Do we really need to bring food/ snacks?

[IrishNYC]

I bring a box or two of granola bars, and a pack of juice boxes when we fly. The granola bars stave off the, "But Mooooooooooommmmmmmmm I'm so huuuuuuungryyyyyyyyy" cries when we have to get to a park for breakfast, and the juice boxes are preferred for DD instead of soft drinks.

 

[Bree]

I bring them because I refuse to pay Disney prices for fresh fruit and veggies. We live in FL now and can drive so it's easier for me, but when we flew I ordered from a grocery service. I can only handle so much park food and snacks before I feel like crud.

 

[amberpi]

I wouldn't typically bring snacks, but I did have an evening were it would have been appreciated...Mid afternoon the day before my ex and I were going to fly to FL, I had wrapped everything up and was thinking about how I'd really like to be at WDW that night and not get up at stupid o'clock/o dark thirty the next morning. 2 minutes on SW and I texted my ex and asked if he'd rather me change the flight and I'd get a friend to drop me at the airport and he could meet me there. He did, I changed the flights and then flew around the house packing. Flight was delayed and we had an app and several drinks, thinking we'd get something once we got there. Did I mention we didn't have a hotel room? Yeah, so once we got to the airport together, I called WDW, and got a decent rate at Coronado, so went with it for the evening just to try something new. We finally got there and decided that we'd give MDE a chance and that was touchy since it was all so last minute and we waited, and waited on the bus, just not leaving. Oh yeah, we had another drink on the plane, but still, I'd had lunch at a regular lunch time, like 12:30 and the ex had eaten at like 11. By the time we got on the MDE, it was almost 10 local time. Hangry ex. Grumpy we didn't get a car service. Hangry. We finally get to Coronado and we both thought it was actually really nice and we were glad we got to see it, and he was glad the hunger was going to be filled with delicious room service...well, we got into the room a few minutes after 11 and room service was closed. I swear, I saw a grown butt (I don't mean that) man melt down about just wanting a beer and chicken wings. I would have paid anything to have been able to whip out a granola bar from the minute we got on MDE until we found that Lounge at the Coronado was still open...it even had chicken wings. Thank god it had cocktails. Now, if I'm traveling with other people, I keep some snacks in my carryon and in the room. Its a hassle and I'll all about minimalism, but those ~2 hours were painful and could have been averted, or at least alleviated, with a Snickers.

That night I learned about not making others go on Batan Death Marches when food is involved, be prepared, don't do WDW on the absolute spur of the moment, always get a car service, and never underestimate how much happiness can be purchased for the price of chicken wings and beer.

 

[Shadowcat70]

We always bring snacks on any trip, WDW or others. As lots of posters have said, it's better to have some granola bars, trail mix, poptarts, etc... on hand then to be hungry and not have anything at all. We pack them in the suitcase, and what we don't eat we just bring home. Afterwards, having a "left over Disney snack" isn't too bad of a feeling either.

 

[Little E]

We have always done either the QS or regular dining plan; both are two meals and a snack per person per day on our trips. We typically fly, and I always pack snacks and on-the-go breakfast items. My kids (12 & 15) always have some sort of snack before bed each night, and we eat breakfast in the room before we leave for the parks in the morning. It saves us money as we are not paying OOP for a meal each day at WDW, and it helps us save time in the morning. While I don't pack a ton of food, I find that whatever space the food takes up in the luggage on the flight down is manageable. Plus, on the way flight home, I have more room for souvenirs (and unfolded dirty laundry) because we've eaten the food!

Whatever you decide to do, have a magical trip!!

 

[MamaCoog]

We are within fairly close driving distance so we are able to pack some snacks. I'm not a big fan of eating a large breakfast, at home or at Disney, so I bring protein bars to eat on the way to the bus in the morning. My kids are younger so they are fine with a granola bar, nutrigrain bar, or pop tart. I also brought a box of cereal and a medium carton of almond milk since it didn't need to be refrigerated on the drive down and was small enough to fit in the mini fridge. I bring some small snacks for our park bag like trail mix, fruit snacks/leather, or graham crackers so that we can try to avoid a hangry meltdown. Perhaps you could do a small order from a grocery delivery service?

 

[monorailsilver]

There is enough to pick and choose for breakfast at the resorts.

But an added bonus to bringing breakfast besides the cost...I mean a box of cereal $5 max will last us a few days if everyone is eating it. The same with oatmeal
Packets (I get a microwave, DS has food allergies). But think of the time saved in the morning. We eat while everyone is getting dressed/showered and then we are out the door. If we ate at the food court, we'd have to get dressed, order, wait if it was something that had to be cooked, find a seat, eat, make everyone go to the bathroom again..,and there goes an hour.

 

[pooch]

Sorry but I brought a crapload of snacks cuz everyone said we should even though we were on dining plan. Not only did no one eat even 1 thing I brought, but we left 1 TS, 6 CS and 11 SC unused!!! It was me DH, DD 14 and DS 9. A bounty platter for breakfast was 1 CS and fed 3 of us. Portions are beyond huge.
Oh and I get up & dressed & go get breakfast & we eat it in the room while everyone else gets ready. Gives me something to do besides nagging them to move!!

 

[Canooknic]

I always order a few bits from Garden Grocer because my boys are crazy-early risers and I am not...especially on vacation!!
Just some yogurts, apples & bananas, juice (and chips for my evening snacking!) then they curb their hunger and I have time to wake up slowly, enjoy my coffee and shower in peace so we can all head to the parks happy!

 

[Elle23]

Thanks for the responses and input!

I think I'll pack a few things for the travel days but leave it at that. I think my kids would enjoy going to the food court for breakfast and snacks, so we'll just plan for that. I looked and a kids breakfast meal is only about $5. That would be perfect for something light if they didn't want a smaller snack item like a bagel or muffin.

 

[bumbershoot]

I am in the process of packing for our trip. I had planned on packing snacks and breakfast items, but now I really don't want to pack anything we don't absolutely need (we are flying).

Can we get by without snacks and breakfast stuff? Are there enough light breakfast items and snack stuff available in the food court if we need them? I noticed the food court is open pretty late, which is good.

We will be on be dining plan, so I can't imagine we will need that much outside of it. But I also don't want to get there and regret not packing any food!

Well, we have food ingredient issues, so yes we bring our own snacks. But we also almost always have a rental car, so we really only bring stuff for travel days, and we go to the store for other days. We find most of the snacky items at Disney to be impossible for us b/c of ingredients.

I bring them because I refuse to pay Disney prices for fresh fruit and veggies.

Ayep.

That night I learned about not making others go on Batan Death Marches when food is involved

I'm pretty sure none of us should laugh at that, but I'm kinda going to because sometimes there is a ghost of that feeling when you haven't eaten and have gone ALL day.

I realized the importance of eating (I can control my hangry for HOURS after DH and DS have done so, for the most part, so I have a hard time monitoring times to eat) at Disneyland when DS was relatively small and before DH had been diagnosed with diabetes (now doesn't have it since he changed exercise and his diet, most notably getting rid of everything based on corn syrup). We were in Tomorrowland, I realized it was dark, the neon lights were so beautiful, and DS (who was maybe 4?) and DH started arguing about something. Maybe a lightsaber, maybe not; it was just ridiculous and irritating. And finally I realized that it was closing in on 9pm and we hadn't eaten since lunch, which we had had at noon. Augh. I told them both to keep their mouths closed until we had food, and raced us over to a counter service that I knew we liked. Ordered food, got food, ate food...and DS immediately fell asleep in his stroller. (and that is how DH and I were able to finally watch Fantasmic, which had always scared DS when we passed it by!)

It's no wonder that our WDW trips involve a TS per day and an idea of what CSs we want so we remember to eat.

It was me DH, DD 14 and DS 9. A bounty platter for breakfast was 1 CS and fed 3 of us.

A bounty platter fed 3 of you in that group? Really? Wow; your CMs are way more generous than ours have ever been.

 

[happymommy]

Sorry but I brought a crapload of snacks cuz everyone said we should even though we were on dining plan. Not only did no one eat even 1 thing I brought, but we left 1 TS, 6 CS and 11 SC unused!!! It was me DH, DD 14 and DS 9. A bounty platter for breakfast was 1 CS and fed 3 of us. Portions are beyond huge.
Oh and I get up & dressed & go get breakfast & we eat it in the room while everyone else gets ready. Gives me something to do besides nagging them to move!!

You can use your CS credits for 3 snacks to take on the airplane, as well as the leftover snack credits. Last trip, I had 14 bags of snacks in my suitcase going home (we had the QSDP, which is still too much food for us!).

 

[willmccready]

We weren't on the dining plan so we packed snacks and breakfast food to supplement our order from Garden Grocer. We got a few shoebox sized Rubbermaid containers and packed them full of yogurt raisins, nutri grain bars, fruit snacks, mini muffins, etc). Had enough for breakfast every day and only had to order bread, milk, fruit, and booze from Garden Grocer.

 

[SPAM]

I'm a eat cheap breakfast in the room kind of person so I usually bring muffins, protein bars or pop tarts. That's it though.

 

[loves to dive]

I think you are making a wise choice by just bringing plane snacks. The dining plan (if you are one the regular one and not QS) includes at least one snack per day, maybe two I don't remember, per person. You can use those credits for a yogurt parfait, muffin, bagel and other small breakfast items. You can also use them for fruit, which is available at all the resort food courts, even the ones that have crap food courts like BC/YC and BW. If you don't normally snack between meals and trust me if you are on the regular dining plan you probably won't want or need to, you can always pick up animal crackers, cookies, etc. at any of the food courts/disney stores to keep in your room and your snack credits will pay for those. We drive down and I have what we call car food since we don't stop to eat (it's about a 7 hour drive) so it's things like peanut butter crackers, fruit, cheese, maybe some sort of candy and bottles of water. Those things will come out of the car and into the room and most trips, just sit there and we aren't on the dining plan.

 

[Mrs. Bradbury]

I usually pack a few things because I don't want to face the wall of folks that may be at the food court first thing in the morning. We usually plan on eating early lunch anyway. Our family does not snack in general, but having something to eat in the room for breakfast is nice if we don't have a breakfast ADR.

I bring a coffee pot too, or at least an electric kettle with instant latte/chai, so you could say I have extreme early morning avoidance of the food court.

 

[Marionnette]

I am in the process of packing for our trip. I had planned on packing snacks and breakfast items, but now I really don't want to pack anything we don't absolutely need (we are flying).

Can we get by without snacks and breakfast stuff? Are there enough light breakfast items and snack stuff available in the food court if we need them? I noticed the food court is open pretty late, which is good.

We will be on be dining plan, so I can't imagine we will need that much outside of it. But I also don't want to get there and regret not packing any food!

If you're worried about paying for extra baggage or overweight bags, then skip the pantry of snacks. You don't need them that much. Airports have plenty of food vendors and between Disney's gift shops and food courts, you should be able to find snacks that appeal to your family. It will be cheaper to buy what you want from the vendors than it will be to pay for checked baggage. If you're staying in a resort that has DVC units, then there will be a small market place which will have a larger selection of snack foods and staples.

However, I would make it a point to pack some snack items in the carry on bags, just for the plane. The "snack boxes" that they sell on most flights are just horrible and overpriced. For a long flight, you're going to want something to curb your hunger pangs.

 

[nautical05]

I replied earlier but just noticed the ages of your children. Our boys had a blast at that age buying snacks with the dining plan. It was one of the many fun things they enjoyed at the parks/resorts. They are going to love all the choices!

 

[goofyintoronto]

For your kids age, I wouldnt pack too many snacks. You're on the DP, there will be PLENTY of food. Trust me! Plus as another posted, the kids will love picking out their own snacks.

 

[vballnic3]

We use Garden Grocer too. We always get a case of water 32 bottles for $10. I have little kids so food is always the answer we get gold fish, raisins, cereal. I find the prices very competitive and it is super convenient.