OFFSITE Disney Vaca.....food costs?

Hello! I know answers will vary greatly...but I'm curious...how much do you spend on food/groceries if you stay offsite...like a condo/timeshare? We stay offsite for budget/space needs...otherwise we wouldn't be able to go..


We are a family of 4 --2 adults and 2 kids ( one is a disney adult). We usually have 8 days here.

So far we have spent $90 on the first day at Bahama Breeze

2 character dining experiences $500

Light dinner and the kitchen sink at Beaches and Cream $90

Ordered out for pizza 2x $70

Groceries at Walmart $160

2 days we all had icecream in parks $40

We are here now and have 2 more days
here....wondering how we are doing???
We have been packing sub sandwiches and snacks and bringing it into the parks most days and grilled burgers this afternoon.
My amounts could be off a bit.. I don't have the receipts in frontof me.

We're a family of 5 now and we were at Bonnet Creek over Thanksgiving. We drove down, packed a cooler of food from home and got some food when we arrived in Orlando. Our total cost for groceries (including those brought from home) and meals while in Orlando and on the road to and from Orlando from Chicago (no sit downs, only takeout, and most meals prepared and eaten at WBC) was $396.

Gr8t Fan said:

We're a family of 5 now and we were at Bonnet Creek over Thanksgiving. We drove down, packed a cooler of food from home and got some food when we arrived in Orlando. Our total cost for groceries (including those brought from home) and meals while in Orlando and on the road to and from Orlando from Chicago (no sit downs, only takeout, and most meals prepared and eaten at WBC) was $396.

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WOW! That's awesome.

Beemitchcowski said:

WOW! That's awesome.

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Thanks. We have APs and go 3-5x a year so we try to keep food costs down as much as possible within reason. Our costs would go way up if we were doing character meals, or even just eating park food most of the time, but we eat before we go the parks and usually only have a snack or two while we're there. Luckily, WBC is close and the parks are open late so we have no problem going back for dinner and then heading back to whatever park is open latest to close it out.

We're a family of 5 and always stay off site. We shop at the local Target or Publix down there. Honestly, our food bill isn't a ton higher than it is at home. I'd say it's roughly $200/week to feed all of us. That doesn't count things like treats we may by them in the park, or going to the local Menchies for frozen yogurt, but even that's fairly rare and doesn't add up a ton...$5 here, $3 there. On our recent 17 day trip, we spent roughly $500 on food at Target/Publix and had plenty of leftovers to bring home (things like peanut butter, etc...).

We budget somewhere around $130 a day for a family of four (kids are 12 and 19). We also budget an additional $100 for groceries. We eat offsite quite a bit and all breakfasts in the condo. Some days our budget covers two counter service, another day might be a more expensive table service dinner and snacks in the park, but a big brunch in the room. This amount seems to keep us in check, and be completely satisfying. I do not want to cook all the time on vacation, I also don't want to spend thousands on our food budget or eat out every meal until we feel sick. We seem to have found our happy medium this way. Any money not used in a day gets rolled into the next day and we may splurge more with the overage towards the end of the trip.

Wow! You are all awesome. Great planning! This is our 3rd trip...all offsite stays but it's our first trip in almost 5 years so lots has changed. I've noticed some other families bringing in their own snacks. It's smart. I'm trying to balance bringing our own and splurging and doing special meals but trying not to go overboard. I think we will be at the 1k mark for food by the time we leave.

Aug 25 - Sep 7 trip (Universal, I-360, other attractions) - 3 adults, 2 "Disney" adults, 2 kids

Groceries (Alcohol, Food, Supplies) = $370
Universal Counter Service Deals (3 full days worth) - 4 adults/2 kids (used my mom's pass to buy a 3rd deal every day for BOGO 1/2 off) = $93ish x 3 = $280 (ate at both Harry Potter restaurants and the Springfield restaurants, and then got Big Pink Donuts, Frozen Butterbeers, Ice Cream and Dippin Dots, pastries, etc)
Orlando Outta Control Dinner Show (6 tickets) = $108 ($16/each + $12 tip - Groupon deal)
Chocolate Emporium for 2 Date Night - Dinner and Drinks = $60 (tax/tip included)
Deep Blu for 2 Date Night (2 Magical Dining Month Meals and Shared Wine Pairing) = $86 + tax/tip = $115
Disney Springs Gelato for 6 (2 large shared cups) = $16
Hash Hash a Go Go = $43 for 7 (tip included) - Travelzoo deal
Cowgirls Rockbar = $44 for 6 (tip included) - Posted same day deal onsite while we were at I-360 attractions
Pat O Briens = $36 (tax/tip included) for 7 + $40 from old movie/meal ticket already paid for = $76
2 x Sweet Tomatoes (2 meals for 7 people) = $50 x 2 = $100 (tip included - had a birthday coupon and other coupons - we split as 2 groups to use 2 coupons each trip)
Wa Wa Hoagies = Free (I fed my local brother's kids lunch with groceries we needed to use up and drinks for the adults and he bought the grown ups subs and pretzels)
2 Fast Food Lunches on Way down (1 before Charleston and 1 before Orlando) = $60
BBQ Lunch in Charleston and Water Ices while touring = $60
Dinner at my sister's Charleston house = free

Total for 13 days (had a few meals included on Auto Train and Hotel on way down not in this price plus the 2 meals with family I listed above) - $1332 for 7 or about $105/day...I didn't try to go this low and we never skimped or shared meals (we do share snacks) or made tweens/teens order kid meals...but we did make full use of the meal plans, the deals around, and coupons (and amazing grocery deals) when we could...

Usually I plan to spend $150/day for the trip, so this came in under, but we did skip a day at Legoland due to bad weather most of the week where I would have splurged (gotta have the apple fries), so that helped...

And our norm is to have a big breakfast in, pack snacks and drinks (unless we did the Universal Dining Plan), have lunch out and an extra snack if needed, and a late light dinner/alcohol drink/smoothies when we'd get back at 9pm or so...worked like a charm, especially when the parks close between 7-8:30pm...

Last year's trip 9 days, 2 adults, 14 meals out plus various park snacks, beer and wine was $695, and groceries for all other meals plus a few bags of our US favorites to bring home was $540.
Meals out ranged in price from a $20 lunch at a great BBQ joint in Garner NC on the way down up to a $100 fancy dinner at a stopover in Hazelton PA on our last night on the road. Most of our Orlando dining was very reasonable, but we eat very light counter service in the parks.
This past year was the first time I had categorized my expenses, I usually just track the totals, and pay attention to anything that is coming back to Canada with us to ensure we stay under our duty free limits.

Beemitchcowski said:

Wow! You are all awesome. Great planning! This is our 3rd trip...all offsite stays but it's our first trip in almost 5 years so lots has changed. I've noticed some other families bringing in their own snacks. It's smart. I'm trying to balance bringing our own and splurging and doing special meals but trying not to go overboard. I think we will be at the 1k mark for food by the time we leave.

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We bring more than our own snacks, we bring our entire meals. We'll pack an entire dinner for 5...so for the kids it's chicken nuggets or something like that, veggies, and a few snacks. For my wife and I it would be boneless/skinless chicken breast, salad. Plus drinks. So yeah, the bag is quite heavy when we first get into the park. We actually have a "gear stroller". It's a small umbrella stroller. We put the cooler bag in the seat of the gear stroller. The bag is great because it has straps that we put around the handles of the stroller, so it helps keep the bag from falling out. More often than not, we'll just find stroller parking near where we want to eat and just leave the stroller and bag there. Then come back when we're ready to eat. It's much less trouble than you may think, it's actually quite easy. Also saves us a fortune. We'll still buy a treat for the kids in the park, but not every day. The treats aren't expensive anyway...an ice cream bar or soft pretzel is only like $3 or $4 anyway. On our long trips, we will let them eat at a quick service restaurant or go out to eat off site maybe 2 or 3 times. So all told, I'll say we spend less than $200 for food that we don't buy at the grocery store, and that's for a 2+ week trip.

Great thread! When we travel as a family I don't keep a real detailed list of food spending, but I know our groceries are a tad higher than at home because we'll buy things for convenience like the enormous cut fruit bowl at Publix, prepared veggie trays, etc. And then we usually eat out maybe 3 times over the course of a week.

However, my most recent trip was a 6 night trip with 3 other women, so naturally we kept better records so we could all split at the end. We weren't very budget conscious and over the course of the vacation we ate at The Wave for breakfast, Tusker House for lunch, Artist Point for dinner, had a nice dessert and champagne evening at BOG, and had a pizza and salad one night from WBC. We also went nuts and hit every. single. kiosk. at the F&W festival one day/evening. Otherwise we ate at the villa at WBC, and enjoyed a smattering of adult beverages in the room as well. Our average was $56 per person per day. Honestly, I would have thought it was way more considering the total indulgence-fest we had going!