How much spending money should I take to Disneyland Paris?

One of the most asked questions I get from friends travelling to Disneyland Paris is ‘How much spending money should I take?’. It’s also one of the hardest questions to answer because we are all different, we take different length trips and we want to buy different things. So how do I answer and help them work out what to take?

Who is going on holiday?

Are you a group of adults friends who are all travelling together but will be talking your own spending money? A family of 2 adults and 2 kids? A couple with a baby? First, work out who is going with you and if you are responsible for providing their spending money too. Then write down the amount of people in Adults, Children and Infants.

What package do you have?

Is your trip just for one day or are you off for a whole week? Do you have meals included? Breakfast, lunch and dinner or just breakfast? This will hugely impact the amount that you will need to take with you. I've written a post about meal plans before that could help you.

Working out how much spending money you will need

I use the following formula to help people work out how much to take. This, of course, isn’t an exact figure that you must stick to, but it is a great way to really think about what you will need to save and put a budget on how much you want to spend.

How much will I need for food? (Based on a family of 4 2A, 2C)

No Food included £250
Breakfast Only - £150
Half Board - £100
Full Board (Buying Snacks) - £50
Full Board (Not buying snacks) - £0

How much will I need for merchandise?

Per Adult - £125
Per Child - £75
Per Infant - £50

Are you doing any special extra?

If you are upgrading to a more expensive restaurant than your meal plan includes, you are doing princess for a day or going up in the hot air balloon, then you need to remember to bring extra money with you.

The best way to do this is to research the cost beforehand and put that money into a separate envelope especially for that upgrade.
Example - A family of 4, 2 adults and 2 children for 4 nights/5 days including half board, no special extras = £500 spending money

Separate your days!

Lastly, I find it really helpful to separate my days. If I am taking £500 with me for 5 days, I will put £100 (in Euros obviously) in 5 envelopes labelled for each day.

So if I had €124 a day and only spent €96, I would take the leftover €28 and add it to tomorrows envelope so I have €152 the next day.

This means that I will have money left for the last day, BUT I can also spend a bit more If the cash is available.

I really hope this has helped you make the decision on how much spending money to take with you to Disneyland Paris, If you found this post helpful, then please head over to The Vault to grab your Disneyland Paris downloads!