Question about dining for all you offsiters!

[sersee05]

So as you know I am joining the ranks of the offsite crew. Im actually looking forward to all the extra room I will have!

I am extremely bummed about giving up my free dining though. So what do you all do about food without the dining plan?

I know a lot of you cook. I am not a cooker on vacation. Although I will have a nice kitchen..I don't plan on cooking at all. We do plan on saving breakfast wise though. Ok so I might cook breakfast..lol But the rest we eat out.

So do you guys go outside of Disney? Splurge on one really good Disney meal? We are a family of five so will cost us a bit...

I still have my dining reservations but when I went to check out the prices..holy bajeebers! My Ta had us at the Yachtsman...don't think that will be happening now. We are still going to do Trex. Overpriced burgers here we come!!

What do you all do? Do you have favorite restaurants not to be missed so you save up?

We really wanted to try Boma..think we still will.

 

[Jess30]

We didn't want to leave to eat, so we did one TS meal a day. We stuffed ourselves silly during that one meal, and ate a good breakfast. It worked out well, and we bought snacks here and there, but didn't really eat besides those two meals.

We thought about doing CS meals, but those are pretty expensive also, and less filling, so would probably need to eat more than that one big meal.

It was also so nice to just go inside a restaurant for an hour or so. It was cool and relaxing. Yes, it was expensive, but we budgeted for it. Also, I need to eat GF and TS works better for me usually.

We ordered pizza one night when we were just hanging out at the resort. That wasn't cheap either, lol.

 

[Ed J]

We eat breakfast at the condo, eat crap mid morning then eat a sit down meal around 1 or 2 PM. Then we eat a light meal in the evening, or I'll drink my dinner a lot of nights .

We go during food an wine, that's a great way to have a few small meals in the evening with some adult beverages.

 

[Jess30]

Yeah, we scheduled our big meal for 2-3 most days.

 

[ParkHopperFan]

We usually eat breakfast in our villa and then take our lunch with us to the parks. We do a bit of shopping to ensure that we that have everything we need to pack. We might grab a soda at the park but that's about it. The on site food for a family of five is outrageously priced and that really adds up quick.

Dinners are at off site restaurants. Many times we bring leftovers back with us and have them for lunch during non park days. We don't like to eat every meal at a restaurant. We just end up feeling gross after stuffing our faces for days on end!

 

[Upatnoon]

So as you know I am joining the ranks of the offsite crew. Im actually looking forward to all the extra room I will have!

I am extremely bummed about giving up my free dining though. So what do you all do about food without the dining plan?

I know a lot of you cook. I am not a cooker on vacation. Although I will have a nice kitchen..I don't plan on cooking at all. We do plan on saving breakfast wise though. Ok so I might cook breakfast..lol But the rest we eat out.

So do you guys go outside of Disney? Splurge on one really good Disney meal? We are a family of five so will cost us a bit...

I still have my dining reservations but when I went to check out the prices..holy bajeebers! My Ta had us at the Yachtsman...don't think that will be happening now. We are still going to do Trex. Overpriced burgers here we come!!

What do you all do? Do you have favorite restaurants not to be missed so you save up?

We really wanted to try Boma..think we still will.

We usually stay in a timeshare with a full kitchen. We eat breakfast in our room -- muffins, fruit, cereal, etc.

We eat lunch at the parks -- usually quick service. We will often buy 2 adult meals and it is enough to feed our family of 5. Your mileage may vary.

We usually leave the parks by 3 p.m. and go back to the room and have a snack. We then go to the pool or relax, then in the evening go out to dinner offsite or Downtown Disney, or go to a park and eat dinner there, or sometimes, just stay in an eat a dinner like pizza. Sometimes it is far more relaxing to stay in your room than to go out to eat somewhere.

We have annual passes, so we don't spend all day in the parks. We will often go to a different park in the evening than we did in the morning.

Buffets are very expensive considering what they charge a 5-year-old, so we skip them.

On the other hand will have a ice cream, popcorn, or other treats -- much less expensive.

 

[kathy884]

We eat breakfast in the condo everyday. Because of Disney's wonderful policy of letting you bring food in, in a small soft sided cooler or cooler backpack, we bring in sandwiches and fruit. For other parks like SeaWorld that don't have a policy like that we eat lunch there. For a week of dinners, six, (1) we usually spurge on one Disney Table service that we reserve way in advance. It's usually been Boma or Ohana and part of the reason for the choice is that we spend some time at the grounds of AKL or the Polynesian too (favorite deluxe resorts of ours for walking around). I'd like to try JIKO too sometime, but not with everyone, just with the more experimental eaters (I haven't figured out a good way to get this in yet, though). (2) We usually order pizza one night, (3) do Sweet Tomatoes one night, (4) and (5) do two nights of counter service dinners in the parks, and (6) cook a nice meal one night. Our dinners, though, are not in the order listed. On a six day trip, we usually just do three full theme park days, and on off days do smaller attractions, a 1/2 day at SeaWorld, and enjoy our resort. Sometimes we do a beach or Kennedy Space center day too.

Oh and by the way, we usually have a party of 10 and travel high season. That's part of the reason for the need for the reservations for the one Disney table service meal we do.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

Back when I had DVC and went frequently, and had a kitchen, our routine was (bear with me here)...

We stopped at a grocery store before arriving at our resort. We would get one of the big frozen Stouffers lasagnas, pre-made salad in a bag, a bottle of salad dressing and some frozen garlic bread. After we checked in, I would throw the lasagna in the oven while we unpacked and got settled in. Then dump the pre-made salad in a bowl and bake off the bread at the last minute. I don't consider this "cooking", and it also provided us with leftovers to heat up for a later lunch or dinner.

I've also ordered pizza. Love Giordanos stuffed pizza. Flippers was also good, and I think they have all kinds of different toppings to choose.

People often mention Sweet Tomatoes. I like it, but we have them here at home, so it's not a thrill for me. Just to clue you in, in case you don't know - they are a soup and salad buffet. There is pretty much no meat. I have heard more than once someone complaining to the manager at our local one "but I don't eat salad!" Well it says right on the door what it is...

There are other buffet type restaurants in the area where you can feed a crowd pretty reasonably. I think there is Golden Corral, I know there is Ponderosa. Some people rave about Steak and Shake (or is it Steak-n-Shake?). Most chains you can think of are around there.

Somewhere on this board there is a "best off-site restaurants" thread. You can try searching for it, or go back a few pages and you'll probably find it.

 

[powellrj]

We only eat breakfast and snacks in the house when we stay off-site. I am not a big fan of food at WDW so we usually eat our main meal off-site. We have our favorites that we always go to. I will be honest and say I think the food is way overpriced for what you get.

 

[happymommy]

Our last trip was offsite, just me and my kids, for 15 nights. Our only table service meal that entire trip was at Macaroni Grill in Kissimmee (and it was wonderful!). We had lots of down time, so I cooked whenever we were in the condo. For the water parks, we brought a fairly large soft cooler with drinks and sandwiches.

I grilled simple dinner things like marinated chicken a few times, and we had pasta, I forget what else but it was simple food, so not really too much cooking to me! It was just so much more relaxing to come back in the evening and chill out with some simple spaghetti or something (and spend less too - by far!).

During the day, if we were in the theme parks, we would get counter service meals. My DD and I split them a lot, since to me many are pretty big. We just kind of snack during the day.

We've eaten at so many of the Disney restaurants by now, that it's really no big deal anymore. Now, if my husband had been along, he would have wanted to go to a few sit down meals, but I really didn't feel like it this past trip.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

We only eat breakfast and snacks in the house when we stay off-site. I am not a big fan of food at WDW so we usually eat our main meal off-site. We have our favorites that we always go to. I will be honest and say I think the food is way overpriced for what you get.

Ditto. Breakfast at condo (we like a hot breakfast so I'm talking bacon and eggs), CS lunch and an ice cream at the parks, and our main meal is off-site. We like bonefish grill, the ale house, the sushi place off palm pkwy, and hooters (gasp!). We find TS Disney restaurants to be ridiculously overpriced when you are paying out of pocket.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

You can add our family to the breakfast at the villa, lunch at whatever park we happen to be at, and dinner offsite crowd. While Disney table service food is fine, there are very few places which are good enough to justify the horribly inflated cost, IMHO. And quite frankly, we like eating when we are hungry (not held to any specific ADR time, which would have been booked six months before when we would have only been guessing about when we would want to eat).

Our favourite dinner places in Orlando are Olive Garden, TGI Fridays, Giordanos, Chilis, Golden Corral, Buffalo Wild Wing, and Friendlys. Yes, they are all chains but they are chains we don't have here at home, so we look forward to visiting each of them on our trips to the states. Our family of three can eat at some of those places I just listed for the same price as one adult at Chef Mickeys and the food is much, much better.

We do love the Ohana character breakfast, so sometimes add that into our itinerary.

 

[dennise]

This year we discovered the Wood Grill Buffet on I-drive, ate there 3 times.

 

[Jess30]

If we went more frequently, we would definitely eat outside of the parks more. We can only go every few years though, so we try to maximize our park time. My kids are old enough to hang for a whole day, so we do that. We do take easy days where we hang at the resort every few long park days. Leaving the resort and going back later just doesn't work for our family. They hate it.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We are a family of 6 and drive down for two weeks every August, so we make a grocery run at Sam's Club as soon as we get to our condo/townhouse. We buy paper goods, detergent, salad fixings, some frozen pre-made meals (lasagna), bagels, milk, beer, water, eggs, bacon etc. We also bring some groceries from home, especially condiments, cooking spices, etc., but not much.

We have breakfast at our condo everyday and I really don't mind cooking omelets, bacon, eggs, or the kids sometimes prefer cereal, bagels, toast, etc. Toss the dishes in the dishwasher and we're off.

We do two WDW park days a trip and we are there from OPEN to CLOSE so we have CS lunch and dinner in the parks. We also hop between parks to do our favorite rides, so by the time we get home we're exhausted.

We also do two WDW waterpark days a trip and we have CS lunch at the park and dinner offsite. Some of our favorites are Panda, Giordano's, Logan's Roadhouse, Joe's Crabshack, Earl of Sandwich, Steak & Shake, Sonic and Popeye's Chicken. Most of these are chains, but we don't usually go out to eat much during the rest of the year, so they're a real treat for our family.

We also spend several days at Universal and Islands of Adventure. Some days we eat CS there, but most days we only spend a few hours there because we have APs. I try to build in as many "do nothing but hang out at the pool" or "go outlet shopping today (without having to rush back for a dinner ADR)" days as possible because DH and the kids get really cranky in the August heat if I push them too hard .

 

[kmb584]

You'll also find me NOT cooking on vacation. I do stock our villa with snacks and easy breakfast foods (waffles, cereal, fresh fruit, and protein bars) though.

As for dining, we do 1 TS and 1QS meal per day. I'm an AP holder which gives me access to purchasing the Tables in Wonderland card. TiW offers a 20% discount on most TS locations and select QS ones too. I've found that even when staying on-site during a free dining promotion, TiW combined with a RO discount is the bigger bang for my buck.

If funds are limited, definitely look into offsite dining options as the area has a plentiful number of restaurants. There's a steakhouse right in front of the Vistana though I can't comment on food quality as we haven't eaten there. You can also start a dining savings account or purchase Disney gift cards that offer a % off. I purchase all of my Disney ones at Target as with their debit card you save 5% on purchases, but many people will purchase theirs at grocery stores to rack up free gas points.

 

[sersee05]

Definitely great to hear what everyone does! I was very curious. We haven't been to Disney much so I haven't eaten at most of the different restaurants in Disney...probably why I am missing the free dining.

I have eaten at Mama Melrose's(which we though was good on our honeymoon but not so good two years ago when we went), CRT, Trex and I think that was about it. My daughter was sick and we were at the Poly so we had a couple meals at their counter service restaurant that we ended up bringing to the room. My older daughter and I went to Ohana for breakfast.

Im thinking I will have to purchase some Tonga toast to warm up at the villa. I will have to look into t hat.


I can budget for the food but looking at the prices for Disney restaurants..I truly was shocked. It is a lot of $$ . I have a 16, 11, and 9 year old too.

I was curious because I didn't want to eat at too many chains that I can get at home. We are definitely doing T rex for the kids. Don't know really what to do on Thanksgiving. Have the original ressie for Tusker house..but I don't know. I told my husband I could make a thanksgiving dinner(it's his favorite holiday) but it wouldn't be the same for him. So will do it when we get back.

It's great to hear what you all do so I can grab some ideas. I have heard great things about Earl of Sandwich and Wolfgang's express..so will probably try those.

Snacks in the villa? Oh a must. We are on vacation. We watch calories when we get home!!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Definitely great to hear what everyone does! I was very curious. We haven't been to Disney much so I haven't eaten at most of the different restaurants in Disney...probably why I am missing the free dining.

I have eaten at Mama Melrose's(which we though was good on our honeymoon but not so good two years ago when we went), CRT, Trex and I think that was about it. My daughter was sick and we were at the Poly so we had a couple meals at their counter service restaurant that we ended up bringing to the room. My older daughter and I went to Ohana for breakfast.

Im thinking I will have to purchase some Tonga toast to warm up at the villa. I will have to look into t hat.


I can budget for the food but looking at the prices for Disney restaurants..I truly was shocked. It is a lot of $$ . I have a 16, 11, and 9 year old too.

I was curious because I didn't want to eat at too many chains that I can get at home. We are definitely doing T rex for the kids. Don't know really what to do on Thanksgiving. Have the original ressie for Tusker house..but I don't know. I told my husband I could make a thanksgiving dinner(it's his favorite holiday) but it wouldn't be the same for him. So will do it when we get back.

It's great to hear what you all do so I can grab some ideas. I have heard great things about Earl of Sandwich and Wolfgang's express..so will probably try those.

Snacks in the villa? Oh a must. We are on vacation. We watch calories when we get home!!

I don't know about grocery stores in Orlando, but I know many grocery stores here in Chicago offer a prepared Thanksgiving meal that you simply pick up and reheat. That may be an option for Thanksgiving dinner instead of Tusker House.

We have stayed onsite a few times with the free DDP and felt like our vacation was ruled by our ADRs. I would feel even more stressed now that all ADRs require a credit card guarantee and 24 hour cancellation. We've eaten at just about every 1 TS credit restaurant at WDW over the years, and the only one that we would consider paying OOP for is Kona.

We tried Trex in August because DS thought it looked cool, but it was SOOOOOO noisy in there that even he hated it. The food was OK, but the bill was $$$$$. I'm glad we tried it, but we're not in any hurry to get back.

Next August we plan to try some of the resort CS locations like Captain Cooks (Poly) and Mara (AKL). We always mean to try them but never find the time. And we're also going to make a special trip to Captain Cooks for Tonga Toast.

 

[mikehn]

when on vacation, we eat out most the time. Counter service type lunches during the day. Dinner offsite at whatever restaurant we are in the mood for. A couple favorite dining areas offering a wide variety of dining options are Dr. Phillips area and Pointe Orlando area. Some evenings when we leave the parks late, we just order pizza or chinese takeout.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

We usually cook several breakfast casseroles at the beginning of a week at a condo and have evening snacks available. With Disney trips, we are typically in the parks at lunch and dinner time, so we eat meals onsite. It isn't worth the time to us to leave the parks for meals. That isn't our strategy for other destinations - we make an exception for Disney.