and how much per day.

We will be in Anaheim for 12 days and 11 nights and Orlando for 8 days 9 nights. We are thinking on taking $10,000 total do you think this is enough?

 

[1rocky]

Would the money just be spending or would that include accommodation etc.
For the approx 4 weeks i am traveling and considering all accommodation tours and airfare paid.i am looking at about $2500 spending for each my daughter and myself to spend. Usually we dont spend this much and bring some back. This would cover extra tours food and any gifts etc. We also have what we call an emergency fund put aside just in case the unexpected pops up.
In the end it comes down to what you feel comfortable in spending and what budget you have. I also try to pay for as much as i can before we go to help with budgeting. You could also make a budget with estimates of what you may spend. For me I estimated $600 a week just for myself with $100 a day for five days and then $50 for a couple days and then have the extra $100 just in case. hope this helps.

 

[woz1971]

Our last trip in 2007 I was worried about my DD almost 3 getting lost or misbehaving in restaurants. Turned out DD7 always wanted some type of souvenir and was quite disappointed if she did not get one. Someone on the disney bus with us talked about that they had an envelop for each person with a certain amount so that the person knew to make it last the whole trip and when it is gone it is gone. We are planning a trip latter this year and I am going to try this and see how it works. I was going to do $100-$150 per person and I think this is pretty generous.

 

[shaz105]

Hi

The money I am hoping to saving up with be just spending money we have book the tours with flight centre and paying for them next few weeks.

Accomdation - Anaheim with be paid for when we get there and it will be put on the credit card and this credit card with hopefully be not used again through the trip.

Accomdation - Orlando will be paid for before we go.

 

[GrazingGoat1966]

Sharon, how long is a piece of string???? Depends on the amount of people in your family and how many souvenirs etc that they want to purchase and bring back (remembering luggage allowances and associated extra charges).
Generally speaking 10k should be well and truly more than enough for the average size family. As per a previous suggestion..... allocate everyone an amount in an envelope leaving a large amount in reserve eg 4 people with 1500 each which has to last them until a time that you are comfortable with... maybe 3-4 days left at WDW before you hop into your last 4000.
BEST TIP EVER : Get each of them to keep a daily diary of their expenditure. Every cent that they spend should be noted down and deducted from their individual total. Trust me. You will be absolutely stunned how much further your money will stretch when they sit down at the end of each day and realise that they have "wasted" money on some crap that they wont remember or have in their possesion to bring back home as a memento.

Or if your family is too young to keep an eye on their own spending.....blow the lot and go your hardest!!!!!!!

 

[DizOz]

Must agree with grazinggoat spending is all to you. What type of restaurants you eat at and how much you drink has a big say on how much you spend.

Always remember the quoted price inevtiably does not include your tip and state and federal taxes.

Don't forget your keycard at WDW is like a big CC and you can charge everything at WDW on that card. Usually has a $3000 limit. Whne that runds out they tell you and you can re-charge it and start again.

Our last trip we very rarely used any cash other than tipping and taxi's.

My advice is try and pay for as much as you can before you go. Park tickets, transfers and tours can all be paid for before you go.

Great idea to keep a running tally of what you spend and review your room account each day. If you are taking cash a great way is to split your spending money into daily lots in zip lock bags (for example if you have 10 days at $150 per day, put 10 lots of 150 into 10 bags). If you have change at the end of the day you know your on track.

 

[queenie82]

Don't forget your keycard at WDW is like a big CC and you can charge everything at WDW on that card. Usually has a $3000 limit. Whne that runds out they tell you and you can re-charge it and start again.

Your room key CAN be a charge card but it doesn't have to be.
If you are concerned about overspending then you can easily tell them to make it a non charging card. We split it up so some family members had charging rights and some didn't.
The charging is handy but not essential.
Even if you are on the dining plan you still don't need it to be a charging card. You get it swiped to deduct credits but there is no charging. This is actually quite useful so you have easier control over the tip as we just put in cash with the key card so it got deducted but not charged.

 

[shaz105]

Thanks For the great advice guys

I will be taking your advice GrazingGoat1966 and get everyone to put down there daily expenses I think this is a great way to make sure you stay on track.

I think the most of the money will be spent in Anaheim as my son is going to Legolanf and he loves lego. Hope there will be some money for mum to buy some new clothes

 

[queenie82]

I think the most of the money will be spent in Anaheim as my son is going to Legoland and he loves lego. Hope there will be some money for mum to buy some new clothes

Lego in the US is quite expensive.
So unless it is on sale or something you can't get here I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I hope you have a tonne of fun at the park though!!!
And if you have time there is a waterpark there now.
http://www.legolandwaterpark.com/

 

[shaz105]

Thanks Queenie

I sais the exact same thing to my son if we havent seen it in Aussie and the price is good we would consider it.

I thank you all again my mind is at ease for now until the trip get alot closer.

 

[aussietravellers]

Legoland is so much fun, my son absolutely loved it, more than Disneyland sadly

There are a few lego items that they have that you can't get in Australia and also a few that go on sale there before being released elsewhere in the US. I bought a lego brick muffin cake pan. It's pretty cool, its one of those silicone baking trays and has 6 square lego bricks (rather than round muffin holes).

About the spending money. I have purchased gift cards for use at WDW for my son rather than him having money to carry around. So he has his spending limit for the trip in the form of a gift card, then I will give him cash to spend in New York. I did the same at Disneyland in December, I gave him a gift card for our two weeks at Disneyland and some spending money for outside of Disney and that had to last him the trip. He did use the whole card and did come home with some US cash, which he has in his wallet to use on our next trip in September (means I don't need to give him as much this next trip )

 

[areweindisneyyet]

When we travelled with the children we gave them $10 spending money each day to spend on whatever they liked. This included balloons, facepainting etc.. When it was gone, it was gone and they quickly learnt that they could save it up. My husband and I had also kept a good portion of their funds for the last days. Whilst walking around DL each day, when they children saw something they really liked we made a note of it in a small notebook, what it was, where it was and how much. Towards the end of the trip we checked the list and prioritised what they really wanted. It also helped us big people to discover what they really wanted which was great for presents later in the year. The kids quickly discovered it was more fun spending our money than theirs.