Dining Cheap?

[1of6]

Please help!!! We are planning our first trip 2/1/06 and need feedback about the dining plan. We are a family of 6 (DS9, DD7, DS4, DD2) but not big eaters. Is it possible to eat for less than $100 a day? We will have a fridge in the room. I don't want to be tied to pb&j to save money but I think the dining plan seems expensive for how we eat.

I have been reading for days but can't seem to get a good grasp on if it is possible to eat on property for less than the cost of the plan.

 

[jlovesee]

Im not a big eater myself, usually we eat breakfast in the room and have a large lunch around 2 in the afternoon and maybe a snack at night, that's it. To us the dining plan seems like WAY to much food, its probably a good value for those that eat a lot.

Restaurants that Im looking at include Trails End which is $10.99 for the lunch buffet, we will probably take the boat over from Magic Kingdom on that day. Liberty Tavern is another favorite of ours that is in Magic Kingdom, you have to go hungry but they give you LOTS of food.

Definitly check out the menus at www.wdwig.com they are very helpful when planning a budget at Disney.

Also don't be opposed to eating off property there are a lot of good restaurants out there, and they will be a lot less the Disney food.

Jennifer

 

[crisi]

Its certainly possible to eat on property for less than the cost of the plan. Bounce over to the budget board. Disneysteve eats for less than $20 a day per person (but he does eat off site). Disney is fine with splitting meals and often one meal is plenty to feed two adults. We usually get one appitizer to split between all four of us and one or two desserts. There are some good deals in counter service meals as well - the chicken wrap at Peco's Bills feeds two light eaters - even medium eaters if you are saving room for a Mickey Bar.

Skip alcohol, stick with water to drink if you can stand to (some people can't seem to). If you schedule sit down meals, schedule them for lunch - lunch is cheaper at table service restaurants, counter service is the same price all day. And do check out the menus at allearsnet. There are some relative bargains to be found at Disney with a little planning.

 

[bicker]

A few notes: Some meals are no longer big enough to share. Some restaurants have either decided to help in the fight against obesity or discourage splitting meals by keeping portion sizes smaller, so don't expect that every meal will be big enough to share. (In other words, if you decide to share a meal, and the split portions aren't "big enough" don't blame the restaurant! ) I think the key to keep the cost down is to eat off-site. Disney gets a very nice premium for the convenience of eating on-property, and if you're trying to save money, no sense in paying that premium.

 

[westcliffemom]

Get water instead of soda. Saves $2 per person each meal.

 

[bicker]

Well, be prepared to get the kids, at least, soda, because many folks who aren't from Florida cannot stomach the tap water there.

 

[crisi]

Well, be prepared to get the kids, at least, soda, because many folks who aren't from Florida cannot stomach the tap water there.

Maybe. I don't think its bad, neither do my kids. Granted I don't tend to drink a lot of it, but I'm not trying to feed the family for $100 a day.

 

[jtlover]

Maybe. I don't think its bad, neither do my kids. Granted I don't tend to drink a lot of it, but I'm not trying to feed the family for $100 a day.

We always used to eat off site mainly because of the cost. You can definitely eat off site easily for less than that for 6 of you. Not sure about on site unless it will be the counter service restaurants.

Have a look at the menus on www.allearsnet.com as they tend to put the prices up too and you could maybe get an idea of places that you could eat within your budget.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

As far as the water--I don't like the tap water there (and at home and other places I'm a tap water person), but can drink it with a meal as long as there's lots of ice. Or if a person is eating a counter serve meal they can always have their own bottled water that they've brought with them.

I don't know about a family of 6 eating for less than a $100/day. Like others have said, maybe offsite. When we are eating cheap we eat breakfast in the room (oatmeal, cereal, Nutrigrain bars, etc) and then bring some foo into the parks with us (peanut packets, string cheese, crackers, etc). We eat that for an early lunch and then eat an early dinner. Or we save that for dinner and have a sit-down lunch. Sometimes we don't bring any food with us, but then eat a sandwich in the room for dinner after returning from the parks.

That plan works ok when I'm with my sister and my youngest son, but doesn't work with my family (I have 4 kids) because my older kids expect real meals on a regular basis and my DH doesn't like grazing. When my sister and I (and my youngest) went for almost 2 weeks with our mother we ate very cheaply since our mom is the definition of cheap (meant in a most loving way ). My sister and I do like at least one good meal a day and are not opposed to spending more $.

This trip (with my 18yo DD) we'll be doing the dining plan for the first time, and it will be a totally different experience.

 

[nbodyhome]

I eat onsite, and can eat for $12 or so a day on most days. If I had a fridge, I'd probably get a couple of Earl of Sandwiches, and put them in the fridge - and have one each meal, with a piece of fruit. I eat kids meals, a slize of pizza at the Boardwalk, the only things I generally bring for myself are oatmeal for breakfast, maybe some fruit (or I'll pick it up at the Boardwalk store) and a small amount of chocolate for dessert. I drink water. I do love Trails End - if I go there, I'd go for a late lunch, have oatmeal in the morning, maybe 1/2 cereal bar or an orange as well, and then the meal would last me until dinner. So that day, I'd eat closer to $15.00, maybe $17.00.

I do usually buy small containers of milk at the resorts.

Denise

 

[nbodyhome]

A few notes: Some meals are no longer big enough to share. Some restaurants have either decided to help in the fight against obesity or discourage splitting meals by keeping portion sizes smaller, so don't expect that every meal will be big enough to share.

I have not noticed smaller portion sizes yet - if they do, I expect it's to get some money recouped from the dining plan (and I don't doubt that this could happen). All of the meals I've had sit-down over the past few months have been large.

I somehow doubt that any of the restaurants care about obesity. It is up to individuals to monitor their food and exercise, not the restaurants themselves.

Denise

 

[westcliffemom]

Well, be prepared to get the kids, at least, soda, because many folks who aren't from Florida cannot stomach the tap water there.

you can always ask for lemon slices, which seems to cut the taste!

 

[Emmyfaye]

We average less than $100 per day...breakfast at resort counter service; snacks during the day (a few purchased, a few brought in with us)...counter service at Park or resort in the evening - with a few special (translation: more expensive) meals thrown in over the course of our vacation (for example, Trail's End, Norway, Germany) - we are two parents and two adult children. No one ever feels like they're missing anything!

 

[hockeybabe]

I think you can do it. Check out the menu prices on www.allearsnet.com. You will probably have to eat at counter service restaurants. You can probably share some meals, like split pizza from Pizza Planet, or order the Rotisserie chicken meal from Cosmic Rays. Most of the kids meals are less than $5, so the whole family can eat for $35 or so for CS. Bring breakfast from home and keep it in the rooms fridge. Bring kool aid, gatorade or lemonade powder from home and add it to the free water you can get at any CS counter to make the water taste good for the kids. Bring snacks to the park, so the kids have something when they see the snack stands and get hungry. We brought Twizzlers, perfect for waiting on night shows or parades, and no melting

Now, if your budget allows for an extra $9 a day, you should be able to do the dining plan for $109 a day. ($37.99 x2 + $10.99 x 3, DD2 eats free). That would get you 1TS, 1CS and 1 snack per person per night if you are staying on property.

Either way, enjoy your trip!

 

[mommyoeo]

I'd still get the dining plan. It's not much more than $100 a day and you get to stay on property all day instead of driving off looking for cheap food. It will free you up to use your time better. Trying to eat with out the plan for under $100 would add more stress than the few dollars saved are worth, IMO. Plus, the character meals are so much more fun than driving to Taco Bell!! We made tons of memories and pictures at cool TS meals.

We left lots of food unordered. We had meals at the end of our 11 days that we planned on giving away (had the service not been SOO BAD at Ohana and it was over an hour to oay our OWN bill, much less anyoen else's at 11:00 PM!!). We didn't feel like we had to order the max amount of food in order to get our money's worth because we had ususally done that just by having a character meal on most days.

Having done both, I highly suggest the dining plan. The freedom to stay on site is wonderful.

If you were paying for 6 adults on the plan, I'd have a different opinion. But the kids' price is just so cheap, there's no way to beat it, even at Taco Bell!

(Then, still use your budget strategies to order water with your meal and carry a bottle drink fromt he plan for later, etc. You will be surprised how you will not need to spand any money at all!!)

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I'd still get the dining plan. It's not much more than $100 a day and you get to stay on property all day instead of driving off looking for cheap food.

I hadn't done the math, but I totally agree that you should do the plan. All of your children are considered kids and with some sharing of meals and some wise ordering, you should be able to to just eat off the plan without having to spend any extra money. Have some breakfast items in the room for days that you are not eating a buffet type breakfast and/or sandwich fixings for when you haven't eaten a big dinner and you'll totally be set. And you'll have a whole lot more fun not worrying about every penny you're spending.

 

[TinkGirl]

We are a family of five. Our first trip we wasted so much money on food! We ate at the food court every morning and always ordered the kids their own meals. After that we were much wiser and packed a bag full of Pop Tarts, granola bars, etc. for a quick breakfast in the room. The kids also shared many meals. It works for us to eat breakfast in the room, a counter service lunch and a table service dinner. One dinner is easily $100 without alchol for our family, so you may want to check menus ahead of time. The dining plan sounds great, but I refuse to pay nearly $40 daily for my 10 and 13 year olds who will probably order from the kids' menus. My friend who have gone on the dining plan say it's wonderful to not have to obsess about every dollar spent on food during vacation.

 

[jtdl]

It is possible to eat for less than $100 per day. We did it and my husband is a very big eater. Some days we went over $100 (days when we did a character breakfast or buffet meal) but other days were much less than $100. We ate on site, at the food court at the resort or CS. We ate breakfast in our room, took some snacks into the parks as well as lots of juice boxes and bottled water in a soft sided cooler, had a late lunch and sometimes we ate supper or sometimes we weren't that hungry and just got a cheese and fruit plate or something to snack on at the food court. We never went hungry and we also had snacks -Mickey bars, Dole Whips, popcorn.

 

[nluvwithmickey]

Having tried the dining plan, I am debating using it again because my youngest DD being 10 at the time of our trip in 2007.


She barely eats anything, so I am really not sure. Even if I pay OOP and keep her credits, I'm wondering if it will be worth it.

I think the dining plan is great, I just wish they had junior prices and menus. That way, my DD could still eat, and I could pay a more reasonable price.

 

[DCDisney]

Last time we Visited we brought breakfast items and some snacks and planned on one table service meal per day. My kids were 4 and 6 and table service meals were occasionally big enough to share but mostly cs weren't (4 chicken nuggets wasn't enough for 2 kids one of whom doesn't eat fries). If you plan on eating a real sit down meal daily I think generally the meal plan is better. We are doing it this time around but the kids are older and we want to try more real restaurants and less buffets. If you plan on just a few sit downs or less expensive one's (like character breakfast's which are 17.99) I don't think it's worth it. With your 4 kids I'd guess you'd have a lot of flexibility at sit downs if you didn't do the plan and could even consider ordering 2 kids meals and have them all share an appetizer and dessert. We even did pizza one night at our resort which was cheap and good enough for the kiddos

YVonne