Guest questions - how much $ to eat there?

[jspahn]

Hi all - I am being bombarded with questions from my guests. One of the ones I am being asked a lot today has to do with budgeting.
I can easily answer how much hotel rooms are, and park tickets, but I am struggling with food.

Many of my guests are new to disney, and wondering how much money they will need for food while they are there. Honestly, I never paid a lot of attention to what I spent on food on any of my trips. I think most of my guests are counter service people, so the dining plan probably doesnt make sense.

What would be your recommendations?

 

[MegKate]

Honestly it depends if they are planning on doing table service or counter service. You can eat fairly cheaply on counter, but table can get expensive. Most people opt for the Disney Dining credits when they stay on property.

I would ask this question on the restaurants board and see what they all think - the foodies over there should be able to give you a really good estimate!

 

[Desnik]

We are a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 kids. My DD is 10 and an adult in Disney's eyes but most places still let her order off the kids menu. We eat breakfast in the room(we ship these items down) and have counter service lunch and dinner in a Table service restaurant. We average $150 per day for food. This includes snacks, like a hot pretzel or ice cream bar. We don't go overboard on the snacks and at dinner we usually order an appetizer and desserts for the kids only. You could direct your guests to www.allearsnet.com and tell them to have a look at the menus to get an idea of food costs.

Hope this helps!

 

[figmentfan814]

I highly recommend allears that was already mentioned. If your family wants to have a set budget, but enjoy CS there is a new meal plan this year that only includes credits for CS.

Quick Service Dining Plan

New for 2009, the Quick Service dining plan appears to be a fantastic option for park guests who don’t want to be tied to eating at a sit down restaurant each day.

The Quick Service Dining Plan includes, per person, per night of your stay:

Two counter service meals
Two snacks
One refillable resort mug
The cost of the Quick Service dining plan is $29.99 per night per adult (10 and older), and $8.99 per child (3 - 9).

http://www.mousemisers.com/docs/quickservice09.pdf

 

[jspahn]

I do use allears quite a bit myself, but I have to admit we have some guests that are um... technologically challeged

I had not yet read about the counter service plan - that actually sounds like it would work for the particular guests that have asked this question.

I knew my fellow DISers would have the answer!

 

[jspahn]

DOH!! So after all of that, my DFTW person emailed me back this afternoon saying if my guests wanted to add the dining plan, they would have to get the regular magic your way package - and not our discounted hotel rates.


oh well!

 

[CharacterFan]

Here's what I've always budgeted per adult.

if I'm only eating QS
$30 a day (10 for lunch, 15 for dinner, and 5 for snacks)

if I'm going do be doing a TS lunch (I don't do a lot of TS dinners, when paying oop)
$50 a day (30 for lunch, 15 for dinner, and 5 for snacks)

 

[lpizzuro123]

DOH!! So after all of that, my DFTW person emailed me back this afternoon saying if my guests wanted to add the dining plan, they would have to get the regular magic your way package - and not our discounted hotel rates.


oh well!

Yeah - this happened at our wedding. There was a family 4 adults and 2 children that wanted the food plan. They were not able to use our room wedding discount and get the food plan. They ended up using AAA and got almost the same price for the room and added the food plan and park tickets to their package. Check out the room rates if any of them belong to AAA. You can also still use these rooms toward your room count even if they are not booked through your wedding. You just need to provide your wedding planner with their reservation number.

Linda

 

[figmentfan814]

Yeah - this happened at our wedding. There was a family 4 adults and 2 children that wanted the food plan. They were not able to use our room wedding discount and get the food plan. They ended up using AAA and got almost the same price for the room and added the food plan and park tickets to their package. Check out the room rates if any of them belong to AAA. You can also still use these rooms toward your room count even if they are not booked through your wedding. You just need to provide your wedding planner with their reservation number.

Linda

We had several guests use AAA too. I am a AAA member and went to meet with an agent at my local office. She then agreed to be a contact for anyone from our wedding group that wanted to book through her. So, I even had a couple who weren't members that she allowed to book under her.

 

[lpizzuro123]

Vanessa, that is a great idea to have a AAA contact person that your guests can use also. I am sure it made them feel comfortable making reservations.

Linda

 

[jspahn]

That is definitely a good idea about AAA - i will have to look in to that this week as well!

 

[figmentfan814]

Linda~ She was so helpful which was really great. She even gave me brochures, etc. to put in with our intial newsletter, etc.

 

[jspahn]

Vanessa- just started skimming through your TR - what great pics and really teriffic ideas! LOVE you invitations to the Tea - signed by Alice.

I have a AAA office down the road I am going to stop by on Friday - i hope I have someone as helpful as you did!

 

[figmentfan814]

Vanessa- just started skimming through your TR - what great pics and really teriffic ideas! LOVE you invitations to the Tea - signed by Alice.

I have a AAA office down the road I am going to stop by on Friday - i hope I have someone as helpful as you did!

Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. I hope you get a chance to read more The Alice graphic I got off the Creative DISign board, everyone over there was so helpful.

 

[mermaidbride1108]

I thought the were changing the dining issue with the Wedding Room Blocks? I had heard that they were trying to fix it so that Guests could book through the room block but still get the Dining Plan? I'm assuming this hasn't happen yet?

Did anyone else hear this too?