Family of 4 per day budget - non DDP

[momof2intx]

We are a family of 4, our kids are teens now so they eat as adults (and have adult appetites too!). I've done the math and going without the DDP actually comes out a little better for us.

I'm just wondering what your per-day park $$ budget is for those of you who do Disney without the dining plan? Consider one TS per day (which is usually what we do, except for AK and water parks).

When we travel we always set a per day budget. Whatever we don't use on a day, goes back in and gets divided up for the remaining days etc. Even when my husband and I go on our annual Vegas trips, we do the same. Curious as to who else does this?

 

[goingtowdwwithkiddos]

I did the same thing and for our family of 5 DDP did not seem like a better deal, DD3 would not eat always she will share DS10 will prefer kids meals, we will not always eat desert etc........... I am not doing a per day budget we have ADR daily for TS and CRT prepaid, so I figure if I stay under what the DDP is I am good. We only go about every 5 years so I try not to stress over money during ordering food

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

We are also a family of 4, kids are 12 and 15. We do the envelope per day thing on all our vacations as well. It is great knowing that even if all the money is spent there is a new envelope waiting for the next day. For our trip this August I was going to pay for the QSDP which would be $150 per day. After thinking about all those desserts plus snacks that we would probably never pay oop for we decided against the ddp.
I will put $150 in an envelope for each day and according to my calculations we will be able to do 3 meals each per day with money left over (which is added into the next days amount).

 

[Darcy03231]

If you go to www.allears.net the menus for the different places are posted and you can budget depending on what your family likes to eat.

Overall, I've found that most adult meals with a drink runs $8-$10 for CS and $25-$35 for TS. For kids $6-$8 for CS and $10-$15 for TS. If you go with the higher number for 2 adults and 2 kids it would be about $170 day for 2 CS and 1 TS meal pp/per day. This wouldn't include snacks, tips or alcohol. If it were me, I'd budget $200 a day for food, unless you tend to be the type of people who order the cheapest things on the menu, share a lot of meals, or only eat 2 meals a day. If so, I'd drop it down to $150-$175.

 

[hsmamato2]

best guess with one TS 2 QS per day is approx 250 for 4 people per day,depending on choices you make.
for my fam of 4, when eating almost all QS, we average about 100.00 per day for 4 of us. A TS meal for 4 is probably 100.00 minimum...and up.AT a buffet,it's approx. 30.00 pp to eat,so that plus tip.... Oops,edited to add that we eat cereal and coffee in our room,(just bring a box and buy some milk) then it's approx. 100 for 4 QS per day....it could be less, but we eat alot.

 

[disney1990]

For counter service only with daily snacks, we budget $15 per person, per meal. So for 4 people, it would be $120 a day. Even with that budget, we can usually throw in a TS meal at least once during the week - depending on where we eat.

 

[momof2intx]

Then we're right on track. I had planned $200/day but that also would include snacks (we love the frozen bananas!) and a soda or two (most if the time we do free ice water with crystal light packets). I had originally planned on doing the dessert party and the lunch at Tusker House but at those prices we'd never be able to eat enough for it to make sense.

Our TS meals will be lunches at Liberty Tree Tavern, Nine Dragons and 50's prime time cafe. All others will be QS and maybe a meal at Ragland Road after Typhoon Lagoon. I did check the menus before hand and think they will probably run about $80-$85 for us. I'm a vegetarian and most times ill just order a salad or appetizer instead of one if the entrees.

I love the person who talked about the envelope system....that's exactly how we do it! It makes it so much easier to keep track. We use only cash, no room charging and no credit/debit cards. That way I don't have any bills to pay when I get home....which is nice!

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

We just came back and did about $200 a day for 4 of us self, dh, ds17, ds 14. We did a TS every day, Tusker Character bk, 50's, sci -fi, cape may for dinner, San Angel,... Tons of snacks, counter svc for brkfast and lunches, tons of dolewhip, pretzels, funnel cake...My kids can eat!

The $ worked out well, we also had TIW which since we go several times a yr is good for us.

 

[momof2intx]

Wow! You really got a lot out of your money, that's great!

 

[prov3v56]

For our trip next summer we are planning on $150 a day. It is myself, DH, DS14 and DD10. We are planning on eating some breakfasts in the room and then QS for lunch and dinner. We are also planning a few sit down meals but I have that budgeted separately from our daily budget.

We are still trying to decide the best way to do this (cash envelopes, charge back to the room, debit card). I did find an app for my phone that acts like a check registry and allows you to put a starting amount and then enter each transaction and left over money will transfer to the next day.

In the past we have put money on a disney gift card and used that for all purchases and it worked well.

 

[chrystalc77]

My DH suggested buying Disney gift cards for what the DDP would cost us if we booked it to see how far ahead we would come out if we paid for food OOP. We would use the rest on souvenirs... We've always had the DDP so I'm going to be a little outside of my comfort zone trying it his way!!!

 

[bigbabyblues]

When we were planning for our trip next week, I used the menus at Allears and made a spreadsheet. I knew we would have two,days at each park, one water park day, etc. i know which places we like to eat, so I picked things from the menus that we are likely to order and added it all up. It isn't exact because someone may want something different than I used, but I think I came pretty close. We have three ADRs and the rest is probably cs.

 

[disney1990]

If you have a Target Red card, don't forget that you can buy Disney Gift cards at 5% off and then use those to pay for your meals. If staying on property, just put them against your resort account and charge right to your room key.

 

[Sparkly]

We always do the daily envelope thing too. We budgeted $150 a day for the 3 of us (so $1500 for 10 days) and could eat very comfortably on that for 3 meals a day and snacks. We ended up bringing some home too!

 

[goingtowdwwithkiddos]

well I know I wasn't OP but thank you everyone for the responses we are going for 7 full days with 2 travel day (plane arrive at dinner time and leave early). so for the 7 days and the 5 of us I am going to aim for 200 a day. we bought 1000 in giftcards via target so we will just use room key, though I love the envelope idea. Oh and I am having about $200 delivered from garden grocer which will include water, snacks, breakfast stuff, and maybe some sandwich stuff. We are staying at POR so no kitchen....

 

[nuswiss]

So what would be the pros of doing the DDP? I'm new on here so hope I'm not doing anything wrong by asking this question here.

 

[momof2intx]

Lots of people love the DDP, it's just not for us. We rarely eat desserts with our meals and keeping track of what's covered each day, how many snacks etc is just too much thinking for me to do while I'm on vacation.

To those with the $150-$200/ day budget, did u include souvenirs in that as well? In years past we always drove from TX to Disney so we could bring back as much as we wanted but this year we are flying and the baggage fees etc will limit us to what we can carry on, on the way home.

 

[Lisa71]

We love the DDP and have not found it difficult or confusing. We do not eat much dessert here and on our Disney trips we usually asked for an extra water at CS and they would let us count it as desserts. I like not worrying on vacation and just eating good TS (we eat out about twice a month at home). We like not freaking about character meal prices and loved our Tusker House lunch and other meals. We figure $200 per day if out of pocket. It was less last time to do the DDP but only because we at at flying fish and multiple character meals.

 

[goingtowdwwithkiddos]

To those with the $150-$200/ day budget, did u include souvenirs in that as well? In years past we always drove from TX to Disney so we could bring back as much as we wanted but this year we are flying and the baggage fees etc will limit us to what we can carry on, on the way home.

well I was thinking 200 for food I was not counting Souvenirs I am on vacation and we will be flying . Really I am not much of a budget person (i like good value though) and will spend what we want to have fun. I for one plan to get DB so yeah.

 

[goingtowdwwithkiddos]

So what would be the pros of doing the DDP? I'm new on here so hope I'm not doing anything wrong by asking this question here.

Last trip (5 years ago) we did DDP it included tips though and was a great way to vacation. This trip we chose not to because
1. I am no longer 260 lbs and the thought of eating dessert 2x a day makes me sick
2. Kids age DD3 would have to pay and she really will not eat much (likely will share most times) DS 10 would have to pay adult price and he will likely order kids meals (though wepaid adult price at CRT)
3. We only drink water so paying for drinks is a crazy thought.

I think it is really nice having it included if it is a good value though or if you need help budgeting