I think I have officially lost my mind when it comes to Disney prices!

[Jeanieblue114]

I've been going to Disney annually for 37ish years. Each year I have a little bit of sticker shock and then go home and regroup and come back.

A few months ago I moved to Florida and I've been visiting Disney every few weeks. Last week, I went for a couple days and spent time at F&G in EPCOT and snacking all around the world showcase.
I tried a lot of stuff....for example:

I paid $16 for 2 sandwiches and a bag of chips and a cookie (with a discount card).

I paid $4 for a crepe that was about 5 bites.

I paid $9 for a boozey slushie at a walk up stand served from a foodcourt slushie machine. (Not a fan of the grand marnier slushie).

I paid nearly $9 for two very tiny pieces of fried fish with about 12 french fries.

I ALMOST paid 2.99 for a mars bar with no nuts or $6 for a pack of wafer cookies in the UK pavilion and $3.95 for gummi bears!

I paid $5.35 for a slice of pizza in Italy and thought WOW how cheap (meanwhile a family behind me was debating if that was the cost for an entire pizza or just a slice).

I was driving home the next day and stopped at a Starbucks along the way. I got a drink then noticed the bakery case (I never get anything out of there). I saw an apple fritter and it said $1.75. I immediately demanded one because of this AMAZING BARGAIN PRICE!
Then I got in my car, sat down, and it hit me......

I just eagerly paid $1.75 for a donut....I've spent too much time getting hustled by the mouse.....lol.

(I just went back yesterday for a daytrip...lol. Some people gamble, this is my addiction.)

 

[Kitten<3Duck]

I know Disney can seem expensive, but here those prices are about average for what I pay for food. I know just going to Cosi (a 'fast food' sandwich restaurant like Panera) costs me about 18 dollars for 2 sandwiches and 2 drinks. And the price of the slushy is about the same as what you'd pay in a bar here. And the other prices you noted seem about what I'm used to, even the imported food that you can get at the grocery stores here.

I'm actually very curious about the average cost of food further south. I know up here we have a much higher cost of living but now I'm wondering how big the difference is. How much are you used to paying for things like this?

 

[POOHsie]

I envy you for being so close to WDW now. The biggest thing about entertainment places is their ridiculous food prices. But, hey, a person has to eat, right?

If you analyze your list of things you bought, most of it was snacks, junk, plus a typically-priced alcoholic drink. You should know the answer to this. If you are driving, stop at Publix on the way to the parks, and get a couple of subs and keep in a small soft-sided cooler. Get some bags of snacks, and maybe a couple cold drinks. You can bring your personal food into the parks, or keep in a well-iced cooler in your car.

Or, some people like to leave the parks and go to a fast-food place like Chic-Fil-A for lunch. If you have your car, you can do this and save a little money.

 

[Jeanieblue114]

I"m actually used to Disney prices and I find that they are about 2 or 3 dollars more for an average fast food meal than a standard chain.

This post was more just meant to be a joke just for humor's sake.....I guess it was lost.

well, except for the candy prices in UK. $2.49-2.99 for a standard candy bar is not acceptable anywhere. I'd max out on 89 cents for convenience store prices.

 

[Jeanieblue114]

I honestly appreciate all the tips, but this was just a joking post.

(I actually teach Disney vacation travel classes at community colleges and write travel books that go with the lecture.....this is one of the little jokes that I tell my students. It must come across better in person.)

 

[Kitten<3Duck]

Sorry! I figured you were serious. I guess I'm used to hearing people complain about it, unfortunately, so I figured you actually were unhappy about it.

I really was interested in hearing about how much cheaper everything is south of here though!

 

[Jeanieblue114]

Well, there is no dollar menu available at Disney....lol. So, I guess there's a difference there.

And, I don't eat out at home much. I generally home cook. So, that of course is a major difference in costs.

But this very much was meant to be a joke.

 

[POOHsie]

Well, there you go! But in all seriousness, DO NOT start up about Starbucks prices! I couldn't stand it!!!! It's my lifeline...

 

[jbuey22]

Living so close to Disney. But now that you do I would definetly eat before I get there and then enjoy the scenery and attractions while there. But I am sure you may love their many fine places to get a meal, so if you must then you must. Plus I know that you were joking!!

 

[AshleyDillo]

I laughed, so the humor was not totally lost!

I'm too cheap to pay Disney prices for food, regardless. I'm big on home cooking as well.

Gas prices are what kill me--I'm so close to Disney yet still so far away that it is hard to justify only going for a day.

 

[Carlyzmom]

No, I totally got your humor. On a trip about 15 years ago with DH, my BFF and her DH, we actually had a saying "That's good for here" - meaning, a price wasn't so bad, for Disney! I'll never forget it! We do NOT care when we are at Disney! It's vacation!

 

[Jeanieblue114]

I have had a few moments of losing perspective on prices there for various reasons.

I was in the Xmas shop in DHS 2 years ago looking at ornaments and ended up buying a minnie tree topper. The lady next to me was buying $25 ornaments and i looked at her handful of them and looked at the price tags and held my tree topper in my hands (kinda thinking how this stuff was probably at walmart for half the price) and looked at her and said.....guess we've lost perspective..lol. She just smiled. I think she paid by signing over a kidney...might have been a lung. I"m not sure.

Then I was at the sushi bar at Kona and Andres the sushi chef (he's amazing) and the server and I are all talking about the new houses they are building around Disney for people to buy. And they said something along the lines of the small 3 bedroom homes starting at several hundred thousand dollars for base price. Then they just nodded at each other and said "oh, that's not bad at all really". I just said...Y'ALL HAVE BEEN WORKING HERE TOO LONG! You need to leave the property and get a lil perspective. $350 a night for a hotel room is a lot of money...and so is half a million for tiny no-frills house!

lol....it was just another one of those "disney moments".

 

[Jeanieblue114]

btw, thanks for the chuckles on the OP I made.

Honestly, we snacked around EPCOT and shared a few QS meals and we ended up spending $80 in one day for the two of us.....It was a cooler day so I think we might have eaten more than usual.

When we were back yesterday, there were 3 of us and we included a TS meal at Rose & Crown for dinner and we only spent $105 for the entire day for all 3 combined.

I have a season pass now (they had an amazing FL resident deal) but I'm gonna upgrade to the annual next month and probably also get Tables in Wonderland for discounts on the meals. Since I do a lot of one day trips, I don't really stay on property much and so I don't get the dining plan. Plus, I've tried all 3 plans and it just doesn't suit our eating style.
Tables in Wonderland will just give us a flat discount so I'm interested to see how it works out. Getting 20% off of meals I think might make a lot of Disney restaurants more affordable than going to a standard generic chain restaurant like Olive Garden or TGIFridays.

 

[jreed1920]

Just to add a little additional perspective, the family was sitting down to lunch at Red Robin on Saturday, I took one look at the menu and said "Good gravy this place costs more than Disney!"

 

[DonaldTDuck]

I got it. Just wanted to give you an explanation on Mars bars. We at WKU are sort of experts on the subject hehehe. Mars candies stopped calling them Mars bars about 15 years ago and changed the name to Snickers with almonds. The Mars bar without nuts you saw is a European brand. Not as good as a real Mars bar, but then, neither is Snickers with Almonds.

Edit: And suddenly there's a Milky Way ad at the bottom of the page. Weird.

 

[Euphoria027]

Yuck, Starbucks.
(I'm a disgruntled ex-employee)

 

[Jeanieblue114]

Just to add a little additional perspective, the family was sitting down to lunch at Red Robin on Saturday, I took one look at the menu and said "Good gravy this place costs more than Disney!"

Seriously!!!!!

 

[Jeanieblue114]

I got it. Just wanted to give you an explanation on Mars bars. We at WKU are sort of experts on the subject hehehe. Mars candies stopped calling them Mars bars about 15 years ago and changed the name to Snickers with almonds. The Mars bar without nuts you saw is a European brand. Not as good as a real Mars bar, but then, neither is Snickers with Almonds.

Edit: And suddenly there's a Milky Way ad at the bottom of the page. Weird.

I agree Donald. Not sure what the point of a Mars without nuts is. I guess they are more interested in deep frying them?..lol
I actually mentioned those to a Brit friend of mine and said...your Mars bars don't have nuts. He responded with "why would they??"
lol. I said cause then they are just....fluff. And what's the point? That's what we have milky ways for.

You know I haven't eaten a mars/snickers/milky way in forever! I barely even remember what the mars is other than I didn't care for them much as a kid. And now that you mention it. I didn't really like the snickers with almonds the time I tried it...lol. I think I'm a reeses cup or kit kat kinda gal. But most likely just a nice hunk of dark chocolate...pure.

For some reason though I always wanna try one of those stupid candy bars at the UK pavilion. WHY on earth are they THREE DOLLARS???

 

[Jeanieblue114]

Yuck, Starbucks.
(I'm a disgruntled ex-employee)

My sympathies darlin'.

I had lived my entire life up until a few months ago with the nearest Starbucks being over half an hour away from me and inside a Target (so it really doesn't count).

When I recently moved to Jacksonville Florida, I was overrun. I have 4 starbucks within 3 miles of me. It's nearly unavoidable. And there's something in it...i dunno what it is. But this whole town is jacked up on the stuff.

I try to ration it though mainly because...well, they cost MORE than any non-alcoholic drink at Disney!!!

 

[goofy4prez]

Yuck, Starbucks.
(I'm a disgruntled ex-employee)

If there were two places that overnight ceased to exist I would be thrilled: Starbucks and Walmart.