Sorry Disney, I Can't Eat On-site

[lugnut33]

This may freak some of you out, but I'm 138 days out and I've made not one ADR!!

 

[DisneyWisher]

We just return from eating offsite, we had a chance for Ohana ressies but didn't book it. Instead went to Logan's It cost $20 for an appy to share, steaks, baked potatos, salad for me, broccoli for DD and a huge brownie sundae to share. Brownie is 4.5"x4.5"x2". All for $20 can't beat that.

We had lunch at Pop, DD17 got cheeseburger asked for cheese sauce for her fries. For a 2oz souffle cup they wanted a $1. It wasn't even enough cheese and they want $1. No thanks!! I wouldn't buy it. At ASMu they give 4oz for 50 cents.

 

[mermaid&cinderella]

True....Disney prices for food is expensive.....I just paid $75 for lunch at Akershus for one adult and one child Yes I was shocked it was soooo much BUT my daughter had such a great experience there it was AMAZING!

BUT I have scaled back on the Disney meals for our next trip and our last trip but not necessarily because of the price but because of the quality and nutritional value of the food. I know I am not the norm, but I can not eat alot of the foods there. I eat extremely healthy at home and that is nearly impossible at Disney. I mean we had breakfast at Chef Mickey and I left hungry (and paid alot for it)....there is NOTHING healthy there. Half their fruit is canned fruit SERIOUSLY!!!!! Yes I can go on and on about this but that is my main reason for not eating as much anymore at Disney!

 

[lugnut33]

True....Disney prices for food is expensive.....I just paid $75 for lunch at Akershus for one adult and one child Yes I was shocked it was soooo much BUT my daughter had such a great experience there it was AMAZING!

BUT I have scaled back on the Disney meals for our next trip and our last trip but not necessarily because of the price but because of the quality and nutritional value of the food. I know I am not the norm, but I can not eat alot of the foods there. I eat extremely healthy at home and that is nearly impossible at Disney. I mean we had breakfast at Chef Mickey and I left hungry (and paid alot for it)....there is NOTHING healthy there. Half their fruit is canned fruit SERIOUSLY!!!!! Yes I can go on and on about this but that is my main reason for not eating as much anymore at Disney!

Honestly, for the prices they are charging should you be eating canned fruit?

 

[BriarRosie]

True....Disney prices for food is expensive.....I just paid $75 for lunch at Akershus for one adult and one child Yes I was shocked it was soooo much BUT my daughter had such a great experience there it was AMAZING!

BUT I have scaled back on the Disney meals for our next trip and our last trip but not necessarily because of the price but because of the quality and nutritional value of the food. I know I am not the norm, but I can not eat alot of the foods there. I eat extremely healthy at home and that is nearly impossible at Disney. I mean we had breakfast at Chef Mickey and I left hungry (and paid alot for it)....there is NOTHING healthy there. Half their fruit is canned fruit SERIOUSLY!!!!! Yes I can go on and on about this but that is my main reason for not eating as much anymore at Disney!

You're paying for the character interaction rather than the food, pretty much. And if you had a breakfast buffet at Captain's Grille at the Yacht Club resort, you'd pay a lot less and get fresh fruit on the buffet.

Character meals are priced that way to make the dining plan look like a better value than it is. People who pay for these meals and aren't on the dining plan are paying way too much.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

You're paying for the character interaction rather than the food, pretty much.
Character meals are priced that way to make the dining plan look like a better value than it is. People who pay for these meals and aren't on the dining plan are paying way too much.

Agreed, and I really don't like buffets, the price of Disney's buffets is through the roof but I do love Boma, always have and IMO nothing beats the Tusker House Character Breakfast. The character interaction I think is pretty good and I've found the buffets fresh and tasty with lots of choices!

I love to cook and cooking on vacation is relaxing for me so in as much as I also like to eat out, I like to cook in the resort villas too! It's much easier for me than for most of you because I live only 2 1/2 hours away from Orlando so I can bring whatever I need from home rather than have to purchase it all and then leave 1/2 of it to throw away after the vacation!

 

[MusiqChic99]

I can think of several good reasons to eat at Disney.

1. You dont go to Disney World everyday...at least most of us don't. I have my pick of several chain resturants that i can get at anytime I wish. Disney...Once a year.

2. Food is just included in the budget. I dont even think twice about it. I know it's gonna cost to eat. I plan for this.

3. If I'm in Animal Kingdom and I'm hungry. I just walk on over to Flame Tree, eat and then head back to my day. No need to leave the park just to eat a meal!

Different strokes, Different Folks...these are my strokes!

 

[mermaid&cinderella]

Honestly, for the prices they are charging should you be eating canned fruit?

EXCELLENT POINT

 

[Tikitoi]

I can think of several good reasons to eat at Disney.

1. You dont go to Disney World everyday...at least most of us don't. I have my pick of several chain resturants that i can get at anytime I wish. Disney...Once a year.

2. Food is just included in the budget. I dont even think twice about it. I know it's gonna cost to eat. I plan for this.

3. If I'm in Animal Kingdom and I'm hungry. I just walk on over to Flame Tree, eat and then head back to my day. No need to leave the park just to eat a meal!

Different strokes, Different Folks...these are my strokes!

Same here!

 

[HunnyJar]

I can think of several good reasons to eat at Disney.

1. You dont go to Disney World everyday...at least most of us don't. I have my pick of several chain resturants that i can get at anytime I wish. Disney...Once a year.

2. Food is just included in the budget. I dont even think twice about it. I know it's gonna cost to eat. I plan for this.

3. If I'm in Animal Kingdom and I'm hungry. I just walk on over to Flame Tree, eat and then head back to my day. No need to leave the park just to eat a meal!

Different strokes, Different Folks...these are my strokes!

I couldn't agree with you more!

 

[lugnut33]

I couldn't agree with you more!

Yeah, except by eating off-site just one time a day I can save enough in 11 days to pay for my DVC dues. I think that's a pretty good deal.

 

[brunette8706]

I can think of several good reasons to eat at Disney.

1. You dont go to Disney World everyday...at least most of us don't. I have my pick of several chain resturants that i can get at anytime I wish. Disney...Once a year.

2. Food is just included in the budget. I dont even think twice about it. I know it's gonna cost to eat. I plan for this.

3. If I'm in Animal Kingdom and I'm hungry. I just walk on over to Flame Tree, eat and then head back to my day. No need to leave the park just to eat a meal!

Different strokes, Different Folks...these are my strokes!

*
Yes, that may work for you, but when families of 3,4,5 and more eat, say breakfast at Chef Mickey's you pay a premium. Breakfast is now approximately $27.00 per adult plus tax and tip. And that is NOT including Holiday pricing which tacks on another $4.00. Now, what people are concerned about is if they are going to pay a premium for breakfast, the food better be good. I know a lot of people on this exact forum have complained about the quality of food, yet the prices keep sky rocketing. Same as true for Boma. The dinner used to cost us $26.99 three years ago, now it's around $35.00 plus tax and tip and NOT including Holiday surcharges. To me in my opinion, this is why people go off site. Yes, you are correct different strokes.....

Brunette

 

[juliebug1997]

I'm sure someone's already pointed it out but Deluxe Dining is three table service meals and two snacks a day.

My DH said that, when his family visited WDW, they stayed at the tents in FW and that they went back for every single meal. I asked how much time they spent going back and forth and he said a lot. I just see that as wasted time.

 

[lugnut33]

Well, so far I have two WDW restaurants in the 4 days I have planned so far. First up we have Beaches and Cream for lunch on the second day we are at WDW (DHS park).

I'll make my first ADR (although I probably don't need it) at Sanaa for lunch on our third day, a day I have no parks planned. We will be golfing in the morning and seeing La Noube in the evening. Otherwise it's a day of hanging around Animal Kingdom Lodge, how luxurious.

Also, both restaurants take the Tables In Wonderland card.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

My last trip was in Dec 2007 and I did purchase the DDP. It included appetizers and tips back then, so it seemed like a decent value since I was at WL and planning most meals on-site (except for my pilgrimage to Bob Evans for breakfast).

Next trip we are staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek with a full kitchen. I envision breakfast in the condo, CS lunch in a park, and most dinners either in the condo or off-site. I will do California Grill once for dinner because I love it, and bf wants to do Prime Time, but maybe for lunch. And I like to go to the Hollywood Brown Derby for Cobb salad at lunch. But otherwise, I don't have much interest in on-site TS restaurants and their inflated prices.

I take afternoon breaks at my resort, so it's not an issue of missing coveted park time. I'm usually ready for a break around 2ish, so I have dinner on my way back to the parks for the evening.

What some people don't seem to realize is that it's not necessarily that we can't "afford" it, but that we don't enjoy what I consider wasting money on over-priced food when we don't have to.

 

[marivaid]

We have to eat onsite for technical reasons : we don't drive. Taking a cab to go eat offsite would obviously not save us any money.
So we are kind of "stuck" on property.

We've figured out this trip (took us long enough) that what works best for us is to plan 1 meal around 3pm and just have a snack before/after. The one day I planned 2 meals (Chef Mickey's for breakfast around 10, and Boma at 8pm) we didn't enjoy our dinner because we were still full from breakfast. We don't eat CS in the parks, the only CS we go to now are Earl's and WPE. Not practical because they are at DTD and it's complicated and time consuming to go to/from a park.
We do the overpriced character meals because we enjoy them. Because restaurants cost so much where we live, and because the US dollar is kind of low right now, it doesn't seem so expensive.

Now if we DID have a car we'd probably eat a couple meals offsite, but we'd still enjoy the convenience of eating in/near the theme parks.

 

[Tikitoi]

*
Yes, that may work for you, but when families of 3,4,5 and more eat, say breakfast at Chef Mickey's you pay a premium. Breakfast is now approximately $27.00 per adult plus tax and tip. And that is NOT including Holiday pricing which tacks on another $4.00. Now, what people are concerned about is if they are going to pay a premium for breakfast, the food better be good. I know a lot of people on this exact forum have complained about the quality of food, yet the prices keep sky rocketing. Same as true for Boma. The dinner used to cost us $26.99 three years ago, now it's around $35.00 plus tax and tip and NOT including Holiday surcharges. To me in my opinion, this is why people go off site. Yes, you are correct different strokes.....

Brunette

That would be why I simply don't do buffets.

 

[lugnut33]

I saw this post in another thread and it's another reason why I'm happy I eat off-site. I'm not dependent on getting ressies at popular table service restaurants that will make or break my vacation:

Disney is a once in a lifetime experiance for us. As a family of 7 it's just not something we can afford to do more than once and although I made our ADRS at 6 a.m. on the 180 day mark I couldn't get us into CRT for any meal, any day of our ten day trip. My girls are going to so disappointed. I guess I didn't realize that at a slower time of year (first week of october) it was going to be that difficult.

 

[Planogirl]

That sounds a little like me. I have a steak loving teen and I've been trying for years to get lunch ADR's at Le Cellier. I realize that there are better steaks to be had but we spend a lot of time at Epcot so it would be convenient. I have failed continually so Disney has actually saved me a lot of money.

I agree with those who say that it's a hassle to go offsite for meals if you don't have a car. We always do but it's still a pain most days during lunch time. However dinner time is easy for us.

 

[marivaid]

I saw this post in another thread and it's another reason why I'm happy I eat off-site. I'm not dependent on getting ressies at popular table service restaurants that will make or break my vacation:

Well, you never know, with all the free advertisment you're doing, you may have a hard time getting a table at Chick-fil-A