[beatman23]

While how much money to bring is always a question (and really the answer can only come from what you are comfortable with) here is one suggestion that will help you with determining a budget:

Give each child a budget to spend on souvenirs. Maybe $25 a piece.... The rest of the budget really depends on what you think you will use the $$$ for. Do you want to ensure there is nothing on credit cards at the end of the vacation? Do you have a Disney card to charge everything to so you can start to generate cash for your next trip?

[Dana]

I assume you aren't on the Disney Dining plan since you included meal in what you would spend per day. I would bring no less than $250 a day...a meal for 4 (sit down) is going to run you an easy hundred+.

[5Demons4Cookie]

We had a family of 6 last yr, 9 if you count my in laws and niece. We really saved w/ the DDP. My kids eat as much as adults sometimes and they are only 9, 7, 4, 2, and 1 (who was in utero at the time). We payed out of pocket for tips and some extra snackies. I'd REALLY do the DDP with kids you age, there was a few times we paid for an adult meal (hey I said I was prego at the time right?) and it was $$$. We used the snacks for drinks or popcicles and saved (for 6) about $12-$18 a day x's 4 days=$48-72. Food was even more of a savings.

Depending on your hotel you can bring water from your room fridge, but you will of course want cold water again by mid morning. $100 a day for snacks and loot sounds good to me, but a few of your kids if not all are old enough to save their allowance for extra splurges. We sent about $150 a day but we also id extras like face painting and the Main Street Barber, etc.

[TheHawley's]

My suggestion is do the DDP and hit the buffets!!!! It always seems to have something for everyone and you can eat as much as you want! We hit mostly buffets, but mainly because I have one picky eater and one who would eat cardboard if it had ketchup on it...LOL..I'm thinking it would be more bang for your buck, especially how muich cheaper it is on the DDP! I've done with and without, needless to say after we used it I haven't gone back!

[zoey9797]

I figure $20-30 a day per person.
We usually do 2 quick service (chicken strip basket ect.. and a beverage for around $10 a meal). A couple of times during the trip we eat a TS meal or buffet.
We are usually too busy having fun that we forget to eat!

For us, a 6 day trip on average is about $300 above rooms and tickets for 2 people. We use DDR for this so it is really not out of pocket.

One other factor is how fancy of sit down meal you want. That can really change the price. Some are buffet and some are not so it depends where you want to eat. I suggest looking at the menus and prices to get an idea.

[SDuncan]

Take everything that you have, Disney is very good at getting it anyway!

[gingles]

With your plans (TS every day), at least $250 day. In our days before the meal plan, one trick we used was to divide the cash (or travelers checks) into on envelope for each day. Unspent cash got forwarded to the next days' envelope. It kept us on budget.

[M5ward]

I always bring more money than I think I'll need. Last time I took two $1200 Disney Gift Cards and about $1500 in cash. It was my husband, my daughter, son-in-law, grandson (12), two granddaughters (8 and 3), and me. We knew we would be "treating" to several meals and spending alone time in the park with each grandkid (which always means an extra souvenir or two.) We came home with $400 left on one gift card which we will use for our October trip and about $800 in cash. I do put a credit card on my KTTW card but I try to never use it. The gift cards have worked out well since we automatically tuck them away in our luggage for our next trip if there is any balance left on them.

[Screever]

Going off the assumption that the money you bring isn't going to hotel/rental car/travel payments...

When I go with friends, I bring as much cash as possible, but I try to spend as least as possible. (200-400 bucks? Depending on length of stay.) I'm super cheap when I go with friends.

When I go with my parents...lol they help me out. =X

[cinderbella]

Originally Posted by Disney77

They are ages 17, 12, 11. 8. They really diddn't enjoy the dining plan last year for whatever reason. I will bring 4,000. Should be enough for food and spending money. No credit cards just paid them all off in January.

I don't like CC's either but we always use our debit card as our "room charge" card. Simply because we don't like carrying around that much cash. Just a thought..$4000 is a lot of money to carry around..I'd hate for it to get lost/stolen etc.

[gingles]

Originally Posted by cinderbella

I don't like CC's either but we always use our debit card as our "room charge" card. Simply because we don't like carrying around that much cash. Just a thought..$4000 is a lot of money to carry around..I'd hate for it to get lost/stolen etc.

Remember Travelers Checks? Whatever happened to them? It was easy to keep track of your spending but they were safer than cash.

[evansfmly5]

Take it all out of the bank!!!! It's Disney!!!!!!!!

[gingles]

Originally Posted by evansfmly5

Take it all out of the bank!!!! It's Disney!!!!!!!!

Hey, I may not take it all, but the account's pretty thin when we get back!

[beatman23]

$4000.00 is a ton of money. could you purchase a couple of visa gift cards? Then you could bring the $$$ on two or even four cards! You would not have so much cash in one place (assuming you left three in the room safe or split them the adults) Just a thought......

[Tiggerific]

I think we usually do $100/day plus the DDP. The kids have a fixed spending, usually around $100 each and when it's gone, it's gone. (DS9: 10 minutes at the Lego store; DD7: spends it a bit at a time.)

Not sure why DP seems like a hassle... No worse then paying with a credit card. And it saves you a TON of money, especially if you know how to use it properly. We use our TS for the nicest places we can get into (Hello, Wolfgang Pucks!) and have always felt is was a very good deal. (It was better when the tip was included, but I always felt a bit guilty thinking the server was the one getting the short end of the deal.)