How much do you spend?

[PhilharMagician]

I was just wondering how much do you spend on average per day for a trip to WDW. I just was going through my expenses for my last three trips and came up with a whopping $ 160.00 per day for food, activities and shopping. Now this does not include room, tickets or airfare. this is the money I spend once I hit the ground in Orlando. We typically eat one sit down meal and one counter service per day. We also do at least one extra like MVMCP or fireworks cruise or something like that per trip.

Are we out of control or just the norm???????:dazzle:

 

[Connor002]

Too much. :lookaroun

 

[Nemo14]

I was just wondering how much do you spend on average per day for a trip to WDW. I just was going through my expenses for my last three trips and came up with a whopping $ 160.00 per day for food, activities and shopping. Now this does not include room, tickets or airfare. this is the money I spend once I hit the ground in Orlando. We typically eat one sit down meal and one counter service per day. We also do at least one extra like MVMCP or fireworks cruise or something like that per trip.

Are we out of control or just the norm???????:dazzle:

for how many people?

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

Hey Len,

I spend about $200-$250 per day depending upon where we are eating and how many souveniers for my family of 4.

Pam

 

[scorp111]

I was just wondering how much do you spend on average per day for a trip to WDW. I just was going through my expenses for my last three trips and came up with a whopping $ 160.00 per day for food, activities and shopping. Now this does not include room, tickets or airfare. this is the money I spend once I hit the ground in Orlando. We typically eat one sit down meal and one counter service per day. We also do at least one extra like MVMCP or fireworks cruise or something like that per trip.

Are we out of control or just the norm???????:dazzle:

I think you will get a million different answers on this. Some will brag about how much they spend, some will say they are so thrifty and drink from water fountains mixed with kool-aid.

I would say you probably spend the norm for either a couple or a couple with a small kid. (That is pretty close to what my wife and I average)
Families obviously spend more, especially when character meals come into play.

 

[hrmom26]

i am bringing $100 for food a day and about $100 for mad money a day for 3 people although i do expect to have extra left over i just figured I'd rather bring to much than to little. so i think $160 a day seems OK or about right anyway.

 

[scorp111]

Another key is how long you stay.

Because your cost per day for souveniers/extras is usually higher for a shorter stay. Staying for 10-12 days, we usually spend less per day, than if we go for a weekend.

 

[jacksnightmare]

On our past trip we brought $1600 for food and gifts. What I did is give my grilfriend 500 for whatever she wanted. I took 500 for myself and then there for 600 for food. We stayed for a week and we did use all the money but we were fine. The only reason that we used all the money is because we bought a $300 painting from Art of Disney and then bought many pins to trade with the pin sharks.Even though we used all the oney we were fine for the trip. There was never anything that we had to put down because we didnt think that we could afford it. Plus we ate at California Grill, 2 character meals (and as some of you know those are really expensive for getting only a little food), Le Cellier, I had to buy a one day pass while there, Disney Quest admissions, and a few cab rides to the cast memeber stores. I think there were a few pins that we would have liked to bought but that is our excuse for going again.

 

[stankly182]

I don't know if other adults do this, but me and my mom, I am 23, she is 41, eat the kids meals at counter service places in the parks during lunch and dinner sometimes, so we rarely spend over $50 a day on food, including a dinner at a sit down place. The regular adult meals are quite large sometimes, and filling, so we opt for the kids meals, which are just the right size. Nothing is worse than eating too much and then getting on a ride or being out in the heat. Plus its a great way to save that extra money for gifts and other things.

 

[Dwarful]

We figure $100 per day for food for a family of four. However, we do some cost cutting habits esp. if we are at a long stay 10+ days. No bringing in our own kool aide or anything like that, mostly hitting the buffets for lunch late in the day before the lunch price jumps to a dinner price. Then for dinner it will be a light meal. Here I will buy a kids meal, my hubby is a big eatter and eats an adult counter meal with no problem. However, if I am having a dole whip later on I don't want to fill up on chicken strips and fries. Disney is getting my money one way or another. We also do drinks, ice cream from the street vendors, popcorn etc. We certainly don't go without.

 

[Jarboe]

Spending

There is the college student version of this:

Eat breakfast at the hotel, and have a big one so you don't need a full lunch.
$50 per day for admission.
$5 for snack (Ice cream, pretzel, or soda)
$10 for a dinner meal (Chicken Tenders, Coke, and fries).
If you would like a souvenir, I try to limit it to $20 a day, and try to find things in the park that you can ONLY get it the park.

So the total is $65-$85 a day.

A sit down dinner would add $15 per person extra.

 

[Davidsplanet]

Assume the most

Always assume you will spend more than you think, Disney has so much to offer and money is a great tool to keep your sanity. Just imagine being at Disney and running out of money, your vacation could turn into a horrible nightmare!

 

[MissM]

Love and I are FL Residents so we head out there for a day. We easily average around $100 in food, snacks, drinks and misc. items like a shirt, pins or whatever. We normally don't do any sitdown meals (too much food for us) but we do end up snacking a lot (Dole Whip, Pretzels, Ice Cream, Hot Dogs, etc....)
-m

 

[LouDisney]

I have never really sat down and estimated it on a daily basis. It just depends on how long I stay. I am not a big breakfast eater, so a lot of the times I will have some yogurt or something like that in my room. Sometimes I eat a big lunch and eat a light dinner, and vise versa. Same for snacks, somedays I may snack more than others. As far as spending, that just depends too, because some trips I buy more souvenirs than others. I drink water most of the day anyway and I am not different down there. I usually take a water bottle with me.

 

[bhg469]

dining plan puts us around 70-80 per day. It seemed to help things ALOT for the 2 of us.

 

[Nicole]

I plan for $100 a day minimum. That's for me and my 5 y.o. Add my DH and it's at least $150. If I have my whole family there (five of us) it goes up to about $250. The more often I go the less I spend on souvenirs (because I have most of what I want.)

 

[Mecha Figment]

the typical family of four spends an average of 10,000 dollars at wdw on their vacations.

 

[Floridasunshine]

We (family of 4) are going in March for 4 nights/5 days and I have tried to make a budget.... I have tried to think of EVERYTHING we may spend for... (tips, photopass CD,admission to Pleasure Island, souvenier money, gameroom expenses, snacks not under dining plan, etc).

And we are doing the dining plan for 3 days because we plan to eat GOOD there... this will likely be our only Disney vacation ever (at least before grandkids 10+ years away), so we want to do it right....

Excluding the FQPO room, tickets, gas money, and Braves tickets, I estimated (high) that our cost per day of our 5 day stay will average $298.... So, I am hoping I estimated high enough to bring some $$$ back home, but if not I think we will be covered.... And if not, there is always plastic!

 

[gajuggalo]

When we went in 2003 we stayed 4 nights and spent around 1500 on food and extras. In 2005 we got the DDP and saved a ton. Only spent about 300 bucks for 6 full days there. going back in 2007 for 10 days.

 

[GoofyMom2]

We always spend too much bu it worth every penny!

PS Don't keep perfect track because I think it would scare me!