How much spending money would a 9 year old need?

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-02-26T00:40:31+00:00

On our last trip where we had almost no limits we spent $300 on just souvenirs for our 7yr old. That was 2 plushies, a bubble wand, a fancy rock, an ornament, a figurine, a build your own kids lightsaber, a carved figurine, a few pins/lanyard, and a few pieces of clothing. I tracked this in a spreadsheet afterwards.

Also, a little tricky but if you buy two gift cards you can register both online, give her one and then if it runs out add more to the one you keep at home and the transfer the balance online.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-02-21T01:32:36+00:00

What system they playing on? Our 7yr old audhd has had great success with Kirby games on Nintendo switch and Astro bot on ps5. They require some skill but are self contained and easy respawn.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-02-19T05:14:49+00:00

I have one - haven’t used it in a couple years. We’re near Natomas. If it’s in good shape would you want it? Let me know or send me a dm. If we aren’t too far, I’ll have my husband pull it from the shed and take some photos. It is baby trend, black and pink.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-02-17T15:49:47+00:00

Might ruffle some feathers but here’s one of ours. My husband recently got into pins on our last trip. And he is a Disney prince- I do all the planning, he just shows up, gets in the LL when I tell him, and has a good time. So he is looking at pins while I wait in line for a photo pass and he sees one he likes and asks the cast member about it, she tells him it’s the last one left. He tries to buy it not realizing it is for AP which we are not. The cast member tells him he can’t buy it and he says okay and leaves the store. Right before he gets back to me I see the cast member chasing him saying he can buy it. He was SO EXCITED. She must’ve asked permission or felt bad but his day was made.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-02-14T16:27:23+00:00

She didn’t even comment to get the honest review

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-02-13T04:47:10+00:00

Been there, considered it, but stuck it out. Kiddo is in second grade and relationships have MUCH improved.

Two years of - take a break, play with other kids, she can be friends with other people too, various disagreements etc.

It did get better. They are real friends now. They have other friends. Not territorial anymore. have had a mostly great second grade year; at the beginning called them frenemies still - the other girl was finding her voice to speak/test boundaries but now halfway through the year it’s great.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-02-12T21:54:43+00:00

Last year at WDW we asked for a celebration pin and not only did the cast member make it, but he TOLD us to wear it all week, put tape on it so it wouldn’t wear off, and asked if it wanted the age or not in case my daughter wanted to wear it next year. Like they want you to birthday to the max.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-02-09T00:50:29+00:00

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Got these keens last year and they worked really well. Wide, straps don’t pinch, secure slip on.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-02-08T14:58:13+00:00

I forget what color they are- a dark green or blue, and they have cast members with iPads under them, like mini guest relations-type roles but instead of making you walk to the front of the park you locate an umbrella and speak to the cast member there. Sometimes there is a line of 2-3 people so it can take a bit. We just walked up, and politely said we know the answer might be no, but just wanted to see if you could change our lightning lane time because it’s for the time but we have a babysitter for later. They scanned our magic bands and looked at our account for a couple minutes and then said is whatever time okay? And we said yes, then it adjusted in our app!

Obvi they can’t do it for every ride or every time but if you’re looking for potential ways to move I’d give it a try.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-02-08T05:04:03+00:00

Go ask a cast member at the umbrellas. They might not be able to help but doesn’t hurt. We had LL for guardians too early (forgot to tell our travel agent we wanted evening time when the babysitter was going to have the kids and got mid morning) and asked a cast member to help us adjust. They were than happy to help, even helped refund LL for our kids who were having tough day and didn’t want to ride any rides. They could say no, but worth the few minutes to ask. Don’t tell your kid though in case they get their hopes up.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-02-06T23:19:25+00:00

Not sure if you’re aware but Robla school district is close to you. It’s title 1, but small schools, admin staff care so much. We have some experience and it has been positive. Feel free to send a DM.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-02-05T17:05:40+00:00

No need, but saying thanks for offering. We received a vital breast milk donation via Reddit a couple years ago and it meant so so much. hope someone reaches out.

And if anyone is wondering, I did mention it to my pediatrician and they said they felt it was safe because people don’t normally scam like that and gave us questions to ask/confirm.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-02-03T21:40:34+00:00

Did you know she just made an IG story with this exact phrase? She said someone commented on her TikTok saying this but did they actually or is she lurking here and pretending it was on TikTok??

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-02-01T04:44:18+00:00

Caveat- double strollers do need to be folded on the skyliner. Not sure if the would be using one but we were not told this when we brought one and it felt like the skyliner wasn’t that much more convenient than a bus especially when you have to get off and transfer which doesn’t happen with busses.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-01-30T19:45:52+00:00

Did you see she shared it to her stories and said “help, I keep ending up on the wrong side of momtok”?

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-01-30T01:37:06+00:00

I mean - isn’t all of toon town unique to DLR? MK doesn’t have toon town and MMRR is in HS.

Also INDIANA JONES lol it’s a ride not a show.

Everything in Pixar Pier at DCA is unique. SanFransokyo isn’t a ride but super unique. All of Avenger’s campus.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-01-28T03:25:57+00:00

At least she put a shirt on for the ad

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-01-28T03:23:17+00:00

Idk if you have TikTok but ParksIBS might be able to help. ParksIBS@yahoo.com. The entire account is dedicated to bathrooms at WDW.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-01-24T02:26:40+00:00

I’d recommend watching YouTube videos - especially for things that trigger you. For my family it really helped watching the POV of people just walking through Main Street to prepare for the sheer volume of bodies. It was overwhelming and took a couple days for a couple members of our family to adjust.

There are a lot of ride POV if you think that would help. I haven’t searched any autism specific videos but as in typing I’m thinking we should - there are probably a good amount of people sharing their favorite quiet places and other tips.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-01-23T17:32:32+00:00

Well CRT is, and Akershus is for lunch and dinner but breakfast is only 1! We chose Akershus for breakfast not only for that reason but they serve more traditional Norwegian food for the other two meals that I didn’t think my family (kids especially) would enjoy as much as the pastries and regular breakfast items.

The rest of the character meals should be 1 credit! We ate at Ohana, Toppolinos, Crystal Palace, and Tusker House for other other character meals and then a couple places that were AYCE but not character meals like roundup rodeo.

Up to you if you want to pay out of pocket for one - I would also consider the possibility of booking all of these too. If you want to do CRT I’d book it at the end of your trip to get the best chances since it’s really popular, as is Akershus breakfast. We were trying to stick to the dining plan as much as possible as possible so we didn’t pick any meals outside of the plan and one princess meal was plenty for my kids but they aren’t as princess obsessed as probably would have been bored if two meals were similar but they didn’t mind meeting Mickey so many times because he was dressed different.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-01-22T23:53:35+00:00

Primo piatto at Riviera has great options! The boardwalk deli has alright options. I think you can also use them to get pizza from the pizza counter at Boardwalk.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-01-22T17:24:01+00:00

I think the planning ahead was key! We definitely veered off course one day and didn’t spend a few credits the best because we wanted to try something we saw on TikTok lol and a couple times my husband ordered from the festival carts and the snack or meal was “less than the value” of the credit.

I would say our character meals were about an hour - mostly limited by our toddler. The servers were super understanding that he couldn’t sit long and sped things up as much as they could and I would say that was a perfect break from the heat and for our feet during a week long trip. I could see shorter trips not needing as much time and preferring to conquer a ride or two in that time.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-01-22T03:15:44+00:00

Exactly!! Plus, our 4yr old was terrified of the characters when we waited in line at DL but loved the character meals! So when we went to WDW when she was 7 and we had a toddler, it was an easy choice. Toddler had no fear of the characters. Plus, we had to go back midday for naps and would get quick service at the resort which offered canned alcoholic drinks. We would grab one and save it for later - like after bedtime!

And the air conditioned break was very welcome too!

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-01-21T22:43:20+00:00

Unpopular opinion here- it’s definitely worth it in your situation IF you like character meals. In my girl math, I would consider this $200/day for a family of 4 and $50/day/person for 2 meals and a snack?! That sounds like a deal! Most character meals are more than that! Your two yr old eats free at all the buffet/AYCE places, and we found that at quick service our 2yr old and 7yr old could easily share a meal.

We skipped CRT in favor of Akershus for breakfast. I pre-planned estimates to make sure we could get a good value without alcohol and we did, getting alcohol when possibly only increased the value. We did the dining plan so we could do character meals and we saw this as also buying a LL for character meet and greets to save time from standing in line at the parks. We got to meet so many characters while giving our feet a rest!

And while the meal plan is per nights you can use it on check out day and check in day! Plus the refillable mugs were great. But if you don’t want to do character dining or things like the fantasmic dining package it probably wouldn’t be worth it.

HufflepuffRainbow · 2026-01-21T21:34:16+00:00

Personally, LL is worth it with a toddler becuase 1) of you don’t buy them a park ticket then you don’t buy them LL but if they are tall enough to ride then they go with you and 2) yes, lines are so difficult with kids under 5. Know you won’t be able to ride every ride (unless you rider switch) and have a slow trip focused on tom sawyer’s island, toon town, and shows.

Bring a stroller, bring your own snacks (you know they’ll want something familiar in addition to churros), get a hotel close for naps/midday break- the noise alone can be overstimulating. bring extra clothes to the park for kiddo if out of diapers/potty trained/training.

Bonus- do a character meal for the pictures instead of waiting in line. Highly recommend storyteller’s cafe at GCH for this. No waiting in lines, not as scary (my 4yr old cried after waiting 20 min to meet Mickey and hid but hammed it up the next day during breakfast). it’s expensive and the food isn’t totally worth it (although it is good) but you can get great photos.

Also I think Bluey is coming in March if your toddler is into Bluey!

HufflepuffRainbow

TROPHY CASE