"Sharing food" experiences

[PaulaJ]

We love disney dining experiences almost as much as the parks. But most places serve meals that could easily feed 2 of us. I like to budget an average of $25 a day per person for food, too. We have sometimes requested to share, but I am reluctant to do this in lots of sit down restaurants. We're staying at the Poly, and the "Big Kahuna" breakfast at Kona Cafe could feed four of us no problem! I'd always plan to tip not on the bill, but on service for the group...but I still feel funny about requesting to share. I'd love to hear anyone's experience with this anywhere in "the World", good or bad.

 

[>>^..^<<]

Hi there ~

Is the $25.00 per person per day including park snacks, (ie) icecream, drinks, popcorn etc...

I don't want to give you a hard time but it sounds a little low ~ and if you are having alcohol at any meal it is way too low.

It is no problem to share meals ~ quite often the servers divide it for you and bring it on separate plates. WDW restaurants are very accommodating and many people do this ~ it is no problem at all.

Splitting counter service is really common and you can even order kids meals for everyone if you are so inclined.

I budget 150.00 a day for 2 people ~ I like to have one nice sit down meal a day with a margarita this $150.00 includes breakfast, lunch, dinner in a nice restaurant and major snacking (which can add up)

Have fun at the Poly!

>>^..^<<

 

[disney queen]

i have to agree! $25 is a little low. years ago our travel agent recommended $25 per person/per meal per day. this amount is plenty to cover the dining plus snacks at the parks. now i know a lot of people will not agree w/me, but please don't trash me; this works great for us. we always bring money home and there are no worries while on vacation. thanks!

 

[PaulaJ]

Hi folks, that's an average of $25/day. So some days we may double that and some days half that. We usually plan one sitdown per day and one light meal per day and skip one meal. we eat lots of bfasts in the room...more to save time than money. I guess I'm lowballing that estimate. And now that I think of it, that's when we were 2 adults and 2 kids menus.. So $100/day for a family of 4 was not so bad. This trip we'll be 3 adults and one child...luckily only 2 margeritas, tho! We do scrimp by doing stuff like ordering a large drink so we can share, rather than 2, nickel and dime stuff, but it makes me feel like I'm economizing.

 

[hampshire mickey]

Our favorites have always been Ohanas, Bomas and Cape May. We will try those 3 every visit. If you have a vehicle, Chevy's at LBV is a definite must. Grande appetizer will feed 3 people for 9 dollars total plus free chips and salsa. We also like Max's at Celebration where a person can eat for 8-11 dollars and then Akershus. We do a lunch/dinner at 3:30 as they charge you lunch price and then bring out the dinner additions to the buffet at 4:00. Helpfull ideas that we have found on this forum in the past.

 

[disneysteve]

Sharing meals is no problem at counter service or sit-down restaurants. We do it all the time.

As for meal budget, it all depends on what and where you eat. And certainly sharing meals cuts costs a lot. On our last trip (Nov. 2002), my wife, DD 7 and I averaged $18/person/day, so $25 is not unreasonable at all. That included snacks but we did eat breakfast in our room. I don't think we had any alcohol though my wife might have had a glass of wine at Boma.

Steve

 

[ducklite]

I have to agree with Cass, this seems low, especially if you are planning a sit down every day.

Anne

 

[jbthi]

My husband and I started sharing meals about 2 years ago at DW. We buy the Q&C vouchers and the MKL vouchers and share a meal with them. The main restaurant we use the Q&C voucher for is Beaches and Cream. They even split the meal for you before they bring it out. The 2 restaurants we split the MKL vouchers is Brown Derby and LeCellier. They are both very accomodating. We also leave an extra big tip for the trouble they go to and to make up for the lower price for just one meal.

June

 

[PaulaJ]

June, I'm not familiar with these vouchers. Could you tell more?

 

[jbthi]

Paula,
You get the vouchers thru Connections. The phone number is800-568-2386. I can't remember the website. Might be www.connections123.com. If that isn't right I'm sure someone will step in and help. You can get a trial subscription for a month for $1. I buy the Quick and Casual vouchers. They were 10.50, I think they have gone up to 11.00. These are for counter service restaurants. You get an entree, a side if none comes with the entree, dessert and a drink. It also includes tip and tax. A good example is Beaches and Cream. The ribeye sandwich is 10.50, you get fries or onion rings or fruit for your side, desserts are usually 7.95, plus your drink, tax and tip. My husband and I always share this, we get double cheeseburger that is 8.95 because we don't like the ribeye. They split everything before they bring the plates out.

The Magic Kingdom Lunch voucher was 29.50. I think it went up .50 or 1.00. It includes appetizer, entree, side, dessert, drink plus tax and tip. There is no way we could eat all that so we split it. My favorite is LeCellier. WE get the Asian shrimp for appetizer(8.95?) the steak (can't remember price, I'm sure it's at least 19.95) Northern Lights drink (3.95 or 4.95?) dessert is 5.95. I always get ice tea and spring greens salad on the side. Salad is listed as 5.95 but they usually bring me a side salad for 2.95. Steak comes with potatoes and I think something else.

Tip is included in voucher but we always leave quite a bit extra for all their trouble.

RFC is Animal Kingdom is the best buy with the voucher; you can get surf and turf. We just don't like it as well.

Some people have had trouble with Connections (getting the orders right and then again if they want to cancel Connections) but we have been members for 1 1/2 years and never had any trouble. We have made about 6 trips to DW during that time and used vouchers many times. It has worked out great for us.

One more thing I need to mention is that the tip is based on the price of the meal, not the price of the voucher so many times the waiter will encourage use to order something expensive.

Hope this helps.

June

 

[Lisa F]

As far as sharing meals goes, hubby and I do it all the time. My husband is a pretty light eater for a guy so we don't have a problem doing it. We have never had a server look at us weird but at some of the fancy restaurants where they have a certain way of presenting a dish, they won't split it in the kitchen but will bring you an extra plate. At simpler places they generally don't have a problem with splitting it in the kitchen and bringing two smaller plates (one example of this is 50's prime time where the portions are HUGE and when they split an entree and serve it on normal sized plates the portions look just right). In fact, at 50's primetime splitting a meal, even with tax and tip, ends up costing less than two full counterservice meals but is a nicer experience. We really prefer to eat several smaller meals a day (somewhere between a snack and a meal) so this works well for us, we get to try out our favorite restaurants and not end up stuffing ourselves silly (and leave room for a mickey bar later!). I say go for it, they really seem used to people sharing!

Lisa

 

[Badger Brent]

What about sharing at the counter service places? So many times we have ended up throwing out most of our fries because each meal came with an order. We also don't need sodas for all of us. Tell me how you would go about sharing counter service meals. Our fav. is the 1/2 chicken at Mickeys starlight cafe. Big enough for our family to finish off.

 

[jbthi]

We do that also. I just ask for an extra plate.

June

 

[Lisa F]

Originally posted by Badger Brent
What about sharing at the counter service places? So many times we have ended up throwing out most of our fries because each meal came with an order. We also don't need sodas for all of us. Tell me how you would go about sharing counter service meals. Our fav. is the 1/2 chicken at Mickeys starlight cafe. Big enough for our family to finish off.

I'm not sure what you're asking. You just order the amount of food you are going to eat and you sit down and you eat it. My husband and I always share a large drink rather than buying two. You could probably ask for an extra little paper basket that they all come in to split it up.

Lisa

 

[Jordan's MOM]

Badger Brent,

Many people do not know that even when the sandwich and fries are listed together, you can get just the sandwich at a lower cost. Perhaps that way, one of you could order a combo and the other just a sandwich. You could get a second cup and split a larger drink though I would expect to pay a small amount for the cup. I ahve also hear of people ordering a double burger at some of the counter service places that have thier own fixing bar. Each person get 1/2 of the bun and one burger. With all the fixing added it is still a nice size sandwich. You can aslo buy an extra bun for a small price.
Most places have those plastic knives, so you can just cut into pices what you wish to share.

Jordan's mom

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by Badger Brent
What about sharing at the counter service places? So many times we have ended up throwing out most of our fries because each meal came with an order. We also don't need sodas for all of us. Tell me how you would go about sharing counter service meals. Our fav. is the 1/2 chicken at Mickeys starlight cafe. Big enough for our family to finish off.

At counter service restaurants, one of us gets the full meal with fries and soda. The other 2 of us just get the main course (sandwich, chicken, etc). Then we all share the fries and soda or we also get 2 cups of water to drink since we don't like to drink a lot of soda anyway. Cheaper and healthier to do it this way.

You can always order individual items even though only the combo is listed on the menu. That's how they get people to spend (and eat) more.

Steve