Affordable Dining at Disney?

[Miako]

I'm planning our first trip to Disney World on a somewhat tight budget. We will be staying off site and therefore not eligible for the DPs Can anyone tell me if there are any places to eat within the parks that aren't that expensive? I appreciate any help in advance!

[bbangel]

If you go to allears.net you can find the menus for the different restaurants. What I found was that many of the items had very large portions so we did a lot of sharing. So sharing the chicken and rib meal at Cosmic Rays was enough for 3 people and made the cost more reasonable.

Other budget tips are to use the water fountains (or the counter service outlets) to refill your water bottles instead of buying a new bottle each time. Bring snacks and or breakfast in the room food with you to really help stretch your budget.

[Miako]

Thank you! Going thru the menus will be extremely helpful.

[SunshineGirl]

I don't know how many hours you plan on being in the park a day, but we tend to try to eat on really big meal in the park and then one meal in the room and one snack. That saves a lot of money compared to eating 2-3 meals a day in the park.

Going through the menus in advance is HUGE! You would be surprised where some of the better deals are. Plus, just planning in advance which restaurants you will eat at can help cut down on headaches later.

[m 'n c]

I totally agree about sharing because a burger there is pretty huge. Also, when I stayed off site my family and I brought some things from home like PB and Jelly and made sandwiches and brought granola bars so it was a pretty good lunch - not too heavy and easy to make in the morning and carry around with you.

[mmm611]

You can go to any of the counter service restaurants that have a soda dispenser and get a cup of free ice tap water.