spending money after dining plan????

[yankeeslover]

trying to set a budget, we do have the dining plan w/one sitdown and one quick svc with snack.... four of us, my wife and I and two daughters 13 and 5 and we check in august. just wondering if a budget of $100.00 per day is enough to get us by? lunch and dinner is paid for already, this would be for a small breakfast at the allstar movies, any waters and souvenairs? gonna be 9 nights, and im planning about $1000.00 spending for the week.. im on a very very very tight budget(daughters $1300.00 club soccer bill due the month after we return)

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

Don't forget to budget enough for tips. You could save a little by bringing some bottled water and breakfast foods that don't need refrigerated for breakfast.

 

[marmalade]

We are a family of 4, and always go during free dining. We budget $100 a day for everything (extra drinks/snacks, souvenirs, adult beverages, tips.....). We don't really buy much food other than what we get on the dining plan. We never spend all of our money and always come home with some. We like a few adult beverages (my DH more than me) so that eats up a lot of our budget.

We have never been hungry with the dining plan you are on. We chose not to upgrade this time and are only doing the QSDP, but I still think we will have plenty of food.

 

[dairyqueenmom]

Tips on your sit down meal can be over $10 per day, what about packing dry cereal and muffins for breakfast in room and getting milk at the resort store. We always do breakfast in our room. So much cheaper and quicker then trying to fight crowds at allstar's food court.

 

[lc1965]

Full disclosure: have never done the dining plan because I don't like to take too much time out for sit-down meals, but I've always heard it's just too much food. Having said that, I will also say that there are some rabid supporters of it, as well - so it's a very individual thing. If you're getting the plan, you don't need as much as $100 per day. If you have it in the budget, though, at least there will be no surprises.

Have fun!

 

[yankeeslover]

how do i bring food and water from home? can that go in a suitcase and flown with us from nys?

 

[tb1972]

Another thought - if you don't like eating breakfast in your room, you could use a snack credit for breakfast. At many places, a snack credit can purchase a cinnamon roll/bagel/pastry. We're not huge breakfast eaters so a small pastry works well for us.

 

[marmalade]

how do i bring food and water from home? can that go in a suitcase and flown with us from nys?

I wouldn't want to put water in my suitcase and risk an over the limit fee. We always order from www.gardengrocer.com, but I have also heard of people having water delivered from Costo.

 

[marmalade]

Another thought - if you don't like eating breakfast in your room, you could use a snack credit for breakfast. At many places, a snack credit can purchase a cinnamon roll/bagel/pastry. We're not huge breakfast eaters so a small pastry works well for us.

This is a good idea as well. I found out on our last trip (2010) that biscuits and gravy (All Star Movies) was considered a snack item and was enough to fill me up and keep me satisfied until lunch.

 

[magchavez]

We have always had the dining plan and we eat breakfast in the room. ( It allows us to get to the park faster). We order cereal, milk, fruit, donuts, snacky items, diet coke, and water from Garden Grocer.com and have it delivered to our room on the day we arrive. We have also had water shipped to our hotel from staples.com and costco.com and it worked perfectly both times.

 

[crisi]

It completely depends. You'll have tax and tip on the dining plan - that's about 30% of the cost of the plan. Plus if you drink, you'll have that bill - that can get expensive quickly, but other people can completely disregard that. Breakfast is best off (IMHO) in the room - have garden grocer bring you some breakfast bars, bagels, water, cream cheese, snacks - and if you won't have a fridge in your room, pack yourself a softsided cooler or two. Its cheaper, plus breakfast lines at Disney sometimes make the wait for Space Mountain look reasonable. Souvenirs are another area where some people have no problem going over $100 a day and other people don't spend much at all.

 

[jerseygirl81]

We always bring water bottles into the park, we rent a car and pick them up at the hess station. I've read about many people having them delivered to their resort from Garden Grocer and Walmart along with snack. We usually send a package to our resort with cereal, mini muffins & granola bars plastic bowls & spoons. We get milk at the Hess but you can get it at your resort. It's so much quicker to eat in your room in the morning or take something to go. We try to go to a counter service before noon to beat the crowds a bit. When eating at a sit down restaurant I usually look at the menus before going estimate a bill and make up tip envelopes I always put extra in for good service or if someone orders something extra, I leave the envelopes in the safe and take out the one I need for each restaurant each night. I also make up tip envelopes for mousekeeping for each day. Anything beyond that is usually souveniers and we don't buy too many. Enjoy your trip! Linda

 

[danceintherain]

It's really depends on you. DH always needs a pretty full breakfast in the mornings, so we usually end up buying one entire meal at least for him in addition to the S CS & TS that would be included with the plan. Even so, depending on your particular eating and buying habits, you'll probably be fine with only $100/day.
For the two of us, we could spend less than that without the dining plan. For four with the dining plan, it probably won't be a problem.

 

[disneychic2]

DH and I always split our CS meals and then each have the TS meal. We find that the portions for CS are large enough for both of us to have plenty to eat. We usually even have enough CS meals left to get a sandwich to take to the airport. You can fill in with snack credits if you find yourself hungry. You can get a nice bowl of fruit or whole fruit and as others have said, pastries and bagels and such. We usually end up with around 8 or 9 snack credits left over so we buy stuff to take home. I think if you budget $100 a day you'll find you have money left over. But that is a safe amount just in case. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Trinity524]

I didn't know you pay tax on the DDP. I have used the plan 4 times and never realized that.

Anyhoo... We use the $100 a day as a guideline, but then we also put $150 on a gift card for tips and misc. dining needs. It's completely not necessary, however. We come home with a bag of snacks every time. I am not sure why I don't budget them on a daily basis, but we do a mid morning CS (10 am), and an earlier dinner (5pm) and we are done. I know that this is a budget board; however, we spend $150 a week in food, so I just take that money and count it in as the food budget.

HTH. I should say there are 3 of us. But my son and husband eat like they have no sense and they don't know where their next mean is coming from.

 

[dhardawa]

I find that with the dining plan, two meals a day is more than enough. I'm usually still stuffed from dinner the following morning and we can do an early lunch if need be. I order a case of water from Wal Mart or Office Depot and have it delivered to the hotel before I get there. No need to spend money or snack credits on water. With the dining plan, the only food expense I have is tips. As for souveniers, we usually spend about $200 total. So, in your case, I could do 10 days for about $500 and probably have extra left.

 

[kmvand1]

It completely depends. You'll have tax and tip on the dining plan - that's about 30% of the cost of the plan. Plus if you drink, you'll have that bill - that can get expensive quickly, but other people can completely disregard that. Breakfast is best off (IMHO) in the room - have garden grocer bring you some breakfast bars, bagels, water, cream cheese, snacks - and if you won't have a fridge in your room, pack yourself a softsided cooler or two. Its cheaper, plus breakfast lines at Disney sometimes make the wait for Space Mountain look reasonable. Souvenirs are another area where some people have no problem going over $100 a day and other people don't spend much at all.

We've never paid tax on the dining plan?? Is this something new? We have always gotten the dining plan, even years ago when the tip was included. I've never paid "extra" for the taxes, just the tip.

 

[hsmamato2]

we did the ddp once,didn't spend any more than the plan except for the odd hot tea or carton of milk.... pack a box or two of your fave cereal in your suitcase,and buy a small carton of milk at the food court daily- =breakfast quick and easy in your room!
again,free ice water anywhere that has drinks in WDW so why carry them?
then use your ddp for lunch and dinner plus a snack.....

 

[robinb]

I wouldn't want to put water in my suitcase and risk an over the limit fee. We always order from www.gardengrocer.com, but I have also heard of people having water delivered from Costo.

The OP will have a refillable mug on the DDP, so I don't see a real need for bottled water at the resort. When in the parks, just bring a water bottle or refill a disposable one that you buy earlier in the trip. If you don't like the Orlando water (I don't mind it) you can always ask for a cup of ice water at any CS location and drink that or use a snack credit on water. I made the mistake of hoarding my snack credits one year and was left with a BUNCH at the end of the trip!

I would also just pack some cereal and/or bagels & other quick breakfast foods in your luggage. That leaves room for things to bring home . There is a microwave and toaster at the food court. You can buy milk and juice there too. For snacks and beer & wine, I would go to the Hess gas station near Boardwalk or DTD. They have fairly reasonable prices. Lastly, you will spend more than $10 on tips for 4 people as an 18% gratuity is added to your TS bill. Maybe the PP meant $10 per person.

All that being said, I think that your budget of $100 per day will be fine!

 

[mickeyplanner08]

You don't pay tax on the dining plan. The only thing you pay OOP for are tips if you just stick to what the plan covers. I used to figure less than $20 per day for tips, but now both kids are considered Disney adults, so we need to bump that up. However, I think it is easily do-able for $100/day.

We typically give the kids $5 per day for souveniers and then let them decide how they want to spend that money-all in one lump sum, or one sugar tube at a time.

We also pack a couple packages of granola bars and nutri-grain bars or pop-tarts in the suitcase. Walmart will ship a case of water to your resort, too.

We could almost go to Disney without any extra cash other than tips and still have an awesome vacation! Have fun!