Throw some numbers at me! Food budget for my family(2 adults, 2 teen girls)?

[Spoisal]

It will be me, DH, DD16 & DD13. Daughters are athletic - they like to eat! We all do! We don't share meals. We always talk about how that would be a great idea, but never actually do it! haha!

We are not doing the dining plan (I can't - I have a room only reservation & I already have park tickets).

We will be at WDW from Sunday to Sunday ...we will be eating @ WDW for 6 1/2 days. We will do several TS dinners - probably 7 (no signature meals I don't think) - no character meals. We only order appetizers occasionally & if we order dessert, we will share (ok there is one thing we will share!). We have no problem eating counter service either. Breakfast will be @ CSR club level or grab & go.

What would you budget for food if you were me?

 

[disneymom443]

If you want to pinch pennies I think $50 a person per day would work. That would give you $16 per meal, or less per meal with snacks.

When I budget I tend to go over that way if someone in my group wants extra snacks or just spend more on lunch and dinner ( we also do snacks for breakfast) I do $75-$100 per person per day. Just to be save over sorry.

 

[DisneyHardin]

The best advice everyone here gives is to look at the menus at allears.net and see what kinds of prices for the things you would typically order.

 

[wendybeth75]

The best advice everyone here gives is to look at the menus at allears.net and see what kinds of prices for the things you would typically order.

This is great advice. I can pretty much guess what everyone is going to want based on the menus. I did this with our upcoming trip to figure out if we were going to do TIW or the DDP.

 

[jtirishbelle]

If I were you I would go to the disney site, and price out a "pretend" vacation, and see how much it would be to add dining. On the disney site it has the price before and after dining. It shows you how much it would be to add each level of dining. I think by doing this, it is the fastest way to get a good idea of how much dining would cost.

 

[j2thomason]

I would say $100-$150 a day depending on whether you do more counter service or table service. If you eat table service more than once a day it could go up to $200 a day for all four of you.

 

[leebee]

Go to all ears.net and look at the menus. There are too many variables for strangers to give you a good estimate of what it'll cost for your family. For example, I know that when we go to 50s Prime Time Cafe, we will spend less than $20 per person on our dinner entrees. However, Boma means we will spend about $40 per person, as that's what this buffet costs. I just priced out California Grill for DD's 21st birthday dinner and it's going to run about $100 per person. I know there's no way we will skip appetizers, dessert, or wine at Cali Grill, and also no way we'll order appetizers, sodas, and dessert (ok, maybe share one dessert) at 50s PT.

Of course, we also share lunches… split a pizza and salad at Pizzafari, share a 1/2 chicken at Flame Tree or Ray's in MK, share a shwarma platter at Tangeirine Cafe. We definitely prefer to spend our money on table service!

 

[Spoisal]

I have taken everyone's advice and I think I am going with $250 per day for the 4 of us. I know that some days we will go over that - but some days we will be under. PLUS - I am hoping that most breakfasts will be in the business club level lounge @ CSR - so that will be covered! The only days we won't be able to eat breakfast at lounge will be days we want to do EMH. Club level opens at 7a - I want to be at the bus stop at 7a on an EMH morning! So, $250 a day x 7 days = $1,750. I am not adding anything in for departure day - we have an early flight out Sunday morning (hate those!). Thanks everyone!

 

[Farps]

I think that Disney has their price for the dining plan down to a science. Meaning that if you use the price of the DDP per person per day you will be on target. Considering you will do one TS, one QS, and one snack. You might actually be slightly cheaper by paying OOP.

 

[Farps]

I think that Disney has their price for the dining plan down to a science. Meaning that if you use the price of the DDP per person per day you will be on target. Considering you will do one TS, one QS, and one snack. You might actually be slightly cheaper by paying OOP.

 

[JennyDrake]

The best advice everyone here gives is to look at the menus at allears.net and see what kinds of prices for the things you would typically order.

DITTO!

With that said, here is something for comparison. In 2013 a friend and I had 3 WDW trips. She was on a Dr. supervised weight loss program so we modified our eating to CS only. We ate CS 3x/day (small breakfast), had 1 bottle of water for afternoon (which we refilled) and a snack about every other day. No alcohol. We spent $40-45/day per person. Any/all TS is going to add significantly.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I would budget $250 a day to include tips and snacks.

 

[eangel12]

We have three adults going, 1-4 year old and 1-2 year old. I have budgeted $250.00 a day. My 4 year old will eat NOTHING, my 2 year old slightly more, the hubby and I can chow down and my mother in law will eat a salad.

I figured $250.00 per day so approximately $80.00 per person per day plus a little extra for the kids. Our plan is to do a sit down at breakfast and a sit down at dinner. Snacks in between or splitting quick service at lunch time if we are hungry.

I'm not worried if we go over budget. We also have TIW card so 20% off meals.