Favorite less expensive spot to eat?

[IndyToThere]

One way to save is to eat a good breakfast and dinner and just get a light snack from Quick Service in place of a full lunch. You'd be surprised how well a snack can carry you through the afternoon until dinner time.

 

[gharter]

Satu'li Canteen
Columbia harbor house
Pecos bills
Yorkshire fish shop
Polite Pig
Docking Bay 7
Flame Tree BBQ, if you are hungry
Spice Road Table - small plates

 

[BeachMouse1]

If you’re there during a festival at Epcot many of the food booths have decent servings at a decent price plus that way you all get to try different items. Also many “snacks” are quite filling like the bacon skewers at Westward Ho in magic kingdom. I hope this is allowed but Molly from Mammoth Club on YouTube does several videos on best snacks and quick service in each park and areas and gets into the best deals.
if that isnt allowed apologies

 

[RoseGold]

I think the Ronto Wrap is one of the best entrees in the park, and one of the cheapest. It's well thought out and balanced and different, and it's an experience. I don't even like Star Wars and go over there to get it.

They have a breakfast wrap too that I've never made it early enough to try.

 

[flyingenie]

I'm planning on exclusively quick service (so cheaper stuff) during my upcoming trip, and I'm most excited about:
MK- Columbia harbor house - lobster rolls
Epcot - Flower and garden food booths!
HS - Ronto Roasters - ronto wraps; Woody's lunch box - totchos
AK - Satuli canteen - tofu bowl; Flame Tree BBQ - pulled pork mac and cheese

Resorts:
Cap'n Cooks (Polynesian) - pulled pork nachos, thai coconut meatballs
Primo Piatto (Riviera) - lemon blueberry pancakes

Disney springs - Polite pig

 

[Best Aunt]

I would think about getting restaurant delivery to the hotel from Grub Hub or Door Dash, if you will be at the hotel during mealtime at any point.

I would also think about doing breakfast as a small meal in the room every day. You might want lunch earlier, but the quick service places will be less crowded if you go before noon anyway. You could do a grocery delivery of non-perishable food items for breakfast and snacks.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

If you do want table service, Sana’a has good prices and good portion sizes. We love the bread service, and the meal cost always (pleasantly) surprises us.

Primo Piatto (Riviera QS) is one of our family favourites. The food is great and in line with other QS pricing. Riding on the Skyliner to get there is fun.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Not gonna discuss the cheap options b/c your party is full of teens and young adults. Instead, I'm gonna encourage the grocery delivery option, and actually probably to choose this option once to twice a day to feed your group, getting enough food for 7 days in the beginning, and then doing it again, especially once you see what you really eat.

Sandwich fixings (to include meats, cheeses, tuna packets, PB/Nutella/honey - whatever your crew eats), rolls and bread, lettuce/tomato/onion/avocado (again, whatever you all eat), shelf-stable fruit, and chips/pretzels/cookies with condiments (mayo/mustard) would be on my list. I'd also have breakfast fixings - coffee for their machines, milk, tea, sweetener, juice (whatever you drink), cereal, granola bars, hard boiled eggs (also a salad fixing), donuts/muffins. And I'd buy water and alcohol for the drinkers. So many things you can eat cold and enjoy, especially in summer, and so many that don't need to see a fridge.

For shelf-stable fruit - apples, bananas, oranges/clementines, pears, (even peaches, but they can draw fruit flies).

Bring one good knife, one good cutting board, and some dish detergent, and then buy disposable plates, cups, bowls, silverware, paper towels, and ziploc bags. You will save a ton if you eat just 1-1.5 meals out/day on the trip and let your huge crew enjoy nice groceries for the other 1.5-2 meals...

Remember, a TS for 6 adults will run $200/meal at its cheapest and probably $400ish regularly (after tax/tip). And even every CS will likely be around $100/meal...

 

[DisneyLover83]

Chicken Guy at Disney Springs. When my daughter and I went there for the first time last summer our complete meal was under $20 and I was shocked. The most affordable meal we ate all week and it tasted pretty good!

 

[loves to dive]

You have already received most of my suggestions, sharing TS meals and getting kids meals. I always get a kids meal if I'm eating QS. I don't eat large meals so things that are considered snacks sometimes work for me, one that comes to mind is the chicken fried rice at Yak & Yeti QS at AK, that and a cup of water and I'm fuller than a tick. The Fountain at the Dolphin is a hidden gem. Think of B&C but not the high price and maybe not as many unusual ice cream concoctions. If there is a festival at Epcot when I'm there, at least one meal a day comes from booths, when there is more than one person you can easily share most of the items. The bakery in the France pavilion has lots of things that aren't real expensive. Also eating at lounges works. I'm a huge fan of HBD Lounge, two people can easily share the Cobb Salad if they aren't big eaters. Nomad Lounge is also a favorite, the bread service, the lobster mac and cheese and a few other of the options are easy to share.

 

[adzfoster84]

We enjoy Blaze Pizza at Disney Springs.

 

[DVCjj]

We love Via Napoli for Pizza as an Epcot option. We find it very affordable there.

We also love the counter service at Poly as a quick lunch after the park- Capt Cooks.

In Disney Springs we have enjoyed Earl of Sandwich.

Via Napoli was always our favorite. Been known to go two nights in a row. Been many times. Was there end of February and we definitely feel portions were smaller (though we usually order pizza, this time was spaghetti) to the point of being shocked. Prices seemed higher. We could not have been imagining it.

 

[serenitynow]

Not gonna discuss the cheap options b/c your party is full of teens and young adults. Instead, I'm gonna encourage the grocery delivery option, and actually probably to choose this option once to twice a day to feed your group, getting enough food for 7 days in the beginning, and then doing it again, especially once you see what you really eat.

Sandwich fixings (to include meats, cheeses, tuna packets, PB/Nutella/honey - whatever your crew eats), rolls and bread, lettuce/tomato/onion/avocado (again, whatever you all eat), shelf-stable fruit, and chips/pretzels/cookies with condiments (mayo/mustard) would be on my list. I'd also have breakfast fixings - coffee for their machines, milk, tea, sweetener, juice (whatever you drink), cereal, granola bars, hard boiled eggs (also a salad fixing), donuts/muffins. And I'd buy water and alcohol for the drinkers. So many things you can eat cold and enjoy, especially in summer, and so many that don't need to see a fridge.

For shelf-stable fruit - apples, bananas, oranges/clementines, pears, (even peaches, but they can draw fruit flies).

Bring one good knife, one good cutting board, and some dish detergent, and then buy disposable plates, cups, bowls, silverware, paper towels, and ziploc bags. You will save a ton if you eat just 1-1.5 meals out/day on the trip and let your huge crew enjoy nice groceries for the other 1.5-2 meals...

Remember, a TS for 6 adults will run $200/meal at its cheapest and probably $400ish regularly (after tax/tip). And even every CS will likely be around $100/meal...

Buy some fresh baked baguettes for $3.50 at Les Halles Boulangerie at Epcot to really elevate your sandwich fixings. Yummy

 

[JereMary]

The name escapes me but there is a quick service attached to Raglin Road that has some good food at reason able prices

I think it's Cooke's of Dublin?

 

[fla4fun]

The name escapes me but there is a quick service attached to Raglin Road that has some good food at reason able prices

Are you talking about Cookes of Dublin? They are good.

I agree with considering child meals at QS locations, especially in the summer. I do that quite often. There’s nothing worse than slogging through the heat and humidity with a heavy meal in your stomach.

I also agree with having items in your room for breakfast. It not only saves you money, but saves you time. That can be important if you want to get to the parks early. Having beverages in the room saves a lot of money as well, plus you can grab a bottle of water as you head out each day and start your day hydrated. You may be surprised how much water you need to drink each day. I start the day by taking one from the room, buy a couple in the park, and get the half size bottles with my kids meals, and then drink another bottle or two from my stash when I get back to the room at night. A flat of 24-36 bottles purchased off property will cost about the same as buying 2-3 individual bottles in the park. Huge savings!

 

[DVCjj]

After going for 50 years, we finally got sick and tired of paying for ADR's spending big money and not really enjoying the food/ambience anymore. We feel like traitors but enough is enough and all 4 trips lately (one was 2 weeks), we totally downsized to QS or moderate meals and enjoyed it immensely.....AND came home with money. We went to 90% of all the ones mentioned so won't bother repeating.

This trip we split stayed only 4 times...BCV/BLT/GF Big Pine/SSR (the last one is first ever, as avoided like the plague).

We ended up really liking SSR a lot even though won't be first preference most likely. So darn spread out and confusing to us old people. Hadn't done the boat to PO Riverside (always will be Dixie Landings) and French Quarter and forgot how much we absolutely, positively loved. Definitely will be back doing that again. We did have fantastic weather in January/Feb/early March though as I know we've hit bad rain in Fall and Summer many times (and even the hurricane...end of Sept at BWV).

We also took the boat to OKW (hadn't been there in 20 years and loved the trip also).
Free fun time. Our all time Fave QS will always be Earl of Sandwich. So many times when staying further than Congress Park, SSR, we've taken sandwiches on the bus/car back to our resort(s).
Wish Earl was in the Midwest.

 

[DVCjj]

I would think about getting restaurant delivery to the hotel from Grub Hub or Door Dash, if you will be at the hotel during mealtime at any point.

I would also think about doing breakfast as a small meal in the room every day. You might want lunch earlier, but the quick service places will be less crowded if you go before noon anyway. You could do a grocery delivery of non-perishable food items for breakfast and snacks.

Have never done any meal delivery service ever and especially wondered how at Disney. Do they leave at Bell Svcs & you receive a call to come down?

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

This depends on where you're staying, but we have found Ale & Compass at the Yacht Club to be a good value for breakfast. It's been a minute since our last visit but the website is showing it as $23 a person for the breakfast buffet, which at this location is actually a combination of their buffet spread plus an entree. You get A LOT of food for the money, with the added bonus that the food is really very good. Depending on the makeup of your party, you can also stretch those buffet items a little. We have little ones so hubby and I each got the buffet, the kiddos shared a kids' entree and then ate off our plates a bit. We all had enough where a light lunch/snack was all we needed to get through to dinner.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Not gonna discuss the cheap options b/c your party is full of teens and young adults. Instead, I'm gonna encourage the grocery delivery option, and actually probably to choose this option once to twice a day to feed your group, getting enough food for 7 days in the beginning, and then doing it again, especially once you see what you really eat.

Sandwich fixings (to include meats, cheeses, tuna packets, PB/Nutella/honey - whatever your crew eats), rolls and bread, lettuce/tomato/onion/avocado (again, whatever you all eat), shelf-stable fruit, and chips/pretzels/cookies with condiments (mayo/mustard) would be on my list. I'd also have breakfast fixings - coffee for their machines, milk, tea, sweetener, juice (whatever you drink), cereal, granola bars, hard boiled eggs (also a salad fixing), donuts/muffins. And I'd buy water and alcohol for the drinkers. So many things you can eat cold and enjoy, especially in summer, and so many that don't need to see a fridge.

For shelf-stable fruit - apples, bananas, oranges/clementines, pears, (even peaches, but they can draw fruit flies).

Bring one good knife, one good cutting board, and some dish detergent, and then buy disposable plates, cups, bowls, silverware, paper towels, and ziploc bags. You will save a ton if you eat just 1-1.5 meals out/day on the trip and let your huge crew enjoy nice groceries for the other 1.5-2 meals...

Remember, a TS for 6 adults will run $200/meal at its cheapest and probably $400ish regularly (after tax/tip). And even every CS will likely be around $100/meal...

^ THIS
We buy a popcorn bucket on day 1 and use that all week to not only get $2 refills (cheapest snack on property - don't miss the maple corn in Canada Pavilion) but we also use it to pack sandwiches we bring into the park. Breakfast is always back at the room before we head out, lunch is a picnic (most days) - the money saved is HUGE.
Don't forget some of the best QS places are in the resorts. POFQ and POR are great, but our favorite is at AoA and POP. It's worth the quick park break and the ride over on the Skyliner. CBR has been recently renovated too - the QS there should be decent. I would not go to any of the Deluxe QS though - they are all pretty bare-bones.
As for sit-down, I would say our favorite budget conscious pick is Whispering Canyon. The breakfast there is great and all-you-can-eat. A late-ish breakfast there is actually more like a brunch - you definitely won't need lunch.

 

[kylenne]

Have never done any meal delivery service ever and especially wondered how at Disney. Do they leave at Bell Svcs & you receive a call to come down?

You have to meet your delivery person in the lobby.

But FWIW I would actually strongly advise against using food delivery apps on property if you're trying to save money. Entrees are generally much more expensive than in the actual restaurant and they will kill you on fees, it really won't end up being much less expensive than just getting mobile order to go from a resort TS. Especially if you don't subscribe to whatever discount subscription the app has like DashPass, UberOne, etc. I actually do through several credit cards and more often than not nowadays after fees and tip I end up just emptying the cart because the total is crazy for what I'm getting.