What Is Your DL Food Strategy??

[tink2dw]

1. I know I want to make a PS for,Blue Bayou,ESPN, and a Character Breakfast. Which is the least expense Character Breakfast? Best Character Breakfast?? How expensive would Bugers be at ESPN?

2. Do you pack food to take to DL? Do you take in your own bottled water or Cokes?? Is there a Walmart close to DL?

3.Do you take snacks into the Parks?? What?

4. What is your favorate counter service?? Cheapest??

5. What is your favorite offsite restaurant?

6. What is your favorite food stategy?

 

[jimmiej]

I know you are looking for personal experiences, but the Birnbaum guide has answers to most if not all of your questions(from their perspective). You might check that out.

 

[IandGsmom]

As far as the character breakfast they all seem to be in the same price range. Check out MousePlanet restaurant reviews, they also give prices when available...
http://www.mouseplanet.com/drr/

The only thing is Plaza Inn breakfast with Winnie and pals in inside DL where the other character meals are in the hotels. I did like the guide mentioned but also the The Unofficial Guide to DL. They give a less fluffy review of things since they are not the official guide like Birnbaum is.

 

[Señor Ferrari]

The Plaza Inn's character breakfast is cheaper (around $17, I think). There is also one at Goofy's Kitchen in the Disneyland hotel that runs around $22 for adults.

A burger, fries and a drink at ESPN Zone would probably run close to $10 with tip.

We sometimes pack a cooler with food and drinks. You can store it in a locker outside the parks near the picnic area. They won't let you bring a cooler in the park, but you can bring snacks and bottled water in with a backpack.

There is a WalMart on Euclid St, to the Northwest of the park. Probably not more than a 5-10 minute drive. Check out Walmart's web site. They have a store-finder there which will provide a map. For reference, in case you haven't been there, the Parks are in the rectangle formed by Ball Rd and Katella Ave to the north and south and Harbor Blvd and Disneyland Drive to the east and west.

My personal favorite counter service meal is the Rancho del Zocalo. The best deal is probably gumbo or clam chowder in a bread bowl at the Royal St. Verandah. You can also get a bread bowl of chili inside the Golden Horseshoe. These two meals are probably the most food for your money.

My favorite off-site restaurant is the Benihana on Ball St., near the 57 freeway, although I usually eat at the parks.

My food strategy: Eat early and often!

 

[Krisj]

1. I know I want to make a PS for,Blue Bayou,ESPN, and a Character Breakfast. Which is the least expense Character Breakfast? Best Character Breakfast?? How expensive would Bugers be at ESPN?
I can't answer that one, sorry.
2. Do you pack food to take to DL? Do you take in your own bottled water or Cokes?? Is there a Walmart close to DL? We take a sports bottle of water and refill it. We keep it in our fanny packs.

3.Do you take snacks into the Parks?? What? Yes, we do. We pack snacks like power bars or granola bars and raisins and gummy bears. Things that don't crumble.

4. What is your favorate counter service?? Cheapest?? Can't answer this one.

5. What is your favorite offsite restaurant? No answer for you here. We used to like Claim Jumper when we lived out there but I dont' know where the nearest one is.

6. What is your favorite food stategy? We eat a big breakfast before we go. Well, not always a big breakfast, but we eat. Then we pack our fanny packs and snack all day. We have one sit down meal, usually about 2pm or so and then snack more if we need to in the evening. Then we eat when we get home.

 

[LuvTigger]

I had lunch at ESPN last year, and I believe the burger came with fries and was somewhere around $9. But, it was HUGE. You might be able to share one if you're not large eaters. (BF and I are average eaters, we probalby could've shared one, and maybe a salad.)

One of my favorite counter service places in DL is in New Orleans Square, I can't remember the name, but it sounds like the place one of the other posters mentioned (Royal Verandah?) because I like the soup in bread bowls. As far as price goes, I think any of the ones with outdoor seating are the cheapest. Rancho del Zocalo is a little higher priced, but servings everywhere are typically pretty large. I think the counter service place in Tomorrowland might be one of the cheapest.

As far as offsite restaurants go, I don't really have a recommendation (though I like Claim Jumper too!). I just wanted to comment that if you're looking for offsite restaurants for budget purposes, some of the DD restaurants are really quite reasonable and comparable to offsite places. There's a Tony Roma's on Harbor, and once we ordered pizza from Godfathers nearby (not sure if it's still there). I used to like Acapulco which was across from HoJo's, but I heard it's no longer there. There also used to be a restaurant in HoJo's lot, but I'm not sure if that's there anymore either. There's also a McD's on Harbor if you're looking for a hot breakfast.

 

[Rajah]

Originally posted by tink2dw
1. I know I want to make a PS for,Blue Bayou,ESPN, and a Character Breakfast. Which is the least expense Character Breakfast? Best Character Breakfast?? How expensive would Bugers be at ESPN?

I don't know about least expensive, but I can say that Goofy's Kitchen is in my top 3 character breakfasts for both WDW and DL! We loved it! I ate two whole plates of breakfast, and it ended up lasting me until dinner with just a small snack. I couldn't believe it. DH ate about the same and it also lasted him all day. So even though it's expensive, it was worth it for us.

Originally posted by tink2dw
2. Do you pack food to take to DL? Do you take in your own bottled water or Cokes?? Is there a Walmart close to DL?

Nope, we just get what's there. Don't know about a Walmart.

Originally posted by tink2dw
3.Do you take snacks into the Parks?? What?

Nope.

Originally posted by tink2dw
4. What is your favorate counter service?? Cheapest??

For breakfast, River Belle Terrace. For lunch, probly French Market, though I really wanted to try Rancho Del Zocalo (sp?) in Frontierland since I've heard really good things about it. The chili cheese fries at the Golden Horseshoe Saloon are good, too. Or at least, have been in the past.

Originally posted by tink2dw
5. What is your favorite offsite restaurant?

Hook's Pointe (I'm assuming you mean not in the parks -- Hook's Pointe is at the DLH). Storyteller's Cafe at GCH had some good food both for breakfast and dinner, but the service there wasn't that great.

Originally posted by tink2dw
6. What is your favorite food stategy?

Eat. Usually, we eat BIG breakfasts full of lots of protein (their huge omlettes are great) and that typically lasts us the majority of the day. Then we just find a snack if we get hungry, and otherwise don't eat again until dinner, when again we have a nice, big dinner typically.

 

[Dana_Buckley]

At the PIzza Port I had a child's spaghetti with meatball and garlic bread, plenty for me, only about $4.95, I think. It's fun to eat at the Golden Horsehoe during a show, I guess the burgers are $6.95? We do bring water into the parks, but I have found soda gets warm, although I have asked for a cup of ice at the restaurants and they will give it to you free. Most vendors don't have 'clean' ice, they sell bottled soda. As for snacks, we bring TeddyGrahams and pretzels, also fruit cups or grapes for my 2 yr old.

Have a great vacation!

 

[Dana_Buckley]

Also, you can get a burger without fries, for about $1 less, if one side if fries is enough for you to share. I usually get the kids meal for my DS and a burger w/o fries for myself.

 

[Judy from Boise]

2. Do you pack food to take to DL? Do you take in your own bottled water or Cokes?? Is there a Walmart close to DL?

since we avoid the summer, and CA is much cooler than FL......we have found that just frequently using the plentiful drinking fountains gets us thru the day.

3.Do you take snacks into the Parks?? What?

yes, packages of cookies and trailmix, dried apricots.

4. What is your favorate counter service?? Cheapest??

my two faves are buffeterias.......River belle terrace and French market

5. What is your favorite offsite restaurant?

Denny's right across the street !

6. What is your favorite food stategy?

eat one big meal a day.......if i'm not that hungry get a kids meal.....never pay for beverages, water is free !

 

[roymccoy]

Best offsite place to eat? Hands down, the new Mimi's right outside the Harbor entrance of DL. (It's just south of Ball)
Try the French Onion soup! As far as food in the parks, one of my favorites is at Redd Rockets. I don't know the name of it but it is pasta, chicken with a delicious white cream sauce. YUM! The Monte Cristo at Blue Bayou is great for lunch. The French Market has some good items, too. Also, Bengal BBQ is inexpensive and good. You can't beat the Plaza Inn's pot roast with mashed potatoes and gravy. I also have to agree that the Riverbelle Terrace has a great breakfast but it is only offered Friday, Saturday and Sunday now.

At Downtown Disney, try the walk-up part of Ralph Brennans Jazz kitchen. They have a shrimp poboy that is good and reasonably priced. The Napoli Restaurante has a walk-up window as well that sells pizza by the slice with a drink for $5 (including tax).

Hope you have a great time!

Roy

 

[aseafish]

Since I pretty much judge an experience by the food, I definitely need to have a food strategy. This trip will be my first to try a character breakfast; we chose Storytellers after hearing recommendations and descriptions from our TA, who is also my DS.

Probably my strongest inclination is to enjoy a great lunch at a nice restaurant and skip dinner--or at least make it a light snack. Lunch prices are much less and often it's almost the same menu.

If you're staying on-site, be sure to bring snacks and beverages if you want your own, since the on-site prices are the same (on the high side, that is) whereever you get them.

Of course, food is our thing, so we're planning on BB, Vineyard Room, Napa Rose, Rainforest Cafe, & Storytellers. I am enjoying people's comments about counter service and faster options, since we plan to supplement with those.

 

[c&m]

1. The best character breakfast we had was at Goofy's Kitchen.

2. Since we typically stay at a hotel, we don't pack meals (like sandwiches) into DL. We bring our own bottled water. When we drive to DL by car, we bring a box of water bottles. When we fly to DL, we buy the water at the local stores like Target (corner of Harbor and Chapman). Better than paying $2.50 a bottle at DL!

3. We do pack snacks like granola bars and fruit leather. We also pack nuts, trail mix, sesame snaps, and fresh fruit.

4. What is your favorate counter service?? The Rancho del Zaccaro (sp?). Our family enjoys the ribs. I think it's good value because the portions are huge, and our family of 4 ends up sharing 2 orders.

5. What is your favorite offsite restaurant? Cafe Oasis inside the Anaheim Hilton Hotel. Great food, lots of variety, and not as pricey as eating on-site.

6. What is your favorite food stategy? Part of the DL experience is to eat at their theme restaurants. We typically choose Goofy's Kitchen and Blue Bayou for lunches and Storyteller's Cafe for their Saturday night dinner buffet (great prime rib!). Breakfast to us is not a huge deal. We bring along instant oatmeal and cream of wheat to heat up in our hotel room's microwave, and accompany it with fresh fruit, milk, and orange juice we get from the local grocery store. In-room coffee and tea is great to have. We eat off-site often for dinner because it's cheaper. We've eaten at Cafe Oasis, Buca de Beppo (sp?), and Red Robin.

 

[saturday97]

Favorite offsite restaurant is Love's. It's a southern cali institution!