Food Budget for WDW trip PLEASE HELP!

[JustinS]

Next July I will be taking my girlfriend down to WDW (for her first time!), and so the planning process has begun. The biggest struggle in my planning is always the food budget. Our stay will be at the WDW Swan so the DDP is not an option. Does anyone have advice on how much money to set aside for food?? My plan is to grocery shop and do breakfast and a few lunches in the room. Dinner will either be at a resort or in a park (mix of counter/table service)

I'm 27, a moderate-heavy eater.
My girlfriend is 21, a light-moderate eater.

I initially estimated $50 per person per day for our stay on average. I can't decide if I think that's a good estimate. Any advice???????????????????

 

[got2sammies]

$100 a day for the two of you would be plenty... If she is a light eater she can order from the kids menu for quick service and you can share at table services (no buffets or ohana) that would cut your costs to be cheaper.. Breakfast in your room is always good

 

[Aliceacc]

Lots of people argue pro and con on the DDP and whether or not it saves money.

Even though you can't get it, budget about the cost of the DDP. It should put you in the right ballpark.

And for what it's worth: I'm not sure I would count on two adults leaving the parks to have lunch in their rooms very often. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of those lunch goodies went uneaten in favor of counter service lunches.

 

[worm761]

The two of you should look at the menus to see where you want to eat. Reservations will be needed for table service restaurants. Menus can be found here: http://www.themouseforless.com/walt-disney-world/dining/menus/

I second the notion that the lunch goodies will go uneaten. It takes a lot of time to go back to the room.

 

[kwdw]

$100 a day for the two of you is a good guess if you aren't buying expensive drinks and eating most breakfasts in the room.

I do buy lunch stuff and it usually gets eaten.... But often at breakfast or when I didn't really eat dinner and now it's late and I'm back in my room. Maybe 1 or 2 days of a 8-9 day trip do I eat lunch at the resort. Usually out and about at lunch.

Now, if you are going to do much dining at signature restaurants or characters buffets, you will break that budget. But if you are planning no more than one table service meal per day are average places, that should be about right.

 

[JustinS]

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE FEEDBACK! A lot of you bring up a good point that the lunches may go uneaten. I usually will try this and its hit an miss for those reasons. I do figure in the July heat, a park break from 12ish-4ish would be a good regroup and time for lunch. I'm thinking a few table service meals, but not more than one, and not every day. Just seems like a lot to me, always has. But that's just me.

 

[prairiesarah]

I don't think you'll have any issue staying in that budget. I budgeted $150 per day for our trip for my dh, ds6 and I for our last trip and we ate all 3 meals out and snacks and stayed just under $100 every day except for the day we went to a buffet for dinner. If you are planning breakfasts in the room, I don't think you'll have any issue with eating a mix of counter service and table service and staying under $100 per day.

 

[stsomewhere]

We can spent a lot of money at Epcot on food. We have been known to spend $300 or more on our family of 4. We like to sample foods at all the pavilions. Tequila tasting in Mexico is great. We usually don't do a table service at Epcot . We snack/drink our way around the world.

 

[tasha99]

I would split meals (an app, a meal, 2 drinks if it's not enough food just to split the meal). You won't want any leftovers, or you'll have to carry them around. Seems better to split, and if you're hungry again later, get a snack. We wasted so much money last year at Blue Bayou--got 3 lunches and nobody ate more than a third because it was so hot outside.

 

[dancin Disney style]

My DD and I spent approx $50/day on average back in March. We brought breakfast items(to eat in the room) in our luggage and some snack items too. We purchased a half gallon of milk, case of water and some pop from Walmart. We only had 1 TS dinner which was my DD's birthday and also at that meal I pre-ordered a special birthday cake. The rest of our meals were CS. We almost always ordered ice water with our meals. You can spend a ton of money on drinks. I don't think we shared any meals but a couple of times I know I ordered a kids meal.

 

[JustinS]

Thank You Thank You Thank You. I love the feedback. i was unsure but feeling much better now.

 

[Theaberdeenkid]

Since you're staying at the Swan you'll have easy access, to...
The Boardwalk Bakery has a small, but good, assortment of food. Example, they have a large turkey sandwich with a side of soup for around $12. This could feed two lite/moderate eaters.

Stay away from the pizza on the boardwalk, about $20 a pie and is bad.

Flying Fish IMO is mediocre and priced as a signature (edit) restaurant. Avoid this too.

Beaches and Cream: in Beach Club Resort. Good food at decent pricing (good burgers).

Hollywood Studios- I think Sci-fi diner is hit or miss, my favorite is their Rueben Sandwich (about $13 with fries). A good size and filling. The prices are comparable to say an Applebee's.

Hollywood Studios (snack) -the Writers Stop. The carrot cake cookie, enough said.

Epcot- in world showcase Boulangerie Patisserie (had to Google spelling) in France. Another bakery that serves more than baked goods. Cheese croissants, sandwiches, quiche, all under $10.


For other further away:
Magic Kingdom: the Plaza Restaurant has meals between $10-$16, I find the food to be comparable to national chains like Applebee's or The Fridays, with much better atmosphere and great views of the park.

Animal Kingdom Park.: Flame Tree BBQ. Love the chicken.

Disney Springs (had to edit that) : Earl of Sandwich. Never had anything I didn't like.

 

[kandb]

I would get the ddp and do good meals like Ohana's , BOG and some character buffets, which your gf will probably love. The ddp is not going to cost that much more and then you can order some great meals instead of worrying about eating food in the room.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I would get the ddp and do good meals like Ohana's , BOG and some character buffets, which your gf will probably love. The ddp is not going to cost that much more and then you can order some great meals instead of worrying about eating food in the room.

DDP is not an option they are staying at the Swan.

 

[monorailsilver]

When we went 2 yrs ago I budgeted $40/meal for my family of 5-dh, myself and our 3 kids who were 12, 9 & 7 then. I had 2 sit downs planned as well and still came in under what the QSDP would of been.

We shipped down breakfast-oatmeal packets, cereal, pop tarts and I just bought milk/soy milk at the resort. I shipped down bowls, cups and spoons too. And various snacks.

Lunch and dinner dh and I would sometimes split depending one where we were. Sometimes I'd get a salad and he a sandwich and we'd split that.

I didn't buy soda. We had our resort mugs and on pool days the kids, dh and I could drink whatever we wanted. We had our thermos water containers, well the kids did, dh and I had the bike insulated ones, and we filled up with ice/water every am and pm and that is what we drank in the parks for lunch/dinner so we didn't have to buy a drink/soda/water. FYI, I shipped water bottles so it wasn't the nasty water we were drinking.

A few pool days my girls had the Mac and cheese cups that I microwaved for them. My son couldn't because of his food allergies but the girls were fine with that as was I-$4 for lunch for 2 for 2 days!

I can honestly tell you I lost 4 lbs on that trip and it was because we were not drinking soda with every meal for 10 days.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Since you're staying at the Swan you'll have easy access, to...
The Boardwalk Bakery has a small, but good, assortment of food. Example, they have a large turkey sandwich with a side of soup for around $12. This could feed two lite/moderate eaters.

Stay away from the pizza on the boardwalk, about $20 a pie and is bad.

Flying Fish IMO is mediocre and priced as a premiere restaurant. Avoid this too.

Beaches and Cream: in Beach Club Resort. Good food at decent pricing (good burgers).

Hollywood Studios- I think Sci-fi diner is hit or miss, my favorite is their Rueben Sandwich (about $13 with fries). A good size and filling. The prices are comparable to say an Applebee's.

Hollywood Studios (snack) -the Writers Stop. The carrot cake cookie, enough said.

Epcot- in world showcase Boulangerie Patisserie (had to Google spelling) in France. Another bakery that serves more than baked goods. Cheese croissants, sandwiches, quiche, all under $10.


For other further away:
Magic Kingdom: the Plaza Restaurant has meals between $10-$16, I find the food to be comparable to national chains like Applebee's or The Fridays, with much better atmosphere and great views of the park.

Animal Kingdom Park.: Flame Tree BBQ. Love the chicken.

Disney Springs (had to edit that) : Earl of Sandwich. Never had anything I didn't like.

Wanted to second several things here.

We ate at Flying Fish in April and were not very impressed. It was the worst service we had all week (very slow). There wasn't anything wrong with the food, but it wasn't spectacular. We ate at several signature restaurants that week and there are definitely better options.

Boulangerie Patisserie is definitely an awesome option. Everything is very cheap and delicious. I had never been there before this most recent trip and will definitely be returning!

I would avoid eating table service in HS. None of them are worth the prices in my opinion, and I'm the type of person who loves Disney food and gets DxDP on every trip. I've eaten at Sci Fi and 50s in the last three years and wasn't impressed with either.

 

[hsmamato2]

$50 per day is fine for what you want.... and staying at the swan means you have access to many restaurants! One thing about disney eating is you can get a small meal at one place, then an hour later grab a dessert from someplace else,split treats,etc. And if you budget 100 a day , some days you will be under,some over, but that is your average, so the day you eat TS,will more money than a day with just cs. FWIW, 3 people (all adult eaters) is what I budget per day- we eat most breakfast in our room. Esp. don't waste money on giant sodas and extra french fries, things like that- its easy to share things,and then you have room and money for something else later....

 

[sarah4770]

some of the Swan/Dolphin restaurants offer a 20% AAA discount if you have a AAA card. I know picabu does.

 

[Aliceacc]

^^^
And if, by some chance, you're a teacher, nurse, or government worker, you'll be able to get a nice discount on your room at the Swan/Dolphin as well.

 

[leebee]

I'd go to allears.net and look at the menus, with pricing, and see what it'll cost. Here are a couple of things to consider:

Breakfast in the room- ALWAYS! Sometimes it's the only reasonably-nutritious meal we'll have all day, LOL! We usually do mini-bagels, cream cheese, peanut butter, yogurt, maybe fruit. If we have a car we'll stop at Publix on our way to our resort. We've also frozen the yogurt and packed it and the cream cheese in a thermally-insulated lunch bag, with blue-ice, and put it in our checked bags. It keeps well, and thaws well, also. Fruit like apples, oranges, tangerines, etc. pack well.

I am a moderatly-good eater but don't eat anywhere near as much in WDW. It's just too hot in the summer to eat as much as I normally do. Therefore, DD21 and I often split counter service meals. If you check the menus, you'll find some places (Flame Tree BBQ, Cosmic Ray's) have platters that are large enough to split.

We enjoy a table service meal each day, especially in the summer. It's nice to sit down in the a/c with a cold iced tea and just relax. In the summer, table service meals are what I'll budget for first. If we aren't hungry enough for a full meal, we'll order a couple of appetizers and a salad to share. Only place this isn't true is at Boma, but Boma is just about our favorite restaurant anywhere, so we always budget for dinner there!

In addition to discounts offered by AAA, if you are a Disney VISA card holder, there are discounts at some of the onsite restaurants. I believe places like Boma, Jiko, Kona Cafe, etc. offer 10-15% off. Check the Chase website for benefits for Disney VISA card holders.