Restaurants to choose that will reduce food costs without anyone noticing?

[nalajms]

Agree with PP, if you don't like or want the sides that come with the meal, ask to only purchase the entree. We did that last time with the turkey legs. I just wanted the turkey leg, not baked beans and cole slaw. I believe I paid $4 less to get the Turkey leg with a bag of chips than the meal that's listed on the board.

 

[powellrj]

You could also buy gift cards at Target with a red card and save 5% off the cost of the gift cards.

 

[Tanooki]

At Cosmic Ray's in MK, you can get the Rotisserie chicken meal, which is a half-chicken, with 2 sides (usually fries and green beans but you can ask for only fries and they give you two servings). This can definitely be split between 2 adults!

 

[eliza61]

Both my dd's (14 & 12) as well as myself all order kid's meals several times during our trips. Usually only at CS but it is plenty of food and the price is great! I love the kid's burger from Pecos Bills. I load it up at the toppings bar and it's pretty tasty. Then we have room in the budget for snacks

I swear every time I hear about splitting meals I always think, where?

Seriously.

Op be wary. this is what happens to us when splitting meals and I've tried every restaurant on site.

So let's say Peco's bills. yes it may be too much for me but it has never been enough to fill 2 adults. Now when I go to the toppings bar I generally don't fill my plate with the salad and green peppers. so what happens with us, we split a meal (even tried the old get one double burger and ask for a bun trick) and for the first hour after lunch every thing is cool.

Then the person who didn't get enough fries or whatever is hungry and whatever we save is lost with snacking.

Now in the interest of full disclosure, my sons were 6ft tall from 9 years. they NEVER ate on the kids menu.

We get a large pizza on via Napoli and a family sharing salad and there is never any extra.

Same thing with the supposedly rotisserie chicken. Yes I totally agree it's too much for me but me and dh tried splitting it. I think 30 minutes later I was at the ice cream shop ordering a sundae.

so once again any thing we saved with splitting the chicken is lost.

 

[hsmamato2]

Easy if you do cs and order ice water to drink...even better if you buy a burger with no fries,etc. if i remember right,isn't a burger and chips about 8.99? I love columbia harbor house for a nice meal

 

[Mad4Dizne]

Have you considered eating at the resorts? they have excellent QS options, if you are at MK for instance, The Contempo Café and/or Captain Cooks are a short Monorail ride away and have some great options. We love to have breakfast at Captain Cooks and then head to the MK. DTD has excellent QS options and our favorite QS, Wolfgang Puck Express (TS quality at QS prices!). In the parks MK: Columbia Harbour House is a terrific QS option. Epcot: Sunshine Seasons has many delicious options and many options will be under $15pp. Like many others we usually bring in water/drinks, saves $. For DS: How about going to Starring Rolls or heading out to the Boardwalk, Hurricane Hannah's has awesome cheeseburgers. (Can't really help with AK, as we usually never go). Have a great trip!

 

[GraysMom]

As others have mentioned, we always take water bottles into the parks with us (we freeze about 1/2 the bottle at night and fill the rest of the way with chilled water in the morning). We also take in some small snacks in case we're hungry but don't feel like spending a bunch for snacks for all three of us (packs of crackers, almonds, raisins, etc.).

 

[tinkerone]

another vote for pecos bill. the fixin bar seals the deal for us every time. you can have a huge burger by the time your finished there plus all the extras to just eat as a side like the mushrooms. great value.

 

[sarah4770]

I swear every time I hear about splitting meals I always think, where?

Seriously.

Op be wary. this is what happens to us when splitting meals and I've tried every restaurant on site.

So let's say Peco's bills. yes it may be too much for me but it has never been enough to fill 2 adults. Now when I go to the toppings bar I generally don't fill my plate with the salad and green peppers. so what happens with us, we split a meal (even tried the old get one double burger and ask for a bun trick) and for the first hour after lunch every thing is cool.

Then the person who didn't get enough fries or whatever is hungry and whatever we save is lost with snacking.

Now in the interest of full disclosure, my sons were 6ft tall from 9 years. they NEVER ate on the kids menu.

We get a large pizza on via Napoli and a family sharing salad and there is never any extra.

Same thing with the supposedly rotisserie chicken. Yes I totally agree it's too much for me but me and dh tried splitting it. I think 30 minutes later I was at the ice cream shop ordering a sundae.

so once again any thing we saved with splitting the chicken is lost.

 

[sarah4770]

agree with Eliza. Portion sizes might have been different a few years ago ...but today i would not plan on any sharing,

 

[sarah4770]

As others have said... look at the menus on all ears. ive been ok with kids meals.. depends on your appetite,

 

[dpswift]

Via Napoli-- you can split pizzas-- you might have to buy two to feed everyone, though. Our family of four bought one of the extra large specialty pizzas (it was $41, I believe). We drank water and didn't get dessert, so we made it out of the restaurant for something like $52, including tip. That's CHEAP by Disney standards. The pizza was DELICIOUS, too!!!!

Via Napoli-- you can split pizzas-- you might have to buy two to feed everyone, though. Our family of four bought one of the extra large specialty pizzas (it was $41, I believe). We drank water and didn't get dessert, so we made it out of the restaurant for something like $52, including tip. That's CHEAP by Disney standards. The pizza was DELICIOUS, too!!!!

This is a great idea. I do not think that you would need to pizzas unless your kids are teenagers.

 

[Judique]

I swear every time I hear about splitting meals I always think, where?

Seriously.

Op be wary. this is what happens to us when splitting meals and I've tried every restaurant on site.

So let's say Peco's bills. yes it may be too much for me but it has never been enough to fill 2 adults. Now when I go to the toppings bar I generally don't fill my plate with the salad and green peppers. so what happens with us, we split a meal (even tried the old get one double burger and ask for a bun trick) and for the first hour after lunch every thing is cool.

Then the person who didn't get enough fries or whatever is hungry and whatever we save is lost with snacking.

Now in the interest of full disclosure, my sons were 6ft tall from 9 years. they NEVER ate on the kids menu.

We get a large pizza on via Napoli and a family sharing salad and there is never any extra.

Same thing with the supposedly rotisserie chicken. Yes I totally agree it's too much for me but me and dh tried splitting it. I think 30 minutes later I was at the ice cream shop ordering a sundae.

so once again any thing we saved with splitting the chicken is lost.

Well, Eliza - for us, splitting the chicken meant we could have room to eat the ice cream later!! If we ate that whole entrée for lunch, neither of us would be able to eat snacks or dinner the rest of the day.

So I guess it is different strokes for different folks.

Now - to compare to you - my six foot three son would devour that meal and then some, but he could care less about coming to Disney, so we don't have to feed him. When he eats with us at home an extra large pizza means a third to fill us up and then the rest disappears - don't ever expect leftovers if he comes by!

 

[msmama]

My son and I often eat many smaller meals/snacks rather than 3 meals a day. We usually do breakfast in the room (or get something from the resort grab and go cases): A bagel each will tide us over until an early lunch usually.

For lunch we often share a QS meal, sometimes a kids meal (kids meals come with A LOT of sides, so if we do each get a meal for lunch we usually have his grapes and carrots for a snack later). Sure, we're hungry again 2 hours later but we get a Mickey bar. Are we hungry 2 hours later? Yep, time for a Mickey pretzel!! Then we'd have a normal dinner (where we'd each get our own meal).

I also usually end up buying a bag of Chip and Dale pretzels and Mickey graham cracker bites for the room. I take tupperware or plastic bags and those are our "in line" snacks if we get extra hungry.

Now, that's just the way we've found we like to eat over many trips, so it works for us. As a bonus, it probably saves us some money here and there. Plus I feel like we get to try more things. The Nutella waffle is tops on our list for next trip, and a cronut in Epcot!! (If we ate too many meals we wouldn't have room for snacks!)

 

[maxiesmom]

If you are ordering quick service, always start out ordering less food than you think you need. My family is able to share and be satisfied. You don't want to eat until you are stuffed at Disney World, that is not a good way to feel trying to walk around the parks and ride rides. You can always go back through line and order more food if you need it. Plus, as Judique pointed out, you want a little room left for a Mickey Bar to two!

 

[redsonja76]

I second the kids meal at Pinnoccio's Haus. The pizza, plus TWO sides, and a drink is enough for an adult.

 

[eliza61]

Well, Eliza - for us, splitting the chicken meant we could have room to eat the ice cream later!! If we ate that whole entrée for lunch, neither of us would be able to eat snacks or dinner the rest of the day.

So I guess it is different strokes for different folks.

Now - to compare to you - my six foot three son would devour that meal and then some, but he could care less about coming to Disney, so we don't have to feed him. When he eats with us at home an extra large pizza means a third to fill us up and then the rest disappears - don't ever expect leftovers if he comes by!

But Op is concerned about cost, she specifically said she wants to reduce cost.

From a cost perspective, it was more expensive when we split a meal, than an hour later we're buying 4 ice cream sundaes.

Now I understand that people have different eating styles but on the dis people tout disney portion sizes like they're enormous, IMO there are not. pecos Bill burger combo is no bigger than a quarter pounder medium meal from McDonald's
The chicken is not a roaster size chicken

I do understand not wanting the stuff feeling while walking around but I also don't like having to eat again 30 minutes after a meal. i don't eat lunch at noon and then eat again at 12:30 regularly

 

[momtosam]

If you're going to AK Yak and Yeti is a can't miss counter service for me. Delicious!

 

[Donnainnj]

In our family we could make a meal out of the soups, French Onion, and Lobster Bisque at Chefs de France. Another option is the French bakery. I have eaten the ham and cheese croissant ($4.75) (warmed) and a pastry for a meal many times. They also offer the bisque at the bakery now. ($4.90) Loaf of french bread and butter, $1.85 small, $2.95 large. the Quiche is also reasonable. Again free ice water saves a huge amount of money if you are willing. I also second the waffles, I have eaten the fruit and nutella waffle for lunch, or have shared it with three or four of us for a good snack. Took a long time to find something I liked at Disney studios, but last time I had the Southwest Chicken Salad at Backlot Express, very filling, and $9.99. We have shared Turkey legs as a meal. You could keep in that budget if you did lunch at Be Our Guest. One reasonalble lunch we really enjoy when not on the dining plan is Liberty Tree Tavern, not a fan of the overpriced dinner, but Lunch offers a nice rest from the heat, good, reasonable by Disney standards food. An option if you want to splurge a little, and decide you want to stay one day over lunch. Katsura Grill in Japan, Epcot also offers some reasonable meals that are pretty good. We have also started a tradition of occasionally having dessert for dinner on vacation, something big and decadent like you would find at Beaches and Cream. Another sit down within a monorail ride of Mk that would be a bit over budget, but a nice lunch break is Kona Cafe. Just an option if you decide to splurge a little.

 

[DreamIsaWish]

Love the ham and cheese at the French bakery! It doesn't fill up my husband, but at under $5 there's still budget for a side or desert. But for my lighter appetite it's a perfect size.

Best value/taste kids' meals: salmon at The Land, turkey sandwich with lots of toppings at Cosmic Ray's (it's not an impressive sandwich to start, but once I load on mushrooms and mayo/sauce it's pretty good), fish and chicken at Harbor House (portion a bit small, but it's the same food as the adult meal and you get the sides), sandwich and fries (huge portion) with lots of toppings and free soda refills at Restaurantasaurus.