help with setting a budget

[Jalva22]

June 2005 will be at WDW, staying onsite, using a 5 day hopper pass. Will have 2 adults, DD (9 yrs) and DS (5 yrs). We plan to do one character meal (Chef Mickey), mostly counter-service, a couple of sit-down lunches (not sure which yet, but not the most expensive places), breakfast in room. What should I budget for meals, excluding snacks? I read through another recent thread on meals budgetting, but am having trouble applying the info to my particular case. Thanks for any and all advice!

 

[JetMom]

www.wdwig.com has menus for all of the WDW restaurants with prices. I find it very helpful in planning my meal budget.

 

[Amirah95]

Try to figure out where you will want to do your sit down meals/ counter service and that should help you get an idea of how much to budget for.

Most importantly...how long will you be staying in the World in June 2005?

**A more direct link to Dining, as Jetmom suggested, is http://www.allearsnet.com/din/dining.htm .

 

[Chicago526]

I always figure $10/$8 for counter service meals. As an adult I've never walked away from the cashier without handing over a $10 bill, no mater what I order so this seems a good solid number.

For sit down at an average $$$ place, I usually budget $22 per adult, and $15 per kid, more if you think you'll want desert. It seems a little high, but once you add in tax and tip, I find this estimate very accurate. And of course, if you don't spend that much, you can either buy more goodies or just take the extra $$$ home with you. I'd rather have too much than too little!

 

[simonmunro]

chicago526 - I love your formula!

jalva22 - you might want to purchase the meal vouchers, your meals will be all paid beforehand and you won't need to budget food. There are so many places to choose from it's not restrictive at all to us.

 

[Poohbeck]

Hi all
I just finsihed figuring my food budget, we will be going Nov. 6th. It will be me, DH, DS6 and DS7 (my boys can sometimes out eat me). I have revamped a forumula I used 4 years ago which worked well. This is what I came up with:

$10 per person for Breakfast
$12.50 per person for Lunch
$20 per person for Dinner

We will be doing a lot of buffets at SOG and counter service. We also have a big meal/character breakfast scheduled each day. I figure we will eat at least one big sit-down meal a day and then do counter service or buffets for the other. I checked out the menus at all ears to double check on prices.

Like I said earlier, I just revamped a formula we used before; that time we always had money left over for snacks and sometimes some went to our souvenir budget.

Hope this help and Happy Disney!

 

[NC Jennifer]

As far as sit down meals are concerned... Most of the portion sizes at the sit down restaurants are more than I can eat. Maybe you can split an entree with your child to help save $$?? (Forgot to look to see how old the child is??)

 

[Jalva22]

Thank you all for the responses! Chicago526, I am getting ready to add up my costs based on your formula and see what I get. Poohbeck, I'm also going to add them up with yours. I may just budget whichever total comes out higher. As was said, anything left over will be a bonus for us! I can definitely split entrees with my kids. They will be 9 & 5, and really don't eat an awful lot at restaurants.

I am curious about the meal vouchers. Can someone please explain to me how they work and a good website or 2 to start my research of them? Anything I can get paid for ahead of time is great for me! I may have just missed it, but I was surprised to not be able to find any mention of them in the Unofficial Guide.

 

[lentesta]

Hi Jalva22,

I think Mousesavers.com has a pretty good explanation here. The consensus opinion (including that of the Unofficial Guide) seems to be that they vouchers are probably worthwhile only in a very limited set of circumstances. If you're planning on using them in the theme parks, I don't think many folks would advise them as a general rule.

I think we had a good discussion on meal vouchers here in the last ten days, so a quick search might be helpful in finding that thread.

Hey NC Jennifer.

Len

 

[lentesta]

Following up my own post...Disney offers a meal voucher at the Animal Kingdom that does seem to be a decent deal. You get coupons for an entree and dessert, but you don't have to eat all of the food in one sitting. So you can use the dessert coupon later in the day for, say, popcorn, instead of having to wolf everything down at once. Many more folks find this setup useful.
Your mileage may vary.

Len