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Today I want to talk about something that may seem impossible, and that is how to find cheap meals at Disney World. You see, when ou hear the words “Disney World”, I am sure you think of a lot of things And the word “cheap” is not one of them. Because as fun as the Walt Disney World Resort is, it is certainly not fun to get the bills.
Which is a problem for me, because I am quite addicted to visiting Disney World. I first went to the Polynesian Resort before I was two years old, and I have been hooked ever since.
In order to visit multiple times, I have had to learn a few things about how to save money during my visits. And dining is an area I’ve had to get better at when budgeting. Sometimes I get so caught up in thinking how to finance the hotel or tickets and I forget about how expensive eating at Disney World is.
But luckily, my family and I have come up with some ways to save money on dining throughout the years. Here are some tips we can give you that can make your meals during your Disney World trip a lot more affordable.
Get a Family Meal
If you purchase one meal for your family and share it, this will save you a lot of money versus everyone buying an individual meal.
Trail’s End Restaurant at the Fort Wilderness Resort has some great family meals. They have a Fried Chicken 8-Piece Meal for (currently) $28.99 and a Barbecued Ribs Full-Slab Meal for $31.99.
My family really likes the Fried Chicken meal.
We like good Southern food, and this definitely qualifies. And you get a lot of food with this family meal. You get:
- 8 pieces of Fried Chicken
- 2 1-pound sides
- Corn bread
If you’ve ever gotten a family meal at Boston Market, I would say this is similar.
The serving size was so good, too, that we were able to take home leftovers and make another meal out of it! That is a really good bargain for that price. Especially with the food being so good.
Even if you are not staying at the Fort Wilderness Resort, you can still eat at this restaurant. My family did this last time we went to Disney World. We spent the morning at Magic Kingdom and then took a boat over to Fort Wilderness. Then we had a really nice lunch. We could then take a boat back to Magic Kingdom, so we could then walk to the busses to get back to Art of Animation (where we were staying).
Another great choice for a family meal is ordering a family-size pizza at a Disney World hotel. You can do this at the food courts of value hotels (Art of Animation, Pop Century, All Star Music, All Star Movies & All Star Sports) and moderate hotels (Port Orleans: Riverside, Port Orleans: French Quarter, Caribbean Beach Resort, Coronado Springs & Fort Wilderness Lodge). You can split the pizza with the rest of your family and it is so much cheaper than each person ordering a meal. Plus, the pizza is really good.
At the time of this writing, it’s a little over $20 for a whole pizza. If you want to order a pizza at the park, the only one you could really split among your family would probably be the large pizza at Via Napoli over at Epcot. But that pizza is over $40, so you’ll be paying about twice the price. Now, the pizza you’ll get will be more specialized. But if we are talking strictly about saving money, that’s not a great deal.
Split an Entree Between Two People
This isn’t exactly a family meal, but it is a great hack to save you money. Some entrees at Disney World actually give you so much food that two people could eat it as a meal and not be too hungry afterwards.
For example, you can get a Trio Platter from Columbia Harbour House at Magic Kingdom. You get a mix of Beer-battered Fish, Beer-battered Shrimp, and Chicken Strips, served with French Fries and Hushpuppies.
They give you enough you can split it up. An added bonus of this is that there is a variety of food with each meal, so potentially you could divide it up depending on tastes (like if say your husband hates fish, he could get the chicken). To learn more about Columbia Harbour House, check out our Columbia Harbour House Review.
This can also work really well with foot-long hot dogs.
My family will cut them in half and split them between two people. We do this a lot at Casey’s Corner at Magic Kingdom, which is a favorite spot of my family’s. We talk about Casey’s Corner in our Casey’s Corner Review.
But it also works at other restaurants, such as:
- Rosie’s All-American Café at Hollywood Studios
- Restaurantosaurus at Animal Kingdom
Eat Children’s Meals as an Adult
This works best if you are ordering quick service and ordering on your phone. Then you don’t have to actually ask a server for a children’s meal.
But if you order from your phone, they don’t know who the meal is for. And eating a children’s meal is a lot more affordable than an adult’s meal.
My favorite children’s meal for me as an adult to eat is over at Animal Kingdom theme park. And that is the Shrimp Rice Bowl, which you can order at Harambe Market.
The entire meal is, at the time of posting this blog entry, $8.99. And for $8.99, you get:
- Peri Peri-marinated Shrimp on White Rice
- A choice of a side
- A choice of drink, such as Small Lowfat Milk, a small Dasani water bottle, or a small soda.
If you were to buy a quick service adult meal and a soda off the regular menu at virtually any Disney World quick service restaurant, you’d probably pay around $20. So this is an outstanding meal. The cup you get is small, but works for a quick meal.
That worked great for us actually last time we went because as we finished up our meal, we noticed that the line for Kilimanjaro Safaris had dropped. So we quickly threw away our meals and head over there. So even I had had a larger drink, I wouldn’t have been able to drink the whole thing.
Plus, it is so much more affordable to have the drink included in the meal versus paying for it separately!
The shrimp rice bowl meal is not a lot of food, but I find it filling for a lunch.
Oh, and the best part? It is really delicious!
Eat a Croissant Jambon Fromage from Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie
Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie is a hidden gem at Disney World. It’s in the France Pavilion at Epcot. And it has one of my favorite affordable dining options: the Croissant Jambon Fromage.
It has Ham, Cheese & Béchamel in a Croissant. And it is just $6.95! You can’t beat that price!
Bring Food from Home
Now, this works best depending on where you are staying. But let’s stay you are staying in a DVC room at a Disney World hotel. DVC rooms have kitchens and tables. The kitchens are especially great if you are staying in a one-bedroom, two-bedroom, or three-bedroom villa.
But there are small kitchens in studios, too.
You don’t even have to be a DVC member to stay in one of these rooms. In fact, my family has done it many times – and we’ve paid a lot less money than booking non-DVC rooms through Disney’s website. Part of my last trip I stayed at Old Key West, and it was less than $200 a night! We tell you how to book a DVC room here.
So if you do book a DVC room, you could actually cook meals and eat them in your room. These meals wouldn’t even have to be three-course meals that take you three hours to cook or anything. You could even just buy microwave meals or other meals that are quick to cook and bring them on your trip (this obviously works best if you are driving). These meal options would be a lot cheaper than eating at the restaurants at the park.
Bring Water Bottles Into The Park
One overly-expensive part of Disney World is hot much the drinks cost. A soda, for example, is now over $5. Even water bottles are expensive.
One way around paying this much is bringing your own water bottle. This can help save you money at a quick service restaurant.