How would you eat at Disney for about $25 a day.

[Gena001]

So I'm going to be the odd duck and say...I don't mind bringing food into the parks.

Are you allowed to bring in food???? I didn't realize it...I knew you could bring in a bottle of water... (I get so confused between the parks, going to our local Six Flags, going to a concert at the local ampitheatre & what I can take to a MLB game...)

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I think it could be done pretty easily actually.
Bagel or protein bar or similar brought from home for breakfast. $1-$2
Lunch - Waffle Sandwich @ Sleepy Hollow $7.50
Dinner- hotdog at Friar's Nook $7.50
That leaves $8 for snacks.
Drink water.

This isn't bad but I would still be hungry since I'm walking 5-10 miles a day. Not to mention pool time burns calories and I work up an appetite.

I eat 5 small meals a day of whole clean foods. My BF likes to say I'm like a small child that has to eat every 2-3 hours.

 

[TravelMommy]

Some Examples we would do:

$25 pp/Day-Resort Day

Breakfast: Room/coffee room (food brought from home)
Lunch: Hurricane Hannah's Bacon Cheeseburger and fries (yum!!!) $10.89
Snack: Mickey Bar $3.79
Dinner: Hurricane Hannah's Lobster, Shrimp and Scallop Roll with Apple Slaw $11.29

Total: Approx $25.97 Would be easy to do and the food was good!

MK

Breakfast: Room
Lunch: Columbia Harbour House Salmon, couscous,veg $12.49
Snack: Churro $4.00
Dinner:Cosmic Rays 1/2 Chicken Dinner, potato, veg $10.99

Total:Approx $27.48 (definitely could be done cheaper-but these are good/hearty meals)

EP
Breakfast: Room
Lunch: Sunshine Seasons Caesar Salad with Chicken $9.99
Snack: Frozen Banana $4.00
Dinner: Boulangerie Quiche Florentine $7.00 with chocolate croissant $3.50

Total: Approx $24.49


*I think this would definitely work if you ate breakfast in the room and bring in your water/soda and/or get water(free) at QS. There are a lot of good choices that are definitely a good value. Many times we have had say the burger at Hurricane Hannah's and just had two snacks later, especially if it is hot.

 

[L&Lfan]

"How would you eat at Disney for about $25 a day?"

For me to be honest I would have to say, "I couldn't and I wouldn't!"

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

It would take some doing, but depending on how hot it was I could probably manage! (The hotter it is, the less I eat.) Definitely breakfast and coffee in the room, maybe one QS meal and a cold snack (I loved those frozen lemonade things last time). I could definitely skip fries and just get a sandwich and be fine.

It gets tricky when I think about how nice it is to have a beer with my fish & chips, though.

 

[loves to dive]

This is actually an example of some of my days in the past:

AK Kids Bfast eggs, bacon,fruit,milk or water 4.99
Yak & Yedi Local Food Chicken Fried Rice 3.99
Pork Egg Roll 3.29
Jiko Chicken Flat Bread 11
23.27
Bfast at HS ToT Coffee Cart Pastry 3.28
Coffee 3.39
HBD Cobb Salad 9
Studio Catering Grilled Veggie Sand 9.49
25.16
Epcot
Sunshine Seasons Kids French Toast 4.99
Tangerine Café chicken wrap 11.99
Yorkshire County Fish Shop Fish & Chips 9.49
26.47
MK Main St. Bakery Bacon & Gouda Bfast Sand 4.99
Caseys Corn Dog Nuggets 5.49
Fries 2.99
Pecos Bills Kids burger 5.99
19.46

More often than not I get a bottle of water with my kid's meals or a glass of water. I don't eat snacks, I'm just usually too full but if I do its usually my left over grapes from lunch. I usually go to the QS restaurant at whatever resort I'm staying at and get a kids meal and take it back to my room and use the coffee in the room.

Caveat - I'll admit when I eat at Brown Derby I get a cheese plate as well and a wine flight, sometimes I'll get a slice of grapefruit cake and take it back to my room for bfast the next morning. All the kids meal come with sides and if you don't want the fruit you can sub fries.

 

[bsbrady]

Why would you want to, so much good food at Disney. LOL

 

[GrimGrinninGhost]

BREAKFAST: Everything Bagel - Beach Club Marketplace $2.99
LUNCH: Vegetarian Rice Bowl - Tortuga Tavern $10.49
DINNER: Vegetable Burger - Cosmic Rays $9.99

*Free water filled prior to going to the park or at the park.

With 6.5% tax = Exactly $25.00

 

[beautyandmouse]

I wouldn't because I love character meals and BOG restaurant too much.
Or I'd live off mickey ice cream bars.. >.>

Oh, yes, you can bring in food. I've seen people do it!!

 

[Brandon5tewart]

I guess I would just go to the Biergarten and eat until you couldn't move for a late lunch and then hope it survives you the rest of the day...

... Sad to say the $25 four years ago may equate more fairly to $40ish now. It's not cheap to eat there.

 

[macraven]

when i'm there on vacation, half of the fun of it is eating, especially those mickey bars, dole whips and yummy desserts....

i'd book a cheaper resort before i would cut my food budget.

 

[esmee1sttip]

We actually did this our last trip to WDW in March 2014. Some of the things we did were: 1. Breakfast in the room 2. brought a couple of light snacks per person (this wasn't to be thrifty it was so we could keep going and also for medical reasons for my daughter). 3. water 4. the budget was for $5 for snack, $10 for lunch and dinner. Most times we were well under budget, well fed and could splurge if needed/wanted. I am sorry I cannot remember the specific meals but I do recall that we went to Pecos bills, Cosmic rays, Sunshine Seasons, Flame tree BBQ. Some of the snacks we had were mickey ice cream bars, dole whips, churros, cinnamon almonds, milkshake, rice krispie treats...I cannot remember the other snacks. We were able to find quite a few items within budget without much difficulty. We did budget in 3 character meals/dinner shows and these were obviously well above the $25/day. We didn't purchase soda nor alcohol. But we did have soda in our room in addition to our breakfast foods/snacks. None of our group felt deprived by the budget....ymmv!

 

[5kidsmommy]

We went last January with our five kids are were able to do it most days. Although we did have one splurge day. We kept our meals to around $10 a person and at breakfast at the camper and brought snacks with us. At that time four of our five were teenagers. There were a few times where I got kids meals. We never drank anything other than water which is fine with us. The days that we wanted to buy an extra snack we just went back to the campground for dinner.
I guess we are pretty frugal, with a large family it's sort of a necessity.

 

[goofy4prez]

BREAKFAST: Everything Bagel - Beach Club Marketplace $2.99
LUNCH: Vegetarian Rice Bowl - Tortuga Tavern $10.49
DINNER: Vegetable Burger - Cosmic Rays $9.99

*Free water filled prior to going to the park or at the park.

With 6.5% tax = Exactly $25.00

If I had a week of eating like that I would have to walk in front of a monorail and end it all. J/K

 

[nkereina]

I'm in the camp that I don't think it's realistic and would also be hungry. If you are budgeting this loosely and have no qualms about going over by a few bucks, then maybe more doable.

There's ways to go about making food costs more manageable and the best way is to do some research to find out where you get the best bang for your buck. Wolfgang Puck Express at DTD is a QS meal but it's borderline TS food quality and the portions are huge. Easy to split a meal here between two adults. The Plaza in MK is a TS restaurant but is primarily sandwiches and lighter fare. We ate here and both got burgers and sodas and it was $30 for two adults. A few bucks less if you leave off the soda.

IMO, there are so many unique snacks and dining options at WDW that I would rather postpone my trip and save more money to increase my food budget than go and watch what I was eating.

 

[GrimGrinninGhost]

If I had a week of eating like that I would have to walk in front of a monorail and end it all. J/K

I've been a vegetarian for about 14 years and this is pretty much how I eat every trip. I'll throw in some nudel gratin or school bread and some bottles of soda shipped to the resort via Amazon Pantry, but this always works well for me and keeps me from being to full to chase down 4 kids

I also can't resist the breakfast bowls from the Boardwalk Bakery (minus any bacon/sausage).

 

[goofy4prez]

I've been a vegetarian for about 14 years and this is pretty much how I eat every trip. I'll throw in some nudel gratin or school bread and some bottles of soda shipped to the resort via Amazon Pantry, but this always works well for me and keeps me from being to full to chase down 4 kids

I also can't resist the breakfast bowls from the Boardwalk Bakery (minus any bacon/sausage).

I'm with you on one thing; I really don't do bacon/sausage e... I'm glad you can see I was only kidding. I have a few in my family who are vegetarian as well.

 

[eliza61]

"How would you eat at Disney for about $25 a day?"

For me to be honest I would have to say, "I couldn't and I wouldn't!"

I think I love you. lol, truthfully I really don't understand going on a vacation that austere.
I want to eat better on vacation, not worse.

I don't eat granola bars for breakfast normally and no way would I send my kids to school with nothing but a granola bar for food so I can't understand doing it on vacation.

personally vacations for me are supposed to be a break. my real life I'm budget conscious and pinching pennies. I'd rather scrimp and save at home to really have a go out on vacation.
When you're on that strict of a food budget what happens when a member of the family throws a wrench in the budget???
If you've only budgeted for water, what happens if a kid god forbid wants a soda? LOL, for my family vacation is the time that I do allow them to drink soda or eat junk.

 

[maxiesmom]

Are you allowed to bring in food???? I didn't realize it...I knew you could bring in a bottle of water... (I get so confused between the parks, going to our local Six Flags, going to a concert at the local ampitheatre & what I can take to a MLB game...)

Yes, you can take food into any of the WDW parks. The only exceptions are no glass (unless you have baby food jars), no alcohol, and for the Animal Kingdom no plastic straws or lids. Plus if you have a cooler it cannot be dragged on wheels. It must be carried or put into a locker.

 

[nat8199]

I don't even think I could feed my kids on $25 a day, and they are tiny, but huge eaters.

Mickey Waffle Breakfast - 7.49

Snack - fruit 1.69

2nd Snack - Popcorn 1.50 (split 3 ways)

Lunch - Pinocchio Kids' lunch 5.99

Snack - fruit 1.69

2nd Snack - Mickey bar - 4

Dinner - Cheese pizza 5.99

That is 28.35 without tax. They would probably want at least one juice with their breakfast, but would be happy with water for the rest of the day as that is what we drink at home. Granted, I know my kids eat an insane amount of food, but I seriously just don't understand how people get by with eating so little. We are a family of hobbits, I guess.

Thinking about this though, I could feed myself on this. Though, that much processed cards would probably make me feel gross.