How to do dining on a budget???

[wishspirit]

My Mom and I are going to WDW in September this year for a week (we have booked the flights and everything, i am VERY excited. I haven't been in 4 YEARS!!!!)

The main thing is, with just the two of us, with small British appetites we are trying to figure out what we should do about food. We are on a budget (me being a student and all) so we are more than likely going to stick with counter service more than anything else for lunch and dinner, and have bagels for breakfast.

So my questions:
1) How do you do dining on a budget?
2) We are having one or two 'nice' meals out, we want the Disney experience and fun as much as possible as we don't get to do that with anyone else. What would you guys recommend?
3) Can anyone recommend the best counter service places in the parks? We have heard about so much good stuff in Epcot, but we aren't too sure anywhere else.
4) Is the counter service place at Old Key West good? (Where we are staying)

Help with one, or all of these questions, I would be so grateful!

Have a Disney Day!

 

[UrsulasShadow]

Will you rent a car? Go offsite? Are you in a studio at OKW, or a 1 Bedroom?

 

[Dodie]

DH and I have found that we can often split counter service meals and then have a little snack later if we're hungry. We usually get one meal combo and split it, buying a second drink or refilling a water bottle, even if we're not trying to save money.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

For counter service in MK, I like Columbia Harbour House.
I don't like to eat in DHS (unless it's at Hollywood Brown Derby), but will sometimes grab a bagel with the fixin's at Starring Rolls and a piece of fruit.
I like Yak&Yeti in AK. They have takeout, but I'd rather sit at the bar and have an appetizer there. Flame Tree Barbecue is okay, not great.

Mostly, if you have the ability to store food and cook in your room, I'd go with that. There are also plenty of places to eat off-property, most of them MUCH cheaper.

 

[BRobson]

I am not a big eater during the day and I find that a kids option does me just fine

Columbia Harbour House is a lovely option in the MK - menu choices are a bit different for counter service - you can get kids salad or macaroni for $4.49

I could just get by on something from Main Street Bakery and an ice cream in the afternoon.

If you are eating offsite - try registering on the restaurants websites - they often send you bogof vouchers

A trip to walmart to stock up on your water and juice will save you some $$$$ as well.

I tend to check out the menus for CS before I go so I know where we are going to eat

 

[Cruz Family]

I agree with the things already said, especially CHH and Yak & Yeti. Also Earl of Sandwich is great and really inexpensive. As far a table service goes, if you want to go over to Ft. Wilderness, Trails End is the cheapest buffet on property, with good food and it also gives you the opportunity to explore the resort as well. 50's PTC at the studios is well priced and you cant beat the atmosphere. We tend to do a lot of sharing on our trips, this way you can try more and spend less. Oh one other thing.....get the refillable mugs. Coffee, soda, slush....we use them for everything and we save a ton.
Have a wonderful trip!

 

[klam_chowder]

DH and I have found that we can often split counter service meals and then have a little snack later if we're hungry. We usually get one meal combo and split it, buying a second drink or refilling a water bottle, even if we're not trying to save money.

When we were there, we had DDP and we still did this as I don't like to waste food. Also after our meals we wanted to do more than imitate sloths, which happens to us after heavy feedings. Many meals are really too big for small eaters: Flatbread Studio's roast chicken in DHS, Flame Tree's ribs in AK, etc.

If you want to try a few unique mid-range TS places, like Coral Reef or Sci-fi drive in, one can order an entree and the other an appetizer and split both of them. Again, lots of food.

We saved a lot of $ and convenience by carrying our own water in a Camelbak (no queuing to buy water, hands free travel). We love ours and carry it on day trips everywhere.

I am not a big eater during the day and I find that a kids option does me just fine

This is a fab idea - one I never considered but will keep it in mind on my next visit! I guess I should add are adults allowed to order the kids meals?

cheers,

 

[BRobson]

This is a fab idea - one I never considered but will keep it in mind on my next visit! I guess I should add are adults allowed to order the kids meals?

cheers,

I have only ordered a kids meal at counter service and have never ordered for TS. I have never had any problems at CS though

 

[klam_chowder]

Thx a mint for the reply, Jackie Yes, I meant at CS only. Any TS we go to, I want to experience the food. However, I love hot dogs and would be happy to have a kids lunch on one of my park days

cheers,

 

[DSNY4ever]

Keep in mind that you can always split meals, even at the sit down restaurants. Often my husband and I will share an appetizer and then split an entree and we never get anything other than water. We always only eat one meal in the park and we have found that if we make it a late lunch/early dinner we can eat breakfast in our room, an bring snacks to eat late at night.

We just got back from staying in a studio at OKW. We brought our own instant oatmeal, nutra grain bars, and applesauce cups and ate those for breakfast. It was nice because at OKW we got to sit on our balcony in the morning, enjoy the sunrise and eat our oatmeal! We ate once at the counter service and got a really big tuna sandwich that was pretty good. Their grocery section at the store there has lots of snacks and some microwave meals- we got the mac' n cheese there one night and it needed salt and pepper badly! But you can always arrange for a grocery delivery if you want to keep stuff in your fridge and make your own sandwiches to bring into the parks etc. (you can bring in any food, you just can't bring in glass or a hard cooler). We often bring PB&J into the parks.

Have fun!

 

[wishspirit]

Will you rent a car? Go offsite? Are you in a studio at OKW, or a 1 Bedroom?

Studio, and we won't rent a car. I am too young to rent (I can drive a shift here) and my mom doesn't want to drive (You driving on the wrong side and all!!) So not really possible to go offsite like we usually do.

 

[wishspirit]

We saved a lot of $ and convenience by carrying our own water in a Camelbak (no queuing to buy water, hands free travel). We love ours and carry it on day trips everywhere.

We have Camelbaks, but I HATE the taste of the water after it has been in those plastic-y bag. We will certainly bring our own water, maybe bring our own squash/Ribena for a bit of something different! It is ok to drink the water in OKW rooms? Otherwise we might buy in bulk or ship it.

 

[DSNY4ever]

We were fine with the water in our OKW room, but we aren't that picky. We filled up water bottles in our room. You can also ask for a cup of water at any of the counter service places and it is free.

 

[ADP]

Not sure if the counter service locations are still allowing this, but you could order a double cheeseburger meal with fries and ask for a second bun. Split the fries and use the fixins bar.

Bring your own bottles to the parks and fill it at the fountains instead of buying bottled water or soda.

Pack snacks to take to the parks each day so you don't have to buy snacks in the parks.

Sunshine Seasons (Land pavillion at EPCOT) is my favorite counter service location in all of Disney World. For some reason the food seems so fresh there. Beware though it can get a bit loud.

We also like the Pepper Market at Coronado Springs for a different alternative.

 

[klam_chowder]

We have Camelbaks, but I HATE the taste of the water after it has been in those plastic-y bag. We will certainly bring our own water, maybe bring our own squash/Ribena for a bit of something different! It is ok to drink the water in OKW rooms? Otherwise we might buy in bulk or ship it.

Some people use Crystal Light type crystals with their water to mask the taste (lemon flavor, etc.). We don't use those types of products so haven't tried it myself. We brought a Brita water filter pitcher with us and used that to fill our Camelbak. It got rid of the Florida water flavor, and for us, was a green alternative to shipping/buying plastic water bottles.

cheers,

 

[cslittle999]

I would use a grocery service like WeGoShop to order food for breakfast and snacks for the parks. Having breakfast in your room can generate a large saving.

 

[tiggerbell]

We had lunch at Goods To Go last September.

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1939048

This is the link to my trip report - in the first post is a list of chapters... you want Chapter 54. Click on it and it will take you to our visit to OKW. We spent most of that trip splitting CS meals.

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

Our favorite cheap meals have been:

1. Rose and Crown Pub for fish and chips it is the cheapest sit down meal for us on property. The portion is huge and we like it.

2. Wolfgang Puck Express is the best counter service meal we have found on property. They have plenty of options for everyone.

3. for the parks we like:
MK - Cosmic Rays
AK - Yak and Yeti is our new fav - the kids meals can pick two sides of fried rice and an egg roll and it was enough to mix with an adult meal and share between 3 people.
HS - Call me crazy but I like pizza planet
Epcot - Tangerine Cafe has great platters along with Sunshine Seasons.

 

[DWFan4Life]

I usually bring food to cook because we can't avoid that our kids won't like the food serves in the restaurant, so it's a waste if we already paid for it but they didn't eat it, right? I'll better cooked for them and know what they want to eat. This is a really good budget.

 

[wishspirit]

Sunshine Seasons (Land pavillion at EPCOT) is my favorite counter service location in all of Disney World. For some reason the food seems so fresh there. Beware though it can get a bit loud.

My mom went there on her trip last year, and loved it, she suggested going there again a few times as it has lots of options, i'm glad her review is being backed up!

Our favorite cheap meals have been:

1. Rose and Crown Pub for fish and chips it is the cheapest sit down meal for us on property. The portion is huge and we like it.

2. Wolfgang Puck Express is the best counter service meal we have found on property. They have plenty of options for everyone.

3. for the parks we like:
MK - Cosmic Rays
AK - Yak and Yeti is our new fav - the kids meals can pick two sides of fried rice and an egg roll and it was enough to mix with an adult meal and share between 3 people.
HS - Call me crazy but I like pizza planet
Epcot - Tangerine Cafe has great platters along with Sunshine Seasons.

Thanks, those are some great ideas! We probs won't do the Rose and Crown, simply cause we have enough British pub food at home!

Yak and Yeti is looking good, I LOVE egg rolls!