Realistic Food Budget?

[JustAKid]

Hiya folks, saw someone else post a budget question and I thought ask the DISboards...HELLO!

I'm traveling with 4 adults, and 2 children and will there for 5 days. We are having Ariel's dinner, Minnie's breakfast, Blue Bayou lunch, and Rainforrest Cafe lunch, but all other food will be counter service, or off site (Dennys, Bubba Gump Shrimp, and the like. Nothing fancy). We will not factor breakfast in because our hotel has a free one, so basically lunches and dinner. We have no Annual Passports, Visas, or other discounts. All this taken into consideration, how much is a realistic Disneyland budget for food?

 

[21yankees]

Check out http://allears.net/dlr/din/dining.htm

They have all of the restaurants' menus w/ pricing. Hope this helps

steph

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

A friend of mine just went in June. She was in the parks for 4 days however they had a small food budget so they ate outside of the parks except for a few snacks. It was her and two teen age girls. She told me she took $600 dollars and that it was more then enough and that she came home with extra. She ate at Subway a lot (5 dollar foot longs ), and at some of the restaurants inside the Garden Walk.
I am planning to take around that much for our trip next month. We have a character breakfast planned with the free vouchers from Costco travel, but other then that we plan to eat outside the parks or at less expensive counter service inside the park. For the drive down and back, we plan to take a lot of our own snacks and sandwiches to reduce stopping time as well as lighten the pocket book of stopping along I-5.

 

[Brady's Mom]

One of the best things DH and I do to help our food budget is share meals. We will share an entree and add a salad. We never buy soda when we are there, it costs too much, plus we just don't usually drink it.

We hate being somewhere and end up ordering too much food and then end up wasting it because we don't have any way to keep it cold.

We figure that we can always get a snack later if we are still hungry - but we usually aren't. We do end up paying full prices for our DS 13 - but he eats a LOT of food lately (he's grown almost 5 inches since Dec.) and wants his own meal.

I budget around $100 for our family of 5 per day. We eat breakfast in our hotel room and bring our own water and snacks. It ends up costing us around $50 per meal for all 5 of us - maybe a little more, maybe a little less - it depends on what we want to eat.

On our trip in Nov. we plan to bring more food for lunches into the park in the form of sandwiches and veggies or fruit, since we never eat as many fruits/veggies there than we do at home. This way we can balance some of the food that isn't so great for us with some food that is. And it saves us a little money.

 

[teatime]

just came back, spent 700.00 on food for 3 people. we ate mostly in the park 2 meals a day, Mcdonalds for breakfast. each had 2 treats a day, ate at the rainforest cafe, espn zone, cafe orleans, rocket rods, etc. ate 3 times out of the park at milli's and at mimi's for dinners and 1 breakfast.
we were gone 7 days.

 

[Mugglemama]

we are 2 adults, and 4 kids ages 4-17. when we've had to do a serious "budget" trip in the past (it was either that, or not go at all - so we chose to do it, but do it cheaply!), we got by on about $60 a day. to do that, we ate fruit and cereal bars that we brought for breakfast (while standing in line early at the gates), sandwiches we made in the hotel room that we packed into the parks for lunch along with some more fruit, and then for dinner we left the park to pick up a huge grilled chicken meal from El Pollo Loco to take back to the hotel (under $30 for their largest meal - at least it was the last time we did it). some days we just did El Pollo Loco for lunch, and skipped dinner because we weren't hungry (just ate granola bars and/or fruit that we had brought in).

personally, we find that we all end up not feeling very well if we eat too much in-park food. it seems to stop up our tummies, no matter HOW much water we are guzzling down during the day (we bring in our own waters, too - you can buy a case of arrowhead at wal-mart for less than $4). so the most in-park food we EVER eat in a day at DLR is just one meal. for the rest we bring in a ton of fruit and healthy-ish snacks. if anybody needs a 3rd meal, we head out to El Pollo Loco for the grilled chicken (sooo yummy!)

are you driving to DLR? if so, it's nice to pick up a ton of what you need before you leave on your trip. cereal bars, granola bars, pb&j, fruit that can last a couple days without refrigeration, canned fruit, applesauce cups...stuff like that. if we need bread, produce, and delit meat for sandwiches, we pick that up fresh once we're in town, but for all the other stuff, it's nice to have it already so that you can cut your grocery shopping time down to a minimum once in anaheim (who wants to waste their disney time shopping for food?!!).

when we're not doing a budget trip, we just budget $100 a day, and that's always more than enough. but we don't do a ton of snacks inside the parks, either. (on our trip 2 years ago, i actually brought microwave popcorn to pop in the hotel room and then pack into snack baggies so that at night when the popcorn comes out in the parks and smells WONDERFUL, i had bags to hand to the kids - saved a ton that way! i also did the same with cotton candy because the kids always see other kids with it and want some, but then don't really end up eating much of it. so i bought if for $1 a tub at wal-mart and saved a ton that way, too!)

i've made tigger tails at home before that came out great, but we find them to be WAY too big. so, this time i'm going to make mini tigger tails, and bring them along with us into the parks (which i've never done before)! i can make about 2 dozen mini tigger tails for about $10 (as opposed to nearly $4 each inside the parks). i think i'll also make homemade chocolate chip cookies to bring. we just keep everything inside an insulated backpack meant for food storage (picnic at ascot).

good luck!

 

[JustAKid]

I was under the impression that you could not bring food into the gates, that security won't let it through! What a silly ol' bear...

WONDERFUL suggestions about the popcorn and cotton candy. Seriously, two of my kid's favorite itmes. I can't wait to be 2 steps ahead of them.

Please keep ideas coming, these are all GREAT and SO helpful. Thanks everyone!

 

[PinkBudgie]

We have done four people- DH and I and two teen boys on $100 day or less.

No soda, just ask for free water with meals.

We limit table service meals to one or two, some trips we don't do any at all.

Split meals.

Eat a snack like ice cream in place of a meal. We know we want a big waffle cone anyway, so why go and stuff ourselves and eat a meal too just because it's meal time. It's cheaper than a meal anyway and still fills you up. And you are getting your calcium!

We always stay at a hotel that offers free breakfast. It also saves time because you can go down and grab what you want without waiting to be served.

 

[Mugglemama]

I was under the impression that you could not bring food into the gates, that security won't let it through! What a silly ol' bear...

WONDERFUL suggestions about the popcorn and cotton candy. Seriously, two of my kid's favorite itmes. I can't wait to be 2 steps ahead of them.

Please keep ideas coming, these are all GREAT and SO helpful. Thanks everyone!

we've never, ever had a problem bringing in food, and we've done it quite a few times in the last 8 years. we've brought in large sub sandwiches wrapped in foil, and even pb&j once. obviously, we never bring anything in glass containers. we don't drink soda anymore, but several years ago we brought in soda once or twice (in closed, plastic bottles, packed with the rest of our food), and had no problem with that, either.

oh! i almost forgot! you can also save a ton on churros! pick them up at El Pollo Loco, 2 for $1!! we do that when we pick up a meal, and we buy enough for the kids to have one after the meal, and also to bring into the parks.

also, we happen to like baskin robbins ice cream better than what's offered in the parks, so if we pick up a meal to take to the hotel, we sometimes take the kids over to 31 flavors for ice cream afterward (i find it more of a nuisance than anything for them to eat ice cream inside the parks anyway.) for all of us to get ice cream in the parks can run $30. however, we spend only about half that when we go to baskin robbins.

ETA: when it comes to souvenirs and t-shirts, try catching one of the great sales they often have at Disney Store ahead of time. you can get great deals on t-shirts and plush toys there.

for little plastic disney phones, play cameras, etc., in themes like disney princess, buzz lightyear, etc., try the check-out lines at places like wal-mart. you can often get them for somewhere around $1.

pick up glow-in-the-dark bracelets and necklaces cheap at the dollar store!

if you want light-up spinning toys, you can get non-disney themed ones at wal-mart or target sometimes for about $3 each.

 

[2wildchildzmom]

Don't forget to check out restaurants.com esp. when they are having their 70% off sales. I have three cert. for different places that I have paid $2 for a $50 gift cert. for food for our DL vaca. Just type in the zip code for the area and see what pops up. We have one for the DL area, one for our Huntington Beach day and one for a place near LL in Oceanside.

Great money saver!

 

[mybestieismickey]

We are bringing bottled sodas with us. At first it was just because DH prefers Mtn Dew (in ridiculously large quantities) which is not available at Disney, but the more I thought about it, I realized that at $2.50 a piece, I could save a ton if I brought my own soda too (not Mtn Dew ). We will be doing mostly counter service, so it will be no big deal to just pull a couple of bottles out at meal time.

I've been bringing bottled water in for years and will this time too, so I wouldn't imagine that sodas will be a problem. DH is totally stoked since he is tired of drinking Sprite, which is the only other soda he likes.

Also, we find that a large lunch and light dinner or snacks later works well for us. It's a nice break mid-day without leaving if you don't want too. Sometimes we eat and then sit and chat for quite some time before braving the crowds again.

 

[JustAKid]

I can't believe what awesome tips you guys are giving, seriously, I feel like a ninny for not thinking of them myself!! Thank you all so much, and if you think of any more, let me know. I'll be searching resturant.com

 

[GrandBob]

I'll be searching resturant.com

Right now I only know of a 50% off code, which isn't enough to make me bite. I'm used to their 70% and 80% off codes So if you have a while until you leave, you can keep waiting for a better discount.

Anyway, for 50% off, good until Sept 8, the code is MENU. You won't see the discount until you plug it into your shopping cart when you check out. But then you'll get it.

-Bob

 

[Ariel224]

Also, if you go through Ebates, there is an additional 15% rebate for restaurant.com!!

 

[JustAKid]

Wait...thats not the right zip code...is it? Thought it was 92802?

 

[JustAKid]

Dog it! The message was edited and now my question no longer applies!

 

[Ariel224]

I edited because I realized I was hijacking the thread. I do know the zip code....probably just typed it in wrong. Sorry...

I will post my questions in their own thread now.

 

[JustAKid]

I edited because I realized I was hijacking the thread. I do know the zip code....probably just typed it in wrong. Sorry...

I will post my questions in their own thread now.

Oh, fooie! I don't mind. Sharing is caring.

 

[MagicalMomAZ]

I try & stick to $100 (fam of 4) a day...granted character meals are more & we typically just go to one, it's all we really want. We eat breakfast in our room (bring all our organic goodness in a cooler!) & that leaves $50/meal. If we get a cheaper meal...we have some left over for aother & it all averages out.

I agree that researching the menu's is a must however - it gives you a good ballpark.

 

[pycees312]

someone posted a link to all ears I highly suggest you look up the places you
plan to go to ( be sure you are looking at Disneyland Menus)and check out the cost based on the meals your family may enjoy. If you do eat at all of those places you are not having a budget trip. Character meals will get you up in cost quickly!. Either way enjoy!