One of my favorite parts of going to Disney World is all of the fantastic food! There are endless options for everyone. And as amazing as the food is, you can bet that it is also incredibly expensive to eat every meal at Disney. I will easily budget around 1/3 of my trip’s cost for food.
Here are some easy ways that you can save on food while on vacation.
Did you know that you can bring your own food to Disney? If eating at every restaurant is not top priority for you, you can save BIG by having groceries delivered to your hotel room, and packing your food for the day. There are several options for havinggroceries delivered right to your resort! When you are packing your food for the day keep in mind that you can even bring a small cooler (think something that will fit in a small bag or under a stroller).
If you aren't driving to Disney (or don't have the space or ability to pack all of the foods you want) you might want to have groceries delivered right to your resort.
Amazon Prime Pantry can have groceries delivered at little to no fee. If you are already an Amazon Prime member you wont be charged a delivery fee. If you aren't, the fee is $5.99.
The groceries they offer are reasonably priced, and they have a large variety of fresh items available.
While Disney will charge a $5 fee if you have a regular Amazon package delivered to your resort, they will NOT charge to have groceries delivered.
The best part? You can sign up for a free 30 day trial of Amazon Prime Pantry. So you can set it up for your trip. Have your groceries delivered, and then cancel your subscription to this service if you decide it isn't something you would use at home.
It's a great way to save money on food.
Other options for food delivery include Garden Grocer. They have a $40 minimum and do charge a $14 delivery fee on all orders.
If you use grocery delivery apps like Shipt, you can also use that to have groceries delivered to your room during your stay.
Whether you are on the dining plan and want to stretch out your dining credits, or you are paying for all of your food out of pocket, you can split meals at most sit down restaurants, and at any quick service restaurants at Disney World. In fact, the portions at the restaurants are notoriously huge. The only restaurants where you would not be able to split meals would be fixed price menu restaurants (Cinderella’s Royal Table for example) or buffet restaurants. Just let your server know that you would like to split your meal, and they will be happy to accommodate.
Appetizers are also a great way to save money if you are paying out of pocket. Most of the appetizers at sit down restaurants are smaller portions, but if you are ordering an appetizer only is often more than enough food for a meal, at a great price.
If you are ordering from a quick service restaurant you can often get good portions, and cheaper prices if you order from the kids menu. No one needs to know you are an adult ordering from the kids menu. You can even ask for a substitution for your side (often the side will be something like yogurt or apple slices, and you might not want that.).
At many of the quick service restaurants they will have the menu board with the various combos listed. This will usually include your entree, a side, and a drink. Knowing that the portions are usually pretty huge, you could always order just the entree item ala carte! It may not be advertised as a single item, but you can save money by asking just for the item without the side. Ice water is also free if you ask for it, so you can save on your drink as well.
When you are at Disney World you can use gift cards to pay for pretty much anything! Before you leave for your trip you can stock up ondiscounted gift cardsfor your trip. Bring the gift cards with you to the park and use those to pay for your meals as you go.
Don’t let food bring down your budget! You have so many options for great food and great savings.
Happy eating!
We can help you!Get your free vacation quote here
I am happy to help!Contact me.
See you at the parks,
-Julie
