How Much Do You Spend Per Day?

[tterrag24]

On average how much should I expect to spend at WDW.I'm going for 10 days at pop century. My girlfriend daughter and I will be going in august. We plan on eating a good mix of parks and resorts, counter service and table service. Brk lunch and dinner, along with some souvenirs? Nothing crazy but just ballpark, I always hear from people prices have gown up and there so ridiculous?

 

[Mikester71]

I'm going to answer your original Question - it's not a recomendation... it's what we spend.

Every trip costs about $290x8 = $2320 + $500 airfair + $200x8 = $1600 + $250 ground transportation + $250 ancillarys. Total? $ 4920 over eight days. That would be $615 per day.

Now - Sandy and I always stay at the Wilderness Lodge - we generally see a discount of 25% to 30%. We always eat at Signature Restaurants for dinner... we have breakfast tabs that average $35 per day. We ignore Lunch - as a result? We don't look like Americans.

So - this may not be YOUR plan. OUR plan is to go to WDW twice per year, at about $5K per trip for a total of $10K per year for two people (we are Annual passholders). Each time? We do NOT plan on saving money - we plan to have a Vacation.

Man...I like YOUR plan!!! Too bad the economy, exchange rate (my wife is from Michigan and works over there, but we live in Canada), gas prices, and ever rising utility costs don't allow me to follow a similar one. :lookaroun:ROFLOL:

 

[Mikester71]

And that's why I recommend the dining plan. I haven't even been on a trip using the dining plan yet (first one in July), but am such an advocate of it already. I see it as a break even (except that we just got a free dining pin to use, so, um, yeah), but the real advantage of it is that your food is paid for. Yes there will be some incidentals, but the fact I don't have to either carry absurd amounts of cash or whip out the CC all the time is great, plus the lack of stressing over "whether we have enough budgeted to do 'x' or eat at 'y'" makes the trip more enjoyable. Last year's 3 day trip was kind of sticker shock at the meal prices once it was all said and done. None of that this year.

Cheers,
Indy

Not planning any more family vacations for a while. Kids are older now and weren't as "in to" this past trip as they were the previous ones. They both said they would have rather been at home different times during the 10 days. So I feel we wasted quite a bit of money for nothing and was kind of disappointed. I know "waste" might seem like a strong statement, but considering this trip was supposed to be my and my wife's 20th anniversary trip alone, and I was the one who decide to bring the kids, you can see where my disappointment would come from. Next trip will DEFINITELY just be my wife and I for a change and that alone should cut down on our expenses dramatically. We aren't big eaters, but if there happens to be a free dining code out there when we decide to go with just the two of us, I wouldn't turn it down. If we were going to take another family vacation with the four of us though, I would definitely take a hard look at the dining plan for sure. My friend has been telling me for years that I was crazy for not considering it. That is the only way he goes. Of course it doesn't hurt when you can get in on one of the free dining offers.

Oh yeah...and we NEVER carry cash around on vacation. We usually go down with between $1500 and $2000 for the 10 days, but only about $500 of it in cash. We usually get most of it in traveler's checks and this time we got quite a bit of it in Disney Gift Cards from Sam's Club. We then use our room cards to pay for EVERYTHING while we are down there, going down to the front desk every day or two and using the traveler's checks or gift cards to pay off the balance. The shocker to us was when we paid off the remaining balance the night before we checked out and they printed out a sheet showing all of our room charges and we looked at it and saw that most of it was for food and snacks. We really splurged this year, but like everyone says....you're on vacation! That is why we saved up for this trip for two years!!! :sohappy:

 

[Disneydreamer23]

i would say 100.00 a day for 3 of you.

 

[lbrad]

At counter service, you can always ask for, for example, the burger without the fries. That is not shown as an option on the menu, but if it gets taken off, it saves a couple of bucks. We always ask for water in a cup, and if there is any kind of topping bar, you can get lemons, add sugar and make lemonade. Better for the heat and hydrating factor than pop anyway.

Good idea!!!
What counter service restaurant has lemons on their toppings bar???

 

[stitch8834]

I always allow $100 per day for food and souvineers. But it's my vacation and from the UK I only make it over every 2 or 3 years so I intend to enjoy myself. Oh that $100 is just for me I'm going solo this time and really looking forward to it, october can't come fast enough :sohappy::sohappy::sohappy:

 

[unkadug]

Be smart... avoid crap that sucks and is overpriced.

We did the following:

1.) brought down our own cereal bars, granola bars, chewies etc etc etc... this is your cheap breakfast. Sure we all love characters meals but the food is ok and the price is high.
2.) we brought our own water bottles, the water at WDW tastes a little better than my pool water so it sucks but, hey... saving coin
3.) there are some joints in the world that have bigger portions than others. My fiance and I would split a wrap or split a burger at Picos. It can be done.
4.) bring some more snacks in with you, peanuts or anything handy and portable
5.) enjoy dinner, you have to splurge somehow.
6.) go easy on gits

bfast: free
lunch: 10 / 2 = 5 a head
dinner: 10 / pp

bang... 20 buck days

What's a git? :veryconfu

 

[powlessfamily4]

I say spend according to your budget. We come from all walks of life and we each have our own preferences. I like the dinning plan because I know up front how much I am spending on food. If you want to take the guess work out of it all, go dinning plan and budget your souvenirs.

 

[H20Babie]

If we forego the dining plan, I budget $50 per day for me and my DS (10) for meals. I pack a small electric kettle, plactic bowls and instant oatmeal for our mornings. Sometimes, we even save our desserts from the night before to eat for breakfast as we are not huge eaters. I save for a year before we go, with automatic bank transfers every payday into an eSavings Vacay account. Any overtime, tax refunds, rebates, etc., also go into the account. What's left over after air, hotel, passes and the food budget, gets used for souvenirs.

And I, too, never carry alot of cash. I tend to use my Key to the World for just about everything it can be used for.

We also always buy the refillable mugs at our resort ... we tend to take afternoon breaks for a swim and refresh before park hopping for the evening.

 

[plaz10]

We usually go for 7 days. We (my boyfriend and I) usually pay $1,000 a person. Hotel at POP, dining, airfare = $2,000 all together. Now with the dining plan we can eat at sit down dinners every night and still pay $1,000 a person which is great. That even factors in buying things not on the DDP like extra drinks and such. Souvenirs is a whole different ballgame. I usually spend about $100 - $150 bucks on souvenirs. We don't go every year (fortunate enough to be able to the past 4 years) but we are never positive we are going back the following year so I have to buy lots of stuff to cope with that. :lol: This year I'm allotting about $250 on souvenirs because my sister is pregnant and I plan to buy that baby lots of Disney stuff!

We still pack granola/breakfast bars and some snacks to take around the parks/eat in the morning. Boyfriend isn't a big breakfast person so by eating pop tarts or cereal bars we save a little money, don't have to use a counter service DDP option and save time not stopping to have a real meal in the oh so precious morning hours.

As far as DDP goes...I love making ADRs. It's so fun to look at menus/pictures of food to see where you want to go. Then check out park hours and fit the places you want to eat into the respective park hours like a puzzle. Sometimes it's not perfect but it's still fun. Then I don't have to worry that we will be stuck somewhere we don't want to for dinner. Plus it's only ADRs. We can cancel if we find ourselves having too much fun in a park to leave or someone isn't feeling well. But I like guaranteeing my seat at Le Cellier and Ohana 180 days ahead of time so that if we want to eat there, we've got the option. And we do for both places in 43 days!!!

 

[disneygirl76]

On average how much should I expect to spend at WDW.I'm going for 10 days at pop century. My girlfriend daughter and I will be going in august. We plan on eating a good mix of parks and resorts, counter service and table service. Brk lunch and dinner, along with some souvenirs? Nothing crazy but just ballpark, I always hear from people prices have gown up and there so ridiculous?

Are you on a dining plan or just paying out of pocket for meals b/c that changes the number.

When my DH and I travel - we have the meal plan so we budget $50/ day for extras. That does not include any big souvenirs that we might want - I keep an extra amount for that. But on daily items, not including the meals, I budget $50 / day.

 

[ddbowdoin]

What's a git? :veryconfu

lol whoopsies... typo

GIFTS

ps sorry for the delay in any of my responses, I dont come on here on the weekends

 

[unkadug]

lol whoopsies... typo

GIFTS

ps sorry for the delay in any of my responses, I dont come on here on the weekends

:lol: Thanks... The only thing that crossed my mind was "grits" and I couldn't figure how that could really affect how much you spent.

 

[elatino]

My friend and I expect to spend around 100-150 usd a day each for dining. We try to do table service for most meals. We both love checking out the signature dining. I tend not to really buy much souvenirs.