Need help with food budget

[ncbyrne]

My DD is trying to figure out a food budget for her next trip, May 8-13. It will be DD, and her two girls (4 & 8), who are very picky eaters. She is staying offsite with breakfast included. Most meals will be counter service in the parks, but will likely eat a sit down meal or two. (50's Prime Time for sure). How much would you budget for one adult and two picky kids for 6 days?

[DiznEeyore]

If you want to get specific prices, you can go to wdwig.com -- there are menus for each restaurant with prices. I use this site all the time -- pick our restaurants, what we will probably order, and then can plan accordingly. Hope this helps!

[Judy from Boise]

for each kid I would budget 15-20 $ a day. that would include 2 kids meals at $5 and 2 snacks at $5. This would be accurate at counter service or sit down.

For an adult I always say to allow $20 for dinner $10 for lunch and $5 per snack.

you may go home with $$$ in your pocket but that is better than being surprised !

[fkj2]

Has she considered meal sharing? We (adults) do it all the time at 50s Prime Time and have never had a server give us any problem at all. Of course we tip like we had three meals though, and that still is a savings.

[Kermit]

I agree that you should check out the menus with prices. You'll notice that kids' meals are really pretty reasonable, especially at sit-down restaurants. I think they do that to lure people in. Since the portions are so huge, your DD may want to consider eating childs' meals at some counter service places so she doesn't have to throw food away.

[catwho]

Counter service is the way to go. We have 3 kids and they are fairly picky. With counterservice we can feed both our kids (and me) off 2 kids meals. A kids' pizza feeds all three of them. Plus snacks along the way. The portions are huge and if you have nibblers you may find that an egg roll will fill them up.

My kids do pretty good on "snacky foods" through the day if they get a good breakfast and good lunch. By snacky foods I mean an egg roll, ice cream bar, popcorn, fries, veggies and fruit, etc. They actually be better with that than a meal. They are too impatient to sit for too long. We also pack granola bars, snack mix, and water in our back pack to tide us over. YMMV.

We did breakfast in our rooms. Stuff we knew they would eat: cereal, breakfast bars, PBJ, and poptarts with milk. Protein is a needed thing in our family. If I'd had a way to boil some eggs I would have! This year we are doing one breakfast buffet so that will be good and we most likely won't eat a big dinner that night. My kids found something they would eat at every park. And there is a fruit stand in each park where they can get a variety of fruit (bananas, apples, melon, oranges) for under a buck each.

:earsgirl:

[tink2dw]

The Electric Umbrella in Epcot had a Fruit Plate[came in a lg plastic box] it was big enough for 3 adults and was very reasonable.We paired it with a LG order of Chicken strips and there was also enough for 3 Adults.

And the Kissimee Wal-Mart has a Deli that makes Fresh made to order 4 foot sandwichs[kid type and adult type meats] for $4.99! We cut these in 3" pieces and it was one of the best meals we had at WDW!!

We Budgeted a $100. a day for food. Some days it was more and some less,so it worked well.

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says....................................... We budget $ 80 a day for two adults and one child, dd was seven, then nine, now eleven, same budget. Never went over,and we did some nice meals. Actual spending was more like cheapskate day $30, great meal day $120, normal day $70. When mom needs to splurge on a quality meal, every place has a kids menu, with choices, and usually $3.95 to $5.95. Even at the most expensive places the kids will not have to eat "adult food"!! With breakfast covered, and being prudent you could get by on $50, one snack/treat per person. I'd go with $60 a day and two snack/treats per person, after all she'll be at Walt Disney World!!!!!

[poohraedopey]

We are planning our first trip 2 adults and this was very helpful for us in budgeting.

Question do they still use DISNEY $ and if so can you use them at the food places? Just wondering if we can start asking for Dis $ x-mas to help us save money for the trip! LOL!

[Robin]

You can use Disney Dollars anywhere at WDW. I have been saving these for a while now (pick up 20-30 everytime I go to the mall... it really adds up fast)