Off Site food costs

[cassandrap83]

Hi all!

For those of you who stay off-site, approx how much do you spend on food for a week?

We have a family of 4 (Dh, Md, 3yr old & a 4yr old)

The place we were looking at has a kitchenette (stovetop, but no oven) and all other kitchen appliances.

Do you find that you buy a lot of groceries & eat outside the parks infrequently?

Do you still eat QS meals inside the parks?

Order pizza at the hotel?

Right now we are booked at the Wilderness Lodge during Free Dining. I see the value in the added space of an offsite hotel, and am weighing out the costs. Free Dining is pretty hard to beat though. I have a quote for around $500ish for the room for the week, plus the tickets which would be about $1000, leaves me only $1000 off from the Disney package. I am figuring about $600 for food -- 2 sit down meals in the park, groceries, snacks in the park, etc. PLUS, I'd now have to pay $14/day to park. Which brings me down to asking myself if the $400 difference is worth it? Am I way off base with my $$ amounts?

 

[Upatnoon]

We have a family of 5 (2-year-old twins and a 4-year-old boy) and spend about $80 on groceries and $250 in restaurants.

We eat breakfast in the room. Depending on naps/heat, we either eat a quick-service lunch for around $25, or a simple lunch in the room.

We eat dinner offsite or in the room, usually depending on what we did at lunch. We avoid any Disney buffets because they charge way too much for kids, IMO.

I think the dining plan is a good deal if you plan to eat all of your meals on Disney property. If you are staying offsite and want to save money, there are plenty of cheaper alternatives.

 

[TotoToo]

The food available on site is generally so poor that we try to avoid it at any price. We far prefer outside restaurants run by real operators and using the kitchen at resorts if ours has it. We usually spend less than $400 for four for the week and eat WAY too much (and have te leftovers to prove it). Highly recommend going the outside, non-dining plan route.

 

[dtum]

We're renting a 4-bedroom house from Romancing the Mouse in Windsor Hills. http://www.romancingthemouse.com/ It has a full kitchen and only 1.5 miles from Disney Property. We'll eat breakfast at the house, eat lunch in the park or come back and eat during afternoon break, eat dinner at the house before going back to the park in the evening. AK and HS have shorter hours which is why we may eat at the park and stay longer. Also, lots of places to eat in the surrounding area. Can't wait!

 

[taylorcpa]

We haven't been to DW yet but I ran some numbers and my total costs for WL was about $100 more than staying off site during free dining (at a Windsor Hills 3 br townhouse). My off site dining cost included 3 character meals, 3 counter service lunches and snacks each day (total $500) as well as $100 for groceries and $300 for eating out. You could definitely spend less on food than my estimate. However, I figured how my family eats and compared that with the packages. BTW - my kids would be 4&5.

I agree that free dining is hard to beat. Think about what you want to do each day and where you would likely eat. For us, I know we want some character meals and that we would eat in the park some times. But I also know that we will get tired of eating in the parks all the time. If staying off site, do you want to have to pack food in or go back to the condo to eat? Do you want to have to make ADR's for your table service meals?

I have decided that we will stay off site simply because we will have more space. I compared both free dining and a room only discount (with dining plan) for both CSR and WL with a WH condo. CSR was $500 cheaper and WL was $100 more during free dining. For that price difference I want my space. I want to be able to put my kids to bed and watch TV or do something else. Plus, I really don't want to use the Disney buses.

If you really want to save money and be on site, stay at a mod or value during free dining.

 

[Bonnie40]

Hi all!

For those of you who stay off-site, approx how much do you spend on food for a week?

We have a family of 4 (Dh, Md, 3yr old & a 4yr old)

The place we were looking at has a kitchenette (stovetop, but no oven) and all other kitchen appliances.

Do you find that you buy a lot of groceries & eat outside the parks infrequently?

Do you still eat QS meals inside the parks?

Order pizza at the hotel?

Right now we are booked at the Wilderness Lodge during Free Dining. I see the value in the added space of an offsite hotel, and am weighing out the costs. Free Dining is pretty hard to beat though. I have a quote for around $500ish for the room for the week, plus the tickets which would be about $1000, leaves me only $1000 off from the Disney package. I am figuring about $600 for food -- 2 sit down meals in the park, groceries, snacks in the park, etc. PLUS, I'd now have to pay $14/day to park. Which brings me down to asking myself if the $400 difference is worth it? Am I way off base with my $$ amounts?

Have you factored in your gratuities while on the dining plan? It adds up!

We just returned from a quick trip and stayed offsite for the first time in many years. We actually enjoyed it! Having a car and being able to zip around rather than depending on Disney transportation saved alot of time.

I brought a number of online coupons down with us and we found we would leave the parks around 1 p.m. (it was so darn hot we couldn't stand it any longer!) and have a large meal early in the afternoon. Restaurants have a more affordable lunch menu - and we would eat a lighter meal later in the evening. You can get Sweet Tomatoes coupons online for a 50% discount and they're now located at the Crossroads Shopping Plaza.

I'm sure whatever you decide, it will work for your family. Have a great trip!

 

[dtum]

Love Sweet Tomatoes!

 

[Bonnie40]

Isn't it great? We hadn't been to the Crossroads location (it's quite new) and it was awesome! An amazing deal for the $!