Hi Elisa,
Welcome back to the Disney Parks Moms Panel! I am loving your strategy - character meals are our way to see all of our favorite characters without standing in long lines.
My family loves to eat, so we always get one of the
Disney Dining Plans. Our favorite plan now is the Disney Deluxe Dining Plan which provides three meals per night along with two snacks and a resort refillable mug. I actually love to get a fairly precise estimate for food to make sure the dining plan will save us money, so I create a chart of our plans that includes all of our dining reservations and possible quick-service choices. I then check prices on the menus of those restaurants. For example, we always eat breakfast at Be Our Guest. The
breakfast menu includes prices. Although not all menus are available online, to find a menu, check the restaurant's website and find the View Menu link.
Given the size of your family, for character meals, I would budget about $160 - $175 depending on taxes and tip. We typically tip 18%. With quick-service meals, I would budget at least $60. Using those estimates, if you plan to eat two quick-service meals and one character meal per day, you should budget approximately $300 per day.
Elisa, on prior visits, we have packed our own breakfast snacks to eat in the resort hotel room prior to heading to the parks. We would then stop for a quick-service lunch and often did a character meal for dinner. We also always take other snacks and water bottles to use in the parks. Since we now prefer to eat at mostly table-service restaurants, I also calculate the costs of the tips associated with those meals.
Magic, memories and Minnie Mouse hugs,
Donyell