If you don't get the dining plan, how much per day?

[emmsmama]

I'm planning to go to Disney with dh and two children (6.5 and 9 at that time). We will probably be staying offsite so I'm just wondering, how much is it likely to run for meals each day for average food? I'm not planning on eating fancy every night, but I also don't want to eat cheeseburgers and fries all week. So with moderate eating how much do you think I should budget per day?

 

[WillCAD]

I usually budget $40 per day for myself, but it can vary wildly depending on whether I eat a table-service meal or counter service all day.

Most counter service meals will cost you $10-$15, but table service has a much wider range of prices and is harder to predict. Most of the buffets and family-style places are between $25 and $30.

A better way to go about this is to look over the menus on AllEarsNet and pick out your favorite table-service places, made some reservations, and figure up the prices. After that, add money to the budget for counter service places.

NOTE: Table service restaurants at WDW book up quickly, sometimes as soon as the 180-day booking window opens, so reservations are a MUST even in the off-seasons. Walk-ups are not even accepted at some restaurants, and wait times for those that do accept walk-ups can be 60-120 minutes during the busy dinner rush.

Also note that the dinner rush at WDW runs from about 6pm till almost 9pm, partly because people keep later hours in the parks, and partly because of people coming from different time zones around the world being used to eating at, say, 7pm on the west coast, which is 10pm on the east coast. Eating early, between 4:30 and 6pm, is the easiest way to get into a restaurant with no ressies.

 

[yearbook50]

This may seem excessive, but when planning for my wedding/honeymoon trip I looked at the restaurants I knew we would like to eat at and then listed the item & price of the items we would be most likely to order. That way I know almost exactly how much we are going to be spending on food while there in February.

However, I also did that as I was avoiding doing work on my final project for college and needed a good distraction.

 

[trivial]

If you plan on eating one quick-service meal and one table-service meal per day, on average, about the same price as the dining plan (which also includes a snack). Going a bit off topic, may I ask why you're planning to stay off-site? If it's to save money, I'm willing to bet you would pay about the same on-site, with all the perks and amenities considered (such as Magical Express, eligibility for the Dining Plan, etc.).

 

[micmacmissy]

If you eat breakfast offsite, then figure on $10/pp for lunch (counter service), $20 for afternoon snacks (mickey bars or popcorn), and $80 for a sit down dinner (not including alcohol or grown up desserts). I would budget for a family of four at least $140 a day, if not more.

 

[trivial]

$140/day sounds quite plausible (unless you're sticking to quick-service meals only; table service meals aren't cheap at WDW). The DDP would cost you $96. If you're staying for 2 full weeks, it would be costing you about $600 to stay off-site ($44/day), just considering the DDP. Which may be worth it to you; just making sure you've got the information you need.

 

[emmsmama]

I'm planning on offsite because we want the extra space without the cost of a moderate or deluxe resort. I have friends that have stayed at Windsor Hills and the condo prices are reasonable there. You get a washer and dryer in the condo too so you don't have to share with other resort guests. I also like the idea of being able to get away from the busy-ness of WDW and have a few relaxing days at the condo and taking advantage of the pool and amenities at the condo resort. I'm still considering staying 10 days offsite and 4 on so we can experience both, but that still won't get me the dining plan for all the days we plan to spend at Disney (approx. 7-8 incl. at least one of the waterparks and 4 main parks).

I was figuring about $100/day because we could eat breakfast at the hotel, but wanted to know if that was an accurate estimate. Maybe I should estimate more like $120-140/day.

Also, are prices at the shopping centers and restaurants in the area (off-site) regular prices or hiked up prices? Are things like bread and milk regular prices?

 

[MickeyNicki]

You can add up the cost of the meals by checking the allearsnet.com website...it will help you out a lot.

 

[emmsmama]

Yeah, I'm rethinking the offsite thing considering the cost of meals. Or maybe I'll stay 7 onsite and 7 off. I planned on taking 7-8 days to do the 4 main parks and at least one of the waterparks (weather permitting) so I could always spend those days onsite with the dining plan and then spend the other 7 at Windsor Hills for when we go to Universal Studios and IOA.

 

[mom2my3kids]

The dining plan was awesome but now that my 10 year old is considered a adult its cheaper not to be on the dining plan. We are eating at our resort for breakfast and lunch and dinner CS there are lots of varities of CS at disney so you are not eating the same old thing over and over. We have 3 TS planned 2 lunch and one dinner and one TS breakfast planned.

 

[gismo1554]

A better way to go about this is to look over the menus on AllEarsNet and pick out your favorite table-service places, made some reservations, and figure up the prices. After that, add money to the budget for counter service places.

This is how I did it and I came out at $42.61 on average per day assuming that I had 1 table service (main & desert & drink) 1 counter service (main & desert & drink) and 1 snack. I was looking mainly to justify the meal plan.

Table service wise I choose what I would actually eat from the menus I would eat off and then worked out the average of them all. Just depends on how expensive ur tastes are and what you would eat.

Also although the dining plan is good value also bare in mind how often and what you eat. For example Im not a big desert eater and the dining plan used to include an apertiser which was great as I always like these more. Now that they've changed it its not really worth it for me. Also I found on the DDP I was forcing myself to have to eat. I ended up wasting 5 snack vouchers on bottles of coke on the last day (which were then taken off me when I got on the plane due to the no liquid rules). I found that I was having proper counter service meals for the sake of it whereas I could have coped with a breakfast snack and then a lunch snack before the large dinner. It just depends on what you consider a meal. For example a fruit salad is a DDP snack well to me thats a breakfast. If you like having a proper breakfast then obviously you're going to be spending more on food and so therefore it does work out better value

 

[Laura]

This is a link to our dining report from 2006. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1112124

We didn't do the dining plan, and we definitely wound up coming out ahead. We don't have kids, my vegetarian meals tend to be cheaper, and we usually share appetizers and desserts.