Cheap eats within the parks?

[travelwith4kids]

Hi there,
We are doing 4 days at Disneyland and DCA in September. We are on a budget and also have 4 kids so looking for good value family friendly meal suggestions and also 'special' snacks that you consider to be a must try.
Or if you took sandwiches/snacks etc in with you please share your experiences of buying from supermarkets etc
Also wondering if you are allowed to take in food to Universal Studios?
And also thinking of the $30 all you can eat at SeaWorld is worth while? We probably wouldnt normally eat 2 meals a day within a park but might be worth it if we do?

Thanks for your thoughts

 

[mickeyd78]

If you are looking for good value eats, I'd recommend Earl of Sandwich.. Although outside the parks, it's in Downtown Disney. The sandwiches are delicious and very reasonably priced. One of the few 'bargains' at Disney in my view.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Disney Village, I would also recommend Earl of Sandwich

Main Park
Mainstreet - Plaza Gardens

Big Thundar Ranch Bar B Q - all you can eat table service

Tommorowland Terrace

You should take a look here https://disneyland.disney.go.com/au/dining/list/ its the complete list of dining at booth the main park and DCA.

One snack you MUST try is the Dole Whip http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Dole_Whip This is a Disney exclusive, only sold at the Tiki Juice Bar in Adventureland.

 

[minneylovesmicky]

Churro's are a must do...so fresh and yummy, as for the dole whip - my daughter and I tried it, as it was a "must do" told to us by many ppl, it is quite sweet. We should have gotten one and shared it, but didn't so wasted it. There was a little eatery within Disneyland, can't remember the name, it is on your left as you get closer to the Castle??? They have hot dogs for only a few dollars, with the hot dog you get a packet of Lays chips - we thought that weird but hey...lol

We did seaworld, but didn't do the all you can eat buffet, we just "made our own burger", that meal lasted us all day, we are not huge eaters at the best of times, but the food over there, didn't really sit right with us, so our appetite took a hit. The two burgers, small dessert and drinks only cost $21.00, I think it was, so go on to the web site for Sea world and look at the menu and see if it would be worth the $30 each.

The drinks at San Diego zoo are HUGE (1 ltr) and you can get FREE refills for $1.00 per refill....work that one out...lol...They were so big, we just shared one drink. The slushies at Seaworld are really nice and cooled us down whilst watching the whale show.

Whilst at Sea World, head around to the mammal section, you will get to see animals they have rescued, when we went in February they had the cutest little baby hedgehog.

Have a great time

 

[Meemoo]

I was confused with the packet of Lays with the hotdogs too! Just need to keep in mind when they say do you want chips with that they are really referring to a packet of chips not a side of fries as they call it

 

[bswift]

Yes you often get a side of chips with things like sandwiches too (in the US in general), I've also been given them with pizza once. I like it cause then I can save the chips for a snack later .

My trip isn't til October but I've actually picked out where/what I want to eat and worked out what it should cost me. From memory the plan is:
Day one - free sandwich at Earl of Sandwich for lunch (they give you a coupon when you sign up online), Mickey beignets as a snack and pasta at Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta for dinner
Day two - free breakfast at my hotel, cheddar cheese stick at Corn Dog Castle, Dole whip as a snack, grilled cheese and tomato soup at Jolly Holiday for dinner

It works out to roughly $23 USD a day (without tax and there shouldn't be any need to tip at the places I've picked). I plan on picking up some bottled water at CVS and bringing that in with me for during the day and just having one soft drink with dinner each day. Obviously none of this is set in stone and will depend on which park I'm in at what time. I personally don't like carrying too much stuff around with me so bringing in lunch/snacks isn't for me.

Not sure where you're staying but there's a CVS on the corner of Katella and Harbour that will have basic grocery items. You can also sign up to their membership card for discounts. Since you're travelling as a family, I suggest sharing snacks and meals where possible. I don't think I finished my Dole whip when I went to WDW so that's definitely something that can be shared. The Mickey beignets are $7.19 for a 6 pack so that could be something good for you to share. Meals in the US are definitely bigger on average than they are here so you should be fine to share.

 

[Meemoo]

Thanks for the tip re, Earl of Sandwich sign up. I have heard so many good things about that place. Do you think they mind if you are not a local to use the free sandwich voucher? Sorry to ask another question not quite related to OP, but has anyone had a corn dog at DL? (of course you probably all have ) I tried a 'hot dog on a stick' at the Sydney Royal Easter Show yesterday and whilst the outer crunch was pleasant it didn't really taste like anything at all! I have heard DL has great corn dogs, do they actually taste good? They do seem to do their junk food better than us

 

[travelwith4kids]

Thank you for all the replies and your welcome to ask your questions Meemoo, it helps me too
Our 4 kids are quite young, eldest is 10yrs, so we will be doing lots of sharing! Especially snacks and treats but do they mind sharing plates in casual dining places in the US? I dont expect to buy our 2 yr old much of her own of anything !
I have heard of Dole Whip and also read about the corn dogs in DL, I have made a note of others mentioned! Our kids havent tried many types of 'junk food', they have never even eaten a hotdog so they sure are going to have many firsts over there!!

We are staying at Anahiem Desert Inn & Suites across from the parks.

Feel free to add your fave snack or meal here

 

[Lionsy]

Disneyland is not known for food bargains. Snacks, and main meals can very quickly add up in price. Depending on where you're staying, it might be possible to load up with a free hotel breakfast (eg. Park Vue, Candy Cane Inn), and you can even take a few muffins / fruit with you. You can also take food into the park that you purchase elsewhere (eg. Target, supermarket). This will free up some cash for the yummy snacks that they have in the parks (yummy, didn't say cheap).

Within the parks, churros are a must- they are much better than anywhere else I've tried. The corn dogs are actually quite nice, but if you eat too many, your stomach will definitely not thank you. If you're into large pieces of meat, the turkey leg is surprisingly nice, and the meat very tender. My wife liked the ice cream at Gibson's Ice Cream Parlour in DL, but it's just Dreyer's ice cream (you can buy an entire tub at the supermarket for the cost of 2 scoops). The pineapple dole whip is very refreshing when it's hot, and if you actually see the Tiki Room, the queue is shorter from the inside of the attraction (you can bring the whip into the TIki room). The Mickey Mouse ice creams in the carts scattered throughout the theme parks are rock hard- they are stored in dry ice, so be aware of this. The Mickey Mouse shaped pretzels are mediocre. In terms of proper meals, we found the café at Coke Corner, the one in Frontierland, and Award Weiners (in DCA), quite reasonable. Also the burger place in Tomorrowland, and Troubadour near Mickey and the Magical Map.

DTD is not the place to get cheap family meals in general, and most of the places will have long waits around meal times (we're talking over an hour). As stated earlier, the EOS is very good- try the cannonball. Starbucks is also reasonable for a sandwich or a croissant or something. Trader Sams at the DLH is also fairly reasonable and they serve nice flatbread. Servings in the US are much bigger, so it maybe possible to share entrées between 2 people, with most decent mains in DTD around $20 pp.

 

[travelwith4kids]

Thank you Lionsy! Loads of great suggestions, I will have a look at them!
We do get a breakfast at Desert Inn & Suites and we will be more then happy with cereal, toast, yoghurt etc. Grabbing some muffins to go is a great idea
We are more then happy to take some food in with us. We will have 1, maybe 2 strollers with us so we wouldnt have to carry it all day. We would also prefer to skip crowds at restaurants in meal times (dining out with 4 kids is busy at the best of times!!) so taking food with us would take the pressure off in that respect.

Just a question regarding breakfast in the hotels. We are on a month long trip with many different accommodations, most providing free breakfast. Is it ok to have either DH or I go down and collect the children's breakfast and take it back to our room for them to eat there? Just thinking that way they could be eating whilst we are getting everyone ready to leave for the day? Thanks if you know.

 

[Thumper1066]

At Casey's on Main Street they sell corn dog nuggets. We grab them for a meal at a snack price. And the nuggets themselves are uncommonly good.

 

[Lionsy]

Is it ok to have either DH or I go down and collect the children's breakfast and take it back to our room for them to eat there?

Usually it's OK. In our trips, we've had no problems taking food back to the rooms. In fact, Candy Cane Inn, for example, will deliver breakfast to your room with some of the packages. It's going to really speed things up if you don't have to drag the kids out to get breakfast. And nobody seems to mind if you do take an extra muffin, banana, apple, or three. Have fun. Americans also expect people to share meals, and have absolutely no problem if you ask for a box to take food away either.

 

[DVCAustralia]

The free hotel breakfasts in the US can be great!! (Not to be confused with buffet breakfasts where you can only eat in the restaurant).
You can definitely go down and take stuff back to the room at almost all of them. Indeed the hotels tend to encourage this so that they do not need to provide as many tables in the breakfast area. Typically there are trays provided in the breakfast area, occasionally in the room.
Of course you should take stuff for your children that morning, but probably more importantly slip some transportable food onto the tray and then stash this in the room for later. Particularly with four children multiple trips will be expected so make sure you get full value.

 

[AussieNSW]

We are also a family with 4 children and found that sharing meals was a great idea. Some places charge you a small extra plate fee for this. We also brought a toasted sandwich maker from Target and made dinner in the room most nights. The hotel we stayed at also had a microwave so at night we would have toasted sandwiches and steamed veggies from the microwave. We found that this worked really well. During the day we would have a late large lunch and then when we got back I would make up the food as each child was having a shower. In doing this we also avoided cranky children who couldnot sit still for dinner at a restaurant. One of the other things we did was to buy tubs of ICECREAM for after dinner. We purchased a packet of plastic spoons and some plastic bowls and had Ben&Gerrys ICECREAM, it saved us a fortune compared to 6 individual ice creams. Some supermarkets will deliver you first order for free.

 

[bswift]

Just a question regarding breakfast in the hotels. We are on a month long trip with many different accommodations, most providing free breakfast. Is it ok to have either DH or I go down and collect the children's breakfast and take it back to our room for them to eat there? Just thinking that way they could be eating whilst we are getting everyone ready to leave for the day? Thanks if you know.

Yep definitely allowed and I would recommend doing that! I'm not a fan of eating in the breakfast rooms, particularly if I'm travelling alone. I also prefer to get dressed after I eat breakfast in case I spill something or make a mess so I would just quickly throw on some jeans and a t-shirt/hoodie for breakfast. I'm also a fan of taking a few extra things back with me in case a I need a late night snack, ie. pastries or individual tubs of yoghurt. Depends on whether or not you have a fridge of course!

I haven't tried a corn dog before because I'm a vegetarian but I'm very excited about the idea of deep fried cheese in batter on a stick!

Meemoo it looks like you need to put an address in to sign up for the Earl of Sandwich club, I would just make one up or use a friend's if you have one! Make sure you don't sign up too far in advanced though, I think the coupon is good for a month (there's a few threads around here somewhere about it for more info).

 

[Aust]

Counter service kid's meals are quite good value at DLR as they include a drink and often some fruit along with the main, and are about $6/$7. Or depending on how much your kids eat 2 or 3 of them could share an adult's meal. Some places have huge meals, e.g. Plaza Inn - if you get the fried chicken it's 3 huge pieces of chicken plus mashed potato, vegies and bread - you could probably feed 3 kids with 1 meal. And it's a cafeteria type restaurant so it's no drama to share.

Even the sandwiches are huge - our first trip myself plus 2 kids (then 3 and 6) shared one sandwich and one tray of cut up vegies for dinner. The turkey sandwich had about 10 slices of meat piled up!

White Water Snacks at Grand Californian is also good for sharing, e.g. the nachos.

 

[bswift]

Oh I thought of another tip today! They usually have bread and bagels at the breakfast bars, you could take some extras back to your room plus some peanut butter/jam/cream cheese and make up sandwiches for lunch!

 

[minneylovesmicky]

Sorry to ask another question not quite related to OP, but has anyone had a corn dog at DL? (of course you probably all have ) I tried a 'hot dog on a stick' at the Sydney Royal Easter Show yesterday and whilst the outer crunch was pleasant it didn't really taste like anything at all! I have heard DL has great corn dogs, do they actually taste good? They do seem to do their junk food better than us

We never tasted the corn dogs whilst there, I have never liked them here in Oz, so wasn't going to try one there. My daughter on the other hand was up for it....until she saw one and saw how thick the batter was - looked thicker than the ones you get here at the Easter show....she passed too...so we are most like the only ones NOT to have had one...lol

 

[minneylovesmicky]

We got the free breakfast deal with our accommodation, after arriving at 6.30 am from sydney, we got to our room about 9am, showered and refreshed headed down for breakfast, in one door and straight out the other, way too much fried foods for us - the smell was horrible...we ended up getting Cocos for breakfast that mornimg and then we went to a supermarket and got some milk, cereal and juice, this lasted the two of us the 12 days we were there.

 

[Meemoo]

I wouldn't mind taking my own cereal this time if it wasn't going to make getting through customs a hassle. I hear what you're all saying about the sugar coated cereals, one area of junk food i'm not prepared to go!