Disneyland on the cheap cheap

[tanyaewa]

Our number one saving tip is never buy a drink with a meal. Water and soda is dirt cheap from a grocery store in big packs. Just Refill a water bottle all day.
As for other stuff - make sure you have yummy protein. Peanut butter, tuna, sliced turkey or ham, cheese. Add favourite crackers and dips like artichoke or hummus. Apples, banana, grapes. Yogurt...
Yum! Now I am hungry

 

[theluckyrabbit]

...I found we did not drink enough water our last trip. Shelling out almost $3 x4 people x4 times a day = a half decent meal or lots of special DL treats/snacks!!!! Then x's this by 6 DL days......that equals 2 lunches at BB!!!!!!!! This time I bought some Platypus collapsible water bottles for our family. They cost 5 bucks each. I can roll them up and stash them in our sling bag/fanny packs. We will bring iced tea powder and lemonade to make the water palatable to us. Although I am reading the fountains are filtered now...so will see if we need to add the sweet stuff...

The First Aid stations have filtered, cold water and the staff encourages you to refill your water bottles there. They want you to stay hydrated! Also, any restaurant with a fountain machine (e.g. Plaza Inn, Taste Pilot Grill, French Market, etc.) will have filtered water. Either you can refill the bottle yourself (Plaza Inn) or a CM will give you a full glass of cold water so you can pour it in the bottle (French Market, Taste Pilot Grill). And Rancho del Zocalo has a filtered water fountain outside on the patio (by the hot sauce table) that you can use to refill your bottles. We've used all these locations on recent trips and can report that the water is cold and tastes fine. I kept refilling a name brand plastic water bottle, and DH never noticed a difference in taste, so you should be fine.

 

[julieheyer]

I usually stay somewhere cheap too and don't worry about food cost but this times it's theDLH on the Gay Days rate (awesome deal!). I feel like its our only opportunity to stay on properly so that's why we're eating so much on the cheap...

Anyone know if a drink called Kombucha is sold at Vons or Walmart by chance???

Thanks everyone!

Ah, that makes sense. Enjoy the magic!

Looks like the online Walmart carries it. It didn't come up on Von's site, which likely means they don't have it in stores either. I'd try the closest Walmart (although trader joes or whole foods-or Henry's or sprouts woudl be a better probability if it's a big item for you).

 

[Mr Snappy]

Does anyone have any suggestions on ways to spend the least amount of money on food during a 7 night trip to DLR. I'm thinking grocery shopping...

What would you bring for meals if you had a fridge but no microwave in your hotel. We will be one adult and three children. How do I keep it from being a junk food fest?

Any suggestions would be supper helpful!

Here are some of the things we have done in the past:

1. Go to Target (Right down the street from DL) and stock up on breakfast stuff and snacks. they have healthy as well. Try to never eat breakfast at the parks, eat cheap before you leave your room for the day.

2. Don't get soda with your in-park meals. Get ice water. People don't realize how expensive the sodas are and they add up fast.

3. Bring (or even buy in the parks) a bottled water and refill at the water fountains.

4. Walk to the parks if you can

5. Take the ART busses if not within walking distance. they are cheap and can actually be faster than driving

6. Hold off on souvenirs until the last day. Many times, you see something you like and buy it the first day only to find something you like MORE days later. When this happens, many people will buy both things. Kids are terrible about this. I have saved hundreds by inforcing the "Last day for souvenirs" rule.

7. Try to stay away from buying items you can get at home. Why pay $60 for Crocs at Disney when you can get them at home for $20? (not sure what the actual price for Crocs are, but you get the point.)

8. Enjoy the pool or work-out facilities. Not only is it good for you, you are not spending money while doing this. I use this rule in Vegas A LOT....keeps me out of the casinos blowing money....Disney can be alot like Vegas

 

[Here4mydisneyfix]

I usually stay somewhere cheap too and don't worry about food cost but this times it's theDLH on the Gay Days rate (awesome deal!). I feel like its our only opportunity to stay on properly so that's why we're eating so much on the cheap...

Anyone know if a drink called Kombucha is sold at Vons or Walmart by chance???

Thanks everyone!

Target sells Kombucha! We plan on doing the gay days at Disneyland hotel next year with our kids for the exact same reason!

 

[pixiewings71]

A few things we do.

We always have a case of water, we take it into the room or leave it in the car and we always take 1-2 bottles in with us, that's per person and we each carry our own. So DBF will have 2 bottles, I'll have 2, DD16 will have 1, DD12 will have 1 or 2. As we drink them and need to refill we refill at the First Aid Stations or the restaurants mentioned above, I like going into Rancho to refill, it's so easy, just walk up and refill, no need to pass by any CM's or go to the soda machine at all, easy and non-invasive. LOL
We limit our sodas to purchasing one during a meal, if it's a meal where you can't get a refill DBF and I will share a large soda (I don't drink a lot of soda so it really doesn't make sense to buy me my own) and so will the girls, if we can get a refill then we get 2 sodas and we might get a refill, many times we get a half refill instead of a full one or we don't get a refill at all. You can also take your own sodas in, usually it's easier to carry in a plastic bottle as those can be closed. We don't normally do sodas though, we don't like warm soda but warm water is OK.

We eat breakfast in our room, if we go to the park for breakfast we go to RiverBelle and we share 1 Mickey pancake, 1 fruit plate and 1 Mark Twain, we drink water. On the rare occasion we go to CC for breakfast we share there as well.

We drive to the parks and park, but I have a PAP (one of our family always has the PAP) so we get free parking. However, the last time we stayed at the Red Lion we walked to the Toy Story lot and rode the shuttles, the car didn't move the entire time so no gas was used, that was a double perk. That doesn't apply to you OP because you're at the DLH so you can just walk or take the monorail.

We also follow the rule of buying a souvenir the last day of the trip. Unfortunately we've lost out on souvenirs a few times by doing this but it generally works out. It gives us all a little time to consider before buying and sometimes we find something else that we like better.

I don't know where to get Kombucha, does it really do anything? I'm scared to try it, it looks......well......gross.......LOL