Food budget help?

[Mizzgolitely]

Im checking out the menus online, and doing a rough estimate budget - tell me what you think.....

Me & my boyfriend are staying at CSR for 6 nights.... here is my breakdown -

We are pretty much planning on counter service for bfast & lunches nothing fancy.... for dinner I have res at Portobello Yacht Club, San Angel Inn, Kona Cafe, Concourse Steakhouse, ESPN Club, and Hard Rock Cafe.......

Breakfast for 2 = $20 per day total
Lunch for 2 = $25 per day
Dinner for 2 = $100 per day
Snacks for 2 = $20 per day

Is this a good figure to go on??? more less? help

 

[pavil]

It would make sense for you.

$37 per person per day.

You would still have breakfasts and additional snacks to pay for plus adult beverages. Even then you would make out pretty good I think.

 

[Harvestmooner]

I would also suggest the dinning plan!!! You will never go hungry on it!!!

 

[KKB]

You REALLY need to get the DDP (Disney dining plan).
If you have Magic Your Way tickets (at least base tickets) and for $38.99/day per person you will get:
1 Snack credit (generally any item under $4)
1 Counter service meal (generally includes meal--burger & fries or whatever--, dessert & drink)
1 Table service meal (includes appetizer, entree, dessert, drink & tip)
Remember--all of this is PER PERSON!

Hard Rock is obviously not on the plan, and neither does Portobello...but you would still come out WAY ahead!

My advice is to get the plan, and find 2 restaurants to fill in those 2 spots. (or if your heart is set on one of those, pick a top end restaurant that requires 2TS credits per meal)

Good luck!

 

[disneyjunebug]

Also, at the HRC, if you are a AAA member, you get 10% off!

 

[Forevryoung]

Actually I'm in the same position as you- just my boyfriend and I going

He wants bigger breakfasts some days so I had to allot for that as well.

Therefore, we are planning on staying at the swan with a government discount- a deluxe hotel with the DDP would be more expensive than my food budget (which is huge) plus the car fare to and from the airport.

We NEVER get an appetizer, entree and dessert each. We share an appi and a dessert if we order one.

We would wind up paying $120 in out of pocket meals on top of the DDP and alcohol expenses.

We would be tied to the plan and wouldn't be inclined to cancel meals if we weren't hungry or wanted to eat somewhere else.

Yes, we could save approximately $200 by doing the DDP with a moderate resort (with the DDP staying the way it is) but if there is any change to the DDP that goes down the drain. I doubt it would be worth it to switch from the Swan to POFQ just for the added amount of food on the DDP.

Just stopped seeming worth it. Someone please tell me if I'm wrong (I know it's not for everyone though)

 

[Colleen27]

Actually I'm in the same position as you- just my boyfriend and I going

He wants bigger breakfasts some days so I had to allot for that as well.

Therefore, we are planning on staying at the swan with a government discount- a deluxe hotel with the DDP would be more expensive than my food budget (which is huge) plus the car fare to and from the airport.

We NEVER get an appetizer, entree and dessert each. We share an appi and a dessert if we order one.

We would wind up paying $120 in out of pocket meals on top of the DDP and alcohol expenses.

We would be tied to the plan and wouldn't be inclined to cancel meals if we weren't hungry or wanted to eat somewhere else.

Yes, we could save approximately $200 by doing the DDP with a moderate resort (with the DDP staying the way it is) but if there is any change to the DDP that goes down the drain. I doubt it would be worth it to switch from the Swan to POFQ just for the added amount of food on the DDP.

Just stopped seeming worth it. Someone please tell me if I'm wrong (I know it's not for everyone though)

We came to the same conclusion for our upcoming trip. We loved the DDP on our last trip, but it was free then.

Actually, it was the resort issue that tipped the scales against it for us - the $125/night difference between a Disney deluxe and the Dolphin took any possible value out of the dining plan, and the fact that we want DS9 to be able to order from the adult menu if he so chooses made the plan even less practical. Either we age him up and pay the adult ticket & meal plan price to give him the option of ordering what he likes, or we pay OOP for some meals for him. Plus since the kids are getting older (well, they're still little, but old enough to enjoy nice, leisurely meals), we want more TS and fewer CS than the plan provides.

 

[Forevryoung]

Colleen27, thank you for completely confirming that I made the right decision.

The only thing that I switched for "economical" reasons was I want a late lunch Coral Reef ADR instead of spending the extra $30 for the same food for dinner

I'm even more excited now!

 

[Mizzgolitely]

Unfortunately, I am not allowed to to the DDP because my room is discounted, so they will not allow the program to be added to my plan. I am a travel agent and im getting the agent discount....

 

[momandseandodisney]

It would make sense for you.

$37 per person per day.

You would still have breakfasts and additional snacks to pay for plus adult beverages. Even then you would make out pretty good I think.

I think the same thing!

 

[pavil]

Breakfast for 2 = $20 per day total
Lunch for 2 = $25 per day
Dinner for 2 = $100 per day
Snacks for 2 = $20 per day

Is this a good figure to go on??? more less? help

In that case it looks pretty good, maybe a little high for breakfast unless you are doing sitdown rest. breakfast. Lunch again might be a little high, not by much though, if you are doing counter service. Might actually be low if you go TS. A good eating dinner ie splitting an app and desssert with drinks and tip will run at least 50 a person. Thats a lot of food you will be eating with B/L/D you might want to either just do a late big breakfast or an early lunch each day not both. You don't want to be half full at some of the better Dinners you are going to.


Like someone said AAA works at the Hard Rock and even in their gift shop you get something after you purchase a certain amount. It never hurts to show your AAA card everywhere I've found. It saved me 15% off one of the best prime rib places in Detroit.

It never hurts to try and add the Dining plan on when you get there, you never know what might happen.

Enjoy your trip

 

[Stinky_Pete]

It amazes me how many people jump in and say others should get the dining plan without looking at the whole picture.

I am going in December. At this point I am not planning on doing the dining plan because I am anticipating an AP discount, which cannot be combined with the DDP. Here are some numbers based on what I've heard about the AP discount last year:

With DDP
DDP for two: $78/day
WL Woods View Rack Rate: $240/night
Total: $318/day

Without DDP
WL Woods View Discount Rate: $179/night

Difference: $139/day

While there will be a day or two that we may spend more than $139 on food (like the day we have dinner at CG) I seriously doubt the two of us will exceed $1,112 total during our 8 day stay ($139 x 8). I plan on one CS most days and one TS most days (with alcoholic drinks, which are OOP on DDP). There may be a day with two CS meals, and days with two TS meals. I still don't think we will exceed an average of $139 per day.

Am I guaranteed that there will be an AP discount? No. If there isn't one I may get the DDP. But to determine what the true cost of the DDP is all options need to explored.