eating well at Disney on a moderate budget

[mom4fun]

So staying off site seems the way to go if you want to save a lot of money and have a really nice place to stay but is there a way to eat well at the parks and feel like you almost got the Disney dining plan? Just trying to find a way to enjoy the yummy food without throwing the whole budget out the window.

 

[*pixie*dust*]

If you are asking if there is a sort of "offsite dining plan", then the answer is no, they really don't offer anything like that. However, there are many sites available that show menus and prices so you can plan ahead to see what most appeals to you and your family and what the costs will be. That can help you hit the highlights and budget accordingly. Happy planning!

 

[Marionnette]

So staying off site seems the way to go if you want to save a lot of money and have a really nice place to stay but is there a way to eat well at the parks and feel like you almost got the Disney dining plan? Just trying to find a way to enjoy the yummy food without throwing the whole budget out the window.

Take half of what you would have spent on the dining plan. Put it on a gift card (or two or three). Use the gift card(s) to pay for your meals and snacks. Order whatever you feel like having.

Seriously, IMO the dining plan is NOT a money-saver. The only appeal is when it is offered for *free* to a family of 2 adults and 2 juniors staying in a Value Resort. Otherwise, there's no bargains to be had with the dining plan.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I would say there are a few ways to be able to enjoy lots of WDW food without spending a fortune.

1. Share meals. This allows a little budget freedom to have a few extra snacks.

2.Breakfast is the least expensive meal of the day. Splurge on late morning breakfasts (this really only works if you like TS) and then have an early dinner. Cutting out a 3rd meal per day saves money.

3. Figure out what your 'must do's' are. Book those and then figure out what you can cut out to be able to save a little money.

4. Don't waste money drinking sodas with your meals. Water is FREE. A family of 4 can spend more than $10 on soda at 1 meal.

 

[ptlohmysoul]

So staying off site seems the way to go if you want to save a lot of money and have a really nice place to stay but is there a way to eat well at the parks and feel like you almost got the Disney dining plan? Just trying to find a way to enjoy the yummy food without throwing the whole budget out the window.

Eat breakfast before you leave your hotel. Bring snacks (yes, you're allowed). Eat a quick service lunch and dinner. Splurge on one big meal at Disney such as a buffet and/or a character meal. Also, for one of the quick service lunches, eat at BOG.

 

[SEA333]

Take half of what you would have spent on the dining plan. Put it on a gift card (or two or three). Use the gift card(s) to pay for your meals and snacks. Order whatever you feel like having.

Seriously, IMO the dining plan is NOT a money-saver. The only appeal is when it is offered for *free* to a family of 2 adults and 2 juniors staying in a Value Resort. Otherwise, there's no bargains to be had with the dining plan.

Hmmm...the great debate goes on. The *free* plan seemed to save my family of 2 adults, 2 Disney adults, and one child staying a POR a boatload of money last year....well over $500 after factoring in what would have been a 20% room only discount. And we loved every bit of NOT having to do our customary "share snacks and meals and get the cheaper item over the more expensive item" deal I usually make the kids do.

So, free dining had value for someone other than a typical 4-person family in a value...just sayin....

 

[Marionnette]

Hmmm...the great debate goes on. The *free* plan seemed to save my family of 2 adults, 2 Disney adults, and one child staying a POR a boatload of money last year....well over $500 after factoring in what would have been a 20% room only discount. And we loved every bit of NOT having to donour customary "share snacks and meals and get the cheaper item over the more expensive item" deal I usually make the kids do.

So, free dining had value for someone other than a typical 4-person family in a value...just sayin....

Let's just ignore the fact that the dining plans are outrageously priced and that using that price tag in deciding how much you "saved" is just deluding yourself into believing that you saved a lot of money.

You won't be able to replicate that bargain this year, will you? POR is not included in *free* dining this year. So, a family of 5 is not going to be able to get the regular dining plan for "free" anymore unless they are staying in a FW cabin or a Deluxe Resort. I don't think you'll save much money by upgrading to those accommodations (at rack rate) in order to get "free" food.

I stand by my original statement that the dining plan is no bargain to begin with, and *free* dining is only a good deal for 2 adults and 2 juniors staying in a Value Resort.

 

[SEA333]

I would say there are a few ways to be able to enjoy lots of WDW food without spending a fortune.

1. Share meals. This allows a little budget freedom to have a few extra snacks.

2.Breakfast is the least expensive meal of the day. Splurge on late morning breakfasts (this really only works if you like TS) and then have an early dinner. Cutting out a 3rd meal per day saves money.

3. Figure out what your 'must do's' are. Book those and then figure out what you can cut out to be able to save a little money.

4. Don't waste money drinking sodas with your meals. Water is FREE. A family of 4 can spend more than $10 on soda at 1 meal.

We pretty much do this except we bring fruit, poptarts, granola bars etc to the hotel for a quick morning snack, then eat a good lunch at about 12-1pm, and a later dinner.

We always share snacks, drinks, and sometimes desserts. Nobody needs a whole 20oz of soda at once! (We may LIKE it, but we don't NEED it!) I get crazy seeing kids throw away good food, and most kids will take a bite or two out of something and toss it. I literally want to cry when i see that. LOL My kids have pretty much always shared stuff, or we would share with them so nothing gets wasted, so its not a new concept for them. Even when we had free dining, we still all shared a lot of snacks because that is what we are used to!! We just got more of them lol

 

[SEA333]

Let's just ignore the fact that the dining plans are outrageously priced and that using that price tag in deciding how much you "saved" is just deluding yourseld into believing that you saved a lot of money.

You won't be able to replicate that bargain this year, will you? POR is not included in *free* dining this year. So, a family of 5 is not going to be able to get the regular dining plan for "free" anymore unless they are staying in a FW cabin or a Deluxe Resort. I don't think you'll save much money by upgrading to those accommodations (at rack rate) in order to get "free" food.

I stand by my original statement that the dining plan is no bargain to begin with, and *free* dining is only a good deal for 2 adults and 2 juniors staying in a Value Resort.

Agreed!

Not trying to duplicate anything this year!!...and I do my homework and know how much the outrageously priced plan saved as well as how much the outrageously priced food we ate cost, AND how much we could have eaten for offsite, AND the breakdown of off-site accomodations with meals vs onsite with the free dining discount....LAST YEAR. No delusions here, but thank you for your kind? words...I see we've got another happy Dis-er here! Rain on someone else's parade...I'm out!

 

[maggiew]

Here are some of the things we do:

1. Eat breakfast in room (granola bars, cereal bowls, etc.) I do have to get a mickey waffle from the food court once, though!

2. We go to a la carte restaurants where you can order off the menu instead of a set price, family style or buffet meal.

3. We usually share entrees, but this is more due to how we eat rather than to save money. But it does save money in the end!! And we usually have food left over. We might get one or two appetizers and 2 entrees for the 4 of us true adults (my kids are 18 and 22).

4. If we do want to go to a character meal or special meal, we go for lunch instead of dinner.

Maggie

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

If you have a soft sided cooler, you can bring food into the park. Last trip we ate at sandwiches I made at the resort (we are DVC) for at least one meal a day. I brought along sandwich stuff and chips. It was so easy and a WHOLE lot cheaper than a Disney meal.

 

[texasroni75]

Out of seven trips, only ONE did we have the dining plan. We could easily have spent thousands on food alone, and obviously, we didn't want to do that. We are big on sharing meals in our family, mostly because DH and I hate to throw away food - it feels like we are throwing our hard-earned $$ in the trash.

Do some research. There are so many more food options at the Counter Service locations than just pizza and chicken nuggets. Look at the menus online and you'll see you can eat well, and have lots of variety if you seek out the CS locations that have unique things (like Hot Italian subs at Pinnocchio Village Haus in MK).

At Disney we buy 2-3 adult CS meals for our group of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids). Usually that's more than enough food for everyone, and even then sometimes it's too much. And no, we don't eat like "birds" LOL. If someone in the group is still hungry, we don't make them go hungry, we buy another meal or a dessert.

Set a daily budget for yourselves and try to stick to it. You'll see after a day or two in the parks about how much you "really" need, and if your budget is realistic. For our family of 5, CS meals only, we spend about $45/meal including 2 desserts at lunch and dinner. TS meals will obviously cost more.

We do also supplement some of our meals - bringing just a few waters or juice boxes and a couple of small snacks into the parks with us can save $10-$15 a day.

 

[3happydancers]

So staying off site seems the way to go if you want to save a lot of money and have a really nice place to stay but is there a way to eat well at the parks and feel like you almost got the Disney dining plan? Just trying to find a way to enjoy the yummy food without throwing the whole budget out the window.

If you are not worried about doing character meals but would like to enjoy TS meals that are reasonable, our family enjoys:

-Rainforest Café (located in AK and DTD)
-T-Rex (DTD)
-Big River Grill (Boardwalk) walking distance from Epcot or HS or take river taxi
-Beaches and Cream - walking distance from Epcot or HS or take the river taxi
-Wolf Gang Puck Café (Counter service but inside seating in A/C for hot days!)DTD
-Tony's (MK)
-Boma's (Do the buffet breakfast-delicious and then check out the animals) AKL
-Flame Tree-AK (if you like BBQ Ribs-yummy) Counter Service

Check out Allears.net. They list each eatery along with the menues and prices. This will help you budget for the "must do's".

Of course, others have given great suggestions to save bucks like eating breakfast in your room (we do this most days), sharing meals (you could always order more if family members are still hungry but most times you'll find you don't. Disney gives healthy servings of food), bring your own snacks and water (keep in mind water is free in any park-just ask at just about any CS. We usually ask for cups of ice since we are there in August and the ice melts into ICE WATER!)

Happy Planning!

 

[brielise]

We are on a budget, but also on our honeymoon so we're willing to splurge a little more as well.

Still, we made an Excel sheet and started booking all of our dining with the posted menus in mind. We allotted an overall budget for the trip. We are doing a TS and CS a day. For TS... Each meal I chose what I generally thought each of us would pick as our entree. A lot of times this involved me picking a cheaper meal because I have a smaller appetite, with DH getting something more expensive with the thought that I could try it. Which is also why the DDP doesn't really work for us.

For CS, I estimated $10 pp per day. We usually will get different things and split them, especially in Epcot. We have a little freedom to spend more than that but that seems to be generally what we spend.

Some days we splurge, like the day we have California Grill. The day we have Via Napoli we spend significantly less. If something didn't factor into the budget, we had to decide whether it was worth it to splurge or get rid of it altogether (Le Cellier).

We never eat breakfast in Disney, just a snack at the hotel, so we're only budgeting for lunch, dinner, and some snacks.

The DDP would have cost us $220 a day, plus added 18% gratuity - which we generally give but if the service is horrible, I like the flexibility to at least go down to 15. With us budgeting our meals, we will spend approximately $100 a day. And I don't constantly feel forced to order the most expensive entree, which 9 times out of 10 is the filet. While I love steak, sometimes I like a little variety.

 

[mom4fun]

This info has been very helpful. We are staying at a beautiful resort condo for less than $100 per day during easter spring break so to estimate historical prices during easter, what would be the cost of value or moderate hotel with ddp add on, the one with ts included, cost 3 adult prices. Is it even likely during that time there would be free dining? Trying to compare the 2 costs.

 

[abmitch01]

I think an adult and a child (mine is is a 15 yo girl) can easily share a counter service meal. We're staying on site with a quick service plan because we just don't seem to find the table service meals all that magical for the price and time they take. My biggest suggestion is eat after the world at Sweet Tomatoes by DTD. Sign up for emails and get get coupons for 3 adult meals for $20 bucks. Great salads and soups after a hectic park dat.

 

[Marionnette]

This info has been very helpful. We are staying at a beautiful resort condo for less than $100 per day during easter spring break so to estimate historical prices during easter, what would be the cost of value or moderate hotel with ddp add on, the one with ts included, cost 3 adult prices. Is it even likely during that time there would be free dining? Trying to compare the 2 costs.

There is almost no chance that Disney will offer *free* dining during Easter season. There will mostly likely be no room discounts, either. So you would pay rack rate for a room and the adult per-night rate for the dining plan. Since 2015 package prices have not been announced yet, there's no way to determine what all of that might cost you.

If you want to "cost it out" for the 2014 Easter Season, Mousesavers.com lists room rates for the various resorts and seasons. They also have a section about the dining plans and what they cost. Don't forget that you would also need to add tickets to make it a package. Total all of that up and assume that it will cost you 5%-10% more in 2015.

 

[isaboo]

Let's just ignore the fact that the dining plans are outrageously priced and that using that price tag in deciding how much you "saved" is just deluding yourself into believing that you saved a lot of money.

You won't be able to replicate that bargain this year, will you? POR is not included in *free* dining this year. So, a family of 5 is not going to be able to get the regular dining plan for "free" anymore unless they are staying in a FW cabin or a Deluxe Resort. I don't think you'll save much money by upgrading to those accommodations (at rack rate) in order to get "free" food.

I stand by my original statement that the dining plan is no bargain to begin with, and *free* dining is only a good deal for 2 adults and 2 juniors staying in a Value Resort.

I have to agree with this! With my daughter being 13 and there's no way she can eat those huge portion sizes (we do share a ton and our tastes are pretty much the same) and my twins don't always want to eat off the kids menu. Also I don't always want dessert at the restaurant where we're having dinner....sometimes I want a cupcake or ice cream later instead. The dining plan works for some people but not everyone. It used to be a really good deal when it first came out though! Start stocking up on gift cards and use those to pay for food.

 

[isaboo]

Just for kicks I went and priced two comparable trips. On on the dates we are going this summer with the room discount/free PH offer with dining plan added, and one in Sept during "free" dining.

For the same room at the Boardwalk for the same number of days, "free" dining would save a whopping $238.00. But it wouldn't, really, because my family likes to do crazy things like sharing the huge pizza at Via Napoli then going to the patisserie in France for dessert! We just don't eat the way the dining plan wants us to. You really just have to run the numbers and see if you are better with the dining plan or OOP.

 

[mom4fun]

There is almost no chance that Disney will offer *free* dining during Easter season. There will mostly likely be no room discounts, either. So you would pay rack rate for a room and the adult per-night rate for the dining plan. Since 2015 package prices have not been announced yet, there's no way to determine what all of that might cost you.

If you want to "cost it out" for the 2014 Easter Season, Mousesavers.com lists room rates for the various resorts and seasons. They also have a section about the dining plans and what they cost. Don't forget that you would also need to add tickets to make it a package. Total all of that up and assume that it will cost you 5%-10% more in 2015.

Doing an estimation from this the cheapest we could stay at a resort and have mid range dining included would be a minimum of $380 per day for the 3 of us w/o tickets. So if I wanted to just break even on food and lodging outside of the parks, it would cost $100 plus have an additional $280 for food per day.