Florida spending money

meer53

My opinion on Ponderosa - absolutely awful. It might be cheap but i only ever went once. Never again.

We usually have a late breakfast in the villa, skip lunch and then eat at somewhere like Outbacks, Cracker Barrel, Cheesecake Factory (can be a bit pricey there though)

A lot of evenings we order takeaways and we cook some evenings too. As i do all the driving, i'd rather eat at the villa when i can enjoy a drink after a long day at the parks. We do meal plan whilst we're there, it saves us quite a bit of money.

snit_girl

Agreed, $100 on food a day each sounds too much. I'd say that for the family if you're not doing a full sit down table service meal in Disney. Most prices are on the net or I like the Disney app which gives you full menus. Examples are Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe in Magic Kingdom where a burger is $10.69, 1/2 rotisserie chicken $10.99, BBQ Rib meal $12.99 and the kids meals are $5.99, remember everything is HUGE. All come with access to a huge toppings bar and could easily fill us for the day if we had a good breakfast where we were staying and left lunch until 2-3ish. On the other hand the Be Our Guest restaurant can be about $25 for a main so costs can add up quickly.

Your $3000 should be fine for meals and a few souvenirs, but I would definately take a credit card just in case.

p.s. I like Ponderose and Denny's. Cheap and cheerful when you need to fill hungry bellies (Denny's especially for eating at odd times)

fd1972uk

CKhalvashi wrote: »

With a car, my advice is don't eat at the hotel unless it's all inclusive (our first morning in Florida was with horrible breakfast in the hotel we were in), but to try a Ponderosa (there are several).

They're in a villa.

Yeah that's around £30 per head, that should be fine.

Tbh, it's all about what you want and what you like to do.

I love eating in the parks, yeah it's more expensive but it's great to eat in the parks.

Tbh, our visit in 2013 we tried to do a heck of a lot, we did loads of Character Dinners for our little one, which she loved. We knew it could well be our only time in Florida with our girl at 'that' age and so glad we did as some of pictures and moments we had will live for us forever (sounds corny, lol, but it will).

I had it well planned, so made sure I knew budgets and stuff.


FD

duchy

If you want to do a character meal - where the characters come to the tables book in advance and choose carefully as each one has specific characters. Breakfast - especially a late breakfast so you are too full for lunch is the best value - some at the the themed Disney hotels not just in the parks. It's worth doing with very little ones as often the characters get mobbed walking around the parks by the older children so even if your little ones get to them photos can be hard but at a meal they come to you and pose with the kids (and adults)

Also if you get back from the park with knackered kids (and adults) and no-one wants to cook or even go out for takeaway many food places deliver - not just the pizza places. One of the nicest meals we had was in our condo after the energy expired from TGIs -and there were even leftovers for lunch the next day

Another way to save costs is to head for the parks early in the morning for opening -take a break back at the villa for lunch and naps and or pool time then return in the evening (with the passes it doesn't have to be the same park) when the kids are rested and have had tea (or stop enroute for a meal), it is cooler and usually less crowded. Saves money *and* you have a better time.

If you haven't done so already- can I suggest you take a look at thedibb forum

fd1972uk

I'm a member on there, great place, learned so much prior to my visit.


FD

medsdemon

We haven't been yet but working on menu's online have worked out our budgets. We're a family of 3 Adults and are taking $3500 for 2 weeks. We are in a villa, with car hire, park tickets and a couple of other activities/hotels already booked. We aren't doing all parks everyday and are having 2 days at the beach and 2 days in a Universal hotel too. Also planning KSC, State park day ( kayak hire), minigolf and a visit to the baseball none of which we have prepaid but we will probably pop that on the CC. The $3500 will equate to $200 for DD to spend on her choice of souvenirs/drinks etc ( she will have a little of her own money too) and the rest $230 a day for us all to eat and for a few souvenirs/ the odd bit of shopping( anything biggish shopping wise we would put on CC but aren't big shoppers anyway). We are not huge eaters and OH is a coeliac and are planning eating at the villa for breakfast ( maybe try a couple of US brekkies out but tbh they look way too big for us in the morning and OH will probably only be able to eat eggs/omeletes anyway). Lunch will be snacks/ a couple of days main meal in day when not at parks which will be cheaper ( take our own water everyday too). Then worked out generally at our restaurant choices will be approx $120ish for a meal for 3 with drinks, a shared starter and mains( Outback/Cooper Hawk/Maggianno's/Margeuritaville/Raglan Road/ Orchid Thai Cuisine). We have a couple of more expensive meals booked in signatures at Disney but it should all balance out okay I know when we're there we will get lazy and end up eating at villa a few evenings in truth too. It is a holiday after all, and we can order GF pizza, which is a treat for us anyway!!:T

So I think OP's budget should be about spot on since they are in a villa with tinies who may tire quickly( prefer some healthy bits to eat at the villa too and run around/sleep instead of dinner out some nights)

Would also recommend The Dibb to read a few trip reports for ideas and tips.

fd1972uk

Ahh, Trip Reports, that takes me back, loved doing that on my return.


FD

duchy

Trouble with the dibb is once you start reading it's hard to stop !

torbrex

I always allow $40/day for foodstuffs but seldom average more than $30, I do always eat the free breakfast at the hotel though no matter how bad it is and there is usually fruit laid out as well so that is lunch sorted