So how over priced are the restaurants/snacks in Disney?

[xXMyTwoPrincessesXx]

We have decided against the DDP. We have a few ADRs for nice restrauants, and we are staying in the All Movies resort.

How expensive is it to eat inside the parks, in the quick service restaurants. I know it depends, but how overpriced are they?

What about snacks?

What about water? We can't decided what to do about water. We have two kids. And I know it will be hot. What do you guys do? Keep buying water? Have your own water bottles? Where do you fill them from? Are there fountains?

I saw someone here post that they will be shipping water from Costco straight to the resort, and I thought that was pretty smart. But how do you keep it cool?

I just need to decide what we will do for the 12-15 meals that we don't have ADR's for.

 

[LisaTC]

***MY responses to you are in blue!

We have decided against the DDP. We have a few ADRs for nice restrauants, and we are staying in the All Movies resort.

How expensive is it to eat inside the parks, in the quick service restaurants. I know it depends, but how overpriced are they?

Fairly...but quick service prices, to me, seem generally on par with any vacation spot. Table service can seem like it is double general eating places from your home, unless you live in Manhattan or Paris! Check out the menus on http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm

What about snacks?

Snacks run in the 2-4 buck range, however, some of them look quite substantial! Check out this Sticky for the snacks included on the Dining plan...will give you an idea: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2640292

What about water? We can't decided what to do about water. We have two kids. And I know it will be hot. What do you guys do? Keep buying water? Have your own water bottles? Where do you fill them from? Are there fountains?

Check out Mousesavers...they have some good info on water:

http://www.mousesavers.com/meals.html Go down the page to where it says Save on Beverages.


I saw someone here post that they will be shipping water from Costco straight to the resort, and I thought that was pretty smart. But how do you keep it cool?

www.gardengrocer.com will deliver grocerys/sundries to your room for a nominal charge. I think minimum grocery sale has to be about $40.00, but you'll save loads on a couple of cases of water. Get a soft sided foldable cooler and put some ice in a ziplock and take some bottles with you to the park.

I just need to decide what we will do for the 12-15 meals that we don't have ADR's for.

Read the menus and decide what your family likes...that should help narrow it down...then read the reviews, which will narrow it even further!

 

[TDC Nala]

Depends on where you are from. If you are from a major urban area the prices will look pretty much the same as you are used to (menus may be more limited though). I also believe that some sports stadiums and other entertainment venues are more overpriced regarding food than WDW.

As I refuse to pay any extra money for water, I carry a water bottle and fill it. I do not have an issue with the water fountains, although many guests do (they do not like the taste of the water or are concerned about germs). You can also get water at any CS and you can fill your own bottle with water at any CS that has a self-serve drink station (there are none of these in MK so you have to ask for water at all their CS)

At value resorts, the rooms do not have refrigerators. Some guests use soft-sided coolers which they pack (if you are driving you can pack any size cooler you want) and ice. There is an option to rent a small dorm-size refrigerator for the room ($10 per night)

As opposed to eating at home or buying and carrying your own snacks from a grocery store, yes, WDW will have higher prices than it would cost to do that.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

CS restaurants will give you ice water in a small cup for free. That's what I usually get. I just can't bring myself to pay $2.50 for a bottle of water.

I also will bring a bottle from my room in the a.m. and refill it. Yes, there are water fountains.

With the links provided by the pp you can get exact prices. But here are a couple of ideas I've used in the past that saves money:

• Bring your own snacks to the park - granola bars, peanut butter crackers, etc. I toss a couple in my tote bag in the a.m.
• You can even bring your own sandwiches if you want to. Just make sure they're not something that will spoil
• Do you really need a double cheeseburger, fries and a soda for $11 or so for lunch? I will often get an order of chili cheese fries and a cup of ice water and that's plenty of lunch for me - and I'm a big guy! I think they're around $4 and some change. I really don't do this to save money - it's just I wants me some chili cheese fries and know they will fill me up. Oh how I miss my Figaro Fries!

 

[sissy_ib]

Maybe it's just me but the prices across the board at WDW don't seem to much higher than what I pay normally to eat out. Only difference is at WDW (or any other vacation location) I have no choice than to eat out for every meal.

 

[chartle]

For water we are bringing Britta filter bottles (yes they are back).

At Walmart I found neoprene insulation sleeves in different colors back in the camping section that fit perfectly.

Any time we have extra ice we can put it in the bottle with fountain water.

I also got a Max Cool cooler backpack that we will put a few extra frozen water bottles in.

I'm hoping with the brittas and these extra water bottles we can cut down on purchased water.

As for meals, CS is not that bad, TS though is over the top. We don't go to WDW to eat so its mostly all CS for us. We will have at least one TS meal as for breakfast on our last day before we hit the road.

One extra note, the Britta bottles are on sale at Target this week. the only problem is that at least in my area they sold out.

 

[inkedupmomma]

All I can say is, I live near Sesame Place (25 mins) ,Six Flag Great Adventure (60 mins) and Dorney Park (also 60 mins or so) and compared to the food quality and cost of these places, Disney is a steal!

 

[jodywgirl]

To save money some of the counter service meals are very large and you can split them. Look at the menus on allears.net.
Me and my husband always split the rib and chicken platter at cosmic rays. The wraps at Pecos Bill are huge and easily split. We actually either have groceries delivered or send a box with snacks, water, breakfast items so you only have to worry about lunch and dinner. If you are paying out of pocket the lunch menu's are cheaper than dinner menus for the table service.

 

[Hopefully]

I agree that it depends on where you live.
For us, in the Urban Northeast, it is not terribly out of line. But it may be for you.
DH and I were looking at menus and prices yesterday. For CS meals - an entree combo meal and a drink, most theme park meals cost $12 - $15 per adult.
Water is $2.50/bottle.
We now order from wegoshop.com. We save their delivery cost in the cost of water in the parks alone. As far as taking it into the park and keeping it cool, we don't care if it is cold or not, so that is not an issue for us.
Good Luck

 

[juliebean]

All I can say is, I live near Sesame Place (25 mins) ,Six Flag Great Adventure (60 mins) and Dorney Park (also 60 mins or so) and compared to the food quality and cost of these places, Disney is a steal!

I agree, it was about 20% more for us to buy CS lunch at Hershey than at DW. Our DW CS meals were all right around $30 for 2 adults and 2 kids, although I usually prefer water, so that saves a couple of dollars. That's pretty typical for fast food where we live anyway.

If you are concerned about budget, I would suggest looking at the menus and choose the less expensive TS - Tony's was not that much more than CS for lunch. Of course, sometimes there are just ones you want to pay for - for us the Ashkershus breakfast was worth the price tag to not have to wait in line for princesses, get a cute picture with Belle and a very good breakfast. But, I'm used to paying a bunch for lox bagels, so it didn't seem that expensive for what it was anyway.

There are a lot of options for CS for adults that are not bad, although I tend to think the kid's CS options are generally pitiful. I had a veggie burger at Liberty Hall that was really very good, but my 8 year old's 4 nuggets were just sad looking cardboard!

We did eat a couple of meals near DW, and we were shocked at how little they were - our family of five paid $60 at Orlando Ale House for dinner, including ribs for our teenager and a couple of Rogue River beers for hubby - it's always around $100 for that sort of pub meal and beers in the metro NYC area.

 

[Jill in Chicago]

I do not like carrying around a water bottle. For us we would all get a big drink, sit down, rest and finish the drink and then move along. Or, we would get a lemonade, sit down, drink it, and then fill the now empty cup with water from a drinking fountain. It's water with "a twist of lemon." This is also great for adult beverages/slushy type drinks. Have one full strength, and the next with just water in the cup.

There are drinking fountains everywhere, but my whole family does not care what their water tastes like. When we are thirsty we drink.

This is my very personal and NON medical advice that we parents get over the top about dehydration. Think about the last time you were ever woozy or sick to your stomach with dehydration. For me it only happens when I am outside doing HOURS of yard work in the blazing sun, tipping my head over.... My brother worked outside, heavy duty blazing sun painting, and he was dehydrated once.

For us one key is breaks of shade. You can do this on rides or just step out of the sun.

We packed a pitcher and lemonade mix and had lemonade in the room all the time. No need for a fridge. Make a batch with ice cold water. Add ice cubes from down the hall. Drink. It will stay cold awhile.

Blazing sun also equals less hungry everyone. For us it was share, share, share when it came to snacking. Get ONE of something and share it. Otherwise there is waste and extra cost. Take turns choosing a snack. Again, though we are super not picky eaters.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

As has been stated, the price compaison does depend on where you live, and also where you're used to going out to dinner.

I'm looking at the menu at the Plaza restaurant - $12 for a cheesesteak. I just had a huge, delicious cheesesteak at a place nearby (Uncle Sams for any Phoencians out there) and it was $7.50. And by huge I mean I could only eat half of it. In case you were wondering, yes, Uncle Sams is table service.

$6.30 for a mediocre individual pepperoni pizza at Pizza Planet? For the price of two of these I can get a delicious pepperoni pizza delivered to my table at Uncle Sams that is big enough to feed a family. But the $6.30 Pizza Planet pizza really should be compared to buying a slice at a walk-up counter. $1.99 for a huge slice at Costco. Of course, it's not the same themeing...

Bacon Double Cheeseburger with fries or grapes is $8.09 at Electric Umbrella. I can't think of any fast food place near me that would charge that much, and for less than that you get a drink, too.

So yes, better, less expensive food can be found outside Disney. But as everyone says, you're paying for the convenience and the themeing.

And I never compare food quality or prices at Disney to amusement parks like Cedar Point or Hershey. People go to those places for a day at a time usually, not a week like people spend at Disney. Disney has to be better with their food.

 

[2Monkeys]

We got the filter bottles and filled them with cups of ice water from CS or snack stands. Florida water has a sulfur taste - grew up drinking it, but still can't stomach it. We also pack snacks in a small tupperware to prevent crushing. Keep the hot temps in mind when packing snacks b/c stuff melts (think m&ms in trail mix or chocolate chips in granola bars )

We also shared many a CS meal. We had the QS dining plan, but made our credits last for bkfst, lunch & dinner the whole stay, and still had snack credits leftover. We don't find ourselves as hungry while at WDW, not sure why. We also had ice cream for dinner at least once!!

 

[Stinky_Pete]

We also had ice cream for dinner at least once!!

Lol that's how I am on vacation too! Eat what I want when I want and don't worry about it. Especially considering we're walking 6-11 miles every day anyway!

 

[rachel09985]

If you plan on eating at character buffets- yes it is very expensive!!! Counter service is average! Table service restaurants can be expensive depending on what you order.

 

[Dizneydaz]

I won't buy bottled water at any Disney park or use a SC for one when we have DDP.

When we want water we usually get glasses of free water, with ice, from a CS place. We do this at WDW and DLR (where we go a lot). If you think you might not like the taste you can add one of those flavor tubes. We usually have them in our pantry anyway. I get them at Walmart where you can get a large selection of them for about $1 a box (10 tubes). They even have Hawaiian Punch in several flavors.

Sometimes DD11 will carry a bottle of water on one of those straps (I made for her) and replenish it from the free ice water we get in the parks.

As PP have said, sharing meals at CS, or TS, is a great option. Then if you are still hungry you can share a Mickey bar!