Dining Out At Disney vs. Bringing Your Own Food

If you are trying to save money, there is always the option of bringing food into the park. Some people like to bring in their entire meal, others snacks and some like to enjoy everything that the park has to offer. So let’s compare the options and see what you gain or lose by doing either bringing food into the park or eating out.

One easy item you can bring into the parks to save money is water, plastic bottled water. It will save you save you money if you drink a lot, which is important to do especially in the hot summer months. You can either drink it room temperature or put it in a cooler to keep it cold, the choice is yours.

Another option is snacks into the park. For those people who brink snacks into the park like cereal bars, trail mix, crackers and whole fruit in ziplock bags, this can be a time saver from waiting in line to grab a snack and it can save you some money. It’s also easy to do and you don’t have to worry about a cooler. For those who like to bring fresh cut fruit and vegetables (because you can’t bring a knife into the park) and cheese in a small cooler, you’ll also be saving time and money. However, you will need to carry a small cooler to keep them from spoiling. Food that needs to be kept cold starts to spoil just 2 hours after not being refrigerated and could lead to food poisoning, the last thing you want on your vacation.

Some people like to bring everything in to the park and purchase no park food at all to save money. I find this to be option to have many cons. First of all, you must carry a large cooler with ice to keep your food from spoiling, which means you have to lug that around the parks all day long. By bringing in the large cooler, it will take you longer to go through security. If doing so, I highly recommend that you put everything in clear contains and bags to make it easier for security and move you through quicker. Also, the food has to be something cold because there is no place in the park to heat up your food. If you are planning on doing this, you either have to visit a grocery store when you arrive, if you have a car or you can place an order and have it delivered to your resort. You can put non-perishable food items in you luggage, if you have any of those. The biggest thing I think people miss out on by not dining out is all of the great food that Disney has to offer. There are so many great options for dining from the inexpensive to the expensive and you are stuck eating what you eat everyday instead of trying something new and different.

In my opinion, carrying some snacks that are non-perishable isn’t a bad idea to hold you over until you have a sit down meal. Bringing water into the park is a great way to save money. It’s one that I often do because I drink a lot and I could easily spend $20 a day at the park by myself on drinks.

However, when it comes to packing full meals like lunch or dinner to save money, I’m opposed to it. I believe if you are going to spend the money to take a vacation, then you should fully experience your vacation and when it comes to Disney, dining is part of that. By bringing your own lunch or dinner, you are depriving yourself of amazing dining experiences and Disney has something to offer even the pickiest of eaters. Besides, do you really want to lug around a cooler full of food all day?

TIP FOR THOSE BRINGING ANYTHING INTO THE PARK: All food and drink must be in plastic containers EXCEPT for baby food jars.

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Kristen Hoetzel
Cooking With Mickey

Twitter @CookingwMickey
http://CookingwithMickey.info

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