In the case that there is not free dining in October.....

[JenDisFan02]

Has anyone ever gone and planned a budget for food, and stuck to it? Do you eat extras you've brought, etc?

Thanks!

 

[Texas Crude]

Has anyone ever gone and planned a budget for food, and stuck to it? Do you eat extras you've brought, etc?

Thanks!

We've never budgeted for food, mostly because after spending $5,000 on flights, hotels, and tickets there's no way I'm going to skip the $5 dole whip when it calls my name!

 

[Marionnette]

Has anyone ever gone and planned a budget for food

Yes.

and stuck to it?

Yes.

Do you eat extras you've brought, etc?

Yes.

 

[Zooshoveller]

Has anyone ever gone and planned a budget for food, and stuck to it? Do you eat extras you've brought, etc? Thanks!

Yes. I'll check out menu prices and figure out something like $10 per meal per person each day and $10 per person each day for a snack and drink. So a family of 4 for 5 days would be $800 (I just randomly picked $10), but I budget over and would bring $900-1000.

We usually bring quick stuff like poptarts for breakfast, granola bars for snacks, and a case of water (although we still end up each buying a Disney snack at each park. I couldn't imagine going to MK and not getting at Dole Whip. LOL)

 

[stayhomemom77]

I pretty much know how much we are going to spend on food before we go...and we nearly always come home with extra money (or spend it on last minute souvies).

We always bring tons of snacks with us from home and hardly ever eat any of them. We continue to bring them on each and every road trip and vacation we go on though...for just in case.

When it comes to Disney...I book our TS ADR's and have a good idea what everyone is going to order before we go. When it comes to DH (who is the most adventurous with food and therefore the least predictable) I just factor in the most expensive entree. I then add everything up, factor in the tax and tip and I have a loose budget.

For QS meals I aim for $15 pp for Disney adults and $7.50 for kids.

We always eat cereal in the room for breakfast and bring our own drinks into the park.

I then always pad the budget by $20 per day so that each of us has $5 to spend on a bonus treat.

We have done DW three times and DL once and we have NEVER spent all our food budget money. NEVER.

Good luck with your planning!

 

[JenRaeMo]

Has anyone ever gone and planned a budget for food, and stuck to it? Do you eat extras you've brought, etc?

Thanks!

We did a good job last year of sticking to our budget because we had the meal plan for lunch and dinner and then used Garden Grocer to deliver cereal, milk, yogurt, bottled water/gatorade, coffee creamer and LOTS of bananas to our room upon arrival. I think the very last day we had to spend actual money on food but otherwise it was all covered.

 

[wendow]

We take a suitcase full of snacks and breakfast food. We eat almost all of it Still get snacks at the parks too but we will share those and then eat something we've brought. We don't mind this at all. We aren't used to eating out much or eating a lot of junky food. The last thing we need is achy tummies b/c of too much Disney food. Upon returning home, that suitcase is just about empty and gives us room to carry home souvenirs.

We also do have a food budget. We look at menus before we go and price out meals so we have an idea. So far, we have come under budget on food every single time. We only spend about half of what the dining plan would cost us if we were to buy it. And we get plenty of Dole Whips

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Yes I do budget and stick to it. I just know from experience that for a week long trip with my family of 4 (2 adults. 2 teens), with groceries (for breakfast in the room and a couple lunches in the room), a TS meal almost every day, a CS meal almost every day, plus treats in the parks, it costs us about $900 to $1000. I buy Disney gift cards quarterly for at least a year before we travel to pay for this.

ETA: I say I stick to it, but last trip we went over by about $150. We were going to eat around Epcot's World Showcase for dinner one night but we got rained out. We called an audible and ended up at Cape May Cafe for dinner instead. It was way pricier than our original plan...we did it anyway because that's what we wanted to do!

 

[4luv2cdisney]

Yes I do budget and stick to it. I just know from experience that for a week long trip with my family of 4 (2 adults. 2 teens), with groceries (for breakfast in the room and a couple lunches in the room), a TS meal almost every day, a CS meal almost every day, plus treats in the parks, it costs us about $900 to $1000. I buy Disney gift cards quarterly for at least a year before we travel to pay for this.

ETA: I say I stick to it, but last trip we went over by about $150. We were going to eat around Epcot's World Showcase for dinner one night but we got rained out. We called an audible and ended up at Cape May Cafe for dinner instead. It was way pricier than our original plan...we did it anyway because that's what we wanted to do!

Nice job! Do you share meals? (Not judging, just wondering!) We spent (I think) about $750 with all CS and only 1 TS when we went OOP one year. We did it for less another year, but the kids were smaller. We shared 1 pizza at the food court probably 3 times to cut the costs, too. I don't think that would work anymore.

OP - Yes we have done it, but we definitely prefer free dining! We usually stick to CS if we don't have it. Paying OOP for a TS meal is painful (in my opinion) even if it's "in the budget". Either way, looking at the menus will help you plan a realistic budget. Don't forget taxes and a little extra - just in case. It's not that hard.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Nice job! Do you share meals? (Not judging, just wondering!) We spent (I think) about $750 with all CS and only 1 TS when we went OOP one year. We did it for less another year, but the kids were smaller. We shared 1 pizza at the food court probably 3 times to cut the costs, too. I don't think that would work anymore.

OP - Yes we have done it, but we definitely prefer free dining! We usually stick to CS if we don't have it. Paying OOP for a TS meal is painful (in my opinion) even if it's "in the budget". Either way, looking at the menus will help you plan a realistic budget. Don't forget taxes and a little extra - just in case. It's not that hard.

We don't split meals, but we sometimes share treats. Those cupcakes at Starring Rolls are HUGE! We also are not big soda drinkers. DS will get a soft drink while the rest of us prefer ice water or an occasional beer for the grown ups. Also on our last trip DH missed 3 of our TS meals (lunch at Sci Fi, dinner at 'Ohana and breakfast at Crystal palace). He was there for dinner at Cape May Cafe and House of Blues. So we only paid for 3 adults vs 4 at 3 of our TS meals.

 

[Dread Roberts]

We've never budgeted for food, mostly because after spending $5,000 on flights, hotels, and tickets there's no way I'm going to skip the $5 dole whip when it calls my name!

More like Texas Rude

 

[Marionnette]

More like Texas Rude

Now it's consider rude to make a statement? I see nothing wrong with what the PP wrote. You must be seeing something that I'm missing.

 

[Sunnywho]

On our last trip, we stayed off site at Staybridge where there was a more than adequate free breakfast. I budgeted ahead of time looking at the menus at allears, just to get a general sense of what it would cost. I try to over-estimate so we usually end up with an extra $20 each day so that way we're not bound by the budget. We also brought in a backpack with some diet cokes and waters and kids snacks. The backpack would get lighter as the day went on. The backpack worked better for us than renting a locker, because we'd have the snack available when someone needed one. I also picked up some Starbucks gift cards when I heard they were going into the parks.

 

[elgerber]

More like Texas Rude

I didn't find it rude either, because I am the same way

 

[CluelessDisFan]

Last September for our 5 day trip at Disneyland I budgeted $800 and we were over by about $100 because we added in a dinner. I also feel like if I just paid $3000 to $4000 to be there. I'm not going to skimp out on the delicious food once I'm there. I make a budget, but we don't kill our selves trying to stick to it.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

As a PP said, I make a pretty generous budget so we don't have much trouble sticking to it. You can look up the prices on the menus and get a good idea of what you will spend. We bring breakfast ingredients from home (or pick them up at Target) and usually pack snacks, too, but we have budgeted snacks as well. We are usually under budget.

TP

 

[JenDisFan02]

Thanks for all the replies! I'm looking into staying off property in a good hotel so that we can save a little bit of extra money. Just trying to run all the numbers and figure out what is good for us

 

[hsmamato2]

Yes. I'll check out menu prices and figure out something like $10 per meal per person each day and $10 per person each day for a snack and drink. So a family of 4 for 5 days would be $800 (I just randomly picked $10), but I budget over and would bring $900-1000.

We usually bring quick stuff like poptarts for breakfast, granola bars for snacks, and a case of water (although we still end up each buying a Disney snack at each park. I couldn't imagine going to MK and not getting at Dole Whip. LOL)

This. works pretty well. just swap in a box of cheerios for the breakfast in our room! Allears.net has prices...so knowing average prices helps to figure out an average budget plan. I don't bring too many extras,and they don't get eaten. (learned from my past) I plan to overspend a bit,so it's not painful later.... FWIW, our last trip in the fall, we ate one TS meal, the rest CS, I budgeted $10 for lunch,$15 for dinner per person,per day overall. Times 4 people, and that was where we aimed for. Actually spent less.(sometimes we like more at dinner, and buy desserts,etc)