how much money per day???

[mrs.jacksparrow]

:mickey: Hi,

How much money per day do you think I will need for just myself and my 5 year old son?? We are not three meal a day people more like one big meal and two smaller snack type meals. That is how I did my ADR's, one per day for table service and we'll do the other meals on the fly. I plan to send down snacks water etc to WL ahead of time. I'm not a shopper and son would be good with a small toy etc here and there. I'm thinking about 100. Is that right or am I short???
Any advise would be great!!! :thumbsup:

[iheartdisney]

Before I even finished reading your post I was adding in my head, taking into account that you are "light" eaters and 1 adult, 1 small child and I "guesstimated" about $100/day without "major" souveniers......so I think you're probably on target.

[MOJoe]

You can do WDW on $100 a day, but you will need to keep the cost of those toys down to virtually nothing. Keep in mind that WDW is as much of a shopping event as a theme park, so let your little one know that there is a limit to what can be spent. If you don't, you will be fighting that battle all day.

[bshaw96]

I'd say you'd be fine at 100/day. When the 4 of us go, we don't do a lot of spending either day to day. We tell the kids at the end of the trip they can buy one nicer gift rather than a bunch of stuff they'll lose within a few days (or break knowing my ds). I'd say for dh, me, dd, and ds, we averaged 150- 200 day. That was a main meal, lighter snack meals like you said, and drinks in between. With just you and a 5 year old, 100 should be doable. Have a great trip!!!!

[kakn7294]

I would say that $100 per day is probably adequate to cover food and minor expenses. I would have a reserve amount too though (or a credit card with a decent available balance), just in case something comes up or you decide there is a souvenir that you just can't live without.

[Lorraine444]

$100.00/day is my budget as well. Maybe some days a bit over. I am cheap as my 12 year old would say, but all those souviners do nothing when they get home!
I'll allow him usually 1 shirt, a towel @ the waterparks, and a few smaller items like magnets you actually use for the fridge. Some days be cautious on spending, and other days splurge. This way it doesn't seem like they are getting nothing.
He is bringing a friend this year and I recomended at least 60.00/day for him. Hope she comes through, I don't need the additional expense.... YIKES!

[Ian]

Hmmm ... $100 a day sounds kinda low to me? Maybe I'm nuts, but ...

The least you can get away with at a counter service for 2 people is like $20. If you do that twice a day you're already at $40.

Figure a table service meal anywhere is going to be about that much, too, so now you've spent $80.

That only leaves $20 per day for water, souvenirs, tips, etc. I mean I guess you could do it, but it sounds kinda tight to me.

[ibrowse17]

Agreed:thumbsup: We plan $100 per day per person, which gives half for spending and half for food. However, if we have a special dinner or lunch ADR, that goes on the card. Also, I do keep a reserve just in case. Enjoy!!

[mrs.jacksparrow]

:mickey: thanks for the replies! I feel comfortable now with my budget! I will however try and save a bit more to give me a buffer!! Maybe shoot to have an extra 200 just in case. I have a credit card but I hate to use it.....gives me nightmeres from my early 20's and cc debt :sick: :thedolls:
But I always carry it just in case:party:

[FriendsofMickey]

Just a thought:
If you are planning a sit down a day and you just have you and your son. Have you considered buying the meal plan? It would cost you around $60 a day (which you pay upfront and it covers everything for the meals including the tip). That would leave you with $40 a day for the other stuff.

We always bring water and juice from home (we drive). We pack some in our back pack for the girls. We use our snack for a treat or drink in the park.

Mostly, the majority of our spending is souveneirs and breakfast. Though this year, we plan on just using snacks and CS for breakfast for the girls (we are not big breakfast eaters, but our girls are). Then, we will share our CS with the girls (because they are not big lunch eaters). So; if everything goes as plan we should be not spending too much on food this year in addition to the DDP.

[Harriet]

I am no kid only in heart. Since it is only me and I do eat 3 meals a day due to medical condition. I always figture 50.00 a day just for food. As far as other items I set myself at 200.00 for the whole trip mosly for a sweatshirt and a christmas item and maybe a t-shirt. This seems to work and I usally have left over by the end of my trip which I bank for the next trip some time in the future.

[tinksmom02]

I agree with another poster, if you're planning on one TS per day, and the rest CS, you might want to look into the Dining Plan. It would be less than $60/day for you and DS, paid up front, and then you really wouldn't have to worry about food costs too much.

Otherwise, I think you'd be OK with $100/day, but if you can try to save some for a reserve, even better. And if you don't spend the reserve, you might actually go home with $$$! Good luck--we never go home with $$$ :secret: :mickey:

[bratmaster]

The least you can get away with at a counter service for 2 people is like $20..


I disagree. For one adult and a 5 yr. old child, $20 counter service?? I guess it depends on how frugal you are. We went 3 years ago, 5 of us (me, dh and 3 kids, ages 2,5 and 9) and i budgeted $200/day. We never spent that $200/day. we spent maybe half. We grocery shopped the first night and ate breakfast in our hotle room. Then we ate a counter service lunch. Instead of trying to schedule in a break/nap, we would just leave the parks at a reasonable time instead and go off property for dinner. (nice restaurants, too, not mcdonalds.) We spent about $100-150/day. My kids are great about not asking us to buy stuff. They had earned their disney dollars beforehand and waited until our downtown disney day to do their money spending. So we bought no souveneirs in the parks. (except my dd5 badly wanted a pirates map at POTC, which was like $4 i think, so of course we got her that.) My ds2 we never even bought a meal. he is very picky so we just brought along fruit and stuff from our room for him and he was more than content on what we brought for him. $100/day, even with buying souveniers, that is a lot for one 5 year old. The only thing you really have to spend money on is food, what else is there??