Need Tips for Strecting WDW Food Budget

[LeeAnn]

Hoping to plan trip for during "Free Dining" (if offered) time. But it's not really free w/ tip not included now. For a 3 night stay, how much do I need to budget for tips?

Since snacks are only single serve now and I can't use box of donuts. How else can I strecth snacks? Or what do you do for breakfast?

Should have a car rental for a day so I can go to grocery store? Don't want over buy, what are essentials?

Refillage mugs are good for lengther stays. Don't think it would good 4d/3n stay. How much is coffee and soda to find out break even point?

Might had a day prior to "Free Dining" where meals would be out of pocket. Where would be a good baragin for CS and TS?

It's DH38, Me36, DD5, DS4 & DD2 (so she free).

Any tips welcomed? Thanks.

[Strmchsr]

"Free" dining isn't really free anyway since you're paying rack rate for the room. If you're really concerned about stretching your budget you might look for a room only discount and pay for food OOP eating mostly at CS restaurants. We always bring our own breakfast regardless (pop-tarts or granola bars, etc) of whether or not we do the DDP which helps save money. Also, if you're able to go to the grocery store, renting a fridge if you're at a value or having one if you're at a mod or deluxe will allow you to buy your own water bottles/sodas/milk for cereal, etc which can also save money. It doesn't save as much at a value since you have to rent the fridge, but it still beats park prices.

[jszczur5]

[QUOTE=LeeAnn;1534254]Hoping to plan trip for during "Free Dining" (if offered) time. But it's not really free w/ tip not included now. QUOTE]

It never was really free - not when you consider that you have to pay rack room rates.

We always take bowls, spoons and cereal with us, and then buy the refillable mugs, so we can get the milk free with our meals which we then put in a cooler. I think you will break-even with 2 refillable mugs over the course of 4 days. A couple of coffees each day and a couple of sodas will make it worth while. I think the milk is almost 2 bucks to buy, so once you get 6 free with your meals, your mug is paid for. We only ever buy 2 mugs between 4 of us. Hubby and I share a beverage and refills, and our sons do the same.
It's a shame that you can't get the Entemann's 8 pack of donuts anymore - but they are still cheap enough to buy.

[Kidsmom]

Planning on your budget for tips will depend on your restaurants....some might be $10 tip and some $20 or more.

For breakfast, we bring a case of single breakfast cerels from BJ's and boxes of poptarts that we pack in a duffel bag. We buy milk at the food court and keep it in the fridge in the room (we also get some plastic spoons from the food court)

You could pack donuts from home if that is what you like. We also pack a case of goldfish snack bags that we have on hand in the parks for long lines when the kids are hungry or need a distraction.

I don't think the refillable mugs are the best bet for that short of of stay. If you do feel the need to buy, just buy 2 or 3 not 5. When we went last year we got 4 mugs (we are 2 parents and 4 kids) so DH got his coffee, me my soda and the kids split lemonades

I am sure others will have much better advice for you especially regarding tipping and inexpensive restaurants but here are my 2 cents.

Have a blast!!

[vamaggie]

The refillable mugs are about $12 so if you have >6 sodas/coffees etc during your stay they pay for themselves (and are nice souveniers for home)We got 2 last trip and shared since our kids don't really drink soda. To help stretch the free dining, you may want to consider splitting a breakfast CS and a lunch CS for you and your kids. Some of the meals are really big. We split with our DS10 & DD4 when we went last. Between the CS & snacks we were not hungry. Essentials for us were water bottles & snacks like goldfish. We brought the fish & water from home and used the suitcase for souveniers on the return home. I would not rent a car for one day--too expensive and too much time away for a short trip.

[scootch713]

I pack one suitcase with food. I put it in, juice boxes, poptarts, cereal, mozzerella cheese sticks, block cheese, crackers, ect.. I put everything in a large box(like something hard like juice boxes come in) and nothing gets smashed. We had more than enough for breakfast and snacks for a 6 night stay. Then, the beauty of it all..... you have an empty suitcase to bring everything home(that doesn't pack as easily as it did when you left home).

[alpro2]

We ship a box of dry goods to the resort. Items include cereal, power bars, cereal bars, chips, and other snacks. This saves on breakfasts and snacks. Shipping costs no more than $20.

[magicofdisney]

We always stay at the values. With a discount, you can save a lot of $$ that way. We always take a cooler (on wheels) to store our drinks and cold food items in. This saves money on renting a fridge. From what I understand, getting a good fridge is hit or miss. NEVER, NEVER buy milk from the food court. You can go to the gift shop and pick up half a gallon for less than $4. I hope the pp sees this and uses the gift shop from now on for milk. We also take sodas with us and breakfast items. Eating at all CS will save money on food and there will be $0 in tips. CS at most parks are quite varied. Have fun!

[LeeAnn]

Renting a car for a day is to drive from parents place Cape Coral, FL to Orlando. 3 Hour Drive (too bad they aren't closer)

So it's fly into RSW, visit parents, Drive to WDW, P/U items, then use magical expres to fly out MCO?

Magical Express is still free?

Have colopaable cooler? Will that help keep milk overnight?

I like the idea of sharing meals. Bring own snacks and water.

Any other?

Which CS are best to share meals?
At POP and the parks?

[crazeedizneefinatic]

Some of the suggestions are really good. Bringing snacks from home really does help for breakfast! I do have to disagree though with the posters that said you don't get the dining plan for free. Last September was the 1st time we took advantage of the "free" dining. We stayed at CBR for 10 days, 8 day park hoppers and all food included. 1 CS, 1TS and 1 snack per day. We brought breakfast items from home. The cost for 3 adults and 1 child was $2600.00. Now if you break that down that is just $65 per day per person. We ate all 10 days and actually left 1 CS per person behind. $65 per day for moderate hotel, park hopper pass (8 days, the other days we entertained ourselves with relaxing or DTD) and food is not bad to me! Don't let people scare you into thinking it's not a good deal. This year will probably be less of a value since the tip is not included or appetizer, but still may be, we will see how much extra we spend. We stayed at a moderate resort so I am sure the value would be more if you stayed at a value resort.

[Tink#64]

I pack one suitcase with food. I put it in, juice boxes, poptarts, cereal, mozzerella cheese sticks, block cheese, crackers, ect.. I put everything in a large box(like something hard like juice boxes come in) and nothing gets smashed. We had more than enough for breakfast and snacks for a 6 night stay. Then, the beauty of it all..... you have an empty suitcase to bring everything home(that doesn't pack as easily as it did when you left home).

This is what we do - exactly! Our first trip I was so scared that the food suitcase was going to be over the weight limit at the airport!

We've never done the dining pkg, we always do value, bring breakfast, carry snacks in our packs. DH & I carry water bottles that hook onto our packs & the only cokes we buy are at meal times. We always do the mugs at the resort, as we eat one meal a day in the food court at the resort. We always take a swim break & eat our lunch or dinner around the pool. The food isn't that big of a deal to us, & we do mostly cs's meals. We do plan a couple of ts's, usually try & visit a different resort & have a nice dinner there. We never spend what I budget for food! But we always spend more than I budget for souvenears! So it all works out. We use the empty food suitcase for all those souvenears!

[Kairi_7378]

We also pack a suitcase of food and water bottles and sometimes sodas.

On our last trip, DH and I split all of our CS meals and we were really able to stretch our food money that way. Here are some places with very large portions that are split-able:

Flame Tree BBQ
Tangerine Cafe
Jumbalaya at POFQ food court
Peco's Bill
Cosmic Ray's

[aurorafan]

We were on the dining plan when we went in Oct., and found the refillable mugs to be worth it. If you eat CS at the resort, you can get an extra bottled drink (we got water) and have your drink for the meal with the mug. Then you take the water into the park and you don't have to use your snack credit . At breakfast CS on the DDP you get 2 drinks (juice and something else), so again I got 2 bottles of water, used my mug for my drink and took the extra water into the parks.

I had bought bottled water from the online grocery store and we ended up hardly using it because of the refillable mugs

[goofysbabe]

We have been on the DDP and my children are still young enough to share a meal and my husband and myself share a meal. So we would use 2 CS credits for breakfast & split then at lunch we would use 2 CS credits and split that and then at dinner time we would then all use our TS credits and have a nice meal. We NEVER use our snack credits for water, we bring water & snacks from home. The snacks we do get with our credits are those that we couldn't buy at home. Like Mickey Ice Cream bars or school bread things like that. We always buy a mug and use it alot. My husband drinks coffee like there's no tomorrow and I drink diet coke and share with my kids so after 3 of us get a drink, it's time for a refill, so we pretty much get our moneys worth from that.
Now we have not been with the new 2008 changes, but for the way we use the plan and the places we chose to eat at for or TS meals I think we are still going to come out ahead - guess we'll see in December.

[gardenia]

Sharing mugs isn't "budgeting", it's cheating. Let's have some honest suggestions here.

[TBY2225]

I still think the free dining is a great deal even if you have to pay rack rate for the room. We saved $1600 last year during the promotion and are going back this year with the bounceback deal! Even if you ate only CS and brought snacks from home, you are still going to spend more than the difference in a room only deal! That being said, I agree that sharing is a great way to go. DH and I share a CS for breakfast and lunch and so does DD6 and DS2. Then we each do a TS with DS2 sharing with all of us. I used to get the doughnuts with my credits also, but, there are other great snacks to get to share! Popcorn, cups of grapes and apples with caramel, mickey pretzels. You just have to look and ask if you aren't sure. I have never heard of anyone going hungry on the dining plan. If you are concerned about sharing, bringing stuff from home is a good choice also!

[vamaggie]

Sharing mugs isn't "budgeting", it's cheating. Let's have some honest suggestions here.

I hate to disagree but I do. How is sharing a mug cheating? The mugs state they are good for refills for the length of stay. It does not say each person must have their own. DH drinks coffee/coke all day so he gets his own. I enjoy coffee in the am and our DS or DD likes a hot chocolate or something later in the day so we share. If I am wrong, we will change our pattern but again I don't feel we are cheating.

[goofysbabe]

I hate to disagree but I do. How is sharing a mug cheating? The mugs state they are good for refills for the length of stay. It does not say each person must have their own. DH drinks coffee/coke all day so he gets his own. I enjoy coffee in the am and our DS or DD likes a hot chocolate or something later in the day so we share. If I am wrong, we will change our pattern but again I don't feel we are cheating.

I have to agree it says good for the length of your stay - not good for one person. We always buy new mugs when we go, we don't bring them from home. For what we pay for our Disney vacation I think sharing a drink or two is ok and I'd rather have the cup empty than leaving it half full just to threw away - that's wasteful!

[aurorafan]

Sharing mugs isn't "budgeting", it's cheating. Let's have some honest suggestions here.

My husband and I often share drinks at fast food places (McD's etc.)--is that cheating? To me that's the same as sharing a mug.

[mpaxton88]

This probably isn't helpful for a 3 day trip, but I read this on another fan site and thought it was pretty cool.

"Delivery - Goodings, an upscale supermarket located close to Walt Disney World, allows you to order online and have the groceries delivered to most hotels and resorts in Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, International Drive, Celebration or Kissimmee. There is a $50 minimum order and a $20 handling charge. "

More hints can be found here. [URL removed per TOS]