Realistic Food Budget for Five Days with 5 people?

[Eeyore1220]

Hello all! We are spending 5 days at Disney in July. We are hoping to have a clear-ish sense of our budget before we go (ok, my DH wants us to have that - I feel like our money is always well spent at Disney!). We are staying in a DVC room so we will have the kitchenette and we plan to use that for most if not all of our breakfasts - cereal, toast, etc. We don't need to do any character meals because my kids have done those before. We have three adults (we eat fish but not meat) and two kids, 10 and 6 - neither are big eaters. We don't do apps but my kids do like dessert. My DH will have a drink but the other two adults probably won't. If we do mostly quick service lunch and dinner, with maybe three-four table service meals mixed in there, can anyone help me set a realistic budget for food? We're up for sharing entrees here and there as well. Thanks for any advice you can give me!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Not really. You would probably be better served by choosing some restaurants and picking which dishes your party is likely to eat, then calculate. https://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/disneydining.cfm

 

[Eeyore1220]

Not really. You would probably be better served by choosing some restaurants and picking which dishes your party is likely to eat, then calculate. https://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/disneydining.cfm

Ok - thanks for the link!

 

[Judique]

Since you do not eat meat, you should go to the menus to get an idea of what you will be eating and what it is going to cost you.

Allears.net has menu listings. The Disney website also has all restaurants listed and if you click in and click on the menu you should be able to find the fish entrees plus vegetarian entrees and price them out and make some ADR's to the restaurants you choose.

Also, is it 4 nights/5 days or 5 nights/6 days? This can make a difference.

 

[Eeyore1220]

Also, is it 4 nights/5 days or 5 nights/6 days? This can make a difference.

It's 4 nights and 5 days. Thanks for the tips!

 

[disneychrista]

$1,250 - $1,500.

$50/day per person for counter service. Add another $20/ per person for any sit down meals.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

We tend to go with $500 a day 2 adults 3 kids. I’d rather over budget and have extra than to feel as we are spending so much while there. I buy dgc and then use those to pay during our trip. At the end if we didn’t spend it all we let the kids get some souvenirs or save it for the next trip. Doing it this way allows us to eat where we want to eat, get snacks as we want, and enjoy our trip without thinking about how much we are spending on food

 

[Eeyore1220]

We tend to go with $500 a day 2 adults 3 kids. I’d rather over budget and have extra than to feel as we are spending so much while there. I buy dgc and then use those to pay during our trip. At the end if we didn’t spend it all we let the kids get some souvenirs or save it for the next trip. Doing it this way allows us to eat where we want to eat, get snacks as we want, and enjoy our trip without thinking about how much we are spending on food

I like this idea! I already found some DGC discounts and bought a couple so that will be a good start.

 

[Darcy03231]

I plan $100/pp per day for food, snacks, drinks, etc. I've never gone over and usually bring money home, but I'd rather budget too much than not enough.

 

[DisLiss]

It depends so much on where you'll be eating. TS vs QS and if you're eating any food you bring into the park yourself, etc.

We always eat breakfast and our last evening snacks in our room, we're vegetarian, we rarely eat dessert type foods, we do carry some food in with us, we drink primarily water, and we eat 90% of our meals at counter service places, so we spend less than $100 per person, per day in the actual parks (or resorts) even with older kids. So if I budget $100 per day for each of us, I can be sure to have a considerable amount left by the end of our trip. Then if we want to do a sit-down meal at the end of the trip, I can use that extra money saved from each day. (We tend to spend more along the lines of $50 to $65 per person, per day in the actual parks.)

Of course, we do budget money for a stop at Trader Joe's for groceries at the start of our trip.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Hello all! We are spending 5 days at Disney in July. We are hoping to have a clear-ish sense of our budget before we go (ok, my DH wants us to have that - I feel like our money is always well spent at Disney!). We are staying in a DVC room so we will have the kitchenette and we plan to use that for most if not all of our breakfasts - cereal, toast, etc. We don't need to do any character meals because my kids have done those before. We have three adults (we eat fish but not meat) and two kids, 10 and 6 - neither are big eaters. We don't do apps but my kids do like dessert. My DH will have a drink but the other two adults probably won't. If we do mostly quick service lunch and dinner, with maybe three-four table service meals mixed in there, can anyone help me set a realistic budget for food? We're up for sharing entrees here and there as well. Thanks for any advice you can give me!

4 Disney adults and 1 Disney kid - I'd budget $250 for any dinner sit down in park (buffets will be more, non buffets will be less, so it evens out), I'd budget $100 for any CS meal in park (since you mention the possibility of kid dessert and an alcohol drink), and I'd budget grocery money. Decide how many meals you want in the park and how many you want in the room, and go from there. Before my allergy, we tended to average 1.5 meals out on a vacation. Now that I have one, we tend to do 1 meal per day out and 2 in...so my grocery budget is high (b/c I splurge for what I want - it's vacation) and can sometimes almost equals my eat out budget if the trip is short enough or non-Disney. So, for me, with 5 Disney adults and 1 Disney kid on a 5 day trip, we'd have 5 meals out - 1 splurge sit down in park that I'd set $300 aside for, 4 CS that I'd reserve $400 for, and then $300 in groceries/alcohol for room (b/c my spouse likes alcohol, but only drinks in the room or at the pool) for $1000 for 6 for 5 days...and I'd go under on the CS's and be bringing home some groceries...

 

[kymom99]

For some perspective, 2 adults spent $40 for lunch at BOG. We both had a sandwich with fries. One fountain drink. You could probably count on $100 per meal for 5 people BOG is on the higher end but since you never know where you might end up, that will give you plenty. I will also recommend mobile ordering wherever possible.

 

[SharonZ]

I would budget $100 per person/per day. I would rather over budget, than under budget.

 

[Klayfish]

If you're budget oriented would you consider packing some of your food, perhaps for lunch? We are on the extreme end, as we pack all of our own food (lunch, dinner, drinks, snacks). The trade off is that we spend a tiny, tiny fraction of what others do. It allows us to use the money to stay at WDW longer or go more often.

 

[Eeyore1220]

If you're budget oriented would you consider packing some of your food, perhaps for lunch? We are on the extreme end, as we pack all of our own food (lunch, dinner, drinks, snacks). The trade off is that we spend a tiny, tiny fraction of what others do. It allows us to use the money to stay at WDW longer or go more often.

I think we’re willing to do some, but probably not all. You’re absolutely right how much it would save!

 

[kymom99]

There are a lot of fun places to snack. Think about how many actual meals you might sit down and eat. Everyone Is different that way. If you eat in the room before leaving you might only eat one meal in the parks and a snack. It could vary from one day to the next depending on the park too.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

I have just returned from a nine day trip and took the time to add up how much my adult daughter and I spent in order to decide whether to purchase a DP for part of our July trip. Eating whatever we felt like (WBG, Chef Art, Les Halles, Edison, Nomads, Todd English, Wolfgang Puck, Boathouse, Polite Pig, GF cafe etc) with daily g and ts/cocktails plus a few meals with a shared bottle of wine we averaged USD100 each per day including tips. We have APs and TiWs so we got some discounts but without alcohol USD 100 a day should be ample. The portions are large, for example the whole sea bass at Wolfgang Puck (which is delicious) could easily serve 3 or 4 adults.

 

[Eeyore1220]

I have just got back from a nine day trip and took the time to add up how much my adult daughter and I spent in order to decide whether to purchase a DP for part of our July trip. Eating whatever we felt like (WBG, Chef Art, Les Halles, Edison, Nomads, Todd English, Wolfgang Puck, Boathouse, Polite Pig, GF cafe etc with daily g and ts/cocktails plus a few meals with a shared bottle of wine we averaged USD100 each per day including tips. We have APs and TiWs so we got some discounts but without alcohol USD 100 a day should be ample. The portions are large, for example the whole sea bass at Wolfgang Puck (which is delicious) could easily serve 3 or 4 adults.

This is so helpful - thank you so much! I hope it was an amazing trip and we’ll be there in July too!

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

This is so helpful - thank you so much! I hope it was an amazing trip and we’ll be there in July too!

And I would suggest booking ADRs using MDE and switching as many of them as possible over to Open Table as the dates open up. It prevents you feeling bound to mealtimes/places as the cancellation policy on OT is so flexible. We also found that, for example, the whole sea bass at WGP is almost identical in size and flavour to the one served at WBG but Pucks is about $42 and George’s $72.

 

[Klayfish]

I think we’re willing to do some, but probably not all. You’re absolutely right how much it would save!

Totally understand, as I said we're on the far extreme end of the spectrum. But even a simple thing like packing pb&j, some fruit and a snack could save you a bunch.

I know we're a bit odd, but to the best I can figure our food budget is roughly $5-$7/person per day.