cost of eating oop?

[wdwfamilyof4]

We are thinking about going to wdw. But with me back in college and money tight we'd have to do things a little different. A friend is willing to let us use her house in Orlando. Another, who's a CM is willing help us get a break on tickets. My question is how much has it cost you to eat OOP? We are a family of 4. Kids are ages 11 & 9. Everytime we've gone we've stayed on property and done DDP. I know that I can look at the menus to find prices and calculate the cost but as we all know "in theory" and "in reality" are two different things.

[faline]

There are any number of things you can do to reduce your dining costs. You can breakfast at home. You can bring sandwiches and snacks into the park with you to serve as your lunch. For dinner, you can select a quick service location that will be less expensive than table service. Perhaps, you can put in one or two table service meals during your trip (remember lunches are usually less expensive than dinner) and/or a character meal/buffet. Good luck!

[DANAM]

Ironically, I just did come calculations for my family of 4 DS 8 DD 11 and I realized we do better sticking with the dining plan. I was trying to save some money on our 8 day December trip and I saw suggestions from others about getting a prepaid card. I planned on my DD and I sharing some meals and/or eating a salad and an appetizer instead of ordering a full meal. I also was planning some lunches instead of dinners. So basically I got it down to about $160 a day for our family. That's eating one TS and one CS per day. No snacks included in that calculation.
With that being said if I cut out some of our favorites like 1900 Park Fare, O'hana, and I really wanted to do Liberty Tree for dinner (I love the turkey) I think we could have cut at least another 20 to 40 bucks a day. I hope this helps you some.

[AgentC]

I think it really depends on how you approach it. Linda already mentioned some great ways to cut costs.

Since you are staying in a house, you do have the opportunity to save money by eating breakfast there and eating at some less expensive offsite restaurants.

We always eat off plan since we are FL residents and use TIW for our table service. For our family of 4, a counter service meals ranges between $25 and $45 depending on which meal it is.

[MargaretMessler]

Even staying on property, I calculate that I'd do way better OOP than on the DDP - although one of my planned trips this year will be during when they traditionally offer free DDP so I will obviously take it.

I generally only eat two real "meals" a day because portions tend to be so big some places. Once in a while we do a TS but mostly stick with CS.

[ThanxForNoticin]

Some great recommendations here for you.

We always do oop anyway, because we find it more cost effective than the dining plans. But being at a house, if you can hit a grocery store so you can do breakfasts and snacks at the house. You can probably get away with a light lunch and a non-signature restaurant, and save a lot of money.

Enjoy your trip!

[LVT]

We always carry a few snacks along. We munch in line to avoid impulse food.

[1DisneyNut]

I have calculated it numerous times and for us it is always cheaper to not do the dining plan and to pay out of pocket. We don't do much table service dining for a couple of reasons.....takes too much time out of our park time, they are over priced and since they are over priced I am rarely satisfied with the food quality. Our last few trips we have been going off site to have nice dinners on the days we are out of the parks at a decent time in the evening. When we had the free dining plan, we didn't even use all of our credits. It is just too much food for us to eat in a day....all the snacks, deserts, etc.

[MOJoe]

The difference between the menu prices and what you end up spending can be substantial. In theory, you speculate that for each CS meal you will spend around $50 for a family of 4. So if you only eat twice, $100 to $120 should cover your meals.
But reality comes in during the middle part of the day, when it may be very hot, and your kids start begging for cold drinks or ice cream. You are hot too, so there goes another $15.
And seems like no matter when i book my ADR's, my kids are very hungry at a very different time. So a funnel cake or bucket of popcorn becomes necessary. Another $12.

Don't even get me started about those Buzz and Woody action figures.

[nqi2]

Here is my thought on it. I'm on vacation. Which to me means that I am not cooking aything, making anything or having to go the grocery store. It's my break from everything at home as well.

SO we tend to find that even if DDP cost us more it's worth it more to us to be able to have a happy mommy and eat good food because come on that's part of vacation too.

If I wanted to eat cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets ( i know there are other options as well) I would stay at home and save the thousands of dollars that we would spend to get down there regardless.

Part of the appeal to us is the different foods that we can eat while down there. If i wasn't doing DDP I would try to be as cheap as possible and I know I wouldn't enjoy the trip nearly as much.

[Terra]

You've gotten some great input so I don't know that I'll have much to add.
I think it depends on your 'food budget' too.
Mainly I just do day trips but when I do mini long weekend vacations or a spring break, I'm even more on a budget.

For my family for example, $150 a day for our family of 4 is way too much. That's our personal home grocery budget for a week.

So I find [even in day trips], we eat breakfast in our room/home. Pack lunch [sandwiches, chips, snacks, ect.], and eat a CS there. And many times I even by myself a kids meal which is cheaper and comes with a little drink.
IF we all eat a kids meal, we can do a meal for under $25.

Also, bringing your own water and drinks. Or bring those drink packets, to pour in water. That can save a ton of money too. With Sodas/teas at nearly $3 a pop, it can add up fast.

Above all, have a wonderful time

[etibbetts]

Another thing to think about is sharing meals. Some places have huge counter service portions. Three CS meals for the four of you might be plenty. It's a great way to save some money. Cosmic Rays is one that I've usually found to be a great value for the portion and typically shared with someone.

I'd also recommend eating a good breakfast at your hotel and bringing some snacks with you. The kool-aid packets to add to water are great for kids - I believe you can get a cup of water at a fountain soda location. Avoid the water out of the water fountains - it's gross.

Eating in Disney is very expensive, most meals seem to be around $10, then you need to buy a drink which is around $3. If you or your kids aren't that hungry - I'd definetly suggest kids meals.

If you have a smartphone, there are lots of disney dining apps that can help you make decisions right in the park. That way you don't feel like you have to memorize the selections/costs ahead of time.

[lawgirl]

I've never done DDP, and I was considering it for this trip, but I just cannot seem to make the numbers work. It just seems to be a better deal to get the pre-paid Disney gift card. We don't eat TS for every meal, and I usually space those out and save them for special times...we are doing 3 character meals this trip (my 2.5 YO son LOVES it) but other than that, I'm trying to cut costs by sharing meals and I cannot seem to crunch the numbers where the DDP would save any money at all. But, we don't really eat that much, and can usually share a meal among 3 people, soooo I guess it just depends on how often you eat, and how much. And I've read some other posts about people being stressed about using up all their credits by the end of the trip...i.e. they still have credits left, and are stressed about using them all up. I like the idea of a pre-paid Disney gift card. You still have a "budget", and if you don't end up spending it all on food, then whatever it left, you can save for next time, or use to buy other stuff. I have to say, I was getting a little stressed trying to plan out our meals looking at the DDP guidelines!

[lawgirl]

Oh and forgot to add, I'm taking packets of instant oatmeal for breakfast. I ran across a receipt from our trip in Dec, and we spent over $30 for breakfast!! And we did that every day. So, I'm thinking if we ate oatmeal in the room (DVC Villa with a kitchenette) we could save like $100!

I also ran down to the AKL gift shop and purchased milk, bread, popcorn, and pretzels, and also sparkeling water. That way, we did end up saving money on snacks, and we had enough to keep us full when we got back at night. This time I'll probably also buy a bottle or two of wine...it's so much cheaper to buy a bottle at the gift shop than to buy a glass at the bar!

[lawgirl]

And in reality, if you set your budget before hand, and decide which TS meal is most important to you and your family, then plan around that, and make it special. If it means eating breakfast and lunch at the house, then so be it. It's worth it to me to have a few very special TS meals and to try to save with snacks and drinks.

[ANG]

I think it really depends on what type of dining you are expecting. Sit downs every night? Only quick service? Eating "cheap" at Disney isn't too difficult (especially since you will have access to a kitchen and grocery store for snacks/breakfast). But that doesn't always equate to good dining.

[Katzateer]

One of our favorite parts about vacationing at WDW is the dining, when the girls were little we would bring breakfast with us and eat while waiting to get into the parks.

Granola bars, dry cereal, nuts and juice packs and water.

We eat one good sit down meal most days and I would plan about $100 for a family of 4.

Then we snack or get a counter service meal if needed. And eat a snack back at the room when we get back that night.

Never have gotten the dining plan- t doesn't seem worth it even with free dining since we would rather have a room discount.

[lawgirl]

One of our favorite parts about vacationing at WDW is the dining, when the girls were little we would bring breakfast with us and eat while waiting to get into the parks.

Granola bars, dry cereal, nuts and juice packs and water.

We eat one good sit down meal most days and I would plan about $100 for a family of 4.

Then we snack or get a counter service meal if needed. And eat a snack back at the room when we get back that night.

Never have gotten the dining plan- t doesn't seem worth it even with free dining since we would rather have a room discount.

I agree! Dining is one of our favorite things as well. I have some of the best memories. I think eating breakfast in the room or like you said, while waiting to get in the parks is a great way to save, and also time saving!

[PETE FROM NYC]

We did DDP twice, in 07, when we paid for it, and in 09 when DDP was included. In 07 we lost most of our credits looking for the rest of our group. In 09, it was just DW and me and we made good use of it.
Noe we are DVC members staying in a 1 BR with full kitchen. Now we save $$$ by eating breakfast in the room, and making sandwiches to carry into the parks each day.
DW and I are both ECV users so the ECV baskets carry a smallish cooler for the sandwiches and a couple of sodas, and we each have a half gallon cooler jug, one with ice water, the other with a drink. When the jugs get empty,any CS place will refill it with ice and water. Saving the $$$ this way, we can afford to splurge a bit on a decent sit down supper.

[mdricks]

Careful planning in conjunction with expectation management will see you through. When we were trying to pinch pennies we would take a small cooler filled with half cold and half frozen bottles of water. We would also take those kool-aid packets made for water bottles.

Using that as ice, we had sandwiches snacks and fruit at the parks. Rent a locker to store your provisions.

We would all sit down together and choose one
"Special" meal that we would eat somewhere on property. By making it a big deal and a democratic process we were able to get the kids invested in the "eating at the parks is special".

We also took the boys grocery shopping before the trip for candy and snacks emphasizing things we would not normally give them. That way the things from th backpack were just as special as a Mickey bar ( well almost...).