Eating at Disney on a Budget - Helpful Tips/Locations Needed!

[cdrn1]

Also remember that you can get a cup of water for free at most of the carts and CS; a lot of the time if I feel a bit hungry and drink a glass of H2O it turns out I was not hungry but thirsty. Doing that could save you a bit of $$.

 

[micheleq]

If you are staying at SSR, the sandwiches at Artists Palate are pretty big and could be split easily. And they have a little grocery section where you can get some basic groceries (and wine!) to keep in your room. We were at SSR and always had breakfast in our room, so easy!

 

[wear_your_baby]

We just got back. We were there for 9 days, driving from VA--so a total trip of 11 days. The total of all our meals (including travel meals) came to $186, not including groceries. Each day, we had cereal & milk in the hotel room. Small containers of milk can be purchased at the Hess on property for $1. (The prices in that Hess were quite reasonable overall--you could even pick up muffins/donuts in the AM)

We picked up several lunchmeat & cheeses from the grocery, all packed in those ziplocs so they fit nicely in a cooler. Each day, we took a cooler with 1 lunchmeat, 1 cheese, and a few pkgs of mayo (from Chick-fil-a!) as well as a bag of pretzels & half a loaf of bread. We ate our own lunch whenever convenient.

For snacks, I had purchased single serving junk food items from a grocery outlet, such as single Oreos or twizzlers. I also bought a bag of apples and a bunch of bananas while down there. These were easy to carry into the park. For drinks, we used the Liv Pure filtration bottles sold at Target, and just poured ice water from the CS into them.

For dinner, we chose a CS rest. that looked reasonable and shared 2 adult meals. (2 adults, a 5 year old, and a 17 month old who doesn't eat much at all). The best value was probably veggie burgers & fries at Pecos Bill in MK. I think the bill was about $14 (drinking water) and we could load those babies up with the grilled veggies, etc.

Hope this helps. We were quite pleased with how little we spent on food, and it wasn't a total trip-killer to do it this way. (We had to justify the cost of our AP's somehow!!)

I want to add that we didn't totally deprive ourselves. We ate at Cracker Barrel once and Shogun japanese once (Entertainment book Orlando has BOGO at Shogun, and they offered to let us share w/ the kids, saying we'd have too much food if we didn't share!)

 

[stackyallred]

I agree with a Previous Poster who mentioned sharing at Cosmic Rays (MK), Flame Tree BBQ (AK) and Sunshine Seasons (EP). All of these places have meals large enough to share. DH and I always share there and he is a runner- he eats quite a bit due to his long daily workouts. Also, at AK, the food stand outside of Yak and Yeti has fried rice that is a very good price and completely fills me up. Also, I am sure you know this, but getting water at restaurants instead of the sodas is a huge money saver. We also (when not on DDP) share TS meals at many places. With only water and a decent tip, we still often get out of there with a bill less than $20. We share meals daily when at out to eat back home, so I guess it is just easy for us at WDW, too.

 

[Lady_Gracey999]

Wow! Thanks for all the responses! Less than 64 full days for me to go!

I really like the idea of sharing quick service. Last time we went we were usually full long before dessert! We aren't planning on any type of dining plan b/c her DH is coming up the last two nights and since I'm covering food (they're the DVC owners) I really don't want to pay for him for the 4 days he won't be with us!

HESS is pretty reasonable huh? We might stop there on our way to SSR and grab enough goodies for a few days then! Again...thanks!

 

[dancin Disney style]

We spent $900 for a 14 night stay with 4 people, 3 adults and 1 child. That included a few TS meals. Our meals averaged to $64 per day.

The best ways to save money are:

Have groceries in your room for breakfast, snacks and drinks.
Share CS meals if possible---BTW, that's getting harder because the portions are now smaller.
Order a kids combo at CS ---they don't know or care who it's for. The kids combo includes a drink and dessert.
Pack snacks to take into the parks and a lunch if you want.
Cups of ice water are free at all eating establishments ---sodas are $2+
If you are going to buy coffee every day at the resort get the refillable mug---you only need to refill 6.5 times for it to have paid for itself, anything more is savings.

 

[LoriNSC]

We're staying off property this yr. & are always trying to eat cheap. We did Universal Studios & 1 day at magic kingdom last yr. We did the sharing w/ our 2 little ones at Cosmic Ray's. DH & I both got the dbl. cheeseburgers, fries & extra buns (.65/each) & split with them. It was plenty. I think the dbl. burger meal was like $6 & some change. We're renting a condo close by WDW & will be eating breakfast & a few dinners there. We are budgeting for a character breakfast, T-Rex, Rainforest Cafe & Hardrock Cafe (DH's fav. at citywalk). I'll probably pack some PB&J's, snacks & water for the parks though. Good luck & have fun!

 

[Puget Peach]

If you are planning on only doing Counter Service and you are staying on property one of you could add the Quick Service Dining Plan for $30, 2cs and 2snacks a day.

I believe this would only work if each person had their own room. All parties in a room must purchase the dining plan, don't they?

 

[dancin Disney style]

I believe this would only work if each person had their own room. All parties in a room must purchase the dining plan, don't they?

Correct...each person in the room must be on the same package. That means park tickets and dining plan.

 

[tortugapirate]

It isn't easy to save money with food, unless you are on the Dining Plan (in my opinion). But, since you guys aren't looking at that, I suggest splitting some of the portions. Most places give you A LOT of food.
One of my favorite places that I highly recommend is the Flame Tree BBQ over at AK. The smell will lure you in, no doubt. Like it suggests, the menu has ribs, bbq chicken, baked beans, corn, salads, etc.
I also love the atmosphere. You order at the counter, which is right off the main pedestrian pathway. But, the seating is further down and is situated on the river. If you stay to the right and follow the path all the way down, you will find a small cabana that overlooks the river, and has a spectacular shot of Everest.
Sometimes there are alligators (or crocs?) swimming in the river. Twice, I have eaten there and a boat goes by with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and they will all wave at you! It's a great place, great food, great location.

 

[iluveeyore]

Haven't read through all the posts, so sorry if any of this was mentioned. My DSis and I went last November and we only spent $30 or less a day on food each. I see you are staying at SSR, which is where we stayed. We did breakfast in the room - took cereal bars, and got a small milk at the gift shop for our morning tea. We did a lot of lunches or dinners at DTD - Wolfgang Puck Express is a great value - reasonable prices, large portions - when we ate there for dinner, we took home leftovers and had them for lunch in our studio the next day. Earl of Sandwich is great too - huge portion for the price you pay and so yummy!
When at the parks, there are lots of spots to buy something cheap to eat if you're not fussy and don't care about having a big sit-down meal.
Epcot was my favourite - went to the Boulangerie in France and got a ham & swiss croissant warmed - cost $3.25 and filled me up. Had bought a bottle of Diet Coke beside Rose & Crown first, and we ate inside the gift shop at the back of France where they have tables set up. Lots of desserts to choose from at the Boulangerie as well for under $3.
At MK my sis loved to just get a large McDonald fries for around $2.50 (you can also get these at all the other parks), and a huge cherry or apple turnover at the Main Street Bakery for under $3 as well.
Now that I'm telling you all this, we pretty much lived off of what you can buy with snack credits for meals!
We did go out for a couple of nice dinners. If you make reservations, we found that a late lunch was usually $10 cheaper than an early dinner if it was available, like at Whispering Canyon Cafe where we had the All You care to Eat Skillet. Same at the Crystal Palace buffet at MK, lunch was cheaper.
We had dinner one night at O'Hana (for my birthday) and one night at Boma, which were both wonderful!
You can check out the dining menus on allears.net and map out prices and places on there to outline a budget with your touring plan as well.
Just know that it can be done and you won't starve!!!
Also, if you have an AP or a DVC membership, make sure you know which places take discounts and use them!
Have a great trip!

 

[The Hendies]

At Cosmic Rays we ordered 2 meals for 3 people and split it up. I filled an empty meal dish from the fixin's bar with lettuce, tomato and other stuff. They have dressing packets, which made a nice salad. At Morocco 1 lunch meal fed all 3 of us. One Flame Tree lunch also fed all 3 of us! You can do it!!

 

[Goofyseven]

Columbia House in MK has large sandwiches that can be split. Also, the best buy is the free ice water. Just ask at any CS. You don't need to buy anything