Tips for budget Dining at WDW-no dining plan

[lovehoney]

I'm having a hard time finding budget tips for dining while at WDW that doesn't include the dining plan. I'm looking for the best bang for my buck not the best bang for my dining points

What are your best budget dining tips at WDW?

We are planning on eating breakfast in the room every day except we have one character breakfast scheduled for the Animal Kingdom. I think maybe one sit down dinner but the rest will probably be counter service. We want to maximize park time.

 

[Fyrefly]

Well I didn't use the dining plan and I spent less on food than I would have if I bought the plan, since I would be eating desserts, appetizers, multiple snacks a day etc. that are built into the plan that I rarely eat.

What I did was I ate breakfast in the room each day, which you're doing. I also did any table service meals in my trip for lunch. The meals are several dollars cheaper for lunch and most of the time its the same menu. Also it would be a good time to check some of the less popular places. So instead of doing all that bang for your buck signature dining with the dining plan, do stuff like eat Moroccan food in Epcot instead of fancy steak.

But you can go to allears.net and see menus. Just compare what you get for the money at the places you are thinking of eating at and go from there.

 

[CowboyCO]

First -- order ice water at the restaurants. That saves a family of four $16 a day.

At Magic Kingdom, Pecos Bills has big burgers and a great condiment bar that includes grilled onions, sauteed mushrooms, cheese sauce and lots of lettuce/tomato/peppers/salsa, etc.

We often split the big BBQ combo at Flame Tree Barbecue in Animal Kingdom. Ribs, chicken, beans and cole slaw.

Hollywood Studios is a little tough, but we do the pizzas at Pizza Planet and order the kids meal, even for our 12 year old because it is is the same size pizza as the regular one.

Epcot can be a budget buster because there are so many choices and I'll eat my way around the world... The fish and chips are a good value in England. The mexican cafe outside Mexico has good value...

We also carry in a soft cooler (six-pack size) with one bottle of frozen water, three bottles of cold water and snacks, like granola bars, individual packs of pretzels, etc. and a candy bar or three... The frozen one keeps the others cool for 1/2 the day. Then we rrefill our water bottles and add the flavor packs to them.

 

[Natalie's Mommy]

when we went to disney back in september we didn't do the dining plan. I spent a day before we left researching every single counter service place and the menu to figure out the food choices that would give us the most bang for our buck. At most places it was a better value to order something bigger and have 2 people share the meal. Also pack a cooler with snacks and drinks so you don't have to buy those. Drinks are INSANE priced at disney and by drinking the water with flavor packs or bringing your own you'll save a TON!

 

[Bonniec]

Subbing. I have a ton of tips, will add tomorrow from my computer and not cell

 

[smidgy]

the funnel cake at sleepy hollow (MK) easily feeds 2 for breakfast. 2 adults!!

we have split a taco meal at el pirato (don't know what it is now) 2 tacos, beans and rice... just a mid day snack, but who needs to eat so much anyway while walking around?

 

[Bonniec]

I couldn't sleep so came back to post.

We go a lot and up until this next trip in January where we are FINALLY going to do TS , we have always eaten on a budget there.

1. Get the free iced water from the CS vendors. Some people complain about Florida water, but the vendor water is pretty good. The water fountains are kind of ickey but not the water from the soda fountains. Don't bother buying bottles of water. Disney kills you the worst with drinks, so drink water. As pp mentiones, you can add flavor packets too.

2. When you do need a soda, you can go to Epcot's Club Cool and drink soda for free. I don't really like any of the flavors, but it's fun. Also, I often get a kid's meal for myself and exchange the juice box for a small soda and that's enough to clear my soda craving. I also believe there are a couple places in Epcot where you can refill your sodas if you buy normal sized ones. Sunshine Seasons and I THINK Electric Umbrella (correct me if Im wrong anyone)

3. Kid meals are often a good portion for adults. Stay away from nuggets, they are too tiny. Mac n cheese meals are great and yummy. Last month I got a kid's chicken drumstick meal from Flametree BBQ at AK and it came with 2 drumsticks. Plenty for me.

4. As mentioned by a pp, share adult meals. Do some reasearch on Mousesavers and Disney Food Blog for which meals to share. Several places give you a half chicken! Thats easily shareable. I do this the often.

5. Speaking of research, do some searching on Disney Food Blog as well as this forum for the best counter service meals and snacks. Disney has some really great places to eat for cheap. You just need to know which ones because other CS places are not good. For example, Columbia Harbour House is one of m favorite places in MK. If you go upstairs, even on high crowd days, it's usually super quite which is a nice break from all the chaos. Their kid's mac n cheese is a good sized portion, even for an adult. They will sub a soda for the juice. They also have an adult meal of grilled salmon, broccoli, and cous cous for around $10. Not man CS meals have something healthy like this.

6. Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney is a great place to eat on the cheap. The full sized subs are only $6 and it's REALLY good. To me, this place has the most bang for the buck. The lines are super long though because it's so good. I try to go here when I can but can't always get m DH to go to DTD. Ive heard Wolfgang Express is great too but havent had a chance to try it.

7. Forget meals and just snack on things. Search the top snacks on Disney Food Blog. Bakeries are your friend! For around $5 there are a ton of things you can get that will fill you up. Cupcakes and muffins are giant sized. I share these with my 5 year old and we still can't finish one. A lot of the bakeries have sandwiches for around $6 too. I also do this often.

8. Lastly, you can always bring in your own snacks too. I prefer to buy snacks there since they are so cheap and you get to try new things.

 

[lovehoney]

First -- order ice water at the restaurants. That saves a family of four $16 a day.

At Magic Kingdom, Pecos Bills has big burgers and a great condiment bar that includes grilled onions, sauteed mushrooms, cheese sauce and lots of lettuce/tomato/peppers/salsa, etc.

We often split the big BBQ combo at Flame Tree Barbecue in Animal Kingdom. Ribs, chicken, beans and cole slaw.

Hollywood Studios is a little tough, but we do the pizzas at Pizza Planet and order the kids meal, even for our 12 year old because it is is the same size pizza as the regular one.

Epcot can be a budget buster because there are so many choices and I'll eat my way around the world... The fish and chips are a good value in England. The mexican cafe outside Mexico has good value...

We also carry in a soft cooler (six-pack size) with one bottle of frozen water, three bottles of cold water and snacks, like granola bars, individual packs of pretzels, etc. and a candy bar or three... The frozen one keeps the others cool for 1/2 the day. Then we rrefill our water bottles and add the flavor packs to them.

Great idea. I have to go and find me a soft sided cooler. I will probably bring a container of mio to flavor my water. I'm addicted to the mango peach flavor.

 

[Bonniec]

My daughter brings her Mios there

 

[lovehoney]

I couldn't sleep so came back to post.

We go a lot and up until this next trip in January where we are FINALLY going to do TS , we have always eaten on a budget there.

1. Get the free iced water from the CS vendors. Some people complain about Florida water, but the vendor water is pretty good. The water fountains are kind of ickey but not the water from the soda fountains. Don't bother buying bottles of water. Disney kills you the worst with drinks, so drink water. As pp mentiones, you can add flavor packets too.

2. When you do need a soda, you can go to Epcot's Club Cool and drink soda for free. I don't really like any of the flavors, but it's fun. Also, I often get a kid's meal for myself and exchange the juice box for a small soda and that's enough to clear my soda craving. I also believe there are a couple places in Epcot where you can refill your sodas if you buy normal sized ones. Sunshine Seasons and I THINK Electric Umbrella (correct me if Im wrong anyone)

3. Kid meals are often a good portion for adults. Stay away from nuggets, they are too tiny. Mac n cheese meals are great and yummy. Last month I got a kid's chicken drumstick meal from Flametree BBQ at AK and it came with 2 drumsticks. Plenty for me.

4. As mentioned by a pp, share adult meals. Do some reasearch on Mousesavers and Disney Food Blog for which meals to share. Several places give you a half chicken! Thats easily shareable. I do this the often.

5. Speaking of research, do some searching on Disney Food Blog as well as this forum for the best counter service meals and snacks. Disney has some really great places to eat for cheap. You just need to know which ones because other CS places are not good. For example, Columbia Harbour House is one of m favorite places in MK. If you go upstairs, even on high crowd days, it's usually super quite which is a nice break from all the chaos. Their kid's mac n cheese is a good sized portion, even for an adult. They will sub a soda for the juice. They also have an adult meal of grilled salmon, broccoli, and cous cous for around $10. Not man CS meals have something healthy like this.

6. Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney is a great place to eat on the cheap. The full sized subs are only $6 and it's REALLY good. To me, this place has the most bang for the buck. The lines are super long though because it's so good. I try to go here when I can but can't always get m DH to go to DTD. Ive heard Wolfgang Express is great too but havent had a chance to try it.

7. Forget meals and just snack on things. Search the top snacks on Disney Food Blog. Bakeries are your friend! For around $5 there are a ton of things you can get that will fill you up. Cupcakes and muffins are giant sized. I share these with my 5 year old and we still can't finish one. A lot of the bakeries have sandwiches for around $6 too. I also do this often.

8. Lastly, you can always bring in your own snacks too. I prefer to buy snacks there since they are so cheap and you get to try new things.

I can't sleep either so I came back to check if I had replies. I'm off to check out the Disney Food Blog. I've never see it before.

 

[dancin Disney style]

All the tips are really good....we have done all of them before. We have stayed onsite for 2 weeks and spent $900 on food for a family of 4...including several TS meals.

We will have breakfast in the room most days...also many lunches. Most days we leave the parks around lunch time to relax at the pool so that makes it easy to make a sandwich and fruit for lunch.

Meal sharing is the best way to save money. It works very well for us. A lot of CS places have really large portions or they have large combo platters.

Water, water, water....most places are now charging nearly $3 for a soda.

If you have a car and can go off site for some meals there are a ton of very, very cheap options. CiCi's pizza is less than $6 per person and you can get coupons to reduce it even further. Sweet tomatoes...a family of 4 can dine for less than $30.

 

[HM]

If you aren't doing many table service meals, I'd think $120 a day would work. Some days you'll spend less and the days that you have a TS meal, you'll spend more. It will even out.

 

[eliza61]

All the tips are really good....we have done all of them before. We have stayed onsite for 2 weeks and spent $900 on food for a family of 4...including several TS meals.

We will have breakfast in the room most days...also many lunches. Most days we leave the parks around lunch time to relax at the pool so that makes it easy to make a sandwich and fruit for lunch.

Meal sharing is the best way to save money. It works very well for us. A lot of CS places have really large portions or they have large combo platters.
Water, water, water....most places are now charging nearly $3 for a soda.

If you have a car and can go off site for some meals there are a ton of very, very cheap options. CiCi's pizza is less than $6 per person and you can get coupons to reduce it even further. Sweet tomatoes...a family of 4 can dine for less than $30.

Where? I keep hearing this rumor but I've yet to find one that will satisfy two adults. My dh and I do try and split, so initially we'll be "ok" not what I would call "full" but not unsatisfied. The problem is that after 1 hour, some one is usually hungry again.

I don't think we have big appetites, lets say when we go to Mcdonalds we eat get a value meal, medium size. Maybe its because at disney we do a lot of walking os maybe that works up or appetizers

We've tried the buy a combo and order another bun trick. we've split sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich.

I just haven't found any cs that serves big enough portions that kept dh and I satisfied for more than 1 hour. then what happens is we end up buying snacks and junk to tied us over to dinner. Which cost just as much if we had just purchased 2 individual portions.

Definitely not saying it's not possible for some people, I just want OP to be forwarned that you may not really save any thing by sharing if you end up "snacking" your way to dinner.

 

[scrapquitler]

When we went in October, we spent less than $350 for food/snacks/drinks for two adults for 4 days. We ate 1 TS meal (Lunch) that cost $65. The rest of the time we ate counter service. Breakfast we did snack-y things (pastries, fruit, coffee). Lunch we usually split a counter service meal: drink, sandwich, fries. Then we'd have a snack or two in the afternoon (Dole Whip, Popcorn, Pretzel, Mickey Bar, that sort of thing), a couple waters or sodas. Dinner we'd have either 2 counter service meals (I got a kids meal once, he had a regular) or one counter service meal plus an extra side of some sort. Snack again later at night.

We were there during the food & wine festival so we also have a couple of adult beverages and food snacks at that.

We also found that the pizza at the food court (ASMovies) was decent and reasonably priced. Pizza was like $14 and refillable mug beverages was a fairly cheap meal.

We could definitely have eaten less snacks during our trip to save money and drank more ice water and less soda/wine and sample foods at the F&W festival and not noticed much. Well, okay, we couldn't have sacrificed the extra dole whips, but Dh could have passed on some of those ice cream bars

 

[Lees3rwe]

We have had the QSDP on both of our trips and have often said that it is really more food/soda than we would normally eat.

Are you going to have a fridge in your room?
I would totally do poptarts, yogurt, fruit or cereal bars for breakfast in the room.

Lunch (by park):

MK: 1 of the combo meals at Cosmic Ray's would easily feed two people. Chicken and ribs, mashed potatoes and string beans. You could also just do hotdogs or something for lunch and that wouldn't be too bad.

Animal Kingdom: Flame Tree has great BBQ sandwiches that come with beans, or you could split a combo platter.

Epcot: I honestly would just snack through Epcot. Split a couple of plates through the different countries, trying lots of different things.

DHS: Again, you could split the chicken and rib combo here.

I honestly don't find the prices too outrageous at Disney. We pay more for food and drinks at Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens than we do at Disney.

 

[tzolkin]

Where? I keep hearing this rumor but I've yet to find one that will satisfy two adults. My dh and I do try and split, so initially we'll be "ok" not what I would call "full" but not unsatisfied. The problem is that after 1 hour, some one is usually hungry again.

Definitely not saying it's not possible for some people, I just want OP to be forwarned that you may not really save any thing by sharing if you end up "snacking" your way to dinner.

We share, but I also wouldn't really consider anything shared to be a "meal". When we don't do the dining plan we basically just "snack" the whole trip.

Usually we will share a few things throughout the day that equal up to one full meal per person. (There are 2 adults, 3 kids and we usually only purchase adult meals.) We also bring our own snacks into the parks (so when someone gets hungry an hour later while waiting in line they can just munch on something from our bag). You are right, if you're buying snacks because you're hungry you really wouldn't be saving.

My kids prefer to snack throughout the day and my DH does not really like to eat a full meal if it's hot outside. So for us, sharing and eating an apple/carrots/pbj/nuts/etc here and there while walking around the parks (plus breakfast, cheese and crackers, etc in the room during afternoon break and evening) works out well. I think our first trip we spent under $400 on food for 9 days (groceries plus meals/snacks in the parks). This seems ridiculously low, but I really wasn't denying anyone food or trying to stick to a budget. We just bought things when we wanted them (including a few batches of corn dog nuggets and Mickey ice creams for snacks)

My parents prefer to eat larger meals, so when they come we know we have to do the dining plan to keep them happy.

 

[gillenkl]

We don't normally do the meal plan - we plan to spend about $30-35 per meal for all 4 of us (2 adult/2 kids) - counter service. We don't usually do kids meals - but order an adult meal and have the kids share. We also bring our own water/flavor packets so we don't usually buy drinks.

Cosmic Rays (MK) - we order 2 combo meals (for 2 adult, 2 kids)

Trails End at Fort Wilderness: Giddyap and Go: TO GO MENU ONLY - 10 pieces of our famous fried chicken, fries, cole slaw, and biscuits for 4. White meat only $24.99 - $22.99 - I think this is one of the best meal deals. There are picnic tables where you can eat this outside.

Trails End at Fort Wilderness: Pizza: TO GO MENU ONLY - 16" thin crust cheese pizza $13.99 or 16" thin crust pepperoni pizza $15.49 - $13.99

AK - FlameTree BBQ - really nice chicken and rib meals - 2 kids could share one of these

AK - Pizzafari - we order 2 of these and I eat the salad while the family shares the pizza: Cheese Pizza with a side caesar salad $7.99 and an order of breadsticks $3.99

AK - Picnic in the Park - Tier One Meal for 3 $24.99 3 sandwiches, 1 side, 3 desserts, 3 bottles of water or Meal for 4 $32.99 4 sandwiches, 2 sides, 4 desserts, 4 bottles of water - never done this but it seems like a good deal

That's all I have time to write for now. More later.

 

[mrodgers]

If you aren't doing many table service meals, I'd think $120 a day would work. Some days you'll spend less and the days that you have a TS meal, you'll spend more. It will even out.

The dining plan with restaurant meals when we went in 2010 cost us $650 for 4 (2 were kids). I tallied up what we ate just with meals (not counting any of the desserts, drinks, or snacks) and it totaled up over $1000. That was $108ish/day for 2 adults and 2 children.

Where? I keep hearing this rumor but I've yet to find one that will satisfy two adults. My dh and I do try and split, so initially we'll be "ok" not what I would call "full" but not unsatisfied. The problem is that after 1 hour, some one is usually hungry again.

I don't think we have big appetites, lets say when we go to Mcdonalds we eat get a value meal, medium size. Maybe its because at disney we do a lot of walking os maybe that works up or appetizers

We've tried the buy a combo and order another bun trick. we've split sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich.

I just haven't found any cs that serves big enough portions that kept dh and I satisfied for more than 1 hour. then what happens is we end up buying snacks and junk to tied us over to dinner. Which cost just as much if we had just purchased 2 individual portions.

Definitely not saying it's not possible for some people, I just want OP to be forwarned that you may not really save any thing by sharing if you end up "snacking" your way to dinner.

I'm with you. All I kept reading about was how huge the portions were. Couldn't wait to eat all the fantastic food that I was hearing about. Turns out, we didn't see any "huge" portions at all. Examples below....

MK: 1 of the combo meals at Cosmic Ray's would easily feed two people. Chicken and ribs, mashed potatoes and string beans.

osmic Rays (MK) - we order 2 combo meals (for 2 adult, 2 kids)

2 little dried up ribs with about a bite and a half of meat on each. The chicken certainly was delicious (really delicious) but it wasn't half a chicken like everyone said. It was a thy and leg combo which didn't have a whole lot of meat on it. Enough for 1 person for a nice portion, but not a bite more enough to share with someone.

Animal Kingdom: Flame Tree has great BBQ sandwiches that come with beans, or you could split a combo platter.

AK - FlameTree BBQ - really nice chicken and rib meals - 2 kids could share one of these

AK, I so wanted to go to Flame Tree, but we missed it. That was our 2nd day with Wifey and kids not too happy about me waking them up early the day before to go to the park. So, I did it their way and we got to AK late, waited over 2 hours for the Safari and by that time it was time for us to eat lunch and go back to the hotel pools. So, we ended up just running into Pizzafari.

AK - Pizzafari - we order 2 of these and I eat the salad while the family shares the pizza: Cheese Pizza with a side caesar salad $7.99 and an order of breadsticks $3.99

Maybe we probably could have done similar and cut one lunch pizza out. The kids LOVE pizza though and they ate the whole thing. They aren't huge, just pretty large, about the size of a Subway personal pizza. It will stuff you, but I don't think enough to share between 2 people. There isn't much substance in salad, so I don't know how anyone can eat salad and not be hungry in 10 minutes.

Epcot: I honestly would just snack through Epcot. Split a couple of plates through the different countries, trying lots of different things.

LeCellier would have been our splurge if we weren't on the dining plan. Very expensive, but also I will say the top 5 best steaks I've ever eaten. Normally our kids would order a regular dinner, not the kids meal, if we go out on our rare restaurant meals, which would run us a total of $65. The kids LOVE steak and LeCellier had steak on the kids menu and I thought they would eat that, but they ended up eating pizza, LOL. I think the bill was almost $100 and that was with 2 regular and 2 kids meals rather than the 4 regular meals we would normally get going out.

I honestly don't find the prices too outrageous at Disney. We pay more for food and drinks at Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens than we do at Disney.

Like I said, if we go out to a restaurant, it would cost us about $65 normally with 4 regular meals. Eating out for lunch would run us about $25-30. So 6 days worth of eating lunch and dinner would be $90/day, the dining plan cost us $108/day, and we didn't eat anything we normally would not eat for meals and the main meal only portions without adding in drinks, dessert we normally would not eat, or snacks we normally would not eat was over $1000, or in excess of $166/day. $90 day average normal and $166 day average, I'd say Disney is pretty expensive. In comparison with another popular vacation spot, Myrtle Beach is a mecca of fantastic food with over 1000 local owned restaurants and we ate fresh seafood every day and didn't come close to spending our normal $65/meal at a restaurant.

 

[puffkin]

I also don't think that most meals are easily shareable at the counter service restaurants. They are definitely more than enough for one person, but not enough for two adults. We don't typically eat a lot of snacks, so we are pretty hungry by meal times but I would say we are pretty average eaters.

We actually find the counter service options to be fairly reasonable at WDW. A few places are a bit pricey but overall not too bad. If you bring your own drinks and snacks you can save a lot. We are a family of 3 (2A & 1 5 year old) and we spend about $25-$30 per counter service meal which isn't too bad IMHO at a vacation/resort destination.

 

[KCMiller]

I do research on kids meals, and usually order one of those - they're just enough. And because you can choose your sides, I get the grapes and carrot sticks, so it's also healthy! Sunshine Seasons at Epcot has great selections.

You can buy a large cup of coffee in most of the parks for less than $2. I then get two large to go cups filled with ice, pour half of the coffee over one then half over the other, add cream and sugar, and voila, two large iced coffees for me and my friend!

If I happen to be in Epcot at breakfast time, I can get a large French baguette from the bakery and enjoy a continental breakfast of bread, butter and iced coffee for two for less than $5. This is actually a great snack no matter what time of day it is.

At Columbia Harbour House, you can get a huge bowl of New England Clam Chowder with crackers for less than $5, and it's a meal in itself. Be sure to ask for extra crackers. Last time I was there, I also asked for a side of steamed broccoli, which was about $2.

And if I really want to splurge on a TS meal, I go for a late lunch at a buffet restaurant, like Biergarten or Crystal Palace - it serves for lunch and dinner, usually, I can take my time, and I feel like I'm getting bang for my buck, in terms of entertainment.

KC