As a Canadian, what do you do to save money on Park dining?

[Lesverts]

Only plan on eating 1.5 to 2 times a day (big meal plus snacks versus 2 lighter meals) and being thankful that Disney hasn't seen what Canada's Wonderland charges people for the worst version of subway you can imagine.

 

[Prince John Robin Hood]

We've started to eat fewer meals on days where we have an all you care to enjoy meal booked. We didn't start doing this to save money but because we find you eat so much you aren't hungry for quite a while afterwards. A few weeks ago we went to Crystal Palace for a 10:30 reservation and were able to have both the breakfast and lunch buffet. I didn't eat again until after 5 that day and definitely didn't eat a full dinner.

 

[accm]

We enjoy Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Café – Tex-Mex, as a quick service. The fixins bar is amazing and you could make a meal just with that. DH and I will order the fajita Platter and a side of tortillas and share. More than enough.
I don't know if they actually have the fixins bar open post covid, but if they do, it's a good bang for your buck.

​

The fixins bar is not open. You can request it when you place your order, but you don't get much.


For a 3 day trip, I'd probably only schedule 1 TS meal. I don't know that I'd bother spending money on breakfast personally.
We have breakfast in the room, and bring snacks to the parks with us. We still buy snacks, but they're more of a treat.
For a 3 day trip, it might not be worth it, but we always get a popcorn bucket, and go through a lot of popcorn. It keeps everyone from getting grumpy.
I also recommend getting giftcards. I get 5% cashback with my credit card for grocery store purchases, so I end up "saving" 7.5% between the cashback and saving on foreign exchange fee.
There are some more affordable restaurants. Sanaa was already mentioned. Trail's End Restaurant is a good family dining option for a pretty reasonable price ($32/pp)

 

[grapefruitjellybean]

My TD app sends me notifications for every purchase and it was painful to see the converted bill so instantly. To save money and time I did the following:
- buy breakfast foods to eat in hotel or wherever you are staying. Yogurt, instant oatmeal, fruit, etc etc. pack bars and snacks and take them to the parks
- don’t buy water there, you can get free water refills everywhere at the park. I effed up and bought a Smart Water because I was dying for a cold drink and TD let me know I just spent $7.79CAD on a bottle of water. So dumb
- reduce TS - honestly it’s not worth it. The food at Disney is just meh to me and you picked some pricey places
- eat a bigger breakfast to keep you satisfied for longer, do a snack, then a bigger meal midday
- we share our meals but my kids are only 5 and 7
- do a drive thru meal on your way home from the parks
- I also think about what I’m eating and decide if I really want it. For example, those Mickey bars are cute but it’s just vanilla ice cream coated in chocolate, you can that at DQ so I’ll select something I can only get at Disney
Some of my favourite places to eat that were reasonably priced, tasty, unique, and filling are Docking Bay 7, Satuli Canteen, Tangerine Cafe, Regal Eagle, Pecos Bill’s (food was meh but the portions are large), Harambe Market, ABC commissary

 

[grapefruitjellybean]

I also forgot the popcorn and refillable bucket!

 

[igrsod]

Some good suggestions and advice given so far. Here's what we do... we order in food for breakfast in room, as well as snacks. That alone saves quite a bit. We split meals whenever possible. I am a light eater, and quite often can eat an appetizer as a meal at some restaurants. If your kids are big eaters, then a restaurant with AYCTE or family style meals might be great value.

 

[bababear_50]

All 4 Parks at WDW & Disney Springs have a Starbucks.
I give my kids Starbucks Christmas/Birthday gift cards which I have bought via using my Airmiles.
Definitely helps with snack costs.
Hugs Mel

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/starbucks-disney-world-guide/

 

[DVCanadian]

My TD app sends me notifications for every purchase and it was painful to see the converted bill so instantly.

This!
Every time we used the credit card instead of charging the room I got an email from Visa saying there was an out of country purchase and showing the converted amount @1.43 owwwwwcccchhhh .
Snack carts were painful. $3 churro? Felt like $6. All the notices made it worse.
I charged more to the room via the magic band to make it go away LOL

 

[DVCanadian]

We went down for 5 nights/4 park days in October 2022 (thanksgiving). Family of 4 (2 adults, 2 teen girls).
All $ below are what we paid in CDN.
Spent just over $2,000 on food at Disney and another $250 at airports.
As DVC it was easy to have some food for breakfast in the room and late night snacks (groceries $130).

A lot the cost was due to our choices. California grill and Topolinos are expensive. $1,180 of the $2,000 was on those two meals alone. Topolinos was worth it @$450, the fixed menu at Cali Grill for $720 - No.

 

[deedubb]

We went down for 5 nights/4 park days in October 2022 (thanksgiving). Family of 4 (2 adults, 2 teen girls).
All $ below are what we paid in CDN.
Spent just over $2,000 on food at Disney and another $250 at airports.
As DVC it was easy to have some food for breakfast in the room and late night snacks (groceries $130).

A lot the cost was due to our choices. California grill and Topolinos are expensive. $1,180 of the $2,000 was on those two meals alone. Topolinos was worth it @$450, the fixed menu at Cali Grill for $720 - No.

View attachment 737158

Wow! I always pay with my USD credit card and don't think twice about it, but when you see it in $CAD, it really hits home. $720 for California Grill! Just shows you how overpriced a lot of table service is. We always do at least one MK dessert party, but now that it is $400 USD for 4 and they have taken away some of our favourite items (spring rolls and ooey gooey toffee cake), it is totally not worth it.

We order groceries and always do breakfast in the room. If we do a buffet, we do it at lunch which usually means a very light supper. We don't do as much table service as we used to, unless we are going over Christmas/NYE, in which case it is at least 1 table service meal a day, and often 2/day, just so we don't have to fight for a table. Those are expensive trips.

At the end of the day though, you are on vacation and part of the fun at Disney is eating, so we don't feel the need to scrimp at bring all our food into the parks, but people certainly do that and Disney fully allows it. You could eat breakfast in your room, bring sandwiches for lunch, and order quick service for dinner. Minimize snacks which are just overpriced junk food, and definitely do not pay for water/pop.

 

[Honeypot]

We order a delivery when we arrive to have breakfast in the room, water bottles and snacks.

TS will be the most expensive food at Disney - are you booking Crystal Palace because you really want to see the characters? If so, I get it. But I wouldn't book it if the characters aren't super important, because the price for the food is not worth it IMO.

If you are trying to save, I would probably pick the one TS that you really want to do as a splurge and then just do QS for the rest.

 

[Deanie1]

A fellow Canadian here with 3 kids (now adults and they don’t travel with me anymore). When we went, I packed a bag of just food And we all took snacks in our bags to have at the parks - mainly granola bars, protein bars, etc to fill people up. We also had breakfast in our room every day but mainly to save time in the morning. The kids had to have milk at that meal in our room but since it was vacation, they were allowed chocolate. In the parks, we all drank water and if possible, get everyone to take a water bottle or else buy a case of water and each take a bottle every day. Refill that bottle throughout the day. Skip the TS meals or maybe choose one. Saves time in the parks and a ton of money. Could you eat your big meal at lunch? Cheaper that way. Alcoholic drinks will really add up So keep that in mind.

 

[kuhltiffany]

We do a grocery order dropped off to the resort. Breakfast in the room (fruit, cereal). Refillable water bottles for drinks. We do usually only 1 table service meal, we hate spending both the money and the time! Quick service meals, often kids ones are all that my daughter and I need.

 

[ElCray]

+1 for doing our own food including bringing lunch and snacks into the parks. Other bonuses of the approach include saving time (as long as you keep the food simple) and being able to eat when you want to.

 

[mamaofsix]

Similar to those above, this is what we do:

-Order a grocery delivery for the day we arrive
-Eat breakfast in our room
-Pack a lunch for in the parks. It's actually very relaxing to eat a picnic away from the quick service crowds (ie: Tom Sawyer's Island, China Pavilion gardens, etc).
-Bring a refillable water bottle and don't buy drinks
-Use a credit card with reward points for all purchases. Takes the bite out.

 

[40ariel]

We will order groceries and eat in the room (studio) before leaving for parks. Cereal, milk, yogurt, fruit, eggos, donuts, muffins. I will also bring a cooler with drinks (water and sprite) into the parks so save $ on beverages, and order ice water with quick service meals.
We will eat breakfast around 9:30 -10:30 after taking advantage of early entry. We prioritized two buffets for breakfast: Tusker House and Boma. For the other breakfasts we are going to try combination of a cheaper buffet (Ale & Compass) and quick service (Sanaa and Les Halles Boulangerie) and table service (Kona Cafe).
Then we will eat dinner around 5pm, mostly quick service, but if I can get a reservation for Sci Fi Dine in, we will do that as well. Quick service options for us look like: Flame Tree Barbecue, Yorkshire County, Polite Pig, and Geyser Point.