Please help, help, help!!! :)

I am this year going to be an Orlando nubee with my 3 kids, and though I am extremely excited about the trip, I am totally clueless about how much spending money to reasonably take to have a good time :(

Obviously, my elder sons want to do all the theme parks, as well as explore as much as possible, though I%26#39;d also be quite happy to relax by the pool with my small daughter.

I%26#39;ve not even a clue about how to price general eating expenses - yep, a complete idiot!!

Please, can anybody who has recently visited as a family of 4 give me some well needed guidance - we are going on a 2 week stay, on a room only basis, though car rental is included in our package.

Thank you for your precious time :)

Please help, help, help!!! :)

That is great that you are excited!

We went for the first time last May-and I must have spent forever researching everything I needed to know. I would suggest checking out some websites to get an idea of expenses, options, etc.

www.mousesavers.com -this is a great website to start with. It gives a lot of basics, info about food, tickets, lodging, and just about everything else. .

also, check out:

www.allearsnet.com

www.mouseplanet.com

And I would suggest checking out some guidebooks from the library.

Hope this helps!

Please help, help, help!!! :)

This is difficult to answer without knowing ages, and which theme parks etc etc.

For peace of mind, you%26#39;ll find most eating experiences are cheaper than the UK.

If you are looking to have some pool time, I%26#39;d look at getting flexible ticket options (look at the Disney Ultimate passes, purchase in the UK which give 14 days unlimited access to Disney Parks, Waterparks, DisneyQuest and Pleasure Island). They are not cheap but do allow you to split up your visits to Disney.

If the kids are older, Universal may also be on the cards, and Seaworld, so same applies there too, and if you are exploring in the car, look at Busch Gardens and the Gulf Coast beaches too.

How much money? That depends, although don%26#39;t take much cash. Travellers cheques are accepted like cash, but a credit card is the best way to purchase most things - just remember it has to be paid back!

You can potentially spend lots there if not careful though, so be aware. If you can find a Walmart, do an hour or 2 shopping there for snacks and drinks for your stay - will save some money.

As just 2 adults, we take about 拢1000 to be safe and normally come back with some leftover in 2 weeks. But that does not include the tickets to the parks, or Gifts/Clothes which go on CCards.

hi we are a family of 5 myself, hubby and 3 kids.....

we take about $2000 for the 2 weeks for the adults the kids have there own money which we give them over the year in dollars for doing chores etc also give them dollars for bdays and xmas and ask friends and family to do the same, when this is all collected together we break it down into 14 days and put the amount for each day in a envelope so they have there own spending money per day to spend on whatever they want and we do not have to say no to anything as we tell them if its gone its gone (cruel to be kind but you can easily over spend)

eating well prices varey from place to place depending on what budget your on

for example if you are going to eat on site at disney you can easily look at paying $100 for a meal for your family at a top resturant

then it goes down in stages to about $80 for a middle style resturant all the way down to a few $$$ at all you can eat buffet places scattered all over orlando there a a few chains of these sizzlers, pondsrosa etc

to cut down on being ripped off in the parks for drinks we take bottled water that we buy from the supermarket and freeze it overnight its alot cheaper than paying the ott prices at the parks also we take a small cool bag with biscuits, crips fruit etc in mainly because we get fed up eating chicken nuggets and hotdogs or burgers....

also we take in the cool bag wet wipes that we have kept in the fridge over night as the humidity and heat can be at bit much at times.

thank you kindly for your replies and info. much appreciated :)

It is a long time since our first trip to Disney, but we economised by eating in McDonalds most nights - I know not healthy at all but the kids loved it - which then was about a third of the cost of McDonalds in England. We stayed in a hotel at Lake Buena Vista where kids under 12 had free breakfast which helped.

We also found a self service restaurant just off International Drive called (I think) Morrisons, but I don%26#39;t know if it%26#39;s still there. There are quite a few reasonably priced chain restaurant/diner type places and of course the buffets may be a cheaper way for you if your kids have good appetites. The Subway sandwich chain is quite reasonable for a sandwich when not in Disney.

The most expensive places to eat we found were anything connected to Disney.

I would think about taking plenty of snacks like crisps etc when in the park to keep them going, then taking them to a buffet in the evenings to fill up.

I went with just a friend and we each got through approx $30 per day in the parks and eating out etc but we did economise by getting Pizza, going to Maccy Ds or KFC (which by the way is so weird... whats with the dumpling and gravy? what happened to fries) or getting sandwiches form the hotel Delis.

In the day at parks they have lots of hot dot stalls etc and counter service places where you can get a ';meal'; for one (like burger and fries and a drink) for about $5... or at least that was the prices in 03

I wouldn%26#39;t worry about eating alot of junk while you%26#39;re over there - the amount of walking you%26#39;ll do around parks etc will EASILY burn it all off. I actually lost weight despite eating rubbish every day

Oh and MaxiMax - Remember at the moments the Conversion GBP to US dollar is about 拢1-$2

Take that into consideration when being told prices in dollars - the UK price currently is about half that x

For a two week stay last year I took 拢1000.00 ( around $1700 at the time) just for me and I came home with 拢150

This did not included park entry, however i bought so many gift s out of it ( 6 tops, 4 perfumes, loads of disney/universal stuff etc..) plus all my food and drink.

Seems like a lot for one, but i was very free with money and never worried about money or paying for taxis etc.... you could do it on a lot less. I found america very reasonable compared to british prices.

database