Budget with dining plan?

[mrs06chris]

Hi there! I'm wondering about how much money you all budget for snacks and drinks a day with the basic dining plan. TIA!

Only three more days!!!

 

[marmalade]

Make sure you factor in tips, they really add up. I always budget $100/day when we have the dining plan. That is for tips, souveniers, alcohol and any additional snacks. We are a family of 4, 2 adults and a 7 and 5yr old.

 

[mrs06chris]

Thank you for your response! This is our first time using a dining plan so we don't know the ropes yet.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I always figure out my tips ahead of time, based on the prices listed on the menus at allearsnet.com, knowing what my family typically orders. For 2 adults and 2 kids, we usually wind up tipping around $20-25 for dinner TS, $15-18 for lunch TS, $15 for breakfast character meals. Maybe once per trip my husband will have a glass of wine, so that is an extra $15-ish.

For just snacks and drinks, we don't spend much beyond the dining plan - probably $10-20 per day, max.

Have a fabulous trip!

 

[mrs06chris]

I always figure out my tips ahead of time, based on the prices listed on the menus at allearsnet.com, knowing what my family typically orders. For 2 adults and 2 kids, we usually wind up tipping around $20-25 for dinner TS, $15-18 for lunch TS, $15 for breakfast character meals. Maybe once per trip my husband will have a glass of wine, so that is an extra $15-ish.

For just snacks and drinks, we don't spend much beyond the dining plan - probably $10-20 per day, max.

Have a fabulous trip!

Thank you! So you find the food to be enough? I was thinking we would have to pay OOP for a meal since there are only two meals included.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Other than tips we had very little OOP expenses during our Free Dining visit, we don't drink alcohol, and we found the regular plan to be too much food. We got tap ice water for free to drink + the drinks we got with our meals.....

 

[MSSANDRA]

We spend almost nothing extra on food. We often share meals and use leftover credits and snack credits for breakfast or take a few items from home. Last trip I did pay OOP for a few lower cost snack items that I hated to waste a SC on but them ended up having some left at the send as well as a few CS credits.

We might do a glass or two of wine, will add in tips and a few extra goodies for the little one (he loved the fill the plastic tube with candy power thing). Really the tips are the biggest thing. We charge it all back to the room key, use the CC to pay it off, and pay off the CC when we get home.

 

[mrs06chris]

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Thank you! So you find the food to be enough? I was thinking we would have to pay OOP for a meal since there are only two meals included.

We drive to WDW, so I take along some breakfast foods like pop-tarts, nutrigrain bars, granola bars and those mini-cups of cereal, then I buy a half-gallon of milk at the gift shop. Then we'll usually alternate days of having cold breakfast in the room with having a hot breakfast, either a character breakfast like Crystal Palace or Tusker House, or eating at the resort CS. On the days when we do that, we'll sometimes just snack for lunch before having a CS dinner. I guess we do wind up eating maybe 1-2 meals OOP over the course of a week. Last May we had a night where we left the kids at the Sandcastle Club and we ate at Big River Grille, OOP. We may have had a breakfast OOP as well. In general, though, we can make the DDP credits last us the whole trip by eating most breakfasts in our room, and because we leave just after breakfast to drive home, 7 nights of dining credits really only needs to last 6 whole days plus maybe one dinner on arrival night. I typically do a grid with the days of our trip and 3 meals per day, label the meals that are our ADRs, then fill in the CS meals and see if I have any holes.

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

I always figure out my tips ahead of time, based on the prices listed on the menus at allearsnet.com, knowing what my family typically orders. For 2 adults and 2 kids, we usually wind up tipping around $20-25 for dinner TS, $15-18 for lunch TS, $15 for breakfast character meals. Maybe once per trip my husband will have a glass of wine, so that is an extra $15-ish.

For just snacks and drinks, we don't spend much beyond the dining plan - probably $10-20 per day, max.

Have a fabulous trip!

I do the same thing! It is a bit tricky with 7 people, but I do a chart with the cost of what we think we will be eating, and then how much the tip will be for each restaurant. Then I buy gift cards to cover that amount plus however much more I want to take for spending money. We charge it all to our room and pay it down with the gift cards anytime we head to the front desk area so it won't hit our account. It would be fine if it did, but I prefer to use my gift cards!

Thank you! So you find the food to be enough? I was thinking we would have to pay OOP for a meal since there are only two meals included.

We always have plenty of food on the dining plan. Usually our first day I am ravenous, so I will buy a soup on the side or something, but after that we rarely buy any other food. I think the more you are there your body needs less food between the heat and exercise. We also split dining entitlements. That way they stretch. For counter service we make sure to always get the adult portion and split it amongst the kids. Two kids share for every 1 entitlement, except with my teenage son. He eats his own food. I find that sad since my hubby and I even share! It always gives us plenty of credits to eat breakfast every day of our trip. Oh yeah, and sometimes we will use a snack with a counter service to make it stretch. We've never had to pay out of pocket for a meal by using this strategy. Hubby and I may get a salad for lunch and add a side of chips to stretch it. It works out very well. When we are eating in the parks, we look for places that serve large portions such as ribs. At Pecos Bills we buy a chicken wrap and use the toppings bar to make it stretch. We always leave very full! Good luck!

 

[CatesRDisneyFans]

We usually bring some breakfast items (pop tarts, breakfast bars, cereal bowls, etc.) with us so that we can have breakfast in our hotel room. Then we use the DDP for lunch, dinner, and a snack. It's way too much food. Your family will be full from lunch and dinner and still have a snack to use. We usually don't buy any extra food during our trip. We typically spend an average of $20 per day on tips. They recommend tipping 18-20% of meal total. The receipt will have the amounts you would have spent if you were not using the DDP and it will also show what 18% and 20% tips would be based on your total.

 

[dawnshindoll]

We have the basic dining plan - and spent almost nothing OOP for extras. Maybe a souvenir popcorn bucket or a extra special drink cup but really we had plenty of food when we had the basic plan two years ago.

Now I know they have taken one of the snacks away so that may change things.


I also bring one suitcase with chips, granola bars, and snacks to take with us into the parks so that helps on the budget as well.

I am only bringing about $500 extra and that is for souvenirs, and those few items I mentioned above and we are going 9 days!

Going is a luxury to us so I try to save anyway I can!

 

[ssleblanc]

My first DDP experience isn't until my upcoming trip. But on our last trip we didn't eat 3 full meals on any day. I'm planning to breakfast ADR's/Character meals (CP and Tusker) - I know that we wont' eat lunch those days. I can't eat a huge breakfast like that and then turn around and eat lunch. We will do some sort of snack or shared CS meal on those days.

For breakfast the rest of the trip, I will probably do what I did last time. I brought a couple of the variety packs of cereals and some bowls/spoons for the room. I bought milk and juice at the resort to keep in our fridge. That space in my suitcase was souvenier space on the way back. Though, since we are at POR I might hop over to POFQ and grab a couple of orders of beignets one day. They are cheap enough that I'll just do that OOP.

I had some small snacks, and crystal light/kool-ade singles for water bottles.

I ordered a basket for our room that came with some Disney snacks. I used Peggy then, but I think no one but Disney's official florist can do food deliveries now. That was a splurge as the food cost more than if I had brought it myself. But it was part of our "Disney magic" - the kids thought Mickey left it in the hotel room for them. It also had their autograph books/pens and a few other smaller souveniers. That gave us several snacks to either throw in my bag or eat when we took our break back at the room.

For this trip, souveniers for the older kids will be up to them. They are saving their money to bring. I'll probably add a bit to it, but each boy will get a gift card with whatever they save plus whatever I add to it. They'll budget that, not me. Of course my 3 year old won't do that, but I'll probably get a gift card and put money on it for her souveniers as well.

 

[luvmy2babies]

We’re a small crew, two children and me. First time other than tips for TS meals, not much, like $20/day. We mix our TS between breakfasts and dinners. If we did TS for breakfast, dinner is CS. If we did TS for dinner, breakfast was CS. It was enough food that we never wanted more than a snack midday and would either use a snack credit or have something from the room. I ordered portable snack items from Garden Grocer in advance. It was just dd and me on the plan, so our meals weren’t as much as some others. I tipped 18% at each TS though. My son then was just 10 months and not eating, but they did have to toss the Gerber jars.

This time he’s 2 and will need food, but won’t have his own dining plan being under 3, so I’ll take a bit more money to use at CS places where he and I can’t share (like if I want something he won’t like). I booked all buffets and family style for TS except CRT where I heard they give toddlers food, but I’ll be prepared to get him something there in case he doesn’t like what is offered. I also want to be able to get extra drinks for us since we’re going in June and I don’t want to be a pack mule being the only adult. I’ll up it to $50/day in addition to tip money. I will still pack snacks I buy from Garden Grocer, but since we're going in June, I want to have money for ice cream in the parks.

 

[dhardawa]

I order a case of water to be delivered to the resort before I arrive and have never spent a cent OOP for food with the dining plan (have done it 4 times). Obviously, I do have tips now, but I guess I see that different from money to buy extra food. I find the dining plan to be loads of food.

 

[mrs06chris]

I guess I'm more worried about my 14 yr old. He has a never ending appetite.

 

[LovesTimone]

I was looking at the size of your family, and I would count on oop of 1 meal a day. At least 100.00 a day,more like 150.00 would be real a figure if you eat cs or grab and go.

As a suggestion I would plan on breakfast in room some mornings, pop tarts, ceral bars, fruit, oj and milk and maybe a few snacky meals by the pool, rolled meat and cheese, fruit, crackers and cheese, chips, dips, carrots and celery, apples, peanut butter and jelly squares, we did this with our kids when they were little and it worked out great. They were able to eat and still play, one DD said this is like at the beach! We did this to save some money now its a tradition for us even when its just DH and I we still do it. Lots of people stop us and say what a great idea.

If you are flying I suggest a car service with one stop, but make sure to have a list, if you stop at publix, you can go on line to the store your going to stop at and can make a printable list by isle for that store, a real time saver, don't forget bottled water, canned soda, adult beverages, and milk and juice. I use a colaspible frozen food cooler I just put in in one of the suitcases for ease, just don't put it on the bottom like DH did one year.

Have a magical time.