3 adults for $100 p.day

[Alltiggeredout]

How well can we eat?We are not on dining plan and we can't afford to pat for it up front(we won't have our spending money until just before we go).We've always eaten well on our other trips,but would like to try some more restaurants.Would we be better off sticking to buffets like Boma,Ohana and Crystal Palace?

 

[mrzrich]

Go here to look at menus and approximate prices (her prices are not always right, many have gone up)

http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm

Actualty, buffets are not a good bet for you. At $27 a head you'll barely sqeak by with tax and tip. And then what do you eat the rest of the day?

Trail's End at FW is you best bet buffet wise. Go for a late luch and fill up for $13
Boat ride from MK can be relaxing too.

You might want to share TS by ordering 2 meals for the 3 of you.

The great thing about WDW compared to other theme parks is the variety of CS offerings, you'l find , chicken, ribs, wraps, salads, and then there's all the great international offerings of World Showcase! Often thes CS portions are enough to share. Half Rotiserie chickens, are great for sharing. If you order a double cheeseburger, they will sell you an extra bun for 80 cents!

$100 a day for 3 people....yeah...its doable.

 

[LizinSTL]

How well can we eat?We are not on dining plan and we can't afford to pat for it up front(we won't have our spending money until just before we go).We've always eaten well on our other trips,but would like to try some more restaurants.Would we be better off sticking to buffets like Boma,Ohana and Crystal Palace?

Sure but those places will set you back almost your daily budget for dinner alone. You won't have had anything else to eat the rest of the day.

You could choose to do lunch @ CP- it saves you $7/pp rather than dinner.

You'll be better off thinking in terms of a trip budget than a daily budget if you are planning TS meals, I think. Share CS meals to keep it in line. Stick with your planned TS meals. Drink ice water at CS meals (it's free) rather than soda or bottled water. You can eat cheaper than the dining plan (or than $100/day).

 

[beattyfamily]

It's going to be tough to stick to $100 a day for 3 adults and eat a sit down meal and something small/counter service for the other 2 meals.

Here's just a couple of examples. I didn't know if you meant breakfast or dinner so I put both. They are based on 20% tip.

Crystal Palace cost (with tax/tip):

Breakfast: $18.99 adults = $57 + 3.70 + 11.40 = $72.10
Dinner: $27.99 adults = $84 + 5.46 + 16.80 = $106.26

Boma cost (with tax/tip):

Breakfast: $16.99 adults = $51 + 3.31 + 10.20 = $64.51
Dinner: $25.99 adults = $78 + 5.07 + 15.60 = $98.67

Then a counter service meal per person, per meal will be at least $10. each. so another $30 for one counter service meal (but it will probably be a little more than $30).

Then depending on the time of year (if its really hot or not) you might need lots of drinks/water.

Hope this helps. Oh and I got the prices HERE.

 

[pat fan]

We budget $100 a day for 4, so it is doable, but not with a TS every day and without careful planning.

We figured on breakfast in the room most days (brought cereal packs, cereal bars etc...), lunch at food court and supper CS.

Sometimes lunch and supper were reversed, and every other day we did a TS, usualy lunch. The one breakfast out is always Crystal Palace, but that counted as lunch too as it was a buffet and you were stuffed after it!

I had the $100 a day in my mental pocket, and what we didn't eat one day got put into the next days coffer. It was enough to let us have the "big" meal without blowing our budget. Some days, the CS meal was a turkey leg and bottled water we brought from the room. Have you seen those turkey legs? More than enough for a meal and around $5.

Make sure to spend the time (20 min., tops) to stop at the grocery store on your way in to grab a case of water and breakfast stuff. It will save you a huge amount of money. Or have Graden Grocer deliver it, we're trying them this time instead of stopping ourselves.

So an average day would be like this:

Breakfast:
coffee/tea- free (refillable mug)
cereal- free
milk- $5
Total cost- $5

Lunch
Liberty Tree Tavern
Water- free
4 salads-$16
3 lunches-$33
4 Desserts- $20
Total cost- $69 A very high estimate as we hardly ever get dessert and our kids never get salad. DH and I split a meal as it's too much food, but the boys are teenagers, enough said.

Supper
Water- free
4 Turkey Legs- $22
Total cost- $22

So for 4 people it's $96. As I said, we also hardly ever eat all that I put on the lunch menu. A lot of times we eat CS and Turkey legs or something. It is VERY doable for your party of 3.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

To stick to $100 a day, what I would plan is a sit down meal every other day.

One day, only counter service, one day counter service and a sit down meal.

Plan lunches instead of dinner and most of the time it's less expensive.

Le cellier has a nice lunch menu, as do most of the world showcase restaurants.

But if you want to eat at 50's prime time diner or Sci Fi Diner I would plan those for dinner as prices are almost the same.

 

[Mousermom]

You can definitely eat at WDW for 100.00 a day. We did it with less than that!

We (myself, DH, and DS) stayed at POFQ for 7 nights at the beginning of March.

BUY THE REFILLABLE MUGS!! Big money saver, IMO.

$11.99 each x 3 = about 37.50 w/tax. After 3 refills, these mugs paid for themselves. Believe me, we were filling up these babies every chance we got.

Breakfast usually consisted of beignets (yum), coffee for DH and I, hot chocolate or juice for DS. We shared the container of six beignets.

6 biegnets--3.99
coffee-- free refill
juice--free refill

Total--about 4.50 with tax

Lunch was grab and go items such as turkey legs, or hot dogs.

Never anything over 6.00 each. We didn't even eat lunch every day.

Dinner was usually something from the POFQ food court.

Items would range from a cheeseburger platter from around $7.00 to a chicken/rib combo meal for $10.00.

We didn't get dessert with our meals because we were not on the DDP.

We went to two TS meals--O'Hana's and Chef Mickey's breakfast.

There is no menu at O'Hana's. Service is family-style. It was a TON of food for 3 people.

3 adults (DS is 12) cost us around $65.00 not including tip.

Chef Mickey's was about the same.

For snacks, we went to DTD to Goofy's Candy Co. and got caramel apples for around $6.00 each. They have cheaper snacks there, though.

We also went to Riverside's gift shop and got bagged snacks there twice.

We used Disney Dollars for those purchases.

Hope that helps you out.

We went to WDW on a very limited budget and felt we got an adequate amount of food for a reasonable amount of money.

 

[u2bapeacock]

you can add dining plan to your reservation I believe 3 days before you arrive so that may help it would be taken care of its about $120 a day for 3 adults

 

[bookgirl2632]

$100 a day for three adults? Well, you could still get the DDP and be just over it. The DDP is a little more than that for three people, but it's so worth it. Otherwise, I don't see how you can do TS every day. If you stick to CS mostly, it's doable.

But I'd do the DDP and add it to your reservation right before you go.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Well, you could do CS for breakfast and lunch, share meals (some places have very large portions) or order off the kids menu.

Save your TS for a buffet dinner.

For the 2 of us we usually spend $15 for breakfast and $15 for lunch and $60 for dinner by doing it this way...you may need to scrape up another $50 per person per day

 

[Tiffer]

Bring PB&J sandwiches to the parks for lunch.

 

[Palendat]

If I'm not mistaken (which I often am), you can add the dining plan to a package up to 5 days before check-in, (unless you used a room only AAA rate or AP rate) so perhaps if you had the money by then, you could simply add the dining plan for $117 for the 3 of you, per day!!! That's what I would try to do.

 

[KKB]

I was NOT going to do the DDP, as I felt we could easily feed a family of 5 (3A, 2K) for less than $136/day. Breakfast in room...CS for lunch (often kids meals for all, or shared adult meal)...but then I realized CS for virtually all lunches & dinners will get VERY old...and do I REALLY want to work that hard to keep the cost under the DDP cost?? SO not worth it!

My kids are generally not picky and good eaters--where DO they put it? And all that walking, they will be ravenous...plus a sit down meal each day will be a good time to relax & take a break. Plus the unlimited options & not HAVING to worry about prices, well, I think it is SO worth it.

WHY STRUGGLE to keep the price below the DDP price, when you can just pay it, relax & order what you want?? Sounds like we will have PLENTY to eat on DDP.

GREAT thread...THANKS for helping me make this decision!
(Hope my mom is OK w/ this...she isn't a big eater & could easily survive on less than $38/day, but I know she will enjoy being able to choose whatever she wants, and choose from ALL the restaurants.)

 

[Colleen27]

How well can we eat?We are not on dining plan and we can't afford to pat for it up front(we won't have our spending money until just before we go).We've always eaten well on our other trips,but would like to try some more restaurants.Would we be better off sticking to buffets like Boma,Ohana and Crystal Palace?

If you have the money a few days before you go, I'd just add the dining plan then. It would be tough to stick to a budget of $100/day and still fit in some table service meals. If you do, though, I'd suggest just the opposite - rather than doing buffets, look for plated meals that are big enough to share, because 3 adults at most of the buffets is going to cost $100 or more for dinner alone.

 

[KevinYee]

If saving money is the goal, you can get by with about $15 per per per day. You'll have to either rent a car and visit the supermarket to make this work, or, being more sneaky, bring the kinds of food that won't rot in your suitcase.

In the parks, the real secret is to *build* your meals, not buy them. Example: at the Land's Sunshine Seasons Fair, you can buy hummus and some mini pita breads separately from each other, and fill up three adults for about $6. Actually, that price may be off slightly, but you get the gist.

 

[Alltiggeredout]

We will have a car,so the 1st thing we do is go to Walmart and stock up on cereal,milk,fruit,juice,snacks etc and of course beer We get the refillable mugs for at the resort and have breakfast in our room.We'll grab a snack during the day(fruit etc).So the $100 is for dinner really.I know it is doable,i just needed some reassurance as so many people have said its impossible.

 

[mrzrich]

There is no menu at O'Hana's. Service is family-style. It was a TON of food for 3 people.

3 adults (DS is 12) cost us around $65.00 not including tip.

That price is off . 'Ohana is arount $27 per person. Without tax and tip.

 

[girli565]

I know someone probably said this already but you can add the dining plan up to 3 days before you arrive so it could be worth your while to look into that. About $117 a day for 3 people and no headache or worry about what you can and can't eat!

Hope this helps!

 

[Mousermom]

Our bill was $65.17. The waitress took a drink off the bill because she said we waited too long for it.

 

[Mousermom]

That price is off . 'Ohana is arount $27 per person. Without tax and tip.

Sorry, I was off 3.00. I found the bill in my purse. $68.17.