disneysteve
DIS meet junkie
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2002
- Messages
- 16,200
Cast of characters:
Me (47)
DW (47)
DD (15)
I didn't keep a trip report log of our daily activities so I won't be posting that as I have in the past but I always feel it is important to post a food thread. I think accommodations and dining are the two areas where many people grossly overspend and it keeps them from visiting as often as they'd like. If you have the money, by all means spend it and enjoy. If you don't, however, I like to show that it is possible to do Disney on a tighter budget than people often think.
Anyway, this trip was a bit different for us. Rather than spending 2 full weeks at Disney, we started with a visit to my cousin in Boynton Beach, about 180 miles south of Disney. We drove from NJ ($433.11 for gas for the entire vacation) and arrived in Boynton Beach late on 4/8. My cousin treated us to our meals while there on 4/9. We left on 4/10 and headed to Disney. So our food spending includes our trip down and everything from when we left my cousin until we returned home on 4/21.
We spent a total of $771.72 on food during the entire 2 week trip. That works out to a little under $20/person/day if I don't count the day my cousin paid for meals. If you search back and read my old trip reports, you'll find that we always come within a dollar of that same amount - $20/person/day - for food spending. That includes 3 meals/day, all drinks, all snacks. I'm not quite sure how we do it as we don't enter into it with that budget in mind but it always manages to work out to the same number. That has been true for several years now. It has even been true on other vacations to places besides Disney World - California, Vegas, New Hampshire, etc. It is just a very consistent number for us when we travel.
You will ask where and what we ate. For the most part, we ate counter service. Our only table service meals were offsite - Olive Garden, Flipper's, Perkins. Everything else was CS though included some of the places that I think are among the better CS locations - Earl of Sandwich, Sunshine Seasons Food Fair, Sweet Tomatoes, etc.
Hopefully, this just illustrates that it is possible to visit Disney without spending a fortune on food (for those not on the dining plan).
As for accommodations, we rented a 3-bedroom townhome in Windsor Palms. It was $89/night plus tax which came to $1,106.27 for 11 nites. We spent 2 nights at my cousin's house. We also had a hotel on the road each way which totaled $127.56. So a grand total of $1,233.83 for the 13 nites we paid for or $94.91/night average. Obviously, the free nights with family don't count.
Me (47)
DW (47)
DD (15)
I didn't keep a trip report log of our daily activities so I won't be posting that as I have in the past but I always feel it is important to post a food thread. I think accommodations and dining are the two areas where many people grossly overspend and it keeps them from visiting as often as they'd like. If you have the money, by all means spend it and enjoy. If you don't, however, I like to show that it is possible to do Disney on a tighter budget than people often think.
Anyway, this trip was a bit different for us. Rather than spending 2 full weeks at Disney, we started with a visit to my cousin in Boynton Beach, about 180 miles south of Disney. We drove from NJ ($433.11 for gas for the entire vacation) and arrived in Boynton Beach late on 4/8. My cousin treated us to our meals while there on 4/9. We left on 4/10 and headed to Disney. So our food spending includes our trip down and everything from when we left my cousin until we returned home on 4/21.
We spent a total of $771.72 on food during the entire 2 week trip. That works out to a little under $20/person/day if I don't count the day my cousin paid for meals. If you search back and read my old trip reports, you'll find that we always come within a dollar of that same amount - $20/person/day - for food spending. That includes 3 meals/day, all drinks, all snacks. I'm not quite sure how we do it as we don't enter into it with that budget in mind but it always manages to work out to the same number. That has been true for several years now. It has even been true on other vacations to places besides Disney World - California, Vegas, New Hampshire, etc. It is just a very consistent number for us when we travel.
You will ask where and what we ate. For the most part, we ate counter service. Our only table service meals were offsite - Olive Garden, Flipper's, Perkins. Everything else was CS though included some of the places that I think are among the better CS locations - Earl of Sandwich, Sunshine Seasons Food Fair, Sweet Tomatoes, etc.
Hopefully, this just illustrates that it is possible to visit Disney without spending a fortune on food (for those not on the dining plan).
As for accommodations, we rented a 3-bedroom townhome in Windsor Palms. It was $89/night plus tax which came to $1,106.27 for 11 nites. We spent 2 nights at my cousin's house. We also had a hotel on the road each way which totaled $127.56. So a grand total of $1,233.83 for the 13 nites we paid for or $94.91/night average. Obviously, the free nights with family don't count.
