Hi Lourdes,
Welcome back to the Disney Parks Moms Panel!
The budget you need is dependent on how many adults and children will be in your group and their eating habits. My family appreciates three meals a day and prefers table-service meals. To get a sense of how much it might cost us to eat, I create a chart of the restaurants we plan to enjoy. When possible, I check the menus. Coral Reef Restaurant in Epcot is one of our favorite restaurants. The
dinner menu will give you an idea of prices.
We always have a "dining selection day" in my household. At this time, I go through all of the restaurants we have selected and everyone picks the entrée she or he plans to order. I estimate the cost of each meal based on those dining choices. If we plan to dine at a few buffet or family style restaurants, I call and speak to a cast member in dining at 407-939-1947 to obtain the buffet or family-style meal prices for the dates of our visit.
I also include an estimate for snacks and drinks. Once I have that estimate, I price the cost of a dining plan with our vacation package. For my family a dining plan has always been a better value than us paying by the meal. We have used the Disney Dining Plan and the Disney Deluxe Dining Plan but now prefer the Disney Deluxe Dining Plan because it includes three meal entitlements and two snacks per night of stay along with the resort refillable mugs. Remember to calculate the cost of drinks with your meals if you decide to pay by the meal.
Lourdes, my family (counted as four adults) could easily spend $100/day per person on meals, snacks and drinks. That includes at least one buffet meal at approximately $50 per person. We buy few souvenirs, so food tends to be our main expense!
Magic, memories and Minnie Mouse hugs,
Donyell