How much do you really spend on food?

[Beth76]

I'm planning my first trip to Disney and am totally stressed about this free dining plan--which I did get a quote for. If my math is correct, we (2 adults, 2 boys age 4 &1--usually good eaters) would need to spend $58 a day on food to make the dining plan work for us. Now, we tend to sleep in, so I'm not really thinking we would always eat 3 big meals. Plus, we would probably snack a lot. I'm sure we would spend more than $58, but probably not much more. And many people think being "tied down" to the dining plan is an inconvenience. I don't mind paying a bit extra for convenience. I just don't know what to do. I want to have a nice vacation. I want to be able to relax and enjoy myself and this is just getting to be no fun. Help!

 

[Trinity721]

I think that with 4 people, you could easily spend $58/day on your meals. But I still would be unsure about doing the meal plan, especially if you don't plan on doing 3 meals a day. We also aren't big on breakfast. Give me a bagel and I'm good to go! And some days we don't eat a sit-down meal, just counter service. We also did a lot of snacking. But just think about the prices of the food, especially having 4 people in your party. For counter service, prices are usually $6-8, and for children $4-5. At maximum, that's already $26 just for one counter service. I know. Trying to figure it out is no fun. I say if your big priority is saving money and you think you can make the most out of it, do the dining plan. But if you want more flexibility and you aren't sure you can make the most of the dining plan, don't do it. Whatever you do, don't let your dining plans stress you out too much!

 

[Beth76]

Trinity, thanks but I will be stressed out until I get this trip booked. We just have quotes now and are trying to decide which way to go.

Adding another wrinkle here: We may also be bringing my mom. If we do that, there would be 3 adults eating. If there are 3 adults in the same room, does that make more sense to do the dining plan? I know that would be adding $25 a night to the room rate, but it would be that way if we did the rack rate or the AAA rate right--so that shouldn't really make a difference in the price right?

I told you all.....I'm totally stressing over this.

 

[Bartoli]

Beth, we are from St. Louis too and will be at Disney June 17-24th (me, DH, DS-9, DS-8, DD-6). We decided to do the dining plan because I did not want to be stressed out about the cost of eating out. To my DH, this is like an all-inclusive plan. Once it is paid for up front, he quits worrying about the money. In past vacations, he stressed so much over the cost of food that we ended up starving all day. The dining plan allows us to enjoy some of the different restaurants at WDW that we may not have tried before. Whatever you decide, have a great time.

 

[BATBkindagirl]

It's tough..

 

[Anewman]

You could easily spend $58 on one MEAL per day.


I really doubt you can eat for less than that per day even sticking to JUST fast food.
How much did you spend last time the family ate at Carls Jr or any other fast food place. I am pretty sure it was close to $24.
Now with the plan you can(if you choose) have one very nice SIT DOWN meal per day And then consider all the counter service meals and SNACKS as free.

Remember if you are getting the plan for free(or $58 in your case) there really is no pressure, eat when you want where you want. There should be more than enough food included for you to be worried.

 

[alien]

If this is your first trip to Disney, DEFINITELY get the dining plan. It is a little bit of a shock to see how much food costs at Disney. (After several years going, we are finally used to paying a lot). A character breakfast can run 15-20 or more per adult and 10 per child over age 3. Dinner entrees alone can cost anywhere from 15 up for adult. A Mickey Mouse ice cream bar is $2.50. Check out Deb Wills' site, www.allearsnet.com, and look at some of the menus and prices. With the dining plan, you won't be worried as much about spending money for food. Make sure you make an "advanced reservation" for any place that is a MUST DO.
Don't stress out - just remember to do your planning now and RELAX and HAVE FUN when you get there. Not having to keep taking money out of your pocket for meals and snacks is a great way to enjoy Disney! (Although you'll probably think that now you'll have more money for souvenirs - it's something they put in the water! LOL)

 

[califred]

Also, the dining plan only pays for two meals a day and a snack (or drink)

It pays for one CS and one TS and a snack, though you can share and make it three meals a day.

Last time we went to DW, we rented a house where I cooked a few dinners and most breakfasts... we still in 8 days spent close to 400 dollars on food we ate in the parks/DTD.

It will also afford you the chance to eat at nicer places and order whatever you want. And yes if your Mom comes it's a better deal for it to be free.

 

[Christine]

If you plan to do even just ONE table service a day, it will probably work for you. Remember, a buffet dinner is usually $24.00 per adult. That's $48 right there just for two adults. That's not including the children's buffet cost which is about $13 I believe. If you go to a non-buffet table service it is sometimes a bit cheaper.

I would probably do it as I think part of the whole "magic" experience is dining in conjunction as to where you are in the park. I've never done the dining plan so I'm not sure what restaurants are on it, but I think you can easily tie in table service restaurants with your touring plan. And it's so much fun!

 

[bigbabyblues]

We went last year with our two boys, they were almost 4 years old and 15 months old then. We budgeted $140 a day for food, and we used most of it. There were a couple days that we were as much as $30 under, but other days we were $20-30 over, so it balanced out. We ate one sit down meal (mostly character meals) each day, and two of the days we had two sit-down meals. We plan to do the same this year, and I got the dining plan because it will work for us.

 

[reeeoga]

To see if the diner plan works for you, you need to do some actual "Meal Runs". Meal Runs are you go through the menus at the resorts and parks, figure out what you would actually eat if you where paying for it out of pocket. This will give you an actual total before tax. Remember to only include 2 meals a day and 1 snack. If this total is equal or greater than the per day price of the diner plan, buy it. You can then splerge during your vacation without having to pay more. To get a better idea use the cheaper items (assume you are pinching pennies ).

I went through menus with my DW. We like the Counter Service places a lot, but have no problem going to a Table Service. We also like to eat somewhat cheap . After adding everything up (we figured 3 Table Service meals in 6 days), the cost was $2 more for the Diner Plan before tax. We got the plan.

 

[BATBkindagirl]

We went last year with our two boys, they were almost 4 years old and 15 months old then. We budgeted $140 a day for food, and we used most of it. There were a couple days that we were as much as $30 under, but other days we were $20-30 over, so it balanced out. We ate one sit down meal (mostly character meals) each day, and two of the days we had two sit-down meals. We plan to do the same this year, and I got the dining plan because it will work for us.

There's 3 of us.. my mom, my sister, and I. My sis is 16 and I'm 14.. we spend more than $100 a day on food. If we ate at table service for lunch & dinner it would be about $200 depending on the restaurant.

 

[kaylie&laurensmom]

I'm not sure where the $58 is coming from - 2 adults *$35 + 1 child $10 = $80. The youngest would be free.

 

[castleri]

Actually I think 2 adults @ $35 and one Child at $10 =$80
The OP said something about a free dining plan - is this something different? Maybe the package adds up to $58 a day more than if you just get package without food included.

 

[pbharris4]

We EASILY spend that on 1 meal a day! We don't eat a lot of food either. We like to eat sit down at least 1x a day..sometimes 2. It's me, dh, dd (9) and dd (2)..although last year we pretty much gave her stuff off our plate and brought other stuff for her. One meal at Fulton's was like $125 and that's with just sodas not alcohol. BELIEVE ME, I'd do the Meal Plan in a heartbeat! We are DVC members so we don't buy a travel package (no My Way) and we don't get AP's because we only go once a year. DVC gives a dicount at some places, but not like the MY Way plan.

 

[clombardi]

I think it is really important to remember that the meal plan includes tax and tip. That alone can add up when you eat 1 TS per day!

 

[bellarella]

You need to look at what discounts you would get on your room and how you usually eat. I believe the only room discount you can get with the MYW Dining is the AAA discount, so if you have other discounts you would have to add what you are losing there to the $35/pp/day.

Second you need to think about how you tend to eat. For us it did not make sense to get the dining plan. We would have had to change our whole way of eating to make it fit and that would have been stressful to us. We ate what we wanted, when we wanted and for 6 days we spent about $700 on food (DH, me, DD4 and DD 2). That is more than the $400 that the MYW dining would have cost *except* that when I went through our receipts, at least $400 of what we spent on food would not have been covered on the dining plan. SO on the dining plan we would have spent at least $800 on food, or $100 more than just going it on our own. For us the overages included ordering DD2 her own meal (she wouldn't get any meal credits because she was 2), ordering room service (very key to our plans for breakfast), and doing multiple TS restaurants a day (we don't eat one big meal, but rather many small ones, but prefer the offerings at TS to those at CS -- we only did 2 CS restaurants our whole time there), and snacks (we like snacks that I don't believe are covered, like funnel cakes).

Yes, if our goal was to save money, the MYW would have been a great deal. But in our family's case, getting our money's worth out of it would have been work, not a bonus, so we chose to not do the plan.

 

[joliesmom]

We are going in Sept/Oct and did not book the dining plan. One person in our party already has an AP. We like to stay concierge. We also like to eat at TS restaurants more often. The idea of everyone now wanting to book TS restaurants is scary to us. For our traveling party we can't be bothered stressing about where we can eat at each meal. Also consider whether or not you'll eat the amount of food that is alloted for, if not are you going to carry around your left overs? It's an individual decision, if you have an AP you can still get the DDE card which offers a savings and more freedom.

 

[Anewman]

I'm not sure where the $58 is coming from - 2 adults *$35 + 1 child $10 = $80. The youngest would be free.

In order to get the "FREE" Dining she is obviously giving up some kind of discount(maybe AP room rate), so out of pocket the plan would cost her $58 per day.

 

[LAWalz23]

We usually eat 1 TS each day and for just 2 adults spend way more than $35 a day on food each. My sister, her dh, dd and ds (7 year old twins) spend more than the $80 it would cost them per day on one character meal or one TS meal each day. So basically for my family it would be like getting the CS and snack for free. We would be more than happy to take advantage of this new plan except that we all (myself, sister and parents) all bought into DVC in the last year. And to top it off my brother is getting the dining free deal and for $90 less than his original package price. They usually never eat on site and now are doing numerous character meals essentially for free.