How much money does a family of four need to eat at Disney?

[kembo2466]

My family is officially booked for WDW June 14-20, 2003. We have the 5 day hopper pass plus the extra bonus passes for the water parks. We plan to go to the water parks for one day. That makes our total days at WDW 6 days. We have already paid for our tickets and hotel. June seems like a very long time away and a very hot time of year to go. My husband said we could bumb up our dates if I could come up with the money sooner. My problem is I don't know how much money is enough as this is our first trip in 16 years.

We have two children ages 10 & 13 who eat pretty much like adults. Our plan is to eat a breakfast buffet at the hotel where my 10 yr old will eat free and take snacks to the park for a light
lunch then eat a early dinner in the parks. From your experiences can someone give me an idea on how much I should plan on for 6 days for food and souviners? I really want to go in April!

 

[MassFan]

I'd estimate on the higher side and say $140 a day

 

[Marijil]

I was thinking 150, but same ballpark...

 

[Worldphile]

Food at WDW is pretty pricey. You could save a few $$ by driving off property for meals, but that takes more time.

As an example, 2 burgers, 2 cokes and 2 fries at WDW is usually around $15 after tax at a counter service place like Pecos Bills.

Menus with prices can be found here http://www.wdwig.com/menu/menus.htm

 

[Erika]

If you want to save a little $$, you can do what we do and pack a suitcase full of food for the hotel. That becomes our souvenir suitcase for the way home

If you want a refrigerator, you can get one in your room- I think the price is up to $15/day and you have to reserve it in advance.

With four people, if you are not renting a car, it will actually be cheaper for you to use one of the limo services such as YourRide or Tiffany Town Car than to take the Mears shuttle. (the limos charge a flat fee for up to 5 people while Mears charges per person) I believe either limo service will include a trip to the grocery store on the way to your hotel free of charge. Just another way to save a few bucks on food!

Have a fun trip


:wave:

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

Originally posted by kembo2466
My family is officially booked for WDW June 14-20, 2003. We have the 5 day hopper pass plus the extra bonus passes for the water parks. We plan to go to the water parks for one day. That makes our total days at WDW 6 days. We have already paid for our tickets and hotel. June seems like a very long time away and a very hot time of year to go. My husband said we could bumb up our dates if I could come up with the money sooner. My problem is I don't know how much money is enough as this is our first trip in 16 years.

We have two children ages 10 & 13 who eat pretty much like adults. Our plan is to eat a breakfast buffet at the hotel where my 10 yr old will eat free and take snacks to the park for a light
lunch then eat a early dinner in the parks. From your experiences can someone give me an idea on how much I should plan on for 6 days for food and souviners? I really want to go in April!

Plan on about $100 per meal with a group of 6 (gratuity included). That is $300 per day to eat. Plus you will need money for snacks and souveniers. When I take my family and my mother with me, I usually plan on about $500 a day to cover everything from meals to souveniers. I usually splurge on the Hoop de doo one night with this money also.

Pam

 

[no2apprentice]

When we went down in April (we being yours truly, wife, two sons- 10 and 13 at the time), here's how I planned it:

Allowed $25 for breakfast at hotel (AKL - we ate at Mara, quick service)

Allowed $50 for counter service lunch (but my 10 year old usually got a child's meal)

Allowed $60 for dinner if counter service, $90 if full service (whether it be buffet or table service)

My family is not big on between meal snacks, so I allowed $20 a day for water and soda.

As far as souvenirs, I allowed $200 per person, and went over budget by about $200. A sudden desire for pins by my family and a certain snowglobe I saw were the cause of that extra expense.

I always tried to over budget a little for food. That way, if someone wanted something special, desert, ice cream, candy, it didn't cut into the budget. Plus, if I did have some left over from meals, I put it towards souvenirs.

Souvenirs can be tough. Sometimes when we've gone down, everyone was happy with one or two shirts, and a couple of plush dolls. No big deal. This last time, it was like "Okay, just pick out the TEN souvenirs you really, really, really want...we'll get the other TWENTY items on our next trip."

Hope some of this helps.

 

[tybroid59]

the most we spent on 1 siingle evening meal was $140 this included a small amount of wine ....it was our special occaision meal ......the rest was aroound $100 ....we were there for 2 weeks so to balance it up we ate in our hotel food court 3 or 4 times which was cheap .
We always had break fast at the hotel ...rarely did we eat in between usually we had a hot dog or and ice cream or something really cheap .

the kids had their own money for souvenirs ...we didnt ever spend more than $50 a day between us but we didnt go over board we just got a little something to remind us of each of the parks.

We decided not to pack a whole suitcase with snacks and stuff but we did take some biscuits and stuff for the room mainly for midnight munchies

lol i keep trying to work out how we can go back
:lol:

 

[DisneyPhD]

My hubby and I always save money at buy splitting meals. It works out well since I don't eat too much and who wants leftovers when you are at WDW? We also snacked alot if we got hungery later. (I have some snacks at WDW I must have every trip!!!) Past trips it was 50 dollars a day (some days more, some less, it all evened out in the end )

This year our DD will be almost 2 years old. We are hoping to still share meal (mostly DD sharing with one of us, she doesn't like the trandional kids foods as much as she does adult food and doesnt eat too much.)

We also plan on stopping at the store to make sure we have enogh bottled water, pop ect, snacks, lunch and breakfest food ect.... If you stay on on property you can save $ on pop and drinks by using the refillable mugs.

Have a great trip, try not to think about the money you are spending but the fun you are having, your kids will never be 10 and 13 again!!!!!!

 

[goofyman]

$150 sound good to me also. Thats just for for food,and of course you know what and how much you will eat. And this is sticking to things like food coursts and such and minimal lunch or breakfast. Based on your plan This should be enough.

 

[Holly]

We're trying to save some cash by bringing some snacks and breakfast food and stopping at a grocery store on the way from the airport. My kids eat 3 meals a day - but the 3 adults almost never do. (If I ate 3 full meals a day you'd have to roll me out of the parks each night. :hurl: )

So ... I'm going to pack things that won't be crunched up or spoiled when we arrive. Jelly, mayo (both unopened of course), peanut butter, graham crackers, pop tarts, pringles, etc. Then we'll stop on our way to WDW and pick up some lunch meat, cheese, bread, milk ... you get the general idea.

 

[dreamer]

$150 per day for 4 adults is do-able if you eat snacks for lunch and don't give in to temptation to buy ice cream or other treats. And you'll be eating mostly "fast food" for that price. I'd count on $200/day -- less stressful.

You'll save a lot if you drink water.


Disney has figured out lots of way besides food to separate you from your money. Lots of fun things to spend extra cash on. All well worth it in my opinion, but the place is a budget-buster.



June is only 7 months. We're gonna be there June 15 for a week -- 7 mos minus one day!!!


:sohappy: :wave:

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Big breakfast - Sizzlers (I-Drive) Eat as much as you can/want
Lunch - Fruit "borrowed" :lol: from Sizzlers, burger, coke.
Big evening meal - anywhere in the World.
Also biscuits, crisps etc for mid morning and PLENTY of water to drink.

 

[Dwarful]

Well, we went in May with a group of 8 including 5 kids. We stayed for ten nights at Movies. Our whole group (including my hubby and two growing boys...12 & 14) shared the family dinner at the resort that was like $20 for the meal...turkey, potatoes, gravy, biscuits etc. We did this a few times at the end of the evening. Also I packed an entire suitcase for snacks (like Erika) you can get almost anything in a tube now adays in the USA...just bought "jiffy peanut butter" in a handy tube! So those things that don't melt, leak or spoil are great for going in the bag and no one ever stopped us at the parks. Ask for free ice water and we always ate a nice sit down meal every day...early evening..we ate a big b'fast, snacked at lunchtime (too busy having fun!) and then ate an early sit down dinner, we ate the last lunch sitting in Germany for our early dinner (lunches are cheaper than dinners)...take advantage of those all you can eat buffets...that helps with eatting two nice meals a day and snacking through out the day.
One last tip...if your into Pin Trading or think you might be...buy now before you go. Especially if you are near a Disney Outlet where you can get them cheap. Either way they have some "cheap"(stop your laughing) ones at the stores..much cheaper than they have at the parks and if you trade them it doesnt matter what ones you start out with anyway!

 

[niteobsrvr]

Just have to throw in my experiences for food at Disney.

If you eat the quickie stuff like hamburgers, fries and cokes, you can count on about 15 dollars for two people.

If you are going to got to a buffet at Disney it is approximately 25 dollars per person.

If you are going to do really nice meals at table service type restaurants, you can count on about 35 or so dollars per person.

Some thoughts on keeping it less pricey.

1. Split drinks - pay the approx 30 cents extra for a large and share.
2. If you dont like fries or at least too many of them and you can order a sandwich by itself, do this and again share the fries.
3. Look for things like the counter service outside of Mexico (can't remember the name". YOu can get nice platters there that can be split between two people for about 8 bucks.
4. Water and soda in the parks are the same price so your only choice is sugar and cafeinne with your water or plain.

One last suggestion, dont eat too much. A full stomach and disney are not good friends especially if you like to nap or relax after you eat. Splitting food and snacking are the way to go while in the parks in my opinion.

 

[mickeyfanatics]

If you can tend to share meals when you eat at the more expensive restaurants and limit yourselves to one or two character meals, you can probably survive for about $120 per day for your whole family. Remember, food and merchandise are the two areas Disney makes the most money, followed by full hotel rooms. If you are at a resort with the free drink refill mugs, I would buy them.

 

[TIGGER-FAN]

A good rule of thumb that always works good for me is $35.00 per person per day for food. If you plan on eating at some of the more expensive places add an additional $10.00 per person.