Cost of Disney food w/o a dining plan

[bunch]

Our two trips to Disney have been during the play, stay and dine promo so we've always had a dining plan.  We really enjoy not having the stress of paying for food oop while there, but we're considering using points to stay at swan or dolphin and therefore won't be able to get the plan. 

If you went without a dining plan, how much did you spend? 

How many days?

What reservations did you have? 

How much food did you cook at the hotel or bring into the park?

[orval]

I couldn't tell you how much or how many days etc. But we have never done a dining plan. I think the meals are large and often my DH and I will split one or finish what ds doesn't eat. Then we can get a snack later if we want. We have only done reservations for Epcot.
The last few people I know who got dining plans ended up just buying random package snacks and bringing them home because they had too much left over.
We always eat breakfast before we go to the parks and bring in water and a few random snacks for ds.

[ribollita]

I honestly do not know, lol.

I wanted to share this link which has all the prices of the buffet and family style meals, although I think at least one thing is incorrect (CRT breakfast): www.disboards.com/threads/buffet-character-shows-aycte-pricing-as-of-10-02-2016.3108466/

You may want to consider getting a (free) Disney Visa through Chase. There are some dining discounts with it. We haven't used them as we have always had the Tables in Wonderland card (only available for passholders, DVC, and FL residents).

[Wines Not Whines]

I haven't really kept track, but we usually get a grocery delivery through Garden Grocer so we have some snacks, drinks, breakfast items, and ingredients to make PB&Js for my son. We're not big breakfast eaters, so we're fine eating something like a yogurt or granola bar for breakfast.

We usually go to a counter service place for lunch and TS for dinner. Cost depends on what we order, so it varies.

[ilikedonuts]

I have no idea but here is the current buffet/all you can eat meal prices if you want to use them for budgeting www.disboards.com/threads/buffet-character-shows-aycte-pricing-as-of-10-02-2016.3108466/

[ilikedonuts]

I just remembered i have our room charges in my email that I can look at actually. We do save 20% on sit down meals because we have a DVC discount card

[ilikedonuts]

Okay our bill for our December trip (all food, souvenirs and extras) was 1,088 for 7 days. Not including $160 for CRT which is prepaid. Add on another $250ish in for the money we saved with our tables in wonderland card. I subtracted all the extras and souvenirs to get $881.

2 adults, 1 child over 3 and 1 child that was free.

$90 in groceries that covered breakfasts most morning and then snacks and drinks for us in the room.
$881 in sit down meals, snacks, and quick service meals.
$140 for CRT lunch pre-paid.
$250 what the discount card saved us.

Total: around $1361

7 sit down meals (1900 Park Fare dinner, BOG dinner, H&V lunch, Tusker House breakfast, CRT lunch, Akershus dinner, and Crystal Palace breakfast)

[lala]

According to my calculations, it's always less than the dining plan. But it's not exactly comparing apples to oranges for us - we don't buy 1 snack per person per day, we rarely, if ever, buy soda, etc.

We do about $100-125 of groceries from We Go Shop. That's milk, fruit, bread, PBJ, wine, beer, yogurt, and a few other odds & ends. I pack snacks, too, since we fly south west I don't have to worry about paying for bags. I usually pack coffee, cliff bars, applesauce pouches, granola bars, trail mix/nuts, instant oatmeal, pop tarts (it's vacation after all!), etc.

We all bring our klean kanteens to refill throughout the day b/c I don't buy water. I know some people complain about the water but it doesn't bother us and I HATE plastic water bottles.

Even with all of those snacks and a few breakfasts, we still eat out plenty. We don't rent a car or drive, so all meals are onsite.

I want to say last time it was in the $8-900 range for 9 nights - 2 adults, a 3 year old and a 6 year old. Baby didn't eat yet. That included lots of food & wine items as snacks/meals. I just looked and most counter service meals were in the $25-30 range b/c we would share a few between us (and have plenty) - there were maybe 6-7 of those? Our table service meals were: Akershus breakfast, Boma breakfast, Sanaa lunch, Via Napoli dinner (cheaper than some since we shared a pizza & a big app), Beaches n cream, 50s Prime Time, one sit down at the Dolphin.

[alleinesein]

It really depends on your eating habits. We eat 3 full meals a day when we go and can easily spend $100-$200 per person per day if we have alcohol.

[bunch]

This very helpful. Our issue is that while we certainly dont need as much food as a plan provides, it is fun to get snacks and apps that we wouldn't usually be willing to pay for. I think we'll buy gcs so that there is no hit once we're there. I am excited to try some places that weren't included on the standard plan. It should be fun.

[lala]

May 15, 2016 13:13:24 GMT -5 bunch said:

This very helpful. Our issue is that while we certainly dont need as much food as a plan provides, it is fun to get snacks and apps that we wouldn't usually be willing to pay for. I think we'll buy gcs so that there is no hit once we're there. I am excited to try some places that weren't included on the standard plan. It should be fun.

That's a good way to do it. We charge it all to the room w/o obsessing over cost and then pay it all when we leave the hotel. Paying it all at once like that makes me less cognizant that that dole whip float cost $5 since it gets lost in the shuffle. This can work against you, of course, but it works for us. And since we've saved up that money towards the trip, it's still pre paid in a way. Definitely splurge on the fun stuff, it's so worth it!

[swarley]

We just got back a month ago and I have all of this in a spreadsheet on my work computer that I can post tomorrow. We stayed offsite and are pretty well and I want to say it was around $1500 for three adults and one under 2 (he ate free at buffets but we did but him some meals). I'll post tomorrow.

[ilikedonuts]

May 15, 2016 14:33:46 GMT -5 @starry said:

Next time we plan on Akershus, one more character meal, Via Napoli, and Beaches and Cream.

Just FYI prices have gone up a lot the past few months. I'm looking at @ilikedonut's prices and they are already often 10% higher (even after factoring in her discount)

Especially since there are mostly just breakfast and dinner princes and no more lunches at a lot of places!

I was shocked by the difference between CRT lunch!

[bunch]

Yeah, I don't know that I've loved any of the character meals that we've ever done. Mostly I don't really see the value in buffets and it's unlikely that I'd ever pay oop for any of them.

[wesleycrusher]

Allears.net has all the menus for everywhere in the parks with prices. Helps us decide where to eat.

[bunch]

I calculated us eating out at all the places we'd like to hit and before tax/tip/alcohol it was only $481. That definitely puts my mind at ease!

[mellymel]

I can share our costs after the end of this week's trip! We are in the parks for 6 days but in Orlando for 8 days and are staying offsite, eating some meals at our vacation house and some at the parks

[miss1180]

this site is pretty cool! you put in all the places you are going to eat... it calculates the amount ( i believe it even includes tax and tip) THEN it compares it to your cost of of the disney dining plan... I've used it for a couple trips...
www.distripplanner.com

[CheeringCharm]

I think it was around $1k. Maybe a little more. We were there for a week. We did sit down dining 2x a day and Starbucks in the morning. Plus a couple snacks here and there. We didn't cook any food ourselves. I'm not sure if the dining plan would have been less or not. We were told that you have to do sit down dining 3x a day plus a snack and dessert every night for it to be a wash.

[carolinagirl831]

we were debating the dining plan and this makes me feel better for not using it!

[jeaniebueller]

I don't know what we spent, but it was a lot. I remember breakfast was like $35 for an oatmeal for me, a pastry for DS, a full breakfast platter for H and orange juices for H and DS. INSANE!

[swarley]

Ok, we spend 7 days in the parks. 3 adults and one 2 year old. The two year old didn't eat much but when we did order for him, it was usually a quick service that we split with him. I'm including everything and put how many credits each item would have been had we been on the DDP.

Snacks
Goofy's Candy Company (2) $11.70
Sleepy Hollow - Funnel (2) $12.86
Dockside Diner - (1) $10.64
Beverly Sunset - Olaf (1) $5.32
Starring Rolls (3) $23.37
China Kiosk (2) $9.00
America Kiosk (2) $12.50
Japan Kiosk (1) $5.00
France (2) $7.99
Germany (1) $4.79
Popcorn - DHS (2) $12.34
Total Snacks - $115.51

Quick Service

Earl of Sandwich (3) $32.53
Casey's Corner (1) $8.51
Columbia Harbor House (3) $34.78
Pecos Bill's (3) $49.89
Backlot Express (1 + 3 drinks) $18.72
Be Our Guest (3) $75.43
Mexico - Dinner (3) $51.14
England (1) $12.00
Total Quick Service - $283.00


Table Service
Kona Breakfast (3) $61.75
Sci-Fi Dinner (3) $79.12
Via Napoli (3 w/ 2 wines) $89.62
50s Prime Time (2) $31.71
Yak & Yeti (3) $100.02
Kona Dinner - TERRIBLE sushi $71.77
Total Table Service - $433.99

Giftcards totaling $569.96
- 3 Tusker House B/fasts $1,003.95
- 3 Chef Mickeys B/fast
- 3 Cape May B/fasts
- 3 Mickey Backyard BBQ
Total of Table Service w/ Giftcards - $1,003.95

Alcohol
AK - Alcoholic Dole Whips (2) $14.91
AK Dawa Bar (2) $22.51
Mexico - Margs $18.85
Japan Kiosk $7.75
France $12.00
Tabu Lounge - Poly $29.30
England $6.00
Total Alcohol - $111.32

Grand total for 3 adults - $1,513.78

[Deleted]

I think last trip we spent around 1200.00 for 2 adults 1 4 year old for 6 nights . Looks like we spent around 1200.00, but that didn't include all of my alcohol that I mostly paid in cash for.

[swarley]

May 16, 2016 15:30:08 GMT -5 daisyfay25 said:

There are alcoholic dole whips?! I did not know this. I need one. Or three.

Yes there are! There is a stand across from Tusker House and they have rum in them! Great after breakfast snack! As is the Bloody Mary from the Dawa Bar!