Do you have a trip budget?

We have flights, hotel, park tickets and major excursions booked and paid for in advance, then bring what we hope will be enough cash for everything else with us which imposes a budget.
It's possible to use UK credit/charge cards in the US but most banks here charge a fee for doing so, so it's not something we'd do for small amounts or more often than we needed to. The fee's would really rack up if we used them for every purchase. Having said that, they always end up being used a couple of times on each trip which effectively blows the spending budget.

We pay off hotel and flight before we go, then usually try to set a budget for food and souvenirs while we're there. Often don't buy all that many souvenirs, so we sometimes let the food budget go over a bit if we want to splurge.

Absolutely! Our budget is pretty much set in stone when we're planning, and we only bring enough cash to get us through the trip. Once the money's gone, the money's gone!

If the trip is a non-dvc trip it is paid in full including food before we leave. We really do not have a set budget for what we spend while we are there.

Tony, given that the banks charge a fee for currency conversion, are there any good options for using your room key to pay? I guess you could maybe get a USD prepaid card, but then you'd probably have to pay someone else to convert your currency.

Our budget is set by the point in the trip at which we go "Geez, we are spending too much money!" At that point we slow down...a little bit.

We try to take care of all the budget concerns in advance, so we don't have to worry about it at all while we're there.

I like that everything including food is paid for in advance. That way whatever I bring with me is what I have to spend on other things. It's sort of like a budget because I'm limiting myself to what I bring.

So do you think a budget would be workable if it excluded pins?

I'm a "numbers" person so we always have a budget. That said, all the "fixed" expenses are budgeted for and paid for in advance as much as possible. Then we set a "ballpark" number for "discretionary spending"...which we usually end up blowing right out of the water!!! What can I say I love my Pins!! It's getting to the point we don't spend much on knick-knacks...mostly on pins and mostly on "traders" so we can have fun on our pin quests!! I'm still looking for the Chip & Dale Bananas pin to complete that set!

That would definitely be an advantage of the dining plan. It would be much easier to watch your budget if food and snacks were more or less covered.

Brad, we agree. The number one reason we always purchase the dinning plan is because it is paid for before we go. We even do the deluxe plan which is more food than we can eat but it does give you the chance to eat anywhere you want. We do manage to use all the meals by using room service for breakfast towards the end of our trip just to use the meals. Most trips we have breakfast in our room two mornings. That is a very nice extra that we would not do if not for using the dinning plan.

It's unfortunate that you guys have to make that sacrifice, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do!

(Sounds wonderful to be forced to use room service for breakfast...now I'm considering the dining plan even more!)