Questions about Food Costs

[luvsJack]

Ok, planning a trip Nov 22-30. Me, dh, dd(15), dgd(4) and hoping for dd's bff who is also 15. Originally, her parents were going to pay her way but her step-dad lost his job. I am trying to see if I can do more of a budget trip and pay her way.

Right now I have booked 2 rooms at POP, with free QDP upgraded to DDP and 7 day park hoppers. Total is around $4500.

I have looked at off-site condos that will put all of us in one room but when I add in the parking, gas to get around and food cost(the cost as the trip is planned right now)--its not a lot of savings.

I know to save the most and still do 7 days in the parks, I will have to cut food costs. A condo will, of course have a kitchen so that will be a plus.

I know a lot of ya'll eat at your condos and such while at Disney. But how do you plan around that?

The ADR's that I have (since we have the DDP right now) are mostly for lunches, one breakfast and two dinner. There are a few I know we would keep,(Ohana, Chef Mickeys, Crystal Palace and Le Cellier) but some could go without really being missed.

So, do you eat breakfast at your condo and then hit the parks? What about other meals? Do you come back to the condo early enough in the evening to eat dinner there too or do you plan to eat dinner late when you get back?

If we stay at POP, I had planned to take dgd back to the room every day for a nap and leave the teens in the parks. Maybe I should re-visit the ADRs and plan on lunch at the condo and rest time for dgd? The teen girls could either get a snack (dd would be fine with a pretzel and drink for lunch) or come back with us.

Thanks for any ideas or advice.

 

[powellrj]

A couple of questions, will you have a car? If you did stay on-site, would you be willing to down grade back to the free quick service plan?

If you have a car then you wouldn't have to rent one to stay off-site, so that would be a huge savings. I am a big off-site person, but since you want to leave midday and leave people at the parks, off-site may be a problem.

If you would be willing to downgrade for this trip, you would save the money on tips for your table service meals plus the cost of the upgrade. Eat a quick breakfast in your room and save your meal credits for your lunch or dinners or you could use your snack credits for breakfast when you get to the parks.

 

[ilovemk76]

Ok, planning a trip Nov 22-30. Me, dh, dd(15), dgd(4) and hoping for dd's bff who is also 15. Originally, her parents were going to pay her way but her step-dad lost his job. I am trying to see if I can do more of a budget trip and pay her way.

Right now I have booked 2 rooms at POP, with free QDP upgraded to DDP and 7 day park hoppers. Total is around $4500.

I have looked at off-site condos that will put all of us in one room but when I add in the parking, gas to get around and food cost(the cost as the trip is planned right now)--its not a lot of savings.

I know to save the most and still do 7 days in the parks, I will have to cut food costs. A condo will, of course have a kitchen so that will be a plus.

I know a lot of ya'll eat at your condos and such while at Disney. But how do you plan around that?

The ADR's that I have (since we have the DDP right now) are mostly for lunches, one breakfast and two dinner. There are a few I know we would keep,(Ohana, Chef Mickeys, Crystal Palace and Le Cellier) but some could go without really being missed.

So, do you eat breakfast at your condo and then hit the parks? What about other meals? Do you come back to the condo early enough in the evening to eat dinner there too or do you plan to eat dinner late when you get back?

If we stay at POP, I had planned to take dgd back to the room every day for a nap and leave the teens in the parks. Maybe I should re-visit the ADRs and plan on lunch at the condo and rest time for dgd? The teen girls could either get a snack (dd would be fine with a pretzel and drink for lunch) or come back with us.

Thanks for any ideas or advice.

I would drop back to the QSDP and (fridge may or may not be available) bring/get delivered non-perishable foods that you can eat at breakfast.

I would stay onsite for three reason. 1) Thanksgiving 2) naps for youngest 3) emh.

I would cut back to one character meal for all and a second for just you DH and the dgd.

 

[luvsJack]

LOL. I cannot believe I didn't even think about that! Seriously, I really didn't! I have been so busy thinking what ADR's to keep or not it never occurred to me to cut back to the QDP.

With two teens going in a different direction, it might be better this trip anyway because they won't be so tied to having to meet us for meals.

Ok, back to my figuring. Thanks!

 

[owensamo]

Another good reason to stay on site is transportation - if you split up from the teens, they can still get back to the rooms without you! If you're offsite, you'll have to ensure that they have transportation back to the resort at some point if they don't go back with you at nap time. Coordinating that would be too much stress for me on vacation!

Price it with QS. Another option you might look into is DVC point rentals - then you get the condo (and kitchen) with the benefit of being on property. I don't know if it would save you much, but it might be worth pricing out.

 

[luvmy3]

Being there for 7 days, would you really need hoppers? If you just did base tix you could save $300.

This trip we are staying club level so we will have breakfast provided but on any other vacation (WDW or otherwise) we eat breakfast in the room. I'll pack cereal, muffins, fruit, yogurt, etc. We have also done lunches in our room in the past, things like sandwiches.

 

[luvsJack]

That's true, probably won't be hopping much with the little one anyway. Mmmm, think we will be able to make this work!! I really hope so.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

LOL. I cannot believe I didn't even think about that! Seriously, I really didn't! I have been so busy thinking what ADR's to keep or not it never occurred to me to cut back to the QDP.

With two teens going in a different direction, it might be better this trip anyway because they won't be so tied to having to meet us for meals.

Ok, back to my figuring. Thanks!

That's true, probably won't be hopping much with the little one anyway. Mmmm, think we will be able to make this work!! I really hope so.

I would do the QDP and no hoppers on the tickets. That should ease things up.