Disney dinning plan, and meal cost in general is another topic that is always up for some kind of debate. But my thought is anywhere you vacation, travel, or attend any type of event, concert, play/theater, ball game, go to the movies, bowling... all the pricing is not cheap. Basically if you are going anywhere, its gonna cost you. You will be faced with bottles of water for around 3 to 5 bucks, beers anywhere from 8 to 12 bucks, wine 8 to 15 dollars, and meals will be a lot more than at your regular at home spots you normally dine out at. That's just the way it is.
There are a lot of ways to cut back on spending for dinning. Bringing in your own snacks during the day to munch on is a good way to save. As well as having bottled water in the room, as well as other beverages, such as Gatorade, soft drinks and even adult beverages. Sharing meals is another way to save money, or don't order appetizers and dessert or share them instead of everyone having their own. Eat in the room, but you realize you are still paying for those meals too but then what I see happens a lot is that people don't want to stop the fun to go back to their resort to eat, so sometimes that food in the room gets wasted, so then you paid even more. Also leaving the parks when you are having fun, to eat outside the gates while it may be a bit cheaper, is it worth the time, to leave the parks, between walking to your car/ getting Uber or Lyft, drive time, dinning time, getting back in the car or Uber or Lyft to get back to the parks is going to take time, figure on a 45 minutes to an hour each way to and from a restaurant back to the park, then at least a 90 minutes to eat, plus if there is a wait at the restaurant for your table, or if the kitchen is backed up.
Our friends like to eat off site, They normally eat breakfast offsite then spend the rest of the day and evening in the parks or at the resort pool, or if they are going to eat dinner off site they eat later like at 8 to 9pm or sometimes even later as once they leave the parks they aren't going back to the park, they head for their resort for pool time or going to bed early. This method works for them, but they don't do it everyday while here visiting Mickey and the Gang...
We have another friend that is a baseball nut, we have gone to the games with him and his wife, and he will not blink a eye at 8.00 to 10.00 beers or 10.00 for a hotdog and cold fries that are disgusting and look like they were thrown on the floor....gross.... or at the 755 club for nachos, a couple of BBQ sandwiches with fries and a few beers and the bill is well over 150.00 plus tip that's for 2 people... That's okay with him, but he complained non stop about a 8.00 beer at F&W and you don't even what to hear him go on and on about the cost of meals WDW... or really anywhere that isn't a ball park...
So really its about what your perception is.... on what is a fair price and what you are willing to pay for the experience.
