Our trip without dining plan

[tink1953]

First one without free dining plan in a while...

Where is the best place to "share:" a meal??
largest portions?

We have eaten at most of the resturants in Disney world but usually don't need to worry about paying with free dining...so we know what they serve but I haven't paid a whole lot of arttention to portion size...

I was thinking..

MK...cosmic rays
pecos bills

Epcot electric unbrella
sunshine seasons

AK Flame tree

HS Backlot

are these the ones you woiuld recommend or do you have others to add??

I don't know what's hardest..planning meals with free dining or planing meals without money LOL

thanks
BArb

[BearcatsFan]

First of all, hello fellow Cincinnatian!

I would add WPE (DTD - Marketplace). The breakfast pizza is huge, and so are the sides. We learned - we each got a side of scrambled eggs, one would have been plenty for extra protein with the pizza. The sides of bacon going by were piled high as well.

[Quin]

When paying oop I'd recommend reversing the normal dining plan procedure: if you want any TS locations, eat there at lunch and have dinner at CS. A number of TS locations still offer significant savings at lunchtime. Biergarten is probably the best example of this. However, be aware that Disney is closing this loophole - an increasing number of restaurants are changing to a single lunch/dinner menu (with a single price applying to both meals).

Note that a number of CS locations that have a ribs & chicken combo, which is probably the most shareable meal, offer this only at dinnertime now.

Another tip is to eat dinners at resort CS locations. Resort CS tend to offer more choices at dinner than at lunch with bigger portions.

Pepper Market is an all-you-can-eat buffet at lunch but not at dinner. It is more expensive than most CS meals but much less expensive than most TS meals. Trails End has a buffet at dinner but not at lunch. Their buffet has also been a good value in prior years but you'd better check this year's prices to be sure.

Remember that any meal that comes with a side (fries, usually) can be ordered without the side item for a reduced price, even though it is not separately listed on the overhead menu boards. So if you're both getting burgers, get one with fries and one without. Of course, ice water will be your drink of choice this trip - it's healthy and it's free, both with your meals and at any time during the day from any location that has a soda fountain. Save that money from those sodas for a splurge like shared Dole Whip instead.

[tink1953]

Hello back Bearcatsfan.....wouldn't you love to be in Disney world today?? Hah
what is WPE (I'm sure when you tell me it will be an of course thats it)


I was looking into Trails end for a lunch or breakfast but wasn't sure about the quality of food and I would bet we eat a lot at everything Pop...

Great tips....we always order ice water with our meals....

thanks and keep the ideas coming...

Barb

[BearcatsFan]

Originally Posted by tink1953

Hello back Bearcatsfan.....wouldn't you love to be in Disney world today?? Hah
what is WPE (I'm sure when you tell me it will be an of course thats it)


I was looking into Trails end for a lunch or breakfast but wasn't sure about the quality of food and I would bet we eat a lot at everything Pop...

Great tips....we always order ice water with our meals....

thanks and keep the ideas coming...

Barb

Most definitely! Sick of the snow already!

WPE is Wolfgang Puck Express.

Are you staying at POP? We ate a lot at their food court when we were there in 2011. They have many choices and their meals are large and pretty tasty.

If you're staying at POP, you will also have a mini-fridge in your room you could put yogurt, milk, or other items in to keep costs down. There's a grocery close if that's something you want to consider.

[Quin]

Food is OK at Trails End. Remember that breakfast and dinner are buffet only while lunch is menu only. Pepper Market at CSR breakfast and lunch are buffet only while dinner is more like a food court; you order/pay a la carte.

[Ro Z]

For us it is not all about saving $$ although that is always nice.It is just the way we eat.
We can split most cs meals. The bounty platter for breakfast. Can easily be shared. We also eat at places where we can split apps. RFC and Trex. Nachos that could feed 4 people! AK we like the CS at yak yeti. The chix fried rice and honey chicken. Easily shared! Most of the time 3 of us share 2 cs meals wherever we are! And you can order a side of mac n cheese, which I love, wherever it is served. It costs about $3.00. And is yummmm!!

[partigus]

that there is no such thing as a free lunch! Whe nDisney offers free dining, you loose out on other perks- such as room discounts. So We just booked 6 nights at the Beach Club with a 30% discount. Based on the configuration of your family, "free" dining might actually be not as good as a room discount.

While I like the dining plan, the current one is fine "for free" just not much of a calue when paying for it. We did it the first time- it included appetizers and tips! I've never seen value at the 2 credit restraints, but when paying out of pocket...We'll have lunch this year at the Brown Derby and I'll have the prawn appetizer and a Cob Salad for a total of $ 26.

I find that I am "too cheap" to enjoy myself , AND save money on the plan. What do Imean? Just that when I'm on the plan, I feel obligated to order the steak, even if I want a salad. And don't get me started on desert...even though "it's included" now I'm tipping on a $7 dessert I didn't really want.

[natfrac]

We always pay out of pocket now, for the reason PP mentioned--when on the dining plan, we try to maximize the value of the dining plan rather than order what we want.

That being said, we usually don't try to share meals except some CS. We have found appetizers to be a better deal (and more to our liking) at several TS. Since we always rent points and stay at BWV, we save by eating breakfast, snacking, and eating an occasional lunch or dinner in our room.

[tink1953]

Yes we always stay at pop resort....it works fine for us (2 adults)...we actually like their food court, not bad food wise. We wanted to try Little mermaid resort this trip but it wasn't included in the Visa discount

We have never tired pepper market, just might do that...

I am thinking about packing some food in an extra piece of luggage...at $25(might be even more need to check) for second piece just wondering if it will be worth it?? Like breakfast/lunch foods, drinks snacks ect....

I just think the food is so overpriced and you have to eat

As for the free dining I agree...we tend to get the most expensive things on menu and also we spend so much time on table service meals that we miss park time..we have saved hundreds of $$$$ with the free dining for sure and tried many resturants we would never have even thought about doing, like Boma and eating in the castle...but this trip we will just eat when we get hungry not when they tell us its time to eat..

[BearcatsFan]

As far as packing extra food, you might want to check into shipping some stuff down ahead of time directly to the resort. That might actually be cheaper for you, depending on what you're planning to send. We tried cramming stuff into our luggage last time (trail mix, drink mix, protein bars, etc.) and decided we're going to check into ship-ahead next time.

Will you have a car or are you using ME? If you have a car, it would be easy enough to hit the closest grocery (not Goodings, though, they're expensive) and pick up a case of water, etc.

[Ro Z]

We always pack food, water, soda, juice and liquor. But we fly Southwest so we have 2 free bags each. It does add a lot of weight to your bags so being able to pack 2 each is great!

[NHKristy76]

We love to share lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. The food is so fantastic but the portions are HUGE!