Today’s article is a guest post from Disney Vacation Specialist, Chelsey McGee
of Magical Memories Travel

There are tons of articles out there about whether or not to use the Disney Dining Plan and if its right for your family and travel needs. This is not one of those articles. This is what happens if the answer is no, it’s not right for you family.

First off, its okay, the Dining Plan is not for everyone, my family included (I have 2 young boys so the day will come where I will need it). On our last trip in January of 2011 we went for my husband to run the Marathon. Our family at the time consisted of my husband and I as well as our 3 year old daughter and 7 month old son. For our 10 day trip we successfully ate for under $600. This included 3 Character Meals: Chef Mickey’s, Norway’s Storybook Princess Breakfast, and the Crystal Palace. 3 Table Service Meals: Via Napoli, Le Cellier, and Rainforest Cafe. All other meals were counter service both in park and at our resort.

So, how did we do it?

Set ground rules with our entire travel party before leaving on what our budget is and how often we planned on eating. If possible determine the restaurants before going. This will save money as well as arguing over what’s for dinner while there. We also set rules for snacks with the kids. How often and how much? Part of our success is we rarely get snacks.

Bring breakfast and some snacks from home. Nearly every hotel has or has the option of a small in room fridge. We purchase milk and yogurt from the resort store upon arrival for cold cereal. I pack granola bars, small boxes of cereal, prepackaged muffins/donuts, instant oatmeal, small bags of chips, fruit snacks, goldfish, and small packages of cookies/candy, paper plates, and plastic utensils. By eating in room we save time and money and it’s nice to have it available should anyone get hungry when we get back from touring. If you don’t have room to pack, or the bag fees are too high, you can order groceries from Garden Grocer and have them delivered right to your room.

Set your budget before going and put it on a Disney Gift Card. The gift card allows you to see your balance after every meal and snack purchased. To see how much to put on there does require some planning. First determine what, if any, Table, Character Meals, and Dinner Shows you want to do on your trip. Then approximately how many counter service meals and snacks you will need. For our family we planned for 3 counter service meals, 2 kid’s meals, and 3 snacks per day for our entire family. My husband and I would split a counter service meal at lunch due to the sizeable portions. Depending on the day did the same thing at dinner, but always planned on having our own. A counter service meal will run $8-12 give or take with a drink. The second benefit of a Disney Gift Card is any extra money at the end of your trip can be used for souvenirs (our souvenir budget was also on gift cards for each person and once it was gone it was gone).

Share. The portions in the parks are quite generous and easy to split. My husband and I would get a combo and share. If one of us was extra hungry we’d add a salad or extra side. At locations like the Yak and Yeti counter service we made ourselves a nice little take out buffet. We did wind up splitting one Table Service meal as well at the Rain Forest Café, mostly because we’d snacked that day and were getting dinner pretty late, neither one of us wanting anything too filling.

Buffets. When dining at a buffet such as Chef Mickey’s I booked it for later in the morning (last seating) so the meal covered both breakfast and lunch that day. Then since we passed on lunch we snacked to get us to dinner, saving us the cost of a counter service meal. Now, if our daughter was hungry we would get her a kid’s meal, we would never make her go without. But we did control her snacking and not let her have every treat she saw and wanted.

Give yourself a ‘Carrot’. Choose a special treat for the last day of your trip, and tell yourself we have to come in UNDER budget to get it. We choose lunch at the Crystal Palace and had plenty of money to spare. Your ‘Carrot’ can be a meal, extra souvenir, or special photo. Our savings came from snacks being kept to a minimum and we either skipped or split more meals than we had planned.

While this plan works for us, we are very aware it won’t work for everyone. If you would like advice and help on planning your own Disney vacation,  please contact me chelsey@magicalmemoriestravel.com or contact me at 1-888-908-7718 ext. 109.

Good luck and happy dining!