If you don't mind sharing

[*QueenB*]

What is your food budget if you pay OOP? Please say a per day amount since the timespan of peoples vacations vary so much.
For our next trip I want to stay at $500.00 so we won't be able to do a ton of TS meals but that is what I am working with.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

It depends on the # of people, adults/kids, CS or TS...... I'd look at the menus for the places you want to eat and start adding up costs. That way you can see where you need to cut or are able to add. For saving $$, I'd plan on getting some stuff for breakfast for the room, waters, and snacks to take into the park.

 

[bcnorth]

I just started to add up our dinners and couldn't believe what the cost for three people was (2 adults and a 6yr old), we averaged $83.00 a dinner with our ADR's that wasn't even for snack, lunch or breakfast and I picked items from the kid's menu.....

I am now thinking that we should do the DDP and save ourselves money... We are staying club level but even with a continental BF we would still probably spend an additional $36.00 a day for lunch and a snack... DDP is cheaper and we can use it for our Character Dining and Mickey's BBQ.

We just saved money from the latest public offer on rooms that we could use that to buy the DDP. My thinking was that we were going to go even with the higher room cost that if I add the DDP now we still save $150 for the entire vacation

 

[candielips]

How long are you going for? As 3minnies mentioned, your best bet is to hit the menu's online, my fav is allears.net. Sticking to your budget can be done as long you preplan everything. Keep in mind that there are a lot of meals you can share.
If there are any TS's you wanted to try, why not go for a late lunch. You will get better pricing and if you plan it later in the afternoon, it can double as an early dinner, and your family might only need a snack later in the evening.
Check out the budget board for some more great tips on how to save money on dining!

 

[Micca]

Adults? Easily around $100 per day each. That includes tax, tip, some alcohol.

 

[*QueenB*]

I just started to add up our dinners and couldn't believe what the cost for three people was (2 adults and a 6yr old), we averaged $83.00 a dinner with our ADR's that wasn't even for snack, lunch or breakfast and I picked items from the kid's menu.....

I am now thinking that we should do the DDP and save ourselves money... We are staying club level but even with a continental BF we would still probably spend an additional $36.00 a day for lunch and a snack... DDP is cheaper and we can use it for our Character Dining and Mickey's BBQ.

We just saved money from the latest public offer on rooms that we could use that to buy the DDP. My thinking was that we were going to go even with the higher room cost that if I add the DDP now we still save $150 for the entire vacation

I have had sticker shock a time or two from Disney too....I have had thoughts about doing the DDP, DH isn't for it much and for DH, myself and DD4 (We wont have to pay for DD2 at the time) it would run about 624 so above my 500 mark but would get more out of it...I'm just not sure. Have a bit to decide though.

 

[*QueenB*]

I love allears.net. I think I go there a few times a week...
We have done Disney (food) cheaply, pretty much every family trip we take because our DD's aren't big eaters and are also rather picky so we usually stick to our budget. I am wondering if I should try to convince DH to try the DDP this year. It will run about 100 dollars plus some over 500.00 but I think we could make it more interesting. I like the idea of using late lunches; we did that one year with Le Cellier and would definately do so again especially if using DDP since the dinners will soon be 2 credits. Thanks!

 

[JimmyV]

There is no "per day" for us. We look at it on an ad hoc basis. First off, we eat breakfast in the room from supplies that we buy at Publix. Figure $50 for a week, or, pro rated, around $7 per day.

A full day at the MK is usually 2 CS meals (family of three) plus a couple of Mickey Bars and a couple of drinks. $100 for the day will do it with room to spare.

At all other parks, we usually do s CS for lunch (my budget is $40 and we usually stay within it). Dinners can vary greatly. When we go to AK and we are out of the park by 5:00 or so, we usually plan a nice dinner at California Grill or equivalent. I budget for an app ($12), and an entree ($35) per person plus a single dessert to share ($8). That's $141 plus a bottle of wine ($120 max). With tax and tip, I try to keep my "nice" dinners around $300+/-. At other dinners (like Cape May), there is a fixed cost, and no wine worth buying, so the cost is pretty easy to predict.

Checking my past costs, we seem to spend around $1,500 for 6 days on food, all in. That is $250 per day on average, but no individual day seems to hit the average. Some days we spend $100. Some days we spend $400.

 

[Dizzyworld]

I would check the menus too for ideas on cost too. We have a DD (15) that is really picky to the point that the dining plan would cost us more money than what she would eat.

Since your children are so young you might even easy split meals. Not sure what your youngest child eats. I'd pack baggies of cereal and other dry products. Also the adult portions are often too large for one person, so you can have some flexibilty there too in sharing a meal or at least parts of a meal. You can get free ice water in a cup from counter service too. Good luck.

 

[mainegal]

Two adults on a week-long trip
Snacks from home for breakfast
Three or four table service meals, the rest counter service.
Only occasional Disney snacks or desserts
Mostly drank water at meals instead of purchasing a beverage

Cost was definitely lower than the dining plan, about $30 per day average.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

OK I need some help now. We're going in Feb for the first time OOP.

I was thinking around $60 / day - we're 2 adults and an 11 year old. I based this on eating breakfast in the room (we'll have a car and breakfast stuff prepurchased) and then appr. $25 for lunch (shareing 2 CS between the 3 of us - we do this every trip - no dessert, drinking sodas we bring into the park) and $25 for dinner - again CS same deal as lunch. The extra $10 for snacks and a bit of wiggle room. Most CS meals are less than $10 so this looks workable. This is a an extra trip so we're trying to do it on a budget. Someone please tell me if my figures are right, close to right or way off!

 

[JimmyV]

You are definitely in the ballpark. When we do CS for three people (without sharing) we spend around $35-$38 per meal. That is around $12-$13 per person. So if you buy 2 meals to share instead of three meals, you should be able to stick to around $25 per meal as long as 100% of your meals are CS.

 

[LilyWDW]

Now, I OVER budget quite a bit. I would rather have too much money put aside then run into a surprise.

I have budgeted for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. This includes a TS everyday, though not always for the same meal. Each meal includes an app, entree, dessert, and non alcoholic drink. The budget also includes money for F&W (we are going in Oct) based off of numbers a friend gave me, snacks everyday, and an alcoholic beverage every day. I then rounded up. There are two of us going for 10 days.

I came to about $200/day. Now, that being said, I doubt it will all be used. We won't order an app/entree/dessert EVERY meal for both of us. I also made this budget before I was told "no alcohol" for a medical issue. However, I am still going to keep this as the budget so I KNOW I have enough money. We would rather do a big trip every 4-5 years then have to budget too much just to go more often.

 

[*QueenB*]

We plan to have kids share meals definately but even though I'm normally not a big eater I am always SO hungry at Disney. I'm usually satisfied but never stuffed after a CS meal. DH is the same way. Fast food never fills me up. This last trip we went to Cracker Barrel one day and spent $30 and had enough leftovers for dinner so we may do that again. We are going for 7 days so my average per day for the whole family is about $71.00. We are not counting snacks/breakfast/drinks we buy for the room at Publix up the road in that.

 

[abubu919]

It honestly depends. We always pay OOP, but we usually only do about one TS a day and then snack for our other meals to lower the cost/or split meals. We usually do breakfasts and lunches for our TS because prices usually are lower as well.

 

[cbg1027]

Your budget should depend on the places you like to eat. I think I budget a lot more for food than most people because I eat at signatures most of the time.

I actually did the math from the my last trips trips and I average $100 a day for myself. That is eating a CS breakfast, mostly CS lunches with a few TS in the mix, and a signature TS for dinner, with about two alcoholic drinks a day and a maybe a snack or special treat every third day or so.
I almost always order an appetizer, entree, and dessert at the signature dinners, so that's where most of my food budget goes.

If you don't plan to eat the signatures, you could definitely spend a lot less.

 

[missmun52]

personally, I would spend the extra $100 for the DDP. That way you wont have to share and you can get whatever you want instead of trying to pick the cheapest items. You would also be able to do TS meals. And if you factor in the cost f snacks that you will buy oop you may find the DDP is about the same but you get way more for your buck.

 

[NMW]

I would say that you could stay in the $500 range if all of your meals are CS. If you want TS dinners, I would say that it's unlikely you would only spend $500 and the DDP is probably the way to go.You can look at the menus and prices and get a ball park per-day figure. Keep in mind that the DDP also includes tax, so if paying OOP, you would have to add tax.

 

[*QueenB*]

Your budget should depend on the places you like to eat. I think I budget a lot more for food than most people because I eat at signatures most of the time.

I actually did the math from the my last trips trips and I average $100 a day for myself. That is eating a CS breakfast, mostly CS lunches with a few TS in the mix, and a signature TS for dinner, with about two alcoholic drinks a day and a maybe a snack or special treat every third day or so.
I almost always order an appetizer, entree, and dessert at the signature dinners, so that's where most of my food budget goes.

If you don't plan to eat the signatures, you could definitely spend a lot less.

We would dine at more TS and signature TS if we didn't have the girls in tow. For our next anniversary I think we should do an adults only trip and will definately look forward to better dining experiences.

 

[*QueenB*]

One concern I have with the DDP is that tipping is not included. Not sure how much cash we'd have to bring for that but it would add to the cost. Don't know how to convince DH to do it though, for some reason he always has hesitation.