Food prices anxiety!

[StirlingSilver83]

We go often. I have 4 adult children, but looking at your family configuration I am still not sure how I could even fit 2 table service meals into your budget. I would not panic, there are plenty of good counter service places to eat at (indoors and outdoors) and we never seem to finish our individual meals so you could split some meals and just order more if needed. We bring a case of water because it's painful to pay what they charge. Having a plan ahead of time is good though, especially on a budget. With the introduction of the magic band charging I am always in sticker shock when our bill gets emailed to us on the last day. I love the convenience, but it is easy to spend a lot more than you think that way for us with so many grown children who want to eat their way through Disney.

Magic bands are dangerous when it comes to shopping too, lol. We are on the dining plan so we don't have to worry about our meals, just tips and souvenirs, lol. Last year we kept our receipts to kind of keep a tally of what we were spending. I bring an allowance of money for tips and souvenirs. Usually I bring $100/day that's $50/kid/day and if we don't use it all well that's even better but at least I have the money to spend if I need to, lol. I also bring extra money for gas (we drive down from NJ) and incidentals (tips and food for a long the way, or if we go over our souvenir allotment, that's never happened but I have the extra money if it does). Planning a Disney trip is a lot of work, but its also something fun but I plan for months for our trips and then its over in a matter of days. Then I am like well that was fun now what am I going to do? LOL...My hubby says no more planning Disney trips, he said after this vacation he needs a break from Disney, so we have to figure out someplace else to go next year, lol

 

[Angeejoe]

Have you thought about buying the Disney a Gift Cards at Target using the red card to save the 5%? It may give u a little extra cushion with the savings. Of course figure out the meals you may order & preplan how much to spend. If you're a little over you can pay cash or bill room or if your a little under you can use it for end of the trip gift shop purchases. Also don't forget to add in tipping costs at TS.

 

[clambert1273]

I convert to my "cruise" mentality when I am planning Disney... take half of the clothes and double the budget

 

[tasha99]

www.distripplanner.com

Plug in all the places you want to eat and snacks etc... at the bottom it will give an OOP price

Wow. That is awesome. Thanks!

 

[clambert1273]

Wow. That is awesome. Thanks!

anytime... I used it last time I went and it was a life saver. Even with the DDP, it gave me a list of what to pay out of pocket and on what days... Now I used it to give myself a budget based on how we eat, snack and what ADR's I had.... I learned.. we ain't cheap lol

 

[SouthJersey]

Am I crazy to be having anxiety over how much I need to spend on meals? It will be 3 adults, 1 child, 2 toddlers under 3. We are bringing my MIL so I am factoring her meals in as well just to be on the safe side. I haven't been on vacation in awhile (or with kids) so I am seriously freaking out at how much I will be spending. I am planning to do 4 TS meals but may cut it down to 2. I am figuring we will eat breakfast in the room and I'm also planning 1 snack per person a day so even if we don't use that it is planned for. I am really trying not to plan too much but I can't seem to decide how much to bring without planning out some. Also we are driving so may need a bit more for anything on the way. I'm factoring $1200 fir all of us for an entire week sat-sun. Does this seem reasonable? I know everyone has different touring/eating ideas so that is probably a hard question to answer. Has anyone had a similar situation to compare! I think I just need to ease my mind in some way.

Honestly, it's so subjective that it will be hard to gauge what you can/can't do based off responses.
$1,200 is absolutely do-able for many, but for how others and we vacation, it wouldn't suffice.
My family and friends always use http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningmain.cfm and add up by day what they'd likely be purchasing.
We've been using the deluxe dining plan for the past few years, so I haven't looked at prices in a while after seeing that signatures each night and a TS made the DxDP worth it for us.

You have couples like us, which 2 adults at a signature per night and a 1 TS for lunch would exceed $2,000, while families like my cousin who can cover him, his wife and two kids with $1,000.

 

[tasha99]

anytime... I used it last time I went and it was a life saver. Even with the DDP, it gave me a list of what to pay out of pocket and on what days... Now I used it to give myself a budget based on how we eat, snack and what ADR's I had.... I learned.. we ain't cheap lol

I used it to estimate overall cost but then I took out all the counter service neals and our V&A dinner to estimate whether the Tables in Wonderland card made sense for us. It does, especially since we drink wine and that's not included in the estimate.

 

[Belle61513]

Am I crazy to be having anxiety over how much I need to spend on meals? It will be 3 adults, 1 child, 2 toddlers under 3. We are bringing my MIL so I am factoring her meals in as well just to be on the safe side. I haven't been on vacation in awhile (or with kids) so I am seriously freaking out at how much I will be spending. I am planning to do 4 TS meals but may cut it down to 2. I am figuring we will eat breakfast in the room and I'm also planning 1 snack per person a day so even if we don't use that it is planned for. I am really trying not to plan too much but I can't seem to decide how much to bring without planning out some. Also we are driving so may need a bit more for anything on the way. I'm factoring $1200 fir all of us for an entire week sat-sun. Does this seem reasonable? I know everyone has different touring/eating ideas so that is probably a hard question to answer. Has anyone had a similar situation to compare! I think I just need to ease my mind in some way.

Use this site to plan/estimate ahead:

http://www.distripplanner.com/

 

[clambert1273]

I used it to estimate overall cost but then I took out all the counter service neals and our V&A dinner to estimate whether the Tables in Wonderland card made sense for us. It does, especially since we drink wine and that's not included in the estimate.

LOL I have a separate "momma's gonna drink" budget

 

[Richard M Nixon]

Paying cash for 9 days, I've planned out about $2800 for two. Of course that's dining like adults, but it's still obscene for theme park dining.

 

[jrandall]

Have you thought about buying the Disney a Gift Cards at Target using the red card to save the 5%? It may give u a little extra cushion with the savings. Of course figure out the meals you may order & preplan how much to spend. If you're a little over you can pay cash or bill room or if your a little under you can use it for end of the trip gift shop purchases. Also don't forget to add in tipping costs at TS.

Yes, I am planning on doing this actually! That is why I need a ball park figure. I'm sure I will use them either way on souvenirs but want to have a plan.

 

[jrandall]

I convert to my "cruise" mentality when I am planning Disney... take half of the clothes and double the budget

I like this! Oooohhh and my clothing budget....a whole other story!

 

[SouthJersey]

Paying cash for 9 days, I've planned out about $2800 for two. Of course that's dining like adults, but it's still obscene for theme park dining.

It's insane, we make it a point to at least leave the parks now and dine at signatures for a little more. We did the math and for the two of us, we were looking at $480 just for Jiko and Narcoossee's (soup or salad, entree, dessert) and that's only two nights, not including breakfast or a TS lunch earlier since we do evening ADR's. The deluxe dining plan actually saves us money lol.

 

[Belle61513]

Something else I just thought of: We order groceries (which are delivered to the hotel the day we arrive) from Garden Grocer which saves us some time/money. You can pretty much order anything. Maybe plan to eat breakfast (and some snacks?) at the hotel with those pre-ordered items?

 

[SouthJersey]

Something else I just thought of: We order groceries (which are delivered to the hotel the day we arrive) from Garden Grocer which saves us some time/money. You can pretty much order anything. Maybe plan to eat breakfast (and some snacks?) at the hotel with those pre-ordered items?

That's what my cousin and his family does. They make it a point to do:
(2) - Character breakfast for experience and photos.
(2) - Table service dinners for unique themes/settings.
(#)- A few park snacks for the 'only at Disney' snack experiences.

Lunch is always quick service, breakfast and snacks are typical items they get from Gardn Grocer, etc. For them it's 2 adults and 2 children, they stay under $1k each trip for food.

 

[clambert1273]

It's insane, we make it a point to at least leave the parks now and dine at signatures for a little more. We did the math and for the two of us, we were looking at $480 just for Jiko and Narcoossee's (soup or salad, entree, dessert) and that's only two nights, not including breakfast or a TS lunch earlier since we do evening ADR's. The deluxe dining plan actually saves us money lol.

*sigh* I can't add the dining to my trip this time due to the deal I got ... but we had the free regular dining last time and still came out of pocket for some stuff (not a big deal).. I am waiting to see if they open free dining toward end of August so I can calculate the difference between what deal I got now and that.

 

[old lady]

I don't worry about food prices before I get the bills. I chose a dining plan or meal plan at Disney, it is more convenience and less surprising.

 

[MichelleB]

My family of 5 (DD18, DD16, and DS13) can go for about $850 for the week. We take things to eat in the room for breakfast….this helps a lot when the kids are little, eat a couple TS and the rest QS. Take some snacks for in the parks so you have something if you find the need to tide you over to the next meal. Drink water (cup not bottle) which is also available at the QS places free. If you have to have something besides water, take some individual drink mixes and mix it yourself. We found we spend much less than the dining plans and still get what we want. We just cut costs with water, snacks, and breakfast in. You can have a great time and not spend a fortune.

 

[bumbershoot]

I know it's so hard to figure this out without planning everything. Of course the other two adults are no help & do not plan anything at all. But they have never been to disney so I'm taking over the planning. I may even budget $1500 so we are not so close. I took into account snacks but no wine or anything so that should probably be added too. This is getting too complicated

"I need to work oh a budget for food, adults who are traveling with me. Here are the restaurants I'm thinking about. What do you think you might order?"

Or just choose the most expensive entrees at each place to set the budget.

With your family you might have an idea of what they'll order, at least.

I used it to estimate overall cost but then I took out all the counter service neals and our V&A dinner to estimate whether the Tables in Wonderland card made sense for us. It does, especially since we drink wine and that's not included in the estimate.

You know there are several counter service places the TIW does cover, yes?

CS at AK park, food courts at all values and at SSR. Sassagoulas at pofq.

 

[SouthJersey]

I don't worry about food prices before I get the bills. I chose a dining plan or meal plan at Disney, it is more convenience and less surprising.

That's what I love about the deluxe dining plan.
Doing a TS lunch and a signature dinner each day (what we'd do anyway) it saves us money, especially since we always go in the Fall during free dining. I'd rather know upfront what my entire trip costs and not worry about finances period while on vacation. Even for alcohol, add-ons, etc.