I am taking myself and my 3 children to Disney next Sunday. My twins are 2 so they get in free but dd is 4 and needs a ticket. NP there. I'm trying to work up a budget though. Hotel is paid for and we have park tickets for 1 day through them. We're doing a time share presentation for this. We're driving down and we'll be staying overnight in a hotel going down and coming back. I budgeted $60 per night at hotel(I hope?). $250 for gas roundtrip. That leaves me with $862 for food and souviniers. Can I do this for a 5 day trip? Is that enough? I'm desperately TRYING to sell some stuff on ebay and MAY get an additional $200 but that's to be seen. TIA.
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Can I make this work?
- Thread starter lukenlaurafan77
- Start date
michaelcostella
Member
Hmm that is a really tight budget. Depending on how wisely you spend the food money you should be okay but you should have some money put aside for emergencies.
$862 for 5 days for food and souveniers is very doable if you dont have to pay for tix out of it. You can probably get away with splitting two meals at lunch and dinner between the four of you. I would also suggest taking cereal bars and doughnut holes for breakfast each morning. That will save you $15 to $20 each morning easy. I would say budget $60 per day on meals and snacks if you are doing counter service only. That leaves about $500 for souvs.
I do think that's doable if you really work at it. We are only going to eat counter service, when we eat in the parks, I'll be cooking at the timeshare some nights, and we bring snacks in with us, b/c we try to keep our spending down, and our kids are fairly picky.
I have a theory, how little you can go on depends on how bad you want to go.
I have a theory, how little you can go on depends on how bad you want to go.
Uponastar
Well-Known Member
That's our WDW motto!
We cut every corner necessary, if it means we get to go. We even pack our coffeemaker, get cups and lids from our local convenience store before we leave home, and make our own coffee in our room each morning before heading out to the parks. We take quick breakfast foods (cereal bars, packaged donuts, fruit) and eat those on the way to the parks. We'll have either our lunch or dinner outside of the parks...much cheaper!
You can do it if you really have to...and it takes nothing away from the fun of your trip. If anything, it gives you satisfaction in knowing that you didn't waste unnecessary funds.
I<3WDW
New Member
My family always has a super budget...we plan everything to a T---how many pins we are going to buy to shirts to ice cream bars...I would definately take Poptarts for breakfast....If you like peanutbutter crackers and goldfish just snack through out the day...that is the way we do it..We take juice boxes and emty drink bottles and fill them up with powdered gatorade or koolaid you never have to buy a $2 coke....and think of the money you can save. We also only eat at the park for dinner. Also make a buget for each persons souvies..i would do no more than $90-150 per person...:wave:
Space Mountain
Well-Known Member
Expect to spend around $500 total for food.
Jesùs_Carioca
New Member
SweetMagic
Oh Meyla Weyla
Some really good ideas so far, especially the sandwiches, chips, breakfast bars etc. and the powdered drinks to mix with water. These things will save a bunch. I used to always bring my goldfish crackers in my waist pouch because those snacks stops can really cut into a budget.
I think you'll be fine, just don't buy all your souvenirs the first day, make sure you have the funds left to cover it at the end. I think I'd rather be there and go home with nothing, than not go because I wouldn't be able to afford a toy or balloon.
Will there be complimentary transportation to the parks from your hotel? That'll save the $11 parking fee.
Don't stress, I really think you'll be fine. Have fun :wave:
I think you'll be fine, just don't buy all your souvenirs the first day, make sure you have the funds left to cover it at the end. I think I'd rather be there and go home with nothing, than not go because I wouldn't be able to afford a toy or balloon.
Will there be complimentary transportation to the parks from your hotel? That'll save the $11 parking fee.
Don't stress, I really think you'll be fine. Have fun :wave:
Kristamouse
Well-Known Member
A couple other ideals, I eat kids meals very often in WDW. They is plenty of food for me. My kids (2 +3) split a meal with some left over. I don't know if you have a stroller, because my suggestion is a small collaspable cooler. Much eaiser if you have a stroller. We take in grapes, sliced apples, milk, pretzles, goldfish, string cheese, dip for pretzles, turkey sammys, carrots and smarties (small treat that doesn't stain). Freeze one or two water bottle and they will keep everything cool and be ready to drink by the end of the day. We put the dry food in cooler too, it doesn't get too smashed that way. Also baby wipes are great for cleaning off hands.
We stay at the vaule resorts and since we drive like you we take a toster. I know that sounds crazy but I hate for my kids to have sugery doughtnuts etc for breakfest so we take frozen whole grain waffles, bagles things like that and tost them up before we leave. I even asked M'D for small syups and butters and they gave me a handfull for free.
We spend about 25 dollars per trip for all us on souiniverners. I only buy Christmas ornaments and a small toy for kids. POTC gift shop has hooks for only 2.50 and we found a Cindy doll for like 8.00 for DD.
You can totally do it, we do Disney so cheap sometimes I think we should write book LOL.
I have to say though we do end up getting Dole Whips, Mickey Ice Cream Bars and something from the Pastry Shope in France. I guess thats I where I spend my saved money from the other stuff.
Oh and we have done the time share thing as well, we got 1/2 priced tickets and it took about 3 hrs from parking to getting back in the car. Well worth the 3 hrs. We did Orange Lake and it was fine, the kids love riding in the golf cart.
We stay at the vaule resorts and since we drive like you we take a toster. I know that sounds crazy but I hate for my kids to have sugery doughtnuts etc for breakfest so we take frozen whole grain waffles, bagles things like that and tost them up before we leave. I even asked M'D for small syups and butters and they gave me a handfull for free.
We spend about 25 dollars per trip for all us on souiniverners. I only buy Christmas ornaments and a small toy for kids. POTC gift shop has hooks for only 2.50 and we found a Cindy doll for like 8.00 for DD.
You can totally do it, we do Disney so cheap sometimes I think we should write book LOL.
I have to say though we do end up getting Dole Whips, Mickey Ice Cream Bars and something from the Pastry Shope in France. I guess thats I where I spend my saved money from the other stuff.
Oh and we have done the time share thing as well, we got 1/2 priced tickets and it took about 3 hrs from parking to getting back in the car. Well worth the 3 hrs. We did Orange Lake and it was fine, the kids love riding in the golf cart.
SweetMagic
Oh Meyla Weyla
Btw lukenlaurafan77, is your screenname a reference to General Hospital? If so that's too cute. I haven't watched soaps in a million years but I did watch GH back in those days... are they still in the show?
Kristamouse
Well-Known Member
Sweetmagic, I don't about Lukeandlaura's name but I do still watch the show. Mom watched so I remember a lot! Luke is still on the show and is actually married to Tracy Quartmaine. Laura is kinda of on the show. She is in a translike coma (only on soaps right :brick:?) They refer to her and for a while she came out of the coma and was great. Funny thing, they show her or whoever facing away from the camera with a big blond wig. Her kids and Luke are always going to see her and spilling there hearts out, to a wig. For now though Luke "hid" her to keep Scotty from getting power of attorney to her.
Sometimes I wonder why is still watch :hammer:.
Sometimes I wonder why is still watch :hammer:.
eroyee
Active Member
I know where Laura went. shes in an ABC family christmas movie called The Note...:lol:
SweetMagic
Oh Meyla Weyla
Wow, only on soaps :lol: Thanks for the update!
LivingtheDream
Member
First off, I hope you and the kids have a great time .... as for your budget, a couple of things ..... gas is starting to creep up in price so you may want to add a little more $$ for that ... check with the hotel your staying at to see if they offer complimentary shuttle service to the parks ... most hotels around Disney do and if yours doesn't, you may want to check around to stay at one that does after you do the timeshare presentation ... for food, you are allowed to bring food into the parks, you just can't bring anything in glass bottles or glass containers(I do believe baby food is ok though) or big coolers (try and see about getting one of those bag coolers) ... the man grocery store around here is called Publix and they're prices are reasonable (there are also 2 Wal-Mart supercenters within 10 miles driving of WDW on rts 535 and 192) ... as for souviners, you may want to shop on either International Drive or rt 192 for those and save some BIG $$$ .... Disney just opened a discount store on I-Drive and you can save up to 70% of "official" stuff ..... and if you don't have one already, you should think about getting a AAA card, both for the drive back and forth as well as getting discounts for both Disney and hotels (nothing worse than having 3 kids and getting a flat tire on the highway wile driving to WDW) .... good luck and have a safe and magical trip!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks so much. I booked myself into this RIDICULOUS time share presentation to try and save money and after talking the the 5th person I FINALLY found out it's not as easy as it looks. They told me I have to "qualify" for their terms and if I don't I can be charged an additional $100 per night for my hotel room. They checked and told me I did qualify but then told me I needed to qualify again at the presentation, which isn't at the hotel itself but at this place 1/2 mi away. As if that isn't bad enough I then found out that there's a 13% room charge fee per night which they said equals out to $5.07. Is that accurate? Plus a $50 fee charged to my cc for any possible damages. I totally forgot parking tho. ugh! thanks for the info. And yes I LOVE L&L
lawyergirl77
Active Member
Eech - those timeshare presentations/deals always look better than they actually are... Make sure you read the fine print on EVERYTHING that you sign and that you ask lots of questions when you're checking in (try to find at least two different people to confirm the answers you're getting and write down their names).
You could get seriously hosed with these kinds of things, so I would try to set aside the $100/night for your hotel room as an "emergency-will-not-be-touched-unless-absolutely-necessary" fund (i.e. not to be spent unless something goes wrong). I've seen too many people get charged that amount, even if they had technically qualified prior to their trip...