Dining Card Discounts

[Guest]

Hi All,

Booked Florida yesterday for my Dad (70) myself and partner (42 and 45) and 4 children (17, 15, 14 and the youngest at 9).

One of my biggest concerns and I've been to Orlando before is the cost of food, my stepson is a food machine.

I'm interested in reccomendations on food discount cards, coupon books for food or links to some other form questions with good links as well.

I'm not a skin flint but I want to be able to mix it up with regards to food and not go totally broke. What would be a good budget to cover all of us for 14 days?

Thanks,


Paul

[Shooby doo]

I think the coupon books are a thing of the past, I would sign up to the restaurants that you are interested in as they will send you discounts thru' email. Some of the cards might work but think they are for a maximum of 4, we had an eat & Play card but our experience of it wasn't very good. In your situation I would load up on the first day with breakfast materials & eat in your hotel/villa etc.
I know that you said that you've been before but is that recently ? The exchange rate is a killer & if I was to guesstimate, eating out for lunch & dinner for 14 days, I don't think you would get much change out of £3k. At the minute eating out is nearly the same as eating out here, just bigger portions!
SD

[mossyflossy]

Hello and welcome to the Dibb.

The coupon books are still around but it's far easier to just make use of the sign up offers, happy hours, groupon and buy one get one free nights.

There's also websites with the coupons to download.

Lunch menus often offer better value for money for the same meal as well.

For 7, to keep costs down I'd suggest you eat in for breakfast/lunch and eat out at night: I can't imagine you'd see much change out of £100 eating out and beware not to double tip as there's likely to be auto tips for parties of 6+.

[Guest]

Thanks good info! We really need to get that 1.3 exchange rate up to a 1.5 or 1.8 :-)))

I was thinking 3k as well wouldn't be far off so my first thought was can I get it down to 2k. Probably 2 or 3 years ago I went last on business but that's not the same as expenses cover everything anyway.

Are these kids eat free cards worth it, I mean I have 1 at 9 years old.

One of my other thoughts was breakfast in the condo and get food from a Walmarts or Publix but I don't want my other half cooking away all week as that's not ideal either.

[mossyflossy]

No the offers/coupons/kids eat free nights at places like millers ale House and Manny's will work out better than the kids eat free card.

As you're in a condo you can pick up cooked chickens and bags of salad and fresh bread and make an easy meal. BBQ's will also be easy to prepare if your condo has one?

Are you a member of Costco here as you can use your card there too? It's now up near the mall of millenia and a super target and is great for low cost items.

[Guest]

yeah member of Costco, normally do a UK visit every couple of months. Don't think we have a bbq.

We're staying at the Buena Vista Resort (3 bed).

Good idea on the cooked chicken, good for fresh sandwiches as well. Any good places to pick up warm pancakes or sweet breakfast things that are pre-cooked or could be purchased hot and taken away / on route?

[mossyflossy]

Krispy cream donuts, McD's etc probably do pancake breakfasts, but for sit down Cracker Barrell, IHOP and FirstWatch and Perkins. IHOP and First Watch both do one free breakfast on sign up, so use more than one email for more coupons.

Cheapest is Steak n Shake down the 535.

You'll also be able to get pancakes from Walmart nearby and Publix on Vineland to heat up in the microwave, or waffles from the freezer section. They also do the boxes of donuts. Publix has a good bakery section. Winn Dixie down the 535 near Steak n Shake is also worth a look.

[Shooby doo]

There are a good selection of restaurants near you, the likes of Ihop also have an over 55's menu & the food is actually good for the price (not just breakfast). There is also a Winn Dixie near the steak & shake, sign up in store for their card to get the cardholder discounts. I would invest in a cheap polystyrene cooler & on water park days go to Earl of Sandwich or similar & stock up. You can't escape the park prices so where possible I would restrict my sit down meals inside as you are probably not far off $10/person dearer.
Sd

[Jaspercat10]

Take as much with you as you can from here, cereals, snacks, coffee, tea, biscuits I literally take 2 suitcases of food as we don't need many clothes and we can wash them in a villa, the food is v expensive.