Food Budget

[Julia Ann]

trying to factor everything into our savings for our 2015 trip, it's been a while since our last visit (2006) to remember meal prices. I need to do some serious research on the Dining section i think. Whats the general budget per day for dining, we are not really big eaters and me and DH sometimes share a meal if it's a big portion. We tend to only do waiter served in the evenings we do like Rainforest Cafe but happy to go to TGI'S/pizzahut and we tend to eat breakfast in the room (donuts/croissants/cereal bars) ....a big expense if i remember was all the bottled water I bought in the parks

I've got 50 quid a day on my initial budget..... let me know your thoughts, are the portions still big?

 

[orangetiggs]

Check out all ears for their menus alot are quite current so gives you an idea on prices. We normally use dining plan so dont really set a budget

 

[dixonsontour]

Staying offsite I budget $100 a day for 2 adults and a child.

I've done two dining on a budget threads - links in my signature with lots of details on prices. Hope they help - any questions let me know.

 

[Julia Ann]

thanks both - I will take a look at those.

 

[mollies_mum]

Reading the Dixonsontour dining trip reports really helped me as this is our first time offsite and I had no idea of prices for eating offsite. We are budgeting $150 a day for food, that is for 2 adults, 1 teenager and 1 three year old. Hope this helps x

 

[queendisney]

a big expense if i remember was all the bottled water I bought in the parks

have you thought of maybe ordering water from the Garden Grocer to be delivered to your hotel, or maybe going to walmart or even Walgreen and buying it in bulk? It works out so much cheaper and also tastes a whole load better then that Dasani stuff they offer at Disney!

 

[Magic Megadegs]

have you thought of maybe ordering water from the Garden Grocer to be delivered to your hotel, or maybe going to walmart or even Walgreen and buying it in bulk? It works out so much cheaper and also tastes a whole load better then that Dasani stuff they offer at Disney!

Oh goodness, I'd forgotten about that horrible Dasani water. Why does it taste so weird!

OP we budget on around $100 per day for food for 2 adults and 2 children. That includes buffet type breakfast or cereal off site, counter service lunch onsite and dinner off site. Sometimes it is more, other times less but that is our rough estimate. Hope that helps xxx

We would never, ever eat at a table service on site as simply could not justify the cost. We are staying on site this year for the first time ever and have free ddp but otherwise would never be able to try them x

 

[dixonsontour]

have you thought of maybe ordering water from the Garden Grocer to be delivered to your hotel, or maybe going to walmart or even Walgreen and buying it in bulk? It works out so much cheaper and also tastes a whole load better then that Dasani stuff they offer at Disney!

That's what we do - case of water at walmart is $3 or $4 dollars - so 12 bottles for the price of one in the park.

If you freeze water then it stays cool all day. Also we keep a small coolbag in the car with 2 frozen bottles of water in - very welcome when you walk back to the car.

Universal and seaworld do refill mugs if you like fizzy drinks. A cup costs approx $7 but refills only a dollar. One cup will do universal and I of Adventure all holiday. The seaworld mug can be used at seaworld, aquatica and busch.

 

[tinkerpea]

Also remember that if you don't want to pay out for water in the park that any QS place will happily give you a cup of iced water free, I find that many people think that water tastes better then the dasani too! Lol that stuff is just plan awful.

 

[wildwood]

We often get free water from the counters , full of ice and the even give you large cups . On two occasions last year once in MK and once in HS I went and asked for water and they gave me soda for free

 

[wayneg]

We are 3 adults, spending around $50/nt offsite Table service, $30 inpark lunch Counter service. Water we bought 24 bottles for $4 at Walgreens last week, this week bought a gallon for $2 from Publix.
Vouchers save quite a bit, 2 nights ago $5 off at Logans Roadhouse, last night $10 off at Mimis Cafe, I have a couple of $10 off for Bahama Breeze and a couple of 20% off at Sweet Tomatoes still to use iff needed. Register with all the websites.
We average $100-110/day for 3 of us including meals, inroom alcohol, tips & snacks.

 

[Laszkowicz]

We are 3 adults, spending around $50/nt offsite Table service, $30 inpark lunch Counter service. Water we bought 24 bottles for $4 at Walgreens last week, this week bought a gallon for $2 from Publix.
Vouchers save quite a bit, 2 nights ago $5 off at Logans Roadhouse, last night $10 off at Mimis Cafe, I have a couple of $10 off for Bahama Breeze and a couple of 20% off at Sweet Tomatoes still to use iff needed. Register with all the websites.
We average $100-110/day for 3 of us including meals, inroom alcohol, tips & snacks.

Wayne $50 for three adults of site evening dinner sounds good.
This is making me think twice about booking too many character dinners as they're like 39-59$ each. That could be like $200 for one evening meal for us all (4)

I might book one or 2 max.

 

[mollies_mum]

Wayne $50 for three adults of site evening dinner sounds good.
This is making me think twice about booking too many character dinners as they're like 39-59$ each. That could be like $200 for one evening meal for us all (4)

I might book one or 2 max.

Character lunches and breakfasts are slightly cheaper, that's what we are doing to try and keep the cost down. There's no way I could justify that much for dinner!

 

[Julia Ann]

Thanks all. Actually I do remember getting some iced water from a counter.I can't remember if it tasted any good but at least free. Thanks Wayneg.

 

[scoobydooby]

If paying out of pocket we budget $250 per day for food for four, not including the tip. That would be for one CS per day, one TS per day and breakfast in the room. That would also allow money for snacks, a couple of more expensive meals offset by a few less expensive ones. Could do it for less but on that budget we will have left over so not worry about overspending. Other context. 14 year old is an eating machine, 11 year old will still eat some kids meals or choose a starter for her entree.

 

[scoobydooby]

Sorry should also have said that's eating all meals at Disney. I'm not interested in eating off site. Could do it much cheaper eating off site but that's not how we personally holiday.

 

[queendisney]

I was asking DH about this...we have had FD for the last few years but when we don't we really don't spend much at all. We normally have toast (we buy the bread in walmart etc) in the food court with maybe a side of scrambled egg, then we normally just have a quick lunch somewhere and maybe something like pasta and a side salad when we get back to POR, which we often share as its huge. So all in all on average we only spend about $50 per day. Which is why if free dining wasn't on we would never pay for it. We just find that we don't eat that much when we are there. Obviously we do have days where we may have booked a table service somewhere but the food part of our holiday is not that important to us but we certainly are not a 'burger and fries' couple. We just eat for the sake of it when we have FD... It makes me sound like a thin supermodel...I WISH!!