budgeting...how much do you spend?

[rsleleux]

We went to DLR in May. My husband, myself and my 5 year old son. This is what we spent (I can't remember exact but around this amount)

Rancho del Zocalo for lunch $40
We had WOC dinner package at Ariel's Grotto $100
Character Breakfast at Goofy's kitchen $80 ( was late breakfast so we had early dinner, no lunch that day)
Dinner in DTD at Catal (w/ Bday coupon $80)
lunch at Cafe Orleans (split Monte Cristo and some appetizers) $50
Dinner one night at Mimis (Bday coupon $25)
Breakfast at Mimis ( had another coupon $20)
a couple of icecream snacks/drinks when it was too hot ($15x2)


that's $425 for 3 days just in food. However, my son had $100 to buy whatever he wanted and ironically he asked for nothing! Maybe spent $30 But I did buy $30 picture package at Goofys kitchen.

We stayed at the Hojo so Mimi's was convenient for us and it was really good too!

 

[DBMC]

This number can vary so much from person to person. It really depends on how much you want to spend. We could easily spend $200 a day for our family of five, but we could also spend as little as $50 a day.

For our next trip, it is a rather tight budget, so we will only be eating out for dinner, and probably share a few snacks, we will be packing sandwiches for lunch, and eating light breakfasts in our room. (bananas, granola bars etc.) Also, when we eat out, our youngest two will be splitting meals, and we will also bring in our own drinks.

On our last trip we ate breakfast in our room, and ate out for lunch and dinner. Our meals ranged from $30-100, depending on where we ate.

Your best bet is to look at the menus, and decide what type of food, and how many meals you will be eating each day.

 

[chrissiecutie]

wow i guess im cheap i spend 25 at a meal for two of us and a kid.
we do plan one meal of some type a day. this time we will do two char meals surfs up and plaza inn and cct, other then those we plan on 25 (sun dinner at stage door cafe). we will plan 25 for dinner at the Halloween party.
15 for a lunch at the village hus.

we take pepsi and split it with free cups of ice, and drink free glasses of ice water it worked we only bought one cup of soda one time in may the suviner glass

Jade- Me Too!!

We spend about $25 per meal for 2 adults & 1 kid. We split 2 adult meals between the 3 of us & I bring in extras like fruit, bagged popcorn, nuts etc. I've also found that you can order sides to help stretch the 2 adult meals. Frankly, DH is a very big eater & DS is a lean, mean 7 year old eating machine! What usually happens is that DH eats all of his meal & DS eats 3/4 of mine! But we make it work.

My favorite tip is to order the carne asada platter ($11.49) at Rancho del Zocalo because it comes with a pile of steak, tortillas to make tacos with it AND 2 cheese enchildas. You can also order a side of tortilla chips or even a side of rice & beans & extra tortillas. We order 2 of these platters & then a side of rice & beans and 2 extra tortillas. Price for extras is under $5 & I get my Disney Visa discount here! So total we spend easily under $25 & get a mountain of food that will feed my hungry boys!

Oh...and we NEVER buy sodas/drinks in the parks. Bring in your own. I suggest the small bottles of soda vs cans because if you don't finish all your soda it's easy to just repack in the soda bottle in your bag.

We also only ever buy 1 snack/treat item per day & split it. Usually it's 2 Tigger Tails (our FAV!), popcorn from the carts, or 1 ice cream sundae. We don't bother with buying a treat after eating our meals. Since we are all pretty full anyways & this saves the money in our budget to have a snack/treat later in the day when we could all use that boost of sugar.

As far as souvenirs go....DS always picks out a hat on our 1st day. This has become a fun tradition for us & makes a great Disney souvenir! This year he will be wearing his hat from last year as part of his Halloween Party costume!! Then he may get a t-shirt or a small toy. We try and limit his souvenirs to things he will use once we get home. DH doesn't ever buy anything- he's cheap and not a big Disney freak. And I...I limit myself to one new Disneyland coffee mug. Sometimes I may some gifts for family for Christmas or Birthdays but really...we are here to visit Disney, not buy it out!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

we get one popcorn bucket one time , one suv cup, and some times one of the suv mugs and then a sweet treat one time we share alot, three glasses of med ice free was filled up with one bottle of pepsi so it was our saving grace in may and we will do in oct too

 

[emilym27]

We budget for $80 to $100 per day for food. Some days are more and some are less. We do one big meal in the park and 1 snack. We also budget for $100 for souvenirs but usually spend under $40. In May we spent $350 for 3 days in the park after gas, hotel, and shuttle.

 

[Momrow]

We range anywhere from $150 - $300 per day. That is for 3 meals and snacks. If we do breakfast at White water, that is about $40. Lunch is about $50. Dinner is $50+. Plus $20-30 in snacks, morning coffee, etc. We are renting a car from the airport so we will stop at Trader Joes for snack foods, drinks, to save a bit. We ate a family of four.

I a budgeting $150-$200 per person for spending, this includes getting little gifts for friends back home.

 

[KateDrake]

That is a tough question! It really depends on where you plan to eat. Dinner at Blue Bayou easily costs about $70 or more for my family of 3, but we can also grab a skewer at Bengal BBQ and spend $10. So it really depends on where you are eating. I think what you've planned should be fine if you stick to counter service, but if you want to do a table service meal, you are going to need to add in some extra funds.
Something that always helps me save money is to skip the kids meals and have my DD3 share with us. The Disney portions are very large, and there is always way too much food. I also bring some little snacks along like crackers, string cheese, apple sauce pouches, trail mix, etc. so that we aren't buying 5 Mickey pretzels a day, and then tossing half of the pretzel when DD decides she's full. I like feeling that I didn't waste a ton of food. I even bring juice or milk boxes that I've frozen in our hotel room, so we don't have to buy her a drink. Or you can just have ice water, which is free. I find that doing these little things lets me splurge a little more on special treats, or buy more souvenirs, etc.

 

[rtfelt]

I'm even cheaper than Jade. We're a family of 8 (children 11-22) including a couple teenage boys and family members with a high octane metabolism (not me ). Last year when we went to Orlando for 2 weeks, I budgeted $150 a day for non-grocery food, which includes $27 for a treat. We eat breakfast in the room, make sandwiches for one of the meals and only eat 1 meal out (in park) and have 1 treat. We rarely if ever buy drinks. We bring plenty of water. We share treats (2 scoop ice cream, that's only about $.50 more than a single, and share it between 2...) many times, bring snacks and small treats. This budget included 8 TS meals, but mostly QS meals and no character meals.

We have each child $80 for souvenirs for the trip.

Since we're locals to DLR and only do day trips, I had to use my experience at WDW. I think DLR can be cheaper because the quality of QS meals is so much higher than WDW. You can definitely get a QS meal for under $15 that would feed 2 "normal" people.

 

[rsleleux]

Jade- Me Too!!

We spend about $25 per meal for 2 adults & 1 kid. We split 2 adult meals between the 3 of us & I bring in extras like fruit, bagged popcorn, nuts etc. I've also found that you can order sides to help stretch the 2 adult meals. Frankly, DH is a very big eater & DS is a lean, mean 7 year old eating machine! What usually happens is that DH eats all of his meal & DS eats 3/4 of mine! But we make it work.

My favorite tip is to order the carne asada platter ($11.49) at Rancho del Zocalo because it comes with a pile of steak, tortillas to make tacos with it AND 2 cheese enchildas. You can also order a side of tortilla chips or even a side of rice & beans & extra tortillas. We order 2 of these platters & then a side of rice & beans and 2 extra tortillas. Price for extras is under $5 & I get my Disney Visa discount here! So total we spend easily under $25 & get a mountain of food that will feed my hungry boys!

Oh...and we NEVER buy sodas/drinks in the parks. Bring in your own. I suggest the small bottles of soda vs cans because if you don't finish all your soda it's easy to just repack in the soda bottle in your bag.

We also only ever buy 1 snack/treat item per day & split it. Usually it's 2 Tigger Tails (our FAV!), popcorn from the carts, or 1 ice cream sundae. We don't bother with buying a treat after eating our meals. Since we are all pretty full anyways & this saves the money in our budget to have a snack/treat later in the day when we could all use that boost of sugar.

As far as souvenirs go....DS always picks out a hat on our 1st day. This has become a fun tradition for us & makes a great Disney souvenir! This year he will be wearing his hat from last year as part of his Halloween Party costume!! Then he may get a t-shirt or a small toy. We try and limit his souvenirs to things he will use once we get home. DH doesn't ever buy anything- he's cheap and not a big Disney freak. And I...I limit myself to one new Disneyland coffee mug. Sometimes I may some gifts for family for Christmas or Birthdays but really...we are here to visit Disney, not buy it out!

Wish I would have known this tip, we spent alot at Rancho del Zocalo and I don't remember what I got bit I remember I didn't really like it. Of course my husband and I are never in the mood for the same thing! When I want steak he wants fish, when he wants steak, I'm in the mood for chicken! So sharing doesn't always work for us! If only he would just eat what I want!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

wow ya we found out how much we can share last time. and i loved the free ice water free ice i found it to save alot

 

[kymom99]

One thing we noticed: Our dinner at Joe's Crab Shack was only $1 more total than our lunch at Hungry Bear! Also, since we were coming from the eastern time zone, we didn't tend to eat at the "traditional" times, so we ended up just eating one or 2 meals a day. That saved us a bunch. Our internal clocks were all confused! We spent way less than I thought we would on food. I bought a few items at Vons and drinks for the room and that helped a lot.

 

[interstate70s]

These are some great tips. I guess I never really considered asking for water at CS places! If my math is correct I think I can save over $50 in a five day period on drinks I usually throw out half of anyway

 

[chrissiecutie]

Wish I would have known this tip, we spent alot at Rancho del Zocalo and I don't remember what I got bit I remember I didn't really like it. Of course my husband and I are never in the mood for the same thing! When I want steak he wants fish, when he wants steak, I'm in the mood for chicken! So sharing doesn't always work for us! If only he would just eat what I want!

I know how this goes!

To combat this- I'm the one that does ALL the ordering.

To be honest, I just don't give my boys a choice. The most I will say is, Mexican or Corn Dog. Pizza & Pasta or Burgers. You get my drift. So we all decide on the type of food & then I do the ordering while the boys stake out a good seat & pull out our sodas/water & fruit etc from our small cooler.

Another tip- is to go "armed" with a set list of acceptable places to eat. And try & pick out some meals from each restaurant that will appeal to everyone. I set a budget of $25-30 per meal & will print out menus prior to going. Then I can figure out what we can all eat within budget. And by simply NOT buying sodas & water, we save probably $10. Since we have a stroller, we do have a cooler so it's really no big deal to carry around our drinks. However, fairly soon, we will have outgrown the stroller so we will have to re-evaluate the "worth" of carrying around drinks all day.

I really can't say enough about knowing your food options & prices before going! It helps you avoid the aimless wandering, keeps you within budget & assures that everyone will be able to eat something they like. Many a times as a child, I ended up eating gumbo (blech-NOT a fan!) because my parents had 3 hungry whining kids & all they could find was the soup bowls in NOS. Too bad they didn't have all this info available to them when I was a kid!

 

[erocrobro]

You can check menus and prices in the dining section to help you get a better idea. I brought $1000 in gift cards to pay for meals, snacks, and souvenirs for our trip. There were 4 of us, we were there for 5 days, we spent 3 days in the parks. We did 4 character meals, lunch at Blue Bayou, and breakfast at Tomorrowland Terrace, breakfast at Jolly Holiday, a couple of lunches at the corn dog cart. My kids are on a pretty strict "one souvenir" rule (not counting Mickey ear hats), and the gift cards were pretty close to what we spent. I had just enough left on them to pay for our photopass cd when we got home.

 

[lana772]

You can check menus and prices in the dining section to help you get a better idea. I brought $1000 in gift cards to pay for meals, snacks, and souvenirs for our trip. There were 4 of us, we were there for 5 days, we spent 3 days in the parks. We did 4 character meals, lunch at Blue Bayou, and breakfast at Tomorrowland Terrace, breakfast at Jolly Holiday, a couple of lunches at the corn dog cart. My kids are on a pretty strict "one souvenir" rule (not counting Mickey ear hats), and the gift cards were pretty close to what we spent. I had just enough left on them to pay for our photopass cd when we got home.

That sounds similar to the way we eat also. My advice would be to use the menus to figure out how much you think you will spend (every family has different habits) and then add 25%. It's always better to come home with cash than credit card bills.

 

[Hayleybot]

Wow! I jump on here to check the thread and find three pages of awesome tips! You guys are the best!

We have family driving in from different areas so I asked my mom to bring some groceries since she is the closest to the park. We plan on bringing some bottled water but if we can get it free in the park might as well do that instead of hauling it in the stroller. I read off some of the menus to dh to give him ideas on where he wants to eat and he was definitely interested in the BBQ place (can't think of the name of it) that was like all you can eat ribs and chicken.

We won't be doing character meals, being that ds is only 2 and he has sensory processing disorder so the thought of all those characters around while trying to get ds to eat just makes me cringe. Well have to save those for later on down the line and I guess it will save us some money this trip by not going. I was thinking of doing one nicer dinner just dh and I, not sure where yet.

Souvenir wise I was thinking Mickey ears for ds and a piece of art, either his name or one of the character designs from off the page. Not sure what else well encounter a long the way that one of us will be dying to have.

 

[sasywtch]

I usually plan 40 a day for adults each. 2 $15 counter service meals and a couple of snacks. I won't lie, we go there to eat the snacks and just eat a regular meal for fuel

When my kids were young, we would buy 2 snacks to share so that way we had 2-3 different snacks a day and each person got a few bites. We are a strange lot. I do the free refill coffee at the Market Place.

 

[ToodlesRN]

Forgot to add, we make a stop at Target and pick up water, juice and soda and put that in the bottom of the stroller. When we order food we ask for a cup of ice.

 

[Bungle]

The portions there really are big so sharing will help. For us we usually budget $100 pp/day. This includes food, drinks (our biggest expense!) and whatever else we need. We always come home with money left over, but I would rather over budget than under. This time we are staying at a hotel with a good hot breakfast so our budget will be lower.

We've also had trips where we went back to the room for sandwiches mid day so even if the budget is tight you can still have a fantastic time. For the dinner out for you and DH I would say Joe's crab shack is a good place. My husband and I went and ate dinner outside during the sunset. It was great and the drinks there are pretty good too. If you go to Joe's get on their email list right before you go for a free appetizer coupon.

 

[teachU2]

We averaged about $30-35 per meal for DH, DS (5) and me. DH and I sometimes split or I would order a kids' meal with my son. I always had water with my meal (free or a drink that is included with a kids' meal). Lunches and dinners were in the park, b/c we had free b-fast at the hotel. I also had room in my Baggalini to carry some snacks (packages of nuts, trail mix, beef jerky,etc and a small bottle of water.) We had maybe one snack a day. I think my son lived on churros and nugget meals. I figured being at D-land was a treat and he doesn't eat like that everyday so a churro a day was ok! I should also add we only ate at CS places. We had one character b-fast and that was not included in that $30-35 average.