Disney Dining on a Budget:
How We Saved Money Eating at Disney World as a Family of 5
15 nights at Disney World sounds like a dream… until you start thinking about feeding five people three times a day. 😂
When we booked our Florida trip, I knew that food was going to be one of the areas where we could very easily overspend. We were staying for 15 nights, and with Disney restaurants, quick-service meals, snacks, drinks and the occasional meal outside Disney, it could have added up very quickly.
The good thing was that we booked our trip 18 months in advance, so I had plenty of time to research, plan and save.
I’m a big believer that you don't need to avoid all the fun things to save money. We still ate at restaurants we really wanted to try. We just made sure we knew roughly what everything was going to cost beforehand.
Here’s exactly what we did....
1. I researched our restaurants BEFORE we went
One of the best things I did was spend some time researching the restaurants we wanted to visit. I found YouTube incredibly helpful for this. There are so many Disney food videos to drool at where you can actually see the meals, portion sizes, restaurants and menus before you go. It helped us decide which places were genuinely worth spending our money on. I made a list of the restaurants that looked like ones we'd enjoy. Then came the really useful bit… I priced them up. The My Disney Experience app lets you look up Disney restaurants and view their menus, including prices and children's menus. So I could search for each restaurant and see: what food they served, adult prices, children's meals, which ages the children's menu applied to, drinks, desserts, and quick-service options. And this wasn't just the restaurants inside the parks. You can also look at restaurants at Disney Springs, which meant I could compare lots of different options before deciding where we wanted to eat.
2. I worked out the cost for ALL FIVE of us
This was probably the most useful part of my planning. Rather than looking at a menu and thinking: “Oh, that doesn't look too expensive,” I worked out an estimated total for our family of five. I'd add up the rough cost of meals, drinks and then allow for a 20% tip. I used 20% as my maximum estimate so that I wasn't caught out when the bill arrived. It meant I could look at a restaurant and think: “That's roughly going to cost us £/$XXX.” Then I could decide whether that meal fitted into our overall food budget. It also helped me decide how many more expensive restaurant meals we could realistically have during the trip. In for a family of 5, one expensive meal isn't necessarily the problem—it's doing it every single day that quickly adds up.
3. I planned our food around our park days
Once I had our rough park itinerary, I could start matching food to the days. For example, if we knew we were going to be at Magic Kingdom all day, I could decide whether we wanted: a table-service meal + quick service or quick service + snacks + dinner somewhere cheaper. Disney also has lots of quick-service restaurants, and the app makes it easy to look at menus and prices for these too. Mobile ordering is available at many locations through My Disney Experience, which can also make quick-service meals easier to organise. We weren't trying to make every meal the cheapest possible. We just didn't want to accidentally spend a fortune because we hadn't planned.
4. FREE ICE WATER = USE IT!
This is such a simple one, but over 15 days it made a huge difference. Disney restaurants and quick-service locations offer cups of iced water, so we used them constantly. We'd sit down, cool down and have a drink without having to buy five drinks every time. I'd seen quite a few comments before we went saying that the Florida water doesn't taste great. Personally, I didn't really have an issue with it. But… I'd packed some little Robinsons Squash'd-style squash pods from home. A little squeeze into the water made such a difference, especially for the kids. And it meant we weren't constantly buying fizzy drinks.
5. We ordered groceries before we arrived
This was one of my favourite money-saving things we did. We didn't hire a car for this trip, so popping to Walmart or Target wasn't really practical. Instead, we arranged a grocery delivery to our Disney hotel. Disney currently confirms that grocery deliveries can be made to Disney Resort hotels. Before our trip I compared a few different grocery options, including: Publix, Target, Walmart, Aldi, Garden Grocer. I even signed up to some of their newsletters so I could keep an eye out for offers. When I was ready to order, I chose the one that worked best for us.
6. What did we order?
Quite a lot! 😂 We ordered things that would save us buying snacks and drinks throughout the holiday. Our order included: bottled water, Coke Zero cans, Pringles multipacks, Ritz cracker packs, snacks. And, importantly… a pumpkin pie. 🎃 One of my favourite memories of the holiday was getting back to our room after a really long day at the parks, everyone else falling asleep… and me sitting in bed eating pumpkin pie while watching Hocus Pocus on the TV. Honestly, it was perfect. Sad? Maybe. But I loved it. 😂🎃
7. How we got the groceries to our room
We were staying at Disney's Port Orleans Riverside. I used the hotel's address when placing the grocery order and arranged the delivery for a time when we expected to arrive at the hotel on our travel day. I also left a note with the order asking for it to be left with Bell Services. When we arrived and checked in, I tracked the delivery and it was being delivered at almost exactly the right time. We then loaded everything onto a suitcase trolley and took it up to our room. We were on the first floor, so there were quite a few trips up and down with bottles of water! 😂 But it was absolutely worth it.
8. We packed snacks from home
I also filled a fair amount of our suitcases and hand luggage with snacks. Some of the things we took included: flapjacks, mini gingerbread men from Home Bargains, fruit rolls, raisins, small packs of nuts, mixed nuts and dried fruit, breadsticks, pretzels, scotch pancakes, Soreen bars. Every morning we'd put a selection into our backpacks. Then we'd all pick at them throughout the day.
9. Snacks were especially useful in the parks
I actually found that the heat and busy days meant we weren't always as hungry as we might normally be. We'd have breakfast, grab snacks throughout the day and then really appreciate sitting down properly for a meal later. And having snacks with us meant we didn't have five people saying: “I'm hungry!” every time we walked past a snack cart. 😂 It also meant we could decide when we wanted to buy a Disney snack rather than feeling like we needed to buy one. Saving money doesn't have to mean saying no to everything.
10. We also took breakfast food
Breakfast was another area where we saved quite a bit. Rather than buying five breakfasts every morning, we took things with us that were easy to eat in the room. We packed: mini pancakes, filled crepes, breakfast bars, brioche rolls, pain au chocolat. The aim wasn't to have an elaborate breakfast in our room. It was simply: get up → eat something → get ready → head to the parks. And that meant our money could go towards the meals and experiences we actually wanted.
11. If you're doing Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party… think about when you book it 🎃
We also booked Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, which was brilliant and definitely something I'd recommend factoring into your planning. But there's one thing I hadn't really considered beforehand… You get SO. MANY. TREATS. 😂 There are special Halloween treats and sweets available throughout the party, and by the end we had a rather impressive collection between the five of us. So if you're staying for a longer trip and you're planning on doing the Halloween party, I'd actually consider booking it earlier in your holiday. That way you have plenty of time afterwards to work your way through all those treats rather than trying to squeeze them into your cases to bring home!
The Disney food plan I'd use again
If I was planning another dining at Disney on a budget trip with our family of five, I'd definitely do the same things again:
- ✔️ Research restaurants before we go
- ✔️ Use the Disney app to check menus and prices
- ✔️ Work out an estimated cost for five people, including a tip
- ✔️ Mix table-service restaurants with quick-service meals
- ✔️ Check the kids' menus — the portions can be surprisingly good
- ✔️ Use the free iced water
- ✔️ Take squash pods for the kids
- ✔️ Order groceries to the hotel
- ✔️ Take snacks into the parks
- ✔️ Have easy breakfasts in the room
- ✔️ Plan our meals around our park days
- ✔️ If doing Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, consider booking it earlier in the trip
For me, saving money at Disney isn't about never buying anything. It's knowing where your money is going, planning for the meals you really want, and finding the little things that stop five people eating and drinking their way through your holiday budget every single day. And after 15 nights, those little savings really do add up. With a little prep before hand I hope it give you the confidence that you can do dining at Disney on a budget.... Also i'm very jealous that you're planning a trip to Disney!