Price difference between eating dinner in the park vs. area restaurants?

[Brudette]

Background: My family (2 adults, children ages 4 and 6) will be visiting in September. We're staying at Park Vue Inn, and will have a car. Will be at the hotel for 6 nights, with 4 days in the park.

I'm trying to make my food budget, and trying to balance a few splurges, like a character meal, and also keep it under control. We plan on doing breakfast at the hotel (free, yay!), and packing in lunch (Uncrustables, snacks, etc), and buying a few park snacks here and there (I have $100 budgeted for park snacks- not meals, for all of us for the 4 days, is that reasonable?)

I'm wondering what to do about dinner on park days though. I'd like to keep dinner to around $40 - how far will that stretch in the park versus out? I had assumed that we would leave the park around 6 or 7 and find an area restaurant (cheap sit down or fast food, really doesn't matter) because I figured that would be cheaper than in park. But are the area restaurants prices inflated because of the proximity to the park? We can drive a bit, but I don't want to spend more than 5 or 10 minutes driving to dinner.

Can someone give me an idea of what we would spend on dinner at a park restaurant versus off-site? Is $40 per meal a doable budget if we're not going for anything fancy?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Here's a page that will help with some of your meal planning. It has menus from the restaurants throughout the parks.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneyland/dining-Disneyland-Park.htm

As for your question about off-site dining, there are numerous places within easy walking and driving distance of DLR. Some of the places such as the nearby IHOP are reported to have inflated prices. There is a McDonald's on Harbor that I have never been to, and the main complaints I read about that place are how crowded it always is and that they don't offer the dollar menu and some of the same deals people are accustomed to finding at their local McDonald's. I think in general though most of the nearby restaurants are charging prices in line with their normal pricing although depending on where you live, you may find the prices a little bit higher than you are used to just because southern California is more expensive than some areas.

 

[jkolkemo]

good luck, there is not much within minutes from the park that are cheap, even if drive. You would have to stick to fast food. McDonalds, if you drive up Harbor and cross 1-5 there is a gas station on that street that has a subway in it. Starbucks killed us around $35 for breakfast as it usually does. IHOP was way expensive. My husband has a thing for enjoying his meals and we end up spending about $100 or more for dinner at the chain places up at garden walk. This year we are not taking him and going to try to do better about meals and sharing meals. We plan on eating in the park mostly, because we have no car. I find that Carnation Café is a great deal for the amount of food you get, big kids meals, that they love. Know your menu first before going in and try to have everyone know what they want and what you think you can split, share etc. Pack lots of snacks that you can munch on through the day. I always have granola bars, fruit snacks, water bottles, and jerky in our backpack. This year we are staying at BWPPI and they provide breakfast, which saves us about $30 a day just on that meal, if we stick to our snacking, and really slim lunch, we will have more money available for dinner.

Since you have a car and if you plan on spending more time out for dinner you might be able to drive around and find something. There is also a pizza place on the other side of Harbor as well, I think Shakey's.

 

[SMD]

I don't think you're going to find many $40 sit down dinners outside the park with tax and tip, though you might come close with 2 kids meals. About half of the counter service prices are not that bad, tax and entree is about $10-11 for an adult and kids are $7-8. It's the extras that add up. Soda adds $3, souvenir cup or light up cube, another $3-4, dessert is $4-5. I think if you budget $45 you'll have some overages. I would probably budget more for snacks, though. I think if you share 2 churros for everyone or 2 Dole whips, $100 is probably doable, but I'd plan on $125, because if it's something like a Mickey ice cream bar, just get everyone their own. Maybe it will be hot and you'll eat a lot of ice cream. Better to have a little extra than to go over.

Check menu prices online, and they may go up by September, but based on pricing try:
Pizza Port, Tomorrowland Terrace, Coke Corner, Golden Horseshoe/Stagedoor, Village Haus and Hungry Bear. Avoid River Belle, French Market and Rancho del Zocalo. In DCA I think Flo's and Cucina Cucamonga will be above your price point.

 

[OregontoDisney]

We find the food in the park pretty reasonable, compared to other table service restaurants. We like the Taste Pilots grill, in DCA, and the Rancho del Zocalo and Plaza inn at DL. I think 40.00 a meal is very doable, especially if your kids are not adverse to sharing a plate. Actually my husband and I sometimes share one. Those meals usually have plenty of food and you can ask for an extra plate. Another good way to save is to ask for ice water (free!), or bring a can of soda or water of your own.
We have been 3 times in the last couple years and usually stay 4-5 days. We fly in, take a shuttle to the park and never drive anywhere to eat.

 

[Brudette]

FYI, we are not averse to sharing meals if the portions are big enough. My DS4 has a pretty big appetite, but my DD6 is a really light eater. And my husband and I don't need a ton of food either, and are also fine with waters and maybe just one dessert to share. We're really not foodies.

 

[Midnightred]

I don't think it's worth it at all to eat outside of the park. That would take up all of your valuable park hours. The ambience of the places in the park makes it worth it for that alone. With counter service, I don't think the prices are too bad, plus you don't have to leave a tip. The meals can be simple like sandwiches, kebobs, or hot dogs. Away from the park try Mimi's Cafe. The food and prices are really great. We like to get the food to go, quieter and you can eat by the pool or in your room. Order pizza or Chinese delivery to change it up if you want.

Midnightred

 

[Blue32]

I don't think it's worth it at all to eat outside of the park. That would take up all of your valuable park hours. The ambience of the places in the park makes it worth it for that alone. With counter service, I don't think the prices are too bad, plus you don't have to leave a tip. The meals can be simple like sandwiches, kebobs, or hot dogs. Away from the park try Mimi's Cafe. The food and prices are really great. We like to get the food to go, quieter and you can eat by the pool or in your room. Order pizza or Chinese delivery to change it up if you want.

Midnightred

I agree with this. In September the hours will be shorter and I would not want to leave the Park early just to save a couple bucks on Dinner. Unless you waited until park closing and then go eat. There are ways to stretch your dollar inside the Parks and hopefully keep you on budget like share meals, adults ordering off the kids menu(counter service), and getting cheaper items like Corn Dogs, Baked Potatoes(Harbor Galley) or Bengal BBQ. You can also order meals without sides to save you $$.

A couple places we found the portion sizes great for sharing are Plaza Inn and Rancho Del Zocalo.

 

[Brudette]

These are all great tips, thanks everyone! I was also thinking, we have 8 eat-out meals total that I'm budgeting for, but only 4 are on park days (others are while traveling, etc), so I think maybe I'll rearrange it so we have $30 per meal on traveling days, when we should be able to find cheap options, and $50 per meal on park days, so we can stay inside the park and be able to get enough to fill us up.

 

[gigi0902]

We're AP holders so we usually just bring food with us in the park and eat dinner outside of the park for the drive home since we go often enough to not want to spend a ton of money on food in the park all the time.

I have 4 kids (ds13, ds12, dd10, ds6) and we usually hit up Denny's on Harbor. They have a $2, $4, $6, and $8 menu there (do not go to the one on Katella, they do not have this menu ...we found out the hard way) and I've gotten out of there for $20 for all of us before. My boys get the $4 all you can eat pancakes and stuff themselves silly, so it's a great deal for us.

 

[pixieprincess13]

I am in the same boat as you. We are also bringing our DS19, but since he will be doing his own thing most of the time, I am not counting him in the budget for food. I am budgeting around $100-150 for food for me, DH, DS7, DS5. I have looked at the menus and most counter service is reasonable price, plus corn dog castle, and Pluto's dog house is cheap. Mine problem is DH is a soda nut, and is a Pepsi man, I am buying snacks, granola bars, water, etc for us to snack at in the park, the boys have little bags

 

[tomato]

I am in the same boat as you. We are also bringing our DS19, but since he will be doing his own thing most of the time, I am not counting him in the budget for food. I am budgeting around $100-150 for food for me, DH, DS7, DS5. I have looked at the menus and most counter service is reasonable price, plus corn dog castle, and Pluto's dog house is cheap. Mine problem is DH is a soda nut, and is a Pepsi man, I am buying snacks, granola bars, water, etc for us to snack at in the park, the boys have little bags

Your DH is going to be disappointed because there isn't a Pepsi to be found in the Parks! It's is Coke products all the way. My teenage DS and I are Pepsi product drinkers and we were shocked we couldn't find a Pepsi anywhere on site or even at our off-site hotel!

 

[pixieprincess13]

We are going to Costco before our trip and he is taking 3 36can packs with us. He won't go unless the Pepsi comes with us. Luckily we are driving, and have a mini fridge in the hotel

 

[momof4fans]

We brought lots of snacks on our last trip, and we bought treats in the park of course. We ate at Tony Romas one night. It's right near Park Vue Inn, we stayed there as well. It was very average and not a bargain. On our next trip my husband said we are eating in the park for every meal, except breakfast of course. We've enjoyed every place we've eaten in the parks. There are many more that we want to try. It's expensive, but eating out in general is expensive! I can't get my daughters each a happy meal for less then $8.

I suggest going to this website: allears.net It's got menus from every place to eat in DLR. You can figure out what a meal is going to cost, basically.

We really want to eat at Blue Bayou next time. I looked over the menu and basically picked the most expensive items, figured in tax and tip. For my family of 6 (two teenage boys) I'm going to need at least $275 (prices will probably be even higher in 2015) to dine there. So that's in my budget. I'm squirreling away money all the time so we can splurge when we get there. There's no rules when we are on vacation. If my kids want lobster, they get lobster. At home I'm a tightwad so we can do that.

We never kept track of what we spent on food, but we kind of think it was at least $1000 for 5 days with character meals. Your kids are little so you'll spend a lot less. Teenage boys never stop eating. And they eat adult meals. So that makes our food budget higher.

 

[lovebug33]

Share meals! We went to the pizza port. A spaghetti meal was like 10 dollars. We got one of those and a toddler meal (don't ever buy that. Disgusting and a waste of money) for the two adults and the 19 month old. That was almost enough for all of us. We went and got some popcorn and that was good for us. Also get that koolaid that you can squeeze in a drink. We saved 12 dollars by squeezing koolaid into free water!

 

[Midnightred]

We generally eat two meals in the parks, and then snacks instead of 3 meals.

Midnightred

 

[momof4fans]

Share meals! We went to the pizza port. A spaghetti meal was like 10 dollars. We got one of those and a toddler meal (don't ever buy that. Disgusting and a waste of money) for the two adults and the 19 month old. That was almost enough for all of us. We went and got some popcorn and that was good for us. Also get that koolaid that you can squeeze in a drink. We saved 12 dollars by squeezing koolaid into free water!

That's a great suggestion. We used Mio in our water bottles. It taste good and flavored water makes you drink more water. It's easy to forget to drink water when you are so busy. Before you know it, you're dehydrated, especially if it's warm. And ask for ice water anywhere. It's free. I did that a bunch!

 

[californiamomof4grls]

I have a family of 7. We have a daily budget of 75. We bring breakfast with us and eat it in our hotel or on our way to the park. We do instant oatmeal, frozen breakfast sandwiches and cereal. We bring in our snacks and lunch. We eat dinner both on and off property. I have really good luck with Denny's across the street but the number one thing I do to save money is have water instead of paying for it! We can all eat at Denny's for 50 with tip! The kids usually want breakfast anyways! We also have really good luck at Rancho del Zorbo!

 

[Eighty8Keys]

We learned that we spend about the same per day eating outside the park as we do inside. First trip in 2003 we averaged $25 per day per person, eating breakfast at McDonald's, trekking out of the park for lunch, usually at McDonald's again, and then eating dinner at either Denny's, iHop, etc. It was a pain leaving the park and walking across the street just to eat lunch. The next year we decided we were going to eat every meal in the park, regardless of the cost. We tried Blue Bayou, Carnation Cafe, Dole Whips, ate ice cream at the Gibson Girl, tried many of the counter service restaurants, and we still averaged $25 per person per day. Now 10 years later, we're averaging $35 per person per day. Sometimes we'll share a meal, not just to save money, but because we want to save room for a Dole Whip later on.

 

[GenGen22]

There are many options if you just look around enough. There is a place called Pizza Press across the street from DL there are coupons on this site: http://anaheimoc.org/coupons?field_ad_couponcategory_tid=246&sort_by=created. Pizza costs $10 each & I dont think you would need 4 of them & refillable drinks so, you could even share. Pizza is great & made to order. I found alot of tips on dining discounts on the Mousesavers website. Also, costco. Might be a good idea as you could get gift cards that are good for rain forrest cafe. See here: http://www.mousesavers.com/disneyla...isneyland-meal-snack-drink-discounts-coupons/ one other suggestion I have & its not the best food but it is cheap & you can get a lot for $40 which is the amount you were wanting to spend. In your hotel they always have these menus for pizza/italian food or chinese food. They have family meals. Includes 2 liter of soda, salad, pasta , pizza & garlic bread. I think I also saw bbq & mexican. We have ordered the italian meal & it wasn't bad. We have 5 of us so we're always looking up coupons etc.