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[choirfarm]

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[Tricia1972]

You have to buy the DDP for the entire family, so it wouldn't work to buy it for two in your party and then split.

The DDP can be a great value for some, but it's a LOT of food. If you tend to split meals anyway, I think you may end up with wasted credits.

How many nights are you staying? I can help you with a DDP cost calculation vs value you'll get at your two princess meals.

A poster here, Robinb, put together a GREAT spreadsheet. Her intent was to show the most expensive (best value) for the DDP. However, the flip side of it is that it also shows the LEAST expensive (good for paying OOP)

http://personalpages.tds.net/~rb/DIS/MYW Dining/DisneyDiningRanking2008.htm
For Table Service

http://personalpages.tds.net/~rb/DIS/MYW Dining/DisneyDiningRanking2008.htm
For Counter Service

Places like Pinocchio's Village Haus (Cheese Steak and Figaro Fries) and Cosmic Ray's (Chicken and Ribs Platter) can easily be split for CS Lunches or suppers.

If you want to pay OOP and pay less, then do breakfast or lunch at the TS locations and eat CS for dinner. Menu prices are much lower for breakfast and lunch. (The spreadsheet that I referenced earlier compares dinners. check out wdwinfo.com or allearsnte.com to look at the breakfast and lunch prices at the less expensive places)

 

[Harambe]

We've never done the DDP because it's a lot of food, and the credits and stuff gives me a headache!!

Anyway - Trail's End Buffet at Fort Wilderness is priced right. Cosmic Ray's at MK is a CS place that serves HUGE portions, so it would be easy to split two meals amongst you. We also split combo plates at Yakatori in Epcot (it gets a bad rap here, but we like it! LOL!).

I think you have a good idea of just doing a character meal with your daughter since the boys aren't interested. Maybe plan one lunch for them at Sci-Fi (hey, fair play, right?), then just do CS/snacks for your trip.

Food at Disney is very expensive!

 

[eliza61]

Christine,

Check out www.wdwig.com Deb's got all the menus for parks and resort restaurants. It will give you a ball park figure of what you might spend on food in a day. Then you can decide if the DDP plan works well for you or not.

 

[mrzrich]

If you think your family will split a lot of stuff, then go ahead and split stuff. Thats my #1 piece of advice for saving money on food!

DH is a big man, but he and I split meals at WDW all the time and never feel deprived. We were there for MLK weekend and shared the Ribs at Flame Tree BBQ (supplemented with an order of onion rings), we shared a shwarma platter at Tangierine Cafe, and we shared a Wrap at Cosmic Rays.

My kids 4 and 8 often share double cheeseburgers. When they were younger and not to keen on sharing I would pay for an extra bun and do the splitting out of their line of vision. Now I just cut it down the center

At TS we often split meals as well, or order appitizers as our entrees.

Also keep in mind that TS lunch is cheaper than dinner.

 

[RockinDisney]

I do not have children but I seem to remember my younger brother at your sons’ age was really hard to fill up . Although Disney portions are good, and I know a lot of people talk of splitting, I think for your two sons they would probably eat a combo meal each, and don't forget all of that walking builds up an appetite. I don’t remember if it was here or on another board but one person recommended ordering the Double cheese burger and an extra bun. Then removing one of the patties from the double cheese burger and putting it on the bun. Which I just realized the above poster put in hers LOL! The counter service places have condiment bars so they can each put whatever they want on their burger. That way they can split the fries but each has their own burger.

Also depending on what fills them up or how picky an eater they are, a lot of the food courts at the hotels/resorts have individual packs of peanut butter and jelly, you can buy just bread or bring your own and make PB&J’s for lunch. Last trip I actually brought from home individual packs and sandwich baggies, and bought a loaf of bread sometimes I ate one for breakfast on the way to the park and sometimes I ate one as a “snack” when I was only doing two meals that day.

Also when I went in April I packed snacks, nothing major but enough so I wasn’t spending extra when I was a little hungry. I took snack packs of teddy grams and cheese nips. I also froze water bottles and when it was empty, refilled it at the drinking fountains. I have since found out, somewhere on this board that all of the places that serve drinks will give out free cups of ice water and with three children you might find that easier then lugging around water bottles.

I hope that helps a little.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Check out the menus right HERE http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/disneydining.cfm on the DIS home page for pricing!

But anyway - since you plan to split meals, and would be required to purchase the DDP for your entire party at a cost of $164.95 per night instead of the $75.98 per night you'd plan to spend, the DDP would be a huge waste of your money.

 

[caroline1851]

Eat breakfast in your room then get cs for both lunch and dinner. Buy snacks ahead of time and bring them. Lunch for 5 would probaly be $50-60 (not splitting) or so as well as dinner if you're eating cs. I bet you could get away with spending $125/day or so.

 

[ammo]

As has been mentioned, many of the CS and TS restaurants serve large portions that can be split. But no splitting is allowed at the buffets -- you will have to pay full price for all members of your party. So avoid the buffets if your budget is tight.

 

[Sammi2]

After 4:30 pm you can get a pizza for carryout from Trailsend restaurant in Fort Wilderness (a short boat ride from MK). Cost is $14 and options are cheese or pepperoni. It's big, filling, and pretty good. There's a playground nearby, a beach with hammocks, little ponies to look at, and whatnot.

 

[mrzrich]

After 4:30 pm you can get a pizza for carryout from Trailsend restaurant in Fort Wilderness (a short boat ride from MK). Cost is $14 and options are cheese or pepperoni. It's big, filling, and pretty good. There's a playground nearby, a beach with hammocks, little ponies to look at, and whatnot.

They also have a 10 peice chicken meal with sides and rolls for $19.99.

You can eat it on a table by the marina, or take it over to the FREE campfire sing a long with Chip and Dale and the movie that follows.

 

[Pokemom]

When the 4 of us were eating at CS places, we found that 4 orders of Fries were too much, so we would get 2 orders with Fries and 2 without. Leaving out the Fries saves about $2 off the price of the meal. Also, I can't eat a Double Burger, so I asked if I could just get a single burger (no fries) and the cost was only $3.99 (rather than $7.89 for a Double Burger with fries).

 

[we3disneygo]

on our last trip we left the parks in the afternoons, went to the CrossRoads area and had a nice lunch at Red Lobster, Subway and one day taco bell !!! we then went back to the hotel so dd could swim. in the parks we ate at Columbia Harbour house, dh and I split a sandwhich, and we also ate at Pinochhios village house both were really good. in Epcot we at the Electric Umbrella, our big splurge was dinner at the Biergarten which was a waste of money----yuck. one night we ordered pizza in our room! hope these ideas help.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

If you really want to stay on a budget...you wouldn't be the first person to carry pbj/bologna into the parks. Many families find shady park benches and eat food carried in a back pack. Frontierland, in front of the Riverboat seems popular. This also gives you more time to enjoy WDW. (I'm not saying that everybody does this, but you wouldn't be the 1st.)

Best Tip: Just make sure that you make your peace with Disney prices before you actually get to the parks. i.e., This is what I want to do. It will cost $XXX, but I'm on vacation.

We live in Alabama, and have seen many families that were alarmed by the prices. Disney prices have put a damper on many vacations, so be informed and make your peace.

 

[sanapp]

I have read on hear that some people mail themselves a package before they leave and include snack items. I don't know how to do it, but some people order groceries and have them delivered to there room. You could also have an extra suit case and pack your snack items in it (bagels, donuts, cereal....) and then you have an empty suitcase to bring back other items you buy while there. I am going in October/November with DD5, MIL and FIL and even though I am not on a tight budget there is no sense in wasting. We are staying off site and have a 3 bedroom townhouse, so we will be shopping for groceries and eating breakfast in before going to the parks. Except maybe one morning going to CP or Ohana for a character meal. I am also thinking of bringing some sandwich keepers and packing DD a peanut butter sandwich to have in the park. I will probably bring small packages of gold fish crackers and other treats. It isn't that we can't afford to buy her lunch, but she eats so little it would be a waste. If we were to always try to share with her we would be pretty restricted since she hasn't opened up to a lot of foods yet. I don't see any problem with you sharing though as long as it is enough food to fill everyone. If you go to allears.net they have a menu section and pricing so you can figure out cost before you go.

 

[scanmom]

bring in snacks and/or sandwiches. Last March at Disneyland, we saw a large group of people in line at POTC eating peant butter sandwiches on wheat bread, and for some reason, they looked delicious!! I was wishing I had one!! When my kids were younger, I made each one carry a fanny pack filled with non-meltable/non-smashable goodies. They could graze on their own w/o bugging me every time they wanted a snack. And I would freeze a capri sun drink, and put it in the pack, so by the time they wanted it, it would be defrosted but still cold. Worked like a charm. And the kids felt like big deals by being able to snack at will. I figured we were on vacation, so they snacked more than was allowed at home.

 

[jenrose66]

I don't think 2 meals are enough to split between 5 people. Nothing at Disney is cheap

The least expensive way to go is probably counter service, but you're looking at about $7.50 or more for each "meal" (cheeseburger and fries) I don't think that includes the drink (I've done the DDP last 2 trips so I don't really pay attention to prices).

Maybe stay offsite or at a DVC unit with a kitchen where you can prepare all your own meals.

 

[BabyPiglet]

Honestly, the table services aren't that fantastic (not to be a downer!) so I'd just stick with counter services if you want to eat cheap. You can have granola bars and pop tarts in the room, and share counter service meals. They really are huge so two people could share a hamburger, etc. Or at least in my family we could.

Also, like a PP said, make peace with the prices. Realize that most Disney things are over-priced but hey, you're on vacation!

 

[ilovecountry]

To save money, my friends & I sent a package to our hotel w/ all kinds of snacks, pop, water etc that we liked. In the morning we just threw some stuff into our backpacks & ate while we were in line for breakfast. Then we went to the buffets (at what you called lupper) we went about 25 minutes before dinner was served so we could get the lunch buffet *however I noticed later that almost the exact same thing is served at lunch and dinner* The buffets were a good value for us and then later if we got hungry, we grabbed a burger from somewhere. Each day we never went past 35.00 (mine actually was about 30.00) and we ate a lot of food

 

[the_grinch]

we are the in the same boat as op and we plan on lots cs and ordering pizza from outside of WDW(places like pape john and so on) 2 or 3 time during are 9 day trip. a pizza would cost abot 20 t0 25 for all 5 of us.we plan on calling in the order as we leave a park and meet the in the lobby of our hotle .i can not post links so to get numbersof pizza place do a search for

Good pizza delivery in WDW