I was at WDW a month ago with my kids and kept close track of our food expenses. We ate what we wanted, when we wanted, but I was curious about whether the dining plan would be a good idea for us for future trips. I wasn't really working too hard to save $$, but when I added it up I was surprised at how little we spent on food. My expense for our food was $22.70 for each of us/day, not including what I brought from home. I did not differentiate between adult/child. As my youngest is now 10, we would all be adults on the Disney Dining Plan anyway, which is something like $37/day, so for us, it turned out this would not be a good deal. Most days we had breakfast in our room, carried some snacks, had one table service meal (included Crystal Palace, Coral Reef, Earl of Sandwich, Rainforest Cafe, Sci Fi Dine In Theatre), and maybe picked up an additional snack or counter service bite when we got hungry. From home I brought peanut butter, cereal, easy mac, pouches of tuna, cereal bars, protein water mixes, and nuts for snacks. I stopped at Publix and got a big jug of water, fruit, baby carrots, milk, bread, and eggs. This worked really well for us, as I felt like we kept a pretty healthy diet while we were there, and I didnt have much left to toss out or carry back home. I did have a condo with kitchen, but I only cooked some eggs for breakfast or microwaved mac & cheese, and even if I only had a mini-fridge and microwave, I feel like we could have breakfasts, lunches, easy dinners in the room, which saves more time for fun stuff anyway. I get tired of eating out all the time when we are away from home, so we really prefer to do it this way. Good to know for the future as I have been hoping to stay on-site next time we go and was eyeing the dining plan. Of course, free dining is a whole other story!
Just some "food" for thought. If you are really trying to stay on your budget, I think it can be done.
Just some "food" for thought. If you are really trying to stay on your budget, I think it can be done.