Eating on a budget

[Rescuer]

We stayed at Art of animation for 3 nights this year without the dining plan.
It's a really good food court and things like the create your own pasta and the big pizza are really good value and great for sharing. It's also just a stroll across the bridge to pop century, we used their food court one night as well.
A couple of refillable mugs would be a good investment.
We went by uber to Walmart, I chose the biggest one so it worked out about $12 each way although the first ride was free. There is a closer one that would work out cheaper.
I did a food report. Have a look at the first 3 days for art of animation food and I photographed all the receipts which will give you an idea of costs.
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1033066

[Shooby doo]

Danny- resort buses are free, your stop at the Springs will be at the "super stop" which is up near La Nouba, like I mentioned before, it isn't a huge walk to the Crossroads & you can always Uber back.
A taxi will take you to the main Crossroads area, there used to be shops there as well but I think the majority of them have closed down so it's all restaurants, Goodings ( Winn Dixie is worth going to because it's cheaper) & Pirate's Cove golf. In this area you have the Knife, Chevy's,Taco Bell,Perkins, Chicago Uno,TGI's, Firehouse Subs, McDs but out on the road (535) you have a bigger selection :- Dennys,Ihop, Dragon Court,Giordanos,Millers,Olive Garden...
You can "sign-up" to a lot of their websites & get discount vouchers.
To give you an idea we paid under $30 for 2 adult meals in Ihop that included steak & seafood, a similar meal onsite was $80.
Also more & more people are taking their own food into the parks, so even going to Earl of sandwich & buying your lunch there will be cheaper than most CS in the parks.
SD

[dixonsontour]

I know you said you don't have a car but would you consider one?

You can hire for part of the trip. Easy to collect from car care centre onsite near MK. You park free onsite staying at a disney hotel.

We've done this a few times.

So magical express from airport. Avoids stress of driving when tired. Then when you want car you call and they collect you in a mini bus and you get car, same in reverse. Need to hire through alamo. Pics in my Oct 2016 trip report of car care centre.

A car will be probably £300 all inc but will let you eat cheaply offsite and conveniently. Try pricing on usrentacar or alamo brits.

eg you can drive to 192 for breakfast that will set you up for day - ihop, dennys, bob evans. Lots of deals and coupons so probably $40 then will only need snacks in day and again in evening drive offsite for a nice meal. Easy to get to walmart/target for supplies too.

If you don't fancy driving look at uber.

Lots of cheaper restaurants nearby, at crossroads and 192.

[Shani]

Late to the party here and probably going to repeat some suggestions!

If you download the Uber app to your phone you can put in the start/finish part of your journeys and see rough estimates on what it would cost. Probably $10 each way or so.

You've got $130-140 ish (depending on exchange rate) to play with per day and I'd say that's perfectly fine. No, you can't go doing signature restaurants every day of course, but you definitely won't go hungry.

The amount you have is on par with what the QS would be to buy, so I definitely *WOULDN'T* buy it in your situation. You're much better off having that cash in your hand to spend.

The main things I'd suggest is:

* Get reading trip reports! There are many on here, but top two for eating QS onsite at Disney I'd suggest would be Hemanclofty's and Loves2plan's reports. It'll give you a great idea of what foods are available and at what prices - which portions can be shared etc
* Get an Uber to a supermarket to stock up on crates of water and snacky bits.
* Consider buying the resort refillable mugs if you're planning on spending a bit of time at the pools at your resort - soft drinks on tap! Even if you just buy 1 or 2 of them to share
* Share meals. It might sound like you're being super stingy but most of the meals are easily shareable. Sometimes adding an extra side of fries etc.
* Cups of iced water for free at all QS places.
* Landry's card - if you pay $25 for it, you get that $25 credited to the card to use at a restaurant (T-Rex or Yak & Yeti). If one of you happens to have a birthday (hint - they don't check birth dates!) they will credit a further $25 to it. If you then visit T-Rex or Yak & Yeti, you have $50 pre paid already towards the meal, and can be one of your "treat" table service meals (and you won't need to make a reservation as the Landry card gets you sat down really quickly!)
* Children's meals at QS - don't underestimate the size of these meals, and the fact they're pretty much as big as adult portions!
* Breakfast in the room - I personally take the individual packs of cereal for the kids. They see it as a treat then as I never buy them at home!


Definitely don't go panicking. It's not cheap to eat out there, no, but you'll be fine

[limmy]

I'm sure it's been said but you'll find the cost of an uber will be well worth it. Get a couple of crates of water, even some fruit punch or gatorade type drinks. This will help you stay hydrated but also fill you up a little too. Breakfast bars come in huge boxes and get some snacks and nibbles. Breakfast always seems a smaller meal than lunches and dinners at the park, so snacks like cinnamon rolls or things from Walmart are best but also the day will flow better as this will allow you to get to parks earlier.

[Momofboys]

We got back last week and it was an unintended bargain trip ;-) so booked too late for free dining.

We are a family of 5, our boys are 19. 16 and 10. We all love our food! Our youngest generally ate kids meals which are around $8 and more than enough so your youngest will be fine or they could share an adult meal.

We took cereals and cereal bars from here. We had the free iced water most of the time which saved us loads. We did have a few ice creams / snacks didn't scrimp, and spent around $1500 so you will be fine.

Blaze pizza is a must, pizzas are huge.
We also joined the Earl of Sandwich club as recommended on here and you get $5 free each so that was a cheapish meal too.

The food court at AOA is good and will be easy to pick good meals that are filling or shareable.

[Guest]

So many great tips on here i've gone from worrying to really excited now

Car seems very tempting, need to weigh up cost of an uber at least once a day vs having a car! Out of interest if we wanted to go further afield than the crossroads, say to other areas of i drive is it best to uber or get on one of those cheap trams that go right up and down i drive? Thinking ihop which is a little further than corssroads...

[ziggyzag]

We were 3 adults one child last year we allowed $200 a day for food/petrol/parking etc. we were staying in suite that gave free breakfast but tbh it wasn't that good so after a few days we bought cereal in Walmart. We ate breakfast in suite cereal/toast, took snacks like cookies/crisps/pringles to park. it was so hot we just wanted to drink not eat! then had an evening meal on way home from parks, most days we never went over a $100 only days we did spend close to the $200 was when we did character dining. We ate at Perkins, Denny's, Ihop, TGI's, Steak and Shake, Millers , Longhorns etc. I would take cereal and snacks in your suitcase from home, you will find it easy to manage. Hope you have a fab holiday x

[Lightyear]

Originally Posted by dannythomas13

So many great tips on here i've gone from worrying to really excited now

Car seems very tempting, need to weigh up cost of an uber at least once a day vs having a car! Out of interest if we wanted to go further afield than the crossroads, say to other areas of i drive is it best to uber or get on one of those cheap trams that go right up and down i drive? Thinking ihop which is a little further than corssroads...

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The i-Ride trolley doesn't go to Disney, you'd be better getting the Lynx bus for $2 each, it's cheap but you need to change and it can take a while. Maybe do the Lynx bus to i-drive one day and get an uber back, uber cost us about $15 last time.

[llamala]

Personally I would not be wanting to faff about catching buses to I drive,at the most I would go off site would be the Cross roads areas,the thing is time is precious and I would rather eat somewhere a bit more expensive then take a couple of hours to travel to and from I drive using public transport.
Disney is not cheap for eating but as people have said you can eat well and not spend too much.
Definitely do a shop at the beginning of your holiday,utilse a fridge in your room if you have it.
Some americans have been known to take a slow cooker and leave that in their room, but probably not advisable.
Maybe make a plan on where you might be every day and then shedule meals either on site or off.
Remember although these places are not far away,their can be a lot of traffic which eats into time.
We used to get in the park early ( no breakfast just a snack to go). then an early QS lunch in the park About 11 o clock to miss the lunch rush.
On leaving the parks late afternoon ( if not stopping for fireworks) call somewhere for an early dinner.
If going in later we would have a big breakfast at Dennys or Sizzler ( both at Crossroads) then into the parks staying late so maybe aan ice cream or snack.
Then a hot dog or QS meal if needed.