Money-Saving Dining Tips for Disney World
Food is one of the biggest expenses of a Walt Disney World vacation, so eating on a budget can be difficult. Here we’ll share money-saving tips on recommended restaurants, what to eat & avoid, hacks for cutting your dining expenses, and ideas for “dining on a dime” at WDW. (Updated February 12, 2024.)
With the ‘Free’ Disney Dining Card Discount at Walt Disney World for 2024, it’s a great time to revisit this list to think of ways to stretch those dining cards even further. These dining cards are not all-inclusive–not that regular Free Dining was, but most people got more food than they could possibly eat with it! You’re likely to have out of pocket dining expenses as a result if you don’t plan accordingly. With the advice here, you can reduce your Walt Disney World dining budget, spending less out of pocket as a result.
Before we begin with the money-saving Walt Disney World dining tips, we have a couple of “rules” that we’ve imposed upon ourselves. The first is no spreadsheets. Budgeting can be done by loosely following common sense strategy and tips. Eating inexpensively does not require advanced analytics or being a master statistician. Walt Disney World planning obsessives will probably consider this heresy, but I hate spreadsheets…
I would not wish spreadsheets upon my worst enemy–let alone people I’m trying to encourage to have “fun” on “vacation.” From my perspective, spreadsheets are antithetical to the core concept of vacationing. Not only that, but visiting Walt Disney World is already complicated and stressful enough without introducing even more ‘rules’ and planning parameters to the mix. I understand others vehemently disagree, so to each their own. If you enjoy making spreadsheets, feel free to go nuts at it.
You can use the principles here to create the same kind of comprehensive lists that Disney Dining Plan diehards used to make when planning where–and what–to eat to maximize their value on that. Thankfully, the new Disney Dining Card promo is much more laid back and straightforward than that.
Second, we seldom dine off-site. Part of this is wanting to remain immersed in the Walt Disney World bubble. Another part is the practical reality that spending time and money to get off-site quickly eats away at any financial savings. Vacation time is valuable, and how much of it are you willing to “spend” to save ~$5 per person on a fast food entree?
Admittedly, ‘no off-site dining’ is one that’s getting more difficult to justify as a hard and fast rule for ourselves, especially with the Orlando area’s burgeoning dining scene. With that in mind, we’d refer you to our List of Great Restaurants Near Walt Disney World if you’re interested in venturing off-property.
The upside is that the restaurants on that list that we’ve tried are superlative–most are better than the best of Walt Disney World. The downside is that almost all are pretty far off-property. (If you are willing to venture off-site, the nearest exceptional option is the Kissimmee location of 4 Rivers Smokehouse; a different twist on 4 Rivers is also available at Disney Springs.)
With that in mind, here are our money-saving tips for dining at Walt Disney World…
EAT: Hype-less Hidden Gems – When a restaurant at Walt Disney World becomes popular, its prices rise and quality generally falls. It’s a tale as old as time that can be witnessed in several restaurants, with Le Cellier being the most foremost example of this classic ‘dining downfall’ arc.
However, the converse is also true. When a restaurant is less popular, there’s less of a reason to raise prices. Not only that, but restaurants that are less popular generally have to try harder to attract and maintain an audience, and the culinary teams are given more freedom to experiment and try new things.
Honestly, the less you hear about a restaurant…the better it probably is. That applies to both the cuisine quality and value for money. No offense to Be Our Guest Restaurant, ‘Ohana, Chef Mickey’s, or California Grill, but I’d take the restaurants on our List of Underrated Restaurants at Walt Disney World or Top 10 Best Value Table Service Restaurants at Walt Disney World over all of the highly-hyped
EAT: Groceries for Breakfast – With a handful of exceptions, breakfast at Walt Disney World leaves a lot to be desired. Most counter service restaurants offer a limited selection of phoned in entrees with staples like powdered eggs and rubbery paper-bacon. Table service restaurants tend to do things better, but breakfast is still overpriced for what you get, time-consuming, and most items aren’t memorable.
Even for those who aren’t on a tight budget, we recommend grocery delivery for breakfast. (See our Tips for Grocery Delivery at Walt Disney World.) We tend to focus on things like fruits and vegetables, since those are overpriced at Walt Disney World and there’s not really anything to do in terms of preparation.
It’s a great opportunity to get healthy, nutrient-dense foods in order to give you energy and start your day on the right foot, save money and time…and make you feel a little less guilty about eating 4 cupcakes and 3 orders of ice cream later in the day. After all, you had carrots and oatmeal at breakfast!
EAT: Disney Springs Restaurants – When it comes to dining at Walt Disney World, your dollar goes much further at most Disney Springs restaurants than in-park ones. This is largely true because Disney Springs is (almost) on a level playing field with real world restaurants. It’s nearly as easy for on-site guests to dine off-site as it is to eat at Disney Springs, and it’s absolutely as convenient for locals (for the latter, Disney Springs is probably less convenient).
The main result of this is restaurants at Disney Springs charging premium pricing…but with significantly less mark-up than in-park dining options. The secondary result is that Disney Springs restaurants must compete on quality. Cuisine-wise, Disney Springs is the epicenter of Walt Disney World’s culinary scene. (Sorry, World Showcase, but it’s not even close.)
Some of our favorite value options on the counter service front include Blaze Pizza, Chicken Guy, and 4 Rivers Cantina Barbacoa Food Truck (the last is by far the best). For table service, try Boathouse, Morimoto Asia, Homecomin’, STK (lunch or happy hour), and Raglan Road. Note that every single one of these restaurants has a lengthy menu, with prices that are all over the place. To save money, you’ll (obviously) want to order from the lower end of the price spectrum.
EAT: Hotel Food Courts – Similar idea here as with Disney Springs; hotel guests are less of a captive audience. You’ll find prices that tend to be a few dollars cheaper per entree, and quality that tends to be better.
The difficulty here is making meals at a hotel food court work within the context of your schedule. This either means leaving the park (which wastes time) or doing a late dinner, which may not be feasible. Regardless, it’s something to consider.
Our favorite ‘use case’ of eating at hotel restaurants is taking a midday break from Magic Kingdom and heading to one of the monorail loop resorts (we’re also big fans of the boat to Fort Wilderness/Wilderness Lodge for the same reason). These aren’t technically food courts, but the Grand Floridian and Polynesian (and Contemporary, albeit to a lesser extent) have great meals at fair prices. The food is a lot better than anywhere in the park, and it’s a nice respite from the crowds!
AVOID: Signature Restaurants – Pretty straightforward. Walt Disney World’s most expensive restaurants are its ‘Signature’ options, which are altogether incompatible with dining on a dime. This isn’t to say you can’t scour the menu for good values, but you can do the same at cheaper restaurants with better results.
To that end, consider Sanaa, Sebastian’s Bistro, one of the aforementioned Disney Springs restaurants, or something in Swan & Dolphin if you want to splurge a bit. It’s also worth considering Three Bridges Bar & Grill or Toledo – Tapas, Steak & Seafood, two new restaurants at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort.
If you really want to enjoy fine dining without breaking the bank, there arguably is no better option than Toledo. It’s not cheap, but the value for money is unparalleled. It’s also one of the few restaurants at Walt Disney World that is Michelin Guide-recognized. We love and highly recommend Toledo for guests wanting a fancy date night splurge without breaking the bank completely.
AVOID: Soda & Sides – We’ve been harping on these two things for a while, so regular readers will probably have their eyes glaze over at this point. I can’t remember the last time I bought soda at Walt Disney World. Ice water is free, and you can get your caffeine fix by packing coffee packets and making your own. (See our Ultimate Packing Guide for Walt Disney World, which offers recommendations for water bottles, caffeine fixes, snacks, and more.)
The other big one is not spending extra on sides, or specifically ordering entrees that don’t come with them (pizza and salads, for example). Sides at counter service restaurants tend to be overpriced, meaning that you might pay an extra $5 for a small side of coleslaw or pickles. (Looking at you, Regal Eagle!)
This is also why we highly recommend doing grocery delivery and eating your daily servings of fruits and vegetables before even leaving your hotel room. Fruits and vegetables are important fuel, but they’re absurdly priced in restaurants and at snack stands throughout Walt Disney World. Also, there’s zero difference between oranges and carrots delivered to you by Walmart+ and those sold at Walt Disney World, save for the price. You’re not missing out on anything ‘fun’ by saving money on those.
AVOID: Overhyped Desserts – This one pains me to write. Snacking is a big part of the Walt Disney World experience for us, and I wouldn’t recommend anyone swear off snacks entirely for the sake of a budget.
However, it is worth noting that most snacks don’t offer commensurate nutritiousness and ‘filling-ness’ for their cost. Basically, be weary of snack costs, target the ones under $5, and be judicious with your snack expenditures–but don’t give them up completely.
A good example here is cupcakes, which are now over $6 at most locations around Walt Disney World. Years ago, Disney cupcakes developed a strong following and have largely rested on their laurels since, increasing in price as they’ve decreased in size and quality. You could totally swear off cupcakes at Walt Disney World in favor of cheaper, better snacks.
HACK: EPCOT Festivals – This used to be in the “avoid” column, and that always pained me since EPCOT festivals are so much fun. However, after enjoying the 2024 EPCOT Festival of the Arts and several events prior to that, I’m now fairly convinced that categorically saying you should avoid EPCOT festival food is, at best, incomplete advice. At worst, it’s suggesting you do something that will make your day in the park worse.
To be sure, there’s still wildly overpriced food at these events (prices haven’t gone down!) and portion sizes can be problematic, causing you to graze all day spending exponentially more than you would on a hearty counter service meal and not getting full. However, inflation in the real world and around Walt Disney World has arguably outpaced some of the menus at these booths.
The bottom line is that you can find filling dishes and desserts at the food booths that around $5 to $7 and taste delicious. It’s entirely plausible that 2-3 of these will be as or more filling than a counter service meal, and offer significantly superior cuisine and a more fun experience for about the same price–maybe a few dollars more. It’s also possible that you could drop $40 and leave hungry. Hence the “hack” recommendation. Be mindful of what you’re spending and portion sizes–but enjoy the food booths to some degree!
AVOID: Disney Dining Plan – Saved the “best” for last, as I know this is a controversial one with which many of you will disagree. Whether the Disney Dining Plan is a good way to budget, saves most people money, or offers good value for money is a series of debates that’ll never be resolved. (If you’re interested in that subject, see When You Should Buy & Skip the 2024 Disney Dining Plan! for scenarios where it makes sense and others where it doesn’t.)
However, none of those are the pertinent question here. We’re asking: is the Disney Dining Plan the least-expensive way to eat at Walt Disney World? Reframing the issue should make it less contentious. Save for Free Dining (and even then, only in some cases), the Disney Dining Plan is undoubtedly not the cheapest way to dine at Walt Disney World. It may offer good value, budgeting, etc., but following the other tips here to “dine on a dime” will produce cheaper results.
With the tips here, you can do two counter service meals per day for $28 (or less). Add $7 to that per day cost for breakfast groceries and snacks. That brings us to $35, which might be a conservative number, but it’s still over $20 per day cheaper than the lowest tier of the Disney Dining Plan.
In a nutshell, that should explain how you can come out ahead by paying out of pocket for food and why it’s not the end of the world that the Disney Dining Plan still isn’t back. Who knows, after doing a vacation to Walt Disney World during which you pay as you go for meals, you may never want to return to the complex and convoluted Disney Dining Plan!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What’s your advice for saving money on food at Walt Disney World? Anything recommended here that you would not do? Anything you’d add to our list? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
There have been a couple of occasions where my wife and I stayed at one of the Art of Animation rooms; we ate several meals at the Landscape of Flavors dining hall. After seeing how much food was served for adult portions, we started buying the kids’ meals for ourselves. It’s plenty of food and you can save quite a bit of money.
Another tip is to use credit card points for gift cards that you can use at WDW, like Starbucks, Landry’s (Rainforest Cafe, Yak and Yeti, TRex), or Four Seasons for the character meal (the hotel’swebsite makes it seems like you can use gift cards at Ravello restaurant, but I need to call to make sure). Or use points to get gift cards for other travel expenses, like gas and put the money you would have spent towards food expenses.
Hey Tom, I am assuming you are making a joke because most people do not order only an entree, I have never had that situation. Your quote…“The other big one is ordering “entree only” at Walt Disney World restaurants. This still works at some locations, but is less and less common. I’m not sure if it’s because the button has actually been removed on cash registers at these restaurants, or if newer Cast Members just don’t know how to do it. Either way, our success rate on this one has dropped to ~20%.
I think he is referring to quick service meals. We used to save money by ordering one or more meals without sides (usually fries, cole slaw, etc.). This option isn’t available as often as it used to be.
Hang it all- I’m on VACATION! Save your money ahead and buy the mid-range Dining Plan!!! Breakfast in room, of course! No stress is worth ALOT. Great food, experiences we won’t get anywhere else, and a chance to try places we would never be able to afford.
I respectfully disagree, but maybe because I have a 10 year old who rarely finishes a meal. Even my wife and (sometimes) I don’t finish every meal, so we have leftovers for some meals (refrigerate in room, microwave later). On our most recent trip, a 5 night/4 day stay during the Easter/Passover weekend, we saved hundreds of dollars buying food a la cart, as opposed to purchasing a Dining Plan that best matched what we did restaurant wise (1 table service per day, 1 food court and/or quick service per day)….and that included the obligatory two popcorns per day (we purchased the refillable bucket), and the odd Mickey pretzel, Mickey ice cream, and churro. In fact, one day at our resort food court, somebody was “buying” 32 snacks, because that’s how many snack credits this family had left to use. How is THAT saving money? I realize buying food as one goes may not be less expensive for everyone, but the 4 trips to WDW that we’ve stayed in property, the dining plan AKWAYS would have cost us more money than paying for each meal and snack out of pocket.
I agree with Peter. First, we are on vacation. Second, I plan and save. Third, we can eat in restaurants we would otherwise not be able to afford. The person buying 32 snack credits obviously did not plan or pay attention to what they were doing. For us at least, two snacks a day is not difficult, and I use snack credits for breakfast and/or lunch giving us an extra meal so we do not have to buy, bring or pay for that third meal each day. I, too, have kept track of the cost of what we eat vs what we would have paid. It comes out even or saving, but never under. Not having to figure out how much to bring or having a food bill to pay after the trip is also a consideration for taking the dining plan. I guess it is an individual thing — it works for some people but not for others.
We did the dining plan once and really struggled to use all of our credits; my husband and I just aren’t big eaters!
Glad the Dining Plan works for you. Jowever, we’ve switched over to waiting for one bbn ofnour cards to have a 5% cashback offer for wholesale clubs, then bought Disney gift cards in bulk instead. We’ve found we save more money that was (as light eaters). Plus if we are under budget, we don’t have to scramble to spend since unlike the dining plan credits, the gift cards don’t expire. The extra can be spent on food, souvenirs, ShopDisney, or just saved for next year. You can make your own “payment plan” on these by buying a gift card each month, and consolidating the total amount to one gift card using Disney’s online tools. (Bonus: if you keep the spare cards you can give them to your kids and reload with a preset amount each day to give them their own food/souvenir budget).
Some people love the peace of mind of DDP, and that’s fine! I just feel the same peace of mind having $500-600 in gift cards.
I’m with you. This next trip i am just getting gift cards and using them for everything. i like to eat but I don’t like to eat a lot at one time. I want my dessert an hour or two later. And i don’t want to spend the last hour of my trip trying to figure out how to use up all my credits with snacks. i understand why some people do it – it’s already paid for, convenience of not having to worry about paying for food, but it’s just not for me.
I agree with you’re on VACATION and just eat what you want, where you want. Save for it, buy gift cards all year, charge it and pay it off later. Who knows if and when you’ll be able to get back there.
I appreciate this site so much! Everyone simply has to do what makes them comfortable and fits their budget. My family and I don’t think that WDW food items taste good – at all (no good flavor/seasoning and poor quality). We can tolerate breakfast (and some snacks) though so if we want to give my son a full Disney immersion while dining, from time to time we may grab breakfast at BOG, Tusker House or Akershus. Otherwise, we eat all of our meals off-site and enjoy every bite. Unless Disney completes a complete overall on their food, I can’t imagine purchasing a dining plan.
Tom, Thanks for the great tips! On our next trip we have decided to put our meal budget on a Visa gift card. We are planning a generous budget, but less than the dining plan, and any money we have left over can be spent anywhere. ProbablyEileen buying groceries when we get home!
Thanks for your wonderful blog. You have inspired me to plan a grand retirement trip to Kyoto and Tokyo Disney!
Tom, do you have a post about restaurants at WDW with the entre-only option? That would be very handy!
Similar to yourself, we skip the dining plan and no offsite dining. To elaborate on your grocery delivery suggestion: we use grocery delivery for breakfast, lunch, water, beer, wine, non-alcohol drinks, and snacks. We eat counter service dinners almost every night except we splurge on one character dining meal. Money isn’t the only reason for utilizing grocery delivery and counter services. Its prevents overeating, keeps us energize, more variety in food choices, and more attraction time.
The small portion sizes of the food and drinks and prices at Food & Wine Festival is absurd so I rarely buy anything at F&W.
If you want a reservation at any popular spot, Ohana, Be Our Guest, Chefs de France, ect, mandates the DDP for advance rsvp ! I’m not constantly refreshing the app searching for a place to dine…….Worth Conserdation
You don’t need the DDP to make Advance Dining Reservations, don’t even have to be staying st WDW. Anyone can make ADRs at 6 months out.
And Tom, you didn’t really mean a TAIL as old as time?!?!?!?
I’ve gotten 2 reservations to Be Our Guest (1 lunch, 1 dinner, different trips) without being in the DDP, ad well as Chef de France. True, I awoke early 180 days before the start date if my trips to get the BoG reservations, but Chefs de France was made a few days ahead…in fact, just a minute ago I went in the WDW website and one can get dinner reservations for Chefs de France for tomorrow!!!! So I don’t know where this “you must have DDP to get reservations” belief comes from.
Drew, that’s exactly what we do! Since we are ‘rope droppers’, it’s breakfast in the room, then sometimes a snack we carry, for me a sliced apple and piece of cheddar cheese. We have already chosen where our one or two snacks will be in the park as well as the one adult beverage we want to try. Our main meal is at 3pm for the smaller crowds and lesser food costs of two meals. Since we go in off season, park closes at 9pm. Might be an additional snack before we leave, but usually its something light like yogurt or hummus and veggies back in the room. We like being able to try the unique snacks on offer but the cupcakes are not one of them.
Yes, I think it’s the best way to have a full, fun day and save money without even really thinking about it.
The other big one for us is getting adult beverages (canned beer or canned spiked seltzer) delivered. On our pool days we will get one cocktail for fun, but not paying Disney prices for alcoh9ol when hanging pool side is a huge cost saver.
Tom,
I have asked this before 3 times, and I have seen other people ask it too, and you have never answered. Where are you getting free hot water to make your own coffee with the packets you bring? They have not been allowing or giving out hot water for at least 3 years now, you have to buy tea ( a bag and a cup of hot water). I prefer bringing my own coffee packets too, but hot water is not available.
Since you keep mentioning it, PLEASE TELL US WHERE TO GET HOT WATER. Otherwise, you should probably update all the places you recommend it.
Thanks in advance.
Hot water from the dining area in the hotels. No one will charge you for filling up your mug with hot water. No quick service establishment will deny anyone wanting hot water, just like ice water. Fill up at the beverage station. Plus there are Keurig machines in the rooms, just bring your own k-cups if you need more.
I have never been bothered when filling up my water bottles with water & ice, why would plain hot water be any different?
We stayed at the cabins at Fort Wilderness and there was an opportunity of fashioned coffee brewer. We are going to Kidani village, savanna view studio room next. Are you sure there are Keurigs there?? If so, that is absolutely awesome.
Thank you!
J
The majority of DVC villas do not have Keurigs, but Mr Coffee 10-12 cup coffee makers. You bring your own filters and coffee since they only replace the coffee packets every four days.
We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge in the Jambo House last March & we had a Keurig. They replaced 2 k-cups each day. We were in a non-preferred room so I imagine your room would have that, at the very least. I wish I could swing AKL again!
As I said, they changed it more than 3 years ago. They say it is for liability reasons, but no doubt money is also involved. Like the hot cheese at Cosmic Rays, there may have been a lawsuit involved. I am talking about out in the parks, which Tom refers to frequently in his advice, not getting hot water in a food court. He is giving it as money saving advice, which I agree with, and was useful until 3 years ago. Yes, all quick services in the parks are not allowed to GIVE you hot water You must buy it, which is the same price as buying a cup of coffee, so not a money saving idea. Try going to any QS in a park and ask for a cup of hot water, since apparently you won’t believe it until you try it yourself. Then report back on your results.
He could be referring to the many iced coffee packets that are now available from brands like Starbucks. No hot water required and coffee ASAP.
Starbucks have microwaves in there WDW locations
Free cup of water and microwave equals……….?
It’s also possible that he’s using cold brew type coffee packs in the park.
The only place I could think of that might hook you up with free hot water would be a Starbucks in-park. I know outside of Disney they usually don’t charge for a cup of hot water.
Sorry, I missed this thread before.
We’re requesting cold water for iced coffee. I can’t even remember the last time we tried to get hot water at Walt Disney World–the weather usually calls for cold coffee rather than hot!
Sometimes DIY dining is a cheap option and a welcome break from the bustle of restaurants. It’s very easy to do in an off-site rental, DVC or Fort Wilderness, but I’ve occasionally used the standard resort mini-fridges to store a rotisserie chicken or cold cuts from Garden Grocer. We’re huge fans of Disney dining experiences, but sometimes a quiet, easy, inexpensive dinner and a swim in the resort pool in the middle of our Disney vacation is just what we need to feel recharged for more days of park touring.
PrimeNow and Garden Grocer have been my “go to” for breakfasts, bottled water and snacks. This saves money, but is more about saving time. When we look at how much money it costs my family of 5 to be in a park, per minute, it’s unconscionable to wait 20-minutes to buy a $4 water with a $6 pretzel!
You definitely need to think things through. We rarely ever ate 3 meals a day. 2 meals are percent widespread out & enjoy a snack or two. Last summer, my son and I had the “free dining” (which really wasn’t because the room was not discounted. I spent the whole time trying to make sure we got our money’s worth! We had a few character meals and table service meals not included and I was panicked to use all of our credits before leaving. This year we are going dining plan free & I am not stressed about it lol.
Spreadsheets are my life blood! I have 4 open in my browser right now, although only one is for my upcoming Disney World trip. =oP But I really enjoy making lists and spreadsheets, whereas my husband thinks I’m borderline insane.
Since this is our first trip, we went with the middle dining plan, and I woke up at 6 AM on my 180-day mark. I totally got all I wanted, even though there are some late dinner times (I find it so weird that on our first Saturday, we couldn’t get an ADR before 9:30 PM at T-REX, ha!). We’re 3 adults, and we will be getting alcohol with our meals 90% of the time, so I think it works out in our favor. Plus we’re going during Food & Wine, so those snack credits will be used, you better believe it!
I do think our next trip (already trying to plan a second trip and haven’t even been on our first), we may not go with the dining plan, since my dad most likely won’t be joining us for a second time. We can easily share the bigger counter service meals, I’m sure. And even though breakfast food is my favorite food, a box of granola bars can help!
Did you try phoning / contacting T-Rex directly? A number of the 3rd party owned restaurants at Disney Springs only release a portion of their reservations through the Walt Disney reservation platform. You might have better luck with a preferred time if you contact them directly. 🙂
Or better yet, join Landry’s Select Club before your trip. No reservation needed and it gets you in faster.
For T-Rex, you can take any reservation then periodically refresh to try for an earlier time. Or….join Landry’s club and you NEVER need a reservation for any of their restaurants (including Rainforest Cafe and Yak & Yeti). I think it costs $25, but you immediately receive a $25 GC plus a GC for your birthday month!
I thought about the $25 thing, but wasn’t sure if it was really worth it for the one restaurant during our trip, and there aren’t any local restaurants owned by the group. Does the $25 expire?
Didn’t think about only a small number of reservations being available to book through Disney’s ADR, but will give them a call, for sure! While I don’t mind eating late, 9:30 PM is a little out there for our family that eats dinner at 5 PM every day. lol.
It’s a GC, so I don’t think it expires. It’s $25 and you will exceed that in just one restaurant visit alone. You do not have to pay annually. You may even be able to use the birthday month GC in the same visit….tip: they do not check your ID, so your “birthday” can be whenever you are visiting. You can sign up in the restaurant, or online. Not needing a reservation is awesome. But like I mentioned, you can just take that 930pm reservation & periodically refresh to search for earlier times. I’ve done it for other restaurants too and almost immediately I find a time I prefer. (Works with FP too 😉 )
I’m so scared for FP just because I have no idea what to go for (aside from Flight of Passage because my husband’s favorite movie is Avatar, and I’m hoping beyond hope that I’ll be able to score it!), and I don’t want to get something that would otherwise be easy to walk onto. Plus the rides I will ride are vastly different than what my husband and dad will want to ride. I don’t think my body produces adrenaline and I don’t want to be the grown woman crying on Slinky Dog Dash. Haha.
Hahahaha I hate roller coasters! They scare me to death. I wanted to do Slinky so bad, even though I was scared to death, but my son refused & I was mad! LOL! Last year I used a travel agent & she did all of my FP. By the end of the trip I was changing everything. Get FP early b/c you can keep getting another one after using the 1st 3. If I only found a late time? i took it & kept refreshing until I got earlier times. We did so many rides that way. Often there were FP available now when the line was 2hrs! It’s worth playing around with. We leave in a month & I haven’t even looked at the FP’s yet! It’s worth trying for restaurants too. I did book some already & did the refresh & found what I wanted. Play around with it, you can always cancel it :).
Hi Melissa! DEFINITELY call in for an earlier reservation at T-Rex. We’ve been many times, and the only online times we could ever book, were 330pm or 930pm…nothing in between available online. So now we call for T-Rex instead, and every trip we’ve gotten a res at 5pm. The food is delicious! The atmosphere is awesome!! Have a super fun time and a magical first trip!!!
Cupcakes at WDW have always baffled me. They aren’t that good in taste (my homemake cupcakes are so much better) and they are so darned expensive. I can purchase a box of eight Hostess cupcakes for about $3 (some people don’t care for Hostess cupcakes). So for the price of one cupcake at WDW, I can have 16 from Hostess.
We enjoy going to the Epcot Festivals because we can get smaller plates of some pretty good tasting food instead of paying $100 per person to eat in the restaurant that might or might not serve that item. The beverages are never a good deal at these festivals, so we’ll purchase the full sized one from a nearby cart or counter service for just a bit more. But if you just want a small taste or a flight that isn’t going to get you drunk, the festival beverage might do the trick.
The last food item that really baffles me are the specialty milkshakes that have a piece of pie or cake on top, plus stuff dripping on the outside of the glass and all sorts of stuff on top. When I want a milkshake, I want a chocolate (black and white, not chocolate ice cream) and that’s it. I don’t know how you are supposed to drink those specialty ones since all you get is a paper straw unless they actually give you a wide plastic straw and all the stuff is in the way. You need a plate to take it all apart to drink the shake before it melts. Then you have a soupy piece of cake, sticky wet candy and who knows what left over.
DebC, I couldn’t agree more.
Thank you for this great advice! We are fortunate to live only 2 hours away, so when we arrive on property, I get dropped off at the hotel to clean the room (I’m a clean freak) while my husband and son go to Publix. They buy all the water, soda and breakfast items we need for our stay. We always eat at one sit down restaurant on the first night and the rest of the visit is quick service. Some of our favorites that we go to are; flametree, contempo, gasparilla, polite pig, d lux burger and one food court at either pop or animation (since we usually stay at pop) Like you, I don’t want to go off property to eat. We have enough of that food at home.
I thought about adding the quick service dining plan for our upcoming trip in September, but I looked at every menu and thought about things we typically order and it still didn’t add up to 52.50 per person. Even with food and wine at Epcot, I still couldn’t justify it. I will agree that the convenience of having it pre paid is nice and tapping your magic band is easy, but for me, I can’t justify even spending even 100 dollars more. Especially with all the increases lately. I’m trying something new this visit…I’m buying a Disney gift card every week when I grocery shop to use for our meals while on property. I don’t know if it will be convenient or not yet but at least I won’t be fumbling with cash and it will be pre paid.
A tip with the gift cards- you can use the Disney gift card website to consolidate your cards so you’re only carrying around one or two. My husband figured that out during our first trip using Target purchased gift cards (5% off the cost of the gift cards using my Target Red card debit card) and it saved so much confusion regarding how much was left on each of the cards we brought. That’s generally how we budget for food now- gift cards so that it’s seemingly pre-paid without worrying about using Dining Plan credits for their max value throughout the whole trip. Have a great trip!
I will check that out…Thanks for the tip!
I tend to eat a lot of kid’s meals at WDW; it works for me, because I don’t have the largest appetite normally and it gets even smaller when it’s hot.
It obviously wasn’t the very cheapest, but we made the dining plan work well for us by splitting a (partially free) plan for 2 people over 4 of us and then further sharing when ordering (2 BoG breakfasts & an extra cupcake, 2 Flame Tree entrees & loaded fries on a snack credit, 1 giant cinnamon roll between 3 of us)
Actually, sharing is also how we saved money last trip – 1 large gelato instead of 3 small (as long as you can agree on complimentary flavours!)
And there may have been some spreadsheets involved, but they work for me and keeping my ADHD ass on track. (Also it gives me something to do at work on slow days…!)
One trip we took, I had sticker shock at the $33 pepperoni pizza we got at Via Napoli (5 minute wait, no reservation….talk about lucky!) Then a few days later, while having a steak at Coral reef, I realized that pizza was two meals for the three of us (it was dinner right before Illuminations, and we took the leftovers with us since we left for our resort right after eating…microwaved 2 days later at the resort for lunch).
Totally agree, you do not need a spreadsheet! Happy medium: either the night before or morning of, use the MDE app and take a look at the food options, peruse the menu, etc. Get an idea of where you would like to eat, and if that fits in the budget. In my experience, you can get a same day ADR most of the time, albeit maybe not the ideal time to go (excluding Be Our Guest, California Grill, etc). Just some, dare I say: food for thought!
Tom, I disagree because I am a dining plan person mostly because I have paid for it in advance and I go to restaurants I could not otherwise afford. But I have to give the credit to you for making it so I am able to do this. I take seriously all your suggestions on “getting the biggest bang for your buck”, snacks that are the best on the dining plan, sharing a counter service meal (like at Flame Tree in AK), using snack credits for meals (salads and/or soup), never buying water or soda, etc. I run trips for scout groups to Disney, and I pass on all of your info to them. Thanks.
One way we have saved a bunch of time/money is by doing one late lunch/early dinners on park days.
If you eat around 2:30 or 3pm the restaurants are less crowded, which in my opinion makes for a better experience. The portions are generally big enough you walk away sated for most of the day, and it leaves room for snacks, etc. later on in the day without needing another full meal.
Having one big meal a day has worked really well for us (and our wallet).