I hear so many people talking about which rides they're going to try to do, where they plan to do this, that, and the other thing. I can't see that working for us. I'd love it to... but I don't think it would. I remember last time we went we only planned for nap--planned to just go to the car and let her sleep because we were in one of the parking structures and it was nice and cool. She wouldn't nap and instead of getting angry with her (she was 3 years old), we drove around for half an hour until she fell asleep--giving up our good spot.

My point is that when we went with her, other than our Goofy Kitchen reservations we kind of let her lead the way. This time, though, we have two days. I have plans for Saturday Morning Madness, a 10 am Appointment to become a princess at Bibbity Bobbity Boutique, and dinner at 5 at Goofy's Kitchen. That's all on our daughter's 6th birthday. The second day, though, is a free for all. Of course, I do want to see that Nemo Turtle thing (Crush?) in California Adventure if they still have it.

Wow.... after having typed this out now I understand why you have to make a plan--even if it's just a simple one! Last night I was talking to my husband about how when the kids are older I want to do a whole week at Disney. He said he didn't understand why because it's 'just a park'.... but I would think you'd enjoy 5 or 6 eight hour days instead of 1 or 2 14 hour days, you know? I'll have to work on him after this trip, because he'll remember how much he loved it!

Another thing--how do you plan your budget for more than a day in the park? When we went a couple of years ago I had saved $700 above the cost of the tickets to cover everything that we might possibly need or want while we were there. We had drinks and snacks, a character lunch, bought stuffed animals, a jacket, etc. Everyone got ears. We still had about $100 left when we left. That was two adults and one small child (I think we shared our meals with her for dinner, too). I'm not complaining and I totally believe the experience is worth every penny---but should I plan for $1200 for spending money for two days? Do you buy all the fun stuff (ears, Minnie toy, etc) one day and bring it back with you on the second (third, fourth, fifth day)? I have a policy about really having it be the happiest place on earth and not saying no to reasonable requests. I won't want to say, "Maybe tomorrow." Seems like it would be a mood killer. On the first day we're going to do a princess make-over for our daughter which is a little pricey. So on the second day I assume we'll do ears or what not. But what is TOO much? What is spoiling? Maybe setting a budget for spending four our 6 year old? Perhaps that will help her to make good choices while not being limited.

I guess I'm just curious about how everyone else handles this stuff.

Since it doesn't sound like you guys go on a 'regular' basis like a lot of us do, either the locals or just us crazy folks that love the place so much we make it work, I'd base things differently than someone who is there so often that spending on treats/gifts/souvineers every time is the budget breaker.

I'd say that on your first day if you do the princess makeover, let her just enjoy that for the day...let her have the attention she's going to get from the CM's and other guests (believe me...the grammys around will ooh and aww at her!) and I'd pretty much just 'avoid' shopping opportunities that day, second day if she wants to wear her princess attire, I say let her, bring a change of clothes in case she gets too warm, itchy whatever but I mean really, where else can she stroll down the avenue in a princess gown and 'own it'?

As for her shopping, at six on a rare vacation like this, I'd be less worried about her budget but I would say ok we're going to look at all these places and you tell mommy which things you like and when we've looked 'enough' you can pick ONE thing...that way she does have to make a choice...but you're not really doing a money object lesson more a we can't have everything kind of lesson..

What Mammasilva said....
We go about once a year twice if we can swing it. We have 4 kids. Even our youngest knows she gets ears (tradition) every trip and one other thing. sometimes they get a second ddepending on our budget. For the reason MS said. You can't always have everything. We had our first character breakfast 2 trips ago because our teenagers earned the money and I helped them make ressies and they surprised their sisters with it. DH enjoyed it so much he arranged it this last trip. Our trips are usually a week long and we do knott's and Universal as well. They get to decide whether they want one thing from Knott's or one thing from Universal.

When we go on any trip with nephews that knew that their Mom & Dad will buy them one thing and if they get it on the first day there are no more "I wants" so they are good about eyeing things and waiting until the last day. However, they also know Auntie (me) withh buy them things that are just "too cool!" so they always have that out. Last trip I gave them each Disney dollars, $60 for the oldest (7)since that's what he wanted for his birthday gift and $25 to the younger (3) and they managed their money pretty well! They were wise enough to buy something they could play with at the park, light sabers, the day we got there, and to wait to buy things with lots of pieces until it was time to leave.
Is your daughter old enough to manage her own spending money? Since your paying for the Princess makeover could she be in charge of a set amount of money for things for herself?

I was going to also say my youngest is 7 now but was 4 and a half on our first trip. She has been given gift cards in the past and knows she has "20" I don't expect her to figure in tax. If she finds some thing that is 19.95 I will pay the tax for her but she is managing her own money and loves it. My 10 almost 11 year old had to figure tax in her math class this last year and did have to allow for tax (not set in stone) and the 15 and 17 y/os usually get one thing from us and anything above and beyond comes from their own money.

We have five kids and their ages range from 13 down to 1. We have different strategies for our plan of attack depending on when we are going, with who ect. but it is usually similar since we like to utilize fastpass. Before we get there we each pick the ride that we absolutely have to ride, write them on pieces of paper then pull them out of a bowl and which ever comes out first is our first ride of the day, if it is a non fast pass ride we send a runner to get the FP's as we are all heading to the first ride. We plan the rest according to location, but the first ride gives us a starting point. We do rider switch if it is something that both DH and I want to do (if were doing two or more days we rotate through the rides knowing that the other can ride the next day). We have also had the "we only ride what everyone can ride" when we have only had one day, and that rule always takes the pressure off, the older ones understand that means no roller coasters and sometimes grumble but it is really pleasant to stick to the "family" rides and they usually have a great time (though they don't like to admit they like the baby rides) and always love watching our little ones having fun, and I think it is a great lesson for them.

As for stuff, we always save the shopping for the last day. We steer clear of shops if we can and when our youngest DD wants something we tell her it is not shopping day/time. We also set limits both in dollar amount for the older kids and number/size limits for the younger kids. When our older kids were under 7, I always carried a mini tape measure in my bag, toys could be no bigger than 12X12 (if it was under that and out of my budget I would fudge the numbers a bit - shh! don't tell my kids!) We haven't had to do that with our DD2 yet but I plan on taking the tape measure when we go again.

We have a 15,10 and 5 yr old. We dont really plan anything. Other than if we have meal reservations. We pretty much play it by ear and try to not get overwhelmed by everyone wanting to do everything all at once.

As to budget I always have a set budget for the trip and try to keep each days spending to a certain amount of that budget. The kids each get 1 thing of their choosing, sometimes 2 if the budget allows it. They are really good at looking around and then deciding what to get. If your daughter is 6 I'd start the 1 or 2 items. And depending on your budget tell her the dollar limit. They love being able to shop for themselves. And we do bring in things we bought the day before as long at its not tiny or have lots of pieces.

We have a 7 year old and we go by the "one thing" rule also. We're passholders and he's been going since he was 5 so he knows to look around to get the one thing he wants. We budget for it and as long as its around $15 we usually say yes... Ohh and we also always get candy at the Penny Arcade on Main St. Usually on the way out. It's kind of a tradition.

We've tried a Gift Card once and he tried to pay for everything (meals, etc) with it saying stuff like, "I got this one," and then whipping out his card. It was cute and the CMs would usually play along. He didn't know the plastic had a limit! So next time we are going to try Disney Dollars and have him buy his "one thing".

And we almost always let him set the course for what we are going to do. Every once in a while we do an "adult day" so we can get to some of the things we miss because we are on his schedule.

We have a 13 month old, but we have APs and visit quite frequently. We usually have a general idea of what we'd like to do, but we have to keep our plans really open in case Jude needs to nap, breastfeed, eat, etc.

I had 3 little ones, a daughter who is 4 and twin boys who are 2.5.

This November will be our 3rd visit (went when the twins were 8 months, daughter 2.5 and last year, twins 20 months and daughter 3.5) so I've definitely experience Disneyland, toddler style. :)

We usually go for 3 full days. People are often surprised at that, but honestly, with naps and diaper changes, meals, snacks, etc. there isn't as much time as one would think.

We definitely have some things scheduled - Princess Fantasy Faire, Bippity Boppity Boutique, Princess Lunch, etc. but also have plans to get to certain popular rides or attractions first thing (Nemo, Tinkerbell) etc. We are pretty loose about the plans, though. Sometimes, someone may fall asleep in a stroller and we have to be flexible. Fortunately, we've had other adults with us so that if we wanted to sneak off and ride an adult ride at that point, the option was there.

For us, I usually budget about $150 per day, nothing too crazy, maybe more if we're going to a nicer restaurant for dinner, it just depends. I do spend a lot on the princess stuff, Fantasmic premium seating, etc. but don't usually let my 4 year old pick out too many things or we'd whip through the budget pretty fast. :eek:

I also has a Disney Visa where I get rewards, so I usually have about $100 of rewards on my card to use ($100) that use for the fun stuff I wouldn't normally buy otherwise.

If you have a loose change jar, have them roll the coins. Convert them to Disney Dollars and let them spend them at the park. If there doesn't seem to really be enough change, offer to match them $ for $ for helping plan, get ready and good behavior.

I have a five-year-old boy (only child) and he knew exactly what he wanted to buy at WDW this last trip based on what he'd seen previously on trips to Disneyland . . . a stuffed Donald. So, we came up with Dimes for Disney, which turned into Dimes for Donald. We started this a whole year before (when he was three) and he was finishing up potty training. Dimes were a perfect insentive. It morphed into other things as time went along. By the time we went, he had saved close to $80, including money he decided to add to the jar from birthdays, etc. At the park, once he got his Donald, he was pretty set. Then I kind of "forgot" about the rest of it until he wanted something. "Well, you can spend your money on that". Even at four, he had to think about it. The money was there, I just never told him how much! ;)

As far as planning, it really just depends on your child. My kiddo will go, go, go as long as we go, go, go! Of course, we don't do the stroller any more, so not having that for naps will make life harder, but we lay a basic plan with rest periods and snacks in mind and kinda go from there. If there are important rides and things we HAVE to do, we do it in the morning and then leave the afternoons up for whatever. Works out nicely. I tell ya, Grandma and Grandpa gave out before he did this last trip! LOL!!!

Best of luck! No matter what . . . I'm sure you'll have FUN!! :)

I have 5 boys, ages 9, 7, 7, 4 and 1. We did Disneyland alot but recently did a big trip to Disney World. We had the Dining Plan so we didn't have to budget much for food but we did bring $500 total for the 7 of us for breakfast (which wasn't covered in the dining plan) and extras that always seem to pop up. We came home with $150.

But the kids each had Disney Dollars that they had earned or received. The Easter Bunny had put some in plastic eggs, they got some from Santa and they had earned a few by doing extra chores around the house. They looked around at some stores during the trip and got an idea of what they wanted and then we went shopping on the last day. I think we ended up chipping in a buck or two for each boy because they had trouble figuring out tax but they did the rest themselves. Even the 4 year. I'll admit that I did pick out the baby's dalmation toy for him though :p

The past few times we have bought each of the girls (ages 11 and 15, currently) $100 Visa Gift cards to use as they please and when they are out they're out.
My son however is autistic and he doesn't quite get the concept of the cards, so I take along the same amount in cash in a separate envelope for him. However he typically doesn't ask for much of anything, the last visit he spent all of his money on a mantel clock.:rolleyes:

We have a 6 year old and a 4 year old, and the only schedule we stick to is the reservations we have made at Goofy's kitchen anything else is just spur of the moment, its easier that way.

We don't make plans for naps because as all parents know that plan does not always work out. We just let our son fall asleep in the stroller (our daughter is too old for naps now) when he gets tired, and thats when we get to do what we want. We ride the rides we want and go to shops we want wth out arms sticking out of the stroller to grab things.

We always have a budget out side of what we planned for the hotel and park tickets, but what we do before we leave is put aside a certain amount of money for the kids usually we give $100 for each, and go to the Disney Store and change it in for Disney Dollars for each of the kids and we tell them that this is their money and they can buy anything they want with it but when it is gone thats it you can't get anything else. But we usually buy them one more thing out of your spending money as a reward for good behavior. It works great! They get to decide what they want and they love to pay with the Disney Dollars. I hold on to it for them so they don't lose it and my daughter (the oldest one) says "Mom do I have enough for this?" and she really makes good decisions on what she wants to buy, she actually shops around for a while to see if that's what she really wants. Plus its a great way to teach them how to manage their money.

When it comes to meals my husband and I always choose to eat at the Plaza inn. We make lunch the biggest meal of the day and we eat at the Plaza Inn because that is where you get the biggest plate of food for your money. We are a family of 4 so we buy 2 plates and split it between the 4 of us and it is plenty of food for all of us.

Have a blast!!!

Joann

When it comes to meals my husband and I always choose to eat at the Plaza inn. We make lunch the biggest meal of the day and we eat at the Plaza Inn because that is where you get the biggest plate of food for your money. We are a family of 4 so we buy 2 plates and split it between the 4 of us and it is plenty of food for all of us.

Have a blast!!!

Joann

The Plaza Inn is where they have fried chicken, pot roast, and roasted fish and stuff like that, right? We've eaten there the last three time we've gone and loved it. Two dinners were more than enough to feed the three of us.