Food budget plans are better than I expected.

[crazymomof4]

Not a plan for gourmet eaters! If you are, stop reading now!

My DH and I were worried about the expense of food in WDW so we came up with a plan. We are staying in a rental house so we knew we would do at least a small breakfast. My DH suggested getting up a little earlier and making a full breakfast (pancakes, bacon, eggs, etc.). Cooking is a "hobby" for him so the actual amount of effort for me will be minimal. DH's theory is that with a big breakfast in us, and taking some things to snack on (granola bars, crackers) we will last until about 1-2 pm before we get hungry. Then we will have a decent size meal at the counter service places we chose, snack some more from our supply until a light meal around 6-7pm.

Next, I printed out the menus from deb's site and my DH and I looked over them together and chose places to eat. Then we told the kids to pick out what they would want. This at least gave us a "ballpark" figure.

Here are some of the totals we arrived at for the 1-2pm meal at counter service places:
~ Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe- $26 for the family dinner and 1 other entree/side to supplement.
~Pecos Bill's- $27 for burgers and salads, fries.
~Sunshine Food Fair- $33 for veggie wraps, salad, chicken strips, etc.
~Yakatori House-$28. for skewered beef/chicken & rice.
~Sommerfest-$33 for smoked ham, bratwurst sandwiches.

For the light meal at 6-7pm we plan on getting nachos, eggrolls, baked potatoes, turkey legs, etc. No definite plans, just grabbing things as we pass something that looks good. These snack-type foods could add up to another $20-$30/day. And then add another $20. for ice cream/cookies. We will be bringing water with us so beverage costs are minimal.

Anyway, with this plan it looks like most days we will be under $100/day total for food. This is well under the $200/day I had originally budgeted.

I understand that not everyone wants to eat soley at counter service restaurants. This plan is sufficient for us, for this trip. We really want to put our $$ toward fun in the parks and food is secondary to that. My DH and I did several trips before the kids came so we did the "two sit-down meals a day" thing. We know we will do that again when we are "empty-nesters", so for now saving $$ is the priority. The kids would rather eat in a more casual setting. So everyone is a winner here! We have 2 exceptions planned: Character Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare (came free w/ our ticket purchase from Paramount) and lunch at Sci Fi (We wanted the kids to experience the drive-in atmosphere)

I thought I'd post bc. I am so happy with the results of this planning. So much better than going down there, having no idea what we're going to be spending on food, then trying to keep track of it while we are down there and still being shocked when the credit card bill comes in.

 

[Mic]

Crazymom-
From 1 "crazymomof4" to another, I could not imagine getting to WDW without checking out menus and planning a little in advance for the cost of meals. We check out the menus before each trip, and get an idea of what everyone will eat, too. And we usually have a kitchen, too(thanks to DVC), so I think the big breakfast idea will work. The last time we took relatives with us, I purchased most of our perishables at the Winn-Dixie near Downtown Disney, and found their prices to be quite reasonable. To save my SIL money(and a lot of time), I made a big breakfast each morning, we had a nice sit-down lunch in the parks, and took an afternoon break by the pool each day. We even had dinner in the room most nights, so we spent a lot less than most folks. Sounds like you are well on your way to a great trip!

 

[maggiew]

I think your plan sounds great! We love Cosmic Rays and the Yakitori House. Even at home my kids ask for some "Yakitori". We haven't tried your other places, but plan to some day.

Here is what we usually do:

Eat a quick snack in the morning in hotel room (we don't usually have a kitchen) - something like a poptart, nutrigrain bar, doughnut, etc. that we bring with us.

Eat a character breakfast at one of the last available time slots (10:30 - 11 am). This fills us up for a long time and serves as out lunch.

Then we eat some counter service restaurant for dinner around 5 - 6 pm.

If we get hungry later, that is when we go for the Mickey Bar or Dole Whip or whatever treat.

It has worked well for us and we only need to eat the 2 meals per day. Plus we don't feel like we miss out on anything (sit down places, characters) by having the character breakfast.

This put us at around $100 per day too.

Maggie

 

[cinderella_bella]

What we did last time to save money on food worked pretty good for us. We were staying off property and the full buffet breakfast was included in hotel price. So we stuffed our selves full with breakfast. We only had a small fridge and micro in our room so we make sandwhiches and brought our own bottled water and juice and also brought pudding, jello, fruit gummies etc in our cooler. Then we had a good supper of whatever we wanted. It also helped me maintain my weighloss for that summer(that was just a bonus to me). We did buy some snacks in the park like ice cream and other things but not too much. It left us with tons of money to buy other things. Thanks for your tips I didn't know you could check out food prices last time we went but then again I didn't know about this site

Tania

 

[crazymomof4]

Originally posted by cinderella_bella
I didn't know you could check out food prices last time we went but then again I didn't know about this site

Tania

It's been posted many times before but here's the menu site again in case someone reading this thread needs it:

http://wdwig.com/menu/menus.htm

 

[jann1033]

haven't been for afew years but we always eat a little breakfast (unless we are on a out of park day, then we go to trail"s end. for breakfast..good food and reasonable) eat a nice sit down lunch ( even when the kids were younger the break was nice) and a light meal for dinner...that way we could try some of the nicer resturuants more reasonably. usually MK was fast food cause none of the restaurants were that great any way, but definitly the other way at epcot and MGM. I was kind off figureing out from menus this way and thought we could easily stay in the ball park of 60-70 a day for 2( or maybe a little more somedays a little less others ) last time with the kids it was maybe 75 a day but at that time the lunch and dinner prices were the same( rip off)

 

[SheriB]

We always eat a "large" breakfast with all the 4 food groups. We find that eating that protein in the morning carries us much farther into the day before we need another meal. Of course we take snacks and water along.
We eat our big meal anywhere between 2 and 4 in the afternoon, and then snack later at night.
I think your plan is great, and is a great way to save money. We usually only do one character meal the whole trip, whether it's breakfast or dinner-it alternates(usually breakfast).
Hope you have a great trip!

Sheri

 

[abeyst]

Great ideas crazymomof4! I'm only a crazy mom of 2, but I did almost the same planning last night!

For us, it's a toss up which is cheaper-buffets or sit down meals. My husband eats so much (usually 2 entrees per meal) that I like to take him to buffets. But DS is 4 and eats like a bird, so I don't like to pay for a buffet meal for him when he barely eats one pancake and (if I'm lucky) an egg.

We have a few past trips under our belts I can use for experience, and this trip in September will have a combination of snacks in room, counter service, a character meal or two, and a couple sit down restaurants. Because we're only spending 3 of the 8 days in the parks, I could plan meals one way on "park days" and "non park days" another.

Park days will be a light breakfast so we'll be at the park for early entry. We'll ride everything we can until lunch which will be sit-down meals. Back to the hotel after lunch to swim/nap, grab a snack and back to the park for a ride or two and nightly show. We'll then grab a pizza from the boardwalk and go back to the room. Unless we're at EPCOT for the night, then we're definitely eating in the park!

Non park days are a big breakfast at Spoodles or one of the resorts, maybe a light lunch back at our hotel or DTD or possibly something by the pool, then a big dinner.

For all of these days I printed menus from Deb's site to figure costs. I set up an Excel spreadsheet and listed each meal for each day, and next to it the total of what I think we'll eat (plus a little extra for DH appetite!) and the tip. (You can't forget to figure the tip in your budget for any sit-down meals!) I averaged $125/day for 8 days. I'm sure I estimated high, and there will be meals DS won't feel like eating and will grab something from our room, so we'll still come out ahead. Plus, I think there may be more counter service meals instead of sit down meals that I have planned, so that will save $$ too. With young kids it's just easier to grab food when you can than to plan PS and have a sit down meal. But still, $125/day is alot better than the $200/day I thought we'd definitely need!

Your plan sounds great, momof4, thanks for sharing. Glad to see there's other "planning moms" out there! It makes for a less stressful vacation when you don't have to wonder everyday if you're spending too much on food! Have a great trip!

 

[jann1033]

have you checked out the meal voucher deals? ( tons of comments on them on budget and dining threads)I figured it out from the menus( already mentioned) and it seems like we will be able to spend (2 adults) about 350 for 7 days, (l and d) including fantasmic package (cheapest) and GF tea( t for 2) and a dinner at Trails's end( my hubby's favorite) with 4 sit down lunches. the rest of dinners and 1 lunch are with vouchers. I'll probably bring bagels or something from home fror breakfasts. I'm on Weight watchers so while i won't be pigging out I do have to eat healthy( which always costs more than Junk!) so I may need to get an occasional salad( figured an extra 50 for that kind of stuff). my hub is a big eater but gauging from previous trips we will have enough food.
I'll be interested to see what happens since it sure LOOKS cheaper than what i anticipated before I checked the vouchers out.

 

[frannn]

when DH and I go alone, we usually do 2 meals/day, mostly counter service, a few character meals, off site, and food court. This year, we are taking DD1, so we wanted to incorporate more character meals and will probably do 3 meals/day (sharing with DD1 and supplementing with her bottles & a little applesauce, etc). With all of my PS (8 of them), and estimating 3 meals/day, it will cost approximately 750. for 11 days. I have very few offsite meals planned, but I did plan on buying Connections vouchers and using Entertainment book coupons. We will not be sharing any meals except two lunches at RFC with VKL vouchers, because I read there is enough food for two people with one meal. I did not add in snacks and drinks. I usually pack some & we will stop at the supermarket in FL for this. DH usually buys a coke or 2 a day in the park, so figure another 50. for this. I will be ok with store bought water or punch because I like diet and don't drink a lot of soda. Did I do good? Or would you consider 800. being frivilous? I don't have any of the fancier sit down/non character meals planned. I also happen to love Pepper Market, so I will try to convince DH to do this 2X for dinner with the vouchers.

 

[WIcruizer]

I think it depends on several things. Which park you go to that day, how many in your family, age of kids, etc. No budget really, just tried to be sensible.

We tryed a new idea this year, by accident really. First, let me say the hotel we stayed at had a good (not great) continental bfast. So we had fruit, cereal, bagels, etc. every morning of our trip. We packed snacks, frozen water bottles, etc. on park days. For lunch we wouldn't have much...maybe share a meal or two from counter service...have a snack here and there. Then we would leave the park around 4:00 or 5:00PM to have dinner off-site and rest briefly in our hotel room.

This worked out great!!!! The restaurants weren't at all busy at this time for dinner, and we ate at several restaurants that were VERY good and less costly than the WDW restaurants. Just sitting there..relaxing in the AC restaurant...then our room..recharged everyone (adult and children alike) for the rest of the day. Get back to WDW at 7:00 and ebjoy the rest of the night. This works really well at AK, because frankly we're done well before 4:00. It also works at MK because we go there 2 days. MGM you can take a boat over to the Boardwalk and have a sandwich at ESPN. Epcot we spend a bit more on food because there's so much to sample.

I would say our family of 4 averaged about $80/day. That includes one day where we just had one big buffet at a Chinese restaurant (maybe $40 the whole day) and one day where we had a great meal at Joe's Crab Shack (over $100 that day) Chevy's is also very good.

Basically, the less you eat and drink INSIDE WDW the better off you'll be...but we all knew that already...lol

 

[crazymomof4]

Besides trying to cut costs another reason we are doing the counter service only thing this time is this: DH and I were never overly impressed with the food at the sit-down restaurants where we ate over the course of several trips. I mean it was OK, but if we had to cut costs somewhere we really are not going to miss that food. If anything, the atmoshere of some of the sit-downs is what we will miss more.