Money?

[happy2bme34]

We are going for our first time to WDW in July and staying 8 nights and just wondering what to budget for food for four (2adults and a 14 and 9). We are staying in WDW and will be eating all our meals there. What would you budget per day per person including snacks.I don't have a clue!
Thanks Tracey

 

[elaine and the boys]

When my family went to Disney in 2003 and 2004, we planned an
average of $100 per day. There were myself, DH, and two DSs. One son was young enough to pay children's meal prices. (Not anymore, unfortunately!) We ate most breakfasts in our room (juice boxes, fruit cups, cereal, bagels, etc. that we bought at the grocery) and only ate one sit down meal a day, usually for lunch, which is cheaper. The other meal was at a counter service restaurant. One or two of the days we only ate counter service meals to make up for our more expensive days. We also brought our own snacks and water into the parks. I think, though, our food budget for our trip in December will have to be higher, as our younger son is now considered an adult at mealtime, which really raises the sit down meal totals. Many other Dis'ers have suggested meal sharing, or ordering kids meals at counter service restaurants, if the adult eaters in your family aren't terribly hungry. Just a thought. Hope this helps you plan!
Note: We never splurged for character meals, but we did do the Fantasmic dinner package both years.

 

[minster22]

There is a huge range of meal options at WDW from self serve counter service to fabulous sit down dinners. Depending on where you are staying and whether you want to have some food available in room for the kids ,will narrow your choices somewhat. When my son was around your childrens age I always went to the grocery store for cereal, milk, few snacks and water and soda, partly for cost but also the convenience of leaving the room having already eaten something. I also recommend checking out the menus on allears.net and getting some ideas of which restaurants you will want to go to. The restaurant forum here on the disboards will give you additional imput but remember that food is very subjective. What one person raves about here someone else feels very negatively. I have been going to WDW since the mid-80's and think that the food is very good compared to the "old days". Even a cheap counter service meal can be very good and reasonably priced. One of our favorite meals when we stayed at the Grand Floridian was a tuna sandwich on delicious whole grain bread, chips and a Coke, eaten outside on the patio overlooking the marina with the castle in the background!! Cost....around $8.00. Have fun planning, you will make your own favorites!!

 

[elaine and the boys]

Forgot to mention that you can get an idea of meal costs by consulting a cool website: www.allearsnet.com . They have menus from so many of the restaurants onsite....sitdown and counter service. Have fun planning!

 

[MELSMICE]

It kind of depends on what type of meals you want to eat. All counter service? One sit-down meal a day? Any character meals? Eating breakfast in your room? Getting snacks in the park?

We are a family of 5 & for us a dinner alone can run between $70-$125 - depending on where & what eat at a sit down meal. It can even be more than that.

I always over budget because I would rather come home with money than being short. I would say budget at least $150 per day for all food & snacks. If that's too much, put the extra towards the next trip!

 

[goofeyshell]

b4 our trip 2 years ago to plan for $50 per day per person. This includes all meals and souviners......it makes sense- if you eat at a buffet for 1 meal it is about $22, another meal for the day may run about $10 and a snack is at least $5 and that leaves $12 for whatever. I know this is high but I'd rather plan for more than less. 20 years ago when my husband and I were first married and we went to WDW we brought $200 and made it til mid vacation ....never occurred to us to use a credit card.....