OOP food expenses when on the Basic Dining Plan?

[mom2rose&john]

What were your oop expenses for food and drink (not talking gratuity) when you were on the Basic dining plan? I will probably buy the half gallon milk for the room but what else did you buy that I will need to budget for? We are a family of two adults and two children (4yo and 3yo). Thanks!

Ann Marie

 

[If U Had Wings]

My friend and I typically used our cs credits for lunch in the parks and had a late dinner. We'd usually pay cash for anything we ate in the morning before we left. I usually had grapes, oj or the beignets at POFQ, although by the end of the week I was using my snack credits for them. My friend liked a more regular breakfast so she paid cash for those.

We also spent a small amount on wine a few nights at nicer restaurants. I shipped water to my room, so that was a small expense as well.

 

[IggyLans]

What I did our last trip, was to have groceries delivered to our room from GardenGrocer. We got milk, OJ, cereal, apples and some granola bars and snacks. We usually had breakfast before we left for the day, then earlier lunch and dinner at around 5pm. Worked out well for us. Oh, yeah, we also had case of water delivered, so we just took few bottles with us everyday, so we did not have to waste our snack credits on bottled water. It actually worked out so well, that we had snack credits still left over for the F&W festival.

 

[Tricia1972]

What I did our last trip, was to have groceries delivered to our room from GardenGrocer. We got milk, OJ, cereal, apples and some granola bars and snacks. We usually had breakfast before we left for the day, then earlier lunch and dinner at around 5pm. Worked out well for us. Oh, yeah, we also had case of water delivered, so we just took few bottles with us everyday, so we did not have to waste our snack credits on bottled water. It actually worked out so well, that we had snack credits still left over for the F&W festival.

A second for ordering cereal from GardenGrocer.com. It will also help you in budgeting, because you will order (and pay) for these items before you go.

Using garden grocer, I think the rest of our OOP food expenses were under $100 for two weeks because we just had a few snacks that weren't covered by the DDP. (Really the DDP is a TON of food and we were almost never hungry between meals.)

 

[BeckWhy]

OK! We spent a total of $240 give or take a few OOP. If you give me a lil bit, I will be sure to let you know on what.


OOP Items:
Breakfast @ McDonald's before boarding plane $12
2 Coronas $10
1 Draft Bud & Cosmic Smuggler $17
Bagel & Powerade $5
Beer & Sunken Treasure $15
Backscratcher & LapuLapu $28
3 Buds $16
Fosters $7
Bud Light & Frozen Lemonade $9
Fosters & Sweet Death Becomes her $14
2 Sierra Nevadas $15
Hard Cider & Harp $12
Kronenbourg $6
Kirin $5
Italian Beer $6
Spatan $8
Fiesta Margarita $8
Canadian Beer $7
Cap something or other & 2 Beers $21
2 Coronas $10
Lava Lamp $7
Smoothie at airport $4

I rounded everything so it probably won't come out exactly. Almost everything is alcohol though...

 

[ksbean]

We spent very little in April when we were on the DDP. We did do a grocery stop before arriving and maybe spent $25-35 dollars on soft tissues, fruit, water, etc. However we bought way to much as at the end of the trip we were giving away the left overs. OOP we may of paid for 1-3 three extra counter service meals and two resort mugs for hot tea, hot chocolate and soda. My sister-in-law and family spent probably about the same adding some juice boxes and snacks for the nieces 5 and 8. We found there was a lot of food on the dining plan. We did forget to feed and water the nieces a few mornings and they lagged until we went back to the room. After they ate they perked right up. We were ready for a nap but they were ready for swimming. Some will depend on if you can bring some snacks and such with you. If the girls are big milk drinkers you may need extra milk as you already planned for. You didn't mention which resort you are staying at. Keep in mind the value resorts do not have a refrigerator unless you pay etra for one. The mods and deluxes all have one in the room. I can tell you, unless they changed the rules, you can get a small box of cereal with a pint of milk using one snack credit. A lot of mornings I usually just ate a bagel and got hot tea with the resort mug. They were giving out 2 drinks if you used a counter service for breakfast so you can pick up an extra milk, water or oj there to share or use later. I don't recall if that was the same for the kid meals using it for breakfast. My sister-in-law and family had left over snack credits to use before we left. Keep in mind you'll get 4 snack credits for your family per night you stay. You can use it for chips, drinks, a bakery item, ice cream, fruit etc both in the parks and at the resorts. When we were at DTD we may of spent $5-10 OOP as a few things did not take the DDP. That all said for DH and I we probaby spent $75 OOP not counting an extra OOP trip to CRT.

 

[sandym718]

On our trip with 2 children of similar ages - we paid Nothing OOP for food IN Disney. We did bring milk, cereal, and snacks (mostly individual pkgs. - raisins, pretzels, cheese-its, etc.) with us for the room and to take into the parks for the kids. Also brought a bunch of bottled water. We did not order any alcohol, didn't pay for any meals or snacks OOP. Breakfast was the cereal, or we used snack credits. Our DD was only 2 and we never even paid for anything OOP for her either, she just shared with all of us and the TS places gave her a drink for free.

The only $$ we spent while in Disney was a little on souvenirs. Not much on even that b/c I had gift baskets sent for the kids with their Mickey ears, autograph books, etc.

With the new plan, though, tips will have to be OOP as well as any appetizers we'd choose to order. I will miss the "all-inclusiveness" aspect.

 

[TDC Nala]

Moving to dining plan board.

 

[Rylee]

We spend very little OOP, not deliberately, it just works out that way.

Our 6 year old is a picky eater, so if he didn't care for the children's options at a certain restaurant, we paid OOP for something he would like, either at the restaurant or at a counter service location. (Slice of pizza, chicken nuggets, etc.)

Other than that, maybe a couple of snacks per day.

We did bring a few snacks from home... granola bars, pop-tarts, fruit snacks, etc., and also had a couple of resort mugs, for morning coffee and soda by the pool in the afternoon.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We always buy the refillable mugs, usually 2 for DH and I and 1 for the boys to share. We also do 3-4 ts meals that we have to pay for, over the # of dining credits we have. In 2008, we may order a couple of appetizers if we're in the mood for them, and of course we'll have to pay for those. We usually have a few adult beverages over the course of a trip, or a specialty drink (milkshake, smoothie, etc) if it isn't included.

None of those are a necessity, but it's what we spend our money on.

 

[bluslag]

Now that we use the DDP we don't spend much at the grocery store. What we get is milk, cereal, water, beer, a few snacks because we are on vacation, my husband has to have some crispy cremes and that is about it.

 

[septbaby]

What were your oop expenses for food and drink (not talking gratuity) when you were on the Basic dining plan? I will probably buy the half gallon milk for the room but what else did you buy that I will need to budget for? We are a family of two adults and two children (4yo and 3yo). Thanks!

Ann Marie

I wouldn't even buy milk. Your children can get milk at any meal. Also if you use a CS credit for breakfast you get two drinks; one of your drinks can be milk. Those bottles should be plenty to tide your children over for a couple of days.

We paid OOP for 3 meals: 2 Adults at Chef Mickey's bfast and 1 Child $6 at Narcoossee's. Because Narcoossee's is 2 TS we had to "make that credit up" since we chose to book 5 TS meals totaling 6 credits and we only had 5. So for 5 nights we spent undoer $50 OOP for meals.

 

[rookie2]

We packed a small suitcase with the individual cereal boxes, cereal bars, snacks and a few beers for hubby (he just can't spend $15 on a six pack even on vacation). Then on the way home it is filled with souvenirs . So the only OOP we spent was on milk, oj and a few alcoholic beverages at the parks or at dinner.

 

[NMW]

Our OOP costs were very high with the way we eat at Disney. We paid cash every morning for a resort/character breakfast. We paid cash OOP for a couple TS lunches. We paid cash for extra soda/water in the parks. The basic dining plan is not a perfect fit for our family. The deluxe works way better. So, that's what we have booked for our 08 trip. Then, we will have -0- OOP costs (except tips). I can't wait.

 

[bookgirl2632]

We made a grocery stop on the way to the resort for our one week trip. We bought a gallon of milk, a half gallon of oj, eight large muffins, a box of pop tarts, some bananas, cereal bars, a case of water, and a case of canned soda. I can't remember what we spent, but you can get an idea by the list. Other than that, the only other thing we bought was the occasional alcoholic beverage with dinner.

 

[pilferk]

What were your oop expenses for food and drink (not talking gratuity) when you were on the Basic dining plan? I will probably buy the half gallon milk for the room but what else did you buy that I will need to budget for? We are a family of two adults and two children (4yo and 3yo). Thanks!

Ann Marie

We bought Milk and Juice for the kids. Bottled water for us.

We bought breakfast stuff, buy you could easily use your "snacks" for that. We got bagels, fruit, and cereal for the room....but we were in a DVC 1BR with a kitchen, so using snacks might work out better for you.

That was about it. Everything else, for us, was pretty much covered.

Edit: Oh, and booze. We bought a bottle of wine, a couple beers, and a couple mixed drinks while there.

 

[irene_dsc]

Well, I did a grocery order with wegoshop.com (since Garden Grocer only had about 1/2 the stuff I wanted), which ran about $75, incl. delivery. We did have some extra stuff left over, which we mostly brought home, (incl. the bottle of wine we never drank!). The rest was milk, gatorade (not available in the parks, afaik), bottled water, granola bars, apples, protein bars, teddy grahams, coffee filters, and a couple other things. We mostly ate breakfast in the room (and I brought some of my own Trader Joe's coffee, pre-ground), and since my kids drink a lot of milk in the morning and evenings, that worked out well.

In the parks, we paid for wine one night, and appetizers another night, plus a couple misc. snacks for goofy reasons. We did end up with extra credits, but we didn't try to buy stuff to use them up, since we already had other extra snacks to bring home.