Food Fund

[sarahandgreg]

Hi Folks,

Going to be at WDW for four park days. Staying at OKW grand Villa so breakfasts will be sorted. Planning on taking snacks to parks for kids to graze on throughout day.
Four adults, one 11 year old - who eats like an adult and a 9 year old who is picky.

How much do you think we should budget for for a counter service lunch ( burger fries and drink) type thing and drinks throughout the day per person?

Have considered the dining plan - but not sure its going to be great value for us ?

Thoughts?

Evenings we plan to eat elsewhere unless we are late staying in the park

 

[eeyoresmom]

Drinks throughout the day will blow your budget at $4 each minimum. Others will advise you to pack a cooler. If I had a stroller I would do that but now that we are child free I enjoy traveling light. We ask for a cup of water at any cs restaurant that is nearby. You dont have to order food, they will have them all prepoured behind the counter. I will drink out af a fountain if pressed, the water is better than it was years ago. As far as a cs lunch with a drink, I would budget about $18 per adult meal. I have practically memorized the menus trying to figure out if the DDP made sense for us.

 

[Searc]

If you plan on eating quick/counter service, I'd budget about $15 per person per meal. If the 9 year old orders off the kids menu, it will be about $7-$9. For how you will be eating, the dining plan will be of no use to you and a major waste of money.

I buy drinks when I am thirsty, so depending on the time of year, I spend at least $15-$20 a day on water.

 

[sarahandgreg]

Thanks guys - thats right where I thought I should be for daily amounts

 

[pweyl36]

I went in October with my daughter,and we ended up sharing most of our meals. They give so much, plus you could
add an extra side.

 

[TJsMomSarahJane]

If you plan on eating quick/counter service, I'd budget about $15 per person per meal. If the 9 year old orders off the kids menu, it will be about $7-$9. For how you will be eating, the dining plan will be of no use to you and a major waste of money.

I buy drinks when I am thirsty, so depending on the time of year, I spend at least $15-$20 a day on water.

I agree with the $15/$9 figures. Something to keep in mind, though - you can get free ice water at any counter service location. Yes, it's Florida tap water, so if you don't like the taste, you're going to be shelling out $$$ for bottles.

 

[gottalovepluto]

We start the trip off with a flat or two of waterbottles so we at least have the first water bottle of the day taken care of and 1 for the evening if we return for an afternoon break. $4/bottle hurts!

 

[jo-jo]

We start the trip off with a flat or two of waterbottles so we at least have the first water bottle of the day taken care of and 1 for the evening if we return for an afternoon break. $4/bottle hurts!

I'd bring a frozen bottle of water into the park with me. I'd even bring a bottle to drink on the way and toss it as I entered the park. Get those CS cups of water and pour into the bottles. Often I don't want to drink a whole cup but just want a few sips here and there.

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

Depending on how you are wanting to utilize park time, going offsite to eat dinner was a red flag to me in your plans. Yes, you may save some money and have some variety, but I have also learned that evenings, especially closer to park closing times, are the best times to tour. Even if you left and came back, that would be about a 4 hour block of time dedicated to getting dinner. If you are there to utilize your park time as much as possible (and with a 4 day pass, I'd think you would) I'd just bite the bullet and eat at the parks.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Depending on how you are wanting to utilize park time, going offsite to eat dinner was a red flag to me in your plans. Yes, you may save some money and have some variety, but I have also learned that evenings, especially closer to park closing times, are the best times to tour. Even if you left and came back, that would be about a 4 hour block of time dedicated to getting dinner. If you are there to utilize your park time as much as possible (and with a 4 day pass, I'd think you would) I'd just bite the bullet and eat at the parks.

Depends when they are there - when parks close for parties or short days at 7pm, it's easy to wait until after park close to get dinner...

 

[gardengalB4]

Just an observance from our trip last month :
The cups of water at the counter service are smaller than they used to be.
It is no longer the size of the smallest fountain soda.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

A Disney trip is a great time to start a diet for me, because I'm too cheap to pay those prices and I'd rather starve!

We eat one meal per day (counter service), snack on some things like Mickey pretzels and other junk the rest of the time, and I pack lots of healthy and semi-healthy snacks from home. We also drink the free water rather than buy bottles and fountain drinks all day long. My personal idea of a budget is $100/day to cover all three of us (that price doesn't count the cost of the food we bring from home). We are one adult (me), one teenager (DS), and a 7 year old (DD).

I agree that on our last trip the free water cups were much smaller, it's annoying to have to wait in line for them but I would ask for as many as I could carry and we would dump them into our resort mugs and/or water bottles. I tried asking for no ice so that we'd end up with more water but Florida water tastes awful, we needed the ice to make it more palatable.

 

[Klayfish]

I agree that on our last trip the free water cups were much smaller, it's annoying to have to wait in line for them but I would ask for as many as I could carry and we would dump them into our resort mugs and/or water bottles. I tried asking for no ice so that we'd end up with more water but Florida water tastes awful, we needed the ice to make it more palatable.

You don't have to wait in line, just go to the pick up area.

The water is filtered, so it doesn't have any taste.

 

[monorailsilver]

We are a family of 5 all Disney adults with the kids ages in August were 17, almost 15 and 12.

The dining plan for us IMO is not worth it. I looked at menus and figures where we would eat, some days were up in the air. I planned $60 meals for QS for the 5 of us. We did not buy drinks in the park. We brought water in our thermos containers as well as extra water bottles.

A few times my kids were not that hungry and chose a smaller (and cheaper) kids meal. DH and I split a turkey sandwich from th BC marketplace once or twice. DH, DS (14) ans myself split 2 meals between the 3 of us twice. Once at pecos bills and we got 2 fajita platters. And once at flame tree and we got a pulled pork sandwich and some chicken BBQ thing. Oh and dh and I also split a foot long hot dog at Casey’s twice and that was our cheapest meal at $40.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

You don't have to wait in line, just go to the pick up area.

The water is filtered, so it doesn't have any taste.

I am surprised that it is filtered, it was pretty awful. We live in PA so we are used to drinking hard water, and I've lived on a farm where there was visible particles and a distinctive taste in the well water, but the water in WDW has an odor and tastes kind of stale and swampy. I'm sure it's clean and potable, but it doesn't taste or smell good.

 

[Bbbethei]

Are you up to carrying a backpack? We usually buy a couple cases of water for a week at the parks. We'll freeze half and they keep other snacks cold while melting throughout the day. Some may hate the extra weight, but we don't mind it and it saved a ton of money in water.

 

[mama22babygirls]

I am surprised that it is filtered, it was pretty awful. We live in PA so we are used to drinking hard water, and I've lived on a farm where there was visible particles and a distinctive taste in the well water, but the water in WDW has an odor and tastes kind of stale and swampy. I'm sure it's clean and potable, but it doesn't taste or smell good.

Lol I have become used to the taste of Florida water after 30 years of it but I will never forget the first sip I had of it when we moved here as a kid; spit it right out! The water at wdw is not filtered. If they say it is then the filter is old or cheap!!!

 

[starry_solo]

Do you drink soft drinks? If so, consider packing cans and getting cups of ice at the QS counters.