Disney food prices "Ouch" " I feel faint"

[KeroKero]

The prices are very comparable to places where I live (in a large metropolitan area), but the quality of food isn't. While the food at WDW isn't super horrible (in certain restaurants of course), the quality isn't anywhere near as good as what I can get at home for close to the same price.

But all in all, while I'm at WDW, I'm on vacation and many of the restaurants atmospheres can't be beat. That's important to me too, the atmosphere I'm eating in as well as the food all combine to make a pleasant dining experience.

 

[smiths02]

Agree with others about CS being comparable to other touristy places, theme parks, etc (sometimes better food or more quanitity though) but not as cheap as eating at McDs...

For Table Service, I have to say that I pick based on atmosphere-character meals, Sci Fi, etc.
We've been to Medieval Times (no free booze there, by the way) and dinner theatre (they did give some free wine)...and those prices are comparable to HDDR or other dinner shows (Again only difference is I am not going to Medieval Times every night for 7 days).
I did find a less interesting place like Cape May very overpriced for the quality AND atmosphere.

 

[JimmyV]

I do a lot of fine dining in restaurants around the country. Comes with my territory. So I am desensitized to it while at WDW. While there, we do a mix of QS lunches and Signature/Swan/Dolphin dinners most of the time, with some regular TS restaurants thrown in (like 50's PT, Kona, Via Napoli and such). While dining across the country in nice restaurants, $16 apps and $35-$45 entrees are pretty common. So when confronted with same at California Grill or bluezoo or Shula's or Citricos, I am not fazed at all. And compared to reeeeaaaalllly high end dining (Daniel, Per Se, Alinea, Le Bernadin, Eleven Madison Park, French Laundry, Vetri), then you breathe a sigh of relief at Disney's prices. Even Victoria & Albert's. My last meal there beat my my last meal at Alinea by a mile, and the cost at V&A was a mere fraction. It's all relative. Can I get a better meal in a big city? Sure. Will I pay more? Sure. Can I find places in big cities that compare (cost-wise) with Disney Signatures? Sure. Will the meal be demonstrably better? Maybe. But certainly not always.

Value is one of the reasons that we do not do buffets and character meals. Believe it or not, your better relative value is at the high end. Just like a wine list. A restaurant can mark up a $6 bottle to $24 without blinking. But often, the $80 bottles are only marked up to $200. Relatively speaking, that is a better value. I find the same to be true for food. HIgher margins at the low end mean poorer value for the customer.

 

[Bonniec]

My complaint against disney restaurants is not so much of the prices, it's the quality. Generally when I go on vacation I expect the mark up but I hate paying high prices for food that is "meh" at best and has consistency issues.

Same. We got the TIW card to use over the last year because I wanted to try a lot of the TS places. We've tried Chef Mickey, O'Hana (breakfast and dinner), Tea @Grand Floridian, Sci-Fi, Whispering Canyon, Garden Grill, Liberty Tree, Crystal Palace, Sanaa, and Raglan Road.

They were all good meals, but none of them really worth the cost. I might redo the tea but order a la carte, and I might redo Sci-Fi because I thought it was cheap and interesting.

We won't bother with the TIW card anymore. I'm glad we got to use it and do those places, but once was enough.

 

[mickeysbestfriend]

as long as we can explore options other than character meals and signatures then we can eat reasonably at Disney. I know what I pay at a sporting event, Cedar Point, movie etc and Disney isn't really that out of line. Food costs have been soaring the past 18 months and meat prices will skyrocket next year due to the drought.

We have changed from doing TS at night to doing them at lunch and this saves us big bucks. We hit EOS or WPE in DTD for a light evening meal and since we stay at DVC resorts we can bring breakfast items or use WeGoShop to supply us with what we need.

The CS places we eat have improved quality in the past few years and compared to what you pay at a hockey game for a bratwurst are very affordable.

Just our two cents!

 

[Saratoga Souris]

We don't find the prices too bad but we generally use CS. In general, we find the portions big and find that we can split our meals. The water prices are too high for me so I generally just use the water fountains located throughout the parks.

 

[hsmamato2]

Disney prices are on par, or much less than most tourist places,IMHO- NYC,Boston, Six flags,etc etc.
I think the big diff. is that most of us stay at WDW longer than we stay at 6 Flags (hate that place)....seriously,when we go to NYC,we all joke about how it makes Disney seem like 'such a bargain'
Niagara Falls for a few days? don't even get me started....at least when I'm overpaying at Disney,I have my friend Mickey to console me

 

[MooksterL1]

My only complaint is that 10 year olds are considered an adult at some places. Otherwise I do not find the prices to be much different than DC, Chicago or NY.

 

[inkedupmomma]

I don't think Disney food prices are that high at all...with the exception of buffets/all you can eats and Signature restaurants which I don't really go to anyways.

I do NOT think their counter service meals and especially beverage options are priced high. A bottle of water is $2.50, which is not that much more than other places but a lot less than movie theatres and Cedar Point.

However,I dont like that they keep increasing the cost of the dining plan. I won't be able to use that much longer.

what she said

I live near Sesame Place.... food is outrageously pricey , and gross. the parking is SO expensive, and it is the smallest park ever, with not enough attractions to accommodate the masses. Water is like $4.00 a bottle... So no WDW isn't THAT bad.

But the dining plan is going to soon not be worth it for us :/

 

[JJ in wonderland]

Disney prices are on par, or much less than most tourist places,IMHO- NYC,Boston, Six flags,etc etc.
I think the big diff. is that most of us stay at WDW longer than we stay at 6 Flags (hate that place)....seriously,when we go to NYC,we all joke about how it makes Disney seem like 'such a bargain'
Niagara Falls for a few days? don't even get me started....at least when I'm overpaying at Disney,I have my friend Mickey to console me

Yesterday for the day we went into NYC (we live 20 minutes out side the city on long island) and our diner breakfast of yogurt and granola and an omelet with coffee and tea was 38 dollars after tax and tip, and we were saying our breakfast at the grand floridian was less than we go to this restaurant and in disney you almost always get service with smile.

What I do like about dinsey is there are a lot more inexpensive choices rather than the inexpensive choices of chain restaurants you get visiting other places. (I know some people will disagree but this is my opinion) And dinsey food is better quality and taste better than most of the chains I have eaten at.

 

[disney212]

Let me say I am not from a culinary capital or a major tourist area (Greater Cincinnati area) and I don't feel the prices are bad at all. We have a theme park here and there prices are higher and portions smaller. The prices are the same as our local zoo. I do think the burgers and fries are a bit steep but we don't get those. We get a CS for lunch and a TS for dinner and we have normally enjoyed the food. We find the off site dining prices to be about the same as the on site unless you are eating fast food but we don't do that at home either.

 

[rentayenta]

I don't find it terrible either. Is the food expensive? Yes. Any more so than our local ball park? No. We're a captive audience. I feel this way about the TS and CS. My family shares a lot so we may feel the sting a little less. Having said that, we aren't fans of the buffets because those are outrageously priced. Almost $40 for my 11 y/o to eat a few slices of meat at 'Ohana is a little nuts.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

We were very surprised at WDW how CHEAP the food was. Food and meals here in Australia would be at least double the money that we paid at Disney, for probably less food. For counter service meals, we could easily often share a meal because of the huge servings of food. We never could have finished one by ourselves. For what we bought at WDW for $8, would have been at least $14-$16 here in Australia. Even the table service meals were quite reasonably priced, even when we went to Le Cellier or any signature restaurant.

 

[Bob NC]

We stay onsite and eat most meals onsite.

We have pretty much resigned ourselves to Disney food prices and pay them without, (much), complaint.

People always seem to make the same points when the topic of Disney food prices comes up.

"Disney food prices are the same as our local ballpark." Well, the local ballpark is always going to be high because you have a kitchen that's used once or twice a week, (in the case of football, 8 times a year), and the nature of the beast is high prices.

Also, the argument that "our restaurants at home charge the same prices", is always present. Well, this is where quality comes into account. Honestly, I can not think of ONE onsite Disney restaurant that would be successful if it weren't "onsite at Disney." The restaurants I rave about at Disney, (fewer and fewer every year), are only being raved about because they are good in comparison to the OTHER restaurants at Disney. If Le Cellier were down the street from me, it wouldn't have lasted 2 months after opening. The prices and quality at ANY Disney buffet wouldn't attract ANYONE on the outside. Scrambled eggs and bacon on a paper plate offered at the same price as at a Disney restaurant just wouldn't fly ANYWHERE outside the world.

The feeling that Disney prices are in line with prices at other tourist attractions may be valid. BUT, when you go to the Smithsonian you aren't eating breakfast, lunch and dinner there EVERY meal for 7 or 8 days. When you go to a Giants game you aren't eating 3 meals a day. When you go to 6 Flags you may eat one or two meals. Disney has you and they know they have you.

Why is it that every hotel I stay at all year, at any price point really, offers something to eat in the lobby every morning, but, it's impossible for Disney to offer the same? I can stay at a Hilton Garden for $75 and get a bowl of cereal, a biscuit, coffee and some pastries in the morning. I can pay $400 to Disney and can't even get an orange juice. Granted, there are probably some hotels in the downtowns of major metropolitan areas that don't offer any kind of continental breakfast. I would say that 99% of hotels I have stayed in in the past 5 years, from $50/night to $250/night have had a complimentary breakfast offering.

Don't get me wrong, I know Disney is a business, and I wouldn't say that they should or shouldn't make a breakfast offering. I'm just saying this is just ONE of the things that make Disney "ouch-worthy."

 

[iuki]

I don't think Disney food prices are that high at all...with the exception of buffets/all you can eats and Signature restaurants which I don't really go to anyways.

I do NOT think their counter service meals and especially beverage options are priced high. A bottle of water is $2.50, which is not that much more than other places but a lot less than movie theatres and Cedar Point.

However,I dont like that they keep increasing the cost of the dining plan. I won't be able to use that much longer.

I agree with you. The CS prices are comparable to most delis. For example, at Panera Bread, I purchased the cheapest sandwich ($5.99) with a soft drink, and the total was over $9.00 with tax. The restaurant prices at WDW TS restaurants are slightly more expensive than other TS restaurants.

Like you stated, the buffets at WDW is extremely high in comparison to other all-you-can-eat buffets off Disney properties. Granted, we are paying for the ambience, entertainment, and characters at WDW, which is fine if you're on an annual vacation. But, for those of us who are Annual Passholders, we avoid the buffets. We either pack our lunch or eat at CS restaurants.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Definitely bothered but not boycotting. I will add we only do multiple table service if we are on free dining. I simply will not pay $200 for any buffet at WDW out of pocket, and many of the ts places are priced beyond the food they offer.

If we pay out of pocket, we don't do any buffets, character or otherwise, and we are picky about which other ts places we do.

Even though "free"dining is not free, for our family of four adults, its the only way we can afford to eat very much table service.

As far as counter service, I agree with others, I don't find those prices that bad at all. They are on par or even cheaper than prices paid at similar venues or even local fast food places. And the portions are large. Last March we had two out of pocket days before our "free" dining started. Dh and I shared a taco salad, an order of fries and a diet coke at Pecos Bills one night. The total was less than the meal we had at Taco Bell a few nights at earlier and way better. I am editing to add however, that we don't eat out every night. What causes the sticker shock for us at Disney is the constant eating out for 10-14 nights. Where you pay those inflated "similar venue" prices for so long. But yeah, if comparing just apples to apples, Disney isn't worse on the pricing scale.

While I am not against the DDP, it has for sure changed things. I miss some of the older menus. I do have to say, its pretty much the same thing everywhere you go for the most part. Epcot and some of the resort restaurants (Boma comes to mind) are where we go to find something beyond the usual fare offered everywhere else. We all raved about 'Ohana when we went in March, but to be honest, the salad, wings and dessert were the only truly delicous things we ate. Had we paid OOP, that meal would have been well over $200. I would have felt ripped off. But it was "free" with our rack rate room, which given it was a moderate and given there were four of us, was a good deal. Its all relative.

I think the resort food courts are all good deals. Fountain drinks are cheaper than many fast food restaurants (although no free refills except at the resorts and a few other places) and the quality is higher.

But for table service, yeah, I am done with those if I am paying OOP.

 

[patsal]

For me it isn't the price but the lowered quality. I find that most of the food although it is pricey is just ok, to ocasionally inedible. As a result we have not done buffets in years and have found that eating at the non participating DDP places still have enjoyable, fair for theme park resort area, priced foods.

 

[Planogirl]

We stay onsite and eat most meals onsite.

We have pretty much resigned ourselves to Disney food prices and pay them without, (much), complaint.

People always seem to make the same points when the topic of Disney food prices comes up.

"Disney food prices are the same as our local ballpark." Well, the local ballpark is always going to be high because you have a kitchen that's used once or twice a week, (in the case of football, 8 times a year), and the nature of the beast is high prices.

Also, the argument that "our restaurants at home charge the same prices", is always present. Well, this is where quality comes into account. Honestly, I can not think of ONE onsite Disney restaurant that would be successful if it weren't "onsite at Disney." The restaurants I rave about at Disney, (fewer and fewer every year), are only being raved about because they are good in comparison to the OTHER restaurants at Disney. If Le Cellier were down the street from me, it wouldn't have lasted 2 months after opening. The prices and quality at ANY Disney buffet wouldn't attract ANYONE on the outside. Scrambled eggs and bacon on a paper plate offered at the same price as at a Disney restaurant just wouldn't fly ANYWHERE outside the world.

The feeling that Disney prices are in line with prices at other tourist attractions may be valid. BUT, when you go to the Smithsonian you aren't eating breakfast, lunch and dinner there EVERY meal for 7 or 8 days. When you go to a Giants game you aren't eating 3 meals a day. When you go to 6 Flags you may eat one or two meals. Disney has you and they know they have you.

Why is it that every hotel I stay at all year, at any price point really, offers something to eat in the lobby every morning, but, it's impossible for Disney to offer the same? I can stay at a Hilton Garden for $75 and get a bowl of cereal, a biscuit, coffee and some pastries in the morning. I can pay $400 to Disney and can't even get an orange juice. Granted, there are probably some hotels in the downtowns of major metropolitan areas that don't offer any kind of continental breakfast. I would say that 99% of hotels I have stayed in in the past 5 years, from $50/night to $250/night have had a complimentary breakfast offering.

Don't get me wrong, I know Disney is a business, and I wouldn't say that they should or shouldn't make a breakfast offering. I'm just saying this is just ONE of the things that make Disney "ouch-worthy."

Great post.

I commented just this past month that I would go to Boma if it were in my town but I don't think that I would go to any of the other full serve places. They most likely wouldn't survive against the (dare I say it?) better chains and even better Mom and Pop places.

 

[Tigger1021]

Considering the costs for other things, I have found the prices at Disney to be pretty reasonable. Consider this: I live just outside of Philadelphia and for us to go to a baseball game and get something to eat, per person...cheesesteak sandwich (with nothing else) $10, fries $6, drink $4 to $7. So for $20 you get to sit (in your seat at the ballpark elbow to elbow with everyone else) and try to enjoy your meal. I will take spending my $10 to $15 at a quick service and being able to enjoy a table with room to stretch, relax and enjoy my meal. Gladly will I pay a little more to see my 4 year olds face when a character comes to our table at the Crystal Palace or Chef Mickeys instead of waiting 35 minutes with him whining about why it's taking so long!

 

[JimmyV]

Also, the argument that "our restaurants at home charge the same prices", is always present. Well, this is where quality comes into account. Honestly, I can not think of ONE onsite Disney restaurant that would be successful if were't at Disney.

Don't bluezoo, Shula's and Il Mulino disprove this? Todd English is doing very well elsewhere, as are the Shula's and Il Mulino locations. And V&A would do well anywhere. There is quality at WDW. But you have to seek it out outside of the DDP.