Can anyone give any tips on eating at Disney, Cheap!?

[ekidwell0001]

My DBF and I went on a wonderful 10 day trippie in September, with the FREE dining plan and wow, was that amazing... Well, now since the buy 3 get 4 deal, we're trying to go back with our best friends for spring break in March... Yes, four 21 year olds, trying to do disney CHEAP! lol. Well, i priced the dining plan out, but i didnt know if anyone had any more ideas... We will be driving down, so we will have a vehicle to go off property to eat somewhat if need be... TIA!

 

[kmk1180]

My DBF and I went on a wonderful 10 day trippie in September, with the FREE dining plan and wow, was that amazing... Well, now since the buy 3 get 4 deal, we're trying to go back with our best friends for spring break in March... Yes, four 21 year olds, trying to do disney CHEAP! lol. Well, i priced the dining plan out, but i didnt know if anyone had any more ideas... We will be driving down, so we will have a vehicle to go off property to eat somewhat if need be... TIA!

The cheapest is is to eat off property but that also takes alot of your time away from the parks.
Time or Money? What can you afford?

or skip meals, only eat twice a day if you used to 3 meals.
or sit down and a snack meal. (some of those Bakery items can be quite filling)

 

[pumba]

if you are staying at Value resorts.......the food court is really reasonable .....get your refillable mugs and start the day off with a good breakfast.....have a snack or a snacking time during the middle of the day and then eat a good supper at night....The Value resorts have good meals for dinners too.....I know that there are alot of buffets outside of disney.....and you could eat cheaper there too.....Hope that you have fun planning for your vacation....

here are some ideas......and breakfasts can go for about 6.00

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningdetail.cfm?Restaurant.ID=346

 

[disney aviator]

When you eat at table service restaurants, the portions are usually large. My wife and I frequently will split appetizer and an entree and a dessert. This usually gives us just the right amount of food when we choose to eat a nice sit-down meal. In essence, it gives us two meals for the price of one.

 

[engle]

Here are a few tips....can't say it'll be CHEAP, but less....

Eat your TS at lunch instead of dinner. Make is as late as possible and you probably won't want dinner or maybe just a snack.

Split meals or a few apps. There is always too much anyway.

Eat CS at Epcot....there are so many great options in Morocco, Japan, China and Mexico as well as Sunshine Seasons in The Land Pavilion.

Go through menus at allearsnet.com and find the cheapest TS. There are definitley some more inexpensive than others. Also, check out the TS options at the Swan and Dolphin.

 

[MomofKatie]

Our biggest "eat cheap" tip is to share meals. DH, DD10 and I usually share 1 appetizer and 2 entrees at TS reataurants. 2 adults could share 1 appy, 1 entree, and 1 dessert (or no dessert). We've never had any problems sharing at any TS at WDW. The CS combo meals are also good to share- the 3 of us usually sheare 2 combo meals, and it is plenty of food.

Drink water with meals instead of tea, soft drinks, or alcohol. You'll save about $5 at least per meal for the 2 of you. Also, all CS places will give you a cup of ice water FREE if you ask. We don't ever buy bottled H2O at $2- $3 a bottle- we bring our own, or just get a cup free from the CS places. Bring Crystal Lite packets if you want something flavored.

Eat some meals offsite. If you have a fridge at your hotel room, you can also bring along things for breakfast. We always have at least juice, milk, and cream cheese for bagels in our fridge on vacations. Bagels, Pop Tarts, cereal, and Danish are all good breakfast things you can keep in your room.

Eat just one big meal a day on property, if you can. We try to eat a good breakfast in the room before heading to the parks. We have an early, light lunch at 11am or so (sharing a CS meal, or just a filling snack item), then have our big meal around 3-3:30pm. Scheduling a meal then can also save money because it is still technically "lunch time", so prices can be lower- definitely for buffets! If we get hungry later in the evening, we can have another snack to tide us over.

 

[eeyore913]

Well this past May my Dbf and I went and did the dining plan so we ate wonderfully, but kind of felt full all the time. We are planning a trip for just the two of us again next May and we are your ages so we too want cheap haha. What we have decided we are there 5 days(rented DVC points didn't do the 4/3 deal) and we priced out meals and dining plan and found it wouldn't be worth it this year because we aren't doing as expensive places. We are just going to do The Wave(MK day), Boma's for breakfast(staying AKV), and then Captain Jacks one night. Then for DHS day we are doing Beaches and Cream and then eating our way around the world for Epcot(thought this would be fun and we could share each thing so wouldn't be too expensive). As for times when we do a CS we will split it because when we did the dining plan we always had WAY too much food and wasted a lot of it. I'm sure you can find places off site as well that are cheaper we just won't have a car. The other thing we thought is pack some food since we are staying DVC we will have a mini kitchen(but we will probably get lazy and just pack snacks but that would still save some money!) Anyways I hope it works out for you have fun!!

 

[crisi]

Since you are driving, bring a cooler (or get a room with a fridge) and go grocery shopping. There are a lot of easy cheap meals that can be made in a hotel rooms - sandwiches, salads, cereal and milk. Bring along a few dishes as well. Disney does not care if you pack in a sandwich or two, an apple, some Clif bars - you can spend all day in the parks without needing to buy much of anything.

Then share what you do buy.

 

[blessedby3]

We always have breakfast items in the room with us and take snacks into the parks. We graze on them and end up eating one meal on most days. If we eat 2 meals in the parks (CS) then we split them. You can get the double cheeseburger combo and an extra bun and make 2 burgers out of it. We also order a couple of large sodas for all of us and get free smaller cups to pour into. One or two nights (depending on how long our stay is) we will order out pizza from Papa Johns, Pizza Hut or Dominos depending on who delivers where we are staying. I know it will be GOOD pizza and it isnt costly. We use our refillable mugs or 2L sodas we have gotten from the grocery.

 

[missycj96]

The best advice for saving money is to have counter service and food court meals, share and bring some snacks and bottles of water. I don't think you'll save that much going off site as opposed to counter service/food courts (the bigger savings offsite is on sit down/restaurant style meals or with larger families), taking into account the traveling - but you will save some so maybe go offsite for some meals. I also find the value food courts relatively reasonable.

Definately pick up some bottles of water for the room and the parks, and some snacks like granola bars and other things you can use for breakfast. If you are not big breakfast eaters, you can buy a box of doughnuts or something like that. Or if you go to eat at the food court, getting oatmeal or a bagel instead of a big breakfast is much less expensive.

I also find that in the parks or the middle of the afternoon, I don't need a full lunch, especially if I had some snacks. So sometimes I will just order soup or get a yogurt parfait at food courts (or a dole whip!). This is less than $5.

The refillable mugs are also a good idea - plus they make a cute souvenir.

And on souvenirs (I know you asked about food, but . . .), if you want to bring gifts home for the family, since you have a car, go over to the outlet shops to buy the souvenirs there - that's a real savings!

 

[The Sweetness]

Best advice, IMO~~~ Take snacks w/ you (trail mix or granola bars etc) Bring a water bottle each and refill as needed (water is best for you anyway), also, have a breakfast or dinner either offsite or at resort food court before or aftet the park. In addition to that, keep yourself busy, so you arent thinking about food all day.

 

[gatrbait]

Ok I might get stuff thrown at me but there are times I get a kids meal when I am just not that hungry...they are cheap...I usually end up getting the kids meal for me and the adult meal for my son...I save the grapes for a snack...just depends how big of an eater you are...I also agree with the pp's bring stuff for breakfast and bring your own drinks...you can get away with eating cheap by sharing many times... the salads and sandwiches at the cs are huge...at any rate have fun!!!

 

[TifffanyD]

What about the QS dining plan? It's $10 a day cheaper, no tips (another $6ish or so a day) and the refillable mug is included ($13 savings) - plus you get 2 snacks (1 more than the regular plan - so around a $3 savings). If you use the CS at your resort you can use your mug to refill and grab another drink for the park.

 

[aurorae]

Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney. But that means you have to take time away from the Parks, but if you are going to Downtown Disney anyway, or if you have a day off from the parks...

Of course, I always have to get a sundae at Ghiradelli, so that negates the meal savings somewhat.

Another money saver is to do a buffet for either lunch or dinner, and make it the only meal of the day. If I really pig out at lunch, I don't even feel like eating dinner.

 

[sharadoc]

First, go grocery shopping and stock up. Eat breakfast in the room almost every day. You can buy milk in the food court and keep it cold in a cooler if you don't use it all up. Fill up on cereal, donuts, bread with peanut butter, bananas. Take a water bottle, PB&J, granola bars and cereal bars with you. Dinner - eat CS or resort food court and split or buy kids meals.

Honestly, we have been to WDW somewhere between 13 and 16 times, and other than character meals, I don't think we've eaten more than 10 meals in parks. We have ALWAYS gone cheap.

There is a budget tip board here on the DIS that has lots of useful budget tips for your vacation, as well as ideas for saving before you go. As a couple, I think we can eat easily for under $20 a day if necessary, and we have!

Another tip, since you are of legal age, buy your beer and/or drink mixers at the grocery store and wait until you are back in the room. A mixed drink costs around $10 at a bar in WDW.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

Didn't you know that it's against the law to use "Disney" and "cheap" in the same sentence or breath?

 

[luv2plan]

You can get a CS meal without fries and it costs $1 cheaper. We just share 1 order of fries.

I have also gotten kids meals for myself.

 

[allshookup]

Along with all the other great suggestions you could also just sit at a bar at one of the restaurants & order some apps instead of sitting down to a big meal.

 

[3boymthr]

Since you have a car and can bring a cooler one way to save is to buy all your drinks/snacks/meal items offsite and bring them back and eat in your room off paper plates. Supposedly there is a Walmart and/or a Publix that's not too far away where you can buy cases of water and boxes of cereal/protein bars for breakfast and snack foods like chips & cookies as well as lunch fixings. Put perishables and some of the non-perishable items in the room and store the rest of the non-perishables in the car until you're ready to use them.

Budget to splurge on one got-to-have-it meal or snack a day so you don't feel horrendously guilty or bust your budget if you do buy one and if you don't end up buying one then you can buy two the next day or use the money to buy a souvenir.

 

[MickeyNicki]

In our broke days DH and I used to stay offsite and have breakfast at McDonalds or Dunkin Donuts and eat CS in the parks for lunch, sometimes for dinner too or we would eat off site, somewhere on 192.