Cracking down on outside food?

[Bullseye]

I could see them charging a "corkage/foodage" fee if you insist on bringing in outside food/drink. Let's be honest, WDW has invested a lot of money into their food service options, and they fully expect customers to spend money in those venues. Bringing in your own food reduces their income per revenue unit.

Yes but aren't you even slightly outraged at the thought of no more pickled wieners?

 

[Robo]

Went to the store yesterday and out of curiosity, I priced out the cost of a brown bag salad that I bring in quite often:

I don't disagree, but
what you described is basically the difference between most restaurant dining and make-it-yourself food.
The actual price-ratios vary, but most times you pay more to eat out.

And, the news that WDW food costs a lot is sorta in the DNA of park-going.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm sure they wouldn't! LOL! It would just kill me to spend all that money on water when a whole case is about the cost of 2 bottles from the park.

I totally agree. I can get 40 bottles of water at my Costco closest to me for $3.39 add tax and it's $3.70. But I also know that everywhere I go from sporting events, theme parks, amusement parks, water parks, etc bottled water will always be around $2-$5 per bottle.

 

[jsmla]

I don't disagree, but
what you described is basically the difference between most restaurant dining and make-it-yourself food.
The actual price-ratios vary, but most times you pay more to eat out.

And, the news that WDW food costs a lot is sorta in the DNA of park-going.

I do understand your point. It's not just the cost for me. It's really more the vastly inflated price for an inferior product that gets to me. If I went to any other restaurant and felt the same I simply wouldn't go back. The whole truth is that can only take the Disney eats for so long. There's a salty-bland mass produced saminess to most of it that is probably unavoidable but it gets to me after a while. Even at half the price I probably would want "homemade" after a few days.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Have to say that I've seen the "No cooking (driving, bed making, etc.) I'm on vacation." thing many, many times on budget type threads. It's pretty much a stock reply. While I'm not sure why they bother since it adds little to nothing to the discussion I do respect their right to post their opinion.

Went to the store yesterday and out of curiosity, I priced out the cost of a brown bag salad that I bring in quite often:

Organic Artisinal salad mix-$.75
Fat free salad dressing-$.20
Grilled chicken-$.50
Organic onion, green pepper, black beans-$.45
Organic cherry tomatoes-$.80

So, $2.70 with organic ingredients in the ratio I prefer. I find that most QS salads are about 90% lettuce. A vastly inferior version is available at Liberty Inn for nine bucks. Now, Liberty Inn does have to pay operating costs but I suspect that I spend a LOT more on my ingredients.

I can see where you're getting at and for the most part you'd be hard pressed to find where buying a meal at just about anywhere (not just WDW but in your day to day life) is less than what you can make for at home.

Still for me personally it's hard when people price things out (and I'm not just talking about you but in general) and say hey you can have a meal for X price...yeah there's so many variables that it's not accurate

1) Where you live will greatly impact how much you spend: For example grocery tax is 6% where I'm at but hop over the state line and you'll find the tax is 1%. There is actually quite a problem with people going across state line to get cheaper food. When I lived at my mother's house years ago I was just under 7 miles from the border but now I live about 19 miles from the border it wouldn't make sense to go that far to get groceries.

2) Where you buy from will greatly impact how much you spend: do you shop at warehouse places where in general you pay more upfront but get items in bulk thus usually coming out ahead, do you buy from discountish type places like Aldi, do you buy from higher priced places like Whole Foods, do you buy organic which usually increases your cost, do you buy name brand or generic brand food, etc

3) Do you buy locally grown items (which usually costs more depending on where you buy from)

For example I buy a craft beer at a restaurant (usually craft beer around us isn't quite on special) I spend $5-$7 per glass or I can get an entire 6 pack for $8-$10 or approximately 1-2 beers worth..I would call that quite a mark up but it's normal and expected and doesn't stop me one bit when I want that beer at said restaurant.

I'm not trying to hammer down your comment but it's just that your amount and my amount could be so very different and depending on that end result the mark up at WDW restaurants may not be as drastic as you think (although I completely expect and have no problem with paying higher priced amount at WDW..it's just that way nearly everywhere you go of the same caliber though I know my limit on how much I'm willing to spend).

 

[Minnesota!]

There is a water park near us that allows in no food or drink.
You can keep a cooler in their outside the gate picnic area (they have a shack where you give them to a worker to store until you need it). All meals not from in the park must be eaten out there.

Our local zoo, has outside the gate picnic areas at the two entrances. You store you stuff in your car and then picnic out there. Only food and drink from the park can be eaten inside.

Maybe WDW is looking to move in this direction?

That is what the theme parks around here do. I would love to see WDW do this. A big, green picnic area set up. Refrigerated lockers, picnic tables, hand washing stations, etc. Nobody has to schlep massive coolers through the park, nobody hugging curbs or eating over the garbage cans.

 

[monorailrabbit]

This sounds like someone just stirring the pot with an unfounded rumor.

In no way am I hoping to stir the pot. I do apologize if it came off this way. Was really just interested in a discussion. Not once did I claim this to be true, I just found this to be interesting and was curious on peoples response to this.

My issue with this whole "rumor" is the source, this is the same website who chooses wording to sensationalize their facebook posts, in the past two months they posted that TSMM will close on March 15, no where mentioning unless you click through that is for one day, and when you comment or answer someone's questions in the comments they will delet you answer and replace it with "the information is in the article"

I agree the source is not a proven reliable source. And I also agree the click-bait they use can be terrible. Again, I read it, thought it was interesting, and was interested in others' take on it.

 

[jsmla]

I shop at Whole Foods, Target and a local grocery. Most of my example salad came from Whole Foods. As I said above it's not the price alone. I just don't like the food at WDW well enough to justify paying so much more than for the things I can make. The $2.70/$9 salad example represents real money, the price of a restaurant salad elsewhere doesn't change that. I spent a week on the QSDP last month and the thought of being restricted to the Disney eats for a week is not appealing.

I do enjoy eating out at WDW, just not every meal, every day. It gets old.

ETA: I do buy local and organic if possible. I could get my salad cost much, much lower but then it wouldn't be any better than the one at Liberty Inn. Really, when I sat down and looked at it I really thought hard about going back to the counter and demanding a salad that at least made a stab at resembling the one pictured on the menu board.

I spend a crazy amount of money on booze in the parks. The difference with beer is that when I order a 20 oz Bass Ale I get a 20 oz Bass Ale not a 12 ounce Natty Lite.

 

[Robo]

Rumor.

 

[2009CAN]

I honestly thought Disney allowed outside food/drinks to be brought in? I've always brought in juice boxes/water bottles/snacks for the kids. Has this been "wrong?"

 

[Robo]

I honestly thought Disney allowed outside food/drinks to be brought in? I've always brought in juice boxes/water bottles/snacks for the kids. Has this been "wrong?"

They always HAVE allowed it.
This thread is about a RUMOR that they will be stopping the practice in the future.

RUMOR.
RUMOR.
RUMOR.

 

[anniemae]

I honestly thought Disney allowed outside food/drinks to be brought in? I've always brought in juice boxes/water bottles/snacks for the kids. Has this been "wrong?"

They allow it currently. The speculation/rumor is that they will stop allowing it. To what degree nobody knows. Will they just ban coolers or all outside food? Will they ban water/juice and other drinks? Again, nobody knows. It's just a rumor at this point.

 

[Hibiscus]

Have to say that I've seen the "No cooking (driving, bed making, etc.) I'm on vacation." thing many, many times on budget type threads. It's pretty much a stock reply. While I'm not sure why they bother since it adds little to nothing to the discussion I do respect their right to post their opinion.

Went to the store yesterday and out of curiosity, I priced out the cost of a brown bag salad that I bring in quite often:

Organic Artisinal salad mix-$.75
Fat free salad dressing-$.20
Grilled chicken-$.50
Organic onion, green pepper, black beans-$.45
Organic cherry tomatoes-$.80

So, $2.70 with organic ingredients in the ratio I prefer. I find that most QS salads are about 90% lettuce. A vastly inferior version is available at Liberty Inn for nine bucks. Now, Liberty Inn does have to pay operating costs but I suspect that I spend a LOT more on my ingredients.

This is deceptive math. The total cost to you is not $2.70, but the individual price of each one of those ingredients, added together. You are simply using $2.70 out of the total cost in order to make one salad.

If you're a single person that wants to eat the same salad every day for a week (or longer), using up ALL ingredients, then yes, you can say the total price is $2.70. The second you have any leftover waste or a family member that wants to eat something different, the price goes up.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I shop at Whole Foods, Target and a local grocery. Most of my example salad came from Whole Foods. As I said above it's not the price alone. I just don't like the food at WDW well enough to justify paying so much more than for the things I can make. The $2.70/$9 salad example represents real money, the price of a restaurant salad elsewhere doesn't change that. I spent a week on the QSDP last month and the thought of being restricted to the Disney eats for a week is not appealing.

I do enjoy eating out at WDW, just not every meal, every day. It gets old.

ETA: I do buy local and organic if possible. I could get my salad cost much, much lower but then it wouldn't be any better than the one at Liberty Inn. Really, when I sat down and looked at it I really thought hard about going back to the counter and demanding a salad that at least made a stab at resembling the one pictured on the menu board.

I spend a crazy amount of money on booze in the parks. The difference with beer is that when I order a 20 oz Bass Ale I get a 20 oz Bass Ale not a 12 ounce Natty Lite.

True true..all other factors aside I can tell you if I were to price out what you had mine might cost less (except for grocery and sales tax mine may be higher). I shop at Aldi, Walmart, and Costco as my main places and Costco now has more organic food choices than Whole Foods; I also buy generic most times but I pay very close attention to the packaging to see if I'm getting apples to apples or apples to oranges as far as nutritional value. When I lived near Hy-Vee (regional but very large chain of employee-owned grocery stores) I shopped there over all other grocery stores because their prices were lower but quality was still good.

And I certaintly can understand how it can get boring and old eating out at WDW day after day but because people spend different amounts/days in WDW that amount varies a lot too (I spend 5 non-consecutive days at WDW for example). I also take vacations for around the 7 or more days (this next trip we will be gone 10 days but 2 are travel days 3 are UO days and 5 are WDW days) so for me it's common to eat out for that many days in a row when I'm on vacation but like I mentioned before that in itself is a different variable since others may not do vacations like that.

As for your beer comment, while very true, WDW is no different than anywhere else in that regards. Some places in WDW are generally regarded as a better value for your money.

 

[2009CAN]

Thank you Sounds like we won't have to worry about this for our early April trip. Although this is our first w/o strollers and our diaper bag is usually where I stashed the kid supplies. We'll see how many water bottles I feel like lugging around

 

[smiths02]

That is what the theme parks around here do. I would love to see WDW do this. A big, green picnic area set up. Refrigerated lockers, picnic tables, hand washing stations, etc. Nobody has to schlep massive coolers through the park, nobody hugging curbs or eating over the garbage cans.

Disneyland used to do this. You could keep food in a locker outside the park. You then had to go to their picnic area/prison yard to eat your food.

 

[larryz]

Yes but aren't you even slightly outraged at the thought of no more pickled wieners?

This will certainly weigh heavily on my next trip decision, for sure...

 

[ArwenMarie]

This is Universal's policy, seems reasonable, not sure how it compares to WDWs


We offer a variety of fresh, delicious food for our guests to enjoy at restaurants and concession stands throughout our resort; however, we understand that guests may need to bring outside food and drink into our parks. Please note the following guidelines for bringing food and drink into our parks:

Acceptable items:

• Bottled water
• Small snacks that do not require heating
• Any food required for medical purposes and medically–indicated nutritional supplements
• Any food required for special dietary needs
• Baby food/baby formula
• Soft-sided insulated bags no larger than 8.5" wide x 6" high x 6" deep

Prohibited items:

• Picnic lunches
• Food that requires heating or refrigeration
• Alcohol and glass containers
• Hard-sided coolers
• Soft-sided coolers larger than 8.5" wide x 6" high x 6" deep
• Coolers, suitcases, and bags with wheels
• Folding chairs

 

[jsmla]

This is deceptive math. The total cost to you is not $2.70, but the individual price of each one of those ingredients, added together. You are simply using $2.70 out of the total cost in order to make one salad.

If you're a single person that wants to eat the same salad every day for a week (or longer), using up ALL ingredients, then yes, you can say the total price is $2.70. The second you have any leftover waste or a family member that wants to eat something different, the price goes up.

I'm not single but I am solo at WDW and have zero problem finishing up a tub of lettuce. And it's the same lettuce, not the same salad. I make southwestern one day, Italian the next, Greek after that. I use lettuce on my sandwiches, etc. I shop in the kind of stores where I can buy things in the quantities that I need, not family-sized packages. I usually have a few bits and pieces left but throw out far less than I do when I eat in a restaurant. If I spend $20 bucks on salad stuff and only use $18.44 worth it's something I can live with.

 

[jsmla]

True true..all other factors aside I can tell you if I were to price out what you had mine might cost less (except for grocery and sales tax mine may be higher). I shop at Aldi, Walmart, and Costco as my main places and Costco now has more organic food choices than Whole Foods; I also buy generic most times but I pay very close attention to the packaging to see if I'm getting apples to apples or apples to oranges as far as nutritional value. When I lived near Hy-Vee (regional but very large chain of employee-owned grocery stores) I shopped there over all other grocery stores because their prices were lower but quality was still good.

And I certaintly can understand how it can get boring and old eating out at WDW day after day but because people spend different amounts/days in WDW that amount varies a lot too (I spend 5 non-consecutive days at WDW for example). I also take vacations for around the 7 or more days (this next trip we will be gone 10 days but 2 are travel days 3 are UO days and 5 are WDW days) so for me it's common to eat out for that many days in a row when I'm on vacation but like I mentioned before that in itself is a different variable since others may not do vacations like that.

As for your beer comment, while very true, WDW is no different than anywhere else in that regards. Some places in WDW are generally regarded as a better value for your money.

How does Costco package their produce? I've only been to Sam's (Our business has a membership.) and smallest sizes are always far too big just for me and DH thinks veggies are a Commie plot.

ETA: About the beer: I accept the fact that stuff is pricey anywhere a business has a captive audience. I don't mind paying the upcharges quite so much when I know what I'm getting.