Trial Budget For Food...Can it be done?

[epcotfan]

Hi everyone!
I'm going down to WDW for 5 nights at the end of January due to the postcard special I was offered. I'm attempting to make this a "budget" trip due to the special. I'd rather spend my excess $ on souvenirs and thus I only want to spend about $300 for 5 days of food for two people. We probably won't be dining in restaurants and will stick to counter service. I'm budgeting $60 US a day for two people. We often split meals as well. I find some of the portions HUGE. Do you think this will be enough? Both of us (my mom and myself) aren't breakfast people and we usually stick to 2 meals a day plus the occasional snack. I'm guessing about $10 a meal and a few dollars here and there for drinks and snacks.
What do you think?

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

Yup, you can do it, providing you watch how much you're spending in the parks for drinks. It isn't uncommon for my family of 3 to spend $40 or more a day if it is warm. January is a great time to go (I'll be there too), and it shouldn't be warm enough to negatively affect your budget.

 

[tink2dw]

Yes I believe it will be enough!!

We budgeted $100. a day, for 2 adults and 1 teen. We didn't share meals and we did eat 3 meals a day with snacks and bought some water. The $100. a day worked well,we spent more some days and less others,so it evened out in the end!!

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says......................................................... Very easy to do!!!! We budget $70 per day for 2 adults and an 11 yo. That included stops at Norway, and BOMA, and offsite at Red Lobster and Olive Garden. We tend to eat breakfast in the room, though we did eat four "real" breakfasts on our ten day trip. If you provide your own breakfast, and split a few meals, and do all counter service, you can get by on $40 a day!

 

[DiznEeyore]

Just another voice in agreement. Dh and I almost always split meals, and can easily get by on $30-$40 per day. Have a great time!

 

[nluvwithdisney]

Yes it can be done. For the two of us we budgeted $80 per day. It was more than enough. Some days we probably spent around 50 - 60. We split dinner since we had know way of heating it in the room.

 

[hercamore]

We have done it!! last august, my two teens and I averaged out less than $50. a day. We also ate very well. Bottom line is pack your own water, and other drinks. That's where you're going to get hit in the pocket hardest.











Herc

 

[LindaBabe]

for the room, and a couple gallons of water from which to refill your water bottles. Then you might actually manage a sit down dinner or two.

 

[robinb]

You should be fine. I budget about $80 per day for 2 adults and a 2 year old and we eat at a nice place (CG, FF, etc) a couple of times a trip. Bring a water bottle for the parks so you won't have to buy any $2.50 cokes or waters. You might also want to think about some breakfast bars even if you don't usually "do" breakfast. It'll keep you going until after the lunch rush is done.

 

[Dagny]

I agree, $60 a day for two people should be plenty if you are doing counter service type restaurants. If you tend to split meals, you may find that you will have enough left over to have a couple of sit-downs as well As already mentioned, bringing your own snacks and water will really help on your budget. Good luck and have a great time.

 

[Biyanna]

If you pay the 1.00 (30 day trial membership) to order through Connections you can...

Option 1---21.00 a day
Have 2 counter meals a day. And just split them between the two of you.

Option 2----42.00 a day
You can have 4 counter meals. 2 for each of you.

Option 3----56.00 a day
2 character breakfasts and 2 counter meals. One each for the each of you.

***Remember these amounts INCLUDE taxes and 15% gratuity!!!!

Even if you don't do Connections, you'll be fine w/60.00 a day! Try to stop at the grocery store for snacks and especially water. It outrageous what they charge for water. Good luck and have fun!

 

[frost5000]

In October we averaged about $30 a day with 1 adult,1 teen,1 child (all big eaters). We ate breakfast in the hotel room, brought water bottles (got the refillable brita bottle with a filter) and filled them in the park, brought some snacks with us, and easily ate until we were full in the parks. You'll be fine.

 

[epcotfan]

Thanks for your replies and helpful advice everyone. Like I said before neither of us are breakfast eaters so we would be wasting our money getting breakfast snacks for the room. We generally prefer an early lunch at around 11 or 11:30 am. Both of us worked shift work for a number of years so breakfast is a thing of the past

Also we won't have a car so bringing in heavy jugs of water or making grocery trips etc isn't an option. We rented a fridge once and it went to waste. On another trip we bought a small foam water cooler and we didn't use it.

I suppose we could get some large bottles of water in the ASMu store and refill smaller portable bottles. I will be doing some videotaping on this trip so the less I have to carry the better. (Unfortunately I am addicted to caffeine so the water option isn't going to work for me all of the time. Gotta have my coke (I get migraines without the caffeine and sugar....I know I'm bad ) What I may do is buy a six pack of coke and bring a can with me wherever we are going or get one out of the coke machines near the lockers (if they still have them)

I don't think Connections is available to Canadians. But I did have a look at what they offered on Mousesavers.com and I don't think we'd be saving that much money due to our occasional splitting and sharing of meals.

I have refillable mugs so that will help in the evenings. Hopefully our room won't be too far away from the food court. (I'm so spoiled because on my last vacation at the Contemporary our room was in the North wing right beside the elevator closest to the main building. It took two minutes to run in and get drinks and run back)

Wonder what my chances are of being put in Jazz this trip? I know Calypso is a preferred view so I doubt I'll get that with my postcard rate. Oh well.

 

[Judy from Boise]

My DH and I also eat a lot of kids meals at counter service

 

[hercamore]

Epcotfan, you can always pack some coke in your suitcases from home. 20ounce bottles work well. When they empty, they can be used for water refills.

 

[robinb]

How are you getting to your resort from the airport? If you take a limo other than Mear's most will make a short grocery stop on the way. Once there you can pick up a styrofoam cooler and buy your coke on the way in .

 

[epcotfan]

On a previous trip we went to Goodings to pick up some groceries. We ended up spending as much as it would have cost us buying our groceries at the onsite shop. (Bagels, cream cheese, etc) The only difference was they had more variety.

We bought a small foam cooler on another trip and never used it. The hotel ice bucket worked fine for chilling my cans of coke. Filling the sink with ice worked too.

As much as I'd love to bring a suitcase full of coke with me I don't think customs would be too keen on it. My mom had her suitcase searched on her last trip in November. It was random. I'd hate to have to be detained explaining why I had 10 bottles of coke in my bags I don't think my clothes would fare well either if the bottles exploded from being thrown around by airport baggage handlers.

I've ordered the occasional kid's meal (I can pretend I'm a kid at 29 right ) when I didn't want a huge meal. That definitely saved some money.

 

[Janann0565]

Try checking wdwig.com for the exact menus from just about every restaurant in WDW. This will show you exactly how much you can expect to spend at each restaurant.

 

[leebee]

Get your limo driver to stop at PUBLIX, not Goodings- you'll save a fortune! Be prepared to pay $1.99 for a small cup of coke in the parks- and it's fountain, not bottles or cans, with no free refills. The water in FL is pretty bad, IMO, and we found the fountain drinks to be almost undrinkable cuz the water tasted so nasty!