Without a food plan & family of 7 -which Restaurant burger joint is CHEAPEST?

[OverRunWithSons]

We are leaving very soon, I want to bring snacks into the park to pull us over, but have heard conflicting advice on this, not sure what is allowed /not allowed, how strict they are, how much of a strip search they give to every bag, fanny pack we own??

Please give me advice on this as well -as I will be highly upset to get to the gate and told "we are not allowed to bring snacks into the park!" --

But on top of this, we want to stop at ONE restuarant/ burger joint, pizza shop, WHATEVER it is that is the most cost effective. Can anyone please advise me the best place to stop (without zero food plan) ....what the name of it is, where it is in the park and approx prices of what they offer..

I would so much appreciate something to go on ? Thank you all

 

[Quin]

1. no glass containers.

2. no alcohol.

3. no refrigerators on wheels.

4. pretty much anything else is fine - if you can carry it, you can bring it in. Bags are indeed searched, but apart from the occasional CM who threatens to keep it for himself because your lunch looks better than his, you're fine.

5. www.allears.net - click on the WDW tab to get the drop-down menu. Click on 'Dining'. Click on the highlighted words 'current menus with prices'. That gives you everything, even the snack carts.

Do be aware that at a lot of the counter service/quick service locations, they show/list the price for what is basically a combo basket: burger + fries. When you go to order, though, you can ask for just the burger minus the fries, and that knocks something like $1.25 - $1.50 off the price. Every little bit helps! And check the Budget board here on the Dis for more tips.

 

[rznhal]

Few questions for you.....

Are you big eaters (can you split)?

Are you looking for a sit down restaurant or a fast food place for your meal?

Congrats on your upcoming trip!!!!!

 

[rznhal]

One more question....

Which park are you looking at for your meal?

 

[vicki_c]

The place you usually see stated as the best value / most food for your dollar is Cosmic Ray's in MK. We rarely eat there but you can look up the menu at the allears link given above.

 

[MHSweb79]

Definitely visit allears.net and look over their menus.

There have been many posts here about meals big enough to share. My DH and I always share a half-rotisserie chicken from Cosmic Ray's in MK. There's also a chicken & rib meal that's big enough to share. Over at AK, check out Flame Tree BBQ - they also have large rib & chicken meals.

Epcot has tons of counter-service eateries. One good one is Sunshine Seasons in the Land pavilion. The meals are quite large. As for the Studios, I don't recommend eating there at all, unless you get a hot pretzel or snack from Starring Rolls. The ABC Commissary is just plain gross.

You can absolutely bring in your own food. You can't bring a cooler on wheels, but you could bring in a soft-sided cooler and rent a locker. I'm not sure of the locker prices or sizes, but it's sure to still save you money.

You're in a theme park- the food is priced accordingly. I think most of the counter-service burger type meals run $8-10 including drink. To save money, you could skip the drinks and ask for cups of ice water- they are free and you can get as many as you want.

 

[chartle]

As for what you can bring in, I have seen posts where a family brings in bread and condiments and get a turkey leg and slices it up for sandwiches.

As for the cheapest place.

All CS places cost about the same. Burger x at y will cost the same at z. Even more for pizza since they all sell exactly the same pie.. Its also pretty much the same from park to park.

As a family of 4 adults every time we ate CS it was always $41 to $43. The only time it wasn't was when at Pizza Planet my sons didn't get the salad.

Check out the menus and get a real idea of what food costs.

One thing not brought up,I checked out your other posts and it seems like you are of eating off site to save money. While you will save money you will also waste a fair amount of touring time. You were looking for places like Golden Corral and the like. You are going to spend just as much there as you will at any CS on property. I'm not sure if you are worried about not getting enough food, but the burgers are either doubles or 1/3 pounders.

Depending on what park you go to, it could take 2 to 3 hours out of your day for one meal. If you have a condo and decide to go back to say eat lunch it could be even longer since once back to the room people have a tendency to crash and its harder to get moving again. Also the larger the group the harder to get moving.

To illustrate if you are in front of Pecos Bill in Frontier land and decide to eat it will take you 10 to 15 minutes to get out of the park, maybe up to 15-20minutes to take the monorail or ferry to the TTC, 5 to 10 minutes to tram back to your car. And say 15 to 20 minutes to get to Ci Ci's pizza. So around an hour before you sit down. You then eat and have to follow the same path back. Now its a little quicker for DHS or AK but its still time.

Here is a link from mousesavers.com that explains how to eat cheaply in the parks

http://www.mousesavers.com/meals.html#cheap eats

 

[OverRunWithSons]

- if you can carry it, you can bring it in.

This comment is making me very nervous, I had planned to put these snaks in the STROLLER --??? not allowed ???

There will be 7 of us, my kids do not want to wear fanny packs and stuch, they are mostly boys !!! Yikes, now what ??

 

[CanadianMomofTwo]

I think the stroller is fine. Like a small soft-sided cooler or backpack with some snacks stuck into the underneath of the stroller? Fine. Just not a big wheeled cooler - I have a full size cooler that has wheels and a handle for pulling (use for camping) and I couldn't bring that in to the park. But a regular amount of snacks in a backpack or small lunch bag type thing is fine.

 

[got4boys]

Yes, a stroller is fine.

For the most part, since our kids are older, every child is responsible for their own drinks and snacks and food.

We carry everything in, rent a locker (make sure to keep receipt - you get deposit back when you turn in key), put 1/2 the food items and drinks there.

We use the backsacks (gym bag type) or backpacks (each child carried one) and put a soft sided cooler to keep the food cold. Make sandwiches before we leave for the park (or frozen uncrustables). Freeze water bottles, juice boxes. Take snacks in. As mentioned no glass.

The last time we went I had 6 kids with us. I made sure that each of us was responsible for their own food and drinks. The rules were given to all the kids (including mine) about snacks and food.

In the middle of day we went back to our locker to refresh some items (as we went in the hot summer) and refilled.

The only cost that we spent while we were there was ice cream as a treat for the kids.

 

[maxiesmom]

Remember too that you are not allowed to bring straws into the Animal Kingdom. They are so bad for the animals that they are not allowed, and Disney has paper straws just in that park.

I agree with the previous poster about how much time you waste leaving the parks for food. It is not a fast process, and time is really money at WDW. You can always pack sandwhiches in your cooler, and leave your cooler in a locker if you want to. Add chips and water or soda and maybe some grapes, and you have a nice meal. Have trail mix or jerky on-hand for a quick snack.

If you decide to eat quick service in the parks, start out ordering a meal or two less than you think you need. The servings are quite large, and we often split food, even sometimes when it is just adults at the parks. I often travel with my sis and her family, so I know what you are saying about food costs. Don't order a ton to begin with, and go back for more if someone is still hungry.

 

[catne]

boys can carry backpacks-after all don't they lug backpacks for school? You can pack plenty of food to get through the parks.

...have the two or three oldest take turns carrying (or each of them can carry a moderately packed bag.) You should be able to share out the load so no one is stuck carrying/pushing too much. Virtually all of the rides have stow-space for bags. The few that don't, you just put the bag on the floor of the ride under your legs, and hook the straps around a leg and your bag is safe for the ride.

When our kids were young and we were totally broke, everyone had either a belt-bag or a smaller-size backpack...and we packed lots of snacks to take with us...peanut butter crackers, granola bars (avoid the chocolate-chip kind that might melt), hard candy (good for in-line).

 

[chartle]

One other cost that you may be looking over is the price of water in the parks.

If you go during the hotter months, around May to October, you also have to think about water. In the summer each adult size person will need maybe 2 liters per day. At park prices for bottled water that's around $14 per day per person.

Yes there are water fountains but most people find the water in FL pretty bad, to the point that some say it makes them sick. Yes I know FL is not a third world country but the odor and taste effects some people with sensitive pallets.

We bring Britta filter bottles, you don't need one per person but can use one or two and refill other bottles. With the wide mouths of the Britta Bottles you also put your left over ice.

Also you can get free filtered ice water at the counter service places but you have to stand in line and they may not give you a full size cup of water. Also you can't take them in line and you really should be drinking small amounts instead of one big drink.

 

[gigi1313]

for a good, hearty, reasonably priced on-site meal, check out Trails' End buffet at the campground... best prices and if you time it right, you can let the boys get their feed on so they can survive on that one meal as their main meal for the day...

 

[courtnvm]

One thing that we do to stretch our money is we order double bacon cheeseburgers and ask for an extra bun. They are usually around $1 or $2. The amount of fries that we get is usually more than enough. My husband and I split one, and my boys (9 and 11) split one. We make it really easy to split, too. One boy gets cheese, the other gets the bacon. They don't usually have a problem with it, especially if we eat somewhere that serves the melted, plastic cheese.

We have 5 of us when we are on the dining plan, and we EASILY get away with ordering 3 adult meals for each meal.

 

[chartle]

One thing that we do to stretch our money is we order double bacon cheeseburgers and ask for an extra bun. They are usually around $1 or $2. The amount of fries that we get is usually more than enough. My husband and I split one, and my boys (9 and 11) split one. We make it really easy to split, too. One boy gets cheese, the other gets the bacon. They don't usually have a problem with it, especially if we eat somewhere that serves the melted, plastic cheese.

We have 5 of us when we are on the dining plan, and we EASILY get away with ordering 3 adult meals for each meal.

Have you done this recently? Because in May it seemed like all the double cheeseburgers were already replaced by 1/3 pound burgers.

I just checked All Ears and it looks like the Electric Umbrella is the only park CS that still has the Double. Also the last time I heard about buying the second bun is was something like 3 or 4 dollars.

 

[maxiesmom]

One thing that we do to stretch our money is we order double bacon cheeseburgers and ask for an extra bun. They are usually around $1 or $2. The amount of fries that we get is usually more than enough. My husband and I split one, and my boys (9 and 11) split one. We make it really easy to split, too. One boy gets cheese, the other gets the bacon. They don't usually have a problem with it, especially if we eat somewhere that serves the melted, plastic cheese.

We have 5 of us when we are on the dining plan, and we EASILY get away with ordering 3 adult meals for each meal.

You will be hard pressed to do that anymore. I think Disney got sick of providing the extra buns, so now they charge more for them, making it not very appealing to do. Plus most places no longer have the double burgers.

 

[chartle]

You will be hard pressed to do that anymore. I think Disney got sick of providing the extra buns, so now they charge more for them, making it not very appealing to do. Plus most places no longer have the double burgers.

To add to my PP, I think during my last trip with my son's band in Feb 2010 they were adding the 1/3 burgers to the menu at Pecos Bill.

I thought to myself there is no way they would have a double burger and the new 1/3 burgers so I figured the doubles were going to be fazed out and all the buy an extra bun versus cut the burger in half augments would stop.

So I guess now everyone is going to just have to cut them in half and screw up the bun to meat to condiment ratio.

 

[courtnvm]

Sorry guys.

I know that we did it at our October, 2010 trip, and I thought we did it at our June, 2011 trip, but we might not have.

I know for sure in June, that my 2 boys split the burger with the onion ring at Pecos Bills and they were completely full, especially with the bar where they could add all the toppings themselves.

 

[LAWalz23]

If you are going to be in DTD, you can get sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich for $5.99 each. A soda and a bag of chips is probably around $10.00 a person. Also at Pollo Campanero, you can get family meals at a reasonable price.