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View Full Version : How much do you budget for food?



Mom2
10-01-2006, 01:11 AM
There is going to be 4 of us, 3 adults, 1 child. How much do you budget for food? I think the prices on the regular meals had went up in price the last time and I cant really remember how much we spent. We may have had extra money at the end of the trip from the food money.
I think we budgeted $100 a day on our last trip when we actually had 2 adults, 1 child for that trip. We usually eat breakfast in the room, pastries, muffins, milk and juice, etc, we buy from the grocery store. We 2 meals a day, plus drinks throughout the day and snacks. Also, one of the meals a day was usually at Storytellers, Rainforest Cafe, Rancho Zocala, River Bell or Redd Rockets. I think we spent about $40 on average at those places for each meal. So that was $80 and $20 for drinks and snacks, treats. I guess it depends on how and what you want to eat...we are hungry people and just starve from running around the park all day. So what do you spend?

MammaSilva
10-01-2006, 02:24 AM
If you're budgeting one 'sit down' meal at either Cafe Orleans or BB bump your budget by roughly 30/40 dollars per adult and 12 per child for that meal. For places like French Market or Red Rocketts, budgeting 12/15 per adult per meal will give you a huge portion and drink and a salad to split depending on the location. ODV has gone up in price over the last few days we've seen, churros are an even 3.00 and ice creams are 4.00 ...we haven't heard yet but I'd expect soft drinks/waters to roll up to 3.00/4.00 any day now. Coffee (plain coffee not lattes) are running about 2.79 at Market House but if you save your reciept you can get free refills all day...well worth the effort to keep track of the little piece of paper for sure.

When I go, even planning on 2 meals in the park and snacks I tend to budget "high" and then at the end of the trip if I overbudgeted then we can splurge on something or I just put it away for the next trip (insert rolling laughing guy here) nah we splurge :D but seriously I figure out our PS meals (the normal sit down higher budgeted ones) then add roughly 30/40 dollars a day per adult on top of that. 20 per day per child if they are little guys and you can share lots with them, more if they're tweeners and are starting to want more of their own stuff.

darph nader
10-01-2006, 07:28 AM
We figure $10.00/person/meal/day. Of course this figures in snacks,drinks,and one (maybe) two meals in the park.We 'cheat' a little by bringing in some snacks and drinks with us.:cool:

Malcon10t
10-01-2006, 07:46 AM
We generally budget $30 per day per person (my family is all adults). This is in addition to the snacks we bring with us. We generally eat 2 meals a day. Somedays we use less, then the days we do a Character breakfast will take up any excess.

momuvseven
10-01-2006, 07:49 AM
We plan on a $100 per day. Somedays we use it all and other days we are under and use the extra to splurge the next day. We usually have two adults and five kids with us. We spend about the same eating there as anywhere else off property. We often share entrees, drink water and buy things like fruit plates that can be shared for dessert. We limit ourselves to one treat a day from the carts or a resturant.

We supplement this by bringing in bottled water and sometimes snacks. We also eat breakfast before we enter the park. When we are in DCA we usually make it to the Tortilla Factory for FREE tortillas a few times through the day and sometimes we will sample the sourdough across the way. The tortillas are a perfect small snack in between meals.

Another fun snack is the Nestle cooking baking in Disneyland. We did this last time and it was a nice rest for the parents and the kids seemed to have a lot of fun. At the end each child got a paper bag with two chocolate chip cookies and a few children (mine included) got a much larger bag with a big Micky shaped chocolate chip cookie inside. These were yummy and FREE!

rentayenta
10-01-2006, 08:06 AM
We have 2 adults and 3 children and we budget $100 per day, including any character meals or sit downs. Some days we pig out and others we just nosh so it evens out to about that much. My kids know that part of DL means sharing and they are great about that. We manage to eat all the fun DL treats too. I think what saves us the most money is eating breakfast in the room. We stay at the PPH so we have a fridge. We bring cereal, milk, fruit, pastries, Pop Tarts, juice, and the like. I don't schlep in lots of snacks but we do bring our own water bottles and soda. All of the restaurants that we have been to will give a free cup of ice.

ThemeParkAddictOfOC
10-01-2006, 11:40 AM
I usually spend $80-$100 on dinner for 4 at Storytellers when I go there. HTH.

talie95
10-01-2006, 11:58 AM
We are headed to DLR tomorrow! Yaaahoooo! Anyway, I am budgeting about $100/day for 2 meals and snacks. Our family is 2 adults and 2 children(ages 4years and 18months-they always share a meal). I was planning on bringing in our own lunch and saving some money that way but with the gay days tickets we saved $75 so I decided to just have our lunch in the park so I didn't have to bring even more stuff into the park(with 2 little ones, I have enough as it is). We aren't doing the character meals so I guess that would be a little more if you were doing those.

annieb727
10-01-2006, 12:12 PM
I have read that a good rule of thumb is $50/day per person for all three sit down meals at DL.

That being said, next week when we go, I am budgeting between $50-$85/day ($85 on Character Meal days) - and it's me and my 4 year old son (though he can eat a lot). I would rather OVER budget and have money left than not have enough money planned into my trip and be hungry.

Last month when I was there, I spent an average of $37/day in the park - eating out ALL meals and snacks - on a solo trip (which means I couldn't share with anyone). I find that doing a character breakfast, means lunch time will be more of a "snack" so it's usually cheaper and quicker.

If you want to get an idea of what some of the meals cost - go to www.dlresortinfo.com, you can find menus of everything there (some are a little dated, but most are fairly current).

disneyhound
10-01-2006, 12:29 PM
We plan on $50/day/person for food, snacks, junk, pennies...

MommyTo3Boys1Girl
10-01-2006, 02:07 PM
We budget $30/day per adult, $15/day per child, and then $10/day for my 3yo, he eats like a bird. It all evens out.
We do eat once a trip at BB, but most of the other meals are Pizza Port, mexican, etc.

dohgusgus
10-01-2006, 02:10 PM
There is going to be 4 of us, 3 adults, 1 child. How much do you budget for food? I think the prices on the regular meals had went up in price the last time and I cant really remember how much we spent. We may have had extra money at the end of the trip from the food money.
I think we budgeted $100 a day on our last trip when we actually had 2 adults, 1 child for that trip. We usually eat breakfast in the room, pastries, muffins, milk and juice, etc, we buy from the grocery store. We 2 meals a day, plus drinks throughout the day and snacks. Also, one of the meals a day was usually at Storytellers, Rainforest Cafe, Rancho Zocala, River Bell or Redd Rockets. I think we spent about $40 on average at those places for each meal. So that was $80 and $20 for drinks and snacks, treats. I guess it depends on how and what you want to eat...we are hungry people and just starve from running around the park all day. So what do you spend?

Well since we rarely have a "sit down" or "full service" meal we usually plan about $10 a meal and $10 for snacks so about $40 dollars if we eat breakfast at the park. Pretty pricey I know. :rolleyes: