What to budget for food

[kappyfamily]

Calling all Food Gurus! Does anyone have ideas for what to budget for food for a 5 night 6 day trip in the parks? We are a family of 4 (2 adults, 1 14 year old boy, 1 7 year old girl). We will probably do counter service for 2 meals and 1 sit down (nothing too fancy) and 1 snack each a day.

Thank you!

 

[SGMCO]

If you are staying onsite at a Disney Resort --
Have you compared the cost of buying OOP to the cost for
the Disney Dining Plan? With the ages that your Kids are
you may save money going with the Dining Plan.
The Dining Plan is a pre-Paid thing of $37.99pp per night (kids under 10--$10.99)
and includes-1 CS, 1 TS and 1 snack per person per night.
The only thing you have to pay is tip for the TS which you
would have to pay even if you weren't on the DP.
Only one trip we were not on the DP and it cost us
$60.00 per day for 2 CS meals per person for 2 Adult and a small child
--no TS meals. This was for average
food--pizza, burgers--and over 3 years ago.
You can check out menus and do a price comparasion on what you would
order OOP by going to All Ears Online. They list updated menus and prices.

 

[kappyfamily]

thanks, I would have loved to get the DDP but was told I couldn't because we got a CM discount at the Poly... which is great but would have loved to have gotten the DDP as well.

Thank you!

 

[lunalibre]

In order to budget out how much you might spend on food, go through and do a sample "dining tour" for each day. Figure out where you might eat, what you might order, what tax and tip will be, what snacks you might want, etc. Add it all up and you'll have an idea of what you might actually spend.

A lot of it depends on if you have any big eaters. I suspect the 14 yr-old can pack it away. However, I doubt your 7 yr-old eats much. When my family of 4 went last year (DH, me, DS10, DD7), we spent less on food than what it would have cost us to get the DP. Now, part of that was due to our "adult" 10-year-old eating kids meals. However, DH and I usually split counter service meals, then bought each kid their own kids meal.

Also, to really add up the cost of the dining plan, you have to figure out not only the cost of the DP itself, but also the difference it would cost you to pay rack rate for the room. I got our room with a AAA discount and got our tickets on a special through Undercover Tourist. By the time you added up what the dining plan would cost us *as well as* figure in rack rate for the room at tickets, we could eat for way less.

Hmmm, going back and figuring things up -- we ended up spending, per day, about what the dining plan would have cost us. However, it wasn't worth losing our discounts on the room and the tickets to get the DP. I hope that makes sense.

 

[simonkodousek]

I would budget $900 for the entire trip, but you would probably only spend $800 or so because of the cost of children's meals for the 7 year old, and possibly splitting larger meals between 2 or more people. Here is a breakdown of how I figured $900:

Counter Service: $8/person x 4 people = $32 x 2 meals/day = $64/day
Table Service: $20/person x 3 people = $60 + $10 (approx. cost for children's meal) = $70/day
Snack: $15/day

Daily Total: $149/day
Grand Total: $900

Hope that Helps,
Simon

 

[asmit4]

I would budget $900 for the entire trip, but you would probably only spend $800 or so because of the cost of children's meals for the 7 year old, and possibly splitting larger meals between 2 or more people. Here is a breakdown of how I figured $900:

Counter Service: $8/person x 4 people = $32 x 2 meals/day = $64/day
Table Service: $20/person x 3 people = $60 + $10 (approx. cost for children's meal) = $70/day
Snack: $15/day

Daily Total: $149/day
Grand Total: $900

Hope that Helps,
Simon

I don't mean to knock your #s as they may work for you. I just don't see what TS place you will be able to eat at to feed 2 adults and 2 kids for 70 bucks including tip? Maybe if you did all non-buffet breakfasts? I think Sci-Fi and Beaches and Cream would come in at these #s, but not many other TSs.

In addition, 8.00 for a CS meal is perhaps a bit on the low side. I know that many of the combos are around 8.00 but drinks add in 2.00 extra per person. (allthough you could pack drinks I guess.

I think I would budget at least 200/day...then again, maybe it's just b/c we tend to want the most expensive things like ribs/chicken/steak...hahahaha!

 

[frdeb1999]

I was thinking the same thing. I would budget at least $200 a day. In most cases we could easily split alot of the food we recieve....although we never go without having the DDP. I deffinately know that most TS resturants will be well within the $100+ range with tip. Even the buffets in most cases will run you that. Sorry not trying to say it could'nt be in that range....but I'd budget for higher and then be very happy if it were lower.

 

[kimberlym4]

Have you checked out the menus at allears? They will help you get an idea of what you'll spend.

http://www.allears.net/menu/menus.htm#cont

 

[lisa3383]

I really don't think you would come across many (if any) TS meals costing a family of 4 only $70! That is usually what a TS costs just me and my husband (sometimes more). Maybe that would be accurate if you were looking at doing TS for breakfast? Also I think the $8 for a quick service meal is a little low. I agree with the $200/day budget as it seems more reasonably achievable.

Disney food is expensive!

 

[crisi]

Check out the menus - because it is really going to depend on what you like to eat.

If you order a bottle of wine with dinner, or a few drinks, your prices will go up quickly. If you order three courses apiece, they will be much higher than if you order one. If you dine at signature places, that is going to be a lot more expensive than splitting table service meals.

If you are looking to save money:

Pack in snacks - Disney doesn't care and a few packed in snacks can save a ton of money. Some people go as far as to pack in lunch.

Drink tap water. Split large sodas if you MUST drink them. (Warning, a lot of people think the tap water in the Orlando area is vile)

Split meals and snacks where possible - or maybe have your own entree, but split dessert.

Eat breakfast in your room (a lot of people have groceries delivered or do a grocery stop on the way to the room).

Eat table service meals at lunchtime.

If you are a family of BIG eaters, eat your big meal at lunchtime at a buffet. Buffets at Disney aren't cheap (and I'm not fond of buffet food) but they are all you care to eat.

Visit the budget board for other ideas for how to save money dining.

 

[Tricia1972]

I think that you'll be able to do it for under $200 per day, but maybe not as low as $149 unless you share. I think there is PLENTY of food and you could share, but just so you can figure not sharing...

CS breakfasts are about $8 and kids meals are $5

CS lunches would be more like $10 per Adult and $5 for kids - figuring no dessert

TS Dinners - More like $25 per adult and $8 per child

Snacks - $15 per day - maybe a bit more

You can also get cereal for the room for breakfast and save a bit there if that's something that you'd find relaxing on vacation. Some people love to eat out, others are just as happy in the room. I am not sure how you feel about it.

Another money saver is to get waters and sodas for the room

You can order these things from gardengrocer.com to have them delivered or make a grocery stop while on your way to the resort.

 

[parrothead928]

We go about 3-4 times a year and we have this down to a science for our family. We have the Disney Dining Experience card (20% off) and we allot $50.00 per day per person. For us, because our DD never eats that much, we always seem to stay on budget...even with adult beverages!!!

We also go to all of the nice restaurants, like the Brown Derby, Jikos, Flying Fish, Kona Kafe, both French restaurants in EPCOT, etc...We tend not to do too many counter service restaurants.

We also only eat one big meal a day! More than that is way to much for us.

 

[jrt1176]

It all depends on how important food is to you...

For us, food is a major part of the vacation! We used to own some restaurants and a NYC style steakhouse that served prime beef, so we love fine dining.

We are conservatively budgeting $300 a day for 6 night. But, I think we'll go over when you include snacking at the parks.

We really only sit down at dinner and we dont drink wine or alcohol with meals. But, we get a bunch of apps and try them all!

 

[Tricia1972]

PP brings up a good point - appetizers can make or break you.

A $260 day at Disney would be...

3 Fillets at Jiko
6 Appetizers at Jiko
3 Desserts at Jiko
1 Kids meal at Jiko
3 Sodas at Jiko (DD's is incl in kids meal)
Ribs at Flame Tree
Chicken at FT
Pork sandwich at FT
Kids meal at FT
3 Sodas at FT
3 Adult Breakfast Platers at Food Court
1 Kids Breakfast Plater at Food Court

Take out the appetizers, and it's a $200 day just like that (before snacks). I left out the snacks because I think that the day listed above is a LOT of food when you factor in Disney's portions.

Another good point, signature dining is more than regular dining at many places.

I still think you can do it for under $200 a day if you're not eating at Signature Restaurants every night.