Spending money

[imagxinary]

I will be traveling to Disney World come this June with my almost 2 year old. I wont be using a dining plan, but want to at least give him one character meal experience, and of course since he is young yet he will eat off my plate no issues wise. We will only be in the parks for two days. Will $250 be enough for food and souvenirs? Or would I need more?

 

[Figgy1]

Welcome to the magic. The short answer is both yes and no. Yes you can spend 250 in 2 days and cover everything and you can bring 10,000 and till come up short. Did you make a dining reservation for character dining and where and for what meal? That may well be the biggest cost besides lodging and park tickets

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

If it's just the two of you for two days worth of meals...$250 should be plenty. If you do a character dining such as Crystal Palace, you're going to spend $40-$50 just for that dinner. That leaves you $200 for the other meals. A typical quick service meal is going to run you around $12-$15 depending on where you go.

When we go with our two year old, we pack her some fruit pouches, lunchables and goldfish/cookies/fruit loops, etc. to snack on. When we sit down to eat, she may eat a fry or two.

Anyway...you should have enough money to cover your meals and have a little left over to get a souvenir.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Or would I need more?

Never an easy question to answer.

What you spend is down to your eating habits and what you want in the way of souvenirs. A Table Service meal each day, with Quick Service and a Snack and you'll be fine. However, walking around the parks all day will run up a bigger appetite than usual, if it's hot you'll be wanting extra drinks and what about an ice-cream ?? Now your comfortable $250 is looking a bit risky.
Souvenirs ??? There's every conceivable Disney gift that you never knew you wanted (or needed) in every gift shop across the parks - and who can say "no" to a pleading youngster ? Suddenly your $250 is completely inadequate.

My advice, it is far better to take too much money (and take some home afterwards) rather than not taking enough and regretting it as you're more concerned about making the money last after you've just bought that wonderful souvenir.

Take another $100 and you'll have the time of your lives

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I usually do $100 per adult per day for a week-long trip. It probably makes sense to increase that for a shorter trip.

Stick to breakfast for your character meal. It's much cheaper and the character experience is the same.

 

[DarthVader]

250 for one adult and one 2 year old should be fine, though its always safe to bring extra, just in case.

 

[YozhikRoth]

Actually the logic is backwards. If one has $250 to spend, one has $250 to spend. The prices of the meals are all published, without hard limits it's very easy to go overboard on shopping and snacks. For our trip beginning Sunday we're on the DDP, so we have to pay out of pocket for a few meals and shopping. I gave my kids their shopping budgets, they know if they blow it day 1, that's it...

 

[matt9112]

i think 250 should be plenty but im also poor and hence cheap...our first family vacation we had the deluxe dining package and thus only spent like 300 out of pocket over 6 days. you should do just fine IMO.