How much to expect to spend?

[shadowpumpkin]

How much should I expect to spend on food while at Disney? We will be there 4 nights/5 days, but only at the parks for 2, maybe 3 of those days. The 1st and last day will be mainly travel days. I do not know if I want to do the DDP as I don't know if I can do it for just 3 days or if it has to be for all 5 days. There is me, my husband, a 4 year old and 1 year old. We are trying to spend as little on food as possible. Can you take food into the park? We are staying at a moderate Disney resort. How can I save money on food and how much should I expect to spend? Thanks!

 

[pumba]

This is the food dining and menus at all the parks and your resort too....
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningmain.cfm

.Does your one year old eat regular food like the four year old.
To save you money, you could have your breakfasts in your room. Bring the cereal that your kids like and use your fridge in your room to keep your milk (buy it at the stores before you get there) juice and items like that. There are quite a few meals that your kids could share even.......Some of the meals are good size. Like spaghetti and meatballs with breadsticks are enough for two people. The hamburgers and fries are again in my opinion a good size. The kids meals at the resorts and at the parks come with a juice or milk, grapes or applesauce.
the menus for foods at the parks will give you an idea of how much they are and I again am saying that alot of the meals are good size.
Bring your kids favorite snacks in a backpack...like crackers and peanut butter and thinks like that......if you are going during a hot time of the year remember to keep the kids and yourselves hydrated....
have a great time

 

[bigbabyblues]

We went in 2004, when my kids were 15 months of 3 (2 months away from being 4). Our budget for food was $140 a day, and we used almost all of it. Some days we were under, some days we were a little over. We had at least 1 sit-down mean each day, two or maybe three of the days, we had 2 sit diwn meals.

You can bring food in the parks, stuff that you can keep in your backback or diaper bag, or whatever. We always bring bottles of water. At a moderate resort, you'll have a fridge in your room, that will help.

Check out the menus under the dining link here on the Dis. Even though you don't know exactly what you'll order, it will give you a good idea of pricing. A lot of meals are big enough to share. We split counter service meals at several places, and it's enough for the 4 of us (my boys are 7 and 4 now).

 

[jamhayward]

We have travelled quite a bit to Disney with our kids *whoa re now 8,4 and 3). The kids meal prices are pretty reasonable ($4-7 each) The one year old can usually eat off your plate or share with your other child. We never had an issue with that.

If you are looking to save $$, i would recommend doing your sit-down meal at lunch time. The proces are more reasonable. I would not receommend doing all counter service as you will get tired of it quick. You can rent a fridge in your room for about $10/day and we used to keep milk/cereal/snacks for the kids there. I always bring snacks to the parks with us to cut down on that cost and we buy a 6 pk of water bottles before getting to Disney. We froze them the night before and that way they stay cold all day. If you get a fridge, you can also buy a cheap soft cooler and bring snadwiches for lunch.

Chef Mickeys is a reasonable buffet as is Crystal Palace.

Depending on where you are staying, you can usually buy a mug that you can refill your drinks for free during your stay.

Hope that helps...

 

[Hootch]

based on your nights at the resort. That has kept us from using it a couple of times when we had mainly travel days on the front and back end.

There is some good advice already given. If you have access to a car then definitely stock up with snack and breakfast items at a store. The fridge in the room is great. The easiest one to find for us is past Downtown Disney. The street actually ends in a parking lot with a supermarket.

If you do this don't underestimate the amount of water that you'll use in the parks. Disney is not completely unreasonable on water prices compared to other parks or sporting events, but compared what you pay at somewhere like Costco it is very high. We were there in June and would have easily spent $20/day on water alone had we not brought some with us. You can ask for free cups of ice water at the CS restaurants. I prefer bottles because they can go in and out of rides or attractions.