Non dining plan people. What is your food budget?

[jo-jo]

I use this tool, and then add about $50 per person for extra snacks, drinks. I'm not sure how accurate or up to date it is, it has Jungle Skipper Canteen, but not Tiffins. So I use it as a starting point and add extra.

http://www.distripplanner.com/

As far as the OP question, we don't budget but we are naturally cheap. Using the site LadyRayado posted, for 2 adults for 11 nights, it would cost 1,022.77. That would be for 3 buffet breakfast and 2 buffet dinners, 18 CS and about 2 snacks a day. But that would be more than we would spend. First we have some discounts with DVC, AP etc. At CS, we share a large drink, so that a few more dollars off per day. We also instead of eating 4 CS per day, we only get 3, sharing one at lunch. So our typical day would be eat breakfast in room, share CS for lunch, have our own CS at dinner and 2 snacks per day. If we are having a TS that day, our only other purchase would be a shared CS and snacks. So our true cost would be more like $875

 

[absolutmey]

I've budgeted $1000 for me, DH and DS8 for a 7 day trip. I think we'll spend less, however. I checked what I think we'll eat where we have ADRs and the total (with taxes and tips) added up to just under $850. We're eating breakfast in the room each day, don't drink soda and plan to bring in snacks and a refillable water bottle for ourselves.

That being said, we have an afternoon at F&W that I have no idea how to budget for and that could very well eat up the other $150!

 

[Cowgirl_Jessie]

We budget $200 a day or 2 adults and 1 child. HOWEVER, we bring in a lunches in our park bag which saves a lot of time and money. We've been so pleased to just grab a bench whenever we are hungry around lunchtime. Plus it lets us divert funds to having a nicer dinner.

 

[Minnesota!]

I know "abouts" what it costs us. So, I save $$$ to that amount, then use my credit card for allllll the things in WDW. Then pay it off with the $$ when I get home. I get the airline miles, and if we go over a bit, it's not that big of a deal - I will just pay that overage off then.

 

[tasha99]

I don't budget, but looking at our last trip, it was $115 per person per day.

 

[scrapquitler]

I'm right at $1388 for 2 adults one 3 year old doing 7 days. Where are you budget wise?

We spend about $125 per day (including snacks, drinks and alcohol) for 2 adults and a 13 year old.

 

[gorkt]

For a family of 4 - $250 a day roughly. That covers snacks, one QS, and one TS meal per day.

 

[monorailsilver]

Well our last trip in 2013 it was $40/meal for the 5 of us.

Breakfast we brought so I just had to buy milk. Stupid me bought small cartons at captain cooks! $30-$50

I still had 2 kids under 9 and one over plus do and myself. My oldest went back and forth from the kids menu to adult menu.

I bought mugs for all of us but sofa was only allowed with mugs and on our pool days. We had bottled water $10-15 for our park days.

2 of our pool days my dds ate Mac and cheese from the Mac and cheese cups. That cost me $4. My son would of had it too but he has a dairy allergy. I will do that again in 2018 when we go.

But now prices have gone up so I am looking at between $50-60/meal or $100-$120/day. We will eat at WCC and maybe one other TS, not sure. We usually do Chef Mickeys but my kids are all adults so I don't want to spend the money on that meal. They are bummed but oh well! DH and I will share some meals, but there are times I don't like to share. I am thinking we can share at pecko bills with the fixin bar and my DS and I can share a turkey leg. And we can share pizza from Wolfgang pucks, well except my son as he gets cheeseless. Oh and snacks, we get 1-2/day.

Food money is my free money, I do multiple rewards sites.

We are, well I am planning on 11 days. Arrival day breakfast will be eaten in the car on the way to the airport. I have brought crackers and pepperoni/salami for my kids for lunch...yes they love that!...depending on the time we land. If we land at 10 then they can wait to eat at Captain Cooks. Departure day dinner will be some kind of airport food. 2 days, maybe 3 will be Mac and cheese for the girls again. I didn't buy sofa in the parks last trip and I lost weight! Plus we saved $$$.

I think for the 11 days I am going to bring $1600 for food. But I have to keep an eye on prices and adjust.

 

[nene0182]

We don't really set a budget. But it seems we spend about $1200-$1400 over 7 days for 2 adults and 1 teenager. We typically eat breakfast in the room, 1 QS and 1 TS a day.

 

[disneyAndi14]

We budget 100.00 a day for two Disney adults, we share some meals, this is usually pretty accurate for us, we do eat where ever we want, though I travel with a teenager so we never do signatures, she is not interested. I usually come out a head with this, keeping in mind some days we spend quite abit less and other days we may go over the 100.00.

 

[skuttle]

I like to keep track of what we spend so I know what to save for the next trip. We don't necessarily stick to a budget. Right now, for our 7 days (2 adults, 1 "adult" kid and 2 kids), I have estimated $1530. That includes 3 TS (including 2 character meals), the rest CS, snacks and some breakfasts in our room. And sometimes I'll have our youngest two split a meal since I can never know which one will actually eat! Usually splitting a meal with them works well, especially since we like to snack! Generally for CS I budget $65 for lunch/dinner and $50 for breakfast for our family of 5. For TS, I look at menus and guess what we may order to get an idea of the cost.

I just found that dining plan calculator someone posted earlier a few weeks ago. I'm anxious to compare what I actually spend to that estimate when I get back to see if it's accurate.

 

[tlh]

I estimate $100 each day for 2 adults. We normally to one table service each day, share a quick service, and have a snack or two. Usually breakfast is in the room or we share a quick service.

 

[Carla1183]

Newbie here, but curious why so many who spend more than the cost of the DDP dont do it? Is there some kind of limitation i dont know about?
Its 67/day per adult right for regular plan?

 

[caliope]

We don't budget and I have no clue how much we spent on our last trip. We actually focus more on managing our calories more than our money. For instance, on days we do a character meal for breakfast, we skip lunch, eat snacks in our room (healthier than park snacks), have a drink in a lounge, and have a modest TS dinner. Other days, it's a QS breakfast, TS lunch, and snacks for dinner. We don't do the dining plan because we don't eat dessert and don't like being locked into certain types of eating. We also don't get the resort mugs because we don't drink soda and only have one cup of coffee each in the morning. DS only drinks water and milk. So, if I had to guess, I'd say each day of our trip we spend about $100-$150 on a TS meal (including alcohol and tip); $30-40 on a QS meal; and maybe $20-$30 on snacks or drinks in a lounge. That puts our range for a family of 3 at $160-$220 per day.

 

[margareton27]

OP - as you can see there are many opinions on the board For us we usually take a look at the menus of where we would like to eat and estimate from there. Depending on how big of an eater you are things will flex. There are some meals that are quite large that we share. For example Flame Tree BBQ at AK has a combo plate. I like ribs, DH likes chicken so that works for us. Look at your plans and estimate that way. And then add on some contingency for additional snacks that just call out to you - lol.

 

[Heidi K]

$250 per day for 2 adults, 3 kids (ages 10, 7, 4). Might be higher, though.

 

[jo-jo]

Newbie here, but curious why so many who spend more than the cost of the DDP dont do it? Is there some kind of limitation i dont know about?
Its 67/day per adult right for regular plan?

I looked at few of the replies and I don't see anyone who is saying this, but most people are giving general information. They may be including some alcohol or maybe a signature meal. Plus on top of the cost of the plan, you still need to add a tip for the TS, so perhaps an extra $ 10(or more) per person per day.

I'm sure there are some who save money with the dining plan, but I think most people who use it , it's because they like to have things prepaid.

 

[tasha99]

Newbie here, but curious why so many who spend more than the cost of the DDP dont do it? Is there some kind of limitation i dont know about?
Its 67/day per adult right for regular plan?

We go wayyy over the plan, even though I cook most breakfasts and a few other meals in the room. Don't care for the plan--alcohol, appetizers, and Victoria and Alberts aren't on it. It would shape how we eat--if we get dessert at all, it's one for the table to share, and we might want a bunch of appetizers instead of a meal. Surely we don't want soda as we'd be buying wine on the side then.

 

[caliope]

Don't care for the plan--alcohol, appetizers, and Victoria and Alberts aren't on it. It would shape how we eat--if we get dessert at all, it's one for the table to share, and we might want a bunch of appetizers instead of a meal. Surely we don't want soda as we'd be buying wine on the side then.

This is exactly why we don't do the dining plan. For us it's not about cost or prepaying as much as how we prefer to eat. We don't want to be told which courses we can order. Soda credits are useless for us and we'd end up paying out of pocket for alcohol and tip anyway.

 

[JZCubed]

I'm right at $1388 for 2 adults one 3 year old doing 7 days. Where are you budget wise?

If you just want simple math for us - $100/adult/day +++.

We typically have just one ADR/day - more than likely a Signature dinner.

Without alcohol - that's about $75/each just for the Signature. Non-Signature table service places would be more like $50/each.

Then add in breakfast ($8) / lunch ($12) / snacks ($5).

That '+++' I have above is how you add in beverage & snack consumption. For instance, Black Coffee versus Frappuccino is a big difference in budgeting. Snacks are similar math - $3 bag'o'chips versus a $9 cheese'n'cheese fries. These can be big differences over a 7-day vacation.

For us - we'd rather a pretzel and/or popcorn instead of Qwik Service (fast food) if we have an ADR later in the day and this also helps to balance out the cost of pricier Signature. But that's how we eat.

Oh, my 3 y.o. could never eat enough to impact our budget. However, she was more than capable of ruining every sitdown meal by being a normal 3 y.o. child.