cost of eating oop?

[Tink#64]

Our first few trips I considered the dining plan & carefully checked menu's & did the math. It would never be a value for my family! We aren't big eaters & only plan a couple of TS meals per trip. We always have our breakfast in our room & carry snacks & water bottles to the parks. I used to budget about $15.00 per day per adult for the all CS days, increasing that figure for the TS meals. The last couple of trips we've noticed an increase in the costs of the meals - of course this is to be expected to some degree with inflation and the fact that our first trip was 11 years ago! So this year I'll budget $20.00 per day per person, my DS's are 15 & 17 and that should cover 2 CS meals & the occasional Dole Whip or Mickey Bar (we don't buy extra snacks every day)! We usually come in under budget on our food expenses - but over budget on souvenears!

Last year was our first trip that we did only CS meals and it was great! No ADR's to juggle our time around & that made our trip so much more relaxed! And of course the CS meals are so much quicker for us that just meant more play time! But over the years we've enjoyed many wonderful character meal experiences, dinner in the Castle and some fantastic meals at the resorts! It all depends on the experience you want and what suits your family this trip!

Another thing to note, & I'm not sure if this is still the case, but I've always booked room only & then added on the tickets. We never book a package, so we have always been able to get the AAA discount on the room - but could not use that discount if we had added on the dining plan. At least this is what I was told by the CM a couple of years that I did inquire about it. So for us it was not only the additional cost of the food plan that I didn't think we'd se the value in & the loss of the discount on the room! So al the way around - a no brainer for us - dining OOP was definitely a better value!

[Dulcee]

As others have said eating breakfast in your room is an easy way to cut out unnecessary expenses.

For us though, an important part of our trip is about the dining. For dinner we book primarily signature restaurants which means we easily spend $150-200 for two at dinner. When we can get the free dining plan it works to our advantage to upgrade to the deluxe, we still come out ahead.

We also find that walking through the parks all day and eating a light meal for breakfast means by lunch time we're hungry! DH is a big eater and most of the CS meals don't entirely fill him up so splitting isn't usually an option.

I guess what I"m getting at is you can eat as frugally or extravagantly as you want. While many on this site lean towards the frugal side I try to encourage looking at some the truly spectacular dining available on property and splurge on one or two if you can. There are few things better then ending a great day at the parks with a nice meal and a bottle of wine

[megustamex]

$90 a day for 2 adults, 2 kids 5 & 7.

We get a car and buy cereal, fruit, milk, water, pop, bread, peanut butter, lunchmeat and chips/snacks. We consider this to be a wash with home groceries so it doesn't count towards our budget (yes we rationalize!).

Breakfast: We bring our cereal/milk/fruit to the cafeteria in the morning in a tote bag and buy coffee and an occasional Mickey waffle for the kids. Average cost $3-$10

Lunch: We bring our sandwiches, snacks, fruit, and drinks into the park. We do have a stroller which makes it easier but you could bring a soft cooler and a backpack and get a locker. Once a week we might buy CS lunch, which costs us $40 for 2 adult/2 kid meals. Otherwise we might spend $0-$10 on a side salad or cold pop/milks.

Dinner: We do about 5 CS meals and 2 TS meals a week (we usually go for 2 weeks). CS averages are the same as lunch - $40. TS averages $70 - $90 for a non-buffet (like Sanaa or Via Napoli). For a buffet, it's always about $140 with tip including 2 kids (your older kids might cost more).

Snacks: An average of about $12/day for snacks.

We run the numbers every time we come home and it always ends up the same, amazingly. We used to do CS lunches before the kids really ate though so bringing our own sandwiches has helped keep that cost the same. Surprisingly we don't miss the lunches at all - we feel better and enjoy our dinners more. We often think that if we only ate CS for dinner we could really save some money, or if we just never did buffets. The buffets kill you on cost.

[wdwfamilyof4]

I sat down and crunched the numbers. My friend can no longer get us the free tickets. So all we'd be saving on is the hotel. It doesn't seem worth it though when you figure in the $14/day for parking cost of gas driving back and forth. We'll No emh and lost time due to travel plus driving "home" when tired. have to do all of the cleaning and of course I'd want to leve it better than we found it. We are spoiled with our tripe to WDW. One of the reasons I love trips to the World is that I'm on vacation also. No cooking, cleaning or laundry. All fun all family time no distractions of every day life. My family believes in EATING. So new plan is to go at a free dining time if it's offered again. I actually got a PIN for free dining valid until March but can't swing it with my school. Oh Well!

THANKS to everyone who gave such awesome advice.