Saving on meals

[fvols98]

Family of four staying at RPR next week for four nights. We are flying in so no car. Looking for some ways to save on meal costs. I have an AP so will be able to save some there. Looking to cut costs so kids can experience mini golf which they have never done at the ages of 9 and 11. All suggestions welcomed. Thanks.

 

[macraven]

look for the coupons or specials at city walk for the kids eat free places.
some of the coupons are, buy an adult entre and child meal free.


take snacks in your luggage that the family enjoys.
they will come in handy during the afternoon or a few hours before you plan to eat.

buy the refillable popcorn bucket in the parks.
save the bucket for the next day at the refill price.

ask for water at the cs instead of buying bottled water.

buy the refillable mug and share the soda.

order pizza at louies with a salad and split between the family.

do the fast food place in city walk/ burger king, moes, panda.
burgers cheaper here than in the park.

walk to walgreens which is near pbh and buy snacks there.
it will be cheaper there than in the park.

 

[Metro West]

Split meals when you can...most portions are large enough to do so. Do as Macraven says...get snacks and things from stores outside the resort to save.

 

[Dunlopiii]

Family of four staying at RPR next week for four nights. We are flying in so no car. Looking for some ways to save on meal costs. I have an AP so will be able to save some there. Looking to cut costs so kids can experience mini golf which they have never done at the ages of 9 and 11. All suggestions welcomed. Thanks.

Burger digs in IOA .. order the double cheeseburger platter, and an extra bun for $1 more. Boom, 2 cheeseburgers! We've even taken in small packets if salad dressing, and made salads from the burger bar

 

[damo]

Sal's Deli has pizza that is a very reasonable price and is very good (located at PBH).

Also, the volcano nachos at Margaritaville are HUGE!!! Throw some chicken on them and it would probably feed the bunch of you.

 

[TheAviator]

Well one way is to hit a grocery store on your way to the hotel and stock up on sandwich meat, snacks, breakfast food etc. Maybe skip the hotel breakfast and do that in the room. Sandwiches for lunch (at least on a few days) and splurge for dinner at a nice restaurant at night.

Although do NOT skip eating at Mythos, and I think they are only open during the day, so plan on this, Mythos is the only restaurant not to be missed IMO at Universal (Its in IOA)

 

[vleeth]

If you drink soda, buying them at the grocery store instead of the parks makes a big difference.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Take snacks and breakfast food with you (poptarts, granola bars, etc) to eat in the hotel. We absolutely never eat breakfast out on non-travel days while vacationing. Of course, if your hotel includes free breakfast, make it a big one, and snag a couple of apples on the way out to snack on later.

Mom and I split meals several times last year, and we also tailored our ordering. Two hamburger meals + 2 hamburgers and split the 2 fries between the 4 of us.

Give the kids $x each and don't give in to requests for other purchases. We did that last year and it was amazing how little they bought knowing they had to use "their" money for it. My older ds actually made sure not to spend all his birthday and other monies b/c he knew he wanted a wand *and* other things. You can look online to get a good feel for the prices of souvies you might want and plan accordingly.

If you buy snacks at the parks, just do it once a day, and only for the kids. Mooch off theirs, LOL. OK, mostly we bought only for the kids, but Mom and I had to have butterbeer. It's also easy to share snacks. The boys shared a butterbeer and Mom and I shared one. And we tried to pick "iconic" things - we bought snacks at Honeydukes, Dippin' Dots at USO (we don't have one here), waffle spears at Legoland - stuff we couldn't get elsewhere.

Start saving your change RIGHT NOW. Spend no more change between now and when you leave, and use the change for mini-golf. We've done this for years to collect spending money for a day at the closest amusement park. Now we do it to help fund boy scout high adventure trips.