How are Canadians saving on meals at wdw with the low dollar

[cottontail]

Hi: We are supposed to go to wdw april 2016. I am wondering is it still beneficial to buy the meal plan or is it better to just pay out of pocket and do less table service meals.

What are others doing.

Deb.

 

[minnie mum]

Depends on the people in your family and your dining priorities. Usually the DDP is only going to save money if you're dining at the most expensive (ludicrously overpriced) 1 TS credit restaurants every day. For families with kids, this usually means character meals. Or if your family consistently wants to order the most expensive entree on the menu and have 2 desserts every day. If this isn't your family, then you can save more money by paying OOP for food.

Pack breakfast foods - granola bars, or bagels ( buy some individual packets of cream cheese), cereal; and buy a half gallon of milk from the gift shop. Eat breakfast in your room while you're getting ready for the day, and save money at the same time.

Eat more meals at CS restaurants. There's plenty of variety out there. You could do CS twice a day for a week and never touch a french fry, burger or chicken strip if you do your research by looking at menus.

Look carefully at the TS menus and carefully consider your family's food preferences. If you've got picky youngsters with small appetites, paying $$$ for a buffet or AYCTE meal would be a huge waste of money. But if you have voracious teens, ia couple of these over a week might be very worthwhile. If you find that the usual portion sizes are too big, consider sharing an entree between 2 people and maybe adding a side.

 

[keaster]

We are DVC and will be staying in a one bedroom in March so breakfasts and probably some lunch/dinners will be done in the room

 

[Kogo Shuko]

We've always been pretty frugal. We'd pack our breakfast and lunch and only eat supper at the parks.

The nice thing about those two meals is that there are plenty of options that don't require refrigerating or heating up.

 

[Aladora]

Hi: We are supposed to go to wdw april 2016. I am wondering is it still beneficial to buy the meal plan or is it better to just pay out of pocket and do less table service meals.

What are others doing.

Deb.

When I was trying to figure out if the DDP was going to be worth it, I used this site:

www.distripplanner.com

It does take a bit to enter in all the info but it is really helpful once it is all done.

 

[pigletto]

We'll be offsite in a 2 bedroom so I will do a big shop on the way to check in, and the groceries will cover all breakfasts, and some lunches/dinners. I don't want to do a ton of cooking but I do want to A) help the budget and B) eat a little healthier. A kitchen really helps with that.
Secondly we have the ability to eat offsite and will. We will plan the must do onsite restaurants and do about half offsite.

 

[Susie63]

Water only... no pop. It adds up

 

[Disneylover99]

Water only... no pop. It adds up

Definitely agree. Skip the pop and desserts. We still buy counter service meals, but we share and sometimes we'll even share a couple of kids meals.

 

[dsneygirl]

We did not get DDP and came out $200 ahead on our last trip. That included our wine, drinks by the pool and the Hoop Dee Doo as our big splurge. We paid OOP for 1 character dinner and with exchange it was $220! It was not a $200 meal by any means.
IMHO skipping the DDP is the easiest thing you can do to save money.

Have a quick breakfast in the room (bagel , fruit, cereal etc)

Have your TS at lunch places like Liberty Tree, Prime Time, Rose and Crown are good value.

Split some QS options. 3 meals (mix of kids adults) did our family of 3. Then have a late evening snack. If you pay OOP for the DDP you are paying for a pop and dessert at every QS meal for all of you. Other than the DDP I have never in all my trips ordered a dessert at a QS. Last trip I bought a refillable mug and got my pop fix by the pool and then only drank water in the restaurants.

Keep in mind too you need to tip on top of your DDP so your $200 meal needs about $30-$40 in tips.

 

[amie416]

We usually grab a few pre-packaged wraps and salads from Trader Joes to keep in our on-site room fridge. Makes for an inexpensive and healthy-ish lunch when we take a break from the heat and crowds.

 

[mshanson3121]

We stayed off-site, so we saved $1500+ just right there by now having to buy a dining plan. We spent a whopping $250 for 11 days for food for 6 people - three meals a day, plus snacks, water etc... So, for me, if you're really trying to save money - stay off site and make your own food

Otherwise, most hotel rooms have a small fridge - so buy some milk and you can have cereal in your room. Pack a small toaster and you could even do toast, bagels, pastries etc... You could also always do sandwhiches for in the park (buy a backpack cooler) for lunch time with fresh fruit for a snack (bananas, apples, oranges etc... do not need to be refrigerated). Buy a box of protein/granola bars, take some ziploc baggies and do nuts and raisins for in park snacks, or take some trail mix, crackers etc... Buy water bottles for each person and then do free water refills within the park.

Even staying on site, there is 0 need for a DDP. You can easily get by with just buying one meal per day OOP.

 

[seashell724]

We stayed off-site, so we saved $1500+ just right there by now having to buy a dining plan. We spent a whopping $250 for 11 days for food for 6 people - three meals a day, plus snacks, water etc... So, for me, if you're really trying to save money - stay off site and make your own food

Otherwise, most hotel rooms have a small fridge - so buy some milk and you can have cereal in your room. Pack a small toaster and you could even do toast, bagels, pastries etc... You could also always do sandwhiches for in the park (buy a backpack cooler) for lunch time with fresh fruit for a snack (bananas, apples, oranges etc... do not need to be refrigerated). Buy a box of protein/granola bars, take some ziploc baggies and do nuts and raisins for in park snacks, or take some trail mix, crackers etc... Buy water bottles for each person and then do free water refills within the park.

Even staying on site, there is 0 need for a DDP. You can easily get by with just buying one meal per day OOP.

We are also staying off site. I am looking for more ideas on what food to buy and would love to see a list of things you made there and/or what you took into the parks! Sandwiches every day would get pretty boring. We are 4 people for the same amount of time. Please help!

 

[mshanson3121]

We are also staying off site. I am looking for more ideas on what food to buy and would love to see a list of things you made there and/or what you took into the parks! Sandwiches every day would get pretty boring. We are 4 people for the same amount of time. Please help!

Oh gotcha. First question is - are you driving or flying? If you're driving start stocking up slowly on some items 4-6 weeks before your trip and bring them with you. Just adding a couple items to your grocery bill every week can easily be budgeted into your weekly budget and cuts down on that "big" grocery bill for your trip. Some things you'd probably have on hand anyways and could bring.

So, one thing is to use Garden Grocers. Go in a few days before your trip and order your groceries and they'll deliver the food right to the house/rental for you on the day you arrive (you set the time), and it's all great shape. And prices really are pretty good (though their fresh fruit is a bit pricy).

So for breakfasts, we bought your basics: bread, English muffins, eggs, bacon, juice, milk, butter, PB and jam, coffee, a bowl of mixed fruit, cereal for the kids

For lunches, we bought stuff to make sandwhiches (which of course included the jam and PB and bread), but also deli meat, mayo, mustard. Since we spent the afternoons at the house relaxing, we normally ate lunch at the house, so we also bought KD for the kids, hotdogs and buns. A bit boring and routine of a lunch time menu, yes, but we didn't really feel like cooking "big" meals while on vacation, and honestly, we found the heat kinda sapped our appetite anyways (we went in June), so a quick hot dog or sandwhich was fine. For the days we packed a lunch for in the park, we packed sandwhiches.

For suppers we did basically did meat and salad: so hamburgers and salad, pork chops and salad, we BBQd steaks one night, chili and salad - I made a huge batch of chili so we could have leftovers for the next day. We bought premixed salad bags and dressing, and a cornbread mix. We ordered in pizza one night, and had the leftovers for lunch. So again, not huge variety but we were trying to save money and also keep the grocery bill down.

For snacks we bought granola bars, cheese sticks, fresh fruit (bananas, apples, oranges), crackers, chips etc... We typically took the granola bars, fruit and crackers into the parks for a snack. We bought oodles of bottled water from home (much cheaper in Canada), so we packed typically 6 bottles per morning. In hindsight though I wouldn't do that again, since it's heavy to carry. Instead I would just pack a couple water bottles and refill in the park. Makes for a lighter backpack.

Definitely invest in a backpack cooler. We used this one with these ice packs, both worked great:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003I7CLCC?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PTGO5A?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

 

[TommyJK]

Baloney Sandwiches every day

 

[Susie63]

We used to bring water into the parks everyday at Disneyland but it gets heavy. DD doesn't like the water in Anaheim so we bought a Bobble bottle. It has it's own filter right in the bottle so we just refill it and it always tastes great. We also take a MIO or Crystal light flavoring for water at meals.

 

[Susie63]

Does Garden Grocers deliver everywhere and how late? We have a house rental in Davenport and our flight doesn't get into MCO until 7:15.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

What we do is stay on rented DVC points (this gets us a more suitable fridge/sink/cabinet area. Eat Breakfast in the room (bagels, toast cereal) Coffee. Light lunch prepared in room (finger foods/sandwiches). We eat in the evening a quick service meal each. We do use refillable mugs and avoid buying drinks.

 

[samsteele]

The PPs advice is great and minnie mum's is (as always) spot on. I would add that many QS meals are very large and can easily be shared between 2 people . . . particularly at lunch. This is particularly true at eg Flametree BBQ in AK, Sunshine Seasons in Epcot and Tangierine Cafe in Epcot. The revamped menu at Pecos Bills in MK would also work well for this strategy. You buy the basic "meat" plate (eg chicken fajita) and then go the fixins' bar and pile it up with fresh veggies, guac, sour cream, etc. Something like the chicken fajita could easily feed 2 people for lunch or dinner. And you also get some healthier greens and vegs instead of the fries.

 

[greenclan67]

We always stay offsite and we have got meals down to a science. Lol. We either but the pre cooked chicken, or I make one. Depending on how long we are there. Upcoming is 2 weeks.
So we buy, salad bags, chicken, tomatoes, green pepper, grated cheese and make fajitas. I make a large pasta sauce, have it twice. I also buy at Walmart the sweet & sour chicken stirfry kits. Usually 2 of them, and cook them both. Have it for lunch if leftover! We order pizza one night have it leftover. Pancakes, eggs, bacon. We even had egg wraps one night for supper with soup. Fruit & veggies, crackers, cheese. I am bringing my crockpot as a carry on this time in its nifty case I have for it. I hate cooking on vacay, and figure if I can throw a few meals in there its not so terribl .

 

[saskdw]

Personally, we wouldn't be going to WDW without the Free Dining promo.