Eating in the parks on a budget

[Paigesmom2013]

I'm going over menus on allears.net and my eyes are glazing over at the food prices for quick service lunch and dinner options at DL and DCA. What are some good options for getting enough food for the money? Maybe some better options at Disney Springs? I can share a plate with one kid and the other child will only eat pizza or fries and chocolate milk. DH thinks he will starve if he shares a meal (even though I'm quite sure he won't.) I'm a decent eater but when I tour the parks there's too much to do besides eat.
I'm happy to bring in snacks but don't want to fuss with a whole picnic. We are walking to parks from a motel.

 

[Chickinvic]

I love Earl of Sandwich (their holiday sandwich and the "original" are my faves). Bonus - it is cheap.

 

[Mopedmom1]

I know you said "eating in the parks" but there is a McDonald's near the main entrance. If you take a midday break it would be a (maybe) cheaper option.

 

[Paigesmom2013]

Thanks for the suggestions! Its our first trip so in my mind everything is spread out like WDW but I guess it's not here. So leaving the park won't really be a big deal.

 

[bakerworld]

Good Luck with the hubby. My husband doesn't like to share a meal. It took me years to get him to agree to only order the appetizer. We were never all-day park people, especially with very young children (one bout of sun sickness persuaded the hubs). Everyone ate breakfast, we shared a bottle of water that was refilled from water fountains, ate a 2p lunch. If we didn't leave directly after lunch than a short time later because by the the parks are full. We'd break at the hotel, eat PB&J in the room and do a park in the evening. No backpacks in the park for me.

 

[StarlitNight05]

In Downtown Disney-
There is a quick service pizza place called Napolini that has really good prices. It's one of those pick your toppings type of place and you can get decent sized pizzas for around $7 (larger than normal "personal sized"). The quick service side of Tortilla Jo's also has very sharable meals and good food (burritos, tacos, nachos).

In DCA-
Award Weiners has decent prices. They have fries there for the picky eater (but google a pic to make sure the shape won't throw off your kiddo, they are kind of thick curly fries). Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta also has some pretty sharable pasta dishes, and good prices on the kids meals. Speaking of kids meals, don't forget you can order one of those for yourself at any quick service if the option sounds appealing.

In DLR-
Jolly Holiday has good prices and tasty food. That may be harder for the pickier eater though. There is also a quick service pizza place in Toon Town (Daisy's Diner?) that has lower priced personal sized pizzas. Alien Pizza Planet could be a decent option too (and they have sharable pasta dishes as well).

Don't forget about the delicious snacky type foods, like corndogs, churros and Mickey pretzels.

Offsite on Harbor Blvd -
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the IHop has a special where kids eat free after 4pm. In addition to the McDonalds as a PP mentioned, there is also Jimboys, Blaze Pizza, and Pizza Press on Harbor too.

ETA: I was going to list more sharable meals, but I see that other posters below did a great job of listing some options!

 

[mel2014]

Thanks for the suggestions! Its our first trip so in my mind everything is spread out like WDW but I guess it's not here. So leaving the park won't really be a big deal.

If you're already planning to take a break, it's no big deal to have a meal outside the park at one of the many restaurants along Harbor; however, I wouldn't leave the parks specifically to get a meal to save a few dollars, especially if you go out to Harbor and have to go back through security. I used to have a cheapskate mindset on this and ultimately realized it was pennywise and pound foolish to burn precious park time to eat outside the park. I do pack lots of snacks like peanuts, granola bars, pringles, uncrustables, goldfish/cheeze-its, pretzels, lollipops etc.

For meals to share, my favorite options are (a) bread bowls with soup, salad or mac and cheese. You can ask for the bread bowl on the side and grab as many butter pats as you want; (b) Plaza Inn chicken, you can add extra pieces for a nominal fee; (c) Rancho del Zocalo meals, you can add extra tortillas and beans for a nominal fee; (d) GCH Craftsman Grill (technically outside the park but a quick trip out and back and the security line here is never bad), split a nacho platter and the drinks are refillable at the Coke Freestyle machine, which my kids love.

We save a lot of money by not buying drinks -- the kids meal comes with a drink, so if we're getting a kid's meal we take the drink, but otherwise we bring in our own water bottle and flavorings or just get plain water.

 

[Fuzzy_Slippers]

The Monte Cristo at Cafe Orleans is huge. My wife and I usually share it and it's plenty of food.

 

[pblack]

MY DH and I like to split the fried chicken plate from Plaza Inn. We get an extra side of mashed potatoes. We also can split the roasted chicken plate at the French Market, again with an extra side of mashed potatoes. I don't know what it is about Disney's mashed potatoes but they are amazing. For a pretty big "snack" or light lunch you can get giant stuffed baked potatoes from Troubadour Tavern. They're fairly inexpensive from what I remember.

 

[ashley0139]

I actually find the prices for quick service to be fairly reasonable for the amount of food you get. It will be difficult to find anything much cheaper outside the parks. Maybe a couple dollars, but to me, not enough to be worth it.

 

[Disney Rose]

Quick service is pretty reasonable at a lot of places. We find the chicken and fries at Golden Horseshoe is big enough for our kids to share. Alien pizza planet is shareable as well.

Outside the park, iHop chicken and waffles is huge and good value.

Refill water bottles at bubblers/drinking fountains - buying drinks all the time will really drain your wallet. There’s one near the Mark Twain we use a lot.

 

[caylene44]

Cozy Cone in DCA has chili or mac & cheese in a bread cone. It's $8.99 and I can never finish a whole one so I think it would be reasonable to share. Plus, you can go to Flo's across the way for fries for your pickier eater. That would feed the 3 of you for less than $15, which is cheaper than most fast food nowadays.

 

[jbh275]

We also pack in about 6 slices of bread for some PB'J for the kids. I might splurge on a drink and fries. But the prices are too high for the family. Then the wife and I can get a burger. The kids would order PB'Js if they could anyways. So, its a win win for us!

 

[MychaelP]

Go to the Whitewater Snacks, or whatever the rename is over at the Grand California Hotel. Nachos, and even just Fries are not too costly and huge to share. Skip Earl of Sandwhich, everything is about $10 and mostly just bread, if you want bread go to La Brea Bakery, get a loaf and ask for butter and preserves, enjoy. The tacos at Tortilla Joes are large enough to share a plate also, and I think just $8? Inside the park, nothing is cheap and prices creep up monthly it seems. I remember at the mexican restaurant in Frontierland they have a tostada salad, that is giant and feeds 2 for $12?

 

[mamapenguin]

In Downtown Disney-
There is a quick service pizza place called Napolini that has really good prices. It's one of those pick your toppings type of place and you can get decent sized pizzas for around $7 (larger than normal "personal sized"). The quick service side of Tortilla Jo's also has very sharable meals and good food (burritos, tacos, nachos).

In DCA-
Award Weiners has decent prices. They have fries there for the picky eater (but google a pic to make sure the shape won't throw off your kiddo, they are kind of thick curly fries). Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta also has some pretty sharable pasta dishes, and good prices on the kids meals. Speaking of kids meals, don't forget you can order one of those for yourself at any quick service if the option sounds appealing.

In DLR-
Jolly Holiday has good prices and tasty food. That may be harder for the pickier eater though. There is also a quick service pizza place in Toon Town (Daisy's Diner?) that has lower priced personal sized pizzas. Alien Pizza Planet could be a decent option too (and they have sharable pasta dishes as well).

Don't forget about the delicious snacky type foods, like corndogs, churros and Mickey pretzels.

Offsite on Harbor Blvd -
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the IHop has a special where kids eat free after 4pm. In addition to the McDonalds as a PP mentioned, there is also Jimboys, Blaze Pizza, and Pizza Press on Harbor too.

ETA: I was going to list more sharable meals, but I see that other posters below did a great job of listing some options!

Somehow I have missed Napolini. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. We usually do Wetzel’s Pretzels or Earl if we eat outside the parks.

 

[Chickinvic]

Ignore the skip Earl of Sandwich advice lol. Earl of Sandwich rocks (and is not "mostly" bread).

 

[Becca1007]

So one of the things that we do is order kids meals (even for the adults at counter service places). The kids turkey sandwich at Pacific Wharf is a small sandwich, a yogurt smoothie and a mandarin orange with a drink. It is a reasonably sized meal for an adult and if you ask nicely they'll even make it on sliced sourdough instead of the whole wheat bun.

Also for the PBJ loving children out there you can buy an uncrustable sandwich on its own (not in a package meal) for about $3 at Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta in DCA. We often carry pretzels or crunchy snacks and oranges in our backpack so I can round out a meal for my toddler with that.

 

[wowsmom]

Ignore the skip Earl of Sandwich advice lol. Earl of Sandwich rocks (and is not "mostly" bread).

I agree! A sandwich from EoS fills up my 6'2" son. I usually can't finish mine. But also, they have soup and mac & cheese, so a sandwich could be split by 2 with a side (they also have fruit cups, etc). And their cookies and brownie whoopie pies...

The other day, we got the mac & cheese dog from Refreshment corner. It was $8.49 and came with either chips or apple slices, was a decent sized dog and had a massive amount of bacon bits on top of it as well.

 

[nikkislaght]

Can you take your own snacks and lunch into the parks with you ? We used to do that .
now each week when doing the grocery shopping I buy a Disney gift card . Or I add the a loadable one . This way although I’m still paying the same price I don’t feel it coming out of one pay check while in the parks . Using the gift card to buy meals in the parks has also saved us money , if you buy the gift card using the Target red card.

 

[MonocularVision]

Someone mentioned it above but want to call it out: you can get cups of ice water at pretty much every CS location at the parks for free. That is mainly the way we go cheaper if we so desire.