What food do you pack into the park for lunch?

[aprilgail2]

We used to do this when we were tight on trip money, and it looks like we might have to do this again for our next trip. My husband HATES doing this, so I am trying to come up with some yummier ideas so it won't be so bad (usually we would pack PB&J since it doesn't need to be kept cold, along with an apple and some snacks like granola bars etc.).

:

I have to go with your husband on this- I would hate packing food to eat at the parks. In fact I would hate it so much I wouldn't do it LOL- I would rather put my trip off a year and save money for another year and do it so its fun and honestly packing food up to eat there is not our idea of fun. Hope you find something that will make your husband not hate it so much!

 

[Beemitchcowski]

Hmmmm...if staying onsite..I would probably just pack snacks..(fruit, granola bars....)It would be easier than making lunches in a hotel room...If staying offsite..then I would probably try to make up a bunch of sandwiches/wraps one night and put them in the freezer so they are ready to GO!

Depending on when you are going...you may be able to get a great last minute car rental..I know when we went in Sept/Oct..the rate started at almost $300 and I ended up getting it for $140 and that was a minivan through ALAMO!

We are staying offsite..but I did price onsite...and if you price out a value/moderate with dining compared to lets say an offsite that is about $120/night....its close to the same price...but you get so much more room offsite...and have more eating options!

 

[DawnM]

Not even close.

For five of us, and since we have growing boys, we need at least 4 full meals. My older boys can each eat a full burger and fries ($10 each with tax).

My youngest and I can share, maybe, but we are still looking at $40-$50 for lunch, each day.

For $50 I can buy enough bread, lunchmeat, cheese, granola bars, trail mix, pringles, water bottles, Gatoraid mixes, carrot sticks, and cookies for 5 days of lunch at the local Publix.

Dawn

By the time you buy all the stuff to take into the parks, seems like it would be just as cost effective to share a counter service meal and request ice water.

 

[Evi]

I never pack full meals. But I do always bring 1 water bottle per person two for me I drink lots of water. Each person carries their own bottle. I also bring snack bars like granola bars or something similar one per person or some similar snack like nuts etc. Honestly we usually eat in the parks but I don't like fast food per say. But we are all day park people so a little snack now and again doesn't hurt and we are not big cake, ice-cream, popcorn people. I still find that healthy snacks are not the best quality in the parks so we bring our own.

 

[tlh0726]

Did not read all the posts


we use plastic pencil boxes (one for each person) to pack our snacks in.
Keeps everything from getting squished.

We did the packing of sandwich makings twice, and have decided against it.

So we just go with the snacks and if we need a little extra will grab a counter service meal to split between us.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

This thread is very helpful as we are looking into getting a condo offsite for our next WDW trip. Standing in the long counterservice lines and balancing trays everyday with four young children in tow got old after a few days (we had the quick service dining plan on our last trip); but I am also concerned that packing a lunch for six people everyday may get old too. I think we may try to mix things up and for a couple of our park days eat a big breakfast at the condo and only pack a variety of snacks to hold us until we leave the park for the day, plan to eat a counterservice lunch on a couple other park days, and pack our lunch on the other park days.

 

[Amyhoff]

We packed our lunch on our last trip for several of our days and enjoyed it. I hate greasy fast food and my daughter has a dairy allergy that made it much more practical for us to pack our snacks and lunches. We froze water bottles for coldness and ate deviled eggs & PB&J, egg salad and turkey sandwiches.

We stayed off-site, cooked breakfast at the hotel, drove to the parks and packed our lunches. We ate out for dinner and saved a huge amount of money.

I personally get a kick out of saving money and eating sandwiches for lunch doesn't bother me a bit. Especially if the alternative is either greasy food or super expensive food.

 

[mickeypedia]

I have never done this because I'm usually on the dining plan but my brother and sister in law came with us one year and they had 7 children with them.....so what they did was have breakfast at their place (off-site) then packed things such as:

trail mix
peanut butter or cheese crackers
individually packed cookies
individually packed fruits
individually packed potato chips

Everyday they had something new for the main lunch such as

They got a big thermos that was for heated food and packed like hot dogs and rolls, you put boiling water in the thermos with the hot dogs and when its time, you put your hot dog on the roll and its hot. (This I remember because I would have never thought of this myself)

PB and J sandwiches (uncrustables)

PB and Fluff

they did something else also, but don't remember...we were there for 10 days so they just kept changing it everyday. Super Walmart is right outside Disney so we went there and picked up water and stuff. Water frozen overnight, we didn't have to pack ice for the fruit and stuff. Remember though, Disney will only let you bring in a certain size cooler and no glass....learned the hard way....my brother had a 4 month old with him and the baby food was in a glass, had to return them to the car before going into the park.

Hope this helps

 

[momof3baldwins]

They got a big thermos that was for heated food and packed like hot dogs and rolls, you put boiling water in the thermos with the hot dogs and when its time, you put your hot dog on the roll and its hot. (This I remember because I would have never thought of this myself)

Where did they get the boiling from?

When we go places we usually take our camping stove and fix hot dogs or heat up something else in the parking lot. However, I know the only way to get to the MK is by the monorail, and I think it would take too long to get back to the car to have a picnic, and then go back into the park. I know Animal Kingdom has a parking lot where you can park and dont have to ride anything to get into the park, but what about Epcot and Hollywood Studios? Is the parking lot right there or do you have to ride the monorail or something else? Thanks!

 

[happygirl]

I didn't know they let your bring food in the parks. I learn something everyday

 

[mickeypedia]

they boiled the water back at their place they were staying (off-site) before going into the parks....Because it was in a thermos that was for hot foods it stayed hot/warm until they ate lunch.

 

[cajunbaby1]

Now you can't take a regular "big" cooler in the parks; but you can take those soft sided, collapsible ones. Alot of people packs those and rent a locker for the day. I think they cost 5 or 6 bucks a day with a deposit u get back.

Look at allears.com menus for quick service--you can check out what meals you can maybe split with the kids,etc.

 

[cockermon]

When staying at BCV- it is fairly easy to come back to the room from Epcot or Studios. So we hit early entry that day and come back for a lunch around 1 pm. By then we are tired and ready for a break and swim time. Sometimes we will make a light dinner before hitting the parks again in the evening.

For AK or MK- those day we may get a counter service lunch & snack those days since it is a longer bus ride. Then home for dinner in the villa.

We may plan 1 or 2 sit down meals down at table service as a special treat.
I think we enjoy it more because we haven't been overeating all week.

 

[DSNY4ever]

I really like the idea of bringing wrap ingredients and putting them together there. Tortillas are light in a backpack and take up less room than slices of bread! Babybels and string cheese are a good idea too since they are filling.

I haven't told my husband that I think we should pack food again...I was waiting for some good ideas in here to make it sound more "fun" . We didn't do this the last two trips (so we have been spoiled and we know how nice it was to just buy whatever we wanted), but this time it looks like our airfare alone will be over $1500...ugh that is making me want to yack. Our very first trip in 2002 cost just under $1500 for the entire week including flight, food and park tickets.

I would have never thought of that hotdog idea either!