How I Budget Our Disneyland Trip
September 20, 2018
People ask me all the time, how much do you spend at Disneyland? Or how much will I spend at Disneyland if I go?
Unfortunately, this is not an easy question to answer. There is not really an across the board answer to this question. Everyone's Disney trip will be different, even ours differ from trip to trip. There are so many factors that add up to your total cost of a Disney trip.
I am going to let you know how I plan our in park budget for our trips so I know how much money we need to have in the bank when we go.
Once we book our trip, meaning airfare and room which is the bulk of our expense I sit down and make a chart of the rest of the expenses that we think we will have while on our trip.
Each day is a column, if we are going to have three days in the parks, I will have a five column chart which will include our two travel days.
After that, I make sure I write in meals that I know we will want to book or reservations that we already have.
Then I will fill in our food blanks, making sure that I include our coffees in the morning, and snacks that I know my kids will want.
I toss in any other special items we may be participating in such as any tours or transportation services like uber that we may need. On this written example, just to show an example, I included a tour called Walking in Walt's Footsteps. We have never done this tour, but I wanted to include it to show that I truly would be including EVERYTHING we would spend if we were going on our trip. (Sidenote: I really would love to do that tour one day.)
Next, my husband and I will set a budget for each child for souvenirs. Typically each child will get 50 each that should last them the entire three day trip. They are told on the first day what their personal budget is and are encouraged to not buy anything on the first day. Think about your purchases, we tell them. Luckily, they have gotten very good at being choosy with how they do spend their precious money.
On top of their personal souvenir budget I also budget in about 25 per child to buy something for them that I want to buy. I don't always see something I want to buy them but sometimes I do and I want to be able to do so. Sometimes it is a shirt that just screams their name, or a hat, or even silly socks. I do have a rule that I never buy them crappy plastic stuff in the parks, and I encourage them to think hard about buying that stuff as well. It will just break, or be a pain to transport home on the plane, or to be honest will end up in the trash shortly after we arrive home. Point being, we focus on quality items that they will actually use or wear which is why we give them a nice amount and encourage them to spend it in one place.
Souvenirs for my husband and I don't happen every trip, but sometimes we just see something we really want. He does seem to love the lounge pants and shorts in the men's section of the emporium. I tend to lean towards the Pandora jewelry shop, or ears. I toss an extra 75 on our overall budget just in case. This doesn't get spent necessarily but knowing we can if we see something we must have or a gift for someone is helpful to us staying on budget.
Each trip we buy an ornament for our Disney Christmas tree. They are pretty affordable and it is a fun tradition. Add on $20 to your budget if you want to get a Christmas ornament.
For our travel days I make sure I add in any uber or taxi expense. Additionally, I take into account whether or not we will need to eat lunch in the airport.
I simply add up each day trying to find a balance between some more expensive days where we eat more expensive meals, and some more budget friendly days.
Final step is add it all up. If you feel its too high, make your cuts. This is a great way to figure out what you may actually need for your trip.
Tip: I find it best to be realistic. You may say now that you WILL NOT buy your kid those tempting churros. Be honest with yourself, in the moment, smelling that amazing cinnamon, are you really going to say no and shove that granola bar you packed at them. If your answer is yes, no judgment here, just try to be honest so that you can truly plan a budget that will work. A budget only works if it is actually one you will follow.
Make sure you have a padding and be kind to yourself if you end up going over into it. Its ok, its Disney. Everything is expensive! So make sure you check those menu prices and build a cushion into that budget.
Final step, HAVE FUN. you have done the planning and are ready to follow it through. Have the fun, do the stuff and live in the moment knowing that you have a plan to follow!
XOXO
LEAH
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