NOT on DDP, Need help with budget friendly meals!

[Soccer Princess]

We will have APs and cannot get the DDP. I am considering getting the DDE which would give us 20% off most TS restaurants. What meals will give us the most bang for our buck? Which TS restaurants would be good for splitting an appetizer and entree? What CS meals (we wouldn't have a discount here) are large enough to split or pretty cheap?

Thanks!

 

[LISAMWDW]

AK: Flame Tree BBQ counter service meals can easily be split.
MK: Pecos Bills counter service meals can easily be split.
MGM: 50's Primetime table service meals can be split.
Fort Wilderness: Trails End buffet is very affordable and good! (can't split buffets)

These are some ideas. Perhaps some Diser's will have some more. It sounds like you'll want to do mostly counter service meals and split. I think that would be the most budget friendly.

 

[Soccer Princess]

Thanks! Anyone else?
We would like to have 2 nicer TS meals and the rest CS. This will be a 5 night trip. We are staying at the Beach Club if that helps any, but we will visit all 4 parks.

 

[christinou]

Have your TS meals for lunch it is always a little bit cheaper, we love the Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch at MK, great food, and reasonnable cost, Sci-Fi for lunch as well as Mama Melrose are also very good. Enjoy your trip.

 

[pperfectmom]

When we go on vacation we normally will eat a huge late breakfast(like a buffet) or a early huge lunch. Those meals normally cost less than dinner and can tide you over a long time. You could have them in the park at one of the nicer places and then just eat a smaller CS meal late in the day. I am also a firm believer in carrying your own snacks and bottled water. You want to make the stuff you spend money on something you really want and not a $3 bottle of water. We are going to WDW in September with the free dining and I am so excited . This will be the first time ever on a vacation that we won't be trying to stretch our funds as much as possible to cover food. Is there no way your family could go during that time?

 

[Soccer Princess]

Thanks! We are going for our honeymoon so we would like to go closer to the wedding than waiting 3 weeks. We also are getting an awesome AP rate at the BC for our trip so we could not get the dining plan! Any buffets you would like to recommend?

 

[pperfectmom]

Congratulations on your wedding! My husband and I actually met while fighting forest fires in Florida so it will always have romantic connotations to us . We have never stayed on site and have never gone with our kids. If it wasn't for the free DDP, we wouldn't be able to go this year, so I know what it's like to be on a budget. While I haven't ever eaten at any of the TS restaurants at WDW, I can almost consider myself an expert just from reading all the posts! :blush I think if you did something like Chef Mickey or Crystal Palace for a late breakfast or early lunch that could tide you over a long time. Boma also sounds great if you want to check out the AKL and don't want to deal with a character meal. Also you should definately splurge on at least one romantic dinner complete with champagne!

 

[LAWalz23]

Trail's End at Fort Wilderness is very good and is the cheapest buffet on property. My favorites are Cape May for breakfast or dinner. You could also do a late lunch at CP. And if you go to Boma you can check out AKL. Have fun!

 

[mom2grace]

At Peco Bills and other CS that serve burgers, etc. Order a double burger, you can get an extra bun for free. Then you can each have a regular burger. DH and DD did this last week.

I second doing your TS at lunch.

 

[slk537]

Most of the CS meals are large enough to split - get an extra drink and plan on a snack later and you'll be fine.

We were on the DDP for half of our last trip and we had to scramble to use up CS meals at the end, because we split so many meals.

One in particular is Cosmic Rays - DH got us the chicken and ribs combo with mashed potatoes and carrots, a large lemonade and chocolate cake. Together it was about $17 (we used a CS credit) but you could skip the cake and have plenty of food to share - we split between three of us.

Tusker House was another good deal, as well as Flame Tree. Bonus? You can use your DDE at both of them.

Check out the DDE list - there are a few CS places where you can use it. Flame Tree and Tusker House come to mind, as well as Artist Palette at SSR. I think Sassagoula Floodworks (POFQ) may take it too???

 

[HalfDozen]

You know, if you're not doing the dining plan (you know you can add that by buying ONE entry ticket, right? Add no expiration and you can always come back next year - it would be worth it to dine for free) anyway - if you're not doing the dining plan, I don't think it's necessarily a "must do" to have table service every day.

Our first trip was VERY MUCH on a budget. We were happy to just be there (but not so much that we packed PB&J, for example). But - budgeted and carefully planned. We ate two table service meals that were important to us - Cinderella's Royal Table and Biergarten (it was a CP package). The rest of the time we enjoyed great food at counter service places all over the parks. We certainly didn't feel we had any less great a time than when we went back the following year and spent gobs on dining at the "best" restaurants.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, keep in mind that table service is rather pricey. Even with the DDE card, it really only covers the cost of the gratuity that they automatically include on the bill. So you still end up paying pretty much what the prices show on the menus. I also didn't think the buffets were that great a value - since I'd never pay $20 for buffet food at home - BUT - some are good and some have excellent dinner options. Biergarten was NOT one of these places for us

 

[Soccer Princess]

You know, if you're not doing the dining plan (you know you can add that by buying ONE entry ticket, right? Add no expiration and you can always come back next year - it would be worth it to dine for free) anyway - if you're not doing the dining plan, I don't think it's necessarily a "must do" to have table service every day.

We cannot add tickets and still get the AP room rate which is why we are not doing it. We are saving over $100 /nt with the AP rate so it does not make sense to lose this savings and have to buy a no-expiry ticket. Thanks for the help though.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We always thought two of the less expensive ts restaurants were the Plaza Restaurant in MK and Sci-Fi at MGM (if you stick with burgers and shakes). For splitting an entree 50's Prime Time Cafe entrees are definitely large enough to split. Another options would be to get appetizers at Kona (really good) and split a dessert. I know the wings at Kona can be enough for a meal!

 

[gigi1313]

for meal sharing/cost saving, i would stay away from the buffets and all you care to eats unless you are super hungry... 'cause you can easily spend less than 2A buffet meals at a "menu" TS and walk away full...

 

[magicaddict]

Kona would definately be a good choice because the apps are so delish. You could order one for each of you and split an entree and walked away very full. I actually split the filet with my daughter and was surprised that it came out as two smaller filets and therefore just gave one to her to eat.
For CS I love Tangierine Cafe in Morocco. The portions are really big on a couple of the items (half a rotisserie chicken and the lamb and chicken shawarma platter) so you could fill up there and either have the baklava for dessert or wander around the WS and pick up another great dessert.

 

[Belle's Mom Tink]

We just returned and were not on the dining plan. I liked the freedom to decide what we wanted to eat that day and not have to worry about it. Of course it all depends on how much you want to spend and how much you eat but I agree that eating counter service meals for most of your trip is not so bad. We ate 2 main (pricey) meals over our 8 days, dinner at the Hoop Dee Doo because it was highly recommended and lunch at Le Cellier in Canada because I love it there, we also did a character breakfast at Chef Mickey one day if you count that as a pricey meal. The rest of the time we ate when we felt like it and decided as we went what we were hungry for. A few days I was perfectly satisfied with breakfast from the hotel food court, a mid-day shared snack, and some sort of dinner.

The Sci-Fi also surprised me in price because we did that for lunch one day, each got sandwiches, sodas, and milkshakes for dessert and our bill was only about $50 including tip!

We also saved by buying a half gallon of milk (we lucked out on having a fridge) from the food court, which was a dollar more than the tiny individual cartons, a few things of cereal, and entenmans donuts. We spent less than $10 on that and had breakfasts for half our trip and snacks!

Hope this helps

 

[Kath2003]

We're also on a budget this year (2 just-graduated students!).

We intend to do it by:
a) getting FREE ice water instead of a drink at each CS place - OK so it only saves $2 each but $2 over 7 days is $14 each.
b) going for a more "unconventional" lunch. A pretzel is a fine lunch IMO and costs $3.50. For example, at Flame Tree BBQ, I want onion rings AND NOTHING ELSE! Onion rings will tide me over fine for lunch at $4. We're students: odd meals are not unusual; my favourite at the moment is fries and garlic bread.
c) splitting things: pizza, for example, works out at under $3 each if you split it. Half a pizza is not a bad meal. Follow with a pretzel mid-afternoon
d) The extra-bun trick. Order a double cheeseburger with an extra bun. Split fries.

I guess it depends on how much you eat, though: half a pizza is fine for us but I can't imagine a grown male being content with just half.

 

[Mickey1122]

You can use DDE at Sassagouls Floatworks.

Splitting at Beaches and Creams works well because the burger platters are so large and the desserts are huge. DDE works there.

ESPN also is good for splitting and takes DDE.

We've had huge sandwiches at SciFi and PrimeTime that were good for splitting.

Not much of a CS fan, but the sandwich at Columbia Harbour House is large enough to split.

French Toast at the Main Street Bakery is huge and can be split.

 

[Evil Queen]

We have Fl. PAP's and we still bought the 1 day base MYW tickets, so we could get the Dining Plan. It worked out cheaper for us.

The 1 day tickets won't expire until the daywe use them, and we'll save those until later.