Cheapest way to eat?

[Amandas4]

Is it cheaper to get the quick service dinning plan or get some basic groceries for breakfast and lunch and only eat dinner at the parks or resorts?

 

[MandiC]

Honestly I think the only way to answer this is to price it all out. It likely very much will depend on which counter service and what kinds of food you would order from the grocery store. There are menus with prices online to give you an idea of how much counter service will cost. I actually did that for us and while it took a lot of time it was nice to have a 'plan' and know about what we needed to budget

 

[marmalade]

I would do a combination of both. Get some easy food for breakfast/snacks and pay out of pocket for quick service meals (no dining plan).

Here is a website that will give you and idea of what the restaurants not only have to offer, but what it costs as well. http://allears.net/dining/menu#ak

 

[puffkin]

We eat most of our breakfasts in the room since we mainly just eat cereal anyway. We do a lot of lunch ADR's or really late breakfasts and treat it as a lunch when prices are cheaper. For dinner we do counter service for the adults. I pack a lot of meals for the kids. Half the time they are just ordering sandwiches or PBJ anyways so I just bring our own plus some fun treats I don't normally buy at home (applesauce pouches, single serve packs of cookies, capri suns etc). Now that we are DVC with a kitchen, I usually cook 2 or 3 meals a week. Then we eat more "treats" in the park since the meals weren't as big and I am not as upset with the costs. We have dropped our food expenses by well over $500-$700 a trip and really haven't noticed much of a decline in our "fun".

 

[Raenstoirm]

Unless you are planning on going back to the room to nap anyway, going back for lunch is a waste. Disney does allow you to bring food into the park, but unless you pan on carrying the stuff, figure the cost of a locker into your budget and some of those one time use ice packs since the freezers (if you even have one in the room) are terrible.

 

[com_op_2000]

Book a DVC one bedroom or larger villa they come with a full sized kitchen. Cook and eat all your meals in the villa.

 

[worm761]

Is it cheaper to get the quick service dinning plan or get some basic groceries for breakfast and lunch and only eat dinner at the parks or resorts?

You really have to price it out to see how it works for your family. Is your family okay with every breakfast and lunch packed? Also factor in time. Are you carrying those lunches with you? Or will you be going back to your resort to eat? You have to figure you lose at least an hour just going back to your resort and back to the park. This does not count the time preparing and eating the food.

Personally, I cannot see a value in the quick service dining plan. I don't care for the QS desserts and never have enough room left to eat them anyway. the QSDP is 2 CS meals (entree, drink, dessert) and 1 snack a day. In our family, we would get the entree and drink but not a dessert.

If you decide to bring a lunch into the parks, there have been several threads on the budget board about doing just that. I keep a running list of what we like to take with us when hiking so I have a variety of options to choose from.

 

[5stljayhawks]

We are normally a mixed meal group. breakfast is allmost always in room. then we brown bag majority of sandwiches for lunch along with a few snacks. Some time we eat at places like astro orbitor or BBQ in AK.(search this great website for deals) The meals are big enough for 2. for a family of 5 2A 3K 6-10 we would order 2 A and 1K or maybe 3A. This normally provided enough for all of us and we didn't waste any!!!! then we would split a HUGE mickey bar!!! or a frozen lemonade...

 

[Amandas4]

thanks for all the responses! Our trip will be next October, I'm actually hoping for free dining. If that doesn't happen I think we'll do cereal and sandwiches.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

We have done a combination of it all.
We always bring groceries so that way we pick out the restaurants we want in advance and work around that. The last two times we went it was in August so we went back for lunch and to cool down in the pool.

 

[epsmith921]

Can't see your ticker on my phone so I don't know if you have it posted where you're staying, but for us, the room discount far outweighs the free dining in the fall.

 

[marmalade]

thanks for all the responses! Our trip will be next October, I'm actually hoping for free dining. If that doesn't happen I think we'll do cereal and sandwiches.

http://www.mousesavers.com/historical-information-on-walt-disney-world-resort-discounts/


They have offered Free Dining in October for the past few years. There are blackout dates, but if you are flexible there is a good chance of Free Dining for you come October.