First time visitor budget advice?

[SophieMiddleton]

Hi all Me and my partner are currently planning our first WDW visit, which will be in November-December 2017. We'll be going for 2 weeks, and we're absolutely clueless on how much to take! It's just the two of us, we'll be wanting to do 1/2 character dining meals, Be our Guest, Ohanas, and then more moderately priced dining for the rest of our trip. We're not wanting to go stupid on buying souveniers, but not 2/3 cheap things either. I know this is rather vague, but I'm hoping someone can still help, thank you

 

[YozhikRoth]

Allears.net has a very current listing of the cost for all the restaurants and dining experiences. Regarding shopping, you need to set a reasonable budget and and stick to it. Use the Disney's store website as a guide for how much merchandise is currently running.

 

[Figgy1]

Welcome and your first 15 or so should be spent getting the Unofficial Guide to Disney. Read it and then reread it cover to cover! That should help you answer several of your questions. Happy planning

 

[sxeensweet]

Also the Shop Parks App is the absolute best resource for all souviner item prices because it is the official parks merchandising app of what is currently selling in the parks. Disney store online only has a limited amount of times from the parks and is not affiliated officially with park merchandising. Also prices tend to differ if the Disney store website outs something on sale like I have bought park stuff on sale/clearance before when it was still regular price in the parks.

 

[YozhikRoth]

Hopefully this is not unique to my local library, but they always have the most current Disney planning books from Unofficial, Frommers, Fodors and Birnbaums

 

[sxeensweet]

Hopefully this is not unique to my local library, but they always have the most current Disney planning books from Unofficial, Frommers, Fodors and Birnbaums

Yep most library's do. I usually just bought The Unofficial Guide for WDW of whatever year we went so I never had to give it up. Haha! Still have several of them. Best book out there for newbies. I did get the others too before and always kept going back to UG because it I felt was the most informative and had great little tidbits.

 

[SophieMiddleton]

Thank you everyone, I frequent Disneyland Paris but this is way out of my depth (weird feeling being a newbie to a Disney Park...) I appreciate the advice

 

[Weather_Lady]

You can calculate average dining costs for the restaurants that interest you by consulting their menu (in the dining section if this site - just select it from the pulldown menu under "Info" above), or using the tool at distripplanner.com.

I can't guess what you'll expect to pay for food without knowing your particular dining preferences, but get ready for some serious sticker shock -- the food prices are astronomical. You can save a bit by eating table service for lunch instead of dinner (most places are cheaper at lunch, although not all, and some, such as 'Ohana, don't serve lunch), and bringing your own breakfast foods and snacks. It sounds like you've picked some great restaurants, however -- dinner at 'Ohana, and any meal at, Be Our Guest are two of my family's all-time favorites.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Very roughly, I usually do $100 per adult per day for a seven night trip. You could probably go a bit lighter than that for a longer trip.

 

[Danielli5]

We just came back from a 15 night trip in November and we spent around $150 dollars a day for two adults however we did stay off site so we had a few meals off site aswell which obviously brought the cost down.

 

[margybear]

If you haven't booked yet and do opt for expensive food like steaks etc, maybe the dining plan is worth the value? I wouldn't normally get it, but the idea of having my food prepaid tempted me (my boyfriend and I would go for big meals so it's worth it in our case). We've budgeted for around $3000 for 15 days- so about $200 a day for both of us. Even then we think that's a bit excessive, but if ya gotta shop, ya gotta shop

 

[Figgy1]

If you haven't booked yet and do opt for expensive food like steaks etc, maybe the dining plan is worth the value? I wouldn't normally get it, but the idea of having my food prepaid tempted me (my boyfriend and I would go for big meals so it's worth it in our case). We've budgeted for around $3000 for 15 days- so about $200 a day for both of us. Even then we think that's a bit excessive, but if ya gotta shop, ya gotta shop

Welcome and I totally get the shopping thing

 

[wendyphant]

When we booked we had the free dining plan but only the quick service so we are budgeting for 7 meals as well. Orlando is a bit cheaper than DLP we were shocked last year at the cost 8€ for a beer !! Souvenirs were dearer too but WDW have such a massive selection of different souvenir I spent more lol we are planning £150 each day but we are now 3 not 2. But I do like to take too much I would think £100 a day would be ideal

 

[Figgy1]

When we booked we had the free dining plan but only the quick service so we are budgeting for 7 meals as well. Orlando is a bit cheaper than DLP we were shocked last year at the cost 8€ for a beer !! Souvenirs were dearer too but WDW have such a massive selection of different souvenir I spent more lol we are planning £150 each day but we are now 3 not 2. But I do like to take too much I would think £100 a day would be ideal

Check and see if you can pay the difference for the regular dining plan

 

[wendyphant]

Check and see if you can pay the difference for the regular dining plan

We did ask but it was £30 each which over 14 days added up to £1260 that is a lot. And we wouldn't plan on spending that much on the few extra meals we thought of buying.