How much do you budget?

[dementia412]

I know some people will think this is too personal, so please excuse me. I was wondering how much money you budget/spend per day on average. I know you repeat visitors have a well thought out food budget. I'd like some idea what I'm in for here.

 

[Hugpug]

I budget 40.00 a day as I do 2 sit downs per day. Morning and Evening. I wing lunch mostly. This is just for one person as I travel solo. Most of the time I don't spend that much but I always go on the high side better then being short.

 

[J&J]

We like one nice meal lunch which is cheaper $35-$45 depends on salad & desert if we want. Breasfast cercel in the room zero if out $30. Later spilt a sandwich from a walk up counter. $100 a day for two.

 

[The Sweetness]

We will be on the DP next trip. There will be me, DH, DD15, and DD2. I hope to treat my girlfriend to 3 dinners (she lives in Tampa and wont mind a drive to see us) I planned on spending an extra $500 in 8 nights/ 9 days for a breakfast on the road before we arrive, a dinner on the road on the way home, paying for breakfast (usuallyCS) out of pocket, and additional snacks. The DDp entitles us to 1 a day, but we will easilly use at least that much in extra drinks. Maybe I have over budgeted, as I tend to do, but that just makes for a nice little extra shopping on the last day, or when we go home

 

[yearbook50]

I'm a picky eater. I get almost the exact same thing each time I go to a restaurant. So I look at allearsnet and got the prices of the items I know i will get more than likely and put them in an Excel Spreadsheet. For eating for a week for me solo its going to be $563.73. That includes tip and tax.

 

[DrmWvr1299]

We have never had the dining plan. When we plan for the food budget I go to Deb's site and pull up the menus for the places we are wanting to eat. Then I take the most expensive meals, plus appetizer and 2 desserts (for 4 adults) and that is what I budget for that meal. Of course we didn't always eat the most expensive meal but doing it that way I had a good idea of what the food budget was going to be and it worked out great for us. I always over budget for food. The only meal that was right on target was dinner at the Royal Table. It was very, very expensive but I didn't mind because I had budgeted the money before hand.

 

[Bibbidi]

We are a family of 4, relatively small eaters. I always figure about $100/day. Our girls are 5 and 3. The way I figure it is approximately $30-35 for CS meals - so if you do 3 CS per day you get $100. If you throw a TS in that can run around $70 (including tip), plus 1 CS meal for us and breakfast in the room, you're still at around $100 for that day.

The things that add up for us tend to be breakfast because my husband will get the a la carte stuff that adds up--bowl of cereal, bottle of OJ, fresh fruit, jug of milk, a coffee. We usually order two adult CS lunches and share those with the kids. This next trip we are doing the dining plan and paying for it because it will only cost us $700 for our 7 night stay and we want to try more TS meals this time. I added up all the stuff we wanted to try and it came out to around $1100 OOP so it made sense to do the dining plan this time around--plus it will be prepaid and we can relax about it. Normally I start to wince each time my husband gets back in line for another piece of fruit--now he can use a snack credit!

 

[disneyjunkie]

I'm planning $40.00 a day for my 14-year-old son and I.

We'll be on the dining plan, so most of our meals will be covered. I'm including the extra money to cover breakfast in the food court and extra snacks.

 

[spereira]

100 dollars a day is enough for the 2 of us. That includes snackes.

 

[lovmy2girls]

I've tried but it never works out. I just hope for the best, and prepare for the worst! When I reach the limit on my room key card, and they reject it. Its time to cut back. Hopefully its not till the end of the trip.

Seriously, it is so hard for us. We do cut back like sharing a large drink, or splitting a kids meal because they don't eat a lot. Hubby and I have even split a lunch sandwich etc.. I have found that we usually eat 2 meals a day with a snack. Breakfast and lunch is together, then dinner. A snack in between. So its not so bad. Were not big eaters first thing in the morning. So if were eating a TS breakfast that usually holds us over for a early dinner.

 

[tlmdisney]

In the past we did 100 a day for 2 Adults and 2 children one who was under 3 both times so This year would have beena little more as both girls are older 8 and 5 now but we got the free dining otherwise I would think 150 a day would have been plenty.

 

[Chris]

We will be on the DP next trip. There will be me, DH, DD15, and DD2. I hope to treat my girlfriend to 3 dinners (she lives in Tampa and wont mind a drive to see us) I planned on spending an extra $500 in 8 nights/ 9 days for a breakfast on the road before we arrive, a dinner on the road on the way home, paying for breakfast (usuallyCS) out of pocket, and additional snacks. The DDp entitles us to 1 a day, but we will easilly use at least that much in extra drinks. Maybe I have over budgeted, as I tend to do, but that just makes for a nice little extra shopping on the last day, or when we go home

For our family of 7 w/no food plan we spent about 150.00 a day in park food.

 

[BillSears]

I usually guess about $50.00 a day per person for food and drinks. Now it might be more or it might be less depending on what we're doing that day.

This September will be my first trip trying out the dining plan. I expect I'll be stuffed after each TS meal and starving at other parts of the day. It seems to me that normally I'd eat less at each meal and eat a few more snacks without the dining plan. Also I'd tend to eat more sit down meals without the dining plan. But the plan was free so I'm going to try it out. Also in the past pre-dining plan I'd be able to walk up to most TS areas and get seated. With the need for ADRs because of the dining plan I think I'm going to have to change my habits and that will mean less TS meals overall.

 

[HaleyB]

You can view the menus at www.allearsnet.com and get a really good idea.

We find we want a lot of water and lighter meals due to the heat. We tend to eat 2 meals and a snack or two a day. We have managed to feed 2 adults and 2 children on $100 a day easily. That is an average as we had some days much higher and some much lower. We only do a table service meal once every other day on that budget.

On the other extream we were on the dining plan last year and I totaled reciepts to see what we would have spent (not that we would ever order that much food if paying out of pocket), we had a few $300 days...

You may want to take a look at the Disney Dining plan. We found we spent less than $10 a day beyond the plan, and it is a good deal for most people (IMHO).

 

[dementia412]

Thanks for answering this. I really liked the idea of planning on the most expensive meals in the places you want to go to. I think we'll probably only eat a table service meal a couple times or it would kill our budget with three kids. We can never tell if they are gonna nibble at their food or try to eat right through the plate! It's nice to know there are menus online too.

 

[dizfanz]

Well, this may ruin the curve a bit. My wife and I budget about $200/day for food and drinks for the 2 of us. We generally eat breakfast in our villa, have a power bar or some almonds during the day at parks/pool. We sit down for lunch and dinner. Oh yeah, and maybe a cocktail or two.

 

[dalt01]

we have been buying the dining plan ever since they started it and we dont go outside of the paramaters exept for maybe a water now and then. there are 3 of us so thats easy to figure. before that started however we were always over 175.00 a day. the dining plan helps you budget," HEY, you had your snack for today now step away from the Churro!!!!!!!"

 

[dementia412]

Well at least I don't have to worry about alcohol because neither of us drink. I just don't want to get stuck eating McDonald's because it's all I can afford. (I happen to hate McD's food with a passion) I don't care to eat in the high end places either. Well off to peruse the menus!

 

[mickeyfan2]

We are repeat visitors who do not budget our food. We eat what we want and never seem to spend too much.

 

[eliza61]

Well, this may ruin the curve a bit. My wife and I budget about $200/day for food and drinks for the 2 of us. We generally eat breakfast in our villa, have a power bar or some almonds during the day at parks/pool. We sit down for lunch and dinner. Oh yeah, and maybe a cocktail or two.

My family and I will help you average things out a bit. We are a bunch of foodies so we always have at least 2 table service meals a day. We generally budget $75.00 per day per person.