$500 for food...where to eat?

Oh. Forgot to mention regarding kid’s meals. You can get kid’s meals for everyone. Especially with mobile ordering. There is no enforcement of ages.

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Part of the budget eating is the head game. If you are constantly splitting, etc, you FEEL like you are scrimping (which you are). So just making it known up front that in order to splurge on things like Mickey Bars and going to The Plaza (or whatever) we are saving money by bringing lunch other days. Just that mental shift of making people feel that sacrificing in these cases will pay off in the end can help a lot. As such, I recommend making any TS reservation be on your last day…your final reward meal kind of thing.

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Oh ya’! I do this now… smaller portions and less cost.

Right. Which is why we already talked to the girls and they do NOT want to not get their own treats. They kind of understand. Ugh. I hate budgeting. It’s such a mental pain, ha.

One more tip I normally have…but it isn’t really possible in these days of “mandated” mobile ordering is to use the cash envelope system. It makes budgeting so much easier and in a way fun. That is to have the cash preallocated for each day on what you are allowed to spend. At the end of each day, any money leftover rolls into the next day’s envelope. And if your family asks if they can get X, you open up the envelope and go, “Well…unfortunately if we do that, we’d be out of money before dinner!” Or whatever.

Sadly, with the touchless payments, using cash isn’t really ideal. But you can accomplish the same end goal if you keep on your phone someplace a running tally of what you have left budgeted for each day so you still have way to see it for yourselves. “Oh, look. After these cupcakes, we’ll only have $30 left! Maybe would should just split one instead?”

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Yes so true!! So many great choices, sci fi just an example. My 7 year old still talks about it, but from a parent stand point it was a disaster of a meal haha.

I think having it as a final Night meal is a good idea, then keep a good amount of funds so you can get the pretzel or ice cream your kids want. I think planning so you can say yes more then no will make it feel less like a budget when you are there!

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Yes, we do this with the kid trips! But buy first day to get moneys worth!

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If that’s the case then a waitress at the 50’s Prime Time Cafe would certainly be willing to provide much-needed encouragement.

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Another idea on the food you bring yourself. Rather than having PB&J for everyone, everyone have their absolute favorite sandwich and their own personal chip supply.

We did that for our pre-Covid trip to Universal. We enjoyed reaching into our backpack while waiting in a long ride line, and eating half of one of our personal sandwiches. That it was our personal favorite made it seem less of a cheap thing, and more of a time-saver. Unfortunately, line eating can’t be done now.

On treats, you might also mention that sharing is a way to taste more flavors. Say everyone gets one treat per day, they could also split and get half of two treats.

Also, mention to the kids that the park hours are pretty short now. You’ll probably want to limit your time spent on getting food during park hours to when you just want an AC break.
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Adulting is not fun! It brings us into the real world. Perhaps that’s why so many love being in the Disney Bubble.

In all seriousness and reality, we can’t always have it all. And DH and I believe that this is better learned young in life than later in life through huge credit card debts.

I never felt Disney frowned upon sharing. I’ve felt, a lot more often, displeasure from the Disney wait staff when we don’t order alcohol. In such restaurants, everyone tends to order their own entrees and a nonalcoholic drink. If the portions are small, we would add in a couple of appetizer and/or desserts.

This is where sharing snacks and entrees help the situation. Think of the Festival Booths during different seasons. There is no way each person can eat everything they would like at each booth. But by sharing, having a bite apiece, we get to try a lot of different foods. If there is time, we can always go back and buy another one of our favorites for just ME! Just expand this to other eating options at Disney.

Then there is stomach space to enjoy a larger variety of yummy foods!

That’s the way we think about it!:yum:

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We’ve ordered off the kids menu at QS without any issues.

@ryan1 Thankfully we are ok enough at not buying everything we want that if I can come up with a general plan then we should be ok. I thought about getting cash (even though it is discouraged) but I really like earning cash back through my credit card. Or I may get a Target RedCard debit card and buy some gift cards at 5% off.

Yes, this is the goal. So if we say no to meals but yes to all the snacks/ice cream then that’s a win.

I actually read somewhere that people don’t feel the bucket is a good deal right now because they would walk and eat, which is not allowed now. So they’re not getting as many refills as usual.

I have had reservations here and canceled them. I go between thinking my kids will love it to thinking they’ll hate it, ha.

That would be a PBJ for my girls, ha. By PBJ I just meant a sandwich/wrap/etc. Something we bring in.

So true. I’m telling myself that we’re going to WDW on a trip that was not planned (we saved for our last trip for 2 years, so we had more flexible budget). I am thankful. We are going to have fun. We just need some limits.

My girls are so good about picking their own thing and then letting everyone have a taste, maybe switching if both parties want to switch. We are all about sampling everyone’s treats, ha!

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L’Artisan des Glaces is in France in EPCOT.
LesHalles has a variety of things on the menu, sandwiches, pastries, quiche.

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Most of the “magic” is out of TS so it is hard to justify those prices unless your family happens to be foodies. I’d look at QS menus in advance and pick what appeals to us. QS can also be great during the park because you can split up and not have to worry about the entire group finding something to eat at a single restaurant. This worked well for us on our trip as our 7-year old was plant-based at the time and very adventurous while our youngest eats like a typical 4-year old (i.e. pizza, hot dogs).

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And with reduced menus TS isn’t always worth the price right now

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