Eating @Disney World® Without "GO"ing Broke

OK, with all these activities one has to eat. As our room had a kitchen we wanted to use it to keep costs down. Had we driven we could have loaded coolers and cars full. But we were flying.

We initially pondered checking a couple boxes and coolers of food. We were on Southwest Airlines and with free bags and 7 people we could have checked up to 14 items. But we went with Goodings. A local Orlando grocer with delivery service. If you ordered $50 dollars in food you paid $25 for delivery. And between the cost of our time and a cab ride we went for it. Because our group of 5 adults and 2 kids would easily surpass the $50 minimum.

The large resorts are ready for this service with fridges and even freezers in the bell rooms to keep your groceries until you arrive. We found most of our needs easily available on their website and then just made customer notes for the items we could not find. Everything we ordered showed up without issue. There’s only a couple of things they won’t deliver – ice cream & alcohol. One other note about the service. We had to contact bell service to see if the groceries had been delivered to the hotel and ask they be brought to our room. They did not call us and let us know when they arrived.

So most of our meals were eaten in our room. We did opt to eat “out” 4 times:

1. Breakfast at our hotel: The day we took off from the parks to enjoy our hotel we opted for the loud and rowdy, contrary to it's name, Whispering Canyon Cafe where our waitress easily managed our father-in-law's disappointment in not being able to order his eggs over-easy, potatoes thin and fried to just the slightest crunchiness, etc with her quick wit and comebacks. The kids also enjoyed running ketchup bottles to others tables when the wait staff hollered “Can we get some ketchup over here.” We were happy with the food and the value for the dollar spent.
2. Lunch at Animal Kingdom: This was a day we would not be returning to our hotel for afternoon naps. So by following the Unofficial Guide to Disney World with Kids book we were set-up to have lunch in Animal Kingdom's Dinoland at Restaurantosaurus. Salads, kids meals, etc worked out well. We did pack two sandwiches and cheese sticks to offset the purchase a bit. And thank to reusable stainless steel bottles we were able to purchase one beverage and split it between the kids.
3. Large Group Outting to the Hoop De Doo Musical Revue: With Midwest grandparents in tow we forwent the character meals and went with the Hoop De Doo Revue. A hilarious, audience participatory meal in a huge hall at Fort Wilderness, a 5min boat ride from our resort. All you can eat, family style chicken, ribs, salad, cornbread, beans, strawberry shortcakes, and beverages, including alcohol. We easily got our bang for our buck. The only shortcoming was I was concerned about my picky eaters and had read on-line I could ask the waitstaff upon arrival for something else. However, other than mac-n-cheese we were told we should have let them know 3 days in advance so they could have had it shipped over from our hotel. All they had on site were fryers and ovens.
4. Our family of four last night dinner at Tony’s Town Square in Magic Kingdom: Again not a character meal, but a restaurant we were able to secure a reservation for 7 days in advance. Tony’s was located right at the entrance to main street, so when we returned in the evening after naps we did a bit of shopping and headed for dinner. Greeted with a lobby of carpet and TV playing of course Lady and the Tramp as well as a coloring area the kids settled in. But it was brief…having a reservation we sat less than 5minutes before our name was called. We felt guilty as we passed others on the way to our table who obviously were walk-ins who had been there much longer. Kids meals and adult pasta abounded. The only downside was our table was in the wait staffs' main drag so I was constantly ducking and scooting my chair in. The food was good not great, and good for the value.

Each day we took drinks and snacks into the parks. It was very hot, so we would freeze our kids stainless steel bottles filled with Gatorade and Yogurt Sticks the night prior and these worked as ice packs for anything else we took in our backpack. The kids' stainless steel bottles also worked well after they emptied their initial contents we could go into any fast dining establishments and get ice water for free or a large lemonade and split it between their bottles. And backpacks on the rides were no problem. Even the Kalahari Rapids at Animal Kingdom had a dry storage in the center to place it.

No, in the end we did not do a character meal. Very popular and expensive these require reservations made months in advance. So just a heads up if that is on your Must Do list.

In the end everyone was well fed staying within a budget of about what we spend at home on a weekly basis. Which the kids' quickly took advantage of our savings for souvenirs or ice cream treats.

DisneyWORLD here we come! - Lodging

Ok, this is a bit of a departure from my traditional truly active travel vacations, but think about it...Disney is definitely it's own classification of active only it can be.

We live in California where families take trips to DisneyLAND sometimes once a year. We have not been yet. But as we would be spending the entire month of June basing out of Indiana we decided this was our chance and probably our only one to visit DisneyWORLD. It also needs to be said our children’s paternal Grandfather who is a big kid himself has always said when we go he wants to go.

So who’s the leader of the club….???

That would be me as far as this trip was concerned. Now I plan multiple trips a year, write this blog, but Disneyworld scared me to death. I mean the complex has grown so much since I went in 8th grade a few years ago and Epcot was new. For perspective the cast members (Disney’s name for their employees) shared the following facts during our visit:

• Disneyland can fit in DisneyWorlds Magic Kingdom’s parking lot and there would still be 2000 parking spaces available
• Disneyworld is as big as San Francisco or 2X the size of Manhattan
• Only 30+% of the Disneyworld-owned property is developed, another 30+% is for future projects and the remaining 30+% is protected.

Are you breathing hard yet? For me who likes trips to be well researched and go off with minimal issues I was near anxiety attack stage.

First I turned to my friends who had been there before, perhaps even multiple times. They gave me many websites for my reading/panicking pleasure such as: mousesavers.com, disneyonadime.com, a complete guide to disneyworld

After reading several I found myself circling back to Small World Vacations, Inc as booking time neared.

The travel agent assigned to me helped me maneuver booking the right package for our group which would include 3 grandparents and our family of 4. She would also help me manage 2 hotel changes…1 on paper…and another mentally. I also price checked her quotes against Disneyworld's own on-line booking system and she definitely saved me some money.

So where to start with lodging...If you can afford it, and you should be able to as there are all levels of pricing, stay INSIDE the Disneyworld property. Some of the amenities this affords you are:

• Extra Magic Hours: Early or Later access to the parks versus the general public that comes in from outside.
• Transportation: To & From the Airport, Parks, etc...so nix the rental car and all the headaches of getting it and returning it
• Luggage Transfers: With special tags we checked our bags at our home airport and didn't see them again until they were delivered to our room at our hotel. And on the return we checked them in at our hotel and didn't see them until we got to our home airport.
• Access to Concierges: who know all the ins, outs, tips, etc to everything…from getting from point A to B to dinner reservations, etc..
• And my kids favorite…a message from the big cheese himself, Mickey Mouse, welcoming you on your vacation. This was probably played on speaker at least 50 times during our stay
• And much, much more including the incredible hospotality every cast member has down pat including the daily "Have a Magical Day" from our maid staff and hotel maintenance.

Speaking of hotels. Just inside of the Disneyworld massive property your selection is endless, from value resorts to the deluxe ones. We decided with our party of 7 it would be better to try to get us all into one room versus 3 separate rooms, so our selection was narrowed to properties that would have accommodations with 2+ bedrooms. We initially looked at the Tree Houses at the Saratoga, but eventually ruled it out due to the amount of walking required to get anywhere for the youngest and oldest in our party. Then we briefly entertained a 2 bedroom at the Saratoga, but opted out for its distance from the Magic Kingdom (as we have a 5yo & 3yo this would be our most visited theme park) and eventually landed at The Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge.

Excellent decision! Magic Kingdom was a 5min boat ride away with boats every 20-30min. And a little insider tip here...if you have already seen the parade...head for the boat back to the hotel just before the fireworks. We were out in the harbor just as the fireworks started booming over the castle and our captain informed us with a sheepish grin "Folks we will have to hold here for oncoming traffic." And we enjoyed the entire display from a amazing vantage point. We would apply this same tactic just before the electric boat parade and again we would get to see the entire thing from the water almost right next to it. The farthest bus ride to anywhere was 30minutes more because we shared the buses with the Grand Floridian and Polynesian resorts not because of distance.

The accommodations were wonderful 2 huge bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, kitchen, living room, 2 decks, and laundry. The hotel amenities were wonderful as well. 1 large pool with a waterslide where every afternoon a cast members led fun games, crafts, etc for the kids. There was another smaller pool with bubblers located through out which was a bit quieter for the adults enjoyment. The Cubs Den provided free crafts every afternoon from 2-4PM. And you could book them as well for evening childcare for ~$10 an hour with dinner included. We also enjoyed free cookie decorating each afternoon at the Roaring Fork, the quick service, ala carter restaurant. Also on site was a arcade, bike & boat rental. Free nightly movies on the beach. The Sturdy Branches Health Club to work off the treats consumed at the parks. And if you ventured out to the boat dock at about 9:30PM you could catch the electrical light pageant. Forget something … on site was the Mercantile which had of course your Disney souvenirs, but also some food and toiletry items, which were not marked up too horribly.

We were very, very happy with this hotel. And if we ever did decide to return with our family of four we would certainly entertain staying at Fort Wilderness Lodge in their standard hotel rooms located in the building right next door.

OK, shew anxiety level coming down as room reservations were made...stay tuned my next installment will be tickets & dining/food