Dining budget advice, and other questions

[sahm2kaitlyne]

Ok, so we were originally going to go with the dining plan, but after much consideration (and a quite expensive Christmas) we've decided not to do it after all. So, I need some advice, because up to now, I've been doing my ADRs and other planning based on the dining plan way of thinking.

We have a 2 year old DD, and we do plan on keeping a few table service meals, mainly the character ones for her. We will probably be using the $200 gc for those few. We are going to do breakfast in our room (with the exception of the one character breakfast we have planned), and most lunches in our room, since we were planning a mid-day break/nap back at our room anyway. We are planning CS for dinners, possibly a TS here and there, but mostly CS. So here is my question:

--What CS restaurants would you recommend for sharing (b/t DH and I)...so some place that has hearty portion sizes (we aren't going to try to share every meal, but just figured it would help out our spending). I already know of Cosmic Rays as a suggestion, but need others as well. I am in the process of looking at menus on allears, however you can't really tell portion size from that for the most part~

--I am also open to "snacks for meals" type suggestions, thanks!

TIA!!

 

[ArmyWife3-4]

Many of the Epcot restaurants offer large CS meals that you can share, Cafe Marakkesh and Sunshine Seasons come to mind. Also, Yak and Yeti and AK serves large portions that you could share. My mom, who is diabetic, often gets the kids meals since the portions are small, the price is cheaper, and it's still plenty of food for her with healthier sides.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

 

[Kay1]

I agree with the idea of kids' meals. I don't think any cs meal we've ever had would be enough for two hungry adults to share - but that's just us. Of course, some people would be fine sharing a burger and fries, but you have to decide if that's true in your case.

 

[MainStMandy]

Cosmic Rays has some pretty large portions that I think 2 adults could share very easily!

 

[disneypolybride2008]

my df and i shared a combo platter at the CS in Mexico at Epcot and it was a good enough size to share.

I would suggest doing your TS for lunchtime since that would be a good amount of food and cheaper, especially if you did a character buffet. That way you would stay full for most of the day, then sharing a CS for dinner. You could do this for a character breakfast, which is a lot cheaper than dinner and then you could stay full til the afternoon and then share a CS.

Hope that helps! have fun!

 

[Mrs D]

I would suggest doing your TS for lunchtime since that would be a good amount of food and cheaper, especially if you did a character buffet. That way you would stay full for most of the day, then sharing a CS for dinner. You could do this for a character breakfast, which is a lot cheaper than dinner and then you could stay full til the afternoon and then share a CS.

I absolutely agree with this, particularly for character meals, but goes for any restaurant. You are getting same atmosphere/characters, sometime very similar menu but a cheaper price at lunch. I booked a Chef Mickey for the 11:25 seating (latest breakfast) and used that as our lunch because it is the best price!

Hands down Cosmic Rays has the biggest food portions in MK. Sunshine Seasons has good portions and nice variety in Epcot. We did Toy Story Pizza Planet in HS. It's an individual pizza; the Meals come with a nice salad.

Honestly, my kids (DS3 and DD 14months) didn't eat all that much. Much less than at home (with the exception of The Biergarten - they ate everything set in front of them there). It may have been the hot weather in September, but they were also so busy looking at everything and taking it all in, they weren't interested in eating an actual meal. They did snack a lot, so bring your own healthy snacks from home. I brought the big bag of snacks (dried fruit mix was a big hit) and a box of sandwich baggies. I just dished up a baggie or two for when we left for the parks.

HTH!

 

[PoohsFan1]

I would suggest doing your TS for lunchtime since that would be a good amount of food and cheaper, especially if you did a character buffet. That way you would stay full for most of the day, then sharing a CS for dinner. You could do this for a character breakfast, which is a lot cheaper than dinner and then you could stay full til the afternoon and then share a CS.

I absolutely agree with this, particularly for character meals, but goes for any restaurant. You are getting same atmosphere/characters, sometime very similar menu but a cheaper price at lunch. I booked a Chef Mickey for the 11:25 seating (latest breakfast) and used that as our lunch because it is the best price!

Hands down Cosmic Rays has the biggest food portions in MK. Sunshine Seasons has good portions and nice variety in Epcot. We did Toy Story Pizza Planet in HS. It's an individual pizza; the Meals come with a nice salad.

I agree with these posters as well. We are planning on doing a couple character meals for our March trip but will only be doing them for breakfast because it is a heck of a lot cheaper than doing it for dinner. When we go to WDW, we tend to do a fairly large breakfast and then snack for lunch, then for dinner it is usually TS, however, for our upcoming trip we are going to be doing more CS meals with a few TS meals thrown in here or there. Good luck, you will have fun either way.

 

[catne]

Flametree BBQ in AK...either the 1/2 rotisserie chicken or the BBQ ribs platter for good sized portions. Starring Rolls at DHS - sandwiches are large. Most resort food courts have platters & entrees that are at fairly good prices (for Disney) and large portions...like DH got the "large" bowl of soup at POP Century - thought it was a bit expensive for about $7 or so, but it was easily 2 full soup servings - he couldn't finish it. Of course, Cosmic Ray's with the chicken/ribs combo meal (and it's a nice change from burgers.) In Epcot, at the Morrocco counter service, they have a shwarma platter which is like a sampler of Mor. food, about $13 but easily serve 2 people, and nice variety.

I 2nd the idea of going for the lunch buffets for character meals...much better value for your money, your DD gets to see the characters and everyone can fill up on their favorites at a buffet. You may be able to get by on "snacking" for the rest of that day, or peanut butter sandwiches in the evening.

 

[mykidsand_i]

Yeah, flametree in AK has a large portion meal- we usually get 1 adult meal and two kids meals (there are 4 of us- 2 adults, 2 kids) and we're full when we're done.

When we arent' doing dinning plan, we always eat our "special table service meals" as a late lunch- say sometime between 1:30-3:30- then we're full for the rest of the day- and we'll grab something quick around 7-8 or so just to "re-energize" We will never eat a buffet for dinner- unless we do dinning plan- then we've done it a few different times.

We like to buy our kids the fruit at Animal kingdom- $1 for an apple (and our kids LOVE fruit!!!!)

When we don't do the dinning plan, we go on ebay and get certificates for Rainforrest cafe- I've gotten "free kids meal with purchase of an adult meal" certificates many times- we'll buy 1 adult meal and get two free kids meals and we're STUFFED!

There are a lot of counter service places that the kids meal is plenty for each of us, so we'll each just get one kids meal. Not as many choices, but usually they are just as good.

 

[magik]

Instead of sharing an adult counter service meal, in some cases, I think you'd be better off with two kids meals (if they appeal to you at all). Seriously...at DHS at Catalina Eddies a kids cheese pizza (which includes carrot sticks, apple sauce, and either a little water bottle, milk or a juice box) was approximately $4.50 whereas an adult cheese pizza (with nothing included) was close to $6! I have no idea if there's a difference in size between the kids cheese pizza and the adult cheese pizza, but it couldn't be *that* much of a difference...these were the little individual pizzas. Maybe I'm wrong and there is a huge difference, but had I realized that price difference when I ordered, I would have gotten the kids meal. If you aren't on the dining plan and needing to use an adult credit, I doubt they would stop you from ordering it. I've ordered the kids meals at counter service many times (mostly because in cases where the adult meals did not appeal to me).

I'd also recommend bringing a reusable water bottle to the parks and just filling up from water fountains or asking for a cup of ice water for free to fill it up from.

 

[cjackearl]

We've not done this at WDW, but I'm sure it would work just as well as it does at home. We order a meal to share and buy an extra side. We each have our own side salad, bag of chips, whatever and then share the sandwich. We do this every time we buy the hotcakes with sausage platter at McDs for the kids. We buy one platter and add an extra sausage patty. If you ended up at a CS location where the portions didn't look exceptionally large you could try this.