Food and park planning

[Simba and nala]

Every trip in the past park days had always ran similarly if staying offsite

Up early, head to Denny’s,ponderosa etc and have a big breakfast fill,
Head to the parks possibly something like fries or a corn dog as a mid afternoon snack
Then leave the park for 5/6pm back to villa

Leaving for an evening meal out somewhere? Then back to the villa around 10pm
Unless we was seeing the fireworks etc

Our last visits the kids had always been young or toddlers, now 8 years later our next trip they will be 13 and 15 and eating and pace certainly changed

Having not been in so long and things changing so much I question how we should approach things
I’m happy grab something simple and quick early for breakfast heading to the park-
The kids want to get there near everyday for park opening and their plan is to leave late evening
Now I know this is not going be possible everyday as we will burn out but……

How many of you actually head to park opening, grab a snack in the park as lunch then late afternoon head back to their hotel/villa visit a restaurant and head back to the park ? Is this the new norm? Is this a sure way to burn out ?

I can’t justify eating on site as a family of 4 the prices are silly for a sit down meal, we will a few times but not everyday for the full 3 weeks $$$$$$$

Any help and guidance appreciated

[BebeYorkshire]

We struggled to do full days last visit due to the heat, and we don't have kids to worry about. We settled on either going for rope drop, staying until mid afternoon and then leaving for the day, or having a slower start, eating a really good breakfast or big lunch offsite, then going to the park until close. That worked well. If we had energy left in the evening we might go to another park for a few hours, or Disney Springs but some nights we just crashed by the hotel pool or in front of the TV.

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by Simba and nala

Every trip in the past park days had always ran similarly if staying offsite

Up early, head to Denny’s,ponderosa etc and have a big breakfast fill,
Head to the parks possibly something like fries or a corn dog as a mid afternoon snack
Then leave the park for 5/6pm back to villa

Leaving for an evening meal out somewhere? Then back to the villa around 10pm
Unless we was seeing the fireworks etc

Our last visits the kids had always been young or toddlers, now 8 years later our next trip they will be 13 and 15 and eating and pace certainly changed

Having not been in so long and things changing so much I question how we should approach things
I’m happy grab something simple and quick early for breakfast heading to the park-
The kids want to get there near everyday for park opening and their plan is to leave late evening
Now I know this is not going be possible everyday as we will burn out but……

How many of you actually head to park opening, grab a snack in the park as lunch then late afternoon head back to their hotel/villa visit a restaurant and head back to the park ? Is this the new norm? Is this a sure way to burn out ?

I can’t justify eating on site as a family of 4 the prices are silly for a sit down meal, we will a few times but not everyday for the full 3 weeks $$$$$$$

Any help and guidance appreciated

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Firstly, we no longer enter Disney Parks at all (£1800 plus parking saved, so 2k), preferring the others in any case. Sometimes we also go Horse Riding, Kayaking, Airboating, Rainbow River, Gulf Beaches etc. We are not the stereotypical Orlando vacationer at all. That may also affect what follows..

We are sort of similar in a way. It is up early and a breakfast of bread rolls, ham, cheese, crisps and Orange Juice before out of the Villa or Self Catering apartment to hit the park at rope drop. We have never purchased an eat out USA breakfast in 10 visits and I have never entered Denny’s or IHOP. You can get an awful lot of rides if you are at a park as it opens (or as it nears closing). We have done Manta 7 times in an hour.

We have a backpack with us. It contains a bottle of frozen juice or chilled cans up each side and the sandwich boxes up the middle with .. sandwiches, muffins, fruit, whatever. Crisps sit on top. My wife is no rider, so she guards the bag whilst the other 3 of us ride.

We are almost invariably out of the parks by 1500 as we don’t like crowds and are already seeking our main meal. Other than Rainforest Cafe, and very rarely a lunch meal, we never buy in the parks at all. We are looking for a ‘happy hour’ where either cocktails, appetiser or both are on special or free. Bahama Breeze is particularly a favourite on this!

After the meal, then it is a rain check, back to the accommodation for wine, back to a different park for late rides (you can hammer them) , parking is free after 1800 at Universal and free anyway if you have a D.C. Ultimate ticket (we always buy D.C. ultimates).. or whatever.

We refuse to be ripped off by the parks for poor food or trash souvenirs, the decent stuff is quite frankly extortionate….and there are numerous brilliant options both in LBV and I Drive. Between four of us, our biggest ever restaurant bill in Florida is around $140 at Rainforest and around $120 anywhere else, possibly Steaks at the Longhorn. We never drink Cocktails other than at happy hour and never drink any other Alcohol until we get back to the accommodation. That is probably one reason why I can afford on my modest wages to long haul every year as a family of four.

[NewtoOrlando]

My kids are 15 & 13, our days are like this.

A - get up early and head to a park, grab a snack for breakfast, leave the park at 2ish, and head back to our accommodation (onsite or villa depending on the stay) then go out for dinner and either head to the mall/outlets or head back to have some evening pool time.

B - Have a lie in, get up and have some pool time, have some lunch, more pool/chill time, and go to the parks about 4pm, till close. If we do this then we either grab a quick service in the parks, or something on the way home.

We have never managed to go back out to a park in the evening if we have had a break in the day, we get too chilled out and enjoy going for dinner, if at Disney we will got to Disney Springs for food, or a Disney hotel. We always have a car, and have also left Disney to eat offsite. If in a villa, we just end up far too relaxed! I cant tell you how many times on our last trip we all just looked at eachother and said nope. We ended up going to Celebration, Old Town, DS, Citywalk.

We enjoy the parks, but not to much that we wreck ourselves in the process, it is a holiday afterall!

[Shutterbug]

Its just us two adults who go, we've been offsite every stay (on site hopefully in Nov) and we get there for rope drop and only leave when the park is closing or near to. Our view is that we've no kids to worry about, we want to get our moneys worth and we're not chilling out around a pool type of people and I expect our next visit to be the same. Its not for everyone but we'll rest when we're home (our uk holidays are walking holidays anyway so orlando is just the same activity level with much less mud)

[Maret]

Been twice to Florida staying in a villa, then last few nights at auniversal hotel, kids 8 & 10 but hopefully return this October they will be 14 & 16!
We’ve always had breakfast in the villa, then made lunch , frozen juice etc…. Put in backpack and cereal bars for snacks, sometimes picked up a subway to take to the parks too, only buy normally one snack/drink in the parks late afternoon.
Usually head back to villa, have made tea in the villa a couple of times, got takeaways, ate out sometimes a cheap restaurant then the next day an expensive one, usually pool in the evenings, shopping or rarely have gone back to the parks in the evening, but with them being older expecting to go to the parks later & leaving later?
Normally when back at the villa will have a couple of drinks of cider, but when staying at hotel a few cocktails around the pool.
Looking for a more relaxed holiday, not doing Disney as such bought a day ticket only to Hollywood studios (Star Wars) hoping to venture out to see more of the area itself out with parks.
Got universal tkts, sea world/discovery cove ultimate tkts, been to Clearwater & Space Kennedy centre last trip. Like the idea of horse riding, crocodile boat ride?

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by Maret

Been twice to Florida staying in a villa, then last few nights at auniversal hotel, kids 8 & 10 but hopefully return this October they will be 14 & 16!
We’ve always had breakfast in the villa, then made lunch , frozen juice etc…. Put in backpack and cereal bars for snacks, sometimes picked up a subway to take to the parks too, only buy normally one snack/drink in the parks late afternoon.
Usually head back to villa, have made tea in the villa a couple of times, got takeaways, ate out sometimes a cheap restaurant then the next day an expensive one, usually pool in the evenings, shopping or rarely have gone back to the parks in the evening, but with them being older expecting to go to the parks later & leaving later?
Normally when back at the villa will have a couple of drinks of cider, but when staying at hotel a few cocktails around the pool.
Looking for a more relaxed holiday, not doing Disney as such bought a day ticket only to Hollywood studios (Star Wars) hoping to venture out to see more of the area itself out with parks.
Got universal tkts, sea world/discovery cove ultimate tkts, been to Clearwater & Space Kennedy centre last trip. Like the idea of horse riding, crocodile boat ride?

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Have a look at the Boston trip report in my signature.. that covers a lot of outside of theme park stuff. Also look at my Toronto etc pre trip report. That has detail of the Crystal River.
Between those two, you should get plenty of information to help you.

[kingphil]

Our last visits consisted of children of all ages (18, 16, 15, 14 & 6) and more often than not we were up early and had breakfast in the villa before heading to the parks.

Sometimes we would take lunch with us (sandwiches, crisps, snacks etc) or purchase a cheap snack at the parks to keep us going.

Leave park late afternoon and either stop off for something to eat on the way - either restaurant or takeaway or make something back at the villa.

Probably only went out for big breakfast once or twice and these were normally none park days, as don't like a full tummy when going on the rides.

Advice would be to take snacks with you (purchased from Walmart/Target etc) to munch on during the day and maybe let your tummies decide when it's time to leave the park and head out for some food.

[Elsa42]

We always get up early and get to the park for opening. Grab a snack in the park for breakfast and hitting some of the rides while it’s quieter. We will then either grab a quick service meal for lunch or leave and eat elsewhere! We never stay the whole day as we try and leave at the hottest point of the day. Back to the hotel/ villa for pool time or a nap and then back out early evening to the parks or a meal. Works well for us 🙂

[Briggykins]

How are the queue times at Universal/IoA towards the end of the day, if you go back in the evening? I sort of assumed it would just get busier as the day went on.