Disney on a budget

[goodwinv]

Dear all
I'm off to DLRP in 3 weeks and have just come to the conclusion that we we dont have much spending money to take with us
We are a family of four, 2 adults, a 4 yr old and a 20month old and are staying at the Cheyenne for 3 nights.
I intend to pop up to Val de Europe when we get there and buy some snack stuff to keep in the hotel, and to put in our bags for the park.
Has anyone else done Disney on a budget, are we best off eating in buffet resturants, do they work out cheaper? and do they check your bags for food when you go into the parks?
All top tips welcome
Thanks

 

[Cyrano]

We've seen families having picnic lunches in the parks, especilly day-trippers so I think you should be okay.
A cheaper option than buffet is fast-food restaurants. In Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost and Fuente del Oro we have taken a selection of foods eg pizza, pasta or chicken wings, chilli, fajita, platter etc which the troops enjoyed as a change
Buy drinks from the Esso garage or at the rail station as they are much cheaper than in the park

 

[BONITATIME]

The bag checks are just looking, I have seen people go through with food and drinks with no questions asked.

 

[astrodrummergirl]

Well, I think their not actually checking the bags for food, since we managed to go in with a variety of food.

If it helps, when we went, we took a fair amount of crisps, snacks and a couple of bottles of coke (for me especially) with us, since it was a lot cheaper, but it all depends on whether you can fit them in the suitcase

 

[J Marley]

Hi

One of the things that we and a lot of other people did was at breakfast pop a few crossiants or chocolate crossiants in your bag and that is a good mid morning snack.

The garage is also very close to Cheyenne so you can stock up on drinks and snacks there too.

Tracy

 

[Disney owl]

Drinking water from the fountains in the park is OK to drink too.

Don't forget there's a McDonalds at the Disney Village , handy for drinks if not having a meal.

We've never had a problem taking in drinks & snacks.

 

[jillrobinson]

Our October 2004 trip was done on a budget, it wasn't any worse than our other trips, just different.

Fill up at breakfast, there's plenty of variety, I've found if we have a good breakfast we can go right through the day with just snacks and have a decent meal in the evening.
I always take cereal bars with us to snack on in the day, biscuits and crisps, kettle and coffee/tea for the hotel room and squash, to make up drink flasks for the kids.
People do take things from breakfast, I've only done it once and it was a character breakfast where none of our party was eating, we'd all had tummy bugs and I grabbed 7 muffins, one for everyone, they were in my bag and I was sure I'd get pulled to oneside going into the park, oh the shame of smuggling stolen food in - but I pulled it off, actually the person checking my bag didn't say anything.

Eating on a budget I would always recommend Annette's Diner - the price is reasonable and the portions are huge and they do a takeaway menu, eating in the village is on the whole cheaper than in the park.
There's a takeaway van in the village too, we had hotdogs and chips one evening and took them back to the hotel, they were very nice.

In the parks, I'd go for the buffets - Lucky Nugget has a large selection of food plus characters, Plaza Gardens is cheaper, no characters but a good selection. Fuente del Oro always gets good reviews but we've not tried it, it's on my to do list.

Hope you have a great holiday.

 

[goodwinv]

Thanks Jill they were some great tips

 

[disneyangel]

We've also stopped at the Train station on the way back to our hotel and bought baguettes for supper (instead of having a dinner)if we've had a big breakfast and lunch (ie buffet lunch). They do meal deal type things where you get the baguette, a drink and crisps. You could make tea/coffee with the baguette and use the snacks the next day.

 

[higgy66]

Hi

If you're 4 year old is anything like mine then they will be too excited to eat a large meal so we had lots of little snacks.

I also took croissants and choc bread from breakfast for a mid morning snack (tut tut) but it was ideal, especially during the Dunbo queue.

When we had meals we had 1 childs meal to share (they were 4 & 2 at the time) and nobody had a problem with this,

I think the best value we had was the afternoon tea at the plaza garden as under 3's are free and there was also the characters. There was plenty of savory and sweet food to choose from and I even snuck a couple of choc chip cookies from here (tut tut again!)

We did go for 6 days so we had plenty of time in the parks so never rushed our meals so the plaza gardens was a good 1 1/2 hours so over this time they ate quite alot. If we'd been in a rush to get back out to the rides then I don't think it would have been good value for money (if this makes sense?)

We bought water from the station on our way in and out and this helped.

Have a great time.

 

[jillrobinson]

We've also stopped at the Train station on the way back to our hotel and bought baguettes for supper thumbsup2

Forgot about that one, I can vouch that the ham baguettes are lovely and there is a little shop at the train station, which is handy for picking up snacks.

 

[Gillsfan]

We managed to go to DLP on a bit of a budget last August. We are a family of 5, the kids ages were 6,2 & 2. The bonus being no tickets needed for the twins.

The entire trip cost us around £850 including Accomodation (tent), Fuel, Ferry, Annual passes, two character meals, food, drink, snacks and about £150 actual spending money for cuddly toys and other memorabilia.

We kept cost down by meticuously planning where we were eating on each day, and allowance for a snack.

I used www.dlpfoodguide.com as guidance, we had croissant's and choco pans for breakfast which are mega cheap, you can get them at auchan in val d'europe. For lunch, we tended to eat fast food, shared a meal between the boys. Then, if we were hungry again in the evening, we would grab a snack from the petrol station at DLP. We managed to fit in two character meals at the lucky nugget, which is good because the boys ate free, it was a huge buffet and we had lovely ice lollys to take away.

I was determined to not put anything on the credit card, and we didnt.. even came back with 20euros.

I know youve got your accomodation sorted, but I would certainly recommend camping if you get a chance. The kids love it and theres lots of cheap sites around DLP.

We plan to do it again in April, but will probably need a heater for our tent!!


I will see if I can dig out our itinery to see what we spent on food.

 

[mulan1]

Wow those are all fabulous tips!
Will definitely remember for my trip in June!

 

[princess_tigerlily86]

yer definitely stock up with stuff at breakfast! they do ham's and cheese's so we made a point of getting a few rolls each morning, making mini sandwiches and rolling them up in serviettes so we could eat them in the park. its a real money saver! then u shudnt have to buy so much for lunch either
emily x