Eating on a budget

[mulv2222]

Don't buy the QS plan, it rarely pays to buy any of the dining plans. Just pay for what you want when you're there.

[jdouds]

Hi just caught this thread. We are just back and while lucky enough to have DDP one place we would highly recommend is blaze pizza at Disney springs. $9.95 for piza and drink, this is a build your own pizza place and 1 between 2 with adult and child would be great. Choice of base, sauce, 6 cheeses, about 8 meats and then 20/30 other toppings very filling. You will find a queue there but don't be put of it moves very quickly

[Shooby doo]

Coming to this quite late & just to give you further options, if you don't mind a 20 min walk then take the resort bus to the Springs then the Crossroads is that short 20 min walk or Uber from there. There is a Winn Dixie a lot closer than the Walmart, Xroads-turn left & about a mile up on the right hand side - be warned though that you have to pass a Steak & Shake & the shakes are addictive!
We generally buy bread & cereal but not sure if All Stars have toasters in their rooms. Places like I-Hop & Dennys you can have a meal for the cost of a quick service meal in the parks- I-hop in particular you get free soup or salad with all adult entrees & the food is pretty good.
SD

[Ridersmom]

I think your budget is adequate. I am not a fan of the dining plans becuase they tend to be too much food for us. I agree with the suggestion that you do a quick supermarket stop for water, fruit, snack and breakfast fixings.

We do not snack at WDW. We buy fruit and supplement meals with that. Few WDW snacks are healthy but they all seem to provide a lot of aroma. Talk to your kids about when/if they can snack. Snacks are not cheap and even more expennsive if they end up in a bin. Ice cream is great but in the heat it melts and as much gets on one as in one (at least go for ice cream in a cup).

If you have not already, give your kids a set amount of pocket money. It avoids fighting and squabbling about souvenirs (mostly junk) and snacks. When money is gone, it's gone.

We tended to vacation just before school started and I would use some of my kids clothing budget to get a nice sweatshirt or shirt. To me it was a usefull souvenir.

Also because I am thrifty, I refuse to add to WDW's pockets by purchasing add ons (character meals, make up sessions, special tours, etc. In many, many trips we have always had a good time.

Go, enjoy and you will not starve.

[HEMANCLOFTY]

We are are 2 adults and a 12 yo, all with very healthy appetites. This year we did a split stay - 9 nights onsite with the QSDP and 5 nights offsite.

Our QSPD saw us eating and drinking the equivalent of $124 a day. This included a few meals where we shared 2 meals between 3 which is definitely more than enough food for lunch. We did take cereal, biscuits and crisps (and bought some extras at Publix supermarket), but did still have quite a few breakfasts using our plan. If you decide to get an Uber to a supermarket, I really recommend Publix, their southern fried chicken is awesome! This and a few sides / bread rolls will fill you all up for about $20 (plus they don't have lots of extras to distract you and make you end up spending more like Walmart does)

Offsite eating is definitely cheaper - we averaged $89 a day, and that included a couple of really great quality table service meals at $50-$60 including tips. Millers Ale House and Buffao Wild Wings are particularly good. It shouldn't cost too much to get an Uber to Crossroads and even less if you use the Disney bus to Disney Springs and order your Uber from there)

Dominos delivery is a great option. We didn't do it this year, but last time we had a massive feast (3 pizzas, wings, pasta and pop) for $37 - enough for tea and loads of cold pizza for lunch the next day.

Earl of Sandwich at Disney Springs is also really good value onsite meal if you are paying cash - sign up to their reward club and you get a $5 voucher, plus they are always emailing me offers.

If you fancy a look at some of the food we ate (and how much it cost), there is a link to my food report in my signature.

I'm sure you can make your budget work - you have 60 days to plan, and knowing where you can get the best value for money / vouchers will help you from getting sucked into the moment and just ending up paying for the nearest food available because you are hungry.

[clairenutter]

If you are headed to the crossroads there is a supermarket there also (Goodings)

[POFQfan]

I think it's doable. Spend time looking at the trip reports as others have said and then spend time looking at the menus so you can see what suits you are your family for sharing and making the best use of the money. Then you can make a little plan of where you would like to eat to maximise your money.

The other tip I would give is around snacking. You can go through a fortune in snacking and drinks at WDW. Make sure you ask for large cups of iced water from any QS location rather than buying drinks all the time. The other thing I would say is that we always take snacks from home. For us this is largely because my son doesn't eat sweet things (strange child!) and nearly all the WDW snack items are sweet. So we take bags of minicheddars, breadsticks, crackers etc and he quite happily grazes on those in between meals. Some people don't like the idea of taking things from the UK but it makes things a lot easier, and cheaper, for us when we are there so I am happy with it. You can take all sorts but make sure you don't take anything that will melt!

And don't feel remotely embarrassed - most of us have been hit with the reality of the cost of a WDW holiday and we have certainly found ourselves with less money than we thought we would have by the time the holiday rolled around. I went to get our dollars today and told the woman in Tesco, who asked where we were going, that it was a very expensive addiction and there should be a support group to wean people off WDW holidays!

[Excited6910]

If you're not planning any TS places in Disney then you should be fine. We paid over $150 for a character breakfast last year for 2ad 3ch but apart from that the rest of our dining was really reasonable. We ate at QS places in disney parks/springs (shared 2/3 meals between us) or offsite.

We ate in Teaks, Giordanos, Millers, TGI Fridays, ihop, mcdonalds, subway etc. Starbucks every day too. And still had lots of money for souvenirs

[Guest]

I think the wife especially would like to get off site for an evening meal, so the cheapest way of doing this is getting a bus to disney springs (which I assume is free) and then get an uber to croassroads and doing that would still work out cheaper than eating on site? also i take it anyone driving would know what i mean when i say crossroads and wouldnt just take me to a random intersection? lol

[Smilesonfaces]

The shopping centre is called crossroads and is about 1 mile or so from Disney springs. You could call in to Goodings while you are there for drinks and snacks for your room. It is an expensive supermarket but still cheaper than buying on site. Would recommend Flippers pizzas at crossroads