I need to relieve my budget a little - please help me decide what to cut!

[DisneyFan09]

I have 9 ps's and figure that is the perfect place to cut some money out of my budget but I can't decide which restaurants to give up because some of them I've never tried. I'd like to cut out 2-3 and replace with counter service. It will be me, dd 7, dd8 and my mother. I could definitely use some advice.

Here's my list:

LeCellier (lunch) - never been and figure maybe dd and I could share

1900 Park Faire (dinner) - never been

CRT (breakfast) - won't consider giving this one up

Kona Cafe (breakfast) - thought we could share here too! And we've never had Tonga Toast

'Ohana (dinner) - never been

Garden Grill (dinner) - we have done this one and dd's loved it and talk about it all the time

Boma (dinner) - never been and really just wanted a reason to check out AKL

Crystal Palace (lunch) - never been

Chef Mickey's (breakfast) - we have had dinner here before and we really wanted to do a character meal on our last day.

BTW - it will probably be 3-5 years before we make it back so it'll be hard to save some of these places for next time. so please help me decide!!

 

[Epcotgal8]

Ok, don't shoot me lol. All are good choices. If I had to eliminate 2 it would be dinner at the 1900 Park Faire at the GF and lunch at Crystal Palace. Not so much that those are bad choices because they're not but the other ones seem like would be a good variety and good time for your group. Any questions on why I think so please feel free to pm me.

 

[off2disney]

Gosh, I won't be much help to you - your list looks about like what we want to try out when we go in December, and it it will probably be a while before we get back there, too. We cut expenses on accommodations (going from WL to All Star Sports) so we'll have more to spend on meals.

 

[Planogirl]

Maybe it'll help if you change a dinner or two to lunch or breakfast keeping in mind that dinner costs more? But your choices do seem nice. I would cut out 'Ohana if I had to cut but it's a hard decision! You could also change Boma to breakfast possibly. Then you could still check out AKL and the food is real good too.

 

[DisneyFan09]

Epcotgal - Those are the exact 2 that I had picked!! I suppose I should take that as a sign!!

Off2disney - I've thought about downgrading on the resort but at this late of a date I'm afraid I might not get a room anywhere!!

Planogirl - Your suggestion is a good one but I'm not sure that will save me enough in the long run!

Thanks everyone for your input, it's so hard to make these decisions alone and dh wants nothing to do with it and my mother said the only way she'd go with me is if I didn't talk to her constantly about our plans, she says she's just along for the ride!! I guess she knows me all too well!!

 

[cd&kids]

Boy, do we ever think alike! We have the exact same line-up for our trip next month except we couldn't get Cindy...got Crystal Palace breakfast instead.
Honestly...if you can squeeze them all in, I would just leave it. I know they're ridiculously overpriced, but we always conclude "how often do we get the chance to do this?!"
Have fun!

 

[DisneyFan09]

Originally posted by cd&kids
Boy, do we ever think alike! We have the exact same line-up for our trip next month except we couldn't get Cindy...got Crystal Palace breakfast instead.
Honestly...if you can squeeze them all in, I would just leave it. I know they're ridiculously overpriced, but we always conclude "how often do we get the chance to do this?!"
Have fun!

You have good point! If I can pick up some extra hours at my part-time job maybe I can swing it. But I would kind of like to spend a little less on food and maybe a little more on souvenirs!!

 

[cd&kids]

That's a good point, too...souveniers last forever...the dinner lasts an hour!
Just fyi, we did 1900 Park Fair dinner last year and weren't totally thrilled. (It was good....just not great. We liked the character breakfast there much more.)
We are doing it again this year but ONLY because it absolutely works perfectly with our plans for that day.
Boma, Ohana...like you, never been to them and looking VERY forward to going! Never been to Garden Grill either...we made that our first night dinner and also very excited about it!

 

[lmhall2000]

I would cut out 1900 Park Fair, Boma's, and Crystal Palace. Also change any dinner's you can to a lunch menu- this makes it much more affordable and some restaurants have very late lunch ressies. We stayed at AKL, nice to visit, but to be honest the smell of Boma's was too overpowering and we had not interest in trying it our entire week there. Nothing special about Crystal Palace really, lots of good counter choices at MK. HTH!
Tara

 

[maggiew]

I say maybe cut out Garden grill since you've already been there. You could maybe try the ice cream social instead - the characters are there and its only around $7 per person.

I also say cut out 1900 Park Faire. I've never been, but have heard mostly negative things about it. If you are on a tight budget, I wouldn't chance it.

Maybe Ohana you can switch to breakfast and save $7 per person??? The characters are there.

If you just want to check out AKL, go and look at the savannah and skip the meal at Boma.

Other money saving tips:
1. Share, most portions are pretty large
2. Order a kids meal at counter service. I ate chicken nugget meals a couple of times and was full. I also got a kids meal at Yakitorri House in Japan and the cafe place in Mexico.
3. If you switch some of your dinners to the breakfasts, join connections and get the breakfast vouchers. You save a few dollars per person with the vouchers.


Maggie

 

[Pammy_from_WI]

Have you checked out the change in menu at Crystal Palace? Look at www.wdwig.com and rethink that one. They have changed their lunch menu and it's basically cold cuts and salads. We had lunch planned here, until I saw the new menu.

So I'd cut that one for sure! Unless it's just about Pooh and the Gang.

At Kona and LeCellier you will be able to (for sure) share. At a lot of places you'll see that the portions are very large. We usually will share a sandwich and bowl of soup or salad. If we get hungry later we then share a snack or two. You'd be surprised at how much you can save this way.

I guess I would look more at sharing things. You've got two younger dds, so you'll save a bit there. My teen and I went did this last year and really with the size of portions they serve, we both had plenty to eat. We were not budgeting, it was just too hot out and we didn't want to waste a ton of food.

Good luck and have a great trip!

Pam

 

[disneyvoice]

I would cut out the Crytsal Palace lunch. We usually do breakfast there and really enjoy it, but the one time we did lunch we were very disappointed.

We just didn't think the food was up to par with other WDW buffets. We had the first seating and we felt that everything was extremely rushed with trying to get the last breakfast guests out the door, taking down the breakfast buffet, setting up the lunch buffet. Not to mention that was right around the time when many kids should have, but hadn't, had an afternoon nap yet. We were both really bummed about it.

For a lot less money you can get a great meal at Cosmic Ray's. They have a huge variety and are reasonably priced. Plus the kids will love the entertainment.

 

[DisneyFan09]

Oh my gosh you guys are great!! Thank you so so much for the input!! I think I will definitely cancel Crystal Palace and I'm thinking about Boma too. The girls really want to eat at RFC and I know we can share there, so maybe we'll eat there on our AK day. I really wanted to try Tusker House for lunch so I guess I'll have to decide between those two. I made my ps for 1900 Park Faire before I got CRT so maybe we'll skip that one too.

Again, thank you so much, I don't know what out do without this website!!

 

[DisneyFan09]

I just shaved about $100 off of my meal budget by giving up 1900 Park Faire, Boma, and Crystal Palace and adding 2 counter service and Mama Melrose (we can share!!) and I don't really feel like I'm sacrificing too much!!

I forgot that I've already paid $30 toward my CRT breakfast!! Nice little bonus!

Thanks again for all of the help!!

 

[Epcotgal8]

I think you made good choices. Have a wonderful trip and please let us know how everything went when you return.