Need Tips for Strecting WDW Food Budget

[ElenitaB]

The official rules regarding the use of refillable mugs can be found here on InfoCentral.

Back to LeeAnn's question, we often use our snack credit for something that we can eat for breakfast. We always visit the Main Street Bake Shop when leaving MK after Wishes and enjoy something yummy for breakfast the next morning in our room. As long as you're fine with pastry for breakfast, it works.

LeeAnn, considering you'll have a car with you, you might make a stop at a local grocery store and pick up some good in-room breakfast fare. While there, pick up bottled water which you can throw in the freezer of your room fridge (if you're staying at a mod or deluxe). If at a Value resort, the water bottles can chill overnight with ice in your cooler along with your milk. I'd buy Parmalat milk as it won't go bad. Other things we buy at the grocery store, when we manage to get to one, are cereal, bread (I bring our favorite brand of peanut butter from home), jelly, bagels and cream cheese (which can hang out in the cooler) and fruit.

Magical Express continues to be complimentary; I'm not sure if it's necessary but the planner in me says you should set it up before you leave for your trip.

[jszczur5]

I hate to disagree but I do. How is sharing a mug cheating? The mugs state they are good for refills for the length of stay. It does not say each person must have their own. DH drinks coffee/coke all day so he gets his own. I enjoy coffee in the am and our DS or DD likes a hot chocolate or something later in the day so we share. If I am wrong, we will change our pattern but again I don't feel we are cheating.

I agree with you. Sharing a mug is not cheating.
We take one water bottle into the parks, and then use the fountains all day for refills. Is this cheating also? I don't think so.

[magicofdisney]

Another tip, all CS offer free cups of ice water. And yes, the cooler filled with ice, should keep your milk cold. It's never failed us and we do it ALL the time!

[gardenia]

I agree with you. Sharing a mug is not cheating.
We take one water bottle into the parks, and then use the fountains all day for refills. Is this cheating also? I don't think so.

Do you take your whole family to an all-you-can-eat buffet and ask to pay for just one meal? Do you take a group of 20 school kids to a resort and buy them one mug? Yes, it's cheating. I'm stunned by some of the stuff folks will try to justify. If you can't all afford your own mug, for heaven's sake don't go to WDW, save your money.

[Natazu]

We ship a box of dry goods to the resort. Items include cereal, power bars, cereal bars, chips, and other snacks. This saves on breakfasts and snacks. Shipping costs no more than $20.

That's pretty smart. Maria's idea I suppose.

[ElenitaB]

Moderator Alert

Please keep to the topic of stretching our food budgets while at WDW and maintain a friendly tone to our conversation. Thank you.

[tinksmom02]

We stretched our CS credits by sharing meals. The "bounty platter" at POFQ was a huge sampling of everything--Mickey waffle, eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon--so DH and I would each get one, and give DD5 our waffles. For some reason, on the DDP you were allowed 2 beverages with breakfast (maybe cause no app or dessert?), so we would get some OJ for breakast and water for the parks.

For our CS lunches or dinners, DD and I would sometimes share a meal, kids or adults, depending on how hungry we were.

We brought cereal and pop tarts from home, but typically used this as evening snacks. We like to have a nice breakfast in the am.

We also did what Ellen suggested, stopped at Main St. bakery on the way out of MK one evening and got treats to enjoy later on.

As for your debate on purchasing the mugs, I would think it all depends on how much time you'll be spending at the resort. Like someone else said, if you'd be buying more than 6 drinks, you should get one.

[ltam16]

We signed up for the Staples Rewards Card and had water shipped to Pop for free! They also have snacks & stuff on their website so I think we might try that too. My DH also cleaned out the garbage can in the room in the bathtub and then put in a clean can liner & filled that with ice from ice machine and put our milk & water bottles in there! It worked great, didn't leak like our collapsable cooler did when the ice melted. Mousekeeping might have thought it was strange....

I also carried those "to go" drink mix packets for the water. If we were in the park we could refill our water bottles and not mind the taste from the water fountains!

[vamaggie]

I also carried those "to go" drink mix packets for the water. If we were in the park we could refill our water bottles and not mind the taste from the water fountains!

I don't like those Crsytal Light drink mixes but I did find TruLemon and TruLime packets that are only lemon or lime flavor (like lemon juice) These worked well if you don't like the super sweetness of the other drink mixes.

[Lorraine444]

One great cost savings was Ice water.
You can get free Ice water @ any place that sells fountain soda. Some people will say the water doesn't taste good, but I didn't think so.
Not to mention in the heat water is needed often. This was a huge savings!
I also packed peanut butter crackers, granola bars, and single serve pound cakes. You can also bring the powdered single serve drinks like Koolaid & Crystal lights.

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

Sharing mugs isn't "budgeting", it's cheating. Let's have some honest suggestions here.

The people who work for Disney do this and they reuse it for months. They don't consider it cheating.

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

We get bottles of water for each person and a gallon so we can refill them while we are there.

Also we share meals at CS that have big portions.

[Joy2theworld]

I may be wrong, but I thought in the past in order to qualify for the free dining you had to stay a minimum number of nights. I thought it was four or five.

[irish1967]

Hoping to plan trip for during "Free Dining" (if offered) time. But it's not really free w/ tip not included now. For a 3 night stay, how much do I need to budget for tips?

I would do this...

Where will you be making your ADRs? Looking at the menu, what are you and your family LIKELY to order at each restaurant? Add it up (along with the cost of your drinks) assume you'll have fabulous service and calculate 20% of the total. That'll give you a really good idea about what you'll need for tips.

Or to be safe, assume you and your DH will each order the most expensive item and your children will order the most expensive item on the children's menu and use those amounts to calculate the total of the bill and then calculate a 20% tip. That way, you know you'll have more than enough saved assuming someone orders a less expensive item!

Have a great trip!

[BriarRose0708]

Another tip, all CS offer free cups of ice water.

Really? Are they the regular size cups or teeny tiney? I had no idea, thanks for sharing that great tip! Also, does anyone know if food court soda dispensers have a water button, or am I forced to buy bottled?

I am on a food budget for my upcoming 7 night stay. My friend and I plan on packing a small suitcase with poptarts, english muffins and peanutbutter for breakfast, along with granola bars and other snacks to take to the parks. A good thing we did was agree to book a few TS meals but to splurge on only 2 of them (we chose CRT and Coral Reef). The other 2 or 3 we're getting appetizers, sharing an entree and no dessert. Also, at many of the CS places you can order a kids meal which comes with healthier options and is cheaper. An other great tip (that I stole from Rachael Ray) is to eat table service at breakfast or lunch. Breakfast is usually cheaper and many of them are buffet style. Lunch menus are anywhere between $5 and $10cheaper for most of the same dishes served at dinner. This varies from place to place, of course, so check out the Menus section of Info Central.

I hope you have a great time!

[bobpfef]

Really? Are they the regular size cups or teeny tiney? I had no idea, thanks for sharing that great tip! Also, does anyone know if food court soda dispensers have a water button, or am I forced to buy bottled?

Most places gave us a small size cup, but not teeny tiny. A few times I asked if I could please have a larger cup and it was never a problem.
And the food court did have a water button, at least at POR

[Disney Doll]

I always bring dry cereal and have breakfast in the room. At the beginning of the week I hit the grocery section of the gift shop and buy milk or juice to keep in the room. I do this mainly to save time b/c the food courts are a nightmare in the mornings and I'd rather be on my way to the parks rather than standing in line for mickey waffles. However, I think it is also a good money saver. We tend to eat mostly CS and actually prefer to snack (especially in EPCOT WS) instead of having a couple of big meals.