Cost Food Outside Disney (I know how long is a piece of string!)

[eeyorefanuk]

Another awkward question to answer

How much do you think we should budget for a breakfast and main meal each day outside of disney (Denny or something similar (buffet) - nothing major) for each adult and each child? I thought £50 per person per day ??????

We were trying to work this out so could decide is staying on disney plus free dining is good idea.

 

[wayneg]

Have you seen my thread from recent trip? http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2182063
I posted pics and prices each night for 3 adults.
We average around $30 for a park lunch and $50 for an eve meal so $80/day for 3 of us. Breakfast was incl at hotel but we rarely eat it.
You can spend as little or as much as you want, from all you can eat CiCis pizza $5.99pp (+buy one get one free coupons around) upto about $50pp and more.
Try looking at the websites of where you are considering eating, some have menus with prices.

Is free dining worth it? we are trying this August. We usually stay somewhere like LBV around £25-£30/night + our $80 food, so total is around £80/night(free internet & breakfast). We have booked OKW with regular dining £91/night +$10 internet, no breakfast. For the extra £20/night it has to be worth trying, hopefully better resort and better dinning.

 

[Shooby doo]

Kaz I think that it would depend on which DDP you go for ,Quick Service wouldn't suit us but will others & whilst we had Free regular DDP last year & it was great we also found it very restrictive in having to make ADrs for every day.For 3 of us we normally budget Approx $150/day,that is the equivalent of 2 adults & a teenager,most days it is alot cheaper than that but it does also allow for a "blow-out" somewhere more expensive.Worth also bearing in mind is the cost of tipping at WDW,the recommended rate when we were there last year was 18-20% but even on DDP that is based on the full cost of the meal not just any extras you are paying for & Disney is alot more expensive than eating off-site!
Personally I would price where you would be likely to stay off-site plus an average food cost,then the cost of Free Dining (worth also bearing in mind that unless you get Deluxe you may still have to buy a meal if you are a 3 meals a day family) & then go with the option that suits.
SD

 

[wicket2005]

I would have thought £50 per person a day off site would be more than ample. I think for the 4 of us we have had meals over at Mythos for about £40 (just main meal, shot dessert and a drink each). On IDrive places like Ponderosa do meals for about $15 I think been a while since we tried them. I know when people have been saying how much Disney meals are I have been quite shocked at the prices compared to what we have paid off site.

DDP depends on what you are like as a family. For us it holds no appeal as we like to eat where ever we find we are hungry and do not like to be tied down to being somewhere at a specific time. However, it is apparent that huge savings can be made.

 

[nibbo]

If your kids are under 12, buy a kids eat free card. They only cost about £10 and enables your kids to eat free in loads of places around Orlando. We had one the last time and it saved us an absolute fortune. We hardly paid for any meals for the kids during the 3 weeks we were there. We only had one card which was for our youngest (our eldest was 12) but the manager of the Ponderosa opposite Old Town in Kissimmee let her eat free too, needless to say we ate there rather a lot.

 

[Latte Lover]

To give you an idea of prices, we paid $7.99 each last september for breakfast at The Golden Corral (plus tip), and around $8 each for a huge breakfast at Dennys.

For an evening meal we pay around $40 before tip for the four of us at somewhere like IHOP, Steak and Shake, Friendlys, Bob Evans etc, or around $50-60 if we have dessert. I think the Golden Corral is around $11 in the evening.

At restaurants like The Longhorn, Bahama Breeze, etc we pay around $90-$120 before tip if we have desserts too. We don't have alcohol.

I don't know how it compares to the dining plan as we've never done it. We spend quite a bit of time away from Disney - shopping, other parks etc and we just prefer the freedom of eating wherever we like. Plus some of our favourite restaurants are offsite ones.

 

[brummymummy]

We took £100 a day which worked out to $175 a day and that was ample for 2 adults and 3 children.

We ate mostley at golden corral and was $30 for breakfast and $40 for dinner (one ds was free there though) in dennys it was $60 and ponderosa was $ 60

hth Sarah x

 

[cap'njack.]

I'm finding this a very interesting thread.

I was looking at booking for 2010 if we could get the free Disney Dining although I'm not sure if I could stand 2 conter service meals per day for a full two weeks. Glad to see that some on here feel that DDP isn't much better than paying and staying offsite

 

[wayneg]

I'm finding this a very interesting thread.

I was looking at booking for 2010 if we could get the free Disney Dining although I'm not sure if I could stand 2 conter service meals per day for a full two weeks. Glad to see that some on here feel that DDP isn't much better than paying and staying offsite

Not a chance I could do 2 CS meals a day, when we go for 25 nights in August I get fed up with 1 a day. I would have to go for a resort with regular free DDP or upgrade to it.
Not making a decision on next years trip until we have tried DDP this year, if we like it we will book again but if not its back to offsite hotel and dining.

 

[kevin harrison]

Nothing appeals less than having to book three months in advance where I want to eat, then having to be there at a specific time...

 

[T16GEM]

You can spend as little or as much as you want, from all you can eat CiCis pizza $5.99pp

We found CiCis to be fantastic after a day at the parks, the kids loved it, the salad, pasta and pizza were great and the chocolate brownie was just to die for! They gave us a 50% off voucher too, and because our kids were under 3 we only paid for DH and I so it was $6 + $2 for drinks each to feed all four of us! Beat that for an evening meal !

 

[wayneg]

Nothing appeals less than having to book three months in advance where I want to eat, then having to be there at a specific time...

This could have(probably did) been my quote a few months ago but I have decided to try it, shouldn't keep knocking Disney dining system and the cost until I have experienced it. Then I can go back to moaning about it being overpriced and having to do ADR's

 

[kevin harrison]

This could have(probably did) been my quote a few months ago but I have decided to try it, shouldn't keep knocking Disney dining system and the cost until I have experienced it. Then I can go back to moaning about it being overpriced and having to do ADR's

The food is lovely, not fussed over the price, but who wants to be tied to a particular park at a particular time?

Disney are not daft with the Free DDP, they know whilst you have ADR's you will not be anywhere else in Florida. You are more likely to be buying merchandise etc whilst walking about before and after.

 

[jtlover]

This will be our third trip on the DDP and we love it. As we are around the parks anyway we work our food out around which park we will be in on that day. It has not caused us a problem. We also eat at the signature restaurants and try new ones each trip.

I dont think I could do the 2 cs plan - I couldnt eat the fast food all the time and in fact whatever you are eating in Florida you soon wish to be home for English food