How much did you spend OP for food

[RainK]

Hi,
We have never gone to Disney without the full dining plan since I can remember. I am not overly optimistic for free dining this year, so I am trying to budget how much it will cost me OP for food.

2 adults, 2 kids ages 7 & 9. 7 nights 8 days. With the exception of 1 character meal, we plan on QS for lunch and dinner and plan on eating cereal or fruit in our hotel room.
We do not have a car, so we will have water, snacks, breakfast items delivered to our room from garden grocer.
I am averaging $30 lunch per day and $45 dinner per day. Probably another $20 a day in snacks or ice cream. Does this sound right?
Is it worth it to just buy the QS dining plan?

 

[julie4423]

That seems low to me. I don't know where you're planning on eating, or if you plan to share meals. $30 would pretty much feed me and my hubby for lunch if we wanted no dessert. Why do you think there won't be FD this year? I'm crossing my fingers for it, but did I miss something?

 

[disney1990]

Allears.net has a very large data base of menus where you can check prices of things you might eat. But your estimates, are too low.

http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm

A quick way I estimate for "counter service" meals is $15 per adult and $10 per child. So I would, therefore, estimate about $50 per meal. You will probably spend a little less, but you can use any extra to help pay for snacks.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Your estimates are VERY low to be honest. You need to double that figure.

 

[redrosesix]

Your estimate would be more than enough for us, which is why the QSDP never made sense for us. Everyone eats different amounts, and I often find the kids meals enough for me. We also don't do desserts and those often cost nearly as much as a kids meal.

Might be low for snacks though, unless you're planning to pack some with you.

 

[sharonabe]

If your kids will be eating kids' meals, then I think your estimates are pretty close. The only thing is, QS is the same for lunch or dinner, so I would just budget $40 for each. That makes your daily total $100 instead of $95.

Kids' meals are generally $6, so that leaves the adults $28 per meal which is easily doable.

Just don't forget the 6.5% tax that will be added to your totals.

 

[Tramp68]

It really depends on if you order drinks or not. Table service is generally $15/adult and $10 per child.

Which as others have said is $100 per day.

If you cut out the drinks you can save about $15-20.

 

[sharonabe]

It really depends on if you order drinks or not. Table service is generally $15/adult and $10 per child.

Which as others have said is $100 per day.

If you cut out the drinks you can save about $15-20.

I'm not sure what you meant to say. TABLE Service for kids is around $10, but there aren't a lot of TABLE Service for adults around $15. QUICK Service for adults would be around $15, but no where is QUICK Service for kids $10. The majority of kids QUICK Service is $5.99 and that includes their drink.

 

[partigus]

dont forget taxes! While a lot of places dont tax food- i think lake buena vista just might!

CS adult meals are minimum $10, w/o drinks, and kids about 7 with. A CS meal for my family is typically a bit under $50 (3 kids). Thats w/o dessert.

I've never priced the cs mp, but have used both the regular and deluxe before. We loved the dp when appetizers and gratuity were included- total no brainer!

In booking this years trip- my 11 year old was the big factor,,,on the DP she costs the same as an adult. But she doesnt eat all that much, so we can simply order off the childs menus for her and we'll come out ahead.

 

[Ro Z]

If you are doing most if not all QS. You might make out by buying it. But it will be a lot of work. IMO. Kids meals are about $6 now and adults are on average $10 each andthen add drinks or dessert. You can get great deals at places like WPE. But it isn't as easy or convenient to go there as it would be to grab food at say Casey in MK. Another question. If you plan all QS meals why are you planning more $$ for dinner than lunch? QS is QS. Same price for each meal.

 

[nansmama]

I think it depends on how much you eat, what you eat, and where. My 14 year old dd and I can share a counter service meal unless we're ravenous. We also eat groceries in room, not necessarily because of cost but because it's gross to eat nothing but fast food or restaurant food 24/7. Take an honest look at your eating habits and then decide if the DP will work for you. For us it would be a huge ripoff, but others on here swear by it.

 

[akayek31]

When we went in February of 2012, my DS and I used about $800 for 12 days and that was eating at Le Cellier, Ohana for breakfast and dinner, Coral Reef, Crystal Palace and other places. We always ate table meals at lunch so they were cheaper and I am an Annual Passholder so I used Tables in Wonderland. My DD and her DBF are going in February this time and I have $1200 budgeted for 12 days, but the spreadsheet I did is only up to $900. I eat kids meals at CS locations at times so that helps too. But it really depends on how much you eat if you can make it on the budget. Have a good time!

 

[kris4360]

Hi,
We have never gone to Disney without the full dining plan since I can remember. I am not overly optimistic for free dining this year, so I am trying to budget how much it will cost me OP for food.

2 adults, 2 kids ages 7 & 9. 7 nights 8 days. With the exception of 1 character meal, we plan on QS for lunch and dinner and plan on eating cereal or fruit in our hotel room.
We do not have a car, so we will have water, snacks, breakfast items delivered to our room from garden grocer.
I am averaging $30 lunch per day and $45 dinner per day. Probably another $20 a day in snacks or ice cream. Does this sound right?
Is it worth it to just buy the QS dining plan?

Sounds right to me. $10 for adult meal $6 for kids meal. Buying the dp works for us.

 

[North of Mouse]

Hi,
We have never gone to Disney without the full dining plan since I can remember. I am not overly optimistic for free dining this year, so I am trying to budget how much it will cost me OP for food.

2 adults, 2 kids ages 7 & 9. 7 nights 8 days. With the exception of 1 character meal, we plan on QS for lunch and dinner and plan on eating cereal or fruit in our hotel room.
We do not have a car, so we will have water, snacks, breakfast items delivered to our room from garden grocer.
I am averaging $30 lunch per day and $45 dinner per day. Probably another $20 a day in snacks or ice cream. Does this sound right?
Is it worth it to just buy the QS dining plan?

We have never gotten the DDP as it's much more $$'s than OOP for us. My dh & I spent 10 nights/11 days onsite in Dec. and ate TS 5 times, the rest QS, and spent a little over $600. We ate what and when we wanted (including snacks). We are not *heavy* eaters, don't eat desserts with our meals & don't drink sodas. We also eat when we want, not by the clock (with the exception of 5 ADR's). I know $100 a day QS (even with 2 children) would be well enough for us.

 

[MrRomance]

It will really depend on your family and whether or not you are "big" eaters. We always have the DDP but I did tally up the receipts for our last trip and it was SHOCKING how much we would have had to pay. That said, you order things you wouldn't necessarily order if you were paying OOP.

Even though we have the DDP, my DD8 almost always share a counter service meal. For example, at Staring Rolls, we'll get the ham wedge sandwich, chips, large drink and a cupcake (the deal you get on the DDP) and we'll split it between us. Or I'll get a burger, fries, dessert and drink and if she is particularly hungry an extra fries and we'll share. We always use our extra credits left at the end of the trip to buy lunch for another family as a tiny bit of magic for them.

Certainly with a 7 year old I would say you could easily share a counter service meal, so you'd only need 2 adult and 1 child meal. I think you're close with your estimate but maybe a little low.

 

[RainK]

We have always done the DP with TS and QS meals and have always ordered things we normally never would have if it wasn't 'free'...ie dessert.
We are not big eaters. We could manage on a banana for breakfast and then a small lunch and dinner.

We don't drink alcohol so that is a savings right there.
On the DP, if we had a buffet lunch we normally would not have had dinner but because it was free, we would get it. We always over eat on the DP. We would be full from an earlier meal but had a ADR and felt like we HAD to go eat.

I guess I should have tallied the receipts to see how much we would have spent out of pocket minus the extras that we normally would have never ordered if we had to pay OP for it.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Sounds right to me. $10 for adult meal $6 for kids meal. Buying the dp works for us.

Adult meals do not include drinks, just FYI. They are $2.50-$3 each. We are me, DH, DS12 and 9, and we budget $50 for CS lunch or dinner; breakfast is a little less.

 

[bluezy]

Hi,
We have never gone to Disney without the full dining plan since I can remember. I am not overly optimistic for free dining this year, so I am trying to budget how much it will cost me OP for food.

2 adults, 2 kids ages 7 & 9. 7 nights 8 days. With the exception of 1 character meal, we plan on QS for lunch and dinner and plan on eating cereal or fruit in our hotel room.
We do not have a car, so we will have water, snacks, breakfast items delivered to our room from garden grocer.
I am averaging $30 lunch per day and $45 dinner per day. Probably another $20 a day in snacks or ice cream. Does this sound right?
Is it worth it to just buy the QS dining plan?

I think your estimates are pretty good. Our family does the same thing that you're planning to do: breakfast in the room and quick service for lunch and dinner. We plan on an average of ~$35 per adult/teen per day for meals and snacks and ~$15 per younger kid (when they're still eating mostly kids meals). Some days we spend a little more, some days less but for the most part, those are the numbers that our costs average out to. So the QSDP is about a wash for us. We had free dining last time and will most likely purchase the QSDP for our trip in June just because it makes life a little easier (our older kids will go off by themselves for awhile each day and that way they can still get meals and snacks without having charging privileges on their KTTW card.)

 

[Ro Z]

I think your estimates are pretty good. Our family does the same thing that you're planning to do: breakfast in the room and quick service for lunch and dinner. We plan on an average of ~$35 per adult/teen per day for meals and snacks and ~$15 per younger kid (when they're still eating mostly kids meals). Some days we spend a little more, some days less but for the most part, those are the numbers that our costs average out to. So the QSDP is about a wash for us. We had free dining last time and will most likely purchase the QSDP for our trip in June just because it makes life a little easier (our older kids will go off by themselves for awhile each day and that way they can still get meals and snacks without having charging privileges on their KTTW card.)

Never thought about the kids cards needing charging privileges if they go off on their own. Charging something or losing a card!! This is a good tip!

 

[disney1990]

Remember, if you want to save a little money, you can always order large cups of ice water. And, if you want a little more flavor, you can add flavor packs to your water. Water at Disney is free.