In order to save on meals is it worthwhile to go offsite?

[sphere99]

Trying decide if we should use a town carservice or rent a car so that we can eat some meals off site (7 night trip), are they easy to get to or will we end up never doing that?

 

[OLT2004]

What is your total round trip car service cost from the airport/Disney & disney/airport? (Multiple by the # of travelers)

What is your total cost to rent a car? Is 1 car enough for your group & luggage?

What are your touring plans - When would you leave the park to go for meals?

Remember - your largest expense will probably be your tickets!!

More info please!!

 

[sphere99]

within about $15 for our family of 4. We would ONLY go offsite for cheaper meals and maybe shopping at the outlet mall. We are staying at the contemporary for 7 nights with 6 day passes.

 

[goin2disneyagain]

We always stay onsite and rent a car or drive our own. We usually eat offsite there are some very convenient places within close proxomity.

 

[tink2dw]

You have to consider the "Too Tired to Move" factor after a Whole Day in the Parks. Do you have small children who will a quick meal and then fall into bed, Or do you have teens "On the Go"?? Whats Your energy level at the end of the day??

 

[kaybird]

Know you will get as many opinions on this as there are people. We look at it all as park time. We eat only onsite, and usually sit down and split the meals. We come out much cheaper than fast food, have a nice relaxing time, and usually the restaurants are an attraction in themselves.

This is kind of every vacation, not just disney, we like to eat the local flair, not just chains we can go to at home.

Just our thoughts, have a great trip!!

ttfn
k

BTW-it's ALL about the food!

 

[rockin_rep]

Hey Kaybird, i totally agree.

While we don't always sit-down, we DO plan something different and fun on site. IMHO too, its part of disney and soooo NOT worth leaving the park when you think of all the TIME LOST!

And if we budget and plan and share a few things, we manage well. To me, leaving for anything is totally contrary to the point of disney.

We do long road trips across america where we're coming and going from place to place constantly, but we don't do that at disney. We like to plant ourselves there and soak up as much as possible as LONG as possible, in every way possible!

The days go too fast anyway to miss even a second leaving the magic!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I don't like going off-site at all. I live locally (less than 1h 30 min away)--so if we want to do cheap, we'll pack lunch for a day trip.

For on-site visits, We pack snacks in a cooler if we stay on-site and will usually do our own "healthy" continental breakfast in our room. If hubby is trying to save save money--we will pack lunchmeat and bread as well--but any purchased meals are done on-site.

For day visits--if we don't stay until closing, we may hit something off-site on the way home.

I just don't see the economics of leaving property to go to the cheap McD's or Burger King. IF you are leaving to do a sit down or Buffet (like Ponderosa) and you have your own rental car--the savings can be huge. Also, if you do like to drink with your dinner (alchol)--even though it costs a lot more on property--it would be much safer with Disney shuttling you around. During non-busy times at the parks, if you are staying 4 or more days--you can get away with sparing a couple of hours to drive out, eat and drive back.

During Peak Season or visits of 3 days or less--I strongly advise against it. It would waste too much time when there is soo much to do. Use your town car service and stop at Publix for fruit and non-perishable snacks and such--that will save you a lot of money.

Went to EPCOT yesterday evening with my girls on the way home from Tampa to Melbourne--we ate at the land and our meal was $13. They shared their Mickey Pasta and I had veggie lasagna with water and we all shared a cookie for dessert. Had I gone to McD's off-site--would have spent the same amount of $$ b/c each would have had to have their own happy meal and I would have had to order my meal.

Sometimes you have to be creative. Right now Food and Wine festival is going on--if you snack your way around the world at $1-$4 for appetizer size portions of various foods--you could easily save money from not having to buy lunch or dinner. My dinner was only $2.50--b/c what I had purchased--was actually pretty filling.

 

[powellrj]

we are rental car people all the way. I love the freedom a car gives us to go to different places. We will have several meals in the evening off-site because its much cheaper than eating all of our meals at Disney. We also love to spend an afternoon at Beltz and add that saving to your budget and it can be huge. We are also "car" people because my DH and I are both in sales so being without a car is like missing a body part!!

 

[ellyn2000]

We fall into the "too tired to move" category. We usually eat a small breakfast @the food court, sandwich for lunch and then either counter service or food court in the evening. We have a few PS for breakfast and dinner, other than that we eat small and cheap. It would just wear me out to try to go out and eat. I'm getting tired now just thinking about it.

 

[Julia M]

well, it depends.

we stay off site and still eat the majority of our meals on-site!

if you plan to be in the parks most of the day, then no; I don't think it's worth it to go off site.

if you are doing something different that day, then that's different.
there are some nifty restaurants off site.

we LOVE steak and shake, but there are none around us. so we enjoy getting there on our trips.

we tried bahama breeze for the first time and it was great, too. it had THE BEST kids mac and cheese I have ever seen......I would have eaten it!

on the other hand, I would always rent a car, regardless of being on or off site

Julia

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

We never used to eat off site but since our stays are getting longer (16 nites this time) and park hours are shorter it is getting easier and easier to go off site. Don't go too far, just to the Crossroads area, but there is plenty to choose from there. We will be eating at all our most favorite DW restaurants and filling in with off site things the rest of the time. I basically eat just meat and veggies and they are the same most places and I am not really willing to spend $60 when I can get away with spending $20 or less. I can only stand one really big meal a day anyway. We usually eat either before or after the parks.

That being said, if you have to rent a car, I am not sure it is worth the savings or time unless you have a lot of people to feed. If budget and variety is a big concern you might check out the Golden Corral at Crossroads.

When we eat at Rainforest Cafe at AK I always end up bringing half the salad back to the room and so I get two meals out of one. Is nice for a relaxing meal in the room as well.

If you are staying at the AS resorts there is a McD's right outside the gates but you will not find the dollar menu there. Still cheaper than the food court and they have a dessert selection to die for. Better than I have seen in many fancy restaurants. But it is not meat nor veggies. (sigh)

You can go over to Trail's End while at MK for a relatively cheap meal and it is such a wonderful break from the crowds. Just take the boat over and there are playgrounds for the kids to let off a bit of steam before heading back to the masses.

Best wishes and hope your trip is all you want it to be.

SG/Linda

 

[femail]

also, you did not factor in how inexpensive some of the souveniers are at the other shops .. i did not make it to belz but i heard that it was loads cheaper.. i drink coffee a lot and so do my friends i buy for so i was much happier to get a coffee mug for 6 people for 3/10.99 than 10.99 each.. um, of course, i buy at wdw too so i could have probably saved even more, but some things just need to be on site buys.. also, has anyone a craving for the anastasia confections?? they come in plain coconut, key lime and orange.. they were at stores 16 oz for 5.99, at the airport for 8.99, and 3/ 10.00 at walgreens... my faves and they come individually wrapped so one of those and a mickey soap is a neat inexpensive (why is cheap so yucky to look at and so easy to type??) gift... k2

 

[crisi]

We are in the "time is money" category. And the "worth a little more for Disney dining" category. And the "driving in a strange city is a pain in the back end" category.

We never have really enough time to see everything we want to see - particularly at the pace we want to see it. So we are willing to spend a little more to eat on site and not have to drive off site. We can use the time we might have spent in the car in the pool, or on another attraction.

Dining is part of the vacation for us. I know there are great restaurants off site, but there are a lot of great restaurants on site I really want to try. I can go to Perkins at home. I can't go to the 50's Prime Time Diner at home.

Finally, both the hubby and I hate driving around places we don't know. So renting a car to go offsite to eat means additional stress in our lives.

 

[Chicago526]

There are ways to save money eating on-property too!

Split meals! Most kids can't finnish what they order, have them split somthing. Adults can often split too. My mom and I even split counter service meals. We'd order the biggest thing on the counter service menu and share. So instead of $20 for two meals we'd spend $10 on one and share. Do that over a 5 day trip and you just saved $50!

You can also eat breakfast in your room. Even if you do the town car service, you can have the driver do a grocery stop. Get a bunch of cereal, fruit, bread, pb&j and a styro-foam cooler to keep everything cold. Bring along some Zip-lock bags to use for ice packs, and you're all set. You can buy milk at juice at the food court.

 

[patsal]

I do a variety of on site and off site. I use gift cards that we receive as gifts for off site--it supplements the food budget leaving money for other things and in some cases another trip. How I determine if a town care service might be a better option: How much would I spend on rental car--check prices if it is $100 or less more for the rental I take it--I have freedom to go offsite for a grocery stop, I have the ability to change resorts with little difficulty, if I have a PS for an early am breafast I don't have to wait on DIsney Transport. We use our car more and more, but short trip (7 days or less) we fly and then we have to plan for transportation form the airport to the resort. On some occasions I have been able to combine codes, coupons and freebies ( ie: free breakfast vouchers) and have a car cost less for a week than roundtrip town car service.
On sight we always split meals, especially in the summer at lunch. You dont' want ot be so ful you can't enjoy the rest fo teh day. Usually we spend around $20 for 4 for each of those meals.

 

[goofydad621]

We always get a car. We go grocery shopping, Beltz is a must for cheaper buys though we do but a fare amount in the park. WE eat both on site and off depending what we are in the mood for. Or next trip is for 9 nights and the budget is a little tight so we will eat some meals off site.

Comes down to personal preference

Good Luck

Dave