how to keep dinning costs down and not feel cheated!!

[tinksgilrs251520]

Just wondering if anyone can give me some advice on how everyone does dinning and not feel like they are being cheated always had free dinning and dinning is the biggest cost of my trip please help me

 

[tiggerdad]

Gotta be honest, Disney has priced the dining too high for my taste...

This was a big reason for us changing over to camping, where we can bring and cook our own food. This saves a huge chunk, more than enough to justify fuel for pulling camper down there. We still do a meal or two for the kids. In fact, the only way they are gonna get me to another resort is with free dining, and even then it is up for debate.

As far as cooking, we use the crockpot heavily. Mix it up and start before heading out that morning. Then its ready for evening meal, allowing time after for Fort fun like swimming, cruising, or ride over to MK to catch fireworks or take advantage of shorter ride lines during the nighttime show.

We typically eat a big breakfast, this usually means a packed snack is all that is needed for lunch.

Sent from my Desire HD using DISBoards

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Here's what we do. We use our Disney Visa card all year and save the points, at vacation time we cash in the points and use it to eat at a few of the nicer establishments of our favorites, like Cape May Cafe, etc. The rest of the time, (I agree with tiggerdad) we cook our meals at the site. For us, cooking at the site has become a real joy (in most cases), we eat very well at the site..
in fact, the sweety is working onna butter fried beef stew as I enjoy a Chocolate Wheat brew as we speak, for our supper.
Another little hint,,if you do eat out a lot, the lunches are cheaper then supper and in a lotta cases are just as enjoyable.

 

[bama_ed]

tinkgilrs,

I'm a little perplexed by the use of the word "cheated".

Frankly I don't think the food is that great in the WDW restaurants. You're paying for atmosphere or setting. But to be honest, I haven't eaten at Top of the World or the other high end places to see if it was worth it. I'm referring to the 99% of the table and counter service choices. But I don't feel like I'm missing a single thing.

If you are in a resort on property (not the Fort) then I can see where meal money starts to add up. But as others have said, we campers (and even if you have a cabin) can cook our own meals frequently. We pack a picnic meal into the parks and eat one meal (usually lunch) at counter service (although last time with family I did splurge for a sit down). There are 5 "adults" in my family so feeding us all is not inexpensive. We are only in the parks maybe 2 days each trip so the non-park days we do 3 meals at the campsite.

When I budget for a trip, I save to cover the cost of: campsite, tix, gas both ways, and any table service dinners we might do. I don't even budget groceries because if I was at home I'd be buying groceries anyway, right? We choose to save on dining dollars so we can come back to the Fort nearly annually.

Finally, Ed's rant on dining, in condensed form, goes something like this: "Before the dining plan was offered, table service was creative and different. To conform to the cost limits of the dining plan, creativity was thrown out, extra ingredients or portions trimmed back, quality was lowered, and cooking methods became standardized in huge prep kitchens. So table service is not worth it to me anymore". Conversely, though, some counter service has improved IMHO with my favorite being Columbia Harbor House. It's still overpriced of course but the selection and presentations are good. It's not just hot dogs or burgers with fries anymore.

Bama Ed

PS - some restaurant manager should go "no dining plan" and offer the creative menus and ingredients we used to see. Offer it at whatever prices you want. I bet it would be packed all the time. One of the World Showcase restaurants at EPCOT should do this.

 

[ChrisinNJ]

I agree with Ed and Frank.

Like Ed, I don't find the food at WDW to be that good. I see people rave about it, plan days around it. I find the food quality to be lacking. Overall way to salty, and obviously overpriced. I enjoy going off property to eat, much more than most of the meals I have had on property. We always eat breakfast in our MH, and before we started camping, we rented condos offsite and ate there. We always carry snacks in the park, but allow for a few treats from disney as well (gotta have a mickey ice cream bar!) On non park days we ate lunches and dinner in our motorhome as well. We rarely do this on park days because we stay in the park too late.

Then like Frank, I use my Disney Visa to rack up reward dollars. I use those dollars to cover the food we do eat on property. I buy Disney gift cards from target as well using my target red card to save 5% on them (every little bit helps).

 

[amylevan]

Be selective. Where are your "must eats"? Seriously think about your eating habits. If everyone always gets burgers and chicken nuggets at counter service restaurants at lunch, you aren't missing anything if you pack lunches instead.

For instance, we love Columbia Harbor House and Sunshine Seasons, but a lot of the other CS restaurants start to feel repetitive. So, we plan to eat CS a couple of days, the rest we pack lunches.

We always eat breakfast at the camper. Huge savings right there, especially since DS is happy with a bowl of cereal.

As for TS restaurants, set your budget and then dole it out accordingly. We usually have a big enough budget for everyone in our party to pick 1 restaurant. The rest of the time we cook at the campground.

I also carry snacks with us in the parks. We usually buy an ice cream or popcorn here or there, but most days the kids are happy if I pull something out of our backpack that they don't often get at home.

Ditto for drinks. Soda and bottled water is very pricey in the parks. We carry our own.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

I'm a little perplexed by the use of the word "cheated".
. . . have to admit, that I, to, am confused
. . . if staying at The Fort campsites you don't get free dining
. . . thus, there should be no feeling of being cheated

Frankly I don't think the food is that great in the WDW restaurants.
. . . agreed
. . . DDP has caused WDW dining experiences to go significantly downhill
. . . as many know, we patronize ONLY five TS eateries within WDW

We pack a picnic meal into the parks and eat one meal (usually lunch) at counter service (although last time with family I did splurge for a sit down).
. . . ditto

"Before the dining plan was offered, table service was creative and different. To conform to the cost limits of the dining plan, creativity was thrown out, extra ingredients or portions trimmed back, quality was lowered, and cooking methods became standardized in huge prep kitchens. So table service is not worth it to me anymore". Conversely, though, some counter service has improved IMHO with my favorite being Columbia Harbor House. It's still overpriced of course but the selection and presentations are good. It's not just hot dogs or burgers with fries anymore.
. . . absopositively

 

[bama_ed]

Frankly I don't think the food is that great in the WDW restaurants.
. . . agreed
. . . DDP has caused WDW dining experiences to go significantly downhill
. . . as many know, we patronize ONLY five TS eateries within WDW

Rusty Scupper,

Since you are a local, can you share with us your "Favorite Five" list with maybe a short reason why for each? It might get me to give some other locations a chance.

Thanks, Bama Ed

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Rusty Scupper, Since you are a local, can you share with us your "Favorite Five" list with maybe a short reason why for each? It might get me to give some other locations a chance. Thanks, Bama Ed

As locals and CM's, we only visit five TS eateries at WDW when we go there for an actual meal. *

1) We prefer
. . . fine food
. . . excellent, top notch service
. . . innovative dishes with flair and quality
. . . overall great value
. . . relaxed and soothing dining atmosphere
. . . behaved and somewhat quiet patrons

2) The only sit-down restaurants we routinely visit,
. . . Sanaa - Animal Kingdom Villas Resort (one of my personal favs)
. . . Artist Point - Wilderness Lodge Resort
. . . Citricos - Grand Floridian Resort
. . . Shula's Steakhouse - Dolphin Resort (no DDP)
. . . Il Mulino - Swan Resort (no DDP)

3) Our (nearby) off-site Recommendations:
. . . Bull & Bear - Waldorf Astoria Bonnet Creek, Fine Dining
. . . Café D'Antonio - Celebration, Casual Italian
. . . Columbia - Celebration, Casual Spanish/Cuban
. . . Fish Bones - Hwy192, Seafood
. . . Venetian Room - Caribe Royale Hotel, Fine Dining

* The only time we visit other TS eateries is to renew our ratings for the
eatery(ies). And, when we do these, we have "sampler" dishes (whether free
or paid) so we can try several appys/entrées without pigging-out.

 

[tinksgilrs251520]

Thanks for all the advice....Can you guys give me some good ideas on how to pack lunchs for the parks that wont spoil thats a big fear that i will take the time to make and prepare it then as the day goes by it spoils i think i will do alot of breaks on park days since we like to EMH at night

 

[LindaBabe]

finally, ed's rant on dining, in condensed form, goes something like this: "before the dining plan was offered, table service was creative and different. To conform to the cost limits of the dining plan, creativity was thrown out, extra ingredients or portions trimmed back, quality was lowered, and cooking methods became standardized in huge prep kitchens. So table service is not worth it to me anymore". conversely, though, some counter service has improved imho with my favorite being columbia harbor house. It's still overpriced of course but the selection and presentations are good. It's not just hot dogs or burgers with fries anymore.

Bama ed

ps - some restaurant manager should go "no dining plan" and offer the creative menus and ingredients we used to see. Offer it at whatever prices you want. I bet it would be packed all the time. One of the world showcase restaurants at epcot should do this.

what ed said!

 

[tiggerdad]

Thanks for all the advice....Can you guys give me some good ideas on how to pack lunchs for the parks that wont spoil thats a big fear that i will take the time to make and prepare it then as the day goes by it spoils i think i will do alot of breaks on park days since we like to EMH at night

We packed sandwiches in a fabric cooler with some snacks like chips and crackers. Sandwich wise, we took the kind that don't spoil easy, like PNB and jelly. Ham sandwiches kept well also. The crackers and chips are no worry for spoiling. We froze our water bottles and used them in the coolers to keep it all cool. We rented one of the bigger lockers and had plenty of room to stash the cooler. We did this in June and the food kept well.

Twice we took the lunches up on top of the rail station and ate them looking out over Main Street, so we got a great view while we ate.

 

[Sur]

I'd agree, you won't be missing much with DDP meals. Rusty Scuppers list is one of the best I've seen. I've had dinner at Victoria and Albert's also, which was top notch, but not something I would place priority on again, due to the cost and no longer being part of TiW discount. I'm looking forward to the GAG meal of chicken next time we come to the Fort.

 

[jhomuth]

We are a family of 7, so dining expenses are a big deal for us. Ditto to packing food into the parks. Sandwiches, chips, juice boxes, lots of snacks like crackers, granola bars, etc, to get everyone through the day. We bring in one or 2 of our kids' sports water jugs and ask for cups of ice water at CS places to fill them with. Those are free, and I have to laugh at the people paying $3 or more for bottle water when they can get cups of it for free. There are a few CS places we like where we know we can eat well and not spend a ton (because let's face it, packing a huge lunch every single day gets monotonous and time consuming, so sometimes we do buy CS), usually because the portions are big enough to split. At Cosmic Ray's in MK you can get a half rotiserrie chicken plate for $10 and easily split it between 2 people...much better than the similarly priced burger plate that's not as good and doesn't fill 2 people up. Yak and Yeti CS (not the sit down) is good at AK too, and it's a lot of food and can easily be split and still fill everyone up. We pick 3 sit downs for our stay (which is usually 2 weeks), and we like O'Hana, Whispering Canyon Cafe, and Trail's End. As far as trailer food, we make a bunch ahead and freeze, as I don't want to do much cooking or prep work while I'm there, but still want home cooked. We've found that things like stews, pasta sauce, etc, freeze well in gallon ziplocks if you freeze them flat (we call them food shingles lol) and are much more space efficient in tiny camper freezers like that, as opposed to tupperwares.

 

[Judique]

Just wondering if anyone can give me some advice on how everyone does dinning and not feel like they are being cheated always had free dinning and dinning is the biggest cost of my trip please help me

Are you staying at the campground?

What is your family size?

Is it the biggest cost because you have planned a whole bunch of table service meals?

Give some details and maybe someone can help you cut the cost.

 

[tinksgilrs251520]

Are you staying at the campground?

What is your family size?

Is it the biggest cost because you have planned a whole bunch of table service meals?

Give some details and maybe someone can help you cut the cost.

Yes we are staying at the campground

I have 4 teenagers and myself

I am trying to limit table service to just 4 times

if that helps looking for advice to and ways to keep the food cost down i know eating at the campsite will help also looking for ways to keep food costs down while in the parks themselves

 

[Judique]

Yes we are staying at the campground

I have 4 teenagers and myself

I am trying to limit table service to just 4 times

if that helps looking for advice to and ways to keep the food cost down i know eating at the campsite will help also looking for ways to keep food costs down while in the parks themselves

This sounds like a real challenge!

5 people, 4 of them teenagers!

If you can get them to eat breakfast before leaving the campsite, then do counter service for lunch, then cook dinner - do the crock pot thing maybe where it cooks while you are in the parks.

Make breakfast or lunch your sit down, table service choice as they are usually less expensive then dinner.

If you do Epcot, one day lunch could be pizza at the Boardwalk. You get a huge pizza for around $20 and it's only a ten minute walk.

And, why 4 table service meals? Which ones are they? Can you reduce this? I can see that 4 ts meals could be as much as 1K for 5 people.
If this were a once in a lifetime trip, I can see doing up the fancy meals maybe, but Disney food really isn't that special in most cases, but some food experiences are special. Depending on the length of your trip, I'd adjust the ts experience if I needed to check my spending. At home we don't go out for 4 special experiences in one week, so taking a dinner down to $100 for 5 at a counter service place beats $250 at a sit down.

You can get good food at CS such as the Poly or Contemporary for $10-$12 plus and dessert keeping it down to more like $15 to $20 per person - they have specials such as fish of the day and stir fry at Captain Cook's and I like the flat breads at the contemporary. These are fairly quick monorail after the park meals, where you don't have to cook but they taste good and are not just a burger and fries. Captain Cooks may still have Dole Whips also!

Check Allears.net for menus and you may be able to reduce your food budget by looking over menus before you go. Some are not up to date so the ones with a 2012 or earlier date probably cost a buck or two more now.

 

[cfriend416]

Adults can order kids meals at CS restaurants. I fin them to be be plenty of food for my appetite, especially if I plan on snacking. I think someone mentioned free cups of ice water at CS, but that's my favorite cost-saving tip so I'll repeat it!

 

[Judique]

I guess I'll chime in here again.

Trying to get teens to adhere to cost saving ideas is sometimes a challenge.

Even trying to get them to carry their favorite drinks into the parks - sodas are 2.69 I believe, whereas if they carried a small backpack they could bring the same product purchased at the grocery store for maybe 75 cents.

So you may have to motivate them. Give them some choices - an allotment for park meals, and the ability to cut costs by bringing some food and drink to the parks. Some will choose to not spend the money and pack up the back pack!

My experience has been they are not quite as willing to spend what they now see as their money, as opposed to yours when they look at a menu!

 

[iheartpeterpan]

My daughter (who is a teenager) and I ALWAYS split meals. They give you so much food. Even at TS restaurants. You can split meals at any restaurant except for buffets. We generally have food left over, even when we split. Are any of your teenagers light eaters? Obviously won't work if you have four starving teenage boys.