How much will we spend while ON our trip?

[Aflyingbuttress]

Refrigerators-yes. Microwaves-not in regular rooms.
Did you mention where you are staying?

I'm staying at Caribbean Beach Resort in a water or pool view room.

 

[QVCshopper]

We spent $850 on food/souvenirs and $100 in Starbucks for 8 nights, family of 5, no meal plan. That was watching our money fairly closely though. I brought a $1K Disney gift card and $150 Starbucks with us and came home with money left over on both!

 

[angierae]

I would take a look at the menus at allears.net and get an idea of what you're likely to spend on food/tips/etc.

 

[dclpluto]

For breakfast save a lot of money and just have granola bars. Or peanut butter and jelly something you can eat in your room. Disney has free water, take advantage of that. At Hollywood studios I like to go to backlot cafe I think the name is haven't been in over a year. Only get one cup for sofa and share it. You refill the drinks yourself. Probably other people here can tell you if there is any other places like that. If you feel like you need a table service meal go for lunch it's cheaper than dinner. sorry about your medical emergency.

 

[kymom99]

I'm staying at Caribbean Beach Resort in a water or pool view room.

Oooooh I love CBR! No microwaves though.

 

[hsmamato2]

I would take a look at the menus at allears.net and get an idea of what you're likely to spend on food/tips/etc.

This. they have prices. And if you need to cut some TS meals, seek advice on these boards for great places to eat that cost less and don't need a ADR.... we averaged about 100 per day for 4 'adults' at disney.... yes, we were careful and chose thoughtfully- no we didn't go hungry and had a lot of great food (too much lol) for instance if you want a buffet or character meal breakfast or lunch is cheaper than dinner..

 

[leebee]

We usually fly Southwest so have no problems with bringing breakfast foods as we each can check 2 suitcases for free. CBR rooms will have refrigerators (not huge, but bigger than a cube) and I think a coffeepot. The food court will have a microwave and toasters you can use. I am not a big breakfast person but have found that I need something in me before I go hiking around a theme park in the heat during the day! Things we have brought: Freeze yogurt, then put it in a soft-sided insulated bag in your checked luggage. Sometimes I add an ice pack, too. It holds well, and remember that yogurt is already a fermented food, so less susceptible to spoilage than "fresh" dairy products. We'll bring triscuits and cheese, granola bars, cereal and bowls (get fresh milk at food court or gift shop), boxes of almond milk, fruit cups, mini-bagels, peanut butter, cream cheese packets (the kind that keep without refrigeration, or throw it in with the yogurt). WE also bring in-park snacks, usually fruit snacks (the little gummy things- I usually look for Disney related ones at the grocery store) and chewy granola bars without chocolate in them (it melts and makes a mess). We each try to pack an empty water bottle or two, and I bring our mini-britta to filter water with so we take our own bottles into the parks OR last time DD brought her insulated water bottle and we got free ice water from the quick service stands. That was really easier!

When we go to Disney, we usually skimp on breakfast and lunch, and make dinner our meal of the day (or if we can't get the ADRs we want, lunch is the big meal and dinner something smaller). If you want to purchase all your meals, consider sharing combo platters at the food court. If you aren't a big eater in the morning, you and your DH could probably share a breakfast combo platter- I think the last one we ordered had scrambled eggs, bacon/sausage, potatoes, biscuit, and a mini-Mickey waffle. It was plenty for the two of us! If we needed more (like when it was me, DD23, and DH) we supplemented with some fresh fruit and a muffin. You can also order kid's meals at anytime, for anyone. Waffles, pancakes, or french toast with bacon and fruit for $5.

We've also found quick service restaurants in the parks that offer meals that will serve more than one person. Cosmic Ray's in the MK does a half-rotisserie chicken with potato and veg for $15, and Flame Tree BBQ in AK does something similar, for a similar price. Food and Wine would be my budgetary downfall- the offerings are so amazing, I always want to try one of EVERYTHING!!

We are not souvenir people either, and one of the first things I did was get DD hooked on collecting pressed pennies, because they are a small, cheap souvenir. Fifty-one cents will get you a pressed penny and I thing booklets to keep them in are about $8 (and I could be very wrong on this one). We are very strict when it comes to frivolous spending, so DD has always known that she gets ONE souvenir per trip (in addition to the pennies), and we have to approve the purchase. Also, as you are flying, you also can take advantage of the "it has to fit in the available suitcase space" limitation, too! It's hard, because you will be inundated with amazing things as many, many attractions exit to a gift shop, but be strong (or be prepared and just walk through without browsing!). Especially watch out for the Princess shop as you exit Voyage of the Little Mermaid!

Good luck, but I really think you can manage on $200 a day!

 

[potterfanatic]

Is there almond milk anywhere?

One of my daughters only drinks almond milk, and while I didn't specifically seek it out, I know that they didn't have it at any of the restaurants we went to or the gift shop area in the hotel where I did find cow milk for my other daughters. I would suggest bringing the room temperature ones that they sell at the grocery store in a ziplock bag in your checked luggage if you want to make sure she has some while you are there. Or Uber to the store as others have suggested.

 

[amcnj]

I second the earlier suggestions of looking at the menus and prices, and also considering lunch for places you really want to try but might be beyond your budget for dinner.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I mean, I have about 50 reservations right now because I couldn't decide. LOL I'm not planning to eat at all of them. We will probably do crystal palace, tusker house, and BOG lunch. I was going to do CRT but we cancelled it.

Is F&W $8-$12 for alcoholic drinks? We will probably be focused on the food part and not the wine part. I'm fine with drinking water. If we do have a glass of wine it will probably be just one.

I'm imagining Disney souvenirs will be expensive. Thats a good idea to look at the shopping app. I hadnt thought of that.

I think that if you are going to do a couple of TS meals, those are pretty good choices. Go ahead and cancel the rest so that you don't forget and get bitten by the $10/person cancellation fee. Also, that frees up ADRs for people still searching.

I would set a budget for the F&W Festival and buy one of the wrist-strap giftcards. Then when the money is gone, it's gone.

 

[friend2Figment]

There are toasters and microwaves in the food court at CBR.

 

[princessesintraining]

We just went in August and spent little over $1000 on food. We are two adults, 1 Disney adult, and on child. I ordered water and some drinks from Amazon pantry and had them shipped for around $50. No refillable mugs, as we have several from past trips. We were there 7 park days. We ate mostly muffins for breakfast, did 'OHana breakfast, 50's prime time(lunch), Tutto Italia(lunch), chef de France (lunch), be our guest(dinner), the wave (dinner). We ate lunch a few times at CApt. Cooks, Caseys (1 night) and lots of popcorn and other snacks for our third meal most days. Disney adult and I some times split a meal or they ordered off the kids meal, we didn't order dessert or appetizers except for Chef De France, as we chose to eat other places for our desserts. No alcohol. Personally in August it was too hot to eat. I didn't worry about the price of anything and did eat a few steaks along the way.

Extra spending mone was about $100 for ornaments and the kids had around $50 each of their own money. This was our fourth trip, so we didn't do anything major. No BBB. We did do the Star Wars dessert party, which isn't included in my amount as it was paid ahead of time.

 

[starswilldiex]

Also you could take an uber to the super target or walmart to get essentials and i know the target has a huge disney souvenirs section. There are also 2 disney outlets. Finally, stretch the money further by getting disney gift cards at target beforehand with red card and save 5%. We used them last trip for everything. I love that i can combine all the giftcards onto 1 or 2 so im not constantly worried.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

If you want a couple of low cost dinners throughout your stay, go to Picabu. They have a family meal deal that's $25 - you can find it on allears.net. The family meal includes an entire rotisserie chicken & 3 family sized side dishes. It easily feeds 3-4 people. It's sort of a cafeteria style place, nothing fancy, but a great bargain for sure!