Help! Budget Advice Needed!

[mrsw94]

Help! We are headed down to DLR in just two weeks, and my budget has been tighter than I'd planned.
So, a few details:
We are arriving Saturday night (the 8th) will be at the parks 4 days Sun-Wed. We are not doing MHP (just can't afford it!).
There are 4 of us. Me, hubby, DD 8 & DS 2 1/2.
We are staying at the Ramada Inn Maingate that offers breakfast, so that's covered. We are also going to bring our coffee pot from home to make things easier. We do have a fridge & microwave in our room, so that will help.
My current plan is to do the hotel breakfast, and pack snacks & PB&J's while at the park.
I'm still trying to figure out how to budget and the cheapest ways to do lunch and dinner. I have a the $25 gift cert for House of Blues, and a 99 cent kids meal coupon for Rainforest Cafe.
What are your best budget suggestions? DH is a big guy (so sharing isn't really an option), he also gets really grumpy and a headache if he doesn't eat.
I'm also trying to figure out what 'Disneyish' treats I can bring with us. I was going to get Disney crackers from Costco and possibly make some Mickey shaped Rice Krispy treats. Other suggestions?

I know this is long, so thanks for the help!

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Don't buy drinks! This saves a lot of money. If you are eating at a restaurant, order water. Bring a case of water with you and whatever else you like to drink, soda, gatorade, juice boxes, etc. If it's not alcohol and it's not glass, you shouldn't have any trouble taking drinks through security with your pb&js.

Your DH may not want to share, but you may find sharing works well with you and your kids. Before you order food somewhere, watch what other people are getting so you can get a sense of portion sizes.

If you must eat in the park, we have found Pizza Port to be a good price-to-portion ratio. The fried chicken plates at Plaza Inn are huge too, and you could probably easily share one with your two kids, even if your DH needs his own. In DtD we like the Jazz Kitchen Express for quick food reasonably priced.

Bring lots of snacks, both for in the park and for in your room during breaks. Some of our favorite things to bring include apples, baby carrots, pretzels, a box of cold cereal that's good for snacking and not just for breakfast, peanuts, individual serve applesauces, EasyMacs, granola bars, cheese sticks, and goldfish crackers. If you have a lot of munchies available, you might find sharing purchased meals a little easier. If you're trying not to buy a lot of treats in the park, you may want to bring some sweet treats that you don't normally give your family. I like the rice krispie treat idea. If you don't normally give your kids candy bars or cookies or other pre-packaged goodies, you might want to consider getting something like that to take. Then you have a "special" alternative to the Disneyland priced treats. Might be at least a little more appealing than a treat they're used to getting. Another good thing to do about expensive Disneyland treats is to share them and to pick something because it is special and you couldn't get it at home. Our family of four will sometimes share one piece of fudge. Yes, it's very expensive fudge, but spread out as the dessert for four people, it doesn't seem as bad. It's not a lot but gives us the satisfaction of having a little something sweet at least.

 

[Mom2aJessieGirl]

I'm also trying to figure out what 'Disneyish' treats I can bring with us. I was going to get Disney crackers from Costco and possibly make some Mickey shaped Rice Krispy treats. Other suggestions?

I took a variety of Kellogs Fruit Snacks (Princesses, Fairies, Toy Story, Cars, Phineas and Ferb, Nemo) for the parks. I found that I needed a bit of a sugary pick me up around 10AM each day, and those were perfect. Plus they are soft and easy to chew for little kids! (Fruit is always best, but these were easier to transport via airplane.)

I saw Cheese-its at the store today that were in Toy Story shapes.

Another recommendation? Get the kids some disney themed sippy cups or waterbottles before you leave. That way, all drinks will have a disney flair!

You could even package regular snacks in disney themed snack containers. I've recently seen them in the dollar aisle at the "bullseye" big box store!

 

[mrsw94]

Great suggestions! Thanks

I did buy 2 6-packs of soda bottles for hubby and I, so that will cut down on the sodas. I also got a princess water bottle for DD, and have TOTALLY hit the $1 containers at the bulls-eye store!

I didn't think about sharing food with the kiddos, that's a really good tip. I'll also talk over sharing with hubby. I agree that if we have snacks, it might be easier to share.

We will certainly buy a few treats. I have my eye on a Tigger Tail! We don't buy a lot of that sort of thing, so it will certainly be a treat!

 

[Mom2aJessieGirl]

I didn't think about sharing food with the kiddos, that's a really good tip. I'll also talk over sharing with hubby. I agree that if we have snacks, it might be easier to share.

I actually shared several meals with my DD4 (almost 5) when we were there in August. It worked out well for us!

 

[spacemermaid]

Here's a link to all of the menus at DLR, with prices: http://allears.net/dlr/din/menu/menus.htm

I have found it a great resource for meal planning/budgeting!

 

[keahgirl8]

I actually got some Mickey-shaped cheese slices at Wal-Mart. It was in the section where the string cheese is.

 

[disney4metoo]

Maybe you could cut the "Rain Forest" and "House of Blues" out of your budget. The "House of Blues" $25.00 coupon can be used anytime in the future. If it is restaurant.com coupon there is no expiration date. Restaurants can be costly including the addition of tipping . There is plenty of fast food restaurants in the area that would be much cheaper.

When my kids were small what we would bring our own food for dinner. We would make fried chicken at home, or get a Costco Lasagna (cook before and reheat) pack it in a ice chest and keep it in the fridge and microwave it at dinner time. We would come back to the hotel for a afternoon nap, rest or swim and then we would eat our dinner and return to the park.

My husband use to carry a backpack or a diaper bag and we would bring our own water, juice boxes and snacks into the park. Back in those days, we would bring sandwiches into the park too. We would eat cold cereal in the morning, sandwiches in the park/plus snacks, and dinner in our room. It got to the point wherever we went to any amusement park, if the kids saw the snack bag, they could not wait to get into it!

There is also a Costco not too far, you can get a two pizzas and reheat for a few dinners for under $20.00!

Good luck!

 

[wdwfan22]

Be sure to read the menu link provided by spacemermaid. Not all counter service places are created equally. Some are much pricier than others. I think Hungry Bear is a real value. read the menus and look at prices ahead of time to know what is in your budget.

 

[dismom73]

I share food with my kids, not only to save money, but prevent wasting food. Since we cant carry around the left overs all day and I hate throwing food away, especially since it's so expensive! What we do with meals is buy one large soda and we all share it, then we refill it with cans of soda from our backpack.
The Tigger tails are very sweet, and very easy to share.
I agree with the pp, skip the resteraunts. Rainforest Cafe has been a tradition for us for years on our first down at DL, but we are skipping it this year because we are on a tight budget too. Even with a coupon you are going to spend a lot more than you would to eat at a counter service place. We are not doing any table service restraunts this time around to save money on tipping and things like "plate charges" where they charge you extra to share a meal, they also frown upon you taking a can of soda out of your back pack and drinking it at the table.
Bottom line, you will be at the Happiest Place on Earth, so you will have a great time!

 

[Brady's Mom]

This is how we do DLR and food -

We stay at a place that has breakfast or we bring breakfast-y things that we can heat up in a microwave and keep in the fridge.

We always make sandwiches and bring them to the park. Our faves - meat w/cheese and we bring some lettuce separately so it doesn't get soggy, pb&j and tuna. We also bring in our little lunch cooler some carrots, apple slices and usually chips.

We love having some home made food that tastes good and is good for us because we know that we eat one meal at the parks. That way I don't worry about my kids getting some good nutrition while we are there.

We budget $60 a day for park food when the 5 of us go - DH and I sometimes share and sometimes we get our own food. If we share we adda side salad or 2 so the meal goes further. We have a 6 and 8 yr. old and they get kids meals, our DS 14 gets his own food. If we don't spend all the money on one day we just save it up for a bigger dinner or something else another day. The $60 assumes that each "big" person will be spending $15 on a meal and each little person about $7 or 8. We figured $15 because that is usually the most expensive food item on a CS place and that way if we don't worry about the cost so much.

We also hit Mimi's Cafe on some nights. We love to go to DLR during non-peak times and Park hours are frequently 10 to 8 pm. Crowds are usually smaller and so we don't feel bad about leaving at 5 or 6 pm after we've done all that we want to and more and getting dinner early. We can get food for all 5 of us at Mimi's for around $40, plus they have smaller serving sizes for smaller eaters so you don't have to get a huge entree.

Bring some jerky for your DH. It will give him a protein boost and help him not be cranky.

I bring snacks that the kids don't often get at home and that seems to help with the "I wants". Although you can pick up a thing of suckers (4 in a pack) in the stores for about $4. We get the small twisty ones (can't remember their names) and my kids love them. We also get the mickey shaped suckers every once in a while. But my kids are almost as happy with beef jerky, goldfish, granola bars and fruit snacks. We do splurge during our trip and buy Kettle Corn in DTD. We love the kettle corn and we get the large bag for $7 and then have it in our room or with us at the parks and it satisfies. We NEVER buy it around our home so when we go to DLR it is a REAL treat.

Good luck with your plans! Have a great trip!

 

[mom4princesses]

Don't forget you can go to any counter service and get a free cup of ice water. There is a pumpkin muffin recipe on the boards that you can make and take with you. We made them the other day and they were wonderful. DH has asked me to make them again. They have Disney fruit snacks and I always hit the clearance section at the Disney Store. Get the girls little gifts for each night when we get back from the park to cut down on the I wants. It helps a lot and we save money. I just picked up pens and sticky notes for around $6 and that will be the gift for all 6 girls one night ($1 a kid isn't bad). So it can be very inexpensive and they love that they have something waiting for them (they know since we have done it for a long time, we call it Tinks treasures). Hope this helps and have a great trip.

 

[Karenann*]

When we were at the park in July, we took in bagels everyday with turkey and cream cheese or cin bagels with cream cheese. Sometimes we put the cream cheese on at the hotel and sometimes we used the mini tubs and spread it on in the park. They were sturdy and travelled well for backpacks or even in a purse. we passed them around among the 5 of us when we were waiting in lines or having a rest.

 

[theprettydisneynerd]

O.K. so, whenever I go to disneyland with my family, we usually bring snacks, like granola bars, cheez-its, apples, bananas, and some other nutritional stuff. We like to eat at the space piza port for dinner and that burger place across from space mountain for lunch. we bring our own breakfast to DL. When we go to disneyland, we usually by one or two little snacks because for some reason to us it doesnt feel the same if it's not made in disney

 

[mrsw94]

Wow! Such great suggestions!
I think we will probably skip Rainforest or HOB, maybe just do one as a special treat.
I hadn't thought of tuna sandwiches. Great idea! I'm just not a huge fan of PB&J!
I'm really going to try to take advantage of the room fridge and microwave. I think that will help!

 

[azdisneylover]

At the parks, we take granola bars, fruit snacks, string cheese, and things I know my kids love to eat and that are easy to eat while in line for the rides or while walking to the next ride. I bring fruit like bananas, grapes and apples (along with an apple slicer) so we can have that in our room with crackers, cheese, pepperoni slices for a quick snack. Costco has great muffins, egg sandwiches, and other items individually wrapped that could be heated and eaten for a meal. They also have their Sunny D case on sale with the coupon. You might want to think about eating your bigger meal in the afternoon, and eating a lighter meal in the evening.
Whitewater Snacks in the GH has great nachos and pizza. The pizza comes with a salad.
Think about what your kids love to eat, and think how you can bring/make that for dinner. Have a great time!

 

[Cagirl767]

You could always go back to your room for lunch or dinner. There's a ton of meals you can make in a microwave. Like someone said, think of what your family likes and then you can come up with a way to make that in the microwave.

Some things we like:
Chili dogs (canned chili poured onto a hot dog in a bun then microwave)
Nachos (chips, a bag of shredded cheese, chopped onions, can of refried beans, chopped tomatoes, sour cream)
Tacos (pre made taco meat that you just have to heat in the microwave, and you know the rest)
Burritos (tortillas, shredded cheese, refried beans, tomatoes, shredded lettuce)
BBQ pork sandwiches (Old El Paso that you just microwave, on a bun with cheese and lettuce)
Get a rotisserie chicken when you're at Costco or a grocery store, with a bag or 2 of microwavable rice and a bag of Steamers microwaveable corn and rolls.

Inside the park:
Rancho Del Zacalo (Mexican food) has huge portions that you and the two kids can share.

 

[ConnieB]

We will certainly buy a few treats. I have my eye on a Tigger Tail! We don't buy a lot of that sort of thing, so it will certainly be a treat!

The good news about Tigger Tails...they have 4 marshmallows, so you could easily share one with your whole family. They are uber sweet so one piece goes a long ways for us.

You might also want to look around for deals at home on things you can hide away to give the kids each day so that they don't get the "I wants" at the parks. When my were little I'd give them a new shirt or toy each morning and if they asked for something in the park I'd remind them of their new thing. We also avoided going inside the stores on Main Street and quickly exited when a ride drops you inside a store, lol.

Water bottles for the whole family are a great money saver.....any of the counter service places will give you a FREE cup of ice water....just dump that into the water bottles and you're good to go. Or....if you don't need water constantly, we finally gave up the water bottles and just stop in at counter service whenever we see really short lines and grab a good long drink of icy cold water. Of course, we never go in the summer, so if it's still really hot right now, that might not work as well as it works for us in the winter/spring.

 

[planegirl99]

I am CHEAP when we go to Disney. We have $190 on our Disney Rewards Card and that is our LIMIT for food for both days in the Park. Period. LOL

The hotel has a fridge/micro so I always bring a "food box" from home (we drive in from AZ) that lasts our whole trip, even including the drive back. I pack several soft coolers for the bottom of our double stroller and bring things like string cheese, goldfish, pretzels, apples, etc...I bring in lots of bottled waters each day. I pack PB&J's for lunch both days. This time, since we do have the $190 and we are not "souvenir" people, we can have more snacks and stuff and a nice dinner each day in the park.

If you can hit the Dollar Store before your trip BUY GLOW STICKS/NECKLACES they are so expensive in the Park and my kids LOVED having them each night. I bought a bunch and gave them to other little kids while we were watching fireworks too... It felt good to do that and they were only $1 each! LOL

We have 4 restaurant certificates for Anaheim from doing the coke rewards, so Weds night and Saturday night (when we are not at Disney) we will have cheap dinners.

I always save my receipts and I am anxious to see just how "cheap" this trip will be!

Have fun!

 

[jodeja]

We brought our own reusable, stainless steel water bottles from home and little individual packets of Countrytime lemonade. The packets are just the right size for a water bottle. We're from Oregon and aren't used to the water in California, so this made it more palatable
We also brought pop from home and did not buy drinks in the park, except for one Make Mine Mocha from Schmoozies - that was my park treat
We brought protein bars, peanut butter crackers, almonds, and most of the things others have mentioned. I found Disney zip-top type sandwich baggies at Dollar Tree and I would put the snacks for the parks in those each day. We also brought Cup Of Noodles to eat in the hotel room.
I bought the kids some Disney items before we left and packed them in their carry-on backpack. This kept them occupied on the plane and also kept them from wanting so much stuff in the park stores. I bought them each one thing from the Disney store that was about $15 and the rest of it I picked up at Dollar Tree, Party City, or Target.
I bought some Disney paper plates, napkins, and cups to use in our room to make it still feel like a Disney meal.
Another cost saving measure, since we were on a very tight budget this trip too, is I bought some of our Disney t-shirts at Goodwill before we left. Some of them were new-with-tags or looked like they'd just been worn once. I found 2 great shirts for my younger son at Goodwill for about $5 each. Then I found matching ones online for my older son. The ones I found online were about $15, so not nearly as great of a deal, but I still was able to get 2 shirts for $20 instead of $20 each at the park, plus we didn't have to waste park time shopping.
I definitely had to manage expectations about park treats. I would buy them one treat, usually a churro, in the park each day and if they wanted more than that they had to buy it with their own money. I know that probably doesn't help with kids as young as the OP has, but I started it with my boys when they were 9 and 10 and it worked out great.
I think Disneyland on a budget is definitely better than no Disneyland at all, and this was actually our best trip ever, but I have to admit there were some souvenirs I didn't have enough money to buy that I am still dreaming of...<sigh>