Question about dining budget

[millie0312]

So I know that some of you have been to DLR many many times and hopefully can help me with coming up with a basic budget for our food while we are at DLR this December. I realize its not going to be exact, but I wanted to come up with a ballpark number to have ready and set aside specifically for our trip, so we aren't expecting a completely different amount then we will need.
Here are the specifics- we are arriving on 12/12, but will not be eating at DLR for dinner as we are heading to Medieval Times that evening. We will be at DLR/DCA on 12/13-12/15 for all 3 meals. At this point I am not planning any fine dining as between my DD and I we are just too picky of eaters to really enjoy the food. We would like to be cautious of cost, but we also are on vacation, so splurging and getting some goodies is def going to happen. However, we would like to enjoy a sit down dinner nightly at a place similar to Rainforest Cafe (we haven't been to the sit downs inside the park so I have no other places to give similars to). We will be planning 1 character breakfast, but I will be planning that as a separate cost as I can easily calculate that out.
Also, since we are going to start out early to the parks every morning is it easier to buy groceries and have breakfast in your room or grab something at the park during the journey? If anyone has any "must have" park food places, foods or goodies (we are BIG on sweets and treats lol) I'd LOVE advice- looking at all the menus is a bit overwhelming to figure out what would be the best to eat lol
TIA!!

 

[Liltx]

How many people and what age? I guess it really depends on your eating habits too. Like do you share meals, do you eat dessert, do you eat three big meals or do you snack? Check out the menus and you'll have. Better idea.

I would do breakfast in the room. Just saves time and you can get a little extra sleep. My kids actually eat while waiting to get in the park. A bag of mini wheats cereal, box of milk, and a banana and they are good to go for a few hours at least. Then we snack and have a late big lunch. Later we decide whether to have a real meal for dinner or just snack. I keep siggies yogurt, nuts, jerky and peanut butter with wheat crackers in the room for evening snacks. We drink lots of water so we save there too. We snack a lot and that doesn't save money but lets us try more things and not get hungry. We dont like apples or grapes so hard to keep other fruit good in the room but we do try to get in salads and fruit at the park.
We don't do sit downs in the park anymore, food is usually underwhelming and expensive.

 

[peterpanandwendy]

I've just finished my budget, so ill show you what I took into consideration... Hope it helps! This is for 2 adults, a three year old and a one year old.

$50 groceries in hotel (milk, cereal, granola bars, fruit). We will bring granola bars and toddler snacks into the park for the kids.

DAy 1:
Breakfast in hotel - $0

Morning Coffees and treat in the park $15

Lunch in the park (hungry bear restaurant burgers or sandwiches type thing, $10/ entre, plus drinks, kids will share with us) - $30

Afternoon snack (churros or ice creams) - $10

Dinner - big thunder ranch bbq - $80

Day 2

Breakfast in hotel: $0

Morning coffees and treat: $15

Lunch: same as above $30

Afternoon snack: $10

Dinner: blue Bayou $150

Day 3:

Goofy's kitchen breakfast $50

Lunch: something light $20

Afternoon snack: $10

Dinner: burgers or pizza type quick service $30

Day 4

Breakfast in hotel $0

Morning snack: $15

Lunch: $30

Afternoon snack: $10

Dinner: quick service or sit down $50-70

I like to budget way over, so I'm not caught off guard. I also like to browse the dining section of the disneyland website to get a good idea of what we may like to eat and how much it will cost.

I've budgeted about $150/ day, but you could do way less than that, or way more than that.

I'm obviously being very generous. Often we are too hot to eat a lot, we only ever order water, never juice or pop, and we never know what we will feel like eating. But my DH might want a beer one day in DCA, or whatever, so I over budget.

 

[Liltx]

This is exactly what I mean, pp $150 budget for two adults and 2 babies. We have 2 adults and 2 kids age 9 and 11 and usually spend less that $100. Probably best to look at menus and then add about $30 on top of that for snacks.

 

[peterpanandwendy]

Yeah, it can get really crazy expensive. We only get to 'do Disneyland' every 4-5 years or so, and I really love the ambiance of the park, so we do budget to have a nice sit down dinner a few times (like Blue Bayou)… but there are much MUCH cheaper options than that. PP is right that the food is often very overpriced and underwhelming, but I'm paying for the atmosphere and I'm ok with that

Also, my husband is a BIG eater. He is a very fit marathoner type, who needs to eat every hour or so… and will not touch granola bars, sadly. The man can't walk past a breakfast sandwich without inhaling it, so I bring snacks for the kids and myself, but I know he will need to eat something fairly substantial every few hours.

I sound like I'm being defensive…. sorry, I'm not! I just wanted to explain why my budget was so high, because it does sound ridiculous!

 

[Liltx]

Doesnt sound ridiculous at all! Just different eating choices and habits. We used to pay alot more when the girls loved the characters and princesses and it was totally worth it for the sit downs. Now we are all about the rides. Just pointing out how there is no average budget.

 

[millie0312]

Yeah, it can get really crazy expensive. We only get to 'do Disneyland' every 4-5 years or so, and I really love the ambiance of the park, so we do budget to have a nice sit down dinner a few times (like Blue Bayou)… but there are much MUCH cheaper options than that. PP is right that the food is often very overpriced and underwhelming, but I'm paying for the atmosphere and I'm ok with that

Also, my husband is a BIG eater. He is a very fit marathoner type, who needs to eat every hour or so… and will not touch granola bars, sadly. The man can't walk past a breakfast sandwich without inhaling it, so I bring snacks for the kids and myself, but I know he will need to eat something fairly substantial every few hours.

I sound like I'm being defensive…. sorry, I'm not! I just wanted to explain why my budget was so high, because it does sound ridiculous!

Thanks everyone!! I totally forgot but it is 3 adults and a 7 year old (we will have a baby but no solids for him yet). We eat a fair amount, but not huge and usually don't share. We do like yummy treats, especially ones you can't get elsewhere and my DD and I have decided to have the bienets at least a couple times- LOVE them when we tried them at DTD!! Usually we skip breakfast, but if we are going all day then I think we need something to keep our energy up.

Peterpanandwendy- we will probably budget similar to you- thanks for the breakdown! Its so overwhelming to look at 50 different menus lol My DH doesn't eat as often as yours, but he eats a lot too! I'd also much rather say $150 a day and come home with budgeted food money then expect $75 and be in sticker shock lol Also good to hear that the sit in is more the experience and not the food- I like some of the experience and some of the food so we may try to balance that lol

 

[Escape2Disney]

Since every family is different, I'd suggest checking the online menu database. That will help you make estimates based on what your family normally eats.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneyland/dining/menus.cfm

I use this or allears.net to plan, and tend to budget right on target every time.

Have a great trip!

 

[Escape2Disney]

oops...double post

 

[peterpanandwendy]

Yeah, it might be a good idea just to browse the restaurants and see if you are Interested in a specific sit down dinner, so you can budget specifically for it. We like blue bayou, and we are trying big thunder ranch this year, but other good places are Cafe Orleans, carnation cafe, Naples,rainforest cafe,flos, etc.

The rest of the stuff is pretty straightforward, around 9-11$ for burgers and stuff, and cheaper options like hot dogs, pizza by the slice, sandwiches, soups etc.

Snacks run around 4-5$ each (churros, ice creams etc).

 

[cinderbellasmom]

I agree with what others have mentioned re: looking at menus. There's an app I just put on my phone called Mousewait Disneyland that has current menus and prices + a food blog. The website, All Ears has them too but most are over a year old- not sure how current the pricing is. I'm a crazy, particular planner- as in I've already looked at all of the menus and because I know what my family likes, planned every order, every snack, every penny. The last time we went we came in way under budget for food because I didn't take into consideration the unseasonably hot mid Fall weather so we ate much less. That was a nice surprise money wise

 

[YukonMommy]

Last time we went in January 2014 we budgeted $200 a day for our family. Our family included Dh and I and our 4 kids who were 11, 9, 7 and 4 at the time. SOme days we went over (btrbbq and character meals) and somedays we ate brekkie in our room and counter service. We had went to target and bought drinks and snacks to bring into the park and grab a few things for breakfast. Other than that we ate all our lunches in the park (usually counter service) and our suppers were mostly sit downs. We had treats (popcorn, churros, candy apples) a few times.

Have a magical time!

 

[valiamo]

Yeah, it can get really crazy expensive. We only get to 'do Disneyland' every 4-5 years or so, and I really love the ambiance of the park, so we do budget to have a nice sit down dinner a few times (like Blue Bayou)… but there are much MUCH cheaper options than that. PP is right that the food is often very overpriced and underwhelming, but I'm paying for the atmosphere and I'm ok with that

Also, my husband is a BIG eater. He is a very fit marathoner type, who needs to eat every hour or so… and will not touch granola bars, sadly. The man can't walk past a breakfast sandwich without inhaling it, so I bring snacks for the kids and myself, but I know he will need to eat something fairly substantial every few hours.

I sound like I'm being defensive…. sorry, I'm not! I just wanted to explain why my budget was so high, because it does sound ridiculous!

I actually think your budget is spot on. I have always budgeted for $150 a day, and usually spend a bit more ( 4 in the family). I would rather budget higher, and have some fun/ nicer meals, than have to count the pennies each day. Any of my remaining budget ( on the cheaper days) usually gets spent in Downtown Disney on treats and gifts..

 

[mybestieismickey]

For what it's worth, I usually budget about $50 a day for DH and I. This usually will cover lunch and dinner plus a snack at some point. We usually do only one sit down or none at all per trip, and if that happens, obviously I add in more. On the plus side, is that DLR has some great counter service options and I can honestly say, the last time I ate a burger on Disney property was April of 2009 at WDW. This does not include drinks or breakfast. For some reason, I budget my groceries for the trip separately from park food. These always include bottled soda six packs and some kind of portable snack. Then, if our hotel does not provide a breakfast that includes some kind of protein, I will usually get breakfast sandwiches or something similar that will hold us until lunch.

The biggest money saver for the budget is bringing in your own drinks. A six pack of soda bottles is what? Five or six bucks? A fountain drink is more than $3 and bottled waters are just under $3 a piece. Big time savings there. Not to mention the fact that DH can't get Mtn Dew anywhere...

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

My partner and I budget $125 a day for two adults. We stay offsite and eat all but one breakfast outside the parks but all lunches and dinners inside the parks. We do one expensive sit-down meal, and otherwise rely on DLR's really good counter service. We are not shy with snacks and beverages in the parks or candy taken back to our hotel, and we've never managed to go above our $125 daily budget.

 

[sftnslky]

We leave this Thursday -Tuesday and just completed our budget. Now please keep in mind this budget is for 7 of us.. 2 adults 13, 13, 15, 17, & 19 year old's.

Staying at Embassy suites... So full buffet breakfast every morning is FREE so $0.00

We also bought individual packets of snacks from Costco.. Cheeze it's, fruit snacks, granola bars, and mini chocolate chip cookies. So each person takes their own snacks into the park.

Lunch we are giving $20 per person per day to spend on what they would like to eat/drink, and they know that is all the money they get.

Dinner is all eaten off site. The kids have a choice either room service..which at our hotel is really decently priced...or they may join us at a restaurant..The restaurants we choose were Joe's, Crab Shack, Mimi's, Agora Churrascaria, and either Rainforest Cafe or Tortillia Jo's.

Since we have a 7 hour drive down and back we even budgeted $60 for snacks/sodas bought at convenience stores.

Hope this helps...remember to have fun

 

[Swtonscrappn]

We budget $55/day/person. It has worked really well for us and we eat breakfast at the hotel. Some days we have extra left over and then we can eat at a nicer place some days.

Our first trip I was woefully not on budget for food. I planned several meals based off of what I pay locally for various meals. I had complete shell shock when I realized how much food was in Disneyland. So I did some research and now its not soo much a shock (food tends to be one of our biggest expenses for our large family)

 

[luulu1999]

I went thru and looked at all the menus from the places we will be eating and figured it up that way, I have budgeted $150 a day for me my boyfriend and our 5 & 6 yr old. We will have breakfast at the hotel and bring some snacks with us and I have all of our meals already planned out of where we are going to eat and some are already paid for (Character Meals)

 

[HenDuck]

Lunches for us (2 adults) ran around $20 each time - counter service only. We get an AP discount, so that brought it down a couple of bucks. I agree with other posters about saving money by NOT buying soft drinks in the park. Drink water if you can. Each soda will add almost $4 to your bill.

The best deal in the park is the chicken dinner/lunch at Plaza Inn. Split it between two people and it is more than filling and delicious! It has become a tradition in our family to ear there every trip.

Churros are now $4!!!! So we only had them once, as opposed to past trips where we had one a day. You are better off bringing your own snacks if you must snack.

Ice cream at Gibson Girl on Main Street will run you approximately $5-6 per person. And they don't give an AP discount (while Ghirardelli at DCA does).

The children's meals are pretty good, though not as filling as they used to be.

We never buy water in the parks. We bring our own "Bobble" and fill it as we go. The filter is excellent!

HTH!