Vacation Budget Plan

Tune up for the car before you go
Parking/ Tolls
Snack on the road
Souveneirs
I would plan on having $200 in "cash" on you as "just in case" money!

Have a wonderful time!

Great Wold Lodge? Yeah...you might want to plan a little more then a $100 misc. cushion. They kind of run a racket. A fun one, but still a racket. The food there is really expensive and really bad. If you have places around to eat outside of the hotel, definitely do that. Are snacks included in your budget? They will be playing and burning tons of energy. They will snack a lot. Souvenirs. They are expensive and your kids will want them.

buying souvenirs.
Take all your chargers for your cell phones/electronics
Snacks, beyond meals
fares or fees for venues
incidentals which are spur of the moment
and, how long is your trip?
Is the $100 for misc. costs going to cover it all?

You said most activities are included in the hotel.
But, you all won't be ONLY in the hotel everyday all day, day and night, right? So what about, outside, costs?

Thats a long time to stay at Great Wolf, we don't think it's that exciting of a place to stay that long. It's super expensive too. It's cheaper to eat outside of the resort. There are the typical places to eat like McDonalds, Culvers, Burger King but you may want to venture out. Go downtown, eat at Paul Bunyans (you won't be disappointed), go ride the ducks, the famous Tommy Bartlett show is great too.

I would think of Great Wolf Lodge as more of a winter thing since it is so nice outside and you can do outside water parks in the summer. With that being said our kids loved it, but we only stayed one night. They played two days and about 1/2 through the second day we were all ready to go. I would def bring something for headaches as for some reason it seems noisy at times.

souvenirs
unexpected forgotten items or medicines/emergency needs/sundries
plan for snacks, not just meals

When we took vacations with all the kids(8) we would stop at Burger King and get everyone Whoppers. Or they could have their choice for the same money. That way we traveled inexpensively and didn't worry about "tips". We also took sandwiches and had them in baggies. I brought cans of soda that I bought on sale and we had them when we had lunch or dinner on the road.

Its much cheaper to eat breakfast and lunch in restaurants than it is Dinner. So go to Sam's or Costco and buy the rotisserie chicken. Its an inexpensive dinner. Also their Large pizzas are much cheaper than a regular restaurants.

By taking the frugal way with food, you can spend more on other amusements.

Hope you have wonderful time. Good luck to you and yours.

At the Wilderness they have great condo rentals where you can bring your own food, etc. to grill out or easy stuff for breakfast. We went at least once a year to The Dells with the kids and it is really relaxing to just sit outside and have an easy meal rather than head out to restaurants. We always went with several families and we would each take a meal to make it easy on everyone. Between the water parks, the arcade and the climbing structures you really don't need to do much else. We really never spent much on anything when we were there and had a great time.

If you are going to an All-inclusive? Not much really - souvenirs?

Meals while traveling
Gas (expect it to be be 40cents a gallon more - rather guess too high than not enough)
extra batteries for the camera
extra memory card for camera (not many places sell film anymore!)

car maintenance - oil change, tire rotation, tires balanced, etc. prior to trip

If you are interested in saving money? Since you are traveling by car? I would have an ice cooler in the car with lunches to eat. How long is the drive from your home to the destination? It's about 8 hours, right? So packing a lunch and snacks might save you some money on the way up!

Have fun!!

Just eating there will set you back a fortune. I would venture out of the lodge to eat. You will save a fortune. Have you ever been to GreRWolf Lodge? I would also plan on doing a little sightseeing while in the area. Four days of a water park might be a bit much.

we can travel pretty cheap.. figure 100 a day for food.. hopefully hotel has free breakfast .. fast food lunch and dinner out..

we don't buy more than 1 souvenier per person.

activities -- even putt putt can be expensive for a family..

What kind of vacation are you taking?

Wisconsin Dells? I live in WI and we've been there a lot to the various resorts and attractions.

Whatever prices you estimated, double it. Triple, even, if you're not getting a suite with a full kitchen and bringing your own groceries. The amount you're going to pay on food for 4 days of dining out will shock you, unless you eat primarily at chain fast food places off the resort.

If you have a fridge in the room, try to bring a cooler with a couple mornings of breakfasts and lots of snacks (we also brought margaritas and chips and salsa for the grownup snacks). Then you'll save a bit. Also plan on the scavenger hunt wands and book. We ended up having our kids share a wand, since I think they were $20 each and the hunt was around $40 I believe. We gave the kids a limit of only $10 each for a souvenir and there were plenty of options for that price in the gift shop. They also got a fun, sparkly glitter tattoo for $6 or so. Really cute, but not cheap. You'll have a blast!

We've had to buy Childrens Motrin and other incidentals on trips before. Now my mom used to pack everything so she was always prepared but I just figure we can buy it if we need it but that stuff adds up.
$100 really doesn't go far. We were away in March and the hotel was charging just under $20 for a movie in our room. If you decide to go out to a movie it will most likely be double that just for a family of 4.

You may also want to pack snacks for the pool and or night.

I think going on vacation is like doing a home renovation...it always cost more than you think.

Have fun and once you go just enjoy yourselves. Don't worry about money. It could ruin your long overdue vacation.

I would bring more than $100. At least give yourself $200 minimum.
-bring snacks for in the car while driving & for the hotel room
-bring your own bottled water, sodas, juice etc
-plan to spend a little bit of money on souvenirs
-remember that there is always some unforseen costs
-if the hotel room has a small fridge, you can always bring lunchmeat,
bread, mustard etc.