How do you eat cheap at Disney?

[hbehrman]

Hi! I have enjoyed reading the posts! We will be going to DW this summer. I have 4 kids with my DH. How can we eat cheap at DW? We won't be staying on the property. Thanks, I'll be watching for your feedback. Also if you have any other tips for large families at DW, let me know!

Go in August/September and try to get the Free Dining promotion. You must choose a package through Disney (resort + a minimum of 1 base ticket) and you will have free Disney dining plan for every night stay you have at the resort. We have enjoyed this for the last 2 years (although the perks are declining) and will again this September (probably the last for us).

 

[dougsmom98]

I agree with others who stay off site and eat a big breakfast. We usually stay in a vacation home and we eat a hearty breakfast. If we didn't have a full kitchen where we stayed, I would hit a breakfast buffet. Ponderosa has one for $3.99. We also bring drinks and snacks to the parks so that we can hold off lunch until about 2 pm. If you try to eat at a CS restaurant between noon and 2pm, it is hard to find a seat. Last time we brought cheese and crackers, Pringles and fruit for a snack and that helped. We eat a normal lunch, no splitting usually. We like CS restaurants that have a fixings bar because it makes the burgers taste so much better with pickles, lettuce, tomatoes... If we do this and hit the ice cream cart later in the evening, we won't need dinner.
We ate at the Electric Umbrella in Epcot and their normal meal is a double burger. We made sure to ask for a single burger. I am not sure how much we saved, but we didn't want two beef patties. We could have asked for another bun and split the double burger but we love french fries and didn't want to split.

 

[iheartdisney]

Do you already have your hotel picked out? If not, I would do research on a which one offers the best breakfast.

 

[ObsessedwiththeMouse]

I just wanted to add that the Budget Board will also have some great tips on eating cheap.

Good luck!

 

[kathianne]

Also we've found at Disney or anywhere we travel it really helps to have either a condo with a kitchen or at least a microwave and fridge to keep simple thing for quick snacks, etc. Like I get milk, cereal, bread, sandwich fixings, soup, frozen dinners, snacks like chips, sodas, whatever seems to fit the facilities we have, also, bottled water costs a fortune in the parks.

We usually eat one meal a day out, then grab something in our room. Its not only cheaper, its more convenient and helps with stress overload just to be able to spend some down time in your room and eat when its convenient. Eating in restaurants 3x/day would break our piggy bank!

 

[mrstomrice]

One more thought....try to join a fridge swap if you are at a value resort! You can save a lot on the rental of a fridge.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

"Eat cheap at Disney" is an extreme oxymoron

Seriously, many of the tips here are very good. Eating breakfast in your room saves time and money, and breakfast foods are usually fast and easy.

We take water bottles into the parks with us, water is expensive and you need to drink it all day.

Sit-down lunched are not only cheaper than dinner, I find it nice to take a break during the heat of the day to have lunch. Then you can walk off that big meal during the cooler evening hours.

 

[Millie12591]

Oh yeah! Another tip for summer: bring your own water bottles into the parks!! It saved us a ton of money. The kids were constantly thirsty in the FL heat! There are water fountains that you can refill them in for free!

Not to make anyone feel bad about drinking from fountains, but may I offer the suggestion to everyone that you take your bottle to any counter service place or kiosk and they will fill your bottles with ice and or water for free. When we took our trip last year someone on a board said that the parks aren't allowed to turn anyone away for this, the parks are a little more concerned about people falling down from dehydration than they are about making money from selling water. (probably the only place they don't worry about making money)

 

[RACHELSMOM1]

Ice is free all over the parks, at any place that serves fountain drinks. All you want....as many cups as you want....it melts fast in the heat and the water is good because the ice is made from filtered water.

 

[3mickeymom]

by Staying offsite you can eat at places near your hotel for much less $$. We stop at a store and stock up on drinks, snacks and breakfast items(cereal bars, Thomas' bagels, etc). Then we eat one large meals almost always offsite during our break from the parks. We love bahama Breeze!! They have great kids meals that come with the BEST smoothies and there is always so much food that we bring home some. If your place doesn't have a fridge bring a collapsible cooler from home and fill it with hotel ice often. CICi's pizza is also great. We stay in a condo so sometimes I'll cook. For my kids its not really about Dining experiences as much as recharging to hit the parks!!!

 

[MouseTriper]

Ice is free all over the parks, at any place that serves fountain drinks. All you want....as many cups as you want....it melts fast in the heat and the water is good because the ice is made from filtered water.

Oh that is great to know the ice is made from filtered water...YEAH!!!! Thank you!

 

[ehrn]

it does have a strange taste but I asked for a lot of glasses of ice water and by the end of my trip, the taste didn't bother me anymore. The crystal light packs would have helped even more--or now they make little packets of just crystalized lemon I might try too.
I think Disney is almost forcing people to get the DDP, even a crappy bagel was pretty expensive and a hot dog with fries was close to $8 or something CRAZY. That is really a shame. My husband and I split all of our meals during the week and it was still in the $40/meal range for table service. Just insane. Some of the best food we had was when my son got sick and we had to take him to the doctor and stopped at Qdoba on the way back--we were STUFFED for less than $20 and it was fresh and so good.
Seriously, by the end of the week, I was really envious of the people who were eating homemade sammies--they just looked more appetizing. I'm going to think about doing more of that next trip--if we don't do free dining should it become available.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

Snacks and drinks are what usually blow our budget. As others have said, take water bottles into the park with you. If you're able, stock up on drinks and snacks in your room. Take time to eat at reasonable mealtimes. My family gets so caught up with touring the parks that they don't want to stop and eat a full meal. We end up grabbing a variety of expensive park snacks at all different times. Then, when we sit down to eat a "real" meal, no one is hungry; and a lot of food gets wasted.