How much $$

[oregonmoonrise]

Should we plan for Souvenirs & food for our trip? We leave in a week & never really thought about what it would really cost. I know bad. But this is our first family vacation & figure it will be what it is. It is my Husband, Me & our 2 kids 6 & 8. We will give each of the kids $50 for there Souvenirs & when that is gone its gone. We are not really Souvenir collectors so doubt My DH & I will buy to much in that way. How about food? I have gotten some breakfast Items & snack Items for the Hotel room. We dont want to haul stuff around the park so we will just buy what we need while in the park. What do you spend on average in the park? We will be there 4 full days & then the night we arrive & the morning we leave. Niether of those days will be in the park.
Thanks soooo much

 

[Freyja]

I´d plan on $100 a day for food. We´re not big on souvenirs either and the kids always have their own spending money so I usually don´t budget anything there.

 

[kkheburn]

Do you still bring snacks and drinks in the park or is the $100 including snacks too. We have 2 Disney $100 GC and a little over $200 in cash for a 2 day trip. Do you think that will be enough? We will carry drinks and a few snacks with us.

 

[spokanemom]

If you check out allearsnet.com, they have the menus available. You can take a look at what prices are for places you may go and what you may buy. That would probably give you the best idea of food cost.

 

[Freyja]

Do you still bring snacks and drinks in the park or is the $100 including snacks too. We have 2 Disney $100 GC and a little over $200 in cash for a 2 day trip. Do you think that will be enough? We will carry drinks and a few snacks with us.

I should start by saying we´re pretty light eaters (compared to US standards) and not big snack eaters. We usually bring a couple of water bottles with us into the parks and buy either a bag of Mickey pretzels or some ice cream in the parks. I think you should be o.k. with your GC´s and cash but as was mentioned above it´s great to check out menues and see what you´d like and how much it would cost you.

 

[oregonmoonrise]

Thanks for the link to the Menus I'm off to check them out now!

 

[kkheburn]

I think we should be fine. I always share with DD so I wont stress. Plus we can always pull the bank card out.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

We figure about $80-100 a day. Depends on the meals we are planning though. We don't do a lot of sit down expensive meals. Maybe 2 during the whole trip. We do counter service or pick things up outside of the park (were happy with a McDonalds burger!).

We also stay where there is a free breakfast and do bring some snacks that we keep at the hotel.

 

[Mommy26]

How hard is it to leave the park and have dinner with three kids?
I can't afford the DL food prices for five people every single night.

TIA

 

[kkheburn]

We do it all the time. Even when my daughter was younger. We eat at Millies. Gives us a chance to recharge our battery. Last time my DD fell asleep on the way out and woke right as her food came.

 

[Freyja]

How hard is it to leave the park and have dinner with three kids?
I can't afford the DL food prices for five people every single night.

TIA

Too be honest, I find it too much of a hassle and too time consuming. We tend to eat at counter service places and share meals in order to cut costs but I don´t know if that will be enough for you?

 

[Dobie]

We spend, on average, 40 dollars per adult (or teen) per day on meals and snacks. We eat what we want, when we want, but we're not breakfast eaters and our "splurge" meal is the buffet at Storytellers. We do, however, drink (the adults, not the teen) but we don't count what we spend on liquor--one of the secrets to a long, happy marriage

I rarely get souveniers--I hate junk (sorry.) DH will buy two or three shirts to supplement his work wardrobe DD17 buys crap but it's out of her own money.

 

[Jenn1116]

I'm counting on the hotel's continental breakfast and McDonalds to keep prices down for us! We have priority seating at Blue Bayou and the Minnie and Friend's breakfast, but those are the only two meals we're splurging on. I expect to spend $400 over 4 days including all food and souvenirs.

 

[victorandbellasmom]

We're a family of 4 (kids are 6 and 9) and we budget anywhere form $100-$150 per day for food. We tend to have a few character meals during our trip and enjoy at least one good sit down meal per day. I figure it's better for piece of mind to overbudget and underspend, rather than underbudget and overspend.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Our boys had about $50 Disney each for our first trip. I said that they could spend it any way they wished, no questions asked, but when it was gone, it was gone. I did say they'd have to wait until toward the end of vacation to spend it, however.

I had to rethink that "any way you wish" rule when DS found the most annoying toy on earth, a toy gun "astro blaster" like the ones on the Buzz ride. They make the most horrid noise when the child holds the trigger down!

Anyway, DS spent $10 on that, $25 on a large talking Woody doll (younger DS got the Jessie doll) and a few other minor items. $50 goes fast in the park, but what the heck, they still play with them.

DS figures we spend about $150/day on food. It depends on where we eat, of course. We typically eat breakfast in our hotel room (cereal and milk), bring snacks and water into the park, and buy lunch and dinner there.

 

[kylieh]

Hi - Looking at everyones budget, we've probably way over-allocated for food on holiday.

There are 2 adults and 1 x 6 year old.

Even though we are going down the kitchen path in room, I've budgetted (overall) avg $165 / day over 9 days. That includes Ariel's and House of Blue Gospel Brunch. Breakfast is included with our room. The $165 includes tax/tips. I've mainly looked at sit down places to eat.

For example, I had a look at Millie's menu (http://www.millies.com/page5.html), and for the 3 of us based on averages...

Italics for edited figures (sales tax changed, thanks DisneyChrista)

Meal 3 x $10 $30.00
Drinks 3 x $2.50? $7.50
Subtotal $37.50
Tax @ 7.75% $2.91
Tip @15% $5.63
Total (Rounded up) $47.... probably just leave $50.

So have $50 budgeted for meal. Because DD is on limited dairy (no cheese, yoghurt, milk, etc in its normal form), desert will be in our room. Both of us adults aren't really drinkers, so any beer/spirits will be limited.

I found that Mimi's had similar pricing. Outback Steakhouse, Cheesecake Factory, Bubba Gumps, etc can be around $25-40 more. Plus any snacks/drinks/etc. When making my budget I didn't factor in split plates and taking left overs away as that is something that is not generally done at home.

As tip can be taken out at counter service in DL, the same meal would be around $40.

At this stage DD wants to take her own Peanut Butter sandwiches (the crustables aren't for her), deserts we will arrange ourself in the room.

Most of the resturants outside DL in the area will have menus with prices posted. Don't forget tip & tax for table service. Both Allears and ***************** helped for pricing within the park.

 

[kylieh]

Both of us adults aren't really drinkers, so any beer/spirits will be limited.

I should add that DD doesn't drink either!!!

 

[disneychrista]

Tax @ 7.05%? .

Sales tax in anahiem is 7.75%

 

[kylieh]

Sales tax in anahiem is 7.75%

Oops Thanks for the info. I'll edit my post!

 

[bumbershoot]

Better to overbudget than underbudget.

I haven't yet figured out our costs for food, but I really ought to do that. It has been under what we've expected each time, though. But there's a caveat on that...we're usually very dehydrated b/c we forget to get water from Safeway, and then we can't get our wallets to pay for the water at the parks. This last trip I finally asked for water from counter service places and it made quite a bit of difference.


Just in case anyone wonders, adults can get kid's meals. I know specifically that you can from counter service, though I didn't try at table service. I got the kid's burrito at Rancho del Zocalo, and a side salad plus the kid's penne meal at Plaza Inn, and both were just perfect. Plus I brought home two more plastic Mickey plates for DS.

That helped bring me under budget for this trip! And the meal that I did order a "proper" meal, the Caprese Sandwich at the Trattoria, plus a side salad, I couldn't eat half of the sandwich, then the next day it was out of the fridge for just too long and I threw it away around 2pm. Kids meals worked well for me in every way this trip.