Dining Budget

[Kelsey'sMom]

Hi Everyone,
I'm trying to figure out my dining budget and I would love your help, we are going for 2 weeks staying at the ASMo and plan to eat at least one sit down meal a day, and hope to bring/buy breakfast supplies for our room. There are 3 of us, Dh (a big guy with a big appetite) myself and my 5 year old dd (who is a good eater at times!) We are looking at some buffets and casual resturants, plus a couple of character meals, nothing too fancy or too expensive! I would also like to know what the sales tax is on a meal? Thank-you in advance.
Kelsey's Mom

 

[Eeyoreloverforever]

we don't budget when we go to Disney. WE do our best to save money with codes and stuff like that , but once there we just enjoy our vacation and deal with what it cost when we get back.

I just wanted to ask when you are going to be there. My family is going Oct. 18- Oct. 29. We will be staying at All Star Movies the last 4 nights. My dd is also 5.

 

[the4moores]

we figured about $100 per day. Some days were less and some were more. I didn't keep precise track of it but I think that would work. We had me DH, DDs 4 and 2.

 

[Mortlives]

For 3 of us, fast food breakfast was 10-20, depending upon what we had. Fast food lunch was 15-30, again depending. Fast food dinner 25-40 (40 includes beer). All prices in US. For sitdown and buffet, it depends upon where you are and what you have. Our cheapest sitdown is usually HOB, because I get a DC discount there, and adore the Elwood sandwich.

One of the big budget recommendations is to do the sitdowns/buffets at lunch, as they are usually cheaper then. Or even breakfast, if you want to take a break from in-room and casual.

We really like Crystal Palace for a character buffet. We've always found the food really good. I'm sorry, I can't remember what the sales tax is.

Have a great time. By the way, don't worry about big eaters and fast food, the portions tend to be huge.

Kungaloosh!
Mort.

 

[SandraC]

Hi ~ for our last two WDW trips, I went to www.wdwig.com menu's and roughly figured out where we would be everyday and what we would eat. I added it up, calculated in groceries and voila! FOOD BUDGET! Last trip, I came within $50 of my budget. S

 

[bunnyfoo]

I believe the sales tax is 6.5% I agree with Sandra, check out the menus at http://www.wdwig.com Not only do they have most of the restaurants listed but they also have the prices listed. Some of the menus seem a little out of date, but at least you can estimate...

You can also try buying some of your food at a grocery before you arrive at the hotel ... fruits, cereal, bread and definetly water bottles (those things cost $2.50 US in the parks).

Good luck with everything

 

[dsneygirl]

Originally posted by Mortlives


One of the big budget recommendations is to do the sitdowns/buffets at lunch, as they are usually cheaper then. Or even breakfast, if you want to take a break from in-room and casual.

I totally agree. At most restaurants you can get all the same items but at reduced prices. It's also less crowded at lunch and a nice break from the heat and crowds. Sometimes if we have a big lunch we'll just snack later on in the afternoon (like a pretzel, popcorn) Not very healthy but sometimes its to much to eat a big meal at both lunch and dinner.

 

[snarfieca]

We like to make lunch our main meal. It's a little cheaper and the meals are basically the same as supper. Also it's a nice break

Whispering Canyon Cafe at WL has a nice All-You-Can-Eat Lunch
& Boma's at AKL has a great buffet supper (don't hace a big lunch if you go there)

Check out the menus for those places to see if they interest you

The All Star resorts have great food courts

Brenda
from MB

 

[MikeJ]

We tend to lean more to the expensive side (and having a 14y.o. son has nothing to do with it ) - I figure we are likely around US$150/day, but that's generally including one PS during the day (either lunch or supper). We always eat breakfast in the room (we're DVC owners) and always have snacks available. But we'll usually have a big sit-down restaurant meal once/day and will graze in the park (I mean 4 Mickey ice cream bars will set you back US$10 alone ) which can get expensive depending on where you're eating.

- Mike

 

[henstajay]

My Hubby and I have been 3 times and are planning a 4th trip for Oct. 11-24!!!!
When it was just the two of us, we found that a budget of $45-$55 a day was good. We tended to buy a few breakfast items to make in our room (english muffins/cereal/power bars) we aren't much of breakfast eaters though. For lunch we would hit the parks and usually try to spit a meal at a casual dining place. THe meals are pretty large. A really fun recommendation is the Sci-Fi Diner in MGM. We would get an appetizer and a meal to split and be out of there under $20, plus we got to get out of the sun for a bit and enjoy the neat atmosphere. Our favorite lunch areas were:
Magic Kingdom: Tommorow land (can't think of the name, but it is the big cafe in the back corner) when we were there, they had HUGE portion Caesar salads etc.

MGM: Sci-Fi Diner, Prime Time Diner, and there is one cafe place back in the kids area with pretty good italian food.

Epcot: We liked the outdoor mexican food place (only had nacho's) I'm so bad with names, but there is a large building in one of the corners that has ton's of food places in it. You can also go on a floaty boat ride to see how they grow food etc. Anyway this place has baked potatoes, salads, anything you could imagine, this building has it. It's kind of tucked back off of the main paths. Epcot pretty much has all good choices of food, for pretty reasonable: One quick tip: If you're thirsty and want a free drink, after the entrance to the park you can tour a CocaCola fountain place: Keep in mind it's cola products from around the worl and they are all free samples: all you can drink, but there are some pretty nasty flavors in there, so beware!!!

Animal Kingdom: By far we love to go to the Dinosauer (sp) pizzaria. There they have all kinds of yummy Italian food. I highly recommend the breadsticks.

We always plan one or two trips to a nice restaurant whilw we are there, and one experience we will never forget is at the Polynesian resort: O'hana's ($40 a person) All you can eat EVEYTHING!!!!!!!!! It was soooooo good.

We also liked to eat dinners at Downtown Disney. Planet Hollywood had great prices for large portioned meals. Also loved the Caesar salad of House of Blues. Garlic mashed potato's at Wolf Gang Puck, you can't really go wrong at Downtown Dis.

This next trip we are planning in Oct. will be our first trip with a child. We had a baby and he is going to be 13 mo old. True he won't be needing his own meals but splitting one meal may not be our answer anymore: so we have upped our food budget to $60-$70 a day. (keep in mind some days you will spend more than others)

Important Drink Tip: We learned the hard way, when you're thirsty, you need a drink!!! So we used to buy a large coke to split. Well that got expensive and the cups are all ice anyway, so what to do is this:
Order a small or medium drink WITHOUT ice!! (depending on how many people you have) and then order a large cup of ice (some places may charge you for the cup $0.25, some places don't) then pour your no ice pop into the cup and you just paid for a small drink and got a large!!!

Good luck! Eating is a blast but expensive!!!

 

[Choppertester]

Go to wdwplanner.com and download my disney meal planner from their site.

It asks you for the number in your party, when you are going, how long etc and will fill in a meal selection schedule. Drop down lists of restaurants, fills in prices automatically.etc etc

Put in your daily budget, currency conversion etc and it will let you know how you are doing budget wise.

I just updated it for 2004 but it's not on the site yet.

You need Excel 97 or newer to run it.

Try it out!

Chopper