Anyone ever done a trip with no big meals??

[disneymania]

We are trying to no spend so much money this trip & way we figured we could save is by eliminating character meals & big sit down dinners. We have 3 little ones so sit down meals are usually rushed anyway. In the past, the dinners have always been something we've enjoyed but I wonder if we could enjoy counter service places just as much & focus on the parks & fun snacks instead. What do you think???

P.S., we are also traveling in a big group who have very different touring styles so less structured dining may be better. ????

 

[SnowWitch]

Our very first trip we accomplished this. We didn't know what a PS was. We had a ball!!! There are some really good counter service places in Epcot, we love the Tusker House in the AK, my boys love to get foot long hotdogs and turkey legs in MGM, and the Columbia Harbor House is great in the MK, get a table at Casey's Corner grab some dogs and watch the parade in the MK. It will be what you make of it.

 

[peachgirl]

On our first trip we didn't do any sit down meals. We stayed at FW cabins and ate almost every meal in the cabin. Even now we usually only schedule one or 2 ps meals, the rest are just quick meals. This trip we're doing quite a few more than we normally would, but we have Christmas Eve and Day and New Years so we wanted something a little nicer for those days. The sit down restaurants can eat up a budget quick and especially with little ones it can be a real waste!

 

[tjmw2727]

Check out the menus on "deb's site" at wdwig.com. There are lots more great counter service places with a variety of (slightly) more healthy food than I remember from years past. Off hand we love the Columbia Harbor house at MK and as someone mentioned Tusker house at AK. The Land pavilion at Epcot has great variety of good food, we also love the counter service in Mexico.

If we do choose a sit down restaurant we do a late lunch and have a wonderful relaxing meal at a more affordable price. We also find that we are more ready for a sit-down break around 2ish than say 6 or 7. Its also easier to be seated without a PS for a late lunch.

HTH
TJ

 

[ChiTownZee]

We rarely do sit-down restaurants for a few reasons, cost, I don't like to be locked into PS times, I like the freedom of being able to have one of us get up with DD if she wants, it's faster if you want it to be, less wait for food. We usually stick to food courts/ counter service and my favorite, hot dogs from Casey's, with the exception of a character meal or two.

 

[kdibattista]

International Drive - there are many regular restaurants for sit down meals but a little less expensive.

TGI Fridays, Olive Garden, etc....

 

[kdibattista]

the food courts are really, really good!!!! We have used POFQ, POR & CBR and they have all been great.

 

[welovespacemoutain]

I think the dining CAN be done fairly cheaply - we rarely do a sit down that is not a character meal (and now that our daughter is 4 and doesn't get to eat for free we definately will not be going to any buffets that are not character meals - just meals where the kids can split an entree)

We bring our own food into the parks so everyone can eat when they are hungry and we don't have to wait in line for food when it is really busy (but since we are having more fun in the parks, we don't feel like we are depriving ourselves).

We eat breakfast in our room and on the way to the park (especially on early entry mornings) - the kids eat fruit, cereal, yogurt, juice, etc., in the room and then we bring along a bagel or something to munch on and baggie full of cereal for a morning snack.

Whenever we go on a trip anywhere, I always bring bread and peanut butter (and a knife and sandwich bags!) to make sandwiches - other than getting smashed occasionally, they hold up pretty well and are great to tide the kids over until the next meal - plus we can eat them while standing in line. They are so cheap that if we don't end up eating them, it's no big loss just to toss them (which rarely happens).

This allows us to eat more relaxed meals when it is slower and we can usually split 2 meals between the 4 of us (no one goes hungry - if we need more food, we order it, but we never start out with 4 meals because they would just go to waste). It also gives us more $ for popcorn and ice cream!

I try to have "good" snacks in the room - string cheese, yogurt, fruit, carrot sticks, trail mix, etc., that they eat while in the room, but I also know they aren't going to get malnourished in a week and as long as they are not filling up on junk and their energy levels are ok, I don't stress too much over what they eat. I will say this about sit down meals - it is the best chance they have for getting served any vegatables during the trip!

With 3 little ones and a large group to keep up with, counter service may be much more enjoyable and "do-able" than sit down meals, but if you can swing one character meal I doubt you will regret it! Also, a lot of the counter dining at Disney is fun - the kids would much rather go to Pizza Planet in MGM than a fancy sit down meal.

 

[travelitis]

I'm sure I could go without any expensive dining as long as that was my mindset before leaving. With 3 kids, which is what we have, I would find a way to do one character meal. They're expensive but we feel it's the best money we've spent at WDW. We've found that a late lunch is an excellent mid-day break which rejuvenated all of us. We did a 2:00 (doing it again) at Garden Grill, and our kids had characters non-stop for 30-45 min. They danced and played in the aisles. It's like that commercial. Passes to WDW ... $$$$$, Lunch at Garden Grill for 5 ... $$, dancing with Chip and Dale...priceless. We'd rather have that moment captured on video than all the store bought souvies we could carry, and so would the kids.

What a little proactive Disney diner I am. Yikes! Anyone overwhelmed from sugar shock after that one?

 

[CHIPSTER]

I've done it already -- with the food courts at the moderates and all stars you can get some good meals there. Also in the parks they have great choices at the counter service restaurant -- family meal rotisserrie chick at MK. EPCOT has some great choices -- this time on my to do list is the fish and chips.

 

[disneymania]

I already have PS reservations that I plan to keep just in case we feel that we are in need of more in terms of meals but will hopefully be cancelling most of them because we are having too MUCH FUN to stop!!!