Disney :) How Much Money for Food??

Try taking a look at www.mousesavers.com It is a very informative site that gives you the ins and outs of Disney and Orlando. It will give you advice on car rental, hotel, the parks, when to go to the parks what to buy (such as using a filtered water bottle and putting tap water in there instead of buying the over priced water at the park.) It really helped me a lot when I went and I will be referring to it again when I go next year. Have fun!!!!

Did you know you can take food and water into DisneyWorld? Just plan on having a back pack or a tote in the stroller.. Freeze the water bottles the night before, they feel great through the backpack. Get plenty of snacks, water etc at the nearby Walmart (try not to go on payday, it is a zoo then!) If you want to bring in sandwiches, you can do so. Save the water bottles and refill them as needed.

Another thought is to split the lunches between the kids, or even between your husband and yourself. I mean really, the kids will be too excited to eat. Once we got a taco meal, it came witth two tacos, my husband and I each had one apiece and my husband made his a taco salad from the bounty at the fixin' bar. On another occasion, our daughter got chicken fingers and my husband and I split a Caesar salad. We put the chicken that our daughter couldn't eat on our salads and had chicken Caesar salads! Another option is to order something for yourself that you can share with your little guy. You can stretch the meal budget if you think outside of the box and don't mind sharing.

Also, think about going back to your hotel in the early afternoon for a break from the parks. You could eat lunch, take a nap or go to the pool or something, then return to a park open in the evening (with a snack before going). You will be refreshed, it will be cooler and your guys won't be cranky. It's sad to see cranky, tired parents dragging cranky, tired children out of the parks late in the afternoon. Of course, we discovered that our daughter has a great deal of stamina for these things and she opened parks and closed them.

Hope this helps!

Realistically if you are doing the park you will probably end up eating lunch/dinner at the parks most of the time so figure on buying the meal plan on those days. I know with our 2 and 5 year old when it's time to eat, it's time to eat lol! It takes so long to get out of the park and to a restaurant and then actually get your food that you'd have to plan way ahead when you were leaving if that makes sense. Check out their meal plans as it seems like that would probably work for you guys. It's unlimited so you'd get snackie things too along the day.

If your 3/5 year olds like dinosaurs at all you guys should plan to go to T-Rex at Downtown Disney one night for dinner. My 2 had *the* best time!

.

$2000 is about right if you don't want to worry about looking for bargains.

However, if you do look for bargains you can do the food for a lot less. I asked hotel employees for the stores with the best deals on groceries. I went there and bought chips and sodas and water. OR you can just go to Sams Club or Costco and buy it all there. We bought rotisserie chicken and fried chicken and pizza at places like Sams. We went to Burger King and McDonalds and bought off their $.99 menu and put it in our ice chest and had cold hamburgers or cold chicken for lunch the next day along with the water or soda and chips. (Have the burgers made without any mayonnaise products.) I went to Del Taco and bought their burritos and ate them the next day cold. We weren't going to Disney for a gourmet dining experience. When we were there, Disney had lockers where we could put our lunch. I used a foldable ice chest.

Walmart in Orlando has a lot of Disney souvenirs. You can buy from Walmart what you can buy at Disney for about 1/3 of what Disney charges.

My family and I spent slightly less than $2000 for food the 10 days we had park passes. We also went to Universal Studios and had their Hawaiian Luau and show which was better than any we had in Hawaii except the show we went to at the Polynesian Cultural Center. BTW, I took my wife and 8 kids. (And that's how much money you can save if you're careful. ;-) )

It sounds like you have a great vacation planned. You mentioned $2,000 for food, so I tried to break it down to see if it made sense. That is roughly 9 days at about $200/day.
(9 x $200 = $1,800 w/ $200 left over to buy breakfast items.)

With your $200/day, you could allocate about $80/lunch and $80/dinner and $40/snacks during the day. That seems like more than enough to me. Actually, depending on your family's spending habits, that could easily include souvenirs, etc. (Dinner at Friday's or Chili's for two adults and two kids doesn't cost more than $40...does it? I'm not sure. It's been a while since we've eaten at a Friday's or Chili's, but especially with kid's meals prices that seems very doable.)

I'm guessing water bottles at Disney run around $5 (hopefully less) and allocated $5 per person for a snack and a water bottle bought at Disney. (That would be about $40/day.)

Here's an idea...when we travel with our children, we often eat breakfast in the hotel. (Either purchased by me or we book a hotel with breakfast included.) Then, I take cereal bars, fruit, etc. with me for a snack. (That helps hold everyone over through the normal "busy" lunch time.) We leave the touristy area in the afternoon...when it is the hottest and everyone needs a break. We usually look for a sit down restaurant...Applebees, Chili's , etc. and eat a late lunch...around 2 or so. (The resaurant isn't busy and everyone enjoys a quiet restful meal.) Then, we go back to the park late afternoon/early evening and take a break for a smaller meal later. We've tried to make it a habit to not eat more than one meal/day at a place like Disney. It seems to do everyone in our family good to get off the grounds and the prices are much lower, too.

I don't know if this helps....but I think you could easily satisfy your food budget with $2,000 and depending on your choices have money left over!

Have a great time in Disney!!

I have to say the restuarants right outside of disney are just as expensive. I'd get the dinning plan. They have different versions of it. I enjoyed the one sitdown, one food court and one snack. I'm not sure if the 3 year old will need one I believe they can eat of your plate. I would recommend the cape may for one sit down (i know i spelled that wrong)., And I'd do the 100 park fair in the Floridian. Its the breakfast sit down you want. Remember the sit down is any meal, breakfast, lunch or dinner. Anyway it has the best character breakfast around. Your kids will love it. I always did the sitdowns at the other hotels that way if I didnt want to get pass hoppers or want to deal with the crowds again I didnt have to.

There are things you can do to make your money go a lot further. As you know everything..but EVERYTHING is more expensive inside the park...so bring what you can with you bottled water ( just refill them as you need to)maybe some fresh fruit or snack bars, granola. I agree with Marie, get off the grounds for a late lunch. I don't know how beneficial that "kids eat free" thing is going to be because that means that you eat at the park AND that you are paying for what Mom and Dad purchase!!! I Would tend to save that money for souveniers and other things that help make memories...and eat offsite as much as possible. Go to Restaurant.com and look at what restaurants are available in the area...you can put in a zip code and look that way, it can save you a LOT of money on food as long as you go to the restaurants that they have on their list. (It is a HUGE list in a place like Orlando!!!).If you aren't already a member...sign up and wait for the email because they have specials all the time and they email the members the "code" for it!!! At times you can get a $25 gift certificate for $2!!! At some places you can get a $50 certificate for $4 when that special is running!!!
Enjoy your time at Disney world it really is a magical place!!!

We were at Disney last year and ate once inside the park at a sit down restaurant for lunch-- $160 for 2 adults!! That did include a beer and glass of wine :) What I neglected to remember was the high resort tax associated with everything Disney. We brought a lot of snacks into the park for us and our then one-year old. The security folks did not give us a difficult time and I'm sure that saved us loads of money. There are water fountains all over the park where you can refill your water bottles - having a stroller will help "carry" all your snacks, as well as a tired 3 year old. Also, if you are planning on eating dinner at the peak time, call the restaurant to get your name on their list - my parents had to wait over an hour to be seated at a chain restaurant -- no fun with 2 tired / hungry children. Have a wonderful time at Disney!!

We are taking a day trip to Magic Kingdom while we're at the beach this summer, and I'm taking a soft-side cooler with our lunches and drinks in it. I think $2000 is right on track for you if you buy all lunches and dinners, but you could probably use $800 of that for other fun stuff if you took your lunch and just bought dinners. I know you don't want to cook, but you could slap together some sandwiches every morning w/ chips or cheese and crackers and fruit -whatever you eat for lunch and save a TON of money. Food is very expensive at Disney, and quite honestly it's not all that great! It sounds like you plan to go some other places for dinner, so that's good, but 9 days of Disney and the other park's food is going to get old -trust me!

Hope you have a wonderful time. Disney is still one of our favorite family vacations. Just a few more suggestions--if you eat in the park, plan to eat at off hours so the lines are not so long. Since your kids are the perfect age, splurge on a character dining experience at one of the hotels or the parks--those pictures will be precious. Also Disney is well merchandised and when you enter each park, you will see many of the gift shops and souvenir stands. Try to avoid those when you arrive--you can spend a lot of time and a lot of money there and then have to carry stuff around all day ((although Disney does offer to hold and deliver your packages to the front of the park)) Also you might want to shop around at home and find some Disney shirts and then surprise the kids the morning they go to the park. Also the dollar stores have a lot of Disney stuff- that you can stock up on before you go and give your kids at night (pens, pads, stickers, etc.)

Your figure and plan sounds do-able.

Park food is outrageously expensive, so it's smart to eat breakfast before leaving the hotel. My theory is that the theme parks are hurting from a slow economy so they're trying to pull in revenue by raising food prices. Besides saving you $$$, eating breakfast at your hotel saves you lots of time.

Another suggestion - there is a Walmart not too far from WDW. They have an entire Disney section with t-shirts, light-ups, the whole 9 yards. And - of course - these items cost a FRACTION of what you would buy inside a park (where they have the "sparklies" stationed RIGHT where your kids can see them!). The items are not exactly the same as park items, but so what? They are close enough!

One year we went to Universal with our sons and it was very hot. Right as we entered the park they were selling those fans with spray bottles. Of course both kids had to have one - they were $20 EACH! My husband was not too happy when I bought them LOL. You can get them for $4-5 at Walmart or Walgreens. So maybe pick those up too (don't forget the batteries).

Good luck and have a great time! We always joke that our goal in Orlando is to have as much fun as possible on the least amount of $$. Orlando attractions exist to take your $$ (so keep that in mind). Make it a game - it's exciting for your kids too and a great lesson in stewardship of resources.

I also agree with the dining plan. We brought our own breakfast also. The plan included one sit down meal, one counter meal and snacks. I don't remember spending much extra on food. (just milk and oj for breakfast) I checked a suitcase full of water bottles and snacks so we did not have to buy those.

Have fun!!

Wow. Unless you guys eat a lot, for 2 adults and 2 kids, $2,000 seems like a whole lot. The meals at Disney are big, and my kids could share a meal (if they will eat the same thing). We did the meal plan and found it reasonable and I am sure no where near $2000 and it was for 1 counter, 1 quick serve and 1 full serve per day. As for souvenirs, well, that is a different story. The kids will want everything they see, so it will be very easy to get sucked into buying it for them. Give them each and autograph book and let them choose something, otherwise, you really will break the bank. Also, for the 5 yo, it would be good to let her save an "allowance" that she can spend how she pleases in addition to the one thing you let her choose. Have fun!

I started out with a set amount for souveniers total for the trip. Maybe $200. Whenever we went with our 2 kids I always figured in $40 for lunch and $60 for dinner and $20 a day for extras like ice cream etc. Then whatever we didn't use went into the "souvenier money" for the following day. Sometimes McDonalds only cost $20 and dinner was only $40 so $40 went into the next day's souvenier money. Whatever we didn't use that day became extra fun money for the following day. This always worked well for us and often left a good chunk of money for that something special the kids had their eyes on. Hope you have a wonderful trip! I hope to be returning next year.

We are currently on vacation at Disney (although I'm still checking email), and I found that getting the Dining Plan was such a load off my mind for myself and two girls. We decided to get all the meals here (I am not cooking for vacation!!) so we went with a plan that has three meals and snacks - that's been wonderful for us, maybe even a little much (as the girls don't always want a lunch, usually just a snack). But you can downsize the plan accordingly and I've found that $1000 as suited us well for three (including tips and shopping). Good luck and have a great time.

If you are staying at a Disney hotel or resort, I strongly urge you to purchase the meal plan. Kids under 3 eat off their parents at no cost. Lots of variety and you can mix it up as to where you eat. Also it allows for some special dining options such as w/ the princesses or Playhouse Disney characters. Plenty of food. The same options without the meal plans are way over priced! If you are not staying at Disney, you can't purchase the meal plan so you will want plan on more than what you would spend localy in your area because everything is expensive! I don't know when your trip is but I think in September the meal plan is free.

We did Disney last year and we did the Disney Dining Plan for our family. Not only did we save a lot of money but it saved the hassle of having to budget and worry about it!

We ate breakfast in our room, cereal bars, cereal, etc. We got the two quick meal plan so we were able to eat lunch and dinner at the park. We didn't want to leave and then come back for every meal. However, your 3-year old may need a big rest.

We were able to eat at many places at all the parks and the meal plan includes the meal, drink PLUS a dessert! It also includes two snacks during the day so we were able to get ice cream, popcorn, drink, etc. twice a day. It was more than enough food and we saved so much money over paying full price at the park.

On the Disney site they go over the savings. If you are definitely planning on doing the quick meals just get the Meal Plan. If you want to do a special sit-down meal then use your Meal Plan for Breakfast and Lunch that day.

Have Fun!!

eat in germany at epecot its good, the price isn't bad, and its all you can eat :) I also recommend a breakfast w/ the characters its fun. We camp so we make most of our meals and eat at disney just a few times. I'm not huge on purchasing things either. The boys got mouse ears hats and I got a sweatshirt the last time we went and they each got a small toy. When are you going and are you staying at disney? If you are staying at a disney hotel they were having a special if you stayed 5 nights or more you could get a dining plan at no cost I don't know all the details of it but you might want to look into it if you are staying at one of their hotels. I agree w/ doing sandwiches for lunch and freezing water the night before to take in w/ you also take in lots of snacks.

We planned about $200 a day for food so your right on track. Another poster had suggested splitting meals and it is a really good plan. We found that most places offered fruit cups/bowls so we ordered meals and extra salad or fruit bowl and split it all up on plates like we would do at home. my husband pretty much always had his own meal lol. but my kids split just about all the meals when they were smaller. We did find that while the quick service meals were "cheaper" at first glance it is not really always the case. $3 or $4 for a hotdog at a cart is not better than $6 for a meal that includes drink and fries. so check out what your looking for. bringing food in is also a good plan. carry a tote/backpack with you that you can throw in the stroller or on your back is a great idea. we usually just get a locker. but you can make pjb sandwiches and bring them for lunch. we did that with chips and an apple and your good to go. the empty tote is a great place to put the souvenirs another trick to help save a little money is to tell the kids you want to "see" everything before buying the souvenirs. thats what we always do. that way your not nickle and diming all week but wait and get the one thing they want the most. have fun. disney is our favorite vacation spot

Very expensive!! But you're fine with $2 grand. You probably will have extra which is better than being short. We stayed with relatives and did eat out fastfood and restaurant. Was lots of fun!! You definitely don't need more! Enjoy your vacation!