Hypothetically ~ IF you were allowed to take a lunch into the parks....

[SandraC]

Hi! Just a hypothetical question here: If, say, I packed up a small lunch for my family of 4, say, a sandwich each, couple cookies, apples ~ that type of thing. And let's say...oh...well, I was allowed to take this little lunch into the parks because I spent $7000 on this Disney trip and wish to have a finanical break occasionally and a nice little break from lunch counter lines and prehaps a few things that I know my kids would eat and IF... of course Disney allowed this.....{{{{{{TAKES A BREATH}}}}}}

IF I could manage such a thing ~ where would you suggest we have a little lunch?

I recall passing by several nice little *out of the way* spots at the parks ~ can you suggest one or two at each park? Thanks, Sandra

 

[Cindy B]

Well, I can say that I have done that.. (Don't flame me!) My DD has some pretty severe food allergies, so it was easier for me to bring stuff that I know she could eat instead of things that I had no idea what was really in it..

Now with them checking bags/backpacks it may be trickier.

But for spots to eat, lets see...the area where Belles story time is nice secluded area in MK.
Or even the further end of Adventure land... I seem to remember some benches back past Pirates..

Epcot, used to have some nice benches near Test Track (there was something with butterflies nearby).. also there are some benches near Body Wars area, if I remember correctly.

I remember buying coffees inside of the Wonders of Life Pavillion, and letting my DD eat while the adults drank the coffee (there were table set up)

Studios.. lets see.. I saw many a people bring out their homemade packed lunches/dinner while waiting for Fantasmic.. saw many Subway type wrappers..

 

[SandraC]

We took that nice little walking path from Donald's Boat at MK to Tomorrowland. It was nice an MT! A bit noisy around the racecars. But I thought about that, it let the kids run about while I sit. S

 

[bigsis1970]

When we went in Dec 2001, I brought a soft side lunch box type cooler everyday we were in the parks w/ a few drinks, and a bunch of snacks and nobody said a word to us.. i would give it a try and if they say no then no but if they don't you have just saved $30.00 Michelle

 

[CarolA]

Just in case you wanted to know. Security does not appear to be stopping food. Even if they do ask you can always tell them you want to put it in the lockers which they do allow.

 

[karyn]

We put our sandwiches, fruit and a drink into a small coooler bag on the bottom of the backpack and got through . I have plenty of cooler bags and small ice packs since at one time i was packing 4 school lunches! We found a great spot down a few steps in front of splash mountain. There are benches , if you can find one, and many other families doing the same thing. It's near where Mike Keel's boat landing is. I hate wasting time in a restaurant during lunch hour since it is usually crowded or hot when we go. This way in the evening i can just relax at dinner. If i think of any place else i'll edit this. Good luck

 

[SandraC]

What about the benches around the castle at MK? They looked nice and relaxing!

 

[Sugardimples]

There are some tables in a shaded spot right across from Mrs. Potts Kitchen, facing the "lake" that used to be 20,000 Leagues. It's right up the path from Winnie the Pooh. It kind of quiet and peaceful, there are ducks, and as I mentioned, there is shade.

We fould this a very pleasant place to take a break.

 

[kandj2]

At MK there is a nice shady little spot with tables right near the exit of Pirates right across from the bathrooms.

At MGM there is that little dock area by Indiana Jones right in front of the dinosaurs.

Security shouldn't give you any problems. We carried snacks and juice boxes in with no problem. I saw one lady actually carrying a small picnic basket and she didn't have any problems either!

Have fun!!

Kerry

 

[crusoe2]

There's a nice secluded spot just out the "back door" of the Christmas shop in Liberty Square at MK. It is shady and quiet and I think there were benches, too.

 

[AuntBJ]

SandraC is right. The path between the Tomorrowland Speedway and the Railroad track is VERY quiet. The benches are even slightly off the path so the occasional passer-by doesn't even bother you. The engineer on the train usually blows his whistle and waves too which is a thrill if you have little ones in your group.

We were down there in Feb. 2000. There were 13 of us so by the end of the week, we were tired of spending lots of money on basically the same lunch each day. Instead of trying to carry in a cooler big enough for all that food, we bought the small insulated fold-over lunch bags (saw them again at Dollar Tree last week.) We put two or three sandwiches in each bag with a very small, soft gel-ice pack. You could also freeze small bottles of water and put in each bag. If you do this, make sure the bottle is not completely full before freezing and use ziploc bags. (Learned this from bad experience with regular sandwich bags. Soggy bread is not good. LOL) You can then stuff all of the lunch bags along with a bag of chips, crackers or other snacks into a backpack or tote bag. As soon as we got to the park we rented a locker and put the whole backpack in it. Then we set a lunch time and appointed one or two people to go get the backpack and bring the food to the meeting spot. It may sound like a good bit of work but it actually wasn't and we really saved not only money but a good bit of time also.

BTW, someone told me you could freeze drink pouches and put those in too but I haven't tried it.

 

[tink2dw]

I'm Diabetic. On our first trip since I was Dx Mar.2001 I found it didn't work to eat in park restaurants or counter service places all the time.
I had been warned that all the added walking and excitement could cause havic with staying stable.That became very true For ME. I would be fine one minute and the next I needed protein foods and It took too long to get food from counter places and to long for the food to be served at sit down. And it took time to get in to Buffets. Needless to say I finially crashed scaring us all.

Lesson Learned carry glucose tablets,protein foods and sugar snacks for Fast Food, along with a good homemade lunch.

 

[Mic]

I have a small daycare that I take on field trips near home, and we have found that packing a lunch really does save TIME and MONEY. When we go to the zoo or the local theme park in the summer, I pack sanwiches in small lunch bags, using frozen capri sun's as the ice pack, and we have never had a problem. As a matter of fact, I have had to pack 2 capri suns in several of the bags, as the older kids need 2. I noticed recently they now have a "bigger" size capri sun, so that may work better for older kids. We have only taken snacks and water bottles into the WDW parks, but we may consider packing a small lunch this summer when we take 8-10 middle school cheerleaders(my treat...I don't think my 13-year-old DD knows how much I love her!), so I appreciate all the suggestions in this post!

 

[SandraC]

We are *family amusement season's passes/membership junkies* we have annual passes to everywhere near home and use them! We find that's a great way to save $$$ ~ especially if they are used. Our local amusement/theme park is Paramount Canada's Wonderland. Last year season's passes for my family cost $300 TOTAL ~ ONLY! We went 29 times! That's like $3.00 per trip! A one day pass is $50! That's would be $4350.00 for my family if we paid full price. We always pack lunches. I am getting really good at it! We do it for the zoo, science centre and museums too. Last year we were meeting friends at Paramount Canadas Wonderland water park ~ they didn't bring a lunch. The only things on the water park counter service menu was chicken stripes and hot dogs. Everyone in her family ordered hot dogs. She stood in line for 30 minutes to find out they ran out of hot dogs and she had to buy 4 servings of $9.00 chicken fingers, add drinks and fries $50 for a crappy lunch! I gave them all veggies, fruits and cookies for dessert. We have walked by several counter services to see constant lines for poor yet expensive food. We bring things like favorite sandwiches, pizza buns, bagels, love our veggies and fruit, I bring cookies for dessert because they are easy to tote.