Average food cost per day in the parks?

[alcie27]

We're trying to figure out if the DDP is worth it. How much does the average family of 4 spend on meals inside the park? We're looking for the cost for a family of 4, 2 adults, one 8 yr old and one 4 yr old.

Breakfast will be at the hotel and we'll take one snack into the parks but we would want to budget for 1 snack per day, one fast service (counter service?) meal and one sit down meal per person. We want to try to get into Cinderella's Castle for one meal and likely one other character meal at some point, these I would count in our sit down meal count but I know they can be more expensive than a regular restaurant.

 

[disneyfan888]

If your looking to do a counter service and a table service with a snack or two depending on where you eat it would be from $100-$150 a day for your party. Counter service for 2 adults and 2 children can average out to about $40-$50 and the table service menus all vary depending if its a regular/character or signature restaurant. My nephew was with us for a weekend a couple of weeks ago and we took him to the parks, we paid $40 for the counter service on average and $80 at the table service and it was only 3 people. That can kind of give you an idea.

 

[hatfieldddad]

We went the first time when my children were 8 and 5. the second time they were 11 and 8. We (DW and myself and kids) split a breakfast at the FQ food court and then we would split a lunch as well. This way, we only used up 2 CS at each meal thus not having to pay OOP for one of the meals. Going from breakfast to dinner with only a snack was not something we could do. We used the snacks to get ice cream and popcorn ( not really a meal) while waiting for a parade. Splitting a meal was enough food for us all as you get plenty to eat at the CS.

 

[alcie27]

So if you were to eat one TS, one CS and one snack in the park per day it comes out to be almost the same amount as the DDP plan would be?

 

[mickeyM00SE]

The last time we went we brought an electric cooler with us, plugged it in to the car on the way down, plugged it in to the hotel room once we got settled in. Along with an electric range you can save quite a bit of money! We ate dinner at the hotel and made sandwiches for lunch, of course we had to carry them around it sure beat spending another 500$ for the 4day vacation in food alone!

 

[julie4423]

So if you were to eat one TS, one CS and one snack in the park per day it comes out to be almost the same amount as the DDP plan would be?

Yes and no. Great answer, right? It all depends on where you plan to have your meals, and what snack you get. You really have to decide where you want to eat and go from there. We like the higher dollar CS restaurants in general. A perfect example would be the CS in Mexico at Epcot. That meal alone was $40+ for 2 adults. You can see where that would add up. Others are more like $30 for 2 adults. TS is all over the place as well.

So, it's really an individual thing. You aren't going to lose huge amounts of money by not using it, but you might save some by using it. Or you might just break even. See why it's a tough question?

 

[pilferk]

We're trying to figure out if the DDP is worth it. How much does the average family of 4 spend on meals inside the park? We're looking for the cost for a family of 4, 2 adults, one 8 yr old and one 4 yr old.

Breakfast will be at the hotel and we'll take one snack into the parks but we would want to budget for 1 snack per day, one fast service (counter service?) meal and one sit down meal per person. We want to try to get into Cinderella's Castle for one meal and likely one other character meal at some point, these I would count in our sit down meal count but I know they can be more expensive than a regular restaurant.

So, here's the math: It's going to cost you $115.96 per NIGHT for the DDP (remember, it's all based on how many nights you stay, not how many days you're in the parks).

Here's a couple of "breakdowns" of potential days:

First Scenario (MK):

Cosmic Rays CS lunch (drink, "entree", desert):
Adults: $31 (15.50 each)
Kids: 9.98 (4.99 each)
Tax: 2.66
Total: 43.64

Chef Mickey's Character Buffet:
Adults:80.92 (40.46 each)
Kids: 40.46 (20.23 each)
Total: 121.38

Snack:
Mickey Ice Cream Bar x 4: $14
Tax: .91
Total: 14.91

Total for day: 179.93

Which is a pretty good deal.

BUT, here's another scenario:

Second Scenario (MK):

Cosmic Rays CS lunch (drink, "entree", desert):
Adults: $31 (15.50 each)
Kids: 9.98 (4.99 each)
Tax: 2.66
Total: 43.64

Dinner at Kona Cafe (drink, entree, desert):
Adults: 65.98 (32.99 each)
Children: 17.90 (8.95 each)
Tax: 5.45
Total: 89.33

Snack:
Mickey Ice Cream Bar x 4: $14
Tax: .91
Total: 14.91

Total for that day: $147.88

STILL a good deal, but one that's really predicated on your snack (approx $15) and your dessert (approx $20) costs. If you don't think you'll eat a snack every day AND dessert every day, the savings is pretty minimal.

We CAN'T feed our kids (3 of them) for what it costs us for the DDP, per day, at WDW (staying on property and not cooking in our villa, anyway). That's where the savings comes in for us.

WE (my wife and I) likely COULD eat at WDW for around the price of the DDP and be completely happy (and probably have some additional flexibility like app vs dessert).

 

[minnie mum]

Pilferk gave you a really good idea of how variable the cost of meals at WDW can be. And it really depends on the usual dining preferences of your family. Also which restaurants you select. An entree could be $10 or it could be over $50.

You know how much the DDP will cost per night. The only real way to see if this is a good value for your family is to look at all the restaurants that you would most likely eat at, then price out what a meal would cost, using the menus on this site or over at allears.net.

Some families are big eaters, or prefer the more upscale TS restaurants, or want to do dinner shows, character buffets, and sigature restaurants. Other families may be light eaters, prefer smaller meals, split meals between 2 people. So the first group would likely find the plan a great value. The second group not so much.

Good luck with the number crunching. DH and I are using it this year (had already booked a package with it before the FD came out), and figure that it saves us about $100 over a week.

 

[JimmyV]

STILL a good deal, but one that's really predicated on your snack (approx $15) and your dessert (approx $12) costs. If you don't think you'll eat a snack every day AND dessert every day, the savings is pretty minimal.

Are your accounting for the desserts at both lunch and dinner in your $12 total? That seems pretty light to me. I think a family of 4 that skips desserts at every meal would save more than $12.

 

[eliza61]

Are your accounting for the desserts at both lunch and dinner in your $12 total? That seems pretty light to me. I think a family of 4 that skips desserts at every meal would save more than $12.

Definitely. that's when we stopped using the ddp because we rarely eat dessert and they took away the appertizers when we tend to share.

So for example, for us on a MK day if we eat in the parks.

lunch. Peco's Bill (prices from allears)
20.00 bucks for 2 for deluxe cheeseburge deal 20
8.00 ceasar salad with chicken
8.00 cheeseburger deal
10.00 for 4 large sodas
total 46.00

Dinner Tony's Town square.

23.00 seafood fra diavolo
34.00 2, chicken parms
20.00 pork tenderloin
12.00 4 drinks
7.00 1 garlic/cheese bread

total 96.00

Day 2. Epcot.

lunch: France Boulangeria Pastisseri

16.00 for 4 ham and cheese croissant
6.00 for 4 bags of chips
10.00 for 4 large sodas.

total: 32.00

Dinner Via Napoli

2 large pizzas with 1 topping each $60.00 bucks (this better be a damn good pizza. LOL)
family style salad for 4 $20.00 bucks
3 sodas 9.00
1 beer 9.00

Total for dinner 98.00

Daily total $132.00 as opposed to $184.00 on DDP. once again we may have some ice cream at the end of the night but it would not run us an extra 50 bucks.
So for the day I'm at 142.00 as opposed to 184.00 on the DDP plan. that's an 40 dollar savings and even if we did snack, no way would we do 40 dollars worth of snacking. Now on the days we do a character meal and we generally on do 1 per trip that day averages higher but for us, we do much better oop.

 

[mjp12831]

Is DDP a better value than OOP?

Yes - IF you like having your vacation prepaid and not thinking about how much you're spending every time you eat.

No - If you're on a tight budget and need to save as much as you can to make the trip work

Yes - If you are going to need a snack during the day rather than getting by on just lunch and dinner

No - IF you can get by without a snack most days and if you want to try to bring some prepackaged foods in with you

Yes - If you plan to try some of the more expensive character meals/buffets

No - IF you scope out some of the more value oriented TS

Yes - If you want to eat dessert at most meals

No - If you dont care to / would rather not eat dessert


People can give you examples and justifications for a yes or no all day long, but it really comes down to how you want to eat and if you want to really try and budget. The big swing for me is that I don't want to be concerned with how much I'm spending - it helps me enjoy my vacation more. As the price has gone up for ddp it's less about saving money and more about the piece of mind that I'm not coming home to a $1400 credit card bill from meals. (yes I realize it's the same whether you pay it up front or at the end, but I don't want to think about it on vacation).

 

[PoohsFan1]

If your looking to do a counter service and a table service with a snack or two depending on where you eat it would be from $100-$150 a day for your party. Counter service for 2 adults and 2 children can average out to about $40-$50 and the table service menus all vary depending if its a regular/character or signature restaurant. My nephew was with us for a weekend a couple of weeks ago and we took him to the parks, we paid $40 for the counter service on average and $80 at the table service and it was only 3 people. That can kind of give you an idea.

This is about what we would spend when we ate in the parks when we were a family of 2 adults and 2 children. However when we are there in January we will be a family of 3 adults and 1 child since my oldest is 10 now. For us the dining plan is worth it for us because we like having dessert and we also like eating at the more expensive restaurants. We like the character meals and signature meals so much that we decided that the DxDDP is more worth it for us.

 

[pilferk]

Are your accounting for the desserts at both lunch and dinner in your $12 total? That seems pretty light to me. I think a family of 4 that skips desserts at every meal would save more than $12.

Almost, but I did miss the dessert for adults at CS.

For Kids, dessert is included in every kids meal price. If they're under 10, they're probably ordering off the kids menu either way....so there's no "dessert savings" there. You pay 4.99 for CS and 8.95 for Dinner (Kids menu). Pretty impossible to quantify that on the buffets, obviously.

I DID forget to include the adult dessert with the CS meal (not in the CS meal calc, but in the savings calc). That would bump it up about 8 (3.50 each + tax)...from $12 to $20. I'll edit the OP to fix the numbers.

 

[pilferk]

Definitely. that's when we stopped using the ddp because we rarely eat dessert and they took away the appertizers when we tend to share.

So for example, for us on a MK day if we eat in the parks.

lunch. Peco's Bill (prices from allears)
20.00 bucks for 2 for deluxe cheeseburge deal 20
8.00 ceasar salad with chicken
8.00 cheeseburger deal
10.00 for 4 large sodas
total 46.00

Dinner Tony's Town square.

23.00 seafood fra diavolo
34.00 2, chicken parms
20.00 pork tenderloin
12.00 4 drinks
7.00 1 garlic/cheese bread

total 96.00

Day 2. Epcot.

lunch: France Boulangeria Pastisseri

16.00 for 4 ham and cheese croissant
6.00 for 4 bags of chips
10.00 for 4 large sodas.

total: 32.00

Dinner Via Napoli

2 large pizzas with 1 topping each $60.00 bucks (this better be a damn good pizza. LOL)
family style salad for 4 $20.00 bucks
3 sodas 9.00
1 beer 9.00

Total for dinner 98.00

Daily total $132.00 as opposed to $184.00 on DDP. once again we may have some ice cream at the end of the night but it would not run us an extra 50 bucks.
So for the day I'm at 142.00 as opposed to 184.00 on the DDP plan. that's an 40 dollar savings and even if we did snack, no way would we do 40 dollars worth of snacking. Now on the days we do a character meal and we generally on do 1 per trip that day averages higher but for us, we do much better oop.

Not that it will make a huge difference...but make sure you include tax in your comparisons. The 6.5% tax applied to OOP meals is "covered" by DDP.

So your total would actually be about 151.23. STILL making out better than the DDP for you guys.

 

[disneyfan888]

Ahh the Dining Plan. Like a previous post said, this depends on where you eat and how you eat. If you the type of family who loves all the trimmings and must have appetizers and desserts their is no doubt that the dining plan will be beneficial and safe you some $$ (Deluxe dining Plan). Also, if your looking at doing character meals and Signature restaurants it can also be a big money saver depending on which plan you have. If you dont care too much for the appetizer, but dessert is a must than the regular dining plan will be great. Not to mention that you have the snacks to use too! However, depending on how your family dines it might not be worth it, to some people it isn't. We have managed to save when we do it. We compare how much it would have been had we not been on the plan and we think its a good deal. The deluxe dining is fantastic if you plan to do a lot of signature restaurants or want to me munchin on snacks during the day, since you get 2 instead of 1 per person per day. It might be a good idea to make a list of the places you and your family are interested in eating, check the menus and see if the DP will be good for you. That way you know how much it would cost you per day and see if the plan will save you some money.

 

[eliza61]

Is DDP a better value than OOP?

People can give you examples and justifications for a yes or no all day long, but it really comes down to how you want to eat and if you want to really try and budget. The big swing for me is that I don't want to be concerned with how much I'm spending - it helps me enjoy my vacation more. As the price has gone up for ddp it's less about saving money and more about the piece of mind that I'm not coming home to a $1400 credit card bill from meals. (yes I realize it's the same whether you pay it up front or at the end, but I don't want to think about it on vacation).

That's interesting how same thing can be viewed 2 different ways.

I find people on the ddp obsess way more over their meals than those that pay oop. I cant tell you how many post I read obsessing over how to maximize their points, what they can or can't do with thier points and what to do with the extra snack points. How many post do you see about don't use your points for breakfast (not the best value for credits). Last august we saw a couple arguing at the crystal palace because no one was really hungry but mom was forcing them to eat so as not to waste the ts credit.
It was another reason why we stopped using it, we wanted to get back to simply walking into the restaurant, sitting down and picking a meal based on what looked good and not what was the maximum value.

we don't budget eat so for us life is so much easier without the ddp.

 

[lukenick1]

I have been back and forth about getting DDP and know for sure it is not worth it for my family. We are very light eaters, never eat dessert or appetizers and most of the time my DH and I share something. Neither of us drink alcohol or soda either. Please keep in mind that you must add in the cost of alcohol and tip as additional OOP cost to the DDP.

 

[pilferk]

Neither of us drink alcohol or soda either. Please keep in mind that you must add in the cost of alcohol and tip as additional OOP cost to the DDP.

True. If you drink alcohol..that's not included in the DDP price (unless you're using 2 TS credits to do Hoop De Doo), and neither is tip. Those expenditures would be in addition to whatever you've paid for the DDP.

I figure tip is a wash, since you'd tip if you were paying OOP anyway...so I never enter it into my calculations. HOWEVER, it is worth noting that you are paying MORE in tips if you are getting dessert on the DDP when you wouldn't, normally, if you were paying OOP. Check total amount (even if you're not paying it OOP) is higher, and thus (you'd think) your tip amount is a bit more.

Alcohol I'd be buying OOP anyway...and we drink alcohol very seldom during meals. Normally, if we're drinking, I'm buying a drink from the pool bar or hotel lounge and bringing it back to the room after the kids are asleep.

Next year, when our oldest turns 10...we'll probably drop the DDP. She just won't be "worth" the 45.99 per day it'll cost to put her on the DDP. Then we'll go back to OOP....maybe doing an AP and the Tables In Wonderland card.

 

[Mikey'swife]

Our dynamics are similar on our last trip we had the 2 year old who shared most times, but the year before we had a 7 and 5 year old.

I think ddp is a good deal for kids

at $15 a day you get 1 CS meal which is usually $5 plus tax, would be more if you bought them cs meals at places that do not have kids meals.

Plus a ts and a snack. Most TS non character meals are 9 plus tax for kids so by the time you add in tax and 1 snack you are ahead. However, if you use the meal for a character meal the cheapest breakfast is over 14 with tax so everything else is free, dinners are even more.

If you are doing charcter meals, and CRT DDP should save you money.

 

[Belle83]

All I can say is that I'm not a big eater at home, but I was ravenous at WDW. I think it was a combo of a lot of walking + vacation mentality, but I definitely ate more than I anticipated. I definitely am considering the dining plan for our next trip.