How to save on food?

[NHBelle]

When we go to Disney we really enjoy eating out. We always do the character meals etc. so it is really hard to save on food. We won't have a fridge or anything and don't want to make anything ouselves. I am wondering if anyone has any tips or even printable coupons for are restaurants. What we try to do know is eat a small breakfast, share a fast food lunch and always have a nice sit down dinner. Are we missing anything?

 

[Figaro]

Hi NHBelle!

What we do is either bring (or stop at a store when we get there) quick breakfast stuff like bagels and cream cheese, pop tarts or other things like that and have breakfast in the room before we go to the parks.

We also make sure we have pop and all kinds of different snacks and have found that if we open a jar of picante sauce, it will stay cool just fine in the ice bucket until it is used up.

Usually we try for a late, sitdown lunch because it has a lot of the same stuff that the supper menu has but is a bit cheaper. We take breaks and go back to the room to snack or bring small snacks with us so that we can wait until a late lunch to eat.

And for supper we either do counter service or just have snacks back at the room.

Have a wonderful trip!

 

[Kermit]

I agree that by eating your big meal during the lunch hours you can save a lot of money. Also, remember to share full service meals as well as counter service. DH and I usually get our own salad or soup, then we share an entree. As an alternative, sometimes we share an appetizer and an entree.

 

[sneetch]

If you go to www.mousesavers.com I believe there is a link for a printable coupon good for $5.00 off at planet hollywood.

 

[deena]

If you are going to have access to a car while in town I highly reccommend making a few minutes drive right up the road from WDW on West 192 because there are loads of restaurants with great buffet breakfasts, lunches, and dinners such as Sizzler, Shoney's, Ponderosa, and Golden Corral. Also there other chain sit down restaurants like IHOP, TGI Fridays, Outback Steakhouse and the like. Outside of many shopping/restaurant places there are food saving coupons located inside bins as well. Hope this helps some!

 

[Hawkeye314]

I'll never forget on one of our first trips to Disney, we had had enough of overpriced meals in the park and drove to a chuckie cheese for dinner (we didn't have one at the time in Albany). the kids loved it -- maybe even more than being at Disney. While not necessarily good or relaxing,for DW and I, it was MUCH cheaper for about the same quality food as one would find at DW.

The kids loved it so much, we went back another time during the same trip.

On another trip, the best meal we had the whole week was at olive Garden. Not that the food is anything spectacular, but it was relaxing and normal and DW and I could eat without panicking about having to take out a second mortgage to afford dessert.

 

[Bev J]

We also pack a suitcase with snacks, small boxes of cereal, poptarts, granola bars, juice boxes, or you can stop at a grocery and get breakfast items. If your staying onsite there are usually toasters avail in the food courts areas so you can toast bagles, and poptarts you can buy a quart of milk in the food court also and share among the fam. for cereal. We get our fill of breakfast in the morning we are ready to hit the parks. We put a few snacks in our fanny packs have a sitdown lunch around 2 or so. We are ready for a light dinner later when we get back from the parks or somthing fast to eat while watching fireworks or a parade. We will usually try for 1 time with a character breakfast or dinner but ussually find the kids are too excited to eat enough to justify the cost.

 

[almostGoofy]

We just got back from WDW and ate at NY China Buffet. It's on Vineland Rd. less than two blocks from the Crossroad Center (between Crossroads and the Winn-Dixie). Huge selection of food including seafood. My husband and his cousin were raving about the crab legs. It's mostly Asian food but they also had some pizza, fried shrimp and few other stuff kids will eat if they don't like Chinese food. They have a small selection of sushi and they have Mongolian BBQ which is a stir fry of your choice of noodles, fresh vegetables, and thinly sliced meats that you put together. You take it to the cook and he stir frys it for you and you have something freshly cooked in a few minutes.

The cost for adults was $11.99, $5.25 for our 5 year old. Our 2 1/2 year old ate for free. We picked up one of those tourist booklets with coupons and found one for $2.00 off or 15% off the check. Definitely recommend this place.

 

[funkiller]

We always rent a car, so what we do is hit the Walmart first. We purchase a small styrofoam cooler and pick up breakfast items and snacks. We have breakfast in our room, have a small snack close to lunch time and then an early dinner. Later in the evening, we have another small snack. We choose one or two nice places to eat each trip and other than that, we hit the food court or someplace outside Disney property. We save quite a bit doing this.

 

[LuvTigger]

Some Disney sit-down restaurants have early-bird specials. Twice we went to San Angel in EPCOT (I think before 6:00 or 6:30, but please double-check on that), and we got complete meals for less than $20.

I would also maybe alternate between sit-down dinners and lunches, so maybe every other day have a sit-down lunch and a fast-food dinner. We think one of the best bargains is Norway's lunch buffet, I think it's around $12.00, and it was one of our favorite meals!

If you are a Disney Club member, keep checking the website for meal discounts too.