Dining Budget for Big Family

[MomOf3LovesMickey]

We are planning on taking our family of 7 to Disney in June. We will probably stay in a house off-site. We want to do a few character meals and prefer to sit and eat at least once a day. Also one of the girls is a foodie so we would try for a few signature meals. I don't really want to cook on vacation but could do breakfasts or a few lunches if character breakfasts are cheaper.

That said about how much is an appropriate budget for food?

 

[reelmom]

I would go to the all ears website and look at their menus. It has the current prices of every restaurant and snack place in Disney. You could get a rough estimate of your meal costs. Don't forget to figure in tips.

 

[mrssmith06]

Guessing around $300 a day???!!! (if you eat out for all 3 meals, plus snacks)
For a family of 5, one Character meal could run us $120+, and we usually ate breakfast or lunch for those... You'll spend much more for any signature restaurants. Quick service places ran us around $40-$50 for the 5 of us.
Like the PP said, check allears.com and see the prices for the places you plan to go to.

 

[eeyoresmom]

I think $300 a day would be really tight.You have 5 adults and 2 kids.Most cs meals for us are $10 each and we drink tap water.TS run us about $30(varies widely),also tap water.We may share a dessert for 2 to 3 of us. Now,I know you can come in below my average (I have been over 40 times),but you'd have to limit your restaurant choices,share entrees,etc. Look at the menus on all ears,that will give you a good idea.I don't know what your budget is,but the signature restaurants are pretty expensive....and then there is all the fabulous snacks.Oh, and I wouldn't PLAN on sharing.We are a family of very small females and find that MOST entrees are not shareable.Don't mean to sound negative,the food at Disney is one of our favorite" attractions"! Just want you to be prepared as I know what it is like bringing a large family to Disney

 

[susanv]

Have to agree with EeyoresMom, I think $300 would be very tight. We average $60 per person for the Signature Restaurants. Character breakfasts are definitely cheaper than the lunches or dinners. Have found that they hussle us out quicker at Breakfast though. Also don't forget that with a table of seven at TS or Signature you will have an automatic gratuity of 18 % added to your bill every time. With 6 of us I budget in $40 a day for snacks when paying cash. We do mostly Deluxe Dining Plan now, we like our food way too much and save a lot using it.

I'm not interested in cooking while at Disney either. For 3 meals a day with your group I would budget $400.00 on most days and $520.00 on Signature Restaurant days. That being said you can do it for much less. Eat a light breakfast at home, bring some snacks and plan your Character Breakfast late so that you get the most out of it. Can cover lunch then just a snack later in the day and a early CS supper. Another thing is if you get in for lunch at around 2 or 2:15 you can sometimes get some of the dinner menu for the price of lunch and then just a light meal later.

 

[robinb]

I just came back from WDW with 3 adults (2 adults and 1 13-year old). We ate breakfast in our house/villa every morning, CS meals at lunch, some meals off site using restaurant.com coupons, a couple dinners at "home" on our BBQ grill and a couple of TS meals. I estimate that we spent about $100 per day on food & snacks including groceries. Our California Grill meal was $180 alone with tax and tip. I was especially shocked by the price increase in CS meals and we go twice a year. They were in the high $30s a coupe of times for 3 combo meals plus 2 drinks , Most adult combos start at $10 (without drink), and kids meals are up to $7 so you are looking at a minimum of $70 per CS meal! You have 5 Disney "adults" and 2 kids, so I would say that you are looking at about $300 per day in food or possibly more since you are planning signature meals. And that's ONLY if you eat breakfast at home.

Frankly, I would plan for a meal or two at your rental home. My family really liked being able to relax in our rental home and my DD enjoyed swimming in our private pool. Grilling out was fun and saved us some money along the way.

 

[robinb]

Oh, and I wouldn't PLAN on sharing.We are a family of very small females and find that MOST entrees are not shareable.

I have to agree about the sharing, especially at a signature restaurant. The portions are quite small. They want you to have room for a 3-course meal.

 

[Bete]

Go to the menus and figure out which places you want to go to and price out a meal. This will be the most accurate for planning a budget. You need to keep in mind gratuity, as well.

What's your mix with the party of 7? How many kids? Obviously, meals are cheaper for the kids. Will you order appetizers or drinks or alcoholic drinks? These options can get quite a bit more expensive.

Also, consider some off site restaurants. We use restaurant.com and we stay off site and we like the restaurants and we get dollars off each meal. Some of them are close to Downtown Disney area. There are deals at times to get the certificates for less. Recently, I got $25 certificates for $4. There are some places where you can get a $50 or even $100 certificates. You do have to spend a certain amount per each certificate. Usually, the deals with be prorated for other amounts.

You really need to do the math if you want to be more accurate with your budget.

I strongly recommend doing breakfast at a chain restaurant or at your place of stay. Try to get everyone to eat hardy at that time. This will go a long way on cutting down at snacks in the parks and you may get by with two meals per day.

Think about a late lunch instead of dinner. There are savings with lunch over dinner at Disney. In many instances you get the same food.

 

[natfrac]

I use the cost of the Dining Plan as my guide. If Disney can offer the plan for $55 per day/person, then we (adults) can eat on $55 per day, per person. Plus that budget usually covers the tip.
We do eat breakfast in the room, which helps.

 

[robinb]

Also, consider some off site restaurants. We use restaurant.com and we stay off site and we like the restaurants and we get dollars off each meal. Some of them are close to Downtown Disney area. There are deals at times to get the certificates for less. Recently, I got $25 certificates for $4. There are some places where you can get a $50 or even $100 certificates. You do have to spend a certain amount per each certificate. Usually, the deals with be prorated for other amounts.

We used a $50 restaurant.com certificate at House of Blues in DTD. We had to spend $100 total pre-tax and ended up spending just over that. Our meal STILL cost $85 with tax, tip and coupon. It would have been a much better place for a bigger family since the sandwiches were reasonable priced. We had to order more expensive things because we had to make the $100 mark with only 3 people. If you go, the bread pudding is to die for!

 

[DawnM]

Basing the cost on Cinderellas' Royal Table dinner, cost per adult (age 9 and older) is $57.10 per person with tax and tip. Kids are $34.78 per person. That is roughly $370 for one meal including tax and tip.

http://www.kingdommagictravel.com/disneyworld/dining/character_dining.htm

Yikes.

 

[blessedby3]

Since you are staying off property, I would try and figure in eating breakfast at the rental. Buy fruit, granola bars, eggo wafflles, cereal, etc. Maybe schedule a character breakfast or two. They are definately cheaper than the lunches/dinners.
We recently stayed off property (Bonnet Creek) for the first time this past Oct. I got so tired of spending $60 and up for a CS meal for our family of 5 (DH, Me, DS17, DD14 and DD5) and I quickly tired of the food choices this time. We ventured off property to The Olive Garden and spent less on our lunch to eat there than to eat in the parks for CS. A bell went off in our heads and we started heading out of the parks to eat a bite when we took our midday breaks (either ate lunch or dinner before heading back to the parks). Worked out much better for us.
Just a suggestion....

 

[auralia]

when you consider the 18% tip you will have to pay everywhere (yes they will count even the 3 year old toward the total number of people.. heck they count a 3 month old baby toward the total number of people tip wise) I would say at least 400$ per day unless you do counter service only and split meals and bring snacks in.

 

[pigletto]

We're planning on $50 dollars per person per day for the four of us. That will be breakfast in the room (cereal bars, fruit, yoghurt) a counter service lunch, and a TS dinner. This will also cover one snack per day. We aren't planning on any signatures for dinner unless we come in under budget and can book Jiko last minute. We'll bring water bottles in with us, and get the refillable mugs.
We will have Tables in Wonderland though which will pretty much save us the tip on all table services so we don't add tips in to the calculations.

So if you are careful, you can calculate at 50 per day per person, but without TIW you'll have to budget in tips as well. With character meals and signatures that will be harder without committing to eating at least a meal a day in your rental.
More than one signature or character meal and that budget will jump considerably.

 

[java]

We are a family of 6. We were on a tight budget last trip. We stayed at AOA so had a little kitchen. We ate breakfast in the room. I also brought snacks into the park and yes I brought in cans of soda and water too. That alone saved us a bunch.

Our sit down dinners would be about $150 ( some more some less) via Napoli is one of our new inexpensive favorites.

We like to eat sit down lunches sometimes too(cheaper)

But based on what you said and I don't know if you are driving or flying( I was able to bring cases of water and soda because we drove)

Oh and we gave up character meals when they added the "holiday" surcharge which basically ran all summer. Spending over $200 on breakfast wasn't happening for us.
And my 15 year old daughter and I shared often.

I think you would be safe with $400 a day if you don't do the above things.

 

[mrsklamc]

I suggest Giordano's delivery for an in-condo or townhouse meal! One slice of that goes a long way.

 

[mrssmith06]

I think $300 a day would be really tight.You have 5 adults and 2 kids.Most cs meals for us are $10 each and we drink tap water.TS run us about $30(varies widely),also tap water.We may share a dessert for 2 to 3 of us. Now,I know you can come in below my average (I have been over 40 times),but you'd have to limit your restaurant choices,share entrees,etc. Look at the menus on all ears,that will give you a good idea.I don't know what your budget is,but the signature restaurants are pretty expensive....and then there is all the fabulous snacks.Oh, and I wouldn't PLAN on sharing.We are a family of very small females and find that MOST entrees are not shareable.Don't mean to sound negative,the food at Disney is one of our favorite" attractions"! Just want you to be prepared as I know what it is like bringing a large family to Disney

Your right. I didn't realize there were 5 "adults"!

You for sure just need to price the places your going.
We did breakfast in our room a couple of mornings, that alone can save a lot!

 

[Marionnette]

We are planning on taking our family of 7 to Disney in June. We will probably stay in a house off-site. We want to do a few character meals and prefer to sit and eat at least once a day. Also one of the girls is a foodie so we would try for a few signature meals. I don't really want to cook on vacation but could do breakfasts or a few lunches if character breakfasts are cheaper.

That said about how much is an appropriate budget for food?

If you're going with a foodie, then dining is going to be expensive. The signature restaurants are pretty pricey and you will pay more character meals just because of the interaction with the characters.

The menus on allears.net will give you an idea of the cost to eat at each restaurant. Get an idea of which ones you will want to dine at, and then take a look at the cost. Don't forget that tax is 6.5% and you will automatically have an 18% gratuity added to your bill at table service restaurants since there are more than 6 people in your party.

 

[crisi]

I agree with looking at Allears menus.

Also ask yourself what you COULD budget, then reviewing the menus, make the appropriate trades.

We have a family of four and were down for five days - $2000+ in food. But we are foodies, all dinners were signature. Breakfast in the room and we aren't big snackers.

 

[MomOf3LovesMickey]

Wow Thanks for all the responses (and sorry it has taken me so long to respond). Breakfast in the house will definitely be the norm except for maybe two character meals. My two step-daughters have never been to Disney and I would really love for them to experience that. I would love to have them eat in the castle but my heart jumps in my chest everytime I see how much that would cost .

I am thinking maybe splitting the group for dinner a few times. Maybe DD (the foodie) and I can do the signatures with the other girls and leave the boys with Daddy. He is a VERY simple eater and none of the food really matters to him lol.

We will likely take a break mid day as both boys are much nicer when they nap so we could probably do lunch at the house or on the way as well. Any suggestions on restaurants near Windsor Hills?