No Longer Affordable JMHO

[isla bonita]

When in the parks we usually have a sit down late lunch. I looked up Crystal palace and it looks like lunch is $35.99.

Just can not justify spending that much per person for a decent meal.

I think this year we will go near by and get a meal or maybe CS?

 

[sharonabe]

If you looked it up on this site or the WDW site, they give you a range that starts with a child's price for breakfast up to an adult holiday price for dinner. Lunch at CP is still around $25/adult. That's still a lot for a meal, but it's not just a meal...it's an experience.

 

[rachel09985]

Yes, I can confirm, lunch at CP is $24.99. However that is off peak so you will have to add another 4 dollars for peak pricing.

 

[tomthebarncat]

Yep, the prices are ridiculous for mediocre food, not even decent in my opinion. I do not like to herded like cattle for my meals, so we just eat whatever we want when we are hungry. McDonalds usually, as the food is consistent and so are the prices. Once upon a time, Disney had great food at affordable prices, not so anymore

 

[ses1230]

When in the parks we usually have a sit down late lunch. I looked up Crystal palace and it looks like lunch is $35.99.

Just can not justify spending that much per person for a decent meal.

I think this year we will go near by and get a meal or maybe CS?

The Plaza is a TS but is inexpensive (relatively). We really enjoy the food there.

 

[Tiger926]

Yes, I can confirm, lunch at CP is $24.99. However that is off peak so you will have to add another 4 dollars for peak pricing.

Yup, this is correct. $24.99 non peak and $28.99 peak. Still one of the cheaper options, as some character dinners are close to $50.00!

Tiger

 

[n2mm]

OP I agree, the prices have gotten to be too much and paying those prices for the kids over 9 is even harder. We are not a buffet family at all. We still do TS meals, but no buffets. We like this option better. There are plenty of other places you can eat that are in an affordable price range and still be happy. We enjoy Libery Tree Tavern for a nice TS lunch during our visits to MK. We also enjoy eating at the 50s PT. Actually we like not going to buffets and having someone bring our food to our table. Yes that means you actually have to make more of an effort to see characters if that is on your must do list. I find mornings at the AK are great times for characters, because everyone is heading to the safari to EE. My granddaughters do not care about the characters except princesses, so we usually catch up with them over a EPCOT WS during the day.

 

[isla bonita]

We will be there at peak so it will be $28.99 for all of us. I have no little ones any longer, my youngest is 10 so we are all the adult price.

I so do not need the Pooh Characters I just like a sit down once a day with AC to regroup and then head back into the park.

There are many near by restaurants that we can try.

 

[BriarRosie]

We will be there at peak so it will be $28.99 for all of us. I have no little ones any longer, my youngest is 10 so we are all the adult price.

I so do not need the Pooh Characters I just like a sit down once a day with AC to regroup and then head back into the park.

There are many near by restaurants that we can try.

You're paying a premium for eating with characters. As others have said, you can eat at the Plaza Inn for much less. Or you can go to one of the MK resorts for lunch. There are better cost alternatives, but the buffets and character meals tend to be the highest price bracket these days.

 

[sissy_ib]

The resort restaurants seem to have a much better selection for the same price or less.
Take a look at menus for the TS places in the resorts near the parks.

OP if you want to get out of the heat you can do that at some CS places. For example Starlight Rays in Tomorrowland is indoors.

 

[k&a&c'smom]

The prices all the way around are getting high. On our trip next month, DD and I will be skipping the Signature restaurants for the first time in many, many years. We plan to do one moderate TS per day, and have breakfast in the room. Pick up some snacks and/or CS to round out the day.

Again, this is a first for us - we normally eat at a Signature every night, and usually at least one more TS per day (sometimes two). Just can't justify the exorbitant cost. The DDP does not work for us at all, as we tend to order a couple appetizers, one entree (or maybe even 3-4 apps and no entree!) and no dessert.

 

[bicker]

Disney has always been expensive, and as everything in our society has been tweaked to foster greater profitability (i.e., more revenue generated for lower cost incurred) Disney is no different.

I remember my brothers and I scraping together enough money to take our mother to a very nice family restaurant near our home, for Mother's Day about thirty-five years ago, and that amount of money, even adjusted for inflation, would barely pay for three of the four meals now. It is a non-surprising economic principle that the more discretionary income there is, the higher the margin in the pricing of any luxury (and going out to eat is indeed a luxury).

The "good" news is that, for the first time in any of our lifetimes, it appears that NPDI, which has been steadily increasing, as a rolling average quarter-after-quarter, at least since 1947 when the metric was first tracked, is no longer consistently aimed upward. The metric has bounced up and down since 2008, rather than consistently increasing.

Of course, this "good" news for us as consumers is bad news for us as workers, investors, and other folks looking to make a living in our economy.

 

[maxiesmom]

Affordable is such a subjective term anyway. Many people cannot afford to go to WDW at all. Some people can only affford to eat table service. Many of us who are lucky enough to visit WDW to just have to decide what we are willing to spend our money on. If I really wanted to, I could afford to eat a character meal every day, but I choose to spend that money on other things.

What is affordable is different for everyone.

 

[Condorman]

Yep, the prices are ridiculous for mediocre food, not even decent in my opinion. I do not like to herded like cattle for my meals, so we just eat whatever we want when we are hungry. McDonalds usually, as the food is consistent and so are the prices. Once upon a time, Disney had great food at affordable prices, not so anymore

So after paying Disney for your tickets, you purposely leave the parks, taking 30 minutes to get to your vehicle or a 3rd party shuttle bus, another 20 minutes to get to the nearest McDonald's, 30 minutes to eat, and then 30+ minutes to get back into the parks? So basically you've wasted most of the value of that day-ticket just to save what, $5-$10 on lunch, and you did all that to eat at a McDonald's, which has 14,000 locations all over the world?

I'd say Disney is getting the better end of that transaction.

 

[sissy_ib]

Don't forget Disney lets you bring food into the parks. You can make a picnic lunch and bring it with you.

 

[isla bonita]

So after paying Disney for your tickets, you purposely leave the parks, taking 30 minutes to get to your vehicle or a 3rd party shuttle bus, another 20 minutes to get to the nearest McDonald's, 30 minutes to eat, and then 30+ minutes to get back into the parks? So basically you've wasted most of the value of that day-ticket just to save what, $5-$10 on lunch, and you did all that to eat at a McDonald's, which has 14,000 locations all over the world?
I'd say Disney is getting the better end of that transaction.

First off I would not leave to go to a McDonalds.

I think I would be saving a lot more then $5-$10 per person when the lunch is $28.99, there are 7 of us.

 

[OceanAnnie]

Don't forget Disney lets you bring food into the parks. You can make a picnic lunch and bring it with you.

I thought you only could buy a picnic lunch. I didn't know you could bring food in other than maybe some kid's snacks or something.

 

[Q-man]

I remember my brothers and I scraping together enough money to take our mother to a very nice family restaurant near our home, for Mother's Day about thirty-five years ago, and that amount of money, even adjusted for inflation, would barely pay for three of the four meals now.

Dollars to donuts those portion sizes are 50% or more larger than they were 35 years ago. Which is part of the obesity epidemic in America.

 

[Q-man]

I thought you only could buy a picnic lunch. I didn't know you could bring food in other than maybe some kid's snacks or something.

You can bring in a whole meal for the entire family. Just be sure it can fit in a smaller soft sided cooler or use two if needed.

 

[OceanAnnie]

You can bring in a whole meal for the entire family. Just be sure it can fit in a smaller soft sided cooler or use two if needed.

Learn something new all the time. Thanks.