Food cost for 4? Help!!!

[RitaE]

Having done both I can tell you our experiences.

It all depends upon what is important to making your vacation nice.

Offsite is a different type of vacation. It may or it may not be cheaper than a week at a Disney hotel - especially when you consider the wide price range of Disney hotels. If you are the type who likes to be in the park from rope drop until they close the place down, then you probably won't like being offsite. If you like to get away from all that "Disney" and spread out with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms- then you will love that part. When we stayed offsite breakfast was usually at our house - with a morning swim for the kids. Then we kind of meandered to the parks and usually ate lunch or a couple of snacks wherever the mood struck us. Dinner is usually our Table Service meal and we tend to eat on the early side - 4:30pm to 5:00pm or so and then maybe another snack or split a couple of Counter meals between 3 or 4 people later on that evening if we feel like it. I'm personally not a huge fan of buffets or character meals but we usually do one or two a trip if we want to. I usually make a couple of ADRs and then if everybody is agreeable we go. If I tried to schedule one for everyday I think my family would strangle me.

To be honest whenever we've done the Dining plan I've found it anything but a stress reliever. I don't like being tied to having to eat a certain number of Table Service meals and a certain number of counter meals. I don't like having to order a dessert all the time and not an appetizer. I don't like not being able to order alcohol instead of a coke without having to pay again. Those vacations I pretty much felt tied to a series of ADRs and like I was trying to cram my vacation in the brief times between them and I had to do what we'd scheduled or I would have wasted the pre-paid money. In our family, we are all much more relaxed without the Dining plan and just eating when and what we want. We are kind of the types who will stop by the Mexico Pavillian and grab a plate of nachos and split them amongst everybody and then be on our way until we get hungry again around Canada.

There's really no reason your kids should have to beg you whenever they want to buy a bottle of coke or something. Just distribute a good amount of cash everyday amongst everybody old enough to carry it themselves and maybe pass out a few of the Disney Gift cards and let them spend from that.

 

[sritter78]

We stayed off-site in a friend's house last year. It is 4 bedroom/4 bathroom. We went grocery shopping at Target (right down the street) our first day. We got stuff for breakfast, lunch for the kiddos and me (DH wouldn't bring his), snacks, and drinks. We saved a ton of money doing this. Granted, we did some TS meals (Hollywood and Vine, Chef Mickeys, Ohana, and Teppan Edo).

 

[delmar411]

In Jan we did a no dining plan trip and spent $875 for a family of 6 for the week, that included 2 sit down meals. I do have a TiW card and we did bring a lot of snacky foods for the kids so we weren't buying stuff all the time.

 

[mieuxmew]

i have stayed on site with and without dining plan and offsite.

As you can see from the responses, they are pros and cons of everything.

The full Disney experience is to stay onsite, hit the parks from pen to close and Disney dining. Disney has some really great restaurants unique to Disney. Our favorites are Boma (African buffet), 'Ohana (polynesian family stye) and LeCellier (Canadian steak house). They character meals are special to Disney. There are others that are great dining experiences. These table restaurants are expensive and require advance reservations most of the time. Dining plan helps if you want to experience one of these places every day. These restaurants are time consuming and require considerable time to travel to some of these restaurants. Planning here is key. The dining plan is usually convenient but not always a big money saver. Some have purchased Disney gift cards to use for meals while at Disney.

If the goal is to enjoy the parks and keep the food budget down, there are some good counter service restaurants that are good and don't take too much time away from the parks. The food courts at the Disney hotels are reasonable, too.

As far as offsite, I think the area off site restaurants also seem to know they are near the Mouse and do charge a bit more. Choices range from fast food, to pizza, to moderate chains to fine dining, so pricing is all over the map (like Disney).

We now stay offsite, as we prefer having a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom condo with full kitchen, & washer/dryer for about the price of a value resort. We eat breakfast in the room. We make reservations for a few of our favorite Disney restaurants. The rest of the days we wing it. We like the freedom of eating what we want when we want. Sometimes we want to stay in the parks late and eat at the park. Other times, we just head back to the condo earlier and pick up take out. We also have the kitchen if we feel like making snacks or light meals.

It's a tough decision. Keep in mind there are no right or wrong answers. Your family will have a great time no matter what you choose!

 

[ShortStuff]

OP, it sounds as if your vacation will be much more enjoyable if you are able to eat a character meal when you prefer. If this is true, I wouldn't go without the dining plan, which requires an on site stay.

What we have done on a couple of trips, was schedule on or two character meals and paid for those OOP, and got the QS dining plan for the rest of our meals/snacks.

Either way, you will be at WDW and then on a cruise!! I would decide if the extra money is worth it to do character dining in the parks, or if it will be more enjoyable to have extra funds on your cruise!!

Have a magical vacation!!

 

[patsal]

The dining plans cause me more stress and cost more for our family of four than no DDP. One thing you have to decide is how many or really if any character meals matter. For us they do not as we can see all the characters we care to see in the parks. Frankly, for us, daily character buffets are not something that we can deal with. I also like to have control over what I am eating and I do not always want to eat within the confines of the DDP. Last year we did 13 nights and spent under $1300 for food. We dined at a mixture of TS and CS but for certain at least on TS per day, the big thing was that there were no character meals. No one in our family has much interest in eating with Mickey or from a buffet anymore. For certain the places we ate were not inexpensive and no one worried about the least expensive meal. I think you may be surprised at your savings and the lower stress that can be had without the DDP. If prepaid is all you are looking for why not get giftcards ahead of time in the amount you think food will cost? I just put the $ in savings, charge and then pay off when I get home, but I put $100 per month away for the trip and usually $1200 will cover us since this year we will be travelling with only 3.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

The last time we stayed offsite our total costs were about $800 less than they would have been if we'd stayed onsite, but we felt deprived and decided that it's onsite and FD for us from now on (as long as it's offered) or nothing. Yes, $800 is a lot of $$, but not worth the savings to us. Of course YMMV! Good luck deciding.

 

[twooley2]

$400/ day for food for a family of four How would someone even spend that much?

If you're going during the right time, you could do the YES program for your DD6 and get discount tickets for everyone. It is available Jan/Feb and June-October.

As far as food offsite, let's say you eat your free breakfast, then have a TS lunch and a CS dinner. A character lunch would be about $110 for the 4 of you. Then add in a CS lunch for around $50(this is if you all get sodas and combos). Add the one snack you would get on the dining plan and add $16. Round up a little and I'd say $200/day would be a good bet. So, for 8 days, you would come out cheaper with the DDP if you are having a character meal every day. That being said, accommodations will cost more, so you have to decide what's more important.

Lets just assume that a July Character meal or nice restaurant runs 50-60 dollars a person thats for one meal. Easily could spend 400.00 if you eat two nice character or sit down meal combinations

 

[twooley2]

every character meal we have ever done exceeds 110.00...

 

[tinker&belle]

We are going with the free dining plan in Oct (got a pin). We would probably do the dining plan even if it wasn't free because we WILL do the nicer experiences if we have the DDP. If we weren't doing the DDP we would probably do one character meal and share CS the rest of the time and limit snacks etc. because we are so used to budgeting at home. It is nice to be able for once to let go a little bit because we have paid for it already.I'm sure we will have to say enough 'no' on buying every little thing so it will be nice to say yes on snacks, eating in the castle, etc.

 

[twooley2]

We are going with the free dining plan in Oct (got a pin). We would probably do the dining plan even if it wasn't free because we WILL do the nicer experiences if we have the DDP. If we weren't doing the DDP we would probably do one character meal and share CS the rest of the time and limit snacks etc. because we are so used to budgeting at home. It is nice to be able for once to let go a little bit because we have paid for it already.I'm sure we will have to say enough 'no' on buying every little thing so it will be nice to say yes on snacks, eating in the castle, etc.

I agree what is vacation if you have to worry about the budget. We do that all year to go to Disney

 

[torinsmom]

every character meal we have ever done exceeds 110.00...

I was looking at lunches---Crystal Place character lunch buffet to be specific. On allears.net, it states...

Adult price range: $26.62-$30.88; Child (ages 3-9) price range: $14.90-$17.03

Tax is included; gratuity is not included. A standard, non-alcoholic beverage and desserts are included in this price.

I was figuring the price at 2 adults $61.76 and 2 kids $34.06. It says this includes tax, so $95.82 max for 2 adults and 2 kids. I figured 15% tax to get the $110. Most of the character breakfasts I see listed are the same price. Dinners are more, of course. That's what I always suggest breakfast/lunch if someone wants to save money, but wants the experience.

Ohana is actually cheaper at

Adult price range: $22.36-$26.62; Child (ages 3-9) price range: $12.77-$14.90

edited--For the OP, it would me more, because one of her kids is an adult. SO more like $108 before tip, which would be about $125 with a 15% tip for Crystal Palace, but Ohana would be around $110 for 3 adults and one child.

 

[twooley2]

I was looking at lunches---Crystal Place character lunch buffet to be specific. On allears.net, it states...

Adult price range: $26.62-$30.88; Child (ages 3-9) price range: $14.90-$17.03

Tax is included; gratuity is not included. A standard, non-alcoholic beverage and desserts are included in this price.

I was figuring the price at 2 adults $61.76 and 2 kids $34.06. It says this includes tax, so $95.82 max for 2 adults and 2 kids. I figured 15% tax to get the $110. Most of the character breakfasts I see listed are the same price. Dinners are more, of course. That's what I always suggest breakfast/lunch if someone wants to save money, but wants the experience.

Ohana is actually cheaper at

Adult price range: $22.36-$26.62; Child (ages 3-9) price range: $12.77-$14.90

Crystal palace lunch is actually quite higher than that. According to my last receipt from last July and this http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningdetail.cfm?Restaurant.ID=112
make sure you look at the dates the prices were last reported too as they may be older reported prices

 

[torinsmom]

Crystal palace lunch is actually quite higher than that. According to my last receipt from last July and this http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningdetail.cfm?Restaurant.ID=112
make sure you look at the dates the prices were last reported too as they may be older reported prices

All Ears says the prices are from April 2012, so I don't know why they would be less than last year?

Looking at the info on Disney's website, it says Crystal Palace costs between $36 and $59 for breakfast. Any way I can find out how much it is for real, since All Ears is obviously wrong? It lists breakfast as $27.75 for adults. I need to cancel my reservation if it's $120 plus tip for 2 breakfasts. That's just crazy! It says the same thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner and I thought dinner was always more?

 

[twooley2]

I know in July it is more as they charge a seasonal upcharge. If you happen to call let us know. I know last year we had 6 adults( 4 of them teens) and it was 245.94 +18 percent gratuity of44.27 +TAXX 15.99 for Lunch on July 3rd. According to my receipt. If I could scan and show you I would but not sure how to post it here. Total had we not been on the dining plan was 306.20

 

[Maggie Lizer]

Whether or not the meal plan is a "deal" for you depends on a lot of things, most importantly what you eat. I do not do a dessert at every TS meal, and oftentimes I'd like to add an appetizer. We also don't think we will be doing a TS meal every day with our 2 year old this fall (just not planning on it b/c I don't want to be disappointed if he freaks in a restaurant). And I have never had a dessert with a CS meal. Plus, adult beverages (alcohol) are OOP. And now that tip is not included, it isn't worth it for me. For my DH and I getting a room discount is better budget-wise than getting a "free" dining rack rate room.

 

[torinsmom]

I just spoke with a CM at the (407) WDW-DINE number and at least for July 9th Crystal Palace breakfast, the price for 10 and over is $28.75, which includes the buffet, non-alcoholic beverages and tax. Tip is extra, of course. So, now I don't have to cancel my reservation--yippee! I didn't write down the kids' price, but I want to say it was around $18.

If someone else wants to call and confirm, maybe we could be sure we got the right info

 

[twooley2]

Thats great news. Glad to hear it is within your limits and you did not have to cancel. We have 5 people all adult price range this year so this would still run us 145.00+ for breakfast. Did they say what lunch was? or Dinner? So their own website is wrong too?? Did you tell them that when you spoke to them?

 

[torinsmom]

Thats great news. Glad to hear it is within your limits and you did not have to cancel. We have 5 people all adult price range this year so this would still run us 145.00+ for breakfast. Did they say what lunch was? or Dinner? So their own website is wrong too?? Did you tell them that when you spoke to them?

I wrote down dinner as $43/adults and $21/kids, but I didn't write down lunch.I want to say it was similar to breakfast. There are only two of us, so it works for us. $65 is a bit much, but it will get us into the park early

 

[twooley2]

Thanks. Maybe just maybe my receipt was for Dinner last year which would make sense. I thought it was lunch but maybe thinking back it was for dinner. I just recall many meals being 300-500 a meal last year for 6 of us. Which I remember being insane and glad we had the dining plan.