Dining on Site - too expensive?

[calypso*a*go-go]

We usually do a big breakfast in the room, have snacks in the park, eat a large meal mid-day, and have some type of treat in the evening. Although only eating one main meal in the parks a day does save money, the main reason we do it is to save time. We live on the west coast and can only do WDW for a week at a time...we don't want to spend half of it sitting around in restaurants or riding on buses back and forth.

 

[JimMIA]

We're from northern NJ and the prices at WDW are basically the same as at home. And since, when we are there I'm on vacation, I don't cook.

Miami is not a cheap place to live, and we have a lot of great dining, both expensive and moderately priced. But I have to say that comparable food, regardless of the level of the cuisine or service, is somewhat more at WDW than it is here.

The example I would give of overpriced at WDW is Fulton's. One of the things they feature on their menu is Joe's Stone Crabs, brought in from Joe's on South Beach. They charge more than Joes, and Fulton's certainly is not Joe's...which is an all-World restaurant.

Not that I mind paying the prices, mind you. As I said earlier, we look forward to dining out at WDW.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We figure a restaurant is only overpriced if you didn't like the meal or service you had there. We have our favorites that we like to do at WDW, and somethimes those change as the restaurants change chefs etc.

We always have breakfast and sometimes a meal at the villa, but our main meal of the day is at one of the nicer restaurants. If we are going to an Epcot WS eatery, we usualy do a midday meal. If we are doing one of the nice restaurants at one of the other resorts, we do an early evening meal.

By the way, doing your meal midday is usually less pricey too.

 

[bjenk10704]

In past trips to Disney, DW and I have found that the counter service meals and snacks are very expensive and add up quickly. As we started comparing menus and cost, we found that it is a better deal to take a break and go to a sit down restaurant, air conditioning, larger portions and food taste better.

We live in the Knoxville, TN area and find the prices are not much more than we spend eating out on a weekend here. Of course, we not visiting the high end restuarnats at Disney.

 

[CharlesTD]

We do one character meal always Chef Mickeys either breakfast or dinner and one lunch on our waterpark day. The rest of the time we either cook in our room or go off site to eat.

 

[rickdeni]

I would think that anyone from the UK would find the prices very inexpensive. The last time I looked (a while ago) it was $1.78 to 1 pound. Unless it has changed a lot, your money should be worth almost double in the States.

 

[Miffy2003]

Hi from the UK

Yes it is very cheap for us to eat out in Florida. I know WDW meals are more expensive - but we budget accordingly. We will do breakfast in our room but purely to save time rather than money.

Even though WDW dining is more than offsite, it is still far cheaper for us (and bigger portions) thanh we get over here 99% of the time

Cheers

Karen

 

[jarestel]

Whether or not our hometown restaurants are similar in price to WDW isn't really the point. I suspect the typical "home-town" diner eats out once or twice a week. At WDW, if you're not cooking, you're eating out multiple times every day. A family of 4 could easily spend $1000 or more dining out at WDW over the course of a week, depending on restaurant choices. I don't think too many of us spend that much a week dining out at home. So it's not the comparison of the cost of a single meal at home vs WDW, but rather the cost of a weeks worth of meals that reveals the true cost of dining out.

 

[TW1]

Yeah, food everywhere is a bit pricey, but unfortunately things in general seem to be going that way, even though the Fed tells me inflation is tame.

Out of convenience, we have breakfast in the room and pack sandwiches for the day. We still do the parks Commando style (i.e. first-in, last-out, not sans undergarments, well not on purpose anyway) and we will pick up snacks along the way. Dinner is almost always out but only once or twice a trip in a sit-down, upscale place, usually we do counter service.

This offers another problem however, while you may be in central Florida, finding fresh fruit at a take out place is darn near impossible. (Well there is that place in AK near the safari entrance that has bananas for a buck a piece.)

We enjoy planning which of the upscale places we will eat at before trips. Next trip we'll try Canada and Mexico in Epcot. We know it will be a bit of a splurge but it is vacation.

Now another question may be about quality, but I'll save that for a different post...

 

[kathleena]

Well, I don't want to say restaurants in Maine are by any means cheap - but they are when compared to NYC!

We find that dining out at Disney is part of our experience and budget for it. We also plan to eat some meals in the villa. I don't think I could go to WDW without a visit to Boma!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Well, I'm not paying for my lodging, so eating out doesn't seem to cost that much. We have found several restaurants that we really like, plus with the Disney Dining Experience card, we can save a bit.

Finally, I really like Eggs Benedict and when they serve them with asparagras it is really a treat. Had it four times last week. Yum.

 

[mrsdon]

I love to cook and it doesnt matter if Im at OKW or not.
We use our crockpot a lot.
This allowes me to put the meat and potatoes in the AM
When we come back, dinner is done.
We use stew beef and taco seasoning and have tacos.
And we also do the pork chop, cream soup and rice meal.
All are quick and easy and save a ton.
Just a wuick example.
We ate at Boma one night and used my CM discount.
It was still close to $100
We went to Publix and bought food for a week for 2 meals a day and spent less than $100.
I would rather use the money on other stuff.
BUt thats just me and my family

 

[susieh]

Someone said we UK folks often come to WDW for 2 weeks at a time and I have to agree that makes a difference. We usually stay for 2 - 3 weeks and eating out every meal for that time is not only expensive but for me it gets boring and seems like a lot of time wasted. If we were staying for a few days we'd probably eat out more so we could spend more time in the parks etc.

We tend to skip breakfast (or eat cereal in the room), eat lunch in the parks (packed or from one of the counter service restaurants) and then decide what to do for dinner depending on how we feel.

As I said when I started this thread, Ming Court is now a favourite and we also would like to go back to Artists Point at WL. We tried the Rainforest Cafe but didn't think it that good, nor did we particularly like Planet Hollywood. We always lunch at Hard Rock cafe on our trips to Universal or IOA. Out of the parks TGI Friday used to be a favourite but now it is more popular here in the UK we don't always bother with it in the US.

 

[Cruelladeville]

For me, dining out at WDW is part of the vacation experience. We ALWAYS eat dinner at a sit-down restaurant, have drinks, and relax for an hour or more. It's like going on a ride, only not as hot. Breakfast is the only meal we eat in the room on the deck, and that's because we are so entertained by the golfers at OKW Of course, I don't usually cook at home, either, so why should my vacation be any different?

 

[tiffany123]

I'm another who prefers to dine out while at WDW. We usually have a quick breakfast in the room----neither DH nor I are big breakfast eaters. A counter service lunch (sometimes we share one meal) and then a sit-down for dinner. I figure, it's my vacation too and for me, a vacation is time off from cooking and kitchen chores. Yes, prices are somewhat more expensive than we would pay at home but we budget for meals as part of the vacation experience. Our kids are grown and on their own----when we take the grandkids we eat in our villa more as they are still at the "picky" eater stage and easier to feed in the villa. Tiffany

 

[Shawn]

I suspect the typical "home-town" diner eats out once or twice a week.

For us, it's once every two or three months. We always have a hard time justiying going out to eat even in our home town. I suspect we'll be one of those families that takes full advantage of the kitchens.

-Shawn

 

[keishashadow]

I cook every day (for 6, if everyone will be home). I look forward to relinquishing control of the kitchen on vacation. We use Early Entry, since we're not big breakfast types, eat a counter-serve lunch around 11:00 a.m., then, enjoy a sit-down meal.

We think the food prices @ WDW are reasonable, compared to the Pittsburgh area and based on what other theme parks charge.

Now, if DVC would only offer the MYW Dining package, we'd be all set.

 

[Safari Queen]

A leisurely breakfast in the room is part of vacation for me. Getting up and getting dressed before I eat is not relaxing. We stock up on all the breakfast stuff -- eggs, bacon, bagels, etc -- in a 1 or 2 bedroom and make do with microwave breakfast sandwiches in a studio. We also make sure there are lots of snacks for late evening or breaks back at the room, but lunches and dinners are out somewhere in WDW. We only do a few table-service restaurants, usually for lunch; otherwise it's counter service for around $8-10 each. Cooking all our meals in the villa wouldn't be vacation for me and I'm not inclined to leave the World unless I'm going to Universal.

 

[kaw1106]

We try to set a budget for each day. Usually $100, that includes all three meals and snacks for 4. If we eat breakfast and lunch in room one day and a light dinner, then the extra money goes to the next day for a lovely dinner out. Now we are not strict, it is vacation. If the kids want a giant mickey head ice cream and we are "out of money" for the days budget, we get the ice cream. It is just a goal. We do eat mosts of our breakfasts in the room, that gives me time to relax with my coffee

 

[DisFlan]

I enjoy having coffee and cereal on the balcony or at the table in my PJ's. We don't enjoy getting up and rushing out to breakfast. But we love eating at WDW. We budget lunch and dinner as part of the trip. We feel it's as important as any other part of our vacation.


DisFlan