General spending budget- what do you spend

[Hombody1976]

So assuming all flights, accommodation, dining and park tickets are paid for, realistically how much spending money do you really need? What do you guys take? We're mum,dad and 10yr old boy. I know there 'll be small souvenirs but have you come across unexpected expenses?

[Scotts2a]

Even on a dining plan need money in case of a meal out etc. Depends on your eating habits, not much, loads etc and style, steak, salad etc. With regards to souvenirs, you never know really. We've budgeted $750 before and kept to it, also spent over $2000 last time.

[landandword17]

With all dining paid for I’d budget $500 each. Make sure you have good travel insurance and you won’t have any unexpected expenses.

[Scotts2a]

Also have a credit card for medical expenses always better to be prepared and then claim of insurance. Just in case of emergencies

[ASCollins]

It depends entirely what you plan to do!
I personally restock my whole wardrobe everytime I go (every 4-5 years) as I love a Levi's and Converse outlet store. This is obviously a big outlay but I've barely spent money on clothes since my last visit.
In terms of unexpected expenses I try to sit down and go through my daily plan to think about souvenirs, gifts and most importantly when and where I should tip (check the giant tipping thread) to come up with a rough calculation. I take cash for tipping plus a little for OOP drinks and stuff. The rest I put on a credit card (that doesn't charge for international spending!) which allows me to monitor my spend but could also allow me to cover a larger unexpected item if needed. When we get back, all our holiday savings money goes to paying off the credit card and any of those big expenses can be paid off over the next month(s).

[ClaireNJ]

Originally Posted by Hombody1976

So assuming all flights, accommodation, dining and park tickets are paid for, realistically how much spending money do you really need? What do you guys take? We're mum,dad and 10yr old boy. I know there 'll be small souvenirs but have you come across unexpected expenses?

See more...

For myself & Hubbie saying offsite, we usually take around $3000 for a 2 week holiday, this is allowing $100-130 for food every day,( depending if Cici’s or Cheesecake Factory ) couple of trips to Walmart treats in the parks, parking for about 6 days, always have loads left, which I then keep for next holiday or if I have few days left start buying clothes etc with it, usually all our shopping trips to the outlets goes on credit card & we now have Halifax Clarity so no charges abroad

[loves2plan]

We're a family of 4 with 2 weeks at CBR on the QSDP (so no tips), and we're taking $750 which is plenty for us. That will cover souvenirs, Uber/Ltft to/from Universal, food at Universal (we have a 1 night stay), The Void at DS plus any TS meals we may decide to have. We don't go clothes/shoe shopping at all. The most we've ever taken is $1000 and brought some of that home. We have a Halifax Clarity card for emergencies too.

[itsmeGAV]

We took $2000 for both myself and my partner in March for 14 days so had around $140 a day for both of us.

We stayed off site so no dining plan and that covered us for lunch in the parks (Disney&Universal) and dinner out every night, we're not huge breakfast eaters but did eat at iHOP once and Denny's once but had cereal etc at our villa if we were hungry in the morning.

We did a shop at target when we first arrived for around $60, got the essentials plus extra junk food for the two weeks which lasted us.

We filled a suitcase with gifts for us and family/friends, and we still had around $100 on top of our daily on our last day so we just went to walmart and brought lots of sweets & chocolates to fill up any space we had left..

We could have spent a lot more money though... especially me as I have an obsession with branded t-shirts.

It all depends on what you want to buy (like above.. re-stock of wardrobe) but I'd say around $1000-$1500 (possibly even more) would be a good amount in your case as you've got the dining plan!

[Kpzorse]

We always stay onsite and usually have some sort of dining plan. So even including tips , souvenirs and any extras we only take probably $500 between the pair of us for the 8 days we're there. We charge everything else to the magic bands/ie credit cards if necessary. But we do go every year so don't spend much on gifts to bring home etc.

[jwkav10]

Me and my partner went last April on the Quick Service Dining Plan (which we got through Free Dining) - After 4 days we hadn't spent a penny! I think in total we spent about £700 but we went a bit stupid on Disney Merch...

Equally when we've done Villa stays - We took around £2000 and when we came home I bought a new £600 TV, and that included a shopping spree at the Vine Outlets in Ralph Lauren too! Granted the dollar was at 1.6 at this point! So I'd budget around £750pp and you will have absolutely plenty. But it really is up to you. You don't have to buy $20 souvenirs, or buy a $3.50 water in the parks (just take your own bottle). If you're sensible you could easily bring that figure down.