So Expensive

[NewtoOrlando]

Originally Posted by lizzie145

that is good to know as there is a steak and shake near where i am staying

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Honestly, they were lovely, I had the garlic burger with Parmesan fries...$3.69! Kids had foot longs, they were more like 2ft longs!

y

[DonnaD]

Originally Posted by tim17

Sad I know but we're looking forward to trying Aldi in a couple of months.

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Aldi is great for a lot of things and less choice to distract you and waste time. I just wish there was one closer to us.

[DonnaD]

Originally Posted by choccielover

food i'm not sure about, we have been on dining plan mainly the last few years, and though we were paying OOP last year, the only meals i remember thinking were expensive were the disney TS ones we did which is what i expected anyway.

we had a couple of meals (one in, one takeaway) from Chilis and they were lovely, same at bahama breeze. we ate at outback, millers, logans and mannys amongst others and didn't think any of those were outrageously priced.

in fact - being a boring factoid i have all our hol spends logged and categorised and can see that we spend an average of £91 a day in food and snacks - that includes lunches (we breakfasted in the villa) and dinner. We would have had a main and an occasional dessert and i would have had 1 alcoholic beverage more times that not with dinner. That's for 2 ad 1 ch. most expensive meal - hollywood and vine £120 and cheapest chilis take out £25

we absolutely would have had everything we wanted to eat and not restricted ourselves, and bought snacks if we wanted them but we did stock up on snacks to take to the park at walmart (included above) and alcohol and breakfast foods for the villa there too.

Maybe we are just naturally very thrifty in our food choices - but i don't find that overly expensive. Bearing in mind the majority of the lunches were in disney parks and we did BOG, trattoria al forno character breakfast, 1900 PF, rainforest cafe and H&V

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I do think part of the problem is simply eating out so much for 2-3 weeks. If people did this in the UK in the equivalent of Outback etc they would find it expensive too. Just a takeaway curry for 3 without extras or drinks used to cost us 30GBP+. I certainly never found anywhere with steaks as good as Longhorn for a similar price. Add in the salad, bread and side with free soft drink refills and they were cheaper than our local pub. A steak there came with a tiny portion of chips and a salad garnish and that was it.the sodas were also half the size with no refills.

[DonnaD]

Originally Posted by Mel5678

I know a lot of people who would love to go but they can’t afford to go.

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And the vast majority of Americans would never even hope to go on a European vacation. They rarely go anywhere for more than a week.

[bighal]

Originally Posted by bLaZeR666_uk

This year is the lowest EVER since I have been going to the USA (thats every year from 1994 onwards)

This is mainly due to Trump and Brexit.

Last time we went the rate was 1.52 then it dropped to 1.33 and I lost about £800 overnight...

xe/currencycharts/?f...o=USD&view=10Y

I will be reducing my tip from 20 to 10% this year (oh the shame of it )

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Between 1984 to 1986 it was fairly low.. consistently lower than $1.20 and reached $1.08 at one point. So nothing new at all...

[Moorlandman]

Originally Posted by bighal

Between 1984 to 1986 it was fairly low.. consistently lower than $1.20 and reached $1.08 at one point. So nothing new at all...

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Average sterling rate against the dollar has been $1.55 for the last 30 years.

The current "brexit" rate is appalling

[Goofy3075]

Eat at Sweet Tomatoes, $30 with a coupon for a family of four. No tipping required.
Plus tasty and healthier food.

[Beanie1]

We found it very expensive off site this year, ate out in the evening twice, quick service in the parks, picnic in the water parks and bought no souvenirs except a deodorant!. However, we loved the space of the villa and would stay off site again.
When I suggested on site to my husband he rather touchingly said, "If you think I'm sharing a room with you lot for 2 weeks forget it!"... such lovely words!

[RubyLovesUSA]

Originally Posted by Bee happy

We are here now, have been visiting since 1989 and agree totally with you. We picked up a few bargains at outlets in labour day sales but haven't bought anywhere near what we usually do. I like to buy some household items from Disney picture frame,tea towels,kitchen utensils this year I have only bought a keyring at Disney.
We have been discussing our next visit and think we will be giving Disney a miss next time. We have also taken packed lunches out for first time ever and it's worked well.

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Ditto, I could have written that! We've been going since 1989 when we went for £289 each...! This year was noticibly more expensive for food & shopping and looking at next years early holiday prices I can't even come close to the price we paid for going this year. We are also looking further afield instead of Orlando now.

[nth09]

Originally Posted by Moorlandman

Average sterling rate against the dollar has been $1.55 for the last 30 years.

The current "brexit" rate is appalling

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Spot on. Historically (in any meaningful sense) 1.50 is par. To say one thing is not abnormal (current rate) because you can find a case that was more abnormal makes no sense at all!

However that's certainly not the whole story. We are now seeing dollar prices that would "sting" even at a 1.50-1.60 rate.