OH… I forgot that you rent a house and have a full kitchen. In years past we’ve stayed at value resorts where a mini fridge was the only kitchen tool in the room. We also used the DDP many times too and saw our TS totals of $200+ for 2 adults, 1 child, 1 10+child, but it was paid for w/ DDP. At some point I stopped worrying about food cost b/c I didn’t want the kids to feel hungry. I should ask them what their memories are? I also remember getting the opportunity to go to Biergarten once and getting up and walking out after looking at the menu prices b/c I knew I couldn’t afford it. I still haven’t eaten there
I calculated the $543 assuming I was staying at a value. If it were actually my trip, we would stay off property to save even more, and then my food costs could be even lower…or in the very least, better food since we wouldn’t be limited to a mini fridge with no freezer.
I also assumed food delivery. But since we usually drive, we would normally just bring groceries with us and/or buy them when we arrive, and so save the cost of delivery.
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With no real benefits to staying onsite anymore (EMH) a family could save a lot of money renting a house instead. The cost of parking would still be cheaper than added totals of a Disney resort room and having to eat in QS or trying to figure out how to hotplate it in a value room.
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Out of curiosity, I looked up the old DDP cost (the QS tier) and it comes out to about $650 for a 2 adults and 2 under-10 kids for 4 nights. Although with a 4 night trip, you have to cover basically 5 days of food, but overall $600 for a bare bones (budget wise) trip doesn’t seem as low as I had initially thought.
We’re fortunate enough to not have to tightly budget vacations, and we use $60 per person per day when initially coming up with an overall vacation cost. Usually, we come in under that, but it serves well as a placeholder.
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DDP used to include the tip but now you have to pay that on top of your bill.
For sure. I can easily find a rental house or condo for a family of 4 (or more!) for 7 days under $1000…and if I really try hard, and early enough, closer to $700. For our trip in May of this year, which was six nights, we had a 4 bedroom with private pool, and including pool heat, was $1313, but there were plenty of cheaper options.
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This is why we had no problem leaving my dad at home. Even things we could afford he was like, well, do you really NEED running water at your campsite or a $1 ice cream cone? He’s the type that will go without just to prove your needs are wants in that boomer uphill both ways type of way lol.
I run the idea of leaving my husband behind by him all the time and he gets all upset and I’m like look, my dad never once went with us on a big family vacation, and your only memories of your family vacations are your parents arguing, so I don’t understand how this could be a bad thing!
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Not if you only do QS
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True. We did just QS DDP too sometimes. I see the appeal of DDP
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But then how can you humblebrag about how you spent only 36 cents on food for the entire week by making sturdy stews from twigs and dead vermin taken from the roadside?
Or else brag about how extravagant your budget was because a Disney trip without a carved ivory, platinum inlaid refillable mug is as bad as staying at a Motel 6 in Kabul?
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We did DDP once and won’t do it again. Too rigid for us, and no savings. Plus, by our next trip, all 3 kids are out of Disney kid pricing.
I do like to use it as a rough guide for food costs at Disney - the 3 tiers do a good job of setting reasonable expectations depending on what kind of food/dining/budget experience you’re looking for. I suspect Disney has priced it properly in that for every family who “saves” money with it, there’s another family that “loses” money.
$600 for 4 park days with a family of 4 seemed low to me, but if the QSDDP is about that price, then it must be fairly easily doable.
I non-humblebrag that I ate at CaliGrill for one 
And that I don’t really pay attention to budget when I’m on vacation, for another.
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We’ve done it many times b/c it was SO convenient; liked the prepaid feel w/o worry to added cost. Also like DDP when they added alcohol too But we ended up preferring the QS one so that ADRs didn’t control everyday. Now we just pay cash; it is cheaper that way. We never eat all the food from the DDP.
The number of Lightning Lane passages that could be had with the staggering cost savings of choosing a humble repast of erstwhile stoats and debris from a mighty oak compared to the gluttonous extravagance of “bruntsch” beggars belief.
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Samesies!!! 
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Isn’t the Quick Service plan only 2 meals though?
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Yes. Some QS meals can easily be stretched, and breakfast is easy to have some groceries for or use snack credits to supplement.
Yes QS plan was two meals and a snack; more than enough food for the day
Money, saving money or getting more money, always peaks my interest.
The article says that the food budget of $600 is for 2 adults and 2 Disney aged kids for a 5 night stay. That’s basically $100/day for food. With some planning, it is totally doable for my family of 4 adults to spend $100/day for food. We would eat 2 QS meals in the park, have a snack for each person each day, and groceries for in room breakfast.
On our last trip to WDW in 2019, people told me my budget of $3,000 for food over 10 days for 4 adults was unrealistic. I never told my family I budgeted $3,000 for food because it wouldn’t have broken the bank if we spent $6,000 for food. Everyone ordered whatever they wanted at QS and TS. Everyone bought whatever snacks they wanted. With the exception of 2 days of sandwiches for lunch to save time, the rest of the lunches and dinners were either QS or TS. We had 7 TS (BOG for lunch, Artist Point, Grand Floridan Cafe, Homecomin, Garden Grill, CA Grill, and Boathouse). Think filet, oysters, and sashimi at a couple of those restaurants. Our total food budget over 10 days was just shy of $2,000. If we cut out all the TS, and managed the QS and snacks better, we could have come in at about $1,000 for 4 adults over 10 days.
I don’t count the cost of groceries into my food budget because I would pretty much buy similar stuff if we were home. In 2019, it was cereal, granola bars, fruit, lunch meat, cheese, milk, soda cans, and juice boxes. Well, maybe groceries at WDW might be a bit more expensive.
It would take a little bit of planning to only spend $600 for food over 6 days. And every family’s eating and spending habits are different. But if it’s a choice between spending only $600 for food or no WDW trip, my family would agree to limit the food budget to $600.
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