3 on a Budget - how much $ to eat?

[toostsmom]

Okay, here's a poll-type question without the poll. We are a family of 3, and plan on eating on WDW property, and in the parks. We have one TS meal (at 2:30) reserved in each park, plan on eating breakfast on the go and something light for dinner / snacks. What's your opinion on how much this will cost? What should I budget each day for food?

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

We have been using the dining plan so I haven't had to pay too close atention to this, but before when we wern't on the plan, we would do a lot of sharing (actually we still do even on the DDP). Many of the meals are quite large. So that could keep you on budget. Also, they will give you free water (and it's good!) at the CS places. A good place to look in AllEars, they have the menus and prices so it can give you a good idea of what sounds good and how much it will cost you. We go on a budget every trip and it really is doable.

 

[Tricia1972]

We'd be able to give you a better guesstimate if we know where your TS lunches are. If you aren't eating at Buffets, you can easily share at some TS's.

Light breakfast on the go - if you have a fridge you can get a half gallon of milk and a box of cereal or two. Breakfast for the week would be about $12 for your group. If you buy snacks as you go, it'll be about $4/day.

CS Dinners - can be inexpensive or expensive. We like to each get a sandwich (well my sister and I usually share, but we make up for the savings by getting snacks in the parks ) We get an order of fries to share for about every 4 people. In your group - 3 Sandwiches are about $18 and fries are about $3 - drinks will be $7 - so $30 for dinner for the group. It depends on what you want to eat though.

These are mostly wild guesses though. For an idea of more concrete pricing - you can check out the menus here http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningmain.cfm#disneydining

 

[parrothead928]

My DH, DD and I usually budget $50 per person per day. Then, when we stay under budget, it is a huge bonus for us!!! We do use the Disney Dining Experience which gives a 20% off food and alcohol at most sit down restaurants. (The $50 per person is a pre-discounted number for us.) We have never had the free DDP plan because we are DVC members; and the cost for the DDP for us would be $39.99. This would be a break even point for us using the DDE card.

Have a wonderful trip and enoy some of the great restaurants in DIsney!!!

 

[ROEDISNEY]

When your not on the dinning Plan

Figure a food court bk (a bk platter & drink) is about $10 a day pp
CS $15 a day pp (lunch)
TB $40.00 a day pp inc tip that's with app & des. (dinner)
1 snack a day pp Under $5.00

So that's my est.$70.00 a day.

I do like to over est. so when I have $$$ left over I am happy.
I don't want to be caught short on vaca and I do want to enjoy my food.

 

[toostsmom]

Thanks for the tips and links... Except for our check-in dinner at Hoopdedoo Revue, I'm hoping to stay under $100/day for food - and yes, we're bringing our water bottles to refill throughout the day, our big main meals of the day (TS) will be at 2:30 so it will still be lunch prices, and every thing else CS, and we don't mind sharing. Due to the economy and last minute work cutbacks, this vacation has suddenly become more budget-conscious than originally planned. I'm just trying to assure myself it can be done. Do any of you bring snacks into the parks?

 

[Tricia1972]

We always bring pre-packaged peanut butter crackers and some fruit snacks. They're inexpensive and a great source for quick energy in the parks for the kids.

 

[caroline1851]

I would budget $60 per adult per day for food.

 

[DanaAustinChelsea]

We just returned from WDW on 9/29 & were on the free dining plan. For the 3 of us, most of our CS meals (with dessert) were $45-62 for lunch. The most expensive was Wolfgang Puck Express-DTD, which we ate at twice. For TS the most expensive was Le Cellier & it was $132 before tip for the filet mignon & two fixed price lunches. I think that Garden Grill was around $100 for the 3 of us. Casey's in MK was just over $10 each with dessert (bag of Cracker Jacks) You can get a really yummy hot dog, fries & large pop for about $8 a piece. If I did not use the DDP I could have easily shared one of the double burgers, it was big & too much meat for me , or you can purchase an extra bun to make an extra burger. You can find menu's with prices on allears.net to help determine your costs.

 

[LiteBrite]

I think you can come close to the $100/day with your party of 3 if you're careful. We are frugal (read: CHEAP), and I plan an average budget of $35/person/day. That does not include the cost of breakfast (we eat cereal in the room), and we use the DDE (now called Tables in Wonderland). Some days we eat 2 counter service meals, but more often we eat a table service lunch and a counter service dinner.

We order ice water to drink, sometimes we share meals, and we order either one appetizer for the table, or else one dessert for the table. That way we don't get over stuffed.

I do agree with the other posters who have suggested over budgeting, though, because it's nice to have that feeling of being able to order what you want and not worry so much about it.

If I were you, I'd check out online menus (here on the DIS, or at allearsnet.com) to get a better idea of how much things cost.

 

[JulieEck]

If you really need to cut back, skip the table service meals. Those can add up quick. We (2 adults, 1 child-5yo) averaged $45/day total for food and snacks on our trip this past January. A quick breakfast on the go (ie: granola bars), early lunch (no dessert and dh and I share a large drink), snack in the afternoon and later supper (once again, no dessert and share a drink). Lots of times we ended up having supper back at the resort so we then used our refillable mugs and didn't need to buy a drink. I also keep snacks from home for dd like fruit snacks, etc. with us.

We did the free dining in September and DH decided he really like the breakfast buffets and said he wouldn't mind paying OOP for one of those a trip. Blew my mind that he was willing to pay around $60 for a meal!!! I think he liked getting into the parks early and having the characters and he really liked the food too. He's not a "foodie", nor a big early breakfast eater either and he's very mindful of spending money.

 

[tzeitel]

We are leaving in 2 weeks and even though we have the DDP we also plan on bringing snacks for DD (cereal, fruit bars, fish crackers). We are also bringing Crystal light individual packs so when we get tired of water we can have those.

If we did not have the DDP we would be bringing a lot more things for us to snack on. The thing we need for the trip (2ad/1child) fit in 2 of our bags so that leaves us with 1 extra bag which we will use to bring whatever else I can think of that will save us $$.

 

[mrzrich]

I would budget $60 per adult per day for food.

Gee...you can buy the DDP for $40 a day per adult. Why not just do that?

 

[pianoronni37]

My dad said last time we went (almost 10 years ago, so this is definitely dated) for a family of 4 he spent about $100 per day on food/snacks/drinks, etc.

I have a question, too - my fiance and I are on the DDP. Can we go to a TS and split a meal, and pay OOP for another drink or appetizer? I just don't know if sharing of meals is allowed at a TS restaurant.

Thanks!

 

[pepe of ohio]

We go to WDW for the attractions and sights, food is no big consideration in our planning, and we're frugal, cheap. No dining plan for us, it's just the wife and I and our eating habits change in WDW and the Florida sun. We share alot of meals, Disney portions are huge, it's nothing to cut a hamburger in half and share the fries. We never oder any drinks with our meals, we use the daylights out of our refillable mugs. We also get a grocery stop in route to WDW with our car service and after a few days of Disney food, we like a good homemade sandwich, which we pick up supplies at the store. Same for drinks, we pick up pop, beer and wine and some alcohol and do all the mixing ourselves.

We just returned from WDW Sept 8 and for a 9 night stay, didn't spend 300 dollars on food. TS places are a joke, alot of money for fluff and no substance, we never do those, there are alot of places on property, be it in the parks or resorts that a reasonable priced, nourishing meal can be had and we feel Disney prices for what the serve in CS are fine, its the TS or signature establishments that are ridiculous.

 

[busylilnurse]

I'm a single mom and taking the two boys in 18 days. We're staying at Pop w/ the AAA room discount, I bought tickets cheaper off undercovertourist, and got my airfare sooo cheap, kept checking Southwest flights obsessively until they dropped

So I definitely need cheap eats! Which places do you recommend that have decent portions and the best prices?

thank you so much,
becky

 

[only1alexa]

Thanks for the tips and links... Except for our check-in dinner at Hoopdedoo Revue, I'm hoping to stay under $100/day for food - and yes, we're bringing our water bottles to refill throughout the day, our big main meals of the day (TS) will be at 2:30 so it will still be lunch prices, and every thing else CS, and we don't mind sharing. Due to the economy and last minute work cutbacks, this vacation has suddenly become more budget-conscious than originally planned. I'm just trying to assure myself it can be done. Do any of you bring snacks into the parks?

Although we used the DDE (when we remembered it), my exH, DD(5), DS(4) and I usually spent about $100/day on food in the World. We averaged that even with a TS meal thrown in once or twice during our trip. We ate a very light breakfast (usually fruit/pastries), CS lunch and CS dinner. I definately plan on staying under $100/day when DS, DD, and I go on our first solo trip in two weeks. Considering it's our post divorce trip I know what you mean about suddenly becoming more budget conscious. Rest assured - it can be done!

 

[B-Ride]

If you are budgeting more than 40$ a day per person then you better get the Dining Plan and save some money.

 

[LAWalz23]

Your table service is going to run about $60, even for lunch unless it is 50s PrimeTime at the DHS. If you are going to budget $100 a day the food plan would only cost you $89 a day for 2A, 1C or $127.00 for 3A.