Eating on a budget

[tortugaverde]

I stayed at the Crown Plaza, Garden Grove... which is right near the Hyatt (you also share the same shuttle to the park). I remember there is a Pizza Hut in the loby of the Hyatt and right accross the street there is a Red Robin and a seafood shack place that my in laws ate at and said it was not bad (and inexpensive) There is also a target a short block away that has a small food section, we bought water and snacks there (bread, pb and j, milk, cereal, crackers etc.). On that same side of the street there was a breakfast place that seemed popular. There is also a few fast food places around the hotel area and near the DL gates. We ate at IHOP a lot, because it was cheap and kids eat FREE At the DL gates there is also a Kaptin Kids... but I have heard it is bad.

Have fun... and enjoy the shuttle bus guys, there are a few really funny ones

 

[Alex2kMommy]

We make a grocery store run when we get into town (if we've rented a car, which we usually do.) I buy bottled water, milk, dry cereal, snack cracker packets (crackers & cheese or crackers & peanut butter), nuts, and easy to eat fruit (bananas, apples, grapes, raisins.) I also usually have some sort of candy, fruit snacks and water-flavoring packets (Gatorade, Kool-Aid and Crystal Light) from home.

We eat breakfast in the room most mornings, and bring water bottles and snacks in to the park. We usually return to the hotel room for DS4's nap around noon, often grabbing lunch along the way in DTD, Whitewater Snacks or Crocs Bits and Bites. I refill the backpack with water & snacks for our afternoon/evening return to the park.

I'm sure bringing our own water and snacks in is a huge money-saver, but it also means we haven't tried a lot of fun snacks at the park; I have to plan on getting a Dole Whip, otherwise it just doesn't occur to me at the right time.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Oh, and if you're a drip coffee drinker, you can buy a coffee mug (I think it's around $8) that can be refilled for the remainder of your stay. DH got his at the coffee shop at the DLH, but I think they're available throughout the Disney hotels and parks.

DH drinks one or two mugs a day, so this saved a ton of money for us!

 

[crasher11]

We order groceries thru albertsons: lunch, snacks and bottled water,this saves quite a bit on food costs. We use the hotel breakfast ( if offered ), load up some water and snacks for the morning in the parks, head back to the room for lunch and rest time, then eat in the parks for dinner. Like stated above we usally eat at Rancho Zocolo, French Market or comparable places. We splurge a few times to keep our DS's happy but with the savings from eating lunch at the hotel it works out pretty good.

 

[chargergirl]

At times I have surprised the kids and taken them to DL for a quick trip, especially when they have minimum days at school. One thing that I have done is buy some $.99 double cheeseburgers from McDonalds and throw them in a backpack with some drinks and we're set. I figure all of the walking that we do walks off the calories in the cheeseburgers, .

I think bringing in your own food saves you a lot of $$ in the long run. The $$ that you save you can use for a few treats!

 

[Leofoenget]

We're trying to be frugal too.

Our hotel has a breakfast, so that's helping.

We had considered doing every lunch in the park, but yeah that does add up too. I'm thinking I may pbj a few days, lunch in the park a few days. I plan on freezing some water bottles and that'll help keep them cold. We're taking a stroller so we'll keep the food with us.

Dinner I'm still on the fence about. DL closes at 8 almost every day we're there, so it'd seem silly to leave at 5, eat and go back. I dunno. not sure. Maybe pbj's for every lunch and dinner in the park LOL

How about a larger lunch in the parks and PB&J for dinner? Switch them then time won't be an issue.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

How about a larger lunch in the parks and PB&J for dinner? Switch them then time won't be an issue.

Yeah, good point! Thanks, I think we'll do that. Then they can eat whenever they want for dinner...and if it's not quite enough we can eat more back at the room.

 

[consultant]

We order groceries thru albertsons: lunch, snacks and bottled water,this saves quite a bit on food costs.

We are staying at HoJo and not getting a car since we are flying into Orange County airport and not going anywhere else besides DLR. I remember the Target is quite a ways down Harbor. I suppose we could hop the resort are bus?

Can you really order groceries through Albertsons and have them delivered to your hotel? That would be might convenient. One of my kids has a severe dairy allergy so we need to pack lunch/dinner for him most of the time unless we eat Japanes/Sushi or other "safe" types of cuisine where there is little or no chance of cross-contamination (Mexican is a nightmare.)

 

[judykins]

I love all these ideas....

We have done little snacks and such...but I will have to keep some of these in mind for our trip.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[BC Disney Lover]

We traveled with 2 teens, a 7yr, a 3yr and 2 yr. We found ourselves eating dinner after the park was closed. We always had breakfast in the room, took snacks into the park( granola bars and fruit snacks) ate a late lunch at 2pm, most days we had popcorn or churros or ice cream in the evening. Then we headed to Denny's, Mcdonalds or Tony Romas for dinner. We shared a lot of lunches because my 3&2yr old don't eat a lot. Also, the first night there was my birthday and i wanted to go to rainforest for dinner but didn't want to miss night time stuff in the park so we had 5pm reservations which means we didn't eat lunch and just grabbed a snack later that night.

 

[crasher11]

We are staying at HoJo and not getting a car since we are flying into Orange County airport and not going anywhere else besides DLR. I remember the Target is quite a ways down Harbor. I suppose we could hop the resort are bus?

Can you really order groceries through Albertsons and have them delivered to your hotel? That would be might convenient. One of my kids has a severe dairy allergy so we need to pack lunch/dinner for him most of the time unless we eat Japanes/Sushi or other "safe" types of cuisine where there is little or no chance of cross-contamination (Mexican is a nightmare.)

Yes you can have them delivered, you can do it online a couple days before you leave and they deliver right to your hotel. You pick a time frame, I believe it was an hour or so period but Albertsons was always punctual. I think it was $9.95 for delivery the last time we did it but just the savings will pay for that and then some.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh, and if you're a drip coffee drinker, you can buy a coffee mug (I think it's around $8) that can be refilled for the remainder of your stay. DH got his at the coffee shop at the DLH, but I think they're available throughout the Disney hotels and parks.

DH drinks one or two mugs a day, so this saved a ton of money for us!

I don't think DLR has mugs that can be refilled for free....

We are staying at HoJo and not getting a car since we are flying into Orange County airport and not going anywhere else besides DLR. I remember the Target is quite a ways down Harbor. I suppose we could hop the resort are bus?

A dis'er stayed on Harbor and had a need to get to Target during her trip. She and her family got on the bus and got right there easily.

As for grocery stores, Vons and Albertsons both deliver.

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Bring water bottles of your own OR just ask for water at restaurants. I got a big ice water without even ordering anything at the counter service near Pacific Wharf. Since I had a massive headache at the time, it felt like it saved my life.

Kid's meals are plenty of food for an adult that doesn't eat mass quantities of food. The penne pasta kid's meal at Plaza Inn was terrific when paired with a side salad! The kid's cheese/bean burrito meal at Rancho and at Cocina Cucamonga is also great.

Breakfast at Tomorrowland Terrace comes with a beverage, and is very good.

Whitewater Snacks, oh, a poem could be written about their breakfast burrito (we left the meat out as we are vegetarian). Good value.

There's definitely something to be said about having a big brunch! Have a granola bar at b'fast time to stave off the hunger, then enjoy the character meal brunch!


I've heard that IHOP is possibly the most expensive IHOP there is, so the kids eat free part might not make a big difference.


Hubby, 4 year old, and I shared a meal of macaroni and cheese with a salad and garlic bread at Millie's one night. Got it to go. Just ONE order of each, not an order for each of us. It filled all our tummies. Something like $11.

Mimi's was good too, but on that trip the mac/cheese at Millie's stood out for value and deliciousness!


Oh, and CoCo's on Katella was good too, but all we had there was the veggie burger. Very good veggie burger! But if you're not staying in that area and don't have a car, it might be an obnoxious walk, and you might be better off just staying with Mimi's and Millie's.

 

[bumbershoot]

And as for the little treats, share! If you're on a budget but want to have fun with food, sharing is the best way to go. And it keeps you from over-indulging, obviously. If someone isn't happy with the treat or they are still hungry, you can always go by another one of whatever it was, or buy something else. But you'll probably find that everyone is happy with what they shared, and can wait until later to try something else.


The ONE thing that we DO splurge on at DLR!???!!!! The FRUIT! They have the BEST fruit there.

In our real lives we eat mainly organic fruits, but we eat the conventionally grown stuff there b/c it's so good. Even a basic apple is about 10 times better. The nearly frozen grapes that we bought in ToonTown that one hot day were incredible! Hubby snarfed an entire container of mango slices with lime, and the strawberries they use as garnish at Whitewater Snacks were absolutely to die for.

Our first couple trips we brought fruit in, but then we ran out and "had to" try the stuff in the parks, and for my solo trip in Jan and then our b'day trip in May, we actually made room in our budget for the fruit.

And since it does cost a bit of money, there was less money for junk (not that hubby and son can eat much of the junk there since they have sensitivities to a lot of it but there are a few things they can have), and we were all healthier and HAPPY after our trip!

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

Molly just made me hungry