family of 5 $1500 for food?

[jenjenmouse]

We have booked 2 rooms at POR for June 16-23. Then I found a pretty good offer at Caribe Royale for a villa for June 18-25th. It includes a $50 per night food credit. Along with the more deluxe feel and that the cost is $1500 cheaper than POR it is really attractive. But that $1500 does not include meals. So my question is.....would you expect a family of 5, 2 adults, 2 13 yr old girls and a 5 year old boy , to spend 1500 on food in a week at WDW while staying offsite and maybe eating one or two table services at the parks? I would guess the rest of the meals would have to be at the villa or using the $50 credit per day in the resort resturaunts. We also have to factor in parking .....I have no idea what that will cost. If we do stay off site then we will probably add US to the mix. That might make it closer to 1000 diff in price as a two day pass to US $500 and the extra days on the tix to WDW is only a couple of $. Well, if you have it in your budgeting mind to help me out with this complicated message.....I'd appreciate it.
Jennifer

 

[SaraJayne]

Parking for off-site guests is $14 a day.

 

[Lisa_M]

I would stay off site. That is a huge difference! I think you could spend very little on food or a ton, but in general, you'll be better off off-site. You could use that $50 a day credit for breakfast, if you're not going to be around for lunch or dinner. Even with the cost of parking you're still better off and then instead of waiting to cram in a bus like sardines, you can hop in your car and get the a/c going.

 

[dawnball]

.would you expect a family of 5, 2 adults, 2 13 yr old girls and a 5 year old boy , to spend 1500 on food in a week at WDW while staying offsite and maybe eating one or two table services at the parks? I would guess the rest of the meals would have to be at the villa or using the $50 credit per day in the resort resturaunts. We also have to factor in parking .....I have no idea what that will cost. If we do stay off site then we will probably add US to the mix. That might make it closer to 1000 diff in price as a two day pass to US $500 and the extra days on the tix to WDW is only a couple of $.

I'm going to leave the Universal Studios tickets out of the mix so that the comparison is more apples to apples.

Parking is $14/day, so that's $100 . I'd guess that the $50/day credit is enough for breakfast and a maybe mid-afternoon snack/drink by the pool for everyone in your group.

So from your $1400, a table service meal might cost your family nearly $200 (with tax and tip, based on Chef Mickey's). Three table service meals is $600, leaving $800 and 11 meals. A counter service meal will run $11-20 for an adult and about $6 for a child, or $50-$86/meal. So $550-$946 for all your remaining meals. If you're closer to $550, you'll have plenty of money in your budget for a snack or two as well. Likewise, if you get some cereal and eat breakfast in your villa most mornings, that $50/day credit will get you a nice meal or two at the resort.

Note that these numbers assume that you eat a "standard" counter service meal + drink +dessert. If you eat more eclectically/snack through the day and share meals, you can come out well under these numbers.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Does the $50 per day credit at Caribe mean $50 per day or would it be $350 that can be spent any time during the stay? This can make a considerable difference.

 

[jenjenmouse]

Thank you so much everyone,
I think I have decided to stay offsite...it will be the first time ever....after 7 times onsite. The cost of one meal is crazy! I think offsite is just better for this trip. I will miss the "Disney" atmosphere but think the magic of a quiet place to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and just stretch out and relax will be something this growing family will probably never want to give up.
As far as the $50 food/bev credit....I am not sure how that works....here is what the offer says....maybe someone can tell me what it really means.

Food & beverage credit is applied at checkout and can be used toward meals in any of the Caribe Royale restaurants.
Again, thank you so much for the numbers....they helped me very much!
Jennifer

 

[powellrj]

While on-site is nice, the extra room for less money is wonderful. You can easily eat for less than $1500 for the week. There are lots of great off-site places to dine at and coupons galore.

 

[Green Tea]

The credit would be a total against whatever you spent in the restaurant at the resort for the entire stay. You won't have to eat $50 a day to get $50 a day.

 

[disneymayz]

Here is somethng to look into. You know that it will cost you $100 to park so depending on the type of tikcets you are getting you may think about making one of them an annual pass. Annual pass holders get free parking. They also get discounts at some places to eat and some shopping places and discounts on Disney Resorts.

All-star suite is another option if you really want to stay on-site. 2 beds and a sofa sleeper I believe, then you can bring an airbed if no kids want to share a bed.

 

[mhsjax]

Thank you so much everyone,
I think I have decided to stay offsite...it will be the first time ever....after 7 times onsite. The cost of one meal is crazy! I think offsite is just better for this trip. I will miss the "Disney" atmosphere but think the magic of a quiet place to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and just stretch out and relax will be something this growing family will probably never want to give up.
As far as the $50 food/bev credit....I am not sure how that works....here is what the offer says....maybe someone can tell me what it really means.

Food & beverage credit is applied at checkout and can be used toward meals in any of the Caribe Royale restaurants.
Again, thank you so much for the numbers....they helped me very much!
Jennifer

Just to let you know, that Caribe Royal is the only off site hotel I like. It does have the Disney top 7, so at least you can somewhat have the Disney feel. lol. It really is a nice hotel, we love it there.

 

[dd50]

I don't think that you will have any problems feeding a family of 5 on $1500. Since you are offsite you will have room to bring in breakfast stuff, water, soda, etc. You can even stop at Publix if you wanted to get something to eat. They make fabulous subs.

 

[andrews_dad]

Heck, yeah. You can easily spend less than that on food, especially with a car to get you to tons of local eateries, the grocery, WalMart, Target, etc. Be careful, though. Once I started staying off-site I never went back. No more waiting on busses. Renting a full house with private pool and game room at www.homeaway.com for less than a Diz ROOM. Eating at some great local places rather than being tied to Diz. Being able to get to SeaWorld (which we LOVE) and other parks/attractions. We've upped the number of days we usually stay and spend LESS than we used to on Diz-only trips.

$14 a day to park. One charge per day, so if you hop over to another park w/ a different parking lot you don't get charged again.

 

[Darcy03231]

In August 2007 we stayed off-site with 9 people for 16 days.

We spent about $500 in the grocery store, had three dinners out (1 night it was pizza - total cost was about $50 for pizza and drinks, 1 night it was a Chinese buffet and was $9.99 for adults and $6.99 for children and 1 night it was at a nice steakhouse for DD's 16th birthday $300). We had a big breakfast in every day, snacked in the parks, took a mid-afternoon break and ate back at the house and then went back to the parks at night and snacked again. We ended up eating a couple of counter service meals in the park (around $10/pp), but not many.

I think you can do the food for way less than $1500.

 

[KELLY]

We have booked 2 rooms at POR for June 16-23. Then I found a pretty good offer at Caribe Royale for a villa for June 18-25th. It includes a $50 per night food credit. Along with the more deluxe feel and that the cost is $1500 cheaper than POR it is really attractive. But that $1500 does not include meals. So my question is.....would you expect a family of 5, 2 adults, 2 13 yr old girls and a 5 year old boy , to spend 1500 on food in a week at WDW while staying offsite and maybe eating one or two table services at the parks? I would guess the rest of the meals would have to be at the villa or using the $50 credit per day in the resort resturaunts. We also have to factor in parking .....I have no idea what that will cost. If we do stay off site then we will probably add US to the mix. That might make it closer to 1000 diff in price as a two day pass to US $500 and the extra days on the tix to WDW is only a couple of $. Well, if you have it in your budgeting mind to help me out with this complicated message.....I'd appreciate it.
Jennifer

How about 2 value rooms instead. Did you check out to see the savings on that. I know for our up coming trip I priced it a ton of ways. for our 9 night stay it is 650.00 more to stay at a moderate with the free dining over pop. If you times that x2 it is around 1300.00. Just a thought.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

All-star suite is another option if you really want to stay on-site. 2 beds and a sofa sleeper I believe, then you can bring an airbed if no kids want to share a bed.

Of course you could bring an air bed ~ why not? We stayed @ POP last Oct. my 2 kids, my mom and me ~ my mom and I took the doubles DS slept on this - and DD on this ~ it was great!

OP ~ I think you've made a great choice! Enjoy your visit.

 

[jenjenmouse]

Just to let you know, that Caribe Royal is the only off site hotel I like. It does have the Disney top 7, so at least you can somewhat have the Disney feel. lol. It really is a nice hotel, we love it there.

What does the Disney top 7 mean? The top 7 characters are there somehow?
I think that is something I should know after all these years going to WDW and all these years here on the DIS!
Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I am really scared that I will mess this up and end up spending more than what we would have spent staying onsite. I have a yucky feeling in my stomach about not staying on site but at the same time and very excited to try something new. I have always wanted to go to US but am so afraid that I wouldn't like it and would be mad that we spent the money and time away from WDW.

We did look at 2 rooms at POP and it will be 600 less for 2 rooms there but the value resorts seem much more "busy" than POR to me. POR at least is relaxing to me and the values are extremely "fun" all the time. It was great when it was just me and my DD but now with my DS added ( with his extreme need for down time because of his Prader-Willi syndrome) they would be just too much stimulation.

I wonder what a cabin would cost? I am going to call right now! I will let you know. But for now, and if I could get my mind wrapped around it for good, CR sounds great.

I love the smilies!
Jennifer

 

[mhsjax]

What does the Disney top 7 mean? The top 7 characters are there somehow?
I think that is something I should know after all these years going to WDW and all these years here on the DIS!
Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I am really scared that I will mess this up and end up spending more than what we would have spent staying onsite. I have a yucky feeling in my stomach about not staying on site but at the same time and very excited to try something new. I have always wanted to go to US but am so afraid that I wouldn't like it and would be mad that we spent the money and time away from WDW.

We did look at 2 rooms at POP and it will be 600 less for 2 rooms there but the value resorts seem much more "busy" than POR to me. POR at least is relaxing to me and the values are extremely "fun" all the time. It was great when it was just me and my DD but now with my DS added ( with his extreme need for down time because of his Prader-Willi syndrome) they would be just too much stimulation.

I wonder what a cabin would cost? I am going to call right now! I will let you know. But for now, and if I could get my mind wrapped around it for good, CR sounds great.

I love the smilies!
Jennifer

I may have the name wrong, but it is the top 7 things to do at Disney, and it is on the TV in all the Disney Resorts. Stacy is the host. I love watching it, over and over and over again. It is like riding my favorite ride, well almost.



oh and by the way, (and I am sure I will get flamed for this). We stayed in a Value Resort, All Star Music, the suite. HATED IT. We will never stay at a value again, it just didn't seem disney, and well, to me it was just very motel 6 and very noisy and very non Disney.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

We tried off-site for the first time on our last WDW visit, and my gang LOVED it! We loved the extra space, and found that we really liked NOT having to do a meal out, every single meal.

I shopped at Super Target and Publix, love both. I prepared very simple meals--frozen grilled chicken strips over caesar salad, for example, and frozen meatballs with jarred sauce over spaghetti. There are also a TON of ready-prepared meal choices. We also bought bottled water and a ton of snack foods and fresh fruit. Certainly, breakfast foods are easy--cereal, bagels, muffins, etc. It'll make the restaurant meals that much more special.

An AP will get you free parking, and if you have AAA, they have up-close parking with a pass (check with your local office).

I confess ignorance of the specifics of your son's disorder, but if quiet "down time" is important to him, then the extra room and space of off-site may really work to your advantage. And added bonus--if there are things to do at the resort, the rest of the family could, say, go to the pool, while one parent tended to a child who needed a nap or TV break or whatever.

 

[disneymayz]

Of course you could bring an air bed ~ why not? We stayed @ POP last Oct. my 2 kids, my mom and me ~ my mom and I took the doubles DS slept on this - and DD on this ~ it was great!

I know you can bring airbeds I was giving that as another option. We have also brought one. Great minds think alike. LOL

 

[jenjenmouse]

OK I am a dork
Here are the actual numbers for our trip. Since I cannot do math at all I will leave it up to you budget minded, number people
I called and switched my ressie to the Ft Wilderness Cabins. Turned out it was about 300 less than 2 rooms at POR. So I was all excited and booked it.
Then I went back to the numbers. What did I do?
When I originally posted I said the difference between the 2 places ( POR and CR ) was 1500 not including food for CR. Meaning POR price included the dining plan. I was wrong evidentally......I can not subtract! So the price was really 2500 less! Now after getting all excited about FWC I realize now the difference is 1911.99. OH well heck.......
No wonder I drive my dh crazy I always think I have a great deal and I don't.
So the numbers are
4504.52 for FWC= room, tix and dining plan
2692.53 for CR = room and tix and parking. ( also I have $50 a day food and beverage credit here= $350 credit for the stay)

so 1811.99 difference.:
Tell me what you think! Yes I mean you right now! Just kidding but please give this insane girl direction