Inexpensive eating

[HollyJoy]

.. is there such a thing in Disney? We'll most likely be staying at the Shades of Green Resort and in a Suite, so we'll have a kitchen for some of our meals, but I know that most days we'll want to eat lunch in the parks. Just wondering if anyone could give me a few suggestions of some good eating that's not so terribly expensive.. my girls like pizza, hamburgers, chicken nuggets, etc.. typical kid food!

Thanks!

 

[stacy6552]

We tracked our spending on the last trip. Our family of 4 averaged $20 a meal for counter service and $60 for sit down.

Pecos Bills is the best counter service in all of WDW, IMHO.

Resturauntasaurus is the worst (not to be confused with Donald's breakfastasaurus).

 

[BobbiG]

I found two spots that were fairly reasonable....one was Wolfgang pucks express at Downtown Disney...food was good, and the pizza place on the boardwalk...great meatball sandwiches too.

 

[Poohmom]

Flame Tree BBQ at Animal Kingdom had PB&J or 2 hot dog meals (both with small drink and chips) for $3.50.

MK had good kids meals at the restaurant near the mountains (Splash and Big Thunder)- it's a big place with a fixins bar for the sandwiches. Can't remember the name.

My DH liked the Electric Umbrella at Epcot. He took the kids there.

We noticed alot of people would bring sandwiches/snacks in their backpacks too. I was glad we brought water and mini cans of soda into the parks. Have fun!!!

 

[Ellester]

You can check out menus at www.allearsnet.com to get an idea of less expensive places. My biggest savings tip is to skip the sodas and just get a cup of ice water. Better for your kids and it will save you $2 a person or so!

 

[Kimberle]

Trails End!

It is wonderful & very inexpensive. It's an all you can eat buffet, chicken, ribs, shrimp, mac & cheese, desserts, lots of choices!

If you're at MK, just take the FW/WL boat over to FW. TE is a very short walk from the dock.

Go early, they don't take PS's!

 

[marcyinPA]

I have to second Trails End! Their breakfast buffet is very good and IMHO, the best value in Disney World! My kids LOVED it (as did we!)

Other top choices:
Epcot: the food court in The Land (can't remember the name of it)
AK: Tusker House (awesome food...very tasty!)
MK: the counter service place in Adventureland (again, the name escapes me! Tacos, taco salads...great place!)
MGM: well, we haven't tried much counter service there, so I can't help you on that one!

And I always bring snacks/water/juice bags in my backpack. That is a money saver in itself!

 

[Mr.BsMom]

That was the biggest thing DH was worried about last year before our trip... How much would food cost us... Drove me crazy!! Anyway, some of the things we did...

We're not big restaurant-goers, so we didn't do many (any?) sit-down meals.

Sometimes we would get 2 adult meals and the 3 of us would split them. (The portions seemed very large to me!)

Also, there was a counter service place on the way to Tomorrowland at MK... It was not crowded at all, and they had a PB&J sandwich kids meal (DS LOVES PB&J!!) for less than $3. I never saw this meal at other places. Maybe I just missed it?

We also ate breakfast in our room before we left, and took snacks in a backpack to have whenever we got the munchies...

Inexpensive eating at Disney can be done!

Have fun!

 

[dmonroe]

Food can get really expensive at WDW! We try not to worry too much about it; but we do a few things to try to offset the cost. We eat breakfast in the room (that probably saves us $10-$15 per day), we take drinks (bottled water, cokes, juice) into the parks (even if everyone in our family only bought 1 drink a day--and it's always more than one--we would save ourselves around $8 per day; and I think we honestly save closer to $15 by bringing in our own drinks! Just those things save us nearly $30/day, and that adds up to like $200 on a week long vacation! If we stay at a home away from home, we try to do at least one dinner there in place of a dinner at a table service restaurant--saves us around $60. I guess my point is, if we can save on little things here and there, I don't get too stressed out about food cost in "the world".

 

[poohtown]

this is just off the park, but Cici's Pizza has a lunch buffet for $4.00 a person. You can get all you eat past, pizza, and dessert. Extra $1.00 for soda. Kids loved it.

 

[treesinger]

Perhaps thi si taboo, but my wife gets the kids meals. She is a light eater and it does for her appetite just fine. My kids also leave about half their meals (they are REALLY light eaters) when they eat, so I get a kids meal for me and then eat the remains of theirs. That way, nothing is wasted.

 

[Jodi1980]

Trail's End!!

 

[thatchicktrish]

Originally posted by poohtown
this is just off the park, but Cici's Pizza has a lunch buffet for $4.00 a person. You can get all you eat past, pizza, and dessert. Extra $1.00 for soda. Kids loved it.

this sounds like a great idea, my family loves pizza! Where is Cici's? Do they have a dinner buffet or just lunch??

 

[KimberAnn]

I was there last week, and we ordered my 20 month old a PB&J at AK and it was $3.50 for one of those prepackaged smuckers uncrustables. That night, we went out to a grocery store and bought two boxes of them. (They are 6 to a box for about $3). We kept them in the Freezer. In the morning, I'd put one in a ziploc in my backpack. It was thawed out and ready for her by lunch time, and she loved it.

Also, at AK, don't forget to ask about the Meal Plus for kids. We bought my 6 year old the kids' pizza and since I knew to ask for the Meal Plus (which was the SAME price - 5.99), she got the pizza, drink and chips PLUS a certificate for Popcorn or Icecream later and another certificate for water or Soda later. When we went to have the ice cream, you can use it anywere for anything, my DS wanted a more expensive ice cream ($3) then his sister's so I got his with the cert, and paid for her strawberry bar. I used the other one for a soda for me. I don't know whether the other parks have the Meal Plus deal as we only had counter service at AK and did sit-downs the rest of the week.

 

[got2lovedisney]

MK: Cosmic Ray's in Tomorrowland for their variety although we usually eat at Columbia Harbor House too (by Haunted Mansion)

Epcot: Electric Umbrella or Sunshine Season Food Fair in The Land pavilion

MGM: ABC Commisary or Toy Story Pizza Planet

AK: Pizzafari

My tips: although the menus list items as "baskets" which come with fries...you can have them omit the fries. Say maybe 2 of you will get baskets and 2 just burgers and share the fries. That'll save you a little. If you're light eaters...get the kids meal.

Also, we usually only drink water or gatorade (we bring in a cooler in the room). Breakfast is also in the room, pop tarts, granola bars, cereal & milk...oh...and snacks in the backpack.

 

[disneyfan551]

We love CiCi's!!! There is one close to the Crossroads, near DD. It was such a nice break from spending all of that $$$ in the parks on food (which we did 95% of the time... ). My dh kept asking when we could go back!

We went pretty late, after a park closing and there was still a great, fresh selection. You can't beat AYCE buffet for $5! (especially when you have a picky 2yo! )

 

[ardac]

...can you walk there from DD or do you know how much a taxi would cost???

 

[honeymom]

A lot of meals are big enough to split, and yes I sometimes get kid meals at the counter service restaurants for myself because I'm just not that hungry.

There are fruit stands in the parks which are pretty good to eat snacks from.

If you go to Downtown Disney, there is a Wolfgang Puck Express (not the cafe or the sitdown restaurant and on the other side of DD) that was cheap.

We took along a lot of food to eat in the room for breakfast the last time.

 

[peanutzmom]

As a family of four, we've found that conter service usually runs us around $25 total. Since we spend that much at our local McDonald's for lunch, I don't consider that a bad deal at all!! Our favorite counter service at MK is El Pirate Y Perrico (I think that's the correct name -- taco place in Adventureland). In Epcot we like Sunshine Food Fair in The Land -- they have pb&j meals for the kids, and a huge selection of different "stations" for the grown-ups. We actually decided on our last trip, though, just to bring our own peanut butter, jelly, bread, and individual bags of goldfish crackers & boxes of raisins, and we made sack lunches for the kids. If there was a sit-down place DH & I wanted to eat at, we'd give the kids the sack lunches about an hour before our PS, then let the kids split the dessert at the restaurant while DH & I ordered our meals. It save us money on kids meals that barely got touched, and our kids loved getting desserts -- a rare treat when we eat out!

 

[poohtown]

Originally posted by thatchicktrish
this sounds like a great idea, my family loves pizza! Where is Cici's? Do they have a dinner buffet or just lunch??

I'm sorry I can't give you an exact address. It was in a plaza right off the main road near the entrance to Walt Disney World. It was funny because there was a big sign when we pulled onto the road, the next day we went to look for it and couldn't find it. The sign was gone. You should be able to ask anyone right in that area.