Cost per day

[mother moto]

We will be traveling with a total of 6. 2 Adults and 4 Kids. 16-15-13-9. We are staying at Embassy suites and have the Park hopper plus passes. Since we are at embassy, our breakfast is included daily. My question is how much cash should we plan on needing? Is there a charge for the shows or is that included in the pass? I know that it is hard to estimate someone elses spending habbits but I am not wanting to show up and need to pay for things and not be prepaired. I was just told by a friend that her sister said to take credit cards I am going to need them and thats kinda scary. HELP

 

[mickeyminnie]

Once you are through the gates all shows and rides are included. You might need money for penny arcades. The food and souvineers are extra of course and are expensive so if you like to pay for these things in cash you will need to bring a bunch. You can use travelers checks or credit cards as well.

J

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

We budget $200 for our family of 3 per day for food, souvenirs, and whatever. We come home with a little money, but not much!

 

[Leota]

For days that we plan to do a big dinner, I plan about $80 a day per person *Note, my son is a teen & eats more than us adults. When he was younger, I'd only budget $40.00 per day for him on big dinner days.

On more commando days, counter-service type eating I only budget about $50 per person, per day.

That is for food & beverage - souveniers are outside that. You may want to set some spending limits for those up ahead of time, because your kids are most likely going to see LOTS of stuff they want. Many attractions dump into a gift shop with lots of cool, shiny, soft, twinkly things that call kids names.

 

[mother moto]

SO an average of $50.00 Per person per day for food? WOW. That's $1500.00 in food. I was thinking that the Breakfast being taken care of at the hotel would help a little. I must do some more calculating. I would hate to not be prepaired. any tips on how to cut that total back a little?

 

[jjsmom]

It really depends on how much eating/drinking you'll be doing. If you're just going to do counter service (fast food type), figure roughly $5-8 per adult/teen. Kids meals are a little less. Individual bottled Cokes & Water are $2-2.50 each. Ice Cream $2-3 ea.

Sit down restaurants vary greatly. For us 3, lunch at a sit down can be anywhere from $30-60 depending on amount of food/ # courses/ & alcohol (usually not at lunch). Dinner can run well over $100 bucks.

There is a ton of info on this board about ways to save money on food. One suggestion I have is load up on breakfast at Embassy then eat a very late lunch in the park that could cover for dinner as well. Then maybe stop for a snack somewhere late at night in Downtown Disney which is close to ES.

About souveniers, I would suggest budgeting each kid a certain amount of money for the entire trip. This is what we do with our 12 yr old and when it's gone, it's really gone so she tends to be a very careful shopper.

I hope this helps!!

 

[DisneyMSF]

Your food budget will depend heavily on whether you want to primarly eat at counter service or sit-down restaurants. Check out www.allearsnet.com. . There are menus for all the WDW restaruants on the dining page. I would suggest using the menus to get an idea of where you want to eat and how much those meals will cost.

I've found that the portions at the WDW restaurants are large. If you have members of your party who are light eaters, you might be able to save some on meal costs by having 2 "light eaters" share an entree at some restaurants.

Also, be sure to check out the Restaurant and Budget boards on this site. I've seen lots of meal/budgeting tips on those boards as well.

 

[Barbmouse63]

Be sure to take in your own water each day. We like to freeze ours to keep it cold. Visit mousesavers.com for lots of good tips and the budget board board for more good ideas!

 

[motheroffive]

Wow! We are going in November with 5 kids - all this is scaring me! Does anybody ever pack a lunch to take into Disney or is that allowed? No one ever talks about it. We were thinking of making sandwiches and putting them in a locker or something? Is that completely crazy?

 

[sters]

Originally posted by motheroffive
Wow! We are going in November with 5 kids - all this is scaring me! Does anybody ever pack a lunch to take into Disney or is that allowed? No one ever talks about it. We were thinking of making sandwiches and putting them in a locker or something? Is that completely crazy?

It sounds inconvenient if you have to put it in a locker and I'm not sure it's allowed. We do, however, take snacks. Juice boxes and snacks for the kids so we save a bundle on snacks by bringing our own.

Food is a big variable, like other posters have said. Our family of 5 typically spent about $100 at dinner time and maybe about $60 for lunch. (Kids ages 3,5, 7)

 

[motheroffive]

Thanks for directing me to allears.net. I'll definitely use that as a reference. Looks like great information. In the meantime, we'll have to restrategize the whole food thing or re-budget - Thanks!

 

[Barbmouse63]

People do take their own food into the parks. We usually just do counter service for lunch but we do take in our own snacks. We just have to splurge on Mickey bars, etc.

 

[Denise678]

I just came back from 8 days with a teen girl, 14, who also eats a lot! What I did for daily lunch that she loved was a can of tuna salad that I got in those packs that they also have crackers in them but took out the crackers and brought slices of bread. These cans come in tuna salad, chicken salad, bbq something, egg salad. I found them at our local Big Lots for a buck each. This also helped because the first day we did MGM and didn't bring them and the line for fast food at ABC commissary was an hour. She liked the quickness of the sandwhiches, just brought a plastic knife and found a bench. Ten minutes she was happy again and we were on the move!

 

[bmr12]

I'd recommend buying some sandwich fixin's for that refrigerator at the Embassy Suites. When we went in November, we took sandwiches a couple of times (including our own "Fantasmic Dinner Package" and sat in the bleachers chowing down to the amazement of those around us).

I'd keep costs down by taking some lunches into the parks, and possibly plan on some dinners off-property at places more reasonably priced--there were multiple chinese all-you-can-eat buffets nearby that we hit just to get away from the counter-service vegetable-free meals.

Then it isn't so incredible to splurge on a few nice dinners (or lunches) where you really want it.

 

[moinab]

It sounds inconvenient if you have to put it in a locker and I'm not sure it's allowed.

This topic comes up pretty frequently. We bring sandwiches, chips, bottled water, soda and snacks with us every time we go to WDW (7 times, so far, this year) We put a soft-sided cooler in the stroller basket. I have never seen anything at WDW posted or printed about outside food being prohibited. You will see lots of people bringing their own food in.

 

[cranbiz]

You could do breakfast at the Embassy Suites and then a mid to late afternoon buffet.

That would probably hold you for all day with the exception of either a Mickey bar, Dole Whip or a frozen bannana.

Bring your own water bottles and refill them in the park. The snack bars will give you a cup with ice if you ask, don't forget water filters (Brita or Innovapure) if you don't like Fla water.

Snack crackers are helpful too!

Doing this could get you down to around 30-40 a day for food.

 

[maggiew]

We usually budget about $100 per day for food. It is me, DH, DD12 and DD9. We usually do a late character breakfast (serves as an early lunch) and then counter service for dinner. Sometimes me and one of the DDs will share. But up until this trip, both of my kids could get kids meals. Now DD12 is an "adult". Although, at counter service places you can still order kids meals. I sometimes get one.

A couple of cheaper options -
1. Trails End Buffet at Fort Wilderness. Cheapest buffet on property. Breakfast AND Lunch 9.99 Adult/5.99 Child. Dinner $15.99 Adult/$6.99 Child. You could eat breakfast at your hotel. Load up at the Buffet for lunch and then just snack or offsite for dinner.

2. There is a family rotiserrie chicken meal at Cosmic Rays at MK. It is a whole chicken with mashed potatoes $15.99 It says serves 3 - 4.

4. We find the sit down meal sizes to be large. We can often share 2 sit down meals between the 4 of us. But my two DDs and I eat light. But you can keep this in mind.

5. Check out the budget board for information on meal vouchers. You can get a HUGE meal at Rainforest Cafe in AK with the lunch vouchers. You can get a decent burger/fries meal plus a huge dessert at Beaches and Cream at the Beach club with the Quick and Casual Vouchers. Plus a huge meal at Pepper Market at CSR with the Q&C Vouchers.


My girls are not big on wanting trinkets, etc. They hardly notice the items in the gift shops that the rides empty into. I tell them they have a certain amount to spend - $30 - $50. They can point things out that they are interested in. I write them down in my little notebook. Towards the end of the trip, they decide what they want the most.


Maggie

 

[mobes_jk]

On bringing food into the parks, we followed some advice during our trip a week ago (found here) that making sandwiches on bagels helps. The bagels don't get soggy like bread does, and they are pretty filling. This worked well for us. Also, no one said anything to us about bringing food into the parks. We just looked for nice shady spots in which to take a little lunch break.

 

[pjlla]

Just an FYI..... I believe that the "official" word from Disney is that they don't allow outside drinks/foods. But I have seen HUNDREDS of posts about people bringing in large quantities of picnic foods with no trouble. The security check people have no problems with the food that is brought in. I believe the only limits are glass bottles and liquor! We have brought in PB&J on wheatfree bread for my son with food allergies, as well as granola bars, juice boxes, and crackers. But that has been the full extent of my food carrying.

If you are really concerned about "breaking the rules", considering packing a picnic in cooler and leave it in your car. Take the monorail or ferry back to the TTC and have a picnic in your car.

If you do decide to bring food into the parks, the lockers are not centrally located, but it is not usually a big deal to send one adult to get the food while the others in the party find a picnic spot and make a potty stop.....................P

 

[westjones]

If you want to try a sit down place, go for lunch. If you go for a late lunch, that might hold you until you get back to your hotel that night.

Lunch is less expensive than dinner.

Also, a nice tip I got off this board; at counter service, adults can order kids meals too. We are vegetarians, so getting mac and cheese at a counter service works well for all of us (and it is less expensive than the 'adult' options).

DJ