Saving on food at Disney

[LovesTimone]

For breakfast, I would make sure everyone had a hearty meal, breakfast sandwiches, are easy to make, scrambled eggs, chesse, and some kind of lunch meat, ham and turkey are easy, and you can use those items for late night sandwiches when returning from the parks. Cereal is good but I would suggest, some toast, and a protien to go along with it, such as peanut butter toast. This way it is not all sugar which burns off quickly.

As for snacks for lunch, you could bring in fruit apples seem to hold up well, and the peanut butter to go cups for dipping the apples in. Other items you can bring with you, granola or cereal bars,

Not sure on the age of your kids, but when my DD's were younger and still in stroller, I took a soft sided cooler in the parks, with juice boxes, grapes, water, can's of soda, string cheese, baggies with goldfish, or chezzits. I kept several ice pack thing in the frezzer and rotated them as needed. I have a friend that rents a locker and put her soft sided cooler in it while in the parks with sandwich for lunch, she does this as her family are beyond super picky eaters.

Their are alot of meals that you can share, check over on allears. They have menu's and prices.Here are a few places I know you can share and have shared with my DH and DD's.
MK -Rays Starlight cafe,- they have a half chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and veggie that can easily be shared, over in frontier land the CS there has a burger bar, that you can add to your burger, oldest DD and I have shared a burger and fries, and with the added toppings it was more than enough food.
Epcot - Sunshine season, DH and I shared a sub there once, in the World Showcase there are lots of items to share, everything from eggs roll, to a cheese platters, fish and chips in England is a favorite for DH and I to split.
AK - Flame tree BBQ, they have a rib and chicken platter that can be split and get side of onion rings and you shou; have no problem.
DHS - Starring rolls - huge sandwiches

Also if you want you could do ice cream for lunch or dinner, Beach and Cream has the kitchen sink, which is made for a group. or at DTD, at Ghiradell(sp?) also has something like it, and the kids think you are super cool.

 

[DawnM]

We rarely eat in the parks anymore. The food IMHO has gone way downhill. The kids even complain about the burgers not tasting that good. We also used to love the rice and sweet and sour at the Land. Now they have only some noodle dish and it is really gross.

So, we opted instead to buy one of these:
http://www.target.com/p/igloo-maxco...465885&LID=PA&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=13465885

They can only be found at Target.

Best investment ever!

Ours is the older design and about 6 years old. It has saved us thousands, literally! We take it around town with food in it, to the parks, picnics, etc.....

But in the parks it is large enough to hold our food for the day. Our boys take turns carrying it.

This is what we carry:

5 sandwiches
Cheese sticks
Trail mix
cut up fruit
a tupperware with cookies for dessert
granola bars
sticks of drink mix and coffee mix in the front pocket with wet wipes
water bottles (one frozen for our ice pack)
anything else we wish

The side pocket fits a can of pringles. Normally pringles is not our chip of choice, but for Disney, it is perfect.

It is enough for a good lunch and snacks for the day.

 

[Mother Cardinal 2]

When my aunt went to Disney a few years ago they utilized the mini fridge and microwave in their hotel room. They got all kinds of breakfast type of foods like milk, cereal pop tarts, and donuts. They also got lunch meats and bread and things that could be heated in their microwave to eat for lunch. They stayed at one of the disney world resorts moderate hotels and didn't want to spend a fortune on a meal plan so they would eat breakfast in their room, head over one of the parks then at lunch time head back to their room for lunch, then back to the park.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Yak & Yeti counter service is vile. Don't go there. Birds all over the seating area trying to steal your food, food is not good.

Avoid this at all costs.

 

[JessB320]

We always hit Costco And get
Cheesesticks
Take n bake pizza ( love cold leftover pizza for lunch )
Rotisserie chickens again easy dinner and thrn cold leftovers yummy , or shred leftover chicken for wraps or chicken salad
fruit leather nice sweet treat that's all fruit
Beef jerky
Granola bars or protein bars
Costco bakery cookies, best treats ever
Grape tomatoes
Veggie and fruits to cut up
Bag of frozen meatballs, endless easy meal ideas With these

 

[tigger51276]

Yak & Yeti counter service is vile. Don't go there. Birds all over the seating area trying to steal your food, food is not good.

Avoid this at all costs.

I do agree with the birds, but I actually really like the Yak & Yeti counter service. I like the Honey Chicken w/rice which is a lot of food and I tend to share it with my 2 DD's and supplement with some fruit or raw veggies. I do get it without the Honey sauce as I find it too sweet. I tried the beef lo mein last year and it wasn't too bad either but I prefer the chicken. The meals are pretty inexpensive if you figure they will serve 2-3 people and I like how they come in the "chinese" food to go boxes.

 

[purpledisneyprncess]

I really like all of the snack ideas to bring to the park! In addition to many of the snacks PP's mentioned (i.e. cheese sticks, pretzels, apple slices, grapes, sandwiches, bagels, etc), we also bring graham crackers, the dried apple slices from Costco that are pre-packaged, peanut/nuts... then the snacks you can buy to use as meals are the big soft pretzels, great dipped in mustard. It has also been mentioned that you can get the meals without the fries to save additional money.

We have lemonade packet mixes that we'll add to the free ice waters.

 

[tiggerificamanda]

Yak & Yeti counter service is vile. Don't go there. Birds all over the seating area trying to steal your food, food is not good.

Avoid this at all costs.

we didn't care for the food here. However, if you are not a food person and are just wanting to 'get filled up' the portions are so large that one order can easily fill a family. We are still looking for a 'good' place to eat at AK. We are going to try the Tusker House Breakfast this go-round. If it fails us we will be back to packing up our peanut butter sandwiches and pre-packaged snacks as usual...
Amanda

Amanda Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[tiggerificamanda]

Since you are off-site, check restaurant.com for deals on local restaurants (and check retailmenot for deals on restaurant.com! They frequently have codes that allow you to purchase the vouchers for 80% off.).

If I were in your position, I'd be sure everyone had a protein-filled meal for breakfast that would fuel them for a good stretch, buy snacks in Disney as needed and then either go out to a local restaurant or cook at home for dinner. Counter service meals at Disney are overpriced and the quality is just so-so.

We have a lot of 'FORKFLY' deals in our area. I am not sure if 'fork fly' app has taken off in orlando, but we will be checking in March and May!

Amanda Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Robbi]

we didn't care for the food here. However, if you are not a food person and are just wanting to 'get filled up' the portions are so large that one order can easily fill a family. We are still looking for a 'good' place to eat at AK. We are going to try the Tusker House Breakfast this go-round. If it fails us we will be back to packing up our peanut butter sandwiches and pre-packaged snacks as usual...
Amanda

Amanda Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

We enjoy Flame Tree BBQ and Pizzafari. The food is delicious. My favorite is the BBQ beef sandwich at Flame Tree. Be sure to get the BBQ sauce at the condiment stand.

 

[tigger51276]

We enjoy Flame Tree BBQ and Pizzafari. The food is delicious. My favorite is the BBQ beef sandwich at Flame Tree. Be sure to get the BBQ sauce at the condiment stand.

Flame Tree is definitely my favorite place to eat at Animal Kingdom. The ribs are normally so, so good. I will say the last time I ate there they weren't so good, but seeing as how every other time they were awesome I just chalked it up to a bad day.

 

[KellDy]

Thanks for all the ideas. We are skipping character meals this trip (unless we decide to splurge and plan breakfast at Tuskar House - our favorite from last trip). My oldest 2 kids are 9 & 11 and not interested in the characters, but my two little boys 5 & 2 may convince me. I do have sit downs planned for T-Rex, the Plaza, & Via Napoli. I'm not going to pack an entire lunch or cook in our condo, that's my treat during vacation! I'm looking for some counter service menu items that I can add to the drinks, fruit and snacks I bring with me to make a meal. So far my ideas from looking at the menus & suggestions
1. Animal Kingdom: egg rolls or corn dog nuggets; splitting 2 adult meals from Flame Tree to feed the whole family
2. MK: waffle sandwich (anyone tried these? I've haven't seen them before), corn dog or hot dog
3. Epcot: sandwiches from Boulangerie Patisserie, kids split;
Thanks!

 

[Lintasare]

Our next trip is a no DDP trip. We want to see if we can spend less than $700 on food for the two of us over a 7 night trip. I think we can do it. We already have plans to split CS meals and drink ice water as well as limit our TS meals to a max of 4 meals. Of course will also have to limit my tasty libations. Ah well.

 

[Robbi]

Our next trip is a no DDP trip. We want to see if we can spend less than $700 on food for the two of us over a 7 night trip. I think we can do it. We already have plans to split CS meals and drink ice water as well as limit our TS meals to a max of 4 meals. Of course will also have to limit my tasty libations. Ah well.

You could skip the TS in favor of the libations.

 

[tiggerificamanda]

We enjoy Flame Tree BBQ and Pizzafari. The food is delicious. My favorite is the BBQ beef sandwich at Flame Tree. Be sure to get the BBQ sauce at the condiment stand.

Thanks Robbi! I may try that this time. Being from the south we are kind of spoiled on food you know That sounds like a meal my husband would really enjoy!

Amanda Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Robbi]

Thanks Robbi! I may try that this time. Being from the south we are kind of spoiled on food you know That sounds like a meal my husband would really enjoy!

Amanda Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Yikes, just checked and it looks like they've substituted a turkey sandwich for the BBQ. I don't eat pork, or chicken, and I don't eat turkey.
The onion rings are good but I think when we go back, if the BBQ beef is not on the menu, we'll have to go with Pizzafari.

 

[Friendly Frog]

I get tired of park food.

I usually eat Starbucks oatmeal in the room for breakfast. I just pack it in my luggage to take down with me. You get nuts, dried fruit and brown sugar, and it comes with a bowl w/lid and spoon. Just add hot water. Perfect for traveling and tastes much better than the overly sweet oatmeal single packs sold in the grocery store.

Easy lunch is a frozen lunchables pack put it in a cooler backpack along with a couple of frozen drink bottles.( I take tea in mine.) The frozen lunch meat and cheese will defrost by lunch time but the frozen bottles will keep stuff nice and cold. This and a clementine makes a great lunch. ( and goes nicely with a glass of wine from the World Showcase.)

Later in the afternoon the drinks will defrost for a nice cold beverage with whatever snack I brought.

Edit: Flame tree give you lots of food.

 

[tigger51276]

Our next trip is a no DDP trip. We want to see if we can spend less than $700 on food for the two of us over a 7 night trip. I think we can do it. We already have plans to split CS meals and drink ice water as well as limit our TS meals to a max of 4 meals. Of course will also have to limit my tasty libations. Ah well.

Honestly I think you can totally keep within that budget. I always had a $40 a day budget for myself and then $15 a day per kid so you have a $50 a day budget per adult and even with a drink or two a day you shouldn't have too much trouble especially if you share a couple of meals.

 

[Topper]

Last year I decided I was pretty much sick of Disney food. Most of it all taste the same to me so I decided since I was staying in a 2 bedroom villa at AKV to make most of our meals. I've always done breakfast in the room (cereal, bagel, toast, granola bars). For lunches I will even often toast a bagel and throw peanut butter on it and put it in a baggie for when I get hungry and then grab a snack to go with it. My friends husband had a car so we hit Walmart the day we got there.
For meals that I made and brought with us to the parks:
Hot dogs: pre boiled them and then packed them in tin foil. Brought rolls with us and smartfood/chips.
Microwave mac and cheese- premade it and put it in small thermos.
Pasta w/butter and/or sauce- premade and put in small thermos.
Subs
Bagel sandwiches
PBand Fluff and PB and J
Cold fried chicken from walmart
Ramen Noodle Cup of Soups
Bought a bunch of fruit (apples, bananas, grapes and oranges)
Also got a bunch of small pre cut fruit and veggie baggies.
I had a small soft sided cooler that attached to my stroller for the stuff that needed to be kept cold and then a backpack for the rest. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought and really kept our food costs down. We did still do a few counter service and table service meals on top of it.

A great cheap and shareable snack is a funnel cake, they are huge and like $6 and 2 people can easily eat one.

But where do you eat these meals? On a park bench? Disney doesn't provide picnic tables that I am aware of.

 

[blessedby3]

We were just there this past Oct with our 3 kids (5, 14, 17) and I thought the size of the CS meals had shrunk. We used to split meals and leave full, but on this trip I found us all getting a meal (except dd5) and there is no way we could have split meals and left satisfied. Our trip previous to this one was in June 2011 (so 16 mos earlier) and I felt like we could split meals then.
Just my observation from a recent trip. Our days of splitting meals is over
We did tire of the park food and found that if we ate breakfast in the condo and took in chips, granola bars, and other snacks, that we much preferred to leave the parks to eat at a nice restaurant off property for less than we could get counter service for all of us.