Food cost for 4? Help!!!

[maggs1035]

I have read a lot of posts about staying off property and have decided to research the cost instead of our usual stay on property with dining plan (paid or free) I can't imagine not having the freedom of just using credits for food and not worrying about $$$$

We always rent a car, and will be going to Daytona race track one day and also driving over to the port for our cruise at end of WDW stay, so a car is a must! So staying off property works as far as transportation goes. I have never tried to estimate how much we would spend in food?

How do you figure out what you would spend on food? We love character meals but may not do them if paying out of pocket

Travel party includes: hubby, likes good food, not big fan of having all QS meals

DS 18- not big eater and is picky, doesn't eat fancy food

DS 6- eats anything

Me - Not super picky, more about the experience. Can't imagine NOT doing a character meal once a day?

Is it worth it to compare a trip off site?

On our cruise we will have many fine meals and see lots of characters so if we skipped character meal at parks I guess that wouldn't kill us.

P.S. How much does it cost to park? We have never paid to park our car?

Any other expenses Im missing? Room, tickets, food?

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Parking is $14 a day. You can go to allears.net and check current food menus with prices.

When FD is offered we stay onsite, if not then we stay offsite (in a condo with a full kitchen) and usually do 1 CS meal a day at whichever park we are at and our other meals offsite (a mix of cooking in the condo and eating out at various restaurants). As the mom, I prefer FD because it means that I don't have to cook or worry about where we're eating because all of our ADRs have already been made months in advance.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Been there. Out of pocket, budget, and Character Meals every day definitely do not fit into the same sentence.

After using free dining it is sticker shock to have to pay. Yes you can do it on a budget. Share meals, but seriously, CS would be huge part of that. You have to realize that it will be a different type of experience. Doesn't mean horrible, just different. Go to any of the sites with prices, here, allears, etc. Then do your research. We have never used our dining credits at The Plaza. It is reasonable and we love it, same for Kona for breakfast as the meals are huge, and Boma for a buffet. BUT it is expensive. You really have to do the work, and make a reasonable budget. Everyone will want an ice-cream and or a popcorn. Always saying no is very, very hard. Hope you can work out you food budget. Also if you do have a car, it probably is a good idea to eat breakfast before going and or making it depending on where you stay. If you are changing parks during the day that is also an opportunity to eat away or at your hotel. As you can see, definitely different, but you can do it.

 

[*Seanaci*]

So you are now researching staying off property, right? And are looking for food budget for family of 4 staying off property?

If I am correct in that, your budget is dependent on how long you stay and where you eat. Staying off property can be cheaper because meal price does not change as it does within the parks (ie more expensive at dinner vs lunch). It also is going to depend on how long you're staying in the parks themselves. Do you plan on taking a mid-day trip back to your hotel...or stay in the parks all day? Also, if you eat in the parks, the portions are huge...maybe you and the youngest could split a meal and DH and DS can get their own meal.

Bottom line, plan on spending at least $100 per day per person on meals/snacks.

 

[jill4140]

Last time we went we purchased the Eat&Play card and for a family of 4 we saved over a $100.00 so it was well worth it.

 

[maggs1035]

So you are now researching staying off property, right? And are looking for food budget for family of 4 staying off property?

If I am correct in that, your budget is dependent on how long you stay and where you eat. Staying off property can be cheaper because meal price does not change as it does within the parks (ie more expensive at dinner vs lunch). It also is going to depend on how long you're staying in the parks themselves. Do you plan on taking a mid-day trip back to your hotel...or stay in the parks all day? Also, if you eat in the parks, the portions are huge...maybe you and the youngest could split a meal and DH and DS can get their own meal.

Bottom line, plan on spending at least $100 per day per person on meals/snacks.

At current regular dining plan prices are around $54/adult and $20/child... that comes to $1456 for 8 days.

If I budget $100 per person per day that's $400 x 8 days = $3200 So how is it cheaper to NOT do the dining plan?

Hawthorne suites includes free hot breakfast and we would generally stay in the parks all day?

I asked my 2 older kids (one is going, one is not going) if they would want to go without dining plan and they both said "NO WAY" We wouldn't want to pester you for snacks, and drinks etc. and the one who is going says he loves the freedom of going down to the food court and getting ice cream and drinks without having to ask and get money! Makes it feel special like vacation is supposed to be! Good point!

 

[torinsmom]

$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.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

There aren't many character lunches that I remember; Crystal Palace, CRT & Akershus (which I would assume you're not into princesses with 2 sons - I know we're not!) are the ones that pop to mind. At Crystal Palace, I think you'd spend about $130 with tip for lunch for 3 adults and 1 child. A QS meal will be about $50, I'm guessing - $12 per adult + $7 for the child, plus tax. I know that my 6-yr-old eats enough that sharing a meal isn't likely to happen, plus he typically only wants chicken nuggets. So, I'd think a reasonable food/snack budget would be in the range of $200-225 per day if one of the meals is a character meal. The regular DDP would run about $170 per day, plus tips.

If you don't *have* to have character meals, pick other TS lunches - Liberty Tree Tavern is one of our favorites. You could definitely eat lunch there for under $100 for 4, including tip. Another good one would be 50's Prime Time Cafe - again, I think you could eat for under $100 for lunch. That plus a CS meal and some snacks would put you around $140-150/day OOP, including tips.

I will say that we do enjoy the dining plan, also. It is nice to sit down and order whatever you like without regards to the price. We're not fancy eaters or particularly picky about it, and we have had many more good meals than bad at WDW restaurants. I will be re-thinking it when we plan another trip, though, as our oldest just became a "Disney adult" and I might have trouble paying $50/day for him to eat. He prefers to eat off the adult menu, but I have issues with it!

 

[maggs1035]

There aren't many character lunches that I remember; Crystal Palace, CRT & Akershus (which I would assume you're not into princesses with 2 sons - I know we're not!) are the ones that pop to mind. At Crystal Palace, I think you'd spend about $130 with tip for lunch for 3 adults and 1 child. A QS meal will be about $50, I'm guessing - $12 per adult + $7 for the child, plus tax. I know that my 6-yr-old eats enough that sharing a meal isn't likely to happen, plus he typically only wants chicken nuggets. So, I'd think a reasonable food/snack budget would be in the range of $200-225 per day if one of the meals is a character meal. The regular DDP would run about $170 per day, plus tips.

If you don't *have* to have character meals, pick other TS lunches - Liberty Tree Tavern is one of our favorites. You could definitely eat lunch there for under $100 for 4, including tip. Another good one would be 50's Prime Time Cafe - again, I think you could eat for under $100 for lunch. That plus a CS meal and some snacks would put you around $140-150/day OOP, including tips.

I will say that we do enjoy the dining plan, also. It is nice to sit down and order whatever you like without regards to the price. We're not fancy eaters or particularly picky about it, and we have had many more good meals than bad at WDW restaurants. I will be re-thinking it when we plan another trip, though, as our oldest just became a "Disney adult" and I might have trouble paying $50/day for him to eat. He prefers to eat off the adult menu, but I have issues with it!

I like to go to Planet Hollywood with the DP (if they are still an eligible restaurant?) and I know that would cost an arm and a leg for us. Sounds like it's too much work to try and figure it out, and I would be more at ease if we had our meals prepaid?

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I like to go to Planet Hollywood with the DP (if they are still an eligible restaurant?) and I know that would cost an arm and a leg for us. Sounds like it's too much work to try and figure it out, and I would be more at ease if we had our meals prepaid?

If you think that you will definitely want to eat on Disney property 2 meals per day (one CS, one TS), then food is not your deciding factor of budget and price. The free breakfast at your hotel would help, but you can take breakfast foods to eat in your room. Ticket prices are going to be roughly the same whether you're on-site or off-site. The biggest budget factor is probably going to be your lodging cost - you can get cheaper lodging off-site and probably have more room than a WDW resort room. Being off-site lends itself to eating off-site, which is also cheaper. However, if you will be eating almost all your meals on-site anyway, that's not a contributing factor. Your OP asked about what you should budget for food if you stay off-site and want to eat a TS and a CS meal in the parks/resorts every day. I think the OOP cost for that is going to be within $20-30 of the DDP cost, so I wouldn't really factor food costs into your plan - the biggest difference (financially and emotionally) is whether you stay on-site or off.

 

[maggs1035]

If you think that you will definitely want to eat on Disney property 2 meals per day (one CS, one TS), then food is not your deciding factor of budget and price. The free breakfast at your hotel would help, but you can take breakfast foods to eat in your room. Ticket prices are going to be roughly the same whether you're on-site or off-site. The biggest budget factor is probably going to be your lodging cost - you can get cheaper lodging off-site and probably have more room than a WDW resort room. Being off-site lends itself to eating off-site, which is also cheaper. However, if you will be eating almost all your meals on-site anyway, that's not a contributing factor. Your OP asked about what you should budget for food if you stay off-site and want to eat a TS and a CS meal in the parks/resorts every day. I think the OOP cost for that is going to be within $20-30 of the DDP cost, so I wouldn't really factor food costs into your plan - the biggest difference (financially and emotionally) is whether you stay on-site or off.

I love onsite, so the off site savings would have to be a pretty big amount to persuade me to stay off site? Or at least I think that's how I feel, I have never done it any other way than a package at WDW! Who knows maybe I would really love off site?

I do know that the room I found has 2 queen size beds and the only other room that comes close to that money wise is all star regular room at $997, Hawthorne suites costs $772? So that's a big savings but will I end up eating that up in food? UGH!!!

 

[torinsmom]

I love onsite, so the off site savings would have to be a pretty big amount to persuade me to stay off site? Or at least I think that's how I feel, I have never done it any other way than a package at WDW! Who knows maybe I would really love off site?

I do know that the room I found has 2 queen size beds and the only other room that comes close to that money wise is all star regular room at $997, Hawthorne suites costs $772? So that's a big savings but will I end up eating that up in food? UGH!!!

We're staying in a 3 bedroom Emerald Island townhome for 8 nights for $560. I wouldn't stay offsite at a hotel with 4 people. Everyone gets grumpy after too much togetherness and won't you be rooming together on the cruise? Breakfast at our condo will be pancakes, poptarts or cereal, and maybe monkey bread one morning. Not free, but maybe $30 for the weeks' supplies. We stayed at EI before and came back at lunch every day, mostly due to the heat, but ended up having lunch at the condo or offsite(fast food on the way back) most days as well. We stocked up on sandwich supplies, mac n cheese, etc on our arrival day. We also at pizza one day using a restaurant.com coupon for Giordano's, and it was AMAZING A few really hot days we even had dinner before heading back to the parks, but most days we ate CS or a cheaper TS meal.

 

[maggs1035]

We're staying in a 3 bedroom Emerald Island townhome for 8 nights for $560. I wouldn't stay offsite at a hotel with 4 people. Everyone gets grumpy after too much togetherness and won't you be rooming together on the cruise? Breakfast at our condo will be pancakes, poptarts or cereal, and maybe monkey bread one morning. Not free, but maybe $30 for the weeks' supplies. We stayed at EI before and came back at lunch every day, mostly due to the heat, but ended up having lunch at the condo or offsite(fast food on the way back) most days as well. We stocked up on sandwich supplies, mac n cheese, etc on our arrival day. We also at pizza one day using a restaurant.com coupon for Giordano's, and it was AMAZING A few really hot days we even had dinner before heading back to the parks, but most days we ate CS or a cheaper TS meal.

Can you share the contact info for the townhouse? I would like to look into that?

 

[torinsmom]

Can you share the contact info for the townhouse? I would like to look into that?

Sure. The one I rented from was this one

http://www.vacationhomerentals.com/vacation-rentals/Kissimmee-Florida-vacation-rental-townhouse-proID-42665.html

For some reason, it is showing as expired. Their other page is here
http://www.emeraldislandtownhouse.com/#

but that page shows it as 300GBP a week which is more like $544/week. I can send you the owner's email though, and you can ask her if you could rent for the price on the first page. I stayed there in 2010 and we are excited to go back.

 

[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.

I can see how someone could spend 400.00 for a family of 4 adults a day easily at July's meal prices being 50-60 a meal for character meals and nice dinners etc.

 

[torinsmom]

I can see how someone could spend 400.00 for a family of 4 adults a day easily at July's meal prices being 50-60 a meal for character meals and nice dinners etc.

Well, I guess you COULD I just blows my mind, because I think we spend less than that for our whole week last year.

 

[Sparkly]

We stay in a offsite condo and typically eat breakfast in the condo (usually peanut butter sandwiches and juice, maybe toast) and then eat a CS lunch at the park and a offsite restaurant for dinner.

Sometimes we visit Publix and pick up some fried chicken for dinner and crisps. We often also have salad or Walmart's giant subs from the deli for a quick and satisfying lunch! The subs can easily feed 2 and 3 with some crisps!

We ofter visit Walmart at night after dinner for more supplies! Some people watch the fireworks or have a nice meal...we go to Walmart

 

[kirstenb1]

We just got back from a 6 night trip. I hit Publix the first night and spent $150 for our family of 4. That gave us 4 breakfasts, 4 dinners, miscellaneous snacks and drinks, and I think our younger dd and I may have eaten lunch once or twice in the villa. I bought stuff like chicken tenders, fixings for tacos and subs, chips, nuts, fruit, cereal, milk etc. We have DVC so I can't help with accomodation costs.

I'll tell you, I find it very unstressful to know we can dine in our villa. No crowds, ADR's, worrying about accomodating the picky eater in our family, etc. To be honest, I hate spending money on food anyway, so I'm probably teh wrong person to answer. I always feel like whatever I save on food can go toward a fun souvenir, etc.

 

[maggs1035]

Sure. The one I rented from was this one

http://www.vacationhomerentals.com/vacation-rentals/Kissimmee-Florida-vacation-rental-townhouse-proID-42665.html

For some reason, it is showing as expired. Their other page is here
http://www.emeraldislandtownhouse.com/#

but that page shows it as 300GBP a week which is more like $544/week. I can send you the owner's email though, and you can ask her if you could rent for the price on the first page. I stayed there in 2010 and we are excited to go back.

I found it and got a quote for a 4 bdrm house with a pool for $870 including tax, still would have to figure out food, but that is cheaper than Disneys cheapest/smallest room?

Thank you for the tip! I showed the hubby and he said "but then we can't do the dining plan" hmmm I can't win!

 

[torinsmom]

I found it and got a quote for a 4 bdrm house with a pool for $870 including tax, still would have to figure out food, but that is cheaper than Disneys cheapest/smallest room?

Thank you for the tip! I showed the hubby and he said "but then we can't do the dining plan" hmmm I can't win!

You may not need 5 bedrooms, but this is where we stayed last year when we had 8 people. This was a seriously nice house with a pool and gameroom and it is only $625/week. We only have 4 people this time, but if it was available, I would have booked here again. It's in Indian Creek, maybe 2 minutes further away than Emerald Island.

http://www.vrbo.com/229838