Eating for $30/day and WDW

[Praise God]

For all of you veterans - has anyone done or can imagine eating for $30/day?
Let me give you the parameters:
1. 2 people, 1 adult, 1 9yo for 7 night stay
2. Staying onsite at SSR with no rental car. Will have a microwave, toaster and dorm size refrigerator in room.
3. Would like to do 2-3 TS meals during stay (Boma's and one or 2 character meals).
4. Willing to use Garden grocer. Not a soda drinker and limit son to no more than 1/day. Already planning on best route to get water (I am a firm believer in at least 8 glasses/day)
5. Son would love to eat chicken nuggets/hamburger and fries for a whole week, but mom does insist on some veggies (while this is vacation, there are some limits).
6. Planning breakfast in room - like muffins or bars, etc.

The dining plan costs $50/day and while I could use it to go to some nice restaurants, that really isn't necessary and would rather use the money saved for the PP party and extra souvenirs.

 

[mommyaof2]

I would just do the DDP. I don't see how you are going to do it on $30 a day. If you split counter service meals I guess you could, but that will not be much fun. If you can, I would do the DDP for sure. You won't have to worry at all once you get there and it will include the character meals that you want to do if you can get an adr for them. You will be able to get a cs meal, a ts meal, and a snack every night of your stay. Go for it! You will not regret it. If anyone else knows of a better way, please correct me. I am no expert. Good luck and happy planning!

 

[Amy&Dan]

You probably can do that. A character meal for the two of you with tip and tax is going to run you roughly $50. A cs meal for two of you is going to be around $15. And know that at many cs places you will be able to share due to the huge portions. I often don't rent a car but I bring a suitcase of snacks, water bottles, juice boxes etc. The convenience store at SSR sells lots of things but its very pricey. So I bring my own cereal (in a tupperware container) and then just buy the milk. By eating breakfast in the room and having some of my own snacks I save a lot. For my family of four which is basically now four adults (kids are 10 and 12) we have eaten for around $75-100 a day average for a ten day trip. That generally meant around 3 character meals and the rest was cs. And with bringing some of our own stuff, we could generally do one cs meal and maybe a snack or two (purchased) each day and do fine. Check out the menus with their pricing on www.allearsnet.com and that will really help you budget!

I do have to say however, the extra $20 a day and doing the DDP will really add quite a lot. Then you don't have to bring your own stuff, you can just pig out in peace and be done with it! Neither way is wrong, but you will eat way better, for not that much more. Now that we have done the DDP I must say the worry of budgeting was in some ways not worth the savings.

 

[kaytieeldr]

4. Willing to use Garden grocer. Not a soda drinker and limit son to no more than 1/day. Already planning on best route to get water (I am a firm believer in at least 8 glasses/day)

Um, maybe I'm missing something... but wouldn't the best way to get water be to have it delivered by Garden Grocer with the rest of your order?

 

[rockstargeisha]

My boyfriend and I are planning to do exactly this for our stay come July. We are allowing ourselves to splurge on two nights for Boma and California Grill.

We will be making breakfast everyday in our room. Nutrigrain bars, cereal, coffee, and I'm baking banana bread the day before we leave and then saran wrapping individual pieces to grab and go.

We are also limiting buying snacks throughout the park. We plan on bringing goldfish crackers, chewy bars, baggies of carrot sticks etc.

We are each packing a water bottle to refill at fountains or asking for cups at eateries. Also, consider buying those crystal lite "to go" mixes. If you get tired of drinking water you can have lemonade or ice tea instead.

We did research the dining plan but it just didn't make sense for us. We rarely get appetizers and a dessert let alone both. I feel like so much food would go to waste. There's no way either of us could eat all that food. I wish people wouldn't just say get the dining plan, it doesn't work for everyone and I think it really depends on the type of eater you are and how often you want to sit down and have a meal.

I hope this helps!

 

[Amy&Dan]

We did research the dining plan but it just didn't make sense for us. We rarely get appetizers and a dessert let alone both. I feel like so much food would go to waste. There's no way either of us could eat all that food. I wish people wouldn't just say get the dining plan, it doesn't work for everyone and I think it really depends on the type of eater you are and how often you want to sit down and have a meal.

I hope this helps!

I see your point, but in the end you don't have to eat all the food they bring. We certainly didn't and by not eat I really mean not order. You do have a lot of sit downs however and thats why we don't do the DDP each trip and once the tip isn't included will likely never do it again. The OP asked for opinions and two of us gave them. That extra $20 a day would be even less since she wouldn't need to garden grocer, you can use your snack credits for water bottles which is what we did. If she just doesn't want to have a sit down every day that is a very valid reason to not do the DDP. To save what will likely be less than $20 a day however is a different story and I think thats why two of us told her the DDP might be worth a shot.

 

[rockstargeisha]

I see your point, but in the end you don't have to eat all the food they bring. We certainly didn't and by not eat I really mean not order. You do have a lot of sit downs however and thats why we don't do the DDP each trip and once the tip isn't included will likely never do it again. The OP asked for opinions and two of us gave them. That extra $20 a day would be even less since she wouldn't need to garden grocer, you can use your snack credits for water bottles which is what we did. If she just doesn't want to have a sit down every day that is a very valid reason to not do the DDP. To save what will likely be less than $20 a day however is a different story and I think thats why two of us told her the DDP might be worth a shot.

Oh I totally understand why the DDP is a good deal, if we had children or were staying for a longer period of time I'm sure we would have chosen to use the DDP. It's nice to know you can move credits around.

 

[richard_andmel]

That extra $20 a day would be even less since she wouldn't need to garden grocer, you can use your snack credits for water bottles which is what we did. If she just doesn't want to have a sit down every day that is a very valid reason to not do the DDP. To save what will likely be less than $20 a day however is a different story and I think thats why two of us told her the DDP might be worth a shot.

I have to admit that for us, the dining plan isn't worth it. But that is because we go for an AP room discount instead. For the OP, between the garden grocer and the small amount of soda/water you will be buying the extra $20 a day could make your trip a lot better.

 

[SGMCO]

For 2 Adults and 1 Kid 10 years old,
we were able to eat for $60.00 a day doing CS only in Oct. 2006.
I packed Breakfast Bars in luggage to
save on having to pay for Breakfast and made coffee in the room.
I would also pack simple prepacked snacks in luggage, just to bring with
you into the parks.
We ate 2 CS meals per day which ran about $30.00 each meal
for all 3 of us and we order soda with our meals.
If your child orders off of the kids menu, it cost less.
Your child is still at the age where the DDP is cheap $10.95,
but when they get to be 10 they are considered an adult
and cost around $38.98 per adult.
That is why we did not do the DDP because my DS cannot
eat as much as an adult but would still have to pay adult price.
You can go to Allears and see there menus and prices of CS and
that is how I knew where to eat in parks and around how much it
would cost.
The charactor Meal alone are very expensive and it will go over your budget for eating under $30.00 per day.
We ate 2 Charactor meals on our trip which cost $77.00 per meal for 3 and
this included tip.

 

[MPHARJ]

Anything is possible if you budget properly. I for one get very tired of CS meals. I love the DDP it gives us the opportunity to sit, relax, talk and eat where we wouldn't have been able to before. Again though as others said, the DDP is not for everyone, you have to decide that, but also you do not have to order everything you are entitled to. We saved our desserts for a snack, and opted foro muffins etc.. with a cs dessert and used them for breakfast. For us this is vacation and every time I have packed snacks to take along, they sit unopened or are smashed fromt he flight. I rarely eat breakfast as it is. I go to enjoy myself and dont want to worry about packing food the kids don't want. Tried it too many times. Everyone does things differently, and like I said we will grab muffins or fruit and bottled drinks for our cs meals and save them for breakfast, because we always purchase the refillable mugs. Never paid OOP on the DDP. You have to really weigh whether you want to eat a lot of cs meals.

 

[Colleen27]

I think it could be done if you're careful, but I'd go with the dining plan. It would add so much to the trip for a fairly small difference, and having those sit-down dinners are a great break from the heat and craziness of Disney days. If you use CS and snack credits wisely, you can share meals and get all the food you'll need from the DDP, saving the mark-up and delivery charge involved in using Garden Grocer.

Have you tried doing the math - adding up the costs of the TS meals you want (don't forget to include tax & tip, because the DDP covers those), the cost of the grocery delivery & estimated costs for other meal expenses and comparing that figure to the cost of the DDP? From a budget standpoint, we've found the DDP to be an excellent value, and with the new kids options, it would be a way to ensure your son is getting some veggies and water with most, if not all, meals.

 

[MomofKatie]

I went with my DD8 in January, and we averaged $50/day. We stayed 7 nights, and ate TS 7 times (3 buffets, 4 menu restaurants where we could share). I'd think you can absolutely keep your costs down to $30/day avg if you eat mostly CS and just do 2 or 3 TS meals. Our CS meals averaged less than $15 for the 2 of us, and we shared larger meals several times.

The biggest budget busters I can see would be drinks. We brought our own bottled H2O into the parks each day so we didn't have to purchase drinks often. We also didn't do very many snacks- we stuck to eating at mealtimes mostly.

 

[jcemom]

I think it can be done, but you'll have to share most CS meals to do it.

$30/night x 7 nights = $210

2 TS meals @ $50 each only leaves you with $110 left over.

Breakfast in the room (7)
TS lunch (2)
CS lunch (5)
CS dinner (7)

I'm not including breakfast in the room in the totals, assuming you're bringing that from home.

So, you have $110 left for roughly 12 CS meals. That's less than $10/meal. You'll need to share and maybe get cups of water in lieu of other drinks. But it can be done.

 

[Princess Stitch]

Here's how I look at it. For the extra $20 a day, you and your son can eat whatever you want. No worrying about buying the "expensive" thing on the menu. You can take leftovers back to your room to eat later, use snack credits for water, so you probably won't even need garden grocer.

Now, the first time I went to WDW was just after my parents got divoriced. We had bologna sandwiches for lunch in the room quite a few days and that was fine with me! If you plan to take a break from the parks then you can definately eat more economically out of your room. However, if you don't want to waste about 3 hours of your day going to the resort, having lunch and getting back to the park, maybe consider the meal plan..the best part is that it's already paid for so no stressing if you get to the park and things cost more than you think they will...

 

[KKB]

I'll say it again....bottled water was the most brilliant marketing campaign EVER!

Go to any CS, ask for a glass of ice water...viola! FREE! No need to pay for bottled water OR lug your own...

Some say they don't like the taste..fine. But I'd at least try it first! (sounds like it is NOT the same water at Kissimmee...which apparently has a lot of sulfur)

HTH!!!

PS Yes, you CAN eat for $30/day. I KNOW I can feed my family of 5 for less than $140/day. BUT NOT A LOT LESS...and not without lots of "Nos", sharing meals, and CS for the most part. Decided that the small increase in cost is worth the luxury of DDP. You are planning on spending $210 v. $350. Signifigant, for sure. It came down to hassle & variety for me.

 

[Praise God]

What great responses - thanks everyone for breaking it down for me.
I had already checked out the menus on Allears and had made some ADRs in case I went with the DDP. If I use all my ADR's I will definitely get my money's worth.
Even with DDP, I would probably still get extra water only because now that I have water filters in my house, I am much more sensitive to the taste of water than I used to be, but will refill at CS as necessary (KKB, I used to be a big scoffer of bottled water too!)

It definitely does come down to convenience. Saving anything less than $20/day would put convenience way ahead
Last year (unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I went to an all inclusive family resort and was spoiled with not having to budget everything and having a lot less "no's".
(I did the peanut butter sandwiches thing right after my divorce, but fortunately he was too young to really understand what he was missing)

The main reason I am considering the DDP is because he is still considered a child (but with a healthy appetite, so will probably eat some of my food too) and also this will probably be our only time staying in Disney itself.
My mom lives about an hour away and most visits to WDW are just simple day trips.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I'll say it again....bottled water was the most brilliant marketing campaign EVER!

Go to any CS, ask for a glass of ice water...viola! FREE! No need to pay for bottled water OR lug your own...

Some say they don't like the taste..fine. But I'd at least try it first! (sounds like it is NOT the same water at Kissimmee...which apparently has a lot of sulfur)

HTH!!!

Yes, thats a good point. I do that, I just fill up my bottle with the ice water they give me so that I can take it with me. But I still bring some of my own and buy some more. I drink 100 oz of water a day on average and believe me, its good to have free water, bottled water, any water I can get to get it all in! The reason I spent my snack credits on bottled water is because I was so full from all the food, I had no room for snacks! But I do have to agree, bottled water is kinda funny in the end. I only buy it at WDW if then!

 

[richard_andmel]

Some say they don't like the taste..fine. But I'd at least try it first! (sounds like it is NOT the same water at Kissimmee...which apparently has a lot of sulfur)

WDW water has plenty of sulpher. It may not be as bad as Kissimmee, but it is bad enough to be a problem for us. There are many people who have a very low tolerance for sulpher and it does nasty things to their system. Finding that out in the middle of a very expensive vacation can be pretty annoying.

Plus WDW water just tastes bad... (Not the stuff they give you at a restaurant, the stuff coming out of the taps and fountains.)

 

[vpalmer]

What great responses - thanks everyone for breaking it down for me.
I had already checked out the menus on Allears and had made some ADRs in case I went with the DDP. If I use all my ADR's I will definitely get my money's worth.
Even with DDP, I would probably still get extra water only because now that I have water filters in my house, I am much more sensitive to the taste of water than I used to be, but will refill at CS as necessary (KKB, I used to be a big scoffer of bottled water too!)

It definitely does come down to convenience. Saving anything less than $20/day would put convenience way ahead
Last year (unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I went to an all inclusive family resort and was spoiled with not having to budget everything and having a lot less "no's".
(I did the peanut butter sandwiches thing right after my divorce, but fortunately he was too young to really understand what he was missing)

The main reason I am considering the DDP is because he is still considered a child (but with a healthy appetite, so will probably eat some of my food too) and also this will probably be our only time staying in Disney itself.
My mom lives about an hour away and most visits to WDW are just simple day trips.

In your case I would go for the plan. It will be a great deal since your son is 9 and has a healthy appetite. Plus the extra $20 a day will make a huge difference in terms of where you eat. It sounds like this onsite trip is a rare treat and a splurge is in order. Go for it!!!

 

[sportears]

You can do that, but it takes a lot of the enjoyment out of the trip. We were there during Easter, and the 3 of us, wife, 12 yr old daughter (who eats like a bird) and I were there 4 days (really 3 1/2), 3 nights. Our meal cost, including snacks, was over $1000, and that's what we budget for every year.

To us, dining is a big part of the overall Disney experience. With all of the hustle and bustle fighting the crowds at the parks, we like to relax and enjoy "quality table service meals". (However, it's becoming harder and harder to find a quality meal at disney).

Not that we're big eaters in any way, we like to eat foods that we normally can't find at home. Normally Relaxation and Disney are never found in the same sentence. But we've worn our selves out too many times to know that relaxing meals add a tremendous amount to the whole disney experience.