Skip the character dining and meal plans

Just finished a 13ish day trip (Aug 25-Sep 7) which included 2 days in Charleson and 10 days of Orlando plus travel, and for a family of 6 (who sometimes fed extras), we spent $1300 for the week total. And we ate what we wanted, when we wanted in our offsite condo. I also spent large on groceries ($370, which included food, alcohol, and condo needs and I did 1 main trip and a smaller follow up later in the week on a rainy day) and let my family lead the way on food. If I'd have done character meals at the Disney hotels, with 4 Dis adults and 2 kids (and sometimes 5 with my mom), I'd have probably spent that amount in 3 meals...here's how we did it...

2 fast food lunches on drive down (before Charleston and before Orlando) $60
Homewood Suites breakfasts/dinners in Charleston Free
BBQ Lunch and Water Ice in Charleston $60
Dinner at Sis's House Friday Night Free
Groceries in Orlando $370 (included 12 pack of beer, a cheap bourbon 750, and a huge Kalhua mudslide bottle - handled our alcohol needs well all week, except for some Chocolate Emporium and Deep Blu splurges - also splurged on beautiful lunch meat - proscuitto, thick cut bacon, pepper turkey - and rolls and gorgeous fresh fruit)
3 days of BOGO 1/2 price Universal Counter Service Meal Deals (4 adults/2 kids) $280 (used 3rd day's worth over our 3 1/2 days there) - hit Springfield and Harry Potter restaurants for main meals - the Springfield Fish and Chips (or Basket of Bait) and the Chicken Platters are awesome, as are the HP ribs and ice cream:)
Outta Control Magic and Dinner Show at Wonderworks $96 (Groupon Deal) + $12 Tip = $108
Chocolate Emporium for 2 - Dinner and Drinks = $60ish dollars (tax/tip included)
Deep Blu (2 Magical Dining Month Meals and Shared Wine Pairing) = $86 + tax/tip = $115
Disney Springs Gelato = $16 (rewards money)
Hash Hash a Go Go = $43 for 7 (tip included) - Travelzoo deal
Cowgirls Rockbar = $44 for 6 (tip included) - Posted same day 1/2 price deal onsite
Pat O Briens = $36 (tax/tip included) for 7 + $40 from old movie/meal tickets = $76
Sweet Tomatoes (twice - family favorite) = $50 x 2 = $100 for 7 (tip included - had a birthday coupon and other coupons - we split as 2 groups to use 2 coupons each trip)
Wa Wa Hoagies = Free (I fed my brother's kids lunch with groceries we needed to use up and drinks for the adults and he bought the grown ups subs and pretzels)
Resort sundaes/ice cream sodas for 9 = $24
Auto Train (dinner and breakfast included) = free for meals
A few extra butter beers = $20

Total $1376
Total Paid Meals Out = 12 meals, 6 snacks (10 meals for 6/7 people, 2 date night meals for 2 people, 6 snacks for 6 - 3 in CS plan and 3 paid separately)
Total Included Meals Out = 7 meals (3 meals at hotel for 6, 2 meals on train for 6, 2 meals done by my brother and sister for 6 - we had food/plans for these, but we don't turn down family:))

So, we averaged an "out" meals about 1 1/2 times a day and the groceries paid for the rest of our meals. And my kids didn't want to go out anymore than we did.

And for 6 (4 Disney adults/2 kids and sometimes 7 with my mom), we did it on about $100/day just finding regular deals available everywhere and never saying "no".
That’s awesome!!! Thank you for the detail. You are super mom! We are considering staying offsite this year. I’m wondering if the shuttling from whatever hotel offsite to the parks is convenient or a PITA? I have MS and don’t know if staying on-site at a value and doing busses will be a nightmare? I haven’t done it before...thank you for your tips! Is motivating and encourages me to forego meal plan again next rime
 
Eh, that's an entirely personal opinion.

We love the character meals. Yes, they're expensive and my ASD kid doesn't each much, but she loves meeting characters so it works for us. I'd rather meet 4 characters in an hour, while eating in the air conditioning then stand outside waiting in lines for them. Two birds one stone for us.

We are DVC members and usually do a 1 bedroom also, but we never cook. Honestly, cooking on vacation is my nightmare. I'm not interested. I don't even like doing granola bars or pop tarts and stuff for breakfast. That's just not a vacation for me. I could understand all this if you're working with a budget, but I just don't go to Disney to scrimp on this stuff. The food, buying stuff, restaurants, etc is all what makes the vacation for me.
Yes- I was just wanting to share my opinion and experience because I had not heard a similar one when planning my trip, and wish I had! It worked for us but certainly is not for all :)
 
Character meals are overpriced for the most part, but hey, it's Disney.....what isn't overpriced? Our first and only character meal was at Ariel's Grotto in DL when DD was 7, and she was starstruck by meeting all the different princesses. Was a truly magical experience, but don't think we will do again.
 
That all depends on the person/family. NOT seeing a kitchen on vacation would be PRICELESS to me.

YES! I am chief cook and bottle washer all year long, and I have no complaints about that, however from the second my hot little foot hits the baggage check in at the airport, I am chief Princess. No cooking, no cleaning, no dishes, and no laundry for me.

You’re right! I should have been more specific about, it being our first trip to Disney, this is what happened and why we feel that way about character dining :) life changes dramatically! I have MS and it has progressed since this post and now a character breakfast is probably the BEST way for us to meet characters so that I don’t have to wait in line...I am humbled!

WE get a dining plan because it is cost effective for my family. My DGD was a character junkie when she was little, so we hot them all. Every trip we booked multiple character meals just for her and we enjoyed them all. SHe is older now, so she has less interest, but 2 years ago we took the two kids on on street. This was their first trip and once again I booked character meals. A boatload of character meals! My entire family enjoyed them as we wathed these two Little Princesses interact. The weather was atrocious the entire trip, and honestly without these meals my girls probably would not have met so many characters. Money well spent for us.

I think that vacations are very personal, and value is subjective. We save for our trips, because once we arrive we do not want to spare the horses. One of my girls cannot take the heat. Those lines killed her, so the breaks during the day were very important, and the value there.
 


That’s awesome!!! Thank you for the detail. You are super mom! We are considering staying offsite this year. I’m wondering if the shuttling from whatever hotel offsite to the parks is convenient or a PITA? I have MS and don’t know if staying on-site at a value and doing busses will be a nightmare? I haven’t done it before...thank you for your tips! Is motivating and encourages me to forego meal plan again next rime

We drove from parks to hotels and back...I'm betting a shuttle would be a PITA...but then again, when I stayed onsite, I also thought Disney buses were a PITA, so I'm probably not the best person to answer for you:)...

If I did buses/shuttles, I'd go once a day (forward and back) and enjoy my resort either early or late vs going back and forth to parks...
 
We drove from parks to hotels and back...I'm betting a shuttle would be a PITA...but then again, when I stayed onsite, I also thought Disney buses were a PITA, so I'm probably not the best person to answer for you:)...

If I did buses/shuttles, I'd go once a day (forward and back) and enjoy my resort either early or late vs going back and forth to parks...
No no you are the best person to ask bc I feel the same way...so would you say staying offsite and driving is more convenient and less of a PITA in your opinion? :)
 
Character meals are overpriced, but I’m not cooking on vacation. We only eat out once a week, which means we cook way too many meals, when on vacation I’m not doing it. I would rather stay at at moderate resort, pay for the dinning plan and not worry about groceries. But that’s the wonderful thing about WDW, everyone can plan the vacation that works best for their family.
 


No no you are the best person to ask bc I feel the same way...so would you say staying offsite and driving is more convenient and less of a PITA in your opinion? :)

Yes...as long as you stay close - we are always at Bonnet Creek when we're there, and that's the fastest place I've ever stayed to get in and out of parks...

When I stayed at Vistana with family one year, it wasn't as convenient as Bonnet Creek...
 
It depends on what you value on vacation. We never do character meals or the dining plan. My kids were never into any of the characters except the villains, so that was always a no. And the dining plan would be a huge lose for us as now we're all adults, and we eat a lot of appetizers and alcoholic drinks, no soda, and few desserts (that would be shared anyway). A lot of the restaurants we like don't even take the dining plan anyway. We have DVC, so we always get a 2BR villa if 3 or more are going and do lots of cooking and hanging out there (maybe about half in, half dining out).
 
Disney is such an individual vacation! When we had little ones we did the character meals since that was one my kids favorite things to do and they were never afraid. It saved waiting in meet and greet lines and some of the food was really good. I don’t cook on vacation either so we saved money in other ways - free flights with Southwest card, free dining etc. And we stayed offsite twice and hated renting a car and dealing with traffic, so from then on we stayed onsite and I used my Discover cash back to pay for onsite hotel. You have to do what works for your family.
 
We did many character meals when my DD was little. Made some of the best memories with amazing interactions with the characters. Would much rather spend $ on memories, food and experiences than on an expensive room we only sleep in.
 
Character Dining is part of the Disney magic for me, too! If we aren't doing any character meals, then whyyyyyyy did we just spend $10k to be at WDW? Should have just saved the money and eaten around the world in our own city! ;)
 
I know this is a bit of a zombie thread, but it really does depend on you and your family. We haven't done the dining plan, because we generally rent a house or condo and stay off-site, but when the kids were with us, we scheduled a couple.

My kids LOVED Lilo and Stitch, so each time we went, we made reservations for the character breakfast at 'Ohana. I personally love the Liberty Tree Tavern (from my growing up in the 1970's), even though it's changed so much), so I made dinner reservations there when we went in 2006 and 2009. We didn't necessarily need the characters, but it was a nice add. I understand the characters aren't there any longer.

So basically, as has been said, plan it based on you and your family's likes and desires.
 
We are DVC so always stay in rooms w/ kitchens but neither my wife and I are interested in cooking on vacation (even though we cook every day at home). We get a delivery of items for breakfast and we have that in the room (but we do go out to breakfast on non-park days as well). We drive from NYC so that's basically our savings since we're not paying for airfare. We spend a lot of money on TS meals (incl. a bunch of character meals) both in parks, at resorts and Disney Springs.
 
We rarely do any TS meals anymore, maybe 1 a trip. Cost is one reason but mainly because it takes to much time out of our park time. We also would not cook during our vacation, that is one of the things we are trying to vacation from:) We do bring breakfast items and snacks on our trips but that is it.
 
We did our 1st character meal on our last trip to Disneyland. Santa had taken over Pooh's spot, so Plaza Inn was the only place to meet those characters. We splurged. We had a fantastic time. I am hoping to do it again. My boys love breakfast, so it was worth it for us. I am not sure how dinner would be with my oldest being super picky. Whenever we get to Disney World, I am planning at least 1 princess meal, for ME! princess: I am planning a trip to Disney World in the next couple of years and it looks like off site is what will make it work for us. I have no issue making microwave burritos and grilled cheese for easy lunches or late dinners. If it saves money so I can live my dream, I will do it! :figment:
 
Disney is such an individual vacation! When we had little ones we did the character meals since that was one my kids favorite things to do and they were never afraid. It saved waiting in meet and greet lines and some of the food was really good. I don’t cook on vacation either so we saved money in other ways - free flights with Southwest card, free dining etc. And we stayed offsite twice and hated renting a car and dealing with traffic, so from then on we stayed onsite and I used my Discover cash back to pay for onsite hotel. You have to do what works for your family.
Yes- looking back on my original post I hope I didn’t come across as bossy or “this is what everyone should do” :/ thank you for your reply! May I ask- we are considering staying offsite this year. Was driving each day really bad? What specifically was bad? Thanks so much!
 
We did many character meals when my DD was little. Made some of the best memories with amazing interactions with the characters. Would much rather spend $ on memories, food and experiences than on an expensive room we only sleep in.
That makes sense! For us, we spend more time in the room because we have to go back to rest the during day, sometimes for long periods, because one of us has MS. So having a fabulous or comfortable room is important to us. A year later looking at my OP I realize how much things change in a year just with the age and stage of my own child who now would probably enjoy a character meal much more! You’re right; it depends on the family and so many factors
 
Was driving each day really bad? What specifically was bad? Thanks so much!

The traffic was really heavy every day and there was a long traffic line to get into the parks. I thought it took away from our park time. The on-site buses were really great for us - we never waited more than five minutes! We never went back to the hotel this trip because we tried it once and it took so much time out of our day to go back and forth. We had a two year old our last trip so he napped in the stroller as we took turns sitting in the shade in a bench with him while the other spouse could ride with older kids.
 

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