Please help with hints to save $ on food

[ptlycloudy]

If you have AAA you can save 10% at
Plaza Inn (Large Portions)
And for Character meals Goofy's Kitchen and Ariels Grotto

We love going to Redd's Rockett prices range from $6-8 We usually order 1 salad and 1 pasta dish for the 4 of us to share. All of the portions are large, food is pretty good and as long as you are still inside the restaurant drink refills are free.

Another good place to split meals besides Plaza Inn is Rancho Del Zocalo in Frontierland for Mexican food . The Prices are a little higher but the portions are large.

I don't know how many days you are staying, but on our longer stay we had my husband get an annual pass with parking add on while we got hoppers. This worked out cheaper when calculating how many days of parking we would need and it gave us a 10% discount at many restaurants in the park.

We bring the mini crystal light, or Lipton ice tea to go packs to refill our water at a fountain then add the flavoring. Made the water taste better.

We usually eat breakfast in the room, snacks throughout the day , 1 lrgr meal in the park and one Treat (so many to choose from ).

 

[50thisyeartoo!]

My daughter has a family of five. They go to Disneyland 2-3 times per year. She makes a trip to Costco for: individual cereal boxes (those multi packs which have different variety), snacks, water...definitely buy the water out of the park. The cost of sodas will put you in the poor house.
Personally I would stay in a hotel which offers a free breakfast...we have stayed at Homewood Suites. They have a buffet! We would really eat a huge breakfast, light lunch or snack, and then an early dinner out of the park. Mimi's is across the street DL; great food reasonably priced.
One day I bought 7 corn dogs at the famous corn dog place at DCA; they were awesome. $45 for 7 but you do get chips with them.
It's really hard to carry lots of food into DL...it has to not need refrigeration so that nixes out sandwiches. Take non perishable snacks. Stop at Costo or Sam's club first.

 

[mshrm]

If you dont get free breakfast with your hotel most usually still have a coffee maker. You can take instant oatmeal as well as cup of noodles to make with the hot water.

We take sandwiches and snacks into the parks and to make sure I stay on my budget I take cash for the rest of the meals. There are 3 of us so I take $40 a day to cover one meal and usually an ice cream. We never buy drinks and always just ask for the free ice water. You can save a fortune by not buying drinks on your vacation! Also it really does help to only take the budgeted amount of money, when you have your credit/debit cards its too easy to go over the amount.

 

[TheZue]

We find that my husband and I can share the spagetti at Pizza Port perfectly and end up very full Granted we got kinda sick of it after a few days lol. We brought Granola bars last time for our son who was two and that helped a lot. This time I'm going to bring a container of powdered Iced Tea and just make us a couple bottles before we go into the park in the mornings instead of buying pop in the park. Also if we go to a character breakfast we treat is like brunch because it's just soooo filling. I've also heard of people buying the bucket of popcorn on the first day of the trip and just re filling it with microwave popcorn and bringing that for the kids the rest of the days.

Has anyone ever brought a toaster oven with them? I'm seriously considering it so we can make small lunches or dinners in our room like toasted sandwiches or mini pizzas to save on some cash or reheating restaurant food that just doesn't seem like it would be great in the microwave.

 

[Leofoenget]

Has anyone ever brought a toaster oven with them? I'm seriously considering it so we can make small lunches or dinners in our room like toasted sandwiches or mini pizzas to save on some cash or reheating restaurant food that just doesn't seem like it would be great in the microwave.

I have considered it. Walgreens has a new toaster oven for $10. (get what you pay for but hey it will get you through a short trip) I would think it would be easier to just stay at a hotel with free breakfast. If I were to DRIVE and really wanted to go budget, I would also bring a small microwave and coffee maker. I would not do this if I were to fly of course. You can get mega budget hotel by disneyland for about $50. (super 8 Ithink) not a good neighbor hotel. With a cheap motel, your own microwave and toaster oven coffee maker your are all set. Add a small cooler and it's just like camping! hehe Seriously, I would do this if I really wanted to go budget. I am seriouisly considering doing this at Thanksgiving. I will have my 2 year old and I want to see the Christmas stuff but I can not spend any extra $ because I am going in Sept.

 

[darph nader]

I'm with everyone else,lots and lots of snacks and munchies. If you enjoy 'adult' beverages,BYO it's less expensive.

 

[spazzyjazzy]

Has anyone ever brought a toaster oven with them?

This just reminded me. When we were at the HOJO last week there was a saved message on our phone and yes me being as nosey as I am I listened to it.
It was from the hotel apologizing about the fire alarm. Someone had brought a mini bbq grill, used it and the smoke set off the fire alarm. I was laughing while I was listening to the message.

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

Sign up for Red Robins e-club and if your birthday is around the time you go you'll get an email for a free burger.

I also second the Mimi's cafe tip. And the chicken dinner @ the plaza my DD and I almost always share that.

 

[woody73]

. . . Someone had brought a mini bbq grill, used it and the smoke set off the fire alarm. . .

How embarassing!

Woody

 

[TiffJ]

Sign up for Red Robins e-club and if your birthday is around the time you go you'll get an email for a free burger.

I also second the Mimi's cafe tip. And the chicken dinner @ the plaza my DD and I almost always share that.

Hold the phone! Is there a Red Robin nearby that we could walk to?????? I love this place & there arent any near me so this would be fabulous!

 

[kuusimo]

Hold the phone! Is there a Red Robin nearby that we could walk to?????? I love this place & there arent any near me so this would be fabulous!

You can't walk to it. It is by the Orange mall which is a good 5 miles away from the parks.

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

Hold the phone! Is there a Red Robin nearby that we could walk to?????? I love this place & there arent any near me so this would be fabulous!

There's one right by the Hyatt on Harbor I think. It's where the Joes Crab Shack and Outback are. We stayed at the Hyatt for a skating competition and walked to Red Robin every night.

The address is 12007 Harbor Blvd. Garden Grove (714) 971 - 4775

 

[wendithepooh]

to save money we would bring country time lemonade or kool-aid single packs and add them to our water.It saved a lot of money since sodas are like 2.50 each.At Rancho del Zocalo we bought everyone (there are 5) thier own meal - big mistake.DS and I had the same dinner and there was a whole dinner when we left.Another thing we do is put our food money(cash) for the day in an enevelope and whatever was left we put in the next days enevelope.At the end of our week we had an extra $100 -not too shabby.Call us awful parents but one night we had pretzels and ice cream for dinner because nobody was hungry after eating them.My kids thought we were great.

 

[grumpy.uncle]

Hi. We are a family of 5, me, DH, DS10, DD6, and DS3. We are planning our 4th trip to Disneyland for next Janurary. We will have a much tighter budget for this trip than the previous ones. We will be off site and driving and parking each day. (No Disneyland Hotel for me )

We are already planning on eating breakfast in our room (cereal or instant oatmeal) or on the way (breakfast bars). We will do one character meal, and I've wanted to eat at the Blue Buyou for awhile so we will probably do that as well, maybe sharing a meal to make it more affordable. What could we do to save on the other meals. What meals are good for sharing? What about packing a lunch? What have you brought along for lunch that was easy to prepare and pack? Would you leave the cooler in the van and send someone back to get it toward luchtime or would you rent a locker?

I want to save some money on food but all the time and effort to pack and get the lunch and treck outside the park to eat it seems a bit impractical and so time consuming. I'd love some hints as to how you made it work for you. And any other hints on money savings as well. Thanks so much.

Jackie

We have stayed at the Tropicana right across the street from DL. You can walk to the park and thus save on gas, parking and time. Some of their rooms have a full kitchen setup; I think the only thing missing is a toaster which we bring from home. My sister is so organized that she plans our meals for the trip and we travel down with all our groceries. We eat simple breakfasts in room (cereal,fruit,bagels,toast,etc.) We normally eat lunch at the parks, but you could certainly make sandwiches to take with you in a small softside cooler. Since you still have a young son, you might consider taking his stroller(if you still have it) and use it to stash all your snacks,drinks,etc. Bring bottled water or drinks w/ you from home because drinks in the parks are very expensive. I like to bring 2 bottles of water with me. One of them I empty slightly and then pop it in the freezer. About half way thru the day it melts and you have ice cold water. Also write everyone's name on their water bottle. If you make pb&j or a sandwich w/o mayo you should be ok. Blue Bayou is wonderful to eat at; make ressies for the last lunch (lunch is cheaper than dinner and it's basically the same thing). Your kids could probably split a meal. The corndogs at the little cart on the right side at the end of Main st. are great. Bring lots of snack pacs w/you into the park. They have never given us any problem and we bring a large asssortment in w/us. Fruit rolls, dried fruit, jerky, nuts, veggies are all good. You can also exit the CA park into the Grand Ca.hotel and make a left turn. There is a great little snack bar w/ good sandwiches, fruit and salads ( I believe it's called Whitewater Snacks). It's not as expensive as some of the other options, it's quiet, and it's air-conditioned, so it's a nice break from the park. All the character meals are expensive so you would probably want to avoid them. That turkey leg is enormous in FL so you could buy just one like I did and share it w/ entire family for a snack. We normally head back to our room in the afternoon to take a break. We shower to wash off the sunscreen, take short naps, fix a simple dinner in our room (tacos,tuna casserole, etc. w/ a salad) then head back to the parks in the evening when it is cooling down and crowds are thinning out ( 5:00-6:00). It's nice to have a break in the middle of the day, let's everyone recharge their batteries. Have fun. You can certainly do Disney w/o breaking the bank.