Planning for dining?

[five_lil_monkeys]

Ok, Im not sure if this belongs on the budget board or here (but a lot of the budget posts are not realted directly to WDW so I posted here)...anywho.....Im putting down a budget for our trip to make sure Im setting aside enough $.....how much should I reasonably look at for dining? We will eat at least 1 character meal....maybe 2
some mornings we will eat breakfast at the villa
we are a family of 7 and are renting a vacation home near disney (we will also have father in law and his dd..but they will pay their way)
I see eating at least 2 meals a day out.......would $100 a day be a reasonable amount? I am planning about 5 days in the parks....maybe 6. It is dh, myself, dd who is 12, dd who will be 9, ds who will be 7, dd who is 5 and ds who will be 4. The 3 younger dont eat a bunch. Ive got $1400 for tickets, $1200 for lodging and $500 for gas. I was thinking $5000 would be about what it would run us. Im going to take more, but wanted a ballpark figure.....

 

[brymolmom]

On how YOU like to vacation. Whenever we stay offsite - we do breakfasts in the room and bring one meal to the parks in a cooler (sandwiches, apples, some chips and drinks) - plus one snack to the parks. Then we only eat one meal 'out' and most of those will be counter service. So - $50 a day for food is fine for us. $100 for a family of 7 seems low to me (although I've never fed that many - my family is only 4) - unless you plan to do similar. One sit down meal would likely cost you over that unless you have some meal sharing going on.

Of course, some people wouldn't enjoy a vacation that way - to some, the vacation is about great food!

If I were you - I would at least bring some snacks and drinks into the parks with you and eat at least one counter service meal (with your own drinks) and you will save a whole bunch. Also, keep in mind if your little ones don't eat a lot - SHARE your counter service meals to start...you could ALWAYS go buy another or get a dessert if anyone ends up still hungry at the end...but that way you don't throw away stuff if they end up not hungry.

 

[ndgqmiller]

Okay this is what is was for us. We are a family of 5 me, dh, ds9, dd6, and dd2(free). We were on the dining plan, but they did give us a reciept after every meal. Keep in mind our counter meals included dessert and our sit down meals included appetizers, tip and dessert. So if you don't plan on ordering those you can subtract a little from each.

Chef Mickeys breakfast around 70.00
Cinderellas Royal Table Lunch around 165.00
Counter service at Pacos Bill lunch? 36.00
Coral Reef dinner 140.00
Tusker House counter service AK lunch 42.00
Liberty Tree dinner 98.00
Teppenyki? Japanese Epcot 115.00
Primetime Cafe MGM Fantasmic dinner around 90.00
Lunch was usually between 35-55 dollars
We found that the dining plan was worth it for us, but our son will be considered an adult the next time we go so we will decide when it get closer whether we will use it agian. I hope this helps out.

 

[five_lil_monkeys]

Ok, so breakfast at our rental....then maybe a counter service lunch and I plan on maybe 2 resteraunt type meals. I know we will eat at Crystal Palace...Ive heard lunch is less crowded than breakfast (we had breakfast there when dh and I went on our honeymoon). I dont want to under-estimate how much we need, but I was hoping to get out for around $5k. We've never gone to WDW with kids......We plan on being on the road or at WDW for 7 days...so I had $800 for food. Maybe I should plan $150 a day? I guess Im so used to eating out here....dinner usually runs about $30 for all of us...we do mostly fast food. In my mind, this is a once in a lifetime trip for us...but my dh (though he is being ageeable to the 5k figure) might not be so happy about buming it up another $1000. We took a cheapy trip to sea world and I under-estimated our budget....it was not a fun trip. Dont want to go down that road again. I appreciate the totals for the meals you have provided! Quite a few times, my 4 younger kids share 2 meals or I share with one and then the 2 other babies share. We are going to have to stop overnight on the way there and on the way back b/c its a 17 hour straight drive Sometimes the planning of the vacation is enough to make me need the vacation!

 

[powellrj]

breakfast is usually the cheapest character meal of the day. What we usually do is to schedule the last breakfast seating of the day and call it brunch. If we eat something light in the room before we leave, we are ready to eat at around 10:30.

If you want to save money on counter service lunches, there are many places that offer double burger combo meals and will then let you buy an extra bun for under a dollar so you are getting 2 meals for a little more than the price of one. Several places like cosmic rays and pecos bills have toppings bars that let you top your own burger.

Trails end buffet is another great bargain meal for a family here is a link to the menu http://allearsnet.com/menu/menu_teb.htm

If you look around the link I gave you, you can find the prices to all the meals at disney.

If you really want to save on meals, since you are staying off-site, you could eat a few of your meals off-site. There are lots and lots of coupon books that offer % off your meal and there are also some really great budget meal places like CiCi pizza http://www.cicispizza.com/Default_flash.asp.

 

[mareed]

If you look at my signature, you'll see that we have a lot of experience with Disney trips, and I've kept very accurate records. We have 2 adults & 2 children. We typically eat breakfast at our condo before leaving in the morning, and then do a table-service for lunch and counter service for dinner in the park. DH & I are likely to split the table service meal and perhaps order an appetizer & dessert also. We never order alcohol. We averaged $100/day (broken out as $30 per adult & $20 per child). I really think this is about as cheaply as you could eat in the park, so since you actually have 3 adults & 4 children, I'd estimate $170. I don't think $100/day is realistic even if you stick to counter service for every meal. You could cut it down some if everyone orders ice water with meals instead of tea or soft drinks. Also, you should know that for the kids meals at table service (that aren't buffets), you can order a la carte and just order the entree even though it has appetizer & dessert listed for a price of $7.49.

Good luck & have fun on your trip!

 

[five_lil_monkeys]

Ok, so I went through menus and this is what Im figuring:

Magic Kingdom
Crystal Palace $120
cosmic rays $ 50
Animal Kingdom
restaurantosaurus $50 (has McD's happy meals)
pizzafari $50
snack $30
MGM
Toys story pizza planet $50
flatbread grill $50
Backlot Express $50
Epcot
Sunshine seasons-the land $50
World showcase $100

Im allotting $800 for food, though this comes up to $600. We will be eating 1 meal a day away from the parks (in our rental) and we will be doing mgm for 2 days(1 day for star tours..or at least half a day so I need to allocate another $50 for another meal)......