Meal Budgeting ???????

[RTK]

We are going to Disney !!!!

We are trying to figure out what we should expect to spend on meals for the week we will be there(2 adults and a 5 year old.)

I keep reading about vouchers and wonder if they are the way to go and where the best place is to get them?

Any and all advice on how to not go broke on meals is greatly appreciated!!! Thanks!!

 

[disneyjunkie]

Check out the menus on Deb's site.

http://wdwig.com/menu/menus.htm

 

[blanq]

RTK, yipee for you...you're going to WDW! Disneyjunkie provided you with the best source, via link, to view WDW menus and attempt to plan your food budget. Food will take a chunk out of your budget, for sure, so planning ahead is your best way to make sure you won't go broke on food there!

We are two adults and one child, like your family, and when we go to WDW we plan for one fast food meal, and one sit down meal per day. We also tend to eat a light breakfast from our room. I am not sure if you are driving or flying. If you are driving you have all sorts of opportunities to stock up on snacks and breakfasty type foods. We fly, and arrange for a towncar transfer that allows for a grocery stop on our way to our resort. We started the tradition of eating breakfast in our room because we did not want to waste valuable morning park time, but we learned in a hurry that a side benefit is it saves on the food budget! Our son also likes to bring snacks that he carries in his fanny pack. That way there is no waiting in lines when he wants a little snack!

You may not want to deal with shopping/bringing some food with you...it IS vacation after all...but I did want to throw that out as an option for saving money.

As far as vouchers go, I did purchase some for our 5/03 trip, but really I think they are more of a hassle then they are worth. They require membership (do a search under "Connections") and many report having problems with Connections. I will say that I had no problems with the Connections company...my vouchers came promptly, I was not overbilled, and I did not experience any hassle when I cancelled during my trial membership period.

 

[disneysteve]

If you search the boards, you'll see several threads on this topic and families vary considerably in what they spend depending on how and where they eat. As for us, on our last trip in November 2002, the 3 of us (me, DW and DD 7) averaged $18 per person per day during a 1-week stay, or $54/day total. That included eating breakfast in the room with food we bought at the supermarket. We also carried some snacks with us into the parks. Lunches were all counter service. Dinners were a mix of counter service, casual sit downs, buffets and off-site restaurants.

Tips to save money:
Eat breakfast in the room - pop-tarts, bagels, cereal, etc.
Share meals. Especially with the 5-yo, you can probably get 2 meals many places and feed all 3 of you.
Drink water (tap, not bottled). Its free and better for you anyway. Soda gets expensive and paying for water, in our opinion, is huge advertising scam.
Bring in some snacks. Things like granola bars, peanut butter crackers, pretzels, pop-tarts, etc. all travel pretty well and don't need refrigeration.

Have a great trip.
Steve

 

[tink2dw]

Florida water around WDW stinks and tastes like Sulfer,yuck!! So,you need a Water Plan!
1. Buy Britta Sports Bottles[$7.00 each] that filter the water.

2. Go to Kissimee Walmart and Aquafina bottled water as it isn't bottled in Florida

3. If you drive buy a case or 2 of your favorite bottled water to take with you.

4. Or some buy water at home and ship it to your WDW Resort!!

Hope this helps you to budget your water money!!

 

[disneychrista]

It will all depend on how / what you eat. Counter Service Meals are about $10 - $12 each, sit down will run about $15 - $20. Check out the site that disneyjunkie posted to give you an idea of what is offered and approximate cost.

I also agree with tink2dw avoid the water at WDW like the plauge, including tea, coffee, and sodas. They all taste and smell like sulfur and it gave me an unpleasent after effect. Stick with bottled beverages and water.

 

[dianelevene]

We were just at Disney two weeks ago. Two adults, 3 year old and four year old. The kids easily shared a kids meal at lunch and dinner. We bought a few meal tickets from connections but we did not find them to be worth the price or bother. We ended up with wasted food since we could not finish a main dish, side item, and a drink AND DESSERT. It was just too much food. Also, the meal tickets cost the same amount as we could have paid in cash. The only thing I would strongly suggest doing is booking the Fantasmic meal package at MGM so that you can get the priority seating tickets for the show. Well worth the money! What an incredible show! Also, we bought bottled water and juice boxes plus some breakfast supplies at Goodings. We ate our breakfast in the room which helped us get out faster in the mornings. If I go again I will buy twice as much water since we ran out before we left. Since we had strollers we just tossed the bottles of water (plus other snacks) into the baskets at the bottom of the strollers and we had plenty to drink.

 

[crazymomof4]

Originally posted by dianelevene
We bought a few meal tickets from connections but we did not find them to be worth the price or bother. We ended up with wasted food since we could not finish a main dish, side item, and a drink AND DESSERT. It was just too much food.

Most persons who post success with the vouchers say that the amount of food you get with them is enough for 2, so they split the meal between two people. This is how we plan to use the vouchers. If after splitting, my DH or DS14 is still hungry we can always buy a fruit cup or another side of fries, etc. It's true that you don't always save a lot of money with the Q&C vouchers. We looked at the menus and found that we would save an average of $2.50 off buying the same food at the park's counter service restaurants w/o the vouchers. People have posted saving much more using them at Beaches and Cream and Pepper Market.

 

[dianelevene]

I guess that sharing the meal vouchers might work but my husband is a picky eater. We could never share a meal since he does not like a lot of things. Also, instead of sharing a meal with the vouchers, you could just pay for a meal to share. That way you could get one sandwich, two side items and two drinks and no dessert if you did not want that. That would probably end up saving you money.

The other problem with the meal vouchers is that we were tied to eating at certain restaurants. We ate a bunch of meals at Roaring Forks in the Wilderness Lodge and that was fine but because it was the most convenient place that took the vouchers. However, if I was not using them I think we would have tried some other places. There were plenty of snack stands in the Magic Kingdom where we would have bought food if we were not tied to the vouchers. We are going back to Disney in December and I definitely will not use the vouchers.

One thing that we did find a good value was the refillable mug in the snack shop. It cost around $10 and we kept it filled most of the time.

 

[fritzi]

We had a free breakfast buffet in the morning and that was a huge help. We stuffed ourselved full. Then we only bought happy meals in the park, includes a drink for $5.xx. At night we ate offsite or ordered a pizza. So for 3 adults and 2 kids(5 and 2) we spent about $50 a day (includes snacks). We did splurge and have my birthday lunch at the Brown Derby for $100.