How much $$ to bring for spending?

[LostPrincess8789]

My boyfriend and I will be down in WDW for a week June 19th-25th. I have a good idea of how much money we'd be spending for food. What is a good budget to set for souvenirs? We have the Memory Maker, which to me seems like a great souvenir itself. I'll be making a picture frame using the character autographs, so I don't plan on getting a ton of stuff. The main things we will be wanting are mickey ears, obviously, a Christmas ornament or 2, and I really want to find a Lumiere candelabra thing, I've seen pictures of them and I love it! I just want to have an idea of what other people have spent and what I should plan on spending.

 

[ColoradoEquestrian]

We went last year with a strict $200 budget for "fun money" -- It forced us to prioritize purchases. I'm not an impulse buyer so I would see things in shops at the park then check to see if I could get the same thing online for far cheaper. With the exception of a few things, I could save a lot going that route. I think I bought the following: pick-a-pearl in Japan, a shirt I had to have in Norway, a Donald Duck magnet, a Pirates of the Caribbean key ring (which broke 2 months ago ), and some WDW 2014 pens.

 

[Tuvalu]

The Lumiere candelabra is around $50.
Christmas ornaments range from $15-25.
Mickey ears are around $15.

 

[ColoradoEquestrian]

Is this your candelabra? http://www.disneystore.com/figurine...88969&cpncode=40-47874047-2&CMP=KNC-DSSGoogle

 

[disneygirl76]

My boyfriend and I will be down in WDW for a week June 19th-25th. I have a good idea of how much money we'd be spending for food. What is a good budget to set for souvenirs? We have the Memory Maker, which to me seems like a great souvenir itself. I'll be making a picture frame using the character autographs, so I don't plan on getting a ton of stuff. The main things we will be wanting are mickey ears, obviously, a Christmas ornament or 2, and I really want to find a Lumiere candelabra thing, I've seen pictures of them and I love it! I just want to have an idea of what other people have spent and what I should plan on spending.

We do $100 / day. But we usually go over. We are not as careful as we should be with the old budget when it comes to Disney. Between drinkipoos and souvenirs, and gratuities, and just extras, we try for $100 per day but its usually more. Since we are spending more time at MK this time, and I have hung up and bronzed my drinking shoes (except for miller lite and grand marnier slushies), we are hoping we can keep it at $100 this trip. I'm going to try not to go too crazy on stuff for Colin - that might be tricky.

 

[Bugz]

Use Disney visa when possible , and take 300 bucks

 

[mousehockey37]

I think I answered this same thread somewhere else, but here it goes anyway: For the things you actually are going for... Are you getting your ears stitched or not? That raises the price. The ornaments are in the $20 starting range and go up (there may be some cheaper, I just remember seeing a lot for around $20) and your candelabra is $50 if a PP hit it on the head. Beyond that, it's all on your spending habits and what you can afford. No one but you knows your budget better than you do. If you worry about overspending, then perhaps going and loading up some gift cards might help you and then set a limit to a credit or debit card, but then stick to it should you need to. We all have those splurges when we go on vacation, it's just knowing how well we can splurge in the end.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

I stay for 2 weeks so I stick to a budget I like to bring right around 1,000 but that is after TIPS and 1 sit down meal ( buffet) we pay out of pocket . I like to keep souvenirs under 500 for the total trip,

 

[Weather_Lady]

If you want to budget for food, plug your desired restaurants into this calculator for a good ballpark amount. (It will also compare the cost to what you'd spend on the dining plan, but it's good for getting the out-of-pocket estimate, too.) distripplanner.com

FWIW, the daily average cost for 1 CS meal, 1 TS meal with gratuity, and 1 snack per person, per day, can run around $50-$60 (again, per person, per day), depending on your choices (e.g., whether you buy fountain drinks instead of free ice water, whether you order dessert regularly, whether you order the pricier entrees, etc.). That calculation also assumes you're not buying alcohol or appetizers, that you're not dining at signature restaurants or going to the dinner shows, and that you bring your own granola bars from home for breakfast.

 

[JIMINYCR]

We budget and shoot for the $100 a day limit and can manage well with that. You can too if you can say NO to yourselves. We have learned over the years that at Disney its difficult if you dont have the willpower to resist. Theres always something that catches your eye that you werent planning on. So we have the Disney Visa and some extra cash tucked away for when we see something we absolutely want to bring home. Throughout the trip I'm keeping track of the money being spent daily so when we get home there wont be a total surprise about what we spent or owe.

 

[LostPrincess8789]

Is this your candelabra? http://www.disneystore.com/figurine...88969&cpncode=40-47874047-2&CMP=KNC-DSSGoogle

Yup! That's exactly what I've been seeing. I could easily just order that online then. I want to stick to things that we can only get there. We decided $250 is all we are going to spend on souvenirs. And we are going to do our shopping on our last day there. so we aren't continually spending and spending. Thanks for your advice!!

 

[SAV]

I guess we're cheap. We let the kids pick out a souvenir of some sort, we buy an ornament, a magnet and maybe a pin or two for them if they go on a new/special ride that trip. That's over the normal 7 days in the parks we do.

Food works out to be about $100/day for the 4 of us, give or take a little each day. The exception is the DHS day when we try to do a sit down meal since the QS is terrible in that park. But that we use our Disney Rewards points for.

 

[Tuvalu]

Yup! That's exactly what I've been seeing. I could easily just order that online then. I want to stick to things that we can only get there. We decided $250 is all we are going to spend on souvenirs. And we are going to do our shopping on our last day there. so we aren't continually spending and spending. Thanks for your advice!!

Disney Store has free shipping today, code FREESHIP.

 

[NonnaT]

Hi! Not sure this goes under this forum, but I have spent an inordinate amt of time searching for a beautiful Disney bedside clock. My hope was to find something in glass that was maybe slipper or castle shaped. Nothing, Nada, zip! Anyone have any suggestions? We even checked the glass shop in DTD and online. Thanks! NonnaT

 

[Mr Toad]

For spending money, the kids have to use the money they earned and saved. For me and the DW, we just have $300-500 for a trip. Doesn't have to be at WDW either. We do this for all trips. This only for spending money...tours, meals etc are budgeted separately.

 

[CJLove79]

My boyfriend and I will be down in WDW for a week June 19th-25th. I have a good idea of how much money we'd be spending for food. What is a good budget to set for souvenirs? We have the Memory Maker, which to me seems like a great souvenir itself. I'll be making a picture frame using the character autographs, so I don't plan on getting a ton of stuff. The main things we will be wanting are mickey ears, obviously, a Christmas ornament or 2, and I really want to find a Lumiere candelabra thing, I've seen pictures of them and I love it! I just want to have an idea of what other people have spent and what I should plan on spending.

I plan on bringing around 6Gs for spending money for me and my girl's Oct Disney World trip. The way I see it, when it comes to Disney World, it's better to overbudget than the alternative. Plus, it's always good to be prepared for any possible unexpected expenses that may arise. ☺

 

[TXDisney]

Your way better off planning on spending a few hundred $$$ more than what you think, bc once you're there you'll want more things. We over budget every trip and bring back money, just bc you planned on spending it doesn't mean you have to. We plan on like $500 in souvenirs. And around $1000 in food and drink for a week stay. And we never spend it all.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I guess we're cheap. We let the kids pick out a souvenir of some sort, we buy an ornament, a magnet and maybe a pin or two for them if they go on a new/special ride that trip. That's over the normal 7 days in the parks we do.

We're not big shoppers or big "souvenir people," either. If we want T-shirts, I buy them before we go, on clearance, online.

As for the parks, we give the kids each a $20 Disney gift card that they can use for a souvenir or two, and I buy a Christmas ornament to commemorate the trip. All told we spend less than $60, total, on "stuff" -- but the memories are priceless.

 

[zeebs758]

In the past couple times I've gone, I didn't buy many souvenirs. There was only one item I really wanted my last trip which cost $80 so I made sure I had money for that. I'll usually spend more on my family than I would myself ha. I would say $200 for souvenirs is a good limit. I'd rather spend money on food!

 

[Squigglove]

$100/day would make me miserable! On our last trip, first day, I walked into the Magic Kingdom and my first stop was Main Street's Emporium and dropped $92 (and didn't even get everything I wanted).

Everyone does shopping differently. I'm probably one that "over-does" it. But my advice is this: expect the unexpected at Disney and always be monetarily prepared. It won't hurt to take as much cash as possible and if you come home with some, good!

I AM an impulse buyer, partly because you never know what Disney is going to have. We don't go often enough to know what we'll want when we get there. I'm a stuff person, I like stuff. And I'm HUGE on dated merchandise, and big on other must-haves like magnets, mugs, and photo albums. This year I'll be taking my first child whom will turn 2 during the trip, so that's even more souvenir money I'll need.

I have tip money set apart from my own spending money. We'll be there for 7-nights and I only have $1000 spending money but absolutely plan to have more by the time we go. Do I plan to spend it all? Well, I hope not; it would be nice to come home with some cash, but I'm a sentimental person and souvenirs are part of my precious memories. As I said, we don't get to do Disney very often, so when we do I make it count.