Help with OOP dining budget

[BlueFairy]

Hi all.

I am stuck. We love this 7/4 promotion and currently have a POFQ ressie. However, the price of food is the kicker. I can't decide how much to budget. We are me, DH, 4 yo and 1 yo. All average eaters. I'd say the kids probably would share a kid's meals. We'll most likely feed DD1 off our plates. We don't usually order desserts or eat heavily at the buffets. Here is what we'll need:

fast food on 10 hour car drive on check in and check out days.
Breakfast will be from groceries we keep in the room.
mostly CS (10 meals for 7 days) Is $30 per meal including tax too much?
1 character breakfast (not Akershus or CRT, maybe 1900 PF)
2 TS meals (Biergarten, Rose and Crown, Liberty Tree or similar)
1 snack pp per day
alcohol - probably 1 mixed drink and 2 beers per day between the adults.

I'm thinking $900 with tax and tip, but that seems REALLY high since we used to eat like kings for less than $100 per day when it was just DH and myself.

I'd love to hear ideas! Thanks!

 

[BlueFairy]

I just realized I can save $50 if we skip the sodas at CS in favor of refilling our water bottles! Wow it adds up, doesn't it!

 

[djp0630]

Ok, we just came back, but had the dining plan. I had a 3 year old and 1 year old. 1 year old ate off our plates and shared DD's kids meal too. Plus we ate a lot at buffets.

Check out allears.net for menus which also includes prices. For CS meals, I would estimate $13 or so per adult ($10 for entree, $3 for drink) and $8 or so for a kid. Kid's meals were around $7.50, and I think they included a drink. So with tax, it might be closer to $35.

For TS meals, most of our meals with 4 adults & DD (DS ate free) was around $150. Kid's are about $11, so $30-$35 per adult.

Estimate $4 per snack and $10 per drink. Alcohol is expensive. Beer might be a little less. But I know we had drinks that were $13 at 'Ohana.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Food is always tricky. One way to simplify it is to get the QS dining plan - or use it as a guide. (or regular DDP)

We've tried doing breakfast inthe room and for us it was just as much a hassle. The in-room fridge is not very cold, so we end up buying milk each night. Going to the grocery store takes time also. Precious vacation time. It isn't just the time you are in the store, it's drive time too. Add to that the grocery stores there aren't super cheap. There is a WALmart BUT - do you really need a giant box of cereal for the week?

If there is ONE thing that MAY be worth getting at teh grocery store - it's beer and alcohol. Though getting a fun cocktail at some of WDW's bars is also a fun thing.

Sometimes two adults can split even QS meals, but when we are at WDW we are on the go quite abit. If we skip on a meal somewhere, then we end up eating more snacks.
If you are on DDP then dinner buffets a re a fairly good deal - an you may not be very hungry teh enxt morning. Conversely, if you are NOT on DDP then you can do late breakfast buffet meals and skip lunch. You could also do the same with lunch. If you aren't on DDP , then TS lunches become a better deal. One breafast buffet is about the same price as two QS meals (breakfast buffets are typically about $18 per adult, maybe $20 now. QS meals are easily $10 - $15 per adult.)

The other thing is that many adult menu offerings at TS places are not geared for kids' tastes. teh kids meals are usuallya good deal because the kids get the complete meal - so yes, your kids could easily share one meal.

Still, beyond htat here are several places where you can share an adult meal or get a TS for pretty close to whata QS meal woudl cost (except the added tip) The Plaza is one such place.

I've also sort of found that the highest proced and lowest priced items ont eh TS menus are probably not teh greatest deal. People onthe DDP order the most expensive item - just because it is - and folks paying oop look for teh least expensive item. One exception would be vegetarian entrees. They are often a great baragain at WDW! Delicious food, good portion - reasonable price since there's no meat.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Using allears menus:

Cape May breakfst with characters: Adult $19, kids 3-9 $10.99. Under 3 free.
CApe May dinner adult $27, kids 3-9 $13 (That's the cost of the DDP for a kid), under 3 free. (adult DDP varies, but may be up to $47 per day) Buffet prices are subject to 'holiday surcharges. If you are going during a holiday, DDP may well be teh best way to go!

POR food court: Burger $7. carved turkey dinner $9.50. Sandwich,$8. kids meal $4.50 Drinks are about $2.50 though you can get refillable mug for about $14. Ice cream treats/dessert run between $2.50 and $4.50.

So figure a mug is $14 - if you use it once a day for a week that's $2 a fill, a little less if you use it more.

So a burger and drink is about $9. Add a few buck if you want something more than burgers.

 

[ajpa]

fast food on 10 hour car drive on check in and check out days.

If you have a car you can drive outside wdw for dinner -- better food at lower prices!
Be sure you get an orlando magicard and coupons and stuff.

 

[prncess674]

I agree with budgeting a few offsite dinners. I would maybe plan on a few TS park lunches and then for the price of counter service in the park you could have a sit down dinner.

One of my favorites is Buffalo Wild Wings. The wings are fresh and tasty and the beer is cheap and cold.

 

[PatsGirl]

For $90/day plus tips on your TS meals (probably $15-$20/each) you can get the dining plan and not worry about it. That would also allow you do some of the more expensive character meals. I assume you can get the dining plan with that promotion? If so, for seven days you are looking at around $800 including breakfast goods in your room and travel food.

 

[Justsyd2]

I second the DDP -- even if you just go for the QSDP (about $70/day - $490/week). Your meals will be paid so you won't have to worry about the budget which will make your vacation so much more stress free!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I agree with budgeting a few offsite dinners. I would maybe plan on a few TS park lunches and then for the price of counter service in the park you could have a sit down dinner.

Yes, but time is money. It depends where you are coming from, but I've got lots of restaurants where we live. Others may not have as many places to eat, so that is a consideration. For us, much of what's available in the Orlando area are chains that I can eat at locally. What I can't replicate locally is the atmosphere of WDW's retaurants. There's no Mexico pavillion at home, though plenty of Mexican QS and TS places. (There I'll concede food quality may be better offsite. )

That's not to say I've never done offsite dining, I have. Mostly we do offsite dining when we have stayed offsite (usually on days we go to Universal, etc).

I also contend that many of the local Orlando offerings are not much better than what is offered on property, and driving offsite if you are staying onsite will eat up quite a bit of time. (many are even comparable in price!) It can be done, but may not be worth the savings - unless - you are staying offsite and will eat near your offsite hotel.

 

[aksivers]

I also agree with the dining plan. We also brought a cooler into the parks with snacks and drinks for the kids in between meals.

 

[Namsupak]

I agree with the idea of the dining plan if you like to plan and dont mind paying upfront. You can use snack credits to get foods for breakfast and save money by not having to buy groceries. The alcohol would still be on you though. One other thing is the fact that you don't order desert, and on the regular plan I believe it is included. I think the quick service plan is too restrictive, but look at the plans and see for yourself. Here is a link for a good explanation of the dining plans. Link

 

[disneyatl]

Our past trips, we have brought breakfast items and snacks to keep in our room. We purchased milk from the resort store to keep in the fridge. We also had drinks in the fridge. Each of us would take a water to the park and other drinks would be use in the room. We would eat one breakfast character buffet at Chef Mickey and the rest would be eaten in our room. I didn't think it was a hassle at all.

Lunch would be eaten at the park (CS) and we may get a snack but certainly not everyday. Most of our dinner meals would be eaten off site but not all.

To me it sounds like $900 is a lot to budget especially with two small children. I agree with some of the others - if you are planning to spend that much, you should seriously consider the dining plan.

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

I'm a WDW newbie so take this FWIW, but when I ran the numbers, DDP was cheaper for us. My kids are young, like yours. If my kids were 10 year old Disney adults, then I'd rethink DDP, but with kids under 9, DDP is a great deal. You'll want some character meals and character meals are $$$. Just one character breakfast will come close to what you would spend for a single DDP day - and it exceeds it for a child.

Also, eating off-site might be cheaper, but it is not likely to be signficantly cheaper than DDP for your family scenario.

I eat out every day for work at QS type places, for example. Yesterday, I spent $8.XX on a large soup and a piece of cornbread at Au Bon Pain. I didn't even buy a drink. That's a light meal, less than I'd want to eat if I were walking around the park all day. You can't really get out of most decent QS places at lunch time for under $10 once you factor in a drink. Even without a drink, $9 is the average cost of a QS meal IRL (unless you eat Subway which I hate or fast food like McDonald's).

My family eats TS quite a bit too. To take a chain restaurant example, ee ate at Macaroni Grill last week (ew, BTW) and spent around $15 per entree not including tax. These were some of the cheaper entrees as well. We both wanted lemonade, which was ~ $3. Without tax, it was $18 per adult for a meal we didn't even like. And I didn't get exactly what I wanted, as I paid attention to price. Right there, eating conservatively in regular chain restaurants, we've come fairly close to the cost of DDP (we've spent $30.XX for one adult in my example, not getting drinks for one meal and no dessert) We didn't get any desserts and I'm not factoring in the snack credits. Kids meals easily exceed the cost of DDP (at roughly $6-7 a piece).

Obviously, Disney prices are a bit higher, but even eating off-site, some meals will be at Disney and you'll probably want to do at least 1 character meal. Add in the convenience of not having to leave parks for meals and schlep around Orlando plus the cost of a rental car you may not otherwise rent (if you are flying), DDP was the obvious choice for us.

 

[BlueFairy]

Well, I've done the math AGAIN, and I'm going to do it a different way again today.
We are deciding between a 7 day trip and a 4 day trip. Either way I calculated OOP, a combo of OOP (for TS) and the QS-DDP, and traditional DDP. Added into that food during travel and alcohol and tips.

for 4 nights (completely OOP, QSDDP + some OOP, DDP):
$550 - $598 - $593

for 7 nights (completely OOP, QSDDP + some OOP, DDP):
$850 - $988 - $1012

Assumptions-
OOP = skimping on sodas and desserts, all breakfasts from groceries, about $28 per CS, and 1 TS and 1 CB (or with 7 nights - 2TS meals)
QS-DDP = paying for DD1's milk (18mos) OOP (could possibly use some snack credits), also 1 TS and 1 CB (or with 7 nights - 2TS meals)
DDP = paying for DD1's milk (18mos) OOP, we get more than 1 CB and more than 2 TS, but I don't know if my kids can sit still for that many TS meals. Also, lots of apps and desserts probably won't get eaten.