You absolutely can make it on that budget. My family of 5 will spend $100/day on food only when we have a character lunch and fast food supper at the parks. You can feed your group, splurge, and have money left on $100 a day for 3. My best tips for saving money on food are:
Eat breakfast in your room. If it doesn't have a frig maybe you can request one. Either way, take a cooler. If you have a microwave you can even precook and freeze things like sloppy joes or taco meat. I've flown with a cooler of frozen sandwich meats and have seen people take roasts and all sorts of foods to Mexico (worked for an airline). For that matter, if you're driving you could take your own microwave. A crockpot will reheat food, too, and I've taken one on trips for that purpose.
Carry water bottles, but take powdered drink mix like Tang, lemonade, or Gatorade for variety. Save soda for your room.
Have a variety of snacks and let the kids fill fanny packs with them. Let them munch at their own discretion with no interference. You can individually portion more drink mix in small ziplocks and pack those in the fanny packs. I start buying snacks along with our regular groceries well in advance - some being healthy and some is worthless junk. I divide it equally so no one gets to hog all the rice crispie bars, (but they can trade theirs) and they decide each day what fills their bag.
Have splurge meals like character dining or full service for lunch. It costs less than supper and is more filling than breakfast. After a character lunch we like to keep dinner light and welcome the opportunity to walk some of it off.
Go to
www.wdwig.com and look at the menus. I've put together quick reference lists from that telling me restaurants, prices, and menu items we'd like. There are kids meals for $3.50 that are certainly enough food for me. The adult combo meals are too much food for me but probably the right size for my 10 yr. old son if he's very hungry. Not all restaurants charge the same for virtually the same item, so you can save just by researching.
You can always pack a cooler with lunch (or 2 meals) and leave it in your car. You can try to carry it in a backpack or bag, but with the heightened security you might have to return it to the car. I've taken PB sandwiches and frozen juice boxes in the parks in a small cooler with no problem. If you drive to park hop (we often prefer this) it's the perfect opportunity to eat. There's a McDonald's you can hit going to or from AK. If you're going when hours are long, an afternoon break from the parks can be very refreshing and you can eat lunch elsewhere. If you're going when hours are short, the unlimited fanny pack snacking can keep the kids satisfied until you leave and have supper away from the parks.
For character meals I'd check out Connections, because you can save a few bucks as they include tax and tip.
Pizza delivery to your hotel room can be less expensive than counter service supper in the park.
This may sound like we are Disney dining deprived, but that's not the case at all. We'll be doing 2-3 character meals, the Sci-Fi Dine In, the Prime Time 50's Cafe, and possibly Beaches and Cream. Our eating strategy saves $$ for splurges, preserves our time in the parks for things we'd rather do (dining can EAT the time), and offers us a good break in the middle of the day when we splurge on lunch. Sometimes eating in the parks is a treat, but sometimes it's just drudgery, and a sloppy joe with chips in the room sounds much better. Hope this helps, and if you want my restaurant summaries I'd be happy to e-mail them to you as that's how I take my travel notes - write e-mails to myself. (kamaiia@aol.com)
I'm trying to be his social corrdinator also ...but I'm failing miserably
I notice post about fanny packs. Are they the packs you can put around your waist. I remember reading from a post that a parent put snacks in their kids fanny packs during the park visits so they could snack freely. If these are packs i'm thinking about getting then that is a great idea. Another great thing is the kids eat free from the buffett @ Quality Inn. Well my daughter can't but the other two can. I printed out several dining coupons for restaurants on International drive and around that area. I Purchased the Bonus Pass for US/IOA for 89.00 for adult and 76.00 child. This includes express pass, unlimited admission to city walk and both parks for five days. I just have to purchase my WDW ph tickets . I wish they had 3 day ph tickets but since they do not i have to buy the 4 ph ticket. I am soooo excited especially for my kids. My dd is especially excited because her bestttt friend moved to Orlando 2 months ago. She will come stay with us and go to the parks which I can't wait either because she is such a sweet heart. Again I am sooooooooo excited
