Keeping food and drink costs down in DLP
 

Hello fellow dibbers!

We are planning to take our 2 daughters (8 and 14 years old) to DLP for a birthday surprise this March as both their birthdays are in this month. None of us have ever been to DLP before but the deals they are offering at the moment seem too good to miss!

I am happy with the price I've been quoted for our 2 nights stay at the Cheyenne hotel (which includes breakfast) plus we have to add the cost of the eurostar on to that as well. My main concern is how much to budget for eats and drinks as I am told its very expensive to eat there. How can I keep these costs down? I've read other forum suggestions about sharing pizzas as they are quite large and filling up at breakfast so you only need a little snack for lunch which can be bought quite cheaply in a shop at the train station near the gates to Disney. Has anyone else got any other tips? Would a budget of £100 a day be a realistic one for a family of four?

Many thanks.

Karen

A £100 seems fine, if you fill up at breakfast, then get tea in the Disney village, there is now an earl of sandwich and lots of other places, we tend to take lots of crisps and sweets in our cases for in our room, for if the kids get hungry in the evening.

You will see lots of people stocking up at breakfast and hiding food in bags! I would take some clingfilm or sandwich bags. They serve ham and cheese and bread rolls at breakfast so we made couple up for lunch, but they never survived beyond mid morning! There is a McDonald's in Disney village and we found it was not particularly expensive. Certainly didn't seem to be inflated prices. You can hire a kettle for your room (refundable deposit, but quite high, maybe E25?) and we took a couple of mugs and sachets of cappucino for when we got in in the evening. I have not been, but I have heard the petrol station at Santa Fe is reasonable for drinks and crisps etc. They are not easy to buy in Disney village

Thanks very much guys! The one thing that was holding me back with booking was the food bill. I think when hubby comes home tonight we will bite the bullet and book. I want to take advantage of the under 12 play and stay free deal that's on at the moment.

Appreciate the advice xxx Very excited now!

Great thread! Love the tips about breakfast and the sandwich bags ;)

We're driving to DLP and going via Tesco for drinks and snacks. I think I may take my own kettle I couldn't cope without a nice cup of Tea in the evening!

Happy planning!

Just a word of warning about taking stuff at breakfast. Disney are really trying to clamp down on this, on one of my recent previous visits at the Cheyenne management were called when a family were taking rolls, croissants etc and they had it all taken off them.
There were staff walking round and you could see they were looking for people who were taking food out with them. Don't get me wrong i dont think they mind the odd croissant but when you have people sitting there making up rolls it takes the biscuit a tad.(my opinion)
I think a family sitting next to me sumed it up perfectly when they said it was bed and breakfast not bed breakfast and help yourself to stuff for lunch as well.
Unfortunately Disney is expensive but if you take your own snacks to eat in the park and plan meals it doesn't have to break the bank.

We always take a plug in cool box in the room and take lots of snacks, like crisps etc, last year I put in cheese, ham and marg and took a loaf of bread to make a packed lunch as it is really expensive to eat there. In the eve we ate at McDonald's and took it back to our room where we had a couple of beers and a bottle of wine chilling in our box. I know not everyone wants the hassle of this but with the car why not? It suits us and means we get a little bit extra of Disney magic throughout the year.

I think if you are driving it's a great idea:smile: If it wasn't for the fact i can't drive :cry:and so have to go by Eurostar(or fly) then i would do exactly the same thing.
We always take a kettle and tea, coffee, cup a soups. Plus we take biscuits, crisps, snack bars to eat in the parks.

The shop just inside the train station stocks a variety of things and is quite reasonable. -
we stocked up on crisps and snacks along with some wine and beer for the room.
Enjoy your stay Its great.

My one treat would be to book Cafe Mickey for dinner one night - foods good and the character interaction is brilliant - it neednt cost a fortune, last time I just had a pizza and drink - well worth it IMO

We got crisps and snacks in the petrol station near Santa Fe which was quite cheap, plus wine and beer which was quite pricey. We've been looking at menus and will probably be going to Earl of Sandwich most days, the sandwiches are only 5.50 euros! We'll share a drink and won't need a dessert as we fill up loaaads at breakfast so we're hoping this will work well for us and leave us extra pennies for some nice dinners :)