Looking for examples of daily food budget

Jo2019

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 26, 2019
Hi we are visiting Disney for the first time this year from Canada. The exchange rate is brutual..around 36% I think right now! We are booked for November too which I know may be swamped due to star wars but it is the only time that worked for the group we are travelling with.

Am curious/looking for examples of what you have spent daily OOP on food while staying on resort. It is me, my hubby and our 2.5 year old who is a picky eater anyway.

Wondering if the dining plan is worth it. Getting a lot of pressure from the rest of our group to stay off resort to save money however I think it may be easier for us to stay on resort at one of the budget resorts and get around with a toddler. The rest of the group doesnt have kids this young. I priced out a car rental with a carseat and it seemed expensive at almost 700CAD with insurance addes etc.

I know everyone is different but just looking for ideas/inspiration from a budget perspective.

Thanks!
 
I would stay on property with a toddler and let Disney do the driving.

I would skip the dining plan. Have you looked on all ears for menus? That will give you a good idea of costs for how you like to eat. Table service will kill you but counter service isn’t terrible considering the convenience. If some of your group is staying off property, maybe they could pick up some simple food items for your room?

I hope you have a great time on your trip! Let us know how the planning goes.
 
Well, staying onsite without a car and using DME from/to the airport will save you between $13* and $25 per night. You also won't pay for airport transportation or getting between your offsite location and WDW.

If you were to get a dining plan (see the Restaurant Restaurants forum, and its Dining Plan subforum, for help deciding), you would pay nothing for your child. Tickets, either. Also see the Disney Gift Card thread for tips on discounted GCs.

Share meals, except buffets and AYCTE.

*all amounts USD
 


A typical day for my husband and I usually looks like this:

Breakfast - Usually just protein bars/packaged snacks that we carry with us, with maybe a coffee for DH. We're not big breakfast eaters. - $5
Counter Service Meal - 2 entrees, and 1 large beverage to split.- $30
Table Service Meal - These vary a lot, but usually 2 entrees, 2 soft drinks, and maybe an appetizer or dessert to share. - $80
Snacks - We're good for 2 -3 ridiculous Disney snacks each day. They're usually a lot of fun! - $25

We generally carry water bottles and/or get cups of ice water at counter service restaurants and we don't often drink at WDW, so we don't budget extra money for beverages.

So, in an average day we go through about $140 if we're not particularly trying to "budget". We could easily cut the snack budget down, drink water at restaurants, and skip appetizers/sides/desserts and get this down around $100-110 if needed.

We almost never get the dining plan. It would be a little over $150/day for the two of us, but it does not include the gratuity on the ridiculously inflated meal price for the TS meal, so you'd have to account for at least another $15 for that, so really it's a minimum of $165/day.

Even eating pretty much whatever we want, without really trying to lower costs, we're already at least $25 under the dining plan each day. And some days we may not even want a table service meal, or may choose one of the less expensive (haha!) options. I can't see sinking money into the dining plan unless you're going to have a table service dinner every day, choosing the most expensive menu items, and getting alcohol or a specialty milkshake.
 
Hi we are visiting Disney for the first time this year from Canada. The exchange rate is brutual..around 36% I think right now! We are booked for November too which I know may be swamped due to star wars but it is the only time that worked for the group we are travelling with.

Am curious/looking for examples of what you have spent daily OOP on food while staying on resort. It is me, my hubby and our 2.5 year old who is a picky eater anyway.

Wondering if the dining plan is worth it. Getting a lot of pressure from the rest of our group to stay off resort to save money however I think it may be easier for us to stay on resort at one of the budget resorts and get around with a toddler. The rest of the group doesnt have kids this young. I priced out a car rental with a carseat and it seemed expensive at almost 700CAD with insurance addes etc.

I know everyone is different but just looking for ideas/inspiration from a budget perspective.

Thanks!
The first time we visited DW, DGSs
 
The first time we visited DW, our DGSs were 3 years and 4 months. We stayed at AOA, which was very cute. However, it was a long walk from our room to the bus stop and then another wait for the correct bus. Then it was a long, long ride to the park. Returning to the resort meant another long walk to the shuttle stop and, if we were leaving after the fireworks or another busy time, sometimes a wait for a second or third bus and another interminable, hot ride, usually with crying, overtired kids. We had a double stroller and my poor DSIL had to wrestle it on and off the bus. The second visit we stayed offsite at a beautiful house with a pool for approximately one-third the cost of a value hotel. We walked outside, got in the car and were in the park in less than half the time of our previous trip. Additionally, we could eat a decent breakfast before we left and could bring food into the park in a small cooler and only had one sit-down meal a day.

If the Polynesian or Contemporary or something similar we’re reasonably priced, we’d definitely stay there, but until then, we’ll be staying off-site. (Both our DGSs thought the pool was one of the best things about the vacation.)
 


Hi we are visiting Disney for the first time this year from Canada. The exchange rate is brutual..around 36% I think right now! We are booked for November too which I know may be swamped due to star wars but it is the only time that worked for the group we are travelling with.

Am curious/looking for examples of what you have spent daily OOP on food while staying on resort. It is me, my hubby and our 2.5 year old who is a picky eater anyway.

Wondering if the dining plan is worth it. Getting a lot of pressure from the rest of our group to stay off resort to save money however I think it may be easier for us to stay on resort at one of the budget resorts and get around with a toddler. The rest of the group doesnt have kids this young. I priced out a car rental with a carseat and it seemed expensive at almost 700CAD with insurance addes etc.

I know everyone is different but just looking for ideas/inspiration from a budget perspective.

Thanks!

Assuming you are staying at a budget resort (All Stars, Pop), so you won't have access to a kitchen...

Even then, I would NOT do the dining plan, unless your group is seeking to have a bunch of character meals and onsite TS's. If they are offsite, I doubt that is their plan.

Are you planning to eat together in or out of parks? Is that the big "planned family time?" Without knowing more, I don't want to give too much advice, b/c if your family is planning on trading off "big cooks", so one person has a meal prepped for all at night (which would be uber-cheap vs eating in parks), I don't know whether it's worth the on vs off site...nor where offsite they are staying to know how the commute might be...
 
For us, the DDP does not work. For some, it is not only convenient and hassle free, but it makes sense financially.

Here is what we do.
1. We order what we want (which is sometimes a large meal and sometimes a salad) and pay OOP. We always come out spending less than we would have on the dining plan, according to our receipts. This includes tip and any alcoholic beverages.
2. We do bring snacks into the parks because we have a teenager, but we also buy the kids a treat each day.
3. We do one TS meal per day (there is just too much food to do more).
4. We order groceries and usually have breakfast in our room because it is more convenient for us.

We have done the DDP on the "free dining" program, but it was stressful to make both FP times and ADR times. We were not always hungry when it was time for our ADR, or we were on the other side of the park and wanted to ride something with a small line. There was too much food! When we traveled last summer, we were not on the plan, thank goodness. It was hot. We were not that hungry, and when we ate, we preferred salads and appetizers to big meals. The dining plan is great if you want the most expensive item on the menu every day. When we used the DDP it did not include tips, but that may have changed. If you are ordering the more costly items, the tips increase, and we always tip 20% as the minimum, sometimes more.
 
With a toddler, on-site is your friend. One parent can take a cranky toddler back to the room for a midday break and the next day you can swap. Much harder when you've got a rental and it's more of a production to leave. You can get on and off the bus with your toddler asleep in the stroller and not disturbed.

https://www.distripplanner.com/
This is a good resource for meals. It lets you map out where you plan to eat and how your eating habits might compare to the value of the different dining plans. We did the regular dining plan our first trip and
1. It was too much food.
2. We left many credits behind.
3. We wasted so many hours in sit down restaurants.

We're paying OOP for all our own food this time. We're off site, so we'll be eating at our condo, but it will be things like cereal, bagels, etc. You can order groceries to be delivered to your resort. That way you have breakfast items. Your fridge can hold some cream cheese. Or small milk chugs. You can keep a case of water and box of granola bars in your room and bring some to the park for your bag.

Lunches, not sure what kind of eater you are, but I am 33 and I can be good with a kid's meal. Definitely enough food. A bit cheaper too. We like to do mostly QS/CS with only a couple TS. Eating at off times can also help utilize your time. Your 2 year old can eat off your plate.

Sorry there's no specific numbers, but that's what the link above is for ;)
 
Minor correction: strollers must be empty and collapsed before boarding a bus.

YMMV on this one. A full sized one maybe. I saw more than once, people being allowed to load a sleeping kid in an umbrella stroller. I think it depends on your driver.
 
Just look at the menus/prices of restaurants you're interested in and create a budget from there.
Whether the dining plan is worth it would depend on if you like the convenience of paying ahead of time and if you'd be spending more or less if paying out of pocket.

And while I know this wasn't really part of your question...
If the rest of the group wants to stay offsite then tell them to go for it.
If you want to stay onsite then do it and just meet them in the parks.
 
Just look at the menus/prices of restaurants you're interested in and create a budget from there.
Whether the dining plan is worth it would depend on if you like the convenience of paying ahead of time and if you'd be spending more or less if paying out of pocket.

And while I know this wasn't really part of your question...
If the rest of the group wants to stay offsite then tell them to go for it.
If you want to stay onsite then do it and just meet them in the parks.

Yeah I think we will end up staying on resort regardless of if the others do or not.
 
I think it's so much better to stay offsite with a toddler, by far. You don't have to deal with the buses. That alone for me is enough to keep me from staying on property. We love having our own transportation, and when our kids were young it was even better. Having a rental house is light years better than being cramped in a hotel room, especially with a toddler. They have a perfect place to take a nap and you can still do your own thing. It also will give you the opportunity to store/bring your own food, if budget is an issue for you. We are much more extreme than most in that we bring all of our own food in, but we spend a fraction of what people who stay onsite do. People who stay onsite spend $50-$75+/person per day from what I've read. Or they split meals, which unless the meal is megasize, doesn't make a ton of sense to me. We spend about $7/person per day, without splitting anything.
 
With that exchange rate, could you find a fellow Canadian DVC owner and rent a studio from them at a monorail resort and it be cheaper?
I know when I want to go last minute ish and a value is running $200 it kills me when a DVC studio is 14 points for that night (And I have no more points)
Definitely bring simple boxed snacks with you. A banana was $2.29 yesterday at SSR, yet I think the breakfast burrito was 3.99 (that you needed to microwave) milk was $4 ish for a quart. It was over $7 for milk and burritos.
I was thinking cheaper room, eat breakfast in room. Saving - no parking. Share some meals in the parks that you can. And go for a couple of meals that you want. Checking prices with allears. and enjoy the Disney bubble. You could walk back for nap time and eat a sandwich or something easy in your room then or you could get a quick service from your hotel during possible nap time, I think said 2.5 year old.
 
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YMMV on this one. A full sized one maybe. I saw more than once, people being allowed to load a sleeping kid in an umbrella stroller. I think it depends on your driver.

No, it is not allowed for safety reasons. I hate reading reports like this. That driver is NOT doing anyone a favor by ignoring the rules. I believe transportation rules regarding strollers on buses is federal law. No standard baby stroller is equipped with tie-downs, which are required for safety (the child as well as other passengers). Please remove the child and fold the stroller for the bus.

Enjoy your vacation!
 
And back to the OP’s question - we don’t use the DDP. We did once when it was a better deal than room-only, but it didn’t work that well for us. We usually only do 2-3 table service meals, and do breakfast in the room. I will typically bring about the equivalent of the DDP cost on a gift card, use that to pay for our meals, and there’s always leftover we use as souvenir money. Check out the menus on Allears.net.

Enjoy your vacation!
 
You can always have snacks/breakfast ordered through a grocery service or taxi/uber/lyft to a grocery store. Plenty of savings there. With a toddler you may not be doing a lot of sit down meals anyway, sounds more like quick service. Some of that food can be quite a bit to eat. DD and I a lot of times order and split meals and then decide if we want more then add an additional meal or snack. As stated previously you can also order off the kids menu if you eat smaller portions.

Have fun!
 

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