What do you budget for food if no free DP?

[herdadditions]

I realize everyone eats differently, but do you eat differently at WDW if you are not on the dining plan?

If you are not, how much do you plan on spending on food per person, per day?

 

[pepe of ohio]

I realize everyone eats differently, but do you eat differently at WDW if you are not on the dining plan?

If you are not, how much do you plan on spending on food per person, per day?

50.00 per person.....we rarely hit that though...We're kind of the meal splitter type....we find the meals at Disney on the big side and we rather not want to walk around stuffed....

We also don't care for the dining plans....we're the no schedule type....and the TS restaurants never interested us, CS is fine for us...we also do pool picnics just about every day for lunch (we pick up groceries in route and make sandwiches etc.) so our figure works for us.....Disney has never been about the food for us.....some days we hit 50.00 and some days not even....

 

[Lindsayrg3]

We took what it would have cost us to purchase the DDP (regular, not deluxe) and made that our food allowance. I'm anxious to see how much food money we'll have left (if any) after our trip!

 

[wen8jr]

For us, food always costs more than expected. We are 2 Adults and 2 Teens that eat more than the adults. We stay onsite and we buy the DDP most often when visting at Disney.

$200/day or $50.00/person is what I budget (when not on DDP). Sometimes we come in lower, but drinks or snacks throughout the day at the park or resort can really add up so we try to be prepared and not worry about every single dollar spent.

Breakfast - 0.00 - we normally do not eat breakfast or grab a cereal bar.
Lunch - CS - $15.00 each or around $60.00 per meal (we do soft drinks, bottled water or tea)
Dinner - TS (in Disney) - $100 to $125 w/ tip
Misc - $25.00/day

If I stay at Universal resorts, I budget the same way. A TS meal is always pricy for 4 people unless you go offsite and do pizza or drive through and we usually don't except during the driving part of our trip. Which by the way, I don't have that $ included but expect to and from meals to cost about $100.00.

 

[nkereina]

I definitely eat differently when not on the dining plan. I'm less likely to splurge for a snack, I rarely if ever order a dessert, and I'd probably drink water rather than a soft drink. My boyfriend would also be less likely to order that $30 steak and probably get a burger or salad. No DP for us would be a drag! BUT we have been considering it since we want to go over the summer when free dining isn't offered. We have been looking at the menus and adding up what we'd probably order at each place. It's giving us a ballpark figure, and then we'll round it up a little higher just to be sure we have enough.

 

[housemouse]

My boyfriend would also be less likely to order that $30 steak and probably get a burger or salad. No DP for us would be a drag! /QUOTE]

Having the DP can be a drag the other way too. Especially if you've paid for it. Sometimes I feel that I SHOULD order that $30 steak instead of the $18 mushroom ravioli that I really want just to get my money's worth out of the plan. So it really depends on what you want to eat and how you like to eat. Do you want a dessert every day with every meal? Do you want a soda with every meal or do you prefer water? Personally I don't like to drink water with meals and want a bit more. I've figured out though that I'm quite happy with free ice water at the restaurant once I've dropped a Crystal Light package into it. Look at the menus and figure out what you'd like to eat and how much it will cost. That will give you an estimate to make a calculated guess on what you'll need to budget for.

 

[summermac]

Is your plan for TS or more CS?

 

[Trollingforthimbles]

We always plan on getting the Dining Plan whether they're offering it free or not. For us, it's just more important to not have to worry about it how much something costs while we're down there. It just frees us up

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

We normally do the Deluxe Dining Plan, but we only have it for part of our trip this time.

We are planners, so I went through and looked at what I thought we would order on the menus... always picking the higher items, figuring the tax and tip, etc. I also figured what we normally use as snacks and drinks.

 

[3pletprincesses]

if it can help you, 3 kids meals of chicken nuggets and 2 adults meals of hamburgers at Epcot cost us almost $45 with no dessert at a counter service. I would plan close to $50 per adult per day

 

[jimandami]

For DH, DS7, DD2.5, and myself, we have budgeted $1100 for 7 days, which includes the money we will spend on travel days, one TS/day (one day has 2 TS), and one CS most days (we are doing a couple lunches and one kids dinner in our villa and eating breakfast in the room every day except one), plus alcohol/snacks. I did go through the menus of the places we are planning to eat, but of course that is still a rough estimate. We do have the TIW card so most meals include a 20% discount and we did spend about $200 on Garden Grocer, but that is for groceries/snacks/drinks for 7 of us.

 

[MickeyNicki]

For just DH and I its $150-200 a day

 

[HadesTX]

We usually stick to CS or split meals, so I budget about $100/day for the three of us. Sometimes we go over, sometimes less... but it usually works for us.

 

[annnewjerz]

I budget about $175ish per day for two of us. That will often be a snack-type items for one meal of the day, with 2 TS meals for the other meals (with one of the TS being a signature). That figure doesn't include alcohol. We usually come in under that budget, but I would rather budget too much than too little and have to spend more money than I initially planned.

Roughly, I figure about $10 for our "snack" meal of the day (like a light breakfast), $40 for our lunch and about $110 for our dinner and then about $15 extra for things like a drink or snack in between meals.

 

[Pakey]

For my husband and I, I plan on $100 per person per day.

We just got back last week, taking 2 of our adult sons and their families and it averaged at $125 per person per day. None of us eat desserts but we do have wine with dinner usually.

 

[coltsfanatic]

For me, I have no reason whatsoever to do the dining plan. Disney portions and pricing are atrocious!

Figuring I purchase a bottle of water (refilling it throughout the day) waffle and split-pre-packaged juice for breakfast, veggie burger and fries for lunch, pasta dish for dinner and one small snack (popcorn), I usually spend about $30-$35 a day. This is more than enough to eat.

 

[Kat&Dom]

We are heading to Disney in 12 days and my budget for myself with 6 yr old son is $40/day except Thanksgiving when we are doing a character meal at the Garden Grill, that day the budget is $100. We will be there for 10 days so the total food budget is around $500 for 1 adult and 1 child.

That being said, my son will only drink water - he is the only kid at a party to ask for water instead of pop or juice. I am also a big water drinker too. We also find that meal portions are huge so lots of times we will share a meal or a snack - we always share a Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich as they are big and melt quickly. I do carry some small snack items into the park with us like Rice Krispy Squares and Fruit Snacks - it never fails that my son is just starving when we are in line for something so having a small snack on hand keeps him happy.

I will also have $40/day souvenir money on me so if we go over our food budget, we can take from the souvenir money. This system works good for us.

 

[kwdw]

It can vary so much per day it's ridiculous! Character breakfast plus signature restaurant one day, and a cinnamon roll, popcorn, and a burger the next....

If you aren't going to do a TS meal - $20-40 per day for an adult.

Add one "cheap" TS meal without drinks (soda or alcohol) - maybe $30-$60 per adult.

Start adding a nicer TS meal, character breakfast, two TS in one day - maybe $75-100 per day per adult. More if you include alcohol.

I added things up from three trips this past year - and my range was $20-$200 dollars per day. Average - about $65 for me. I rarely go without one TS meal per day and I eat breakfast (not just grab a bar and go gal).

Everyone eats SO differently - really - take a look at the menus/prices - and make up a tentative plan your group might like to get an estimate. You don't have to stick to that plan - so don't worry about being too perfect with it - but it will give you an idea of how much interests you in a few typical days.

 

[Suger Mag]

whatever we budget... we usually underestimate, trying hard to use the kitchen in my DVC room next time rather then spend so much eating out.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

3 of us (DD is 11) $50 / day total.

We buy breakfast stuff poptarts, cereal, milk, fruit from Wal-Mart also snacks (like crackers etc that we keep in the car and hotel room) before we get there - the $50 doesn't count towards those. Also we bring cans of soda.

We eat breakfast in the room then spend up to $50/ day on CS for lunch and dinner and snacks. The 3 of us split 2 CS meals per meal and we driink water/ soda that we already own.