How much did you spend OP for food

[RainK]

We have always done the DP with TS and QS meals and have always ordered things we normally never would have if it wasn't 'free'...ie dessert.
We are not big eaters. We could manage on a banana for breakfast and then a small lunch and dinner.

We don't drink alcohol so that is a savings right there.
On the DP, if we had a buffet lunch we normally would not have had dinner but because it was free, we would get it. We always over eat on the DP. We would be full from an earlier meal but had a ADR and felt like we HAD to go eat.

I guess I should have tallied the receipts to see how much we would have spent out of pocket minus the extras that we normally would have never ordered if we had to pay OP for it.

[bigbabyblues]

Originally Posted by kris4360

Sounds right to me. $10 for adult meal $6 for kids meal. Buying the dp works for us.

Adult meals do not include drinks, just FYI. They are $2.50-$3 each. We are me, DH, DS12 and 9, and we budget $50 for CS lunch or dinner; breakfast is a little less.

[bluezy]

Originally Posted by RainK

Hi,
We have never gone to Disney without the full dining plan since I can remember. I am not overly optimistic for free dining this year, so I am trying to budget how much it will cost me OP for food.

2 adults, 2 kids ages 7 & 9. 7 nights 8 days. With the exception of 1 character meal, we plan on QS for lunch and dinner and plan on eating cereal or fruit in our hotel room.
We do not have a car, so we will have water, snacks, breakfast items delivered to our room from garden grocer.
I am averaging $30 lunch per day and $45 dinner per day. Probably another $20 a day in snacks or ice cream. Does this sound right?
Is it worth it to just buy the QS dining plan?

I think your estimates are pretty good. Our family does the same thing that you're planning to do: breakfast in the room and quick service for lunch and dinner. We plan on an average of ~$35 per adult/teen per day for meals and snacks and ~$15 per younger kid (when they're still eating mostly kids meals). Some days we spend a little more, some days less but for the most part, those are the numbers that our costs average out to. So the QSDP is about a wash for us. We had free dining last time and will most likely purchase the QSDP for our trip in June just because it makes life a little easier (our older kids will go off by themselves for awhile each day and that way they can still get meals and snacks without having charging privileges on their KTTW card.)

[Ro Z]

Originally Posted by bluezy

I think your estimates are pretty good. Our family does the same thing that you're planning to do: breakfast in the room and quick service for lunch and dinner. We plan on an average of ~$35 per adult/teen per day for meals and snacks and ~$15 per younger kid (when they're still eating mostly kids meals). Some days we spend a little more, some days less but for the most part, those are the numbers that our costs average out to. So the QSDP is about a wash for us. We had free dining last time and will most likely purchase the QSDP for our trip in June just because it makes life a little easier (our older kids will go off by themselves for awhile each day and that way they can still get meals and snacks without having charging privileges on their KTTW card.)

Never thought about the kids cards needing charging privileges if they go off on their own. Charging something or losing a card!! This is a good tip!

[disney1990]

Remember, if you want to save a little money, you can always order large cups of ice water. And, if you want a little more flavor, you can add flavor packs to your water. Water at Disney is free.

[bluezy]

Originally Posted by Ro Z

Never thought about the kids cards needing charging privileges if they go off on their own. Charging something or losing a card!! This is a good tip!

Before we used the dining plan, we gave the older kids gift cards each day with their daily allowance for meals/snacks but that got to be a little tedious because we ended up with all these gift cards with a few dollars on them. The dining plan makes it much easier. We still give them a gift card with $25 on it for extra snacks or a little souvenir they may want to pick up when they're not with us.

[cajunbaby1]

I would check the menu section here or go to AllEars.Net and check their current menu section. I do this to get an idea of what CS things cost; just to give me a "ballpark" of what i might spend each day. Some places have things that 2 can share i.e. chick/rib combos for example.
Also make sure you have snack stuff for in the room. That's where expenses can add up; buying junk food at the resort that is.