How would you eat at Disney for about $25 a day.

[RabFlmom]

I could probably do it. I would not stay in a Disney Resort. I would choose a hotel that has the free breakfast and start out with a big breakfast before going to the park. I would carry 1 bottle of water to drink during the morning in the park. When empty ask for the free water from CS places. Lunch at Epcot for example I would hold off till about 2PM and order a meal at places like the Lotus Blossom ibecause it is enough to overfill even my husband when you get the orange chicken and rice for example. The meal and water would cost about 12 dollars. That would be my only meal in the park. Then that leaves money for a soda(fills you up fast) and popcorn or a pretzel etc. before leaving the parks. Then I would snack at the hotel on things we brought from home. We do this when we go down to Costa Rica on surf trips all the time. We bring lots of snacks in a suitcase.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

I wouldn't. When I go on vacation, I plan to eat. If I only had $25 to eat on per day, I wouldn't be going on vacation.

However, I have seen some clever ways to eat but I would be starving as nothing posted would fill me up or keep me from being hungry an hour later. I never thought this would be possible if not posted so I am glad the OP did this.

 

[dashofsunshine]

I had bariatric surgery in November of last year - I eat 3 meals a day, and a "meal" for me is about 4-5 bites, lol. Even a kids meal or an appetizer is too much food. So I could definitely do $25 or less! I share everything with my husband - meaning I take my 4 bites and he finishes the rest, haha. I basically never get my own dish, and on the off chance that I do, I get at least 5 meals out of it. So, if you're desperate to save money, just have the majority of your stomach cut out, no big deal! Haha We will be in Disney in May and it's going to be an interesting trip for us in terms of food!

 

[sullyfam]

It's doable! Anyone remember Rachel Ray's $40 a day show?

It would be a challenge (and not a very fun one for me personally) but you could do a variety of eating in your room, bringing food in your backpack, ordering snacks and various CS options, appetizers for meals, ordering kid meals, drinking only ice water etc.

Anything's possible

 

[Texas Crude]

Dole whip float: $5
Giant cinnamon roll: $5
Churro x2: $8
Mickey Bar: $4
Ice cream cookie sandwich: $6

Man, I can't even keep my snack budget under $25. I guess I could cut the 2nd churro if I had to....

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Since we walk so much at WDW I am STARVING pretty quickly. I like to eat lots of veggies and proteins but splurge too. I could the $25 if forced to but I think I may still be hungry.

 

[AJ1983]

Even buying drinks to have at the hotel and bring to the parks will bring significant savings. We bought a 24 pack of water for about $3 at publix...we normally would have bought at least once each per day in the parks and keep refiling it..that would have been $5.50/day x 10. So right there we saved $52 minimum on water. I also love pop so i bought a couple cases for $5 each and easily saved $20/day or $200 overall. Plus my husband was less likely to buy beers in the park for $7 each when he has a cooler full in the room bought for less than $1 each. We also found we werent very hungry due to the heat and the adult portions were so big that we shared or got kids meals. We easily do it for less than $25 which includes money spent at the grocery store. Wouldnt recommend people eating less than they need just to stay under $25 though.

 

[philschrek]

$25 is totally realistic for us. We're vegetarian and light eaters. Even my husband who tends to eat more and higher priced veg options would typically be under or around.

$3 Croissant or other pastry - Breakfast
$8 Tamarind stirfry at Sunshine Seasons - Lunch
$6.75 Tartine at Les Halles - Dinner
Leaves me with $7.25 for snacks. Throw a School Bread and a soft pretzel from Germany in there and that's more than enough food for us for a day. We drink water though. You can quickly up your costs with soda or whatever else.

 

[caroline1851]

I think it could be done pretty easily actually.
Bagel or protein bar or similar brought from home for breakfast. $1-$2
Lunch - Waffle Sandwich @ Sleepy Hollow $7.50
Dinner- hotdog at Friar's Nook $7.50
That leaves $8 for snacks.
Drink water.

 

[tzolkin]

I don't understand why so many people are saying it's not possible.
Sure, maybe you would like to splurge more on vacation, but that doesn't mean it's unrealistic. It's just not your preference.

I must be the odd one out, but during most of our trips we usually spent well under $100 per day on food and there are five people in my family. I don't set a crazy budget or deny anyone anything. We can afford to spend more, this is just how it winds up working out. If we want ice cream or to try a new meal somewhere, we do it. I don't restrict anything and we average under $25per person. Obviously if we eat TS and have alcohol we would spend more than $100, but I have had many days where we spend under $70 when we just do CS and snacks.

(Disclaimer: We do make a grocery stop and have snacks in the room, mostly fruits and vegetables. We also only drink water in the parks, but have soda and alcohol at the resort. This certainly affects our food budget, but we could still keep under $25 per person even if we only ate park food.)

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

"About 4 years ago I think there was a thread like this. People came up with all kinds of creative ideas. Obviously no table service meals. Would like to see if we could get this going again. The total amount was less last time, but with inflation I am going to add money. But if you can do it with less......" minninemouseforever




Are you talking about this thread? http://www.disboards.com/threads/40-a-day-for-dining-at-disney.2684936/
It never was $25 or less per day.
I don't believe there ever was a $25 or less thread.

 

[sharonabe]

There wasn't a $25/day thread, but I do remember someone starting one about snacks as meals, so keeping the cost to around $5 per "meal," and having 4-5 meals/day.

 

[joannamet]

My family actually prefers many of the CS options, especially in Epcot, to TS. I've had some TS meals that really just weren't worth the money spent so its not a sacrifice for us. The buffets, however, are totally worth the crazy prices. We'd blow the budget and go to every buffet at Disney if we could, not because we eat a lot. We just love to try a zillion different foods.

 

[maxiesmom]

For what it is worth Rachel Ray stopped filming $40 a day 10 years ago.

 

[maxiesmom]

I don't understand why so many people are saying it's not possible.
Sure, maybe you would like to splurge more on vacation, but that doesn't mean it's unrealistic. It's just not your preference.

I must be the odd one out, but during most of our trips we usually spent well under $100 per day on food and there are five people in my family. I don't set a crazy budget or deny anyone anything. We can afford to spend more, this is just how it winds up working out. If we want ice cream or to try a new meal somewhere, we do it. I don't restrict anything and we average under $25per person. Obviously if we eat TS and have alcohol we would spend more than $100, but I have had many days where we spend under $70 when we just do CS and snacks.

(Disclaimer: We do make a grocery stop and have snacks in the room, mostly fruits and vegetables. We also only drink water in the parks, but have soda and alcohol at the resort. This certainly affects our food budget, but we could still keep under $25 per person even if we only ate park food.)

I honestly don't know how you keep it under $100 a day for a family of 5. Unless 3 of them are small children. $20 a person isn't even 2 quick service meals a day. A pop is $2.50 a piece.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

Ok, I'll give it a try. This is assuming you have the mug and no food from grocery store.

Snack $5 (because you HAVE to have at least one per day)
Breakfast- a whole fruit and 2 slices of toast bread from foodcourt $2.50
coffee and butter/jam free

Lunch- Any entrée without fries plus free ice water $8
If at your resort then your drink will be free with the mug

Dinner-Large cheese pizza $15 at resort foodcourt
drink free with mug

So, total is $30.50 for a good amount of food. Now, we have gone over $25 but one person is not going to eat all that pizza which leaves
enough for next day breakfast/ lunch/dinner or snack thereby saving at least one meal cost and possibly snack. Obviously this is not an ideal scenario for most people but it certainly could be done with going hungry all day.

 

[Yumi696]

I honestly don't know how you keep it under $100 a day for a family of 5. Unless 3 of them are small children. $20 a person isn't even 2 quick service meals a day. A pop is $2.50 a piece.

But you can get 2 QS meals for under $20... if you look hard enough there are options.

 

[tzolkin]

I honestly don't know how you keep it under $100 a day for a family of 5. Unless 3 of them are small children. $20 a person isn't even 2 quick service meals a day. A pop is $2.50 a piece.

We don't eat two full quick service meals per person. We don't buy drinks.

We like to eat as the mood strikes us, so we will get things here and there to share so we can try different things and not feel overly full. Like I said, I don't limit us to a certain budget. We eat as much or as little as we want each day.

Kids are now 16, 11, & 9. They eat the same amount as DH and I. The cost may increase this year, but that has been our average for our prior trips.

 

[FigmentFinder]

But you can get 2 QS meals for under $20... if you look hard enough there are options.

I think there are plenty of options for under $10. But not all of those are large enough for men. While I would consider say the LightHouse sandwich perfectly filling for lunch or dinner. My 15 year old or husband would disagree.

$25 is definitely do-able if you're content with one snack and two smaller CS meals and only water. I would rather be at Disney with a tight food budget than home, but that's just me.

 

[Yumi696]

I think there are plenty of options for under $10. But not all of those are large enough for men. While I would consider say the LightHouse sandwich perfectly filling for lunch or dinner. My 15 year old or husband would disagree.

$25 is definitely do-able if you're content with one snack and two smaller CS meals and only water. I would rather be at Disney with a tight food budget than home, but that's just me.

Lol definitely everyone in my family is a big eater except for me. My parents can put four plates away easy at a buffet, and my little brothers can demolish food. XD

But we've all definitely done smaller meals at Disney and turned out fine. Last time we went we split QS meals which aren't that huge except for a few locations.