Lunch vs Dinner advantages/disadvantages

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Our September trip is with 8 people (largest group I have been with before). We are currently trying to plan out what ADR's we want to snag and my MIL brought up doing lunches instead of dinner for cost savings. We won't be doing the dining plan and we have the TIW card for dining discounts.

Generally speaking, do most restaurants have a separate lunch/dinner menu with lower prices for lunch? I have never really paid much attention. I don't usually like eating a heavy meal mid-day so I would prefer dinner but I think I might loose this battle if it's more cost effective to eat a sit down lunch and snack/quick service dinner.

 

[EdnaMarieMode]

If you look at the menus online through the Disney website, pricing is accurate so you have an idea of cost. You'll also see that there really aren't a lot of places offering a discount for lunch vs. dinner. Pricing is the same for either meal and in most cases, the menu is identical.

Breakfast is generally the least expensive meal but that also could depend on where or what is ordered.

 

[sponica]

Most places run the same menu at lunch/dinner.

But I am a fan of beating the heat with a late lunch....however I also eat like a hobbit. Breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies...

 

[kniquy]

We are currently trying to plan out what ADR's we want to snag and my MIL brought up doing lunches instead of dinner for cost savings.

Breakfast is usually the least expensive meal, If you are looking at any buffet meals then the cost between L and D is usually the same and the only ways to get a little savings out of a "lunch" is to book the latest slot for breakfast. For example Tusker house will have breakfast until 10:55, so you book at 10:45 but lunch items are brought out around 11:00am. So in this situation you get breakfast price but lunch items. But are you going to want to take a break at that time?

Honestly there is not a lot of savings to be had between lunch and dinner. If a regular TS restaurant and not a buffet your savings would come from not ordering and app, entree and dessert. Just order an entree and a water.

The biggest savings will be with the TiW card and for that group of 8 you will definitely get your monies worth.

I'd tell your mother in law not to worry about it. Disney does not operate like your local restaurants which might have different menus for L and dinner. Just pick the restaurants you want to go to and book them when it fits into your schedule.

If she is being a real stickler then just price out 2-3 restaurants that you are interested in with the same items ordered from a lunch menu vs dinner. Add in your TiW discount and show her that it really doesn't make that much of a difference to restrict to only eating lunch. Honestly if she is unwilling to budge then you can let her know that she is free to eat lunch meals while the rest of the group might eat dinner that day, BUT she will not be entitled to your TiW discount. MIL can sometimes be difficult to reason with.

Unfortunately Disney is expensive and the only way you could save a considerable amount of $$ on food would be to have a villa where you can prepare meals, pack lunches for the park or only eat quick service. Traveling to WDW is a vacation and you do splurge on vacations.

There are ways to save over all :

We have found that having quick breakfast items in the room is a great savings in money and time. Eat something quick and you can head off to the park. Look into some grocery delivery services - I like amazon prime now.

Then pack some snacks for in the park so that you are not always having to buy snacks.

Another route for savings would be to start buying discount Disney gift cards from target. With the target red card you save 5%, so the savings does add up.

 

[pooch]

Ok, did not see any indication that OP's MIL was making demands or being difficult. She appears to be making a suggestion. Don't see any reason to jump to conclusions about her. To the OP, there are a few TS restaurants that have different lunch and dinner menus although Disney is moving away from that. I would look at the TS meals you all are interested in and see if there is a difference. For example, we are having a late lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. The dinner all you care to eat is quite a bit more expensive than the ala carte lunch and more food than we would probably eat anyway. Check out the menus on Allearsnet. Perhaps a mix of lunches & dinners might work for everyone.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Breakfast is usually the least expensive meal, If you are looking at any buffet meals then the cost between L and D is usually the same and the only ways to get a little savings out of a "lunch" is to book the latest slot for breakfast. For example Tusker house will have breakfast until 10:55, so you book at 10:45 but lunch items are brought out around 11:00am. So in this situation you get breakfast price but lunch items. But are you going to want to take a break at that time?

Honestly there is not a lot of savings to be had between lunch and dinner. If a regular TS restaurant and not a buffet your savings would come from not ordering and app, entree and dessert. Just order an entree and a water.

The biggest savings will be with the TiW card and for that group of 8 you will definitely get your monies worth.

I'd tell your mother in law not to worry about it. Disney does not operate like your local restaurants which might have different menus for L and dinner. Just pick the restaurants you want to go to and book them when it fits into your schedule.

If she is being a real stickler then just price out 2-3 restaurants that you are interested in with the same items ordered from a lunch menu vs dinner. Add in your TiW discount and show her that it really doesn't make that much of a difference to restrict to only eating lunch. Honestly if she is unwilling to budge then you can let her know that she is free to eat lunch meals while the rest of the group might eat dinner that day, BUT she will not be entitled to your TiW discount. MIL can sometimes be difficult to reason with.

Unfortunately Disney is expensive and the only way you could save a considerable amount of $$ on food would be to have a villa where you can prepare meals, pack lunches for the park or only eat quick service. Traveling to WDW is a vacation and you do splurge on vacations.

There are ways to save over all :

We have found that having quick breakfast items in the room is a great savings in money and time. Eat something quick and you can head off to the park. Look into some grocery delivery services - I like amazon prime now.

Then pack some snacks for in the park so that you are not always having to buy snacks.

Another route for savings would be to start buying discount Disney gift cards from target. With the target red card you save 5%, so the savings does add up.

We are staying in a villa but we don't really like to cook on vacation, we just enjoy the washing machine and extra space for all of us to share We also order groceries too so we have breakfasts and healthy snacks. We don't do the Target gift cards, we get them from our Grocery store where we earn $$ off gas and it saves us more than the 5% off from the Target card. Sounds like the menu's aren't that different in price so we will likely stick with the majority of our sit downs dinner. Thanks!

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Ok, did not see any indication that OP's MIL was making demands or being difficult. She appears to be making a suggestion. Don't see any reason to jump to conclusions about her. To the OP, there are a few TS restaurants that have different lunch and dinner menus although Disney is moving away from that. I would look at the TS meals you all are interested in and see if there is a difference. For example, we are having a late lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. The dinner all you care to eat is quite a bit more expensive than the ala carte lunch and more food than we would probably eat anyway. Check out the menus on Allearsnet. Perhaps a mix of lunches & dinners might work for everyone.

I started to look at menus when she mentioned that and then figured, this is going to take me forever, let me just check with the dis : ) Sounds like there isn't a big enough difference to warrant lunches over dinner. I will probably do at least one or two sit down late lunches and take your suggestion to check once we narrow down our choices just to make sure it isn't a scenario like LTT. Thanks!

 

[unrequited23]

A big price difference between lunch and dinner would be at BOG, if that is something on your radar. But that is comparing CS to TS.

 

[gwynne]

I started to look at menus when she mentioned that and then figured, this is going to take me forever, let me just check with the dis : ) Sounds like there isn't a big enough difference to warrant lunches over dinner. I will probably do at least one or two sit down late lunches and take your suggestion to check once we narrow down our choices just to make sure it isn't a scenario like LTT. Thanks!

One of our favorite restaurants to do a late lunch is Sanaa. We book something around 2:30 or later. We enjoy seeing the animals when the restaurant isn't as busy.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

The Disney website has menus and prices so you can check it out.

In general though the majority of restaurants have the same menu, serving size, and price for lunch and dinner.
There are some exceptions such as Be Our Guest.

If you want to save money go with breakfast.
Its nearly always the cheaper option.
Personally I'm not a breakfast person so I wouldn't but like I said it would save you money where as lunch/dinner are generally the same price.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

The Disney website has menus and prices so you can check it out.

In general though the majority of restaurants have the same menu, serving size, and price for lunch and dinner.
There are some exceptions such as Be Our Guest.

If you want to save money go with breakfast.
Its nearly always the cheaper option.
Personally I'm not a breakfast person so I wouldn't but like I said it would save you money where as lunch/dinner are generally the same price.

Thank you! I started to look at menus and realized it was going to take me forever when I could just come ask the fellow experts

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

I like lunch over dinner not for price, but for flexibility. That way we're not stuck in a park waiting on a dinner reservation if it's extra crowded, hot, or we just want a unscheduled pool break. (We also don't like making multiple trips into a park - once we're done and head out, we're probably not coming back)

 

[ncc1701]

Since the menus at most of the Parks restaurants are the same I would pick lunch. Based on our experience wait times past your ADR are less at lunch . Also it will get you out of the midday heat.
The resort TS that are open for both usually have a different menus. I do recommend taking a look at menus just to be sure you do not book someplace your group wouldn't like.

 

[NYCgrrl]

We prefer a late lunch or an early dinner as our main meal of the day when traveling with others so we still have time to work off the calories.
Based on recent reports the price of lunch and dinner are pretty much the same in many restaurants.
To be honest I never give much look at the day of time price differential as I let my tummy tell me when I'm hungry and end it there. We also eat light breakfasts so that might account for the need to eat our big meal earlier. Yeah but all bets are off for CG's brunch; that's a one and done for the day meal for us, LOL.

 

[sWDWcopeland]

We like to do a late lunch around 2:00. It helps break up the day with a time to sit and rest in air conditioning, talk about what we've experienced that day, and sometimes gives us a break from rainy weather. After eating, we're ready to have fun again.