Keeping the cost down...

Elephantay

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
We are doing a split stay in August- two adults and two teens. One kid is a huge eater and the other isn't...Staying DVC first in a studio then a 1 BR. We plan to order groceries and I know that will help, but we like to do a TS to get out of the heat/humidity and take a break, too.
I'm not seeing good deals on tickets and right now the flights aren't cheap either so I'm going to focus on food!
Any great ideas? What are your favorite QS or less expensive TS places?
 
We cut money costs with the following...

- Amazon Prime Now order for in-room breakfast and snack items. Milk, cereal, lunch meat, protein bars, pop-tarts, yogurt, cold brew coffee, plus some wine and adult seltzer. Ate quick light breakfasts in the room each morning before heading out.

- Only had a few reservations -- we had 6 park days and had 4 reservations, that being Be Our Guest lunch (which is QS but needed a res), Sebastian's Bistro, Yak & Yeti, and Raglan Road. Everything else was quick service.

- Split a lot of meals (or apps or desserts) -- not applicable to you but I have 3 little kids who mostly eat like birds, so we almost always ordered 2 different kids meals and asked for an extra plate and split it up between the 3 of them.

- Don't order soda/iced tea/whatever -- we don't drink those things at home so not even a second thought to only order water with our meals. Occasionally we ordered a special adult beverage but definitely not for every meal.

Lots of QS variety out there, and mobile ordering is a gem too.
 
We love Satuli Canteen. Like crazylady said, the indoor dining room is quite large. We've never had a problem finding seating. They also have some outdoor covered seating. We've chosen to sit outside when it was raining to take advantage of the slightly cooler temps and still staying dry (I don't like to be in an air conditioned space if I am wet).

We don't do many table service meals but We have enjoyed the brunch buffet at Trail's End. It's only offered on the weekends and it was not busy at all. The food was great and the price was good for a Disney buffet. I think it was $35 adult. We ate a very light breakfast on our way to MK that morning, like a granola bar or something, got in a couple rides and took the boat over to Ft Wilderness. The round trip boat ride and meal ended up being a nice relaxing break and we were so stuffed that we didn't eat again until late, I think it was close to 8pm before we ended up grabbing dinner.

Another thing to consider are the lounges around the parks. HBD lounge is outdoor seating but the tables have umbrellas and if you can get a table near one of the doors that leads inside you'll have a nice AC breeze. There are other lounges that are indoor seating
 


In the parks,50's PT and Sci Fi are excellent values. The food is really filling as well so we often share an app and an entree and still cant finish it. Outside of tip, we pay about the same at these two as we do for cs.
 
Via Napoli and SciFi are a couple of the cheaper TS options. The Plaza was another good one but I just checked their menu and prices have gone up! I do some reward sites and get Landry's gift cards. Those are good at the Rainforest Cafe, TRex, and Yak & Yeti (at AK). Also if you have a Target card you can buy Disney gift cards and they give you the 5% off - not a huge discount but every little bit helps!
 
Food costs are major for us. I have 2 boys 10 + 13 and I work hard to make food “reasonable”.

We bring food for breakfast and we do pack some lunches (especially for kids and let them get a treat). My kids won’t do kids meals anymore so this is a savings. We haven’t had grocery delivery yet bc we usually drive.

We buy discount giftcards both Disney through Kroger 4x and AmEx preferred 6% back on groceries and for Landry’s, Ghiradelli, etc through Costco or credit card rewards. We do have a Disney credit card and use rewards. I’m very conscientious about using the proper credit card to get the most return but there are categories with only 1% back and I use Disney for those.

We will do a split stay in May and have DxDp 2 nights (a splurge to do several restaurants on my list) We don’t allow pop purchases for the most part, but the mugs make that very easy.

Our kids and even myself do appetizers at sit down and then a snack/dessert later (we like it this way, we aren’t depriving ourselves)

We bring alcohol and only buy alcohol at restaurants for special dinners or occasions

We will do QS and plan cheaper TS mixed moderate TS. No buffets or AYCTE with young disney adults unless on dining plan (my kiddos don’t miss character meals).
It’s also hard to justify a dessert party at >$300 for 4 “adults” (but my younger son loves them and remembers from when he was little) so we will make our own dessert party with desserts around the world.
 


As a family of 6 we frequently look to see how we can maximize our savings- usually on food. We don't always order soda, water is fine. As a previous poster mentioned, if you ahve a Taregt Red Card you can save 5% when buying Disney gift cards in store. It's a small saving but can add up. Sam's Club also has a discounted price on Disney gift cards.

QS- Pecos Bill's fajita platter has a lot of food and we split it between two people (sometimes three). Casey's Corner hot dogs/fries can often be split in our group.
TS- Sci-Fi meals are decent sized and are often split between two.

With food do some online snooping. Some places will allow you to add an extra xyz for a small price. Like you can add extra tortilla's at Pecos Bill's for like $2. We often do this.
 
We did a car service with a grocery stop during our January/February trip. We loaded up on bottled water, beer, wine, protein bars and yogurts, etc. and bring bottled water to the parks. When eating meals, we share, but we are sixty somethings and watch our calorie/carb/salt intakes and eat salads whenever we can. At certain counter service locations I order from the kids menu and am perfectly happy with ordering an ap if my husband and I can’t agree on an entree to share. We also order water and no soft drinks, because of the price and honestly, water is just better for us. Prefer bottled water, but can drink the tap water with lemon.
 
Like you can add extra tortilla's at Pecos Bill's for like $2.

Thank you for posting this! As I read this, I was all excited about what a great deal that would be. Then my brain was all, "I should just bring a package from home for .99 for 10". We drive so we bring some food with us, but even flying tortillas would be easy to pack. We eat tortillas a lot, sometimes with Mex food of course, but also making a PB/banana roll up, or PB and choc chips, ect... Never thought about bring tortillas before! And putting a few in my park bag to eat at Pecos is brillant! We are a family of 5 and share most places and this will really help stretch those platters.
 
Food costs are major for us. I have 2 boys 10 + 13 and I work hard to make food “reasonable”.

We bring food for breakfast and we do pack some lunches (especially for kids and let them get a treat). My kids won’t do kids meals anymore so this is a savings. We haven’t had grocery delivery yet bc we usually drive.

We buy discount giftcards both Disney through Kroger 4x and AmEx preferred 6% back on groceries and for Landry’s, Ghiradelli, etc through Costco or credit card rewards. We do have a Disney credit card and use rewards. I’m very conscientious about using the proper credit card to get the most return but there are categories with only 1% back and I use Disney for those.

We will do a split stay in May and have DxDp 2 nights (a splurge to do several restaurants on my list) We don’t allow pop purchases for the most part, but the mugs make that very easy.

Our kids and even myself do appetizers at sit down and then a snack/dessert later (we like it this way, we aren’t depriving ourselves)

We bring alcohol and only buy alcohol at restaurants for special dinners or occasions

We will do QS and plan cheaper TS mixed moderate TS. No buffets or AYCTE with young disney adults unless on dining plan (my kiddos don’t miss character meals).
It’s also hard to justify a dessert party at >$300 for 4 “adults” (but my younger son loves them and remembers from when he was little) so we will make our own dessert party with desserts around the world.
LOVE this idea! Easy to do at Epcot for sure!
 
Blaze pizza is a great. Download their app and get discounts. A pizza that feeds 2 is $10. Best deal at Disney Springs. Earl of sandwich and Cooke’s of Dublin are also favorites. It might be worth hopping an Uber to Crossroads for some meals. We like Sweet Tomatoes, Fuddruckers and Chevys for Mexican food.

Try the casual restaurants at the resorts for lunch. Would cost about $12pp and some dishes can be shared. Take the boat from MK to the Polynesian. They also serve dole whip there.
We like Mara at AK Lodge also.
 
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Kids meals (decent size) for lunch at BOG

Satuli was decently priced. Flame tree was enough food to let us split some.

Raglan Road was not super cheap but really worth it and not crazy expensive.

We did breakfast in the room each day via Safeway delivery of groceries and brought snacks along to the parks. This helped a lot with limiting costs to just Lunch and dinner.
 
Over by the .wikderness campground there is a restaurant called Trails End. Great buffet and one of the less priced one. Always had great hot food.
 
We order our food from walmart we use to do prime now but the prices were so much better at walmart. We also take sack lunches and such to Disney. But I let my kids buy french fries to go with the lunches. Then we still buy mickey ice cream or dole whips cant take away all the magic.
Dinner is in the room always something easy......I'm on vacation.

Btw its door dash that brings walmart.com groceries
 
We usually go in August and as you know it is hot! We usually hit the parks in the morning (grab a snack or bring something if folks get hungry before lunch) and go back to our room at around noon. Make lunch back at room. we usually have a full kitchen or kitchenette. Make sandwiches or salads and eat on the balcony/patio or by the pool. Go back to the park in the evening and have dinner. Sometimes we have even ordered pizza from Flippers to be delivered to the room on nights we wanted to relax at the resort.
Favorite spots in each park -
MK - Columbia Harbor House for CS
Plaza Restaurant for TS
HS - Backlot Express- CS
Sci Fi Diner - TS
Epcot - Sunshine Seasons for CS
Via Napoli for TS
Animal Kingdom- restaurantosaurus - CSR
Yak and Yeti - TS

Amazon Prime Now has good delivery.
Walmart only if you can pick it up - order online first. Walmart delivery messed up on my delivery (never got it- had to call for a refund - complete hassle). Garden Grocer is expensive but very reliable and good service.
 
We are doing a split stay in August- two adults and two teens. One kid is a huge eater and the other isn't...Staying DVC first in a studio then a 1 BR. We plan to order groceries and I know that will help, but we like to do a TS to get out of the heat/humidity and take a break, too.
I'm not seeing good deals on tickets and right now the flights aren't cheap either so I'm going to focus on food!
Any great ideas? What are your favorite QS or less expensive TS places?


Don’t eat a lot of breakfast? Toast and PB at the food court is $2 or so. Order a few beverages of choice on Amazon prime

Split TS meals. In a lot of cases it’s a lot of food

Duck over to Poly or Contemporary for some solid fast food lunches and dinners while at MK

Satuli canteen is a must have at AK

Tokyo dining has great service and decent prices for a Epcot TS
 
If your airline has cc that gives you free check in luggage (like Delta and 1st yr fee waived), take advantage of it. Bring can food, dry pasta, rice, oatmeal, chips...etc in your luggage. Then you only need to order meat / veggies. We always eat breakfast in room. Have a late bigger lunch and light dinner. On off days, we'll make food in the room and bring with us to the pool instead of eating bad, expensive burgers.
 
I just help a friend order her grocery from Insta-cart at Publix...

Here's the list... family of 6 X 10 days Staying DVC at Beach Club

Bottled water
Soft drinks
Gatorade
Beer and Wine
Chips and Dip
Crackers and laughing cow cheese
2 Loafs of bread
Deli meat and cheese
small jar of mayo / mustard
pickles
boxed muffins/ granola or cereal bars
pop tarts
yogurt cups
cereal and milk
orange juice
soft butter
eggs
cookies
container of mixed fresh fruit, bag of apples and a bunch of banana's
paper plates
red solo cups
napkins
paper towels
toilet tissue ( she loves her brand)
Kleenex...

2 rotisserie chicken
2 fried chicken
a bunch of large sides to go with the chicken...
2 package of Hawaiian rolls

On arrival day they don't go into the parks, the chicken is their first meal and they eat it pool side its a tradition for them, there are leftovers that they finish up during the stay... they eat breakfast in the room most mornings, and make sandwiches for pool time or late night when returning to the room...
 

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