Offsite Dining while at Disney

[MELSMICE]

I found when we did that in 2009 it costs us more to eat off property than it did if we purchased the counter service dining plan. Between travel to and from, meals, shopping for food also - just a royal pain in the behind. I would look into the count service before eating off property.

We always rent a car so it wasn't an issue going off-site for us.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I found when we did that in 2009 it costs us more to eat off property than it did if we purchased the counter service dining plan. Between travel to and from, meals, shopping for food also - just a royal pain in the behind. I would look into the count service before eating off property.

Something to consider.

This year we spent a long time looking for a particular offsite restaurant that we had a Restaurant.com coupon for. We finally found it and it was padlocked not indicated on the website. It felt like a big chunk of the day wasted. Buyer beware!

OP, consider eating at Picabu's at the Dolphin. They offer a 20% AAA discount and big portions, pizzas, etc, you could share some meals there.

 

[mrsklamc]

I guess it would vary greatly depending on where you eat but I just could not do any math where eating onsite was better for us.

 

[kellydizfan]

We always rent a car so it wasn't an issue going off-site for us.

We drove that year so we had our car - it actually in the end was cheaper to eat on site - there were 5 of us also. Wasting time traveling in heavy traffic, finding cheaper places to eat. It always cost us $50-75 or more to eat out of Disney. We could have eaten counter service and not had to pay a tip, gas, etc. I don't recommend eating outside unless you stay offsite.

 

[MELSMICE]

We drove that year so we had our car - it actually in the end was cheaper to eat on site - there were 5 of us also. Wasting time traveling in heavy traffic, finding cheaper places to eat. It always cost us $50-75 or more to eat out of Disney. We could have eaten counter service and not had to pay a tip, gas, etc. I don't recommend eating outside unless you stay offsite.

I think it depends on whether you want to do counter service each meal or would prefer to do a sit down meal at times.

We prefer a sit down meal for dinner so found it less expensive to go offsite, especially if we go to the Ale House. My family of 5 adult eaters (as my kids are grown now) can eat at the Ale House for about $80, including tip and a few beers for my DH.

I also think it depends on everyone's vacation/travel style. What is favorable for one family may not be enjoyable for another.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

I think it depends on whether you want to do counter service each meal or would prefer to do a sit down meal at times.

We prefer a sit down meal for dinner so found it less expensive to go offsite, especially if we go to the Ale House. My family of 5 adult eaters (as my kids are grown now) can eat at the Ale House for about $80, including tip and a few beers for my DH.

I also think it depends on everyone's vacation/travel style. What is favorable for one family may not be enjoyable for another.

Could not agree more.

Eating CS at the resort for dinner is just not the greatest experience for me and my husband. We like a sit-down dinner and there are more affordable table-service restaurants, often at the same or better quality, off-site. We LOVE to eat on-site at TS restaurants, but it's hard to get out of there without spending $50 for dinner.

 

[englishteacha]

We usually stay offsite in Kissimmee, so we've eaten at Olive Garden, Cracker Barrel, Ponderosa, etc. several times. I don't recommend CiCis, as we both got sick after eating there. We've also done the McD's and BK stuff, too, when we were hurried or particulary frugal. We visited some onsite resorts on our June 2010 trip and ate at the CS places at a couple of them and found them to be noisy and crowded (especially at Carribean Beach Resort! Holy cow was it packed!). That wouldn't be relaxing for me at the end of a day, and the price was the same as if we'd been to a sit down restaurant offsite. When we're in a park, we eat at the park (almost always counter service), but if we've left the park, we will find somewhere on the way to our condo/hotel to eat.

 

[ICF]

Giordanos is must have pizza for us. (It is Chicago-style, so cheese stuffed. So appreciation may vary depending on how much you like cheese.)

We go there as well when we visit Disney and always enjoy it.

They do have 'thin' crust pizza if you prefer that over Chicago style.

 

[disneybirds]

We have also eaten at the TGIFriday's in the CrossRoads (?) plaza. We love a good burger from Steak n' Shake, if there is one close. My kids love the Earl of Sandwich in DTD.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

We drove that year so we had our car - it actually in the end was cheaper to eat on site - there were 5 of us also. Wasting time traveling in heavy traffic, finding cheaper places to eat. It always cost us $50-75 or more to eat out of Disney. We could have eaten counter service and not had to pay a tip, gas, etc. I don't recommend eating outside unless you stay offsite.

Well, it depends on where you go. The Sweet Tomatoes place we love is very close to Disney (and we never found the traffic heavy) and quite inexpensive, especially if you have a coupon. It's comparable in price to a Disney counter-service, but we like it because it's easy to get a nutritious meal there: the giant salad bar, baked sweet potatoes, and veggie soups give us lots of good choices.

Teresa

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

There's a Golden Corral right on 192 that my gang loves. It's very close to DTD/AK.

192 has pretty much anything you could want. If you're looking for fast food, they have all the big names, plus a number of fast-casual type restaurants. I wouldn't bother diong Chinese there, though--we haven't yet found a chinese place we like on 192 (although, I'd be open for recommendations, if anyone's got one).

And I have to disagree with whoever said to go on the CS dining plan. You'll get much more variety and higher quality going offsite. Stick with snacks in the park, dine offsite.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

I don't remember the specific location, but there are several Pollo Tropical's in the area. They have really good caribbean type food at fast food prices. The one we went to had a friendlys next door as well. Checker's hamburgers are decent too. We went to a Macaroni Grill that was in a strip of 5 or 6 restraunts as well.
If you are doing timeshare where you have a small kitchen, we took a whole chicken and a roast to make while we were there. Just let them cook all day while we were at the park. I think we also bought a lasagna to make at the time share one night as well. I know you hate to cook on vacations but those really took very little prepping.

 

[jmoak]

We like to go to Fuddruckers in Crossroads. Great food and not expensive at all.

 

[jacksmom]

We love Sweet Tomatoes even more than most Disney Restaurants! We eat there every trip, often more than once!

 

[racechick8293]

Something to consider.

This year we spent a long time looking for a particular offsite restaurant that we had a Restaurant.com coupon for. We finally found it and it was padlocked not indicated on the website. It felt like a big chunk of the day wasted. Buyer beware!

OP, consider eating at Picabu's at the Dolphin. They offer a 20% AAA discount and big portions, pizzas, etc, you could share some meals there.

I made the HUGE mistake of eating at Picabu during a recent stay at the Dolphin. In a word, it was AWFUL! Overpriced and tasteless food. Never again!

 

[MELSMICE]

I made the HUGE mistake of eating at Picabu during a recent stay at the Dolphin. In a word, it was AWFUL! Overpriced and tasteless food. Never again!

I've been to Picabu a few times. For an on-site place we enjoyed it.

I don't particularly think many of the Disney establishments are all that great. Counter service is over priced, high caloric and just horrible fast food, IMO. I think all the sit down restaurants are over priced and with the exception of a few, don't even think the food is that good.

JMO........but that's why we usually eat off site for dinner. For lunch we're usually at the pool & will make our own sandwiches or have leftovers from dinner. We are DVC members and have the facilities to cook in our villas.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I made the HUGE mistake of eating at Picabu during a recent stay at the Dolphin. In a word, it was AWFUL! Overpriced and tasteless food. Never again!

Unless something's drastically changed since our last visit, we love it.

 

[Planogirl]

I love eating offsite. We love to save money plus it's nice to get away from the mobs for a while.

I suggest Bahama Breeze as a PP did.

 

[sdchickie]

Bahama Breeze and Steak and Shake are our must eats when we go down there. Also the Krispy Kreme doughnuts when they are hot and fresh! Yum, now I can't wait to go down in Feb.

 

[disneylover2406]

Big Favourites of ours that are cheap are Longhorns (lunch Menu), Manny's Chop house, Olive Garden, Carrabas, Cracker Barrel and Golden Corral, Applebees is good too.