Need help with budget...

[ardac]

I am going to WDW in a few months with my mother and my DD(18 months)....we are staying at ASMo, have already purchased Park passes, and all trans from airport to hotel is covered(as well as flights). Also, I am bringing my own stroller for DD. We will be there for 6 1/2 days total. With my DD being so young, I am not planning on too many sit down restaurant meals,(will do mostly counter service and food court at hotel) and we are planning on doing breakfast in our room most mornings .(also will be getting water,snacks etc for the room from grocery) I am planning on a budget of $100 per day to cover food, drinks and souvenirs...is this realistic??!!...I plan on buying souvenirs mostly at the outlets etc, rather than in the park. For sure 3 full days will be park days, and the others will be outlets/flea markets. Any advice or other suggestions?? Thanks in advance for any advice!:

 

[vald1977]

I think you will be fine with $100 per day since you don't plan on doing many sit-downs. It sounds like you will have a car since you plan to do some offsite touring so you always have the option of offsite meals if you get sick of food court fare. You may want to try one character meal since they are great fun and your dd would be free .

 

[powellrj]

$100 a day will be fine for food. If you eat breakfast in your room and have dinner off-site you will be surprised how far you can take your budget.

 

[GlennandAnn]

$100 a day was what we budgeted for when our DS was the only one and was about your child's age. We did fine with that, and somedays had money left over.

Ann

 

[disneysteve]

$100/day is way more than you'll need unless you buy a lot of souvenirs. On our last trip in November, we were 3 adults and 1 child (DD 8). For the week, we averaged just under $17/person/day for all food and drinks, so $68/day total for the 4 of us. And there's no way you'll spend that much on an 18-month old. I'd guess she'll mostly eat off of your plate. So even if you aren't quite as thrifty as us, $40-$50/day for food should be plenty.

Steve

 

[tink2dw]

But for your 1st trip you should plan on your $100. aday. After that you will have a better handle on how much it will cost your group and the can adjust the $$$ then. But for this trip you need the peace of mind much more!!

PS. I don't know how disneysteve kept there food costs down under $17/person/day for all food and drinks. Food costs are very expense at WDW

 

[peanutzmom]

For the three of you, I think $100 per day should be plenty. We've found with our family of four (two adults, two small children), we usually run around $15-20 for a resort food court breakfast and $25-30 for each counter service lunch/dinner. The food isn't cheap, but they give you plenty of it. My kids always demand their *own* kids meals, and I've found DH can order a regular counter service meal, I usually order a kids meal for myself, then the kids each get their own kids meals and we just pick off of their plates if we're still hungry.

 

[AuroraluvsPhillip]

You should do fine. My kids never ate that much when they were that age anyway. When my kids were little, we did Disney on the cheap, bought breakfast food and ate in before we hit the parks, each kid had a fanny pack with water bottle and little baggies with goodies that wouldn't melt in the sun. We ate a counter lunch early and then left the park for an early dinner at Olive Garden or another chain. We saved a ton on food that way.

You will certainly be able to do it on your budget. Probably be able to buy a few extra somethings at the World of Disney store!

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by tink2dw
PS. I don't know how disneysteve kept there food costs down under $17/person/day for all food and drinks. Food costs are very expense at WDW

We ate breakfast in our room with food bought at the supermarket. That alone saves a ton of money. The other big savings is drinking tap water. We carry a water bottle with us and mostly order water at the restaurants. We think paying for bottled water is ridiculous.

Disney food prices seem expensive at first glance until you realize that most serving sizes are huge and easily shared. One order of fries, for example, is easily enough for the 3 of us. Same for one large Coke.

Just so you know we didn't eat hot dogs all week, here are most of the places we ate our meals. Sweet Tomatoes (offsite), Wolfgang Puck Express, Crystal Palace, Casey's, Land food court, Flipper's Pizza (offsite), Rosie's (MGM), Shoney's (offsite), Cosmic Rays, Kona Cafe, and Giordano's (offsite).

It is not impossible to keep the food budget down, especially if you limit the sit-down meals.

Steve

 

[HaleyB]

Disney Steve

I am glad to see your food costs, I was begining to think I was remembering wrong about how much we spend per day.

 

[jann1033]

with 2 adults , using 3 VKL, 6 Q/c, 2 BV, we spent about 70 a day on food, with at least one buffet or sit down per day( usdually lunch), sometimes 2( which was way to much to eat in one day), , usually a light breakfast in the resort or park( only 2 times in our room), dinner was counter or PS ( ohana ect) and sometimes a drink or snack while in the parks ( usually we didn't need it). we didn't skimp so I think $100 would be fine although we over did the souvies. and spent about $400(???) in10 days, so about 40 a day..hadn't been in a while and bought way more than we would have otherwise.