For our family of 9 food is a major expense. We are always on the lookout for ways to save on this budget category, especially on vacation. This post will cover different ways to save money on food at Disneyland and California Adventure.

I want to start with this disclaimer: We are not foodies! Yes, we like good, basic, yummy food but we are not going to be looking for anything gourmet. This makes it a little easier for us to use these tips. On one of our vacations to Disney we ate almost all our meals in the park. By the time we left, we all agreed that we would rather bring more lunches. On the last few days we were tired of park food and spending a lot of money for food we didn’t just love. Because we had one member of our party who wasn’t very adventurous with food, we ate at mostly similar places which most likely diminished our Disney food experience.

So, on to the tips…

1) Costco/Grocery Store

This is our main method of saving. On our trip last month we went to Costco for supplies for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Since we we stayed in a house through Airbnb we had a full kitchen to store everything. We stopped at the grocery store for a few items that we didn’t want Costco sizes of such as peanut butter. The other place we went was Trader Joe’s. We don’t have one in AK and we LOVE the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. These made great snacks in the parks.

But what if you are in a hotel? Each of the Disneyland Hotels has a mini-fridge and coffee maker in the room. This will be perfect for breakfast necessities and snacks. Many of the near-by hotels will also have these items but you will want to check and make sure. If staying off-site many have free breakfast included.

HOT TIP: We love to bring string cheese, yogurt, cut veggies and drinks into the park. We always travel with a couple insulated lunch boxes. If we have access to a freezer we also bring ice packs. If not, we will bring plastic baggies and fill them with ice from the hotel ice machines.

2) Bring Snacks from Home

If you don’t want to worry about stopping at the grocery store you can always bring stuff with you. The average snack at Disneyland is around $6. Even if you bring snacks for just a couple of days it will save you money. Bringing food is easy peasy for those you able to drive. But, if you are going to fly I have two options for you.

• 1) Take a snack box as luggage. Bringing a box of snacks (and possibly lunch items) even with baggage costs will save money. You can bring a lot of snacks in a box for the $25-35 baggage fee.
• 2) Use snacks a filler in luggage. Granola bars, fruit snacks and strips, baggies of trail mix, and applesauce pouches (these probably should be in a baggie in case of explosion) work great to fill in the nooks and crannies.

3) Order from Amazon Pantry

Mindy at Mommy Mouse Clubhouse has a great post on this. I think the prices on Amazon are a little higher than a grocery store but it depends on what you are purchasing. It is still probably cheaper than snacks in the park.

4) Eat outside of the Parks

Just across Harbor Blvd are many great restaurants. We ate at Mimi’s Cafe, and Panera. Others are Pizza Press, IHOP, Denny’s McDonalds, and Subway. Not too far down Katella Ave. is a Bubba Gump’s and Cheesecake Factory. The Disney Tourist Blog has some good off-site recommendations. Please note, not all of these restaurants will save you money. Some options are just as expensive as in the Parks.

5) Share meals

Many meals in the Parks are big enough to share. Especially for kids. One adult meal split between two children will be cheaper than two kids meals. At Cocina Cucamonga in California Adventure I shared one of the bowls with my daughter. At Pacific Wharf Cafe, the bread bowls with soup are very filling. Two bowls could probably feed three people. Julie at Mom Rewritten has a good post about sharing meals. It is a little old so use this as a guide and not definitive information. Smart Fun DIY has some creative ways to eat on a budget. Clarks Condensed gives a $100/day dining plan (all meals) for their family of 5.

Sharing meals can be accomplished at restaurants in and out of the parks. Pizza at Pizza Press is a great inexpensive option to share. We always have our kids share an adult Mac-n-cheese at Panera instead of getting two kids meals. My husband and I usually split the Romano Chicken at Cheesecake Factory (this also saves room for cheesecake).

6) Share Snacks

So many snacks at Disneyland are HUGE. We always share caramel corn, lemon and pineapple Dole Whip, and Mickey pretzels. There are so many good options. When you share you can try so many more delicious treats. How great is that! One thing I never share–Mickey ice cream sandwiches–just don’t even ask!

Decide ahead of time your snack threshold. Will it be one snack/person/day? Will you share a certain number of snacks a day? When our kids were younger (and not as many of them) we gave them a gift card with an amount that gave them $5/day for snacks. They could use it up however they wanted to. They loved to have control of their own snacks.

7) Bring refillable bottles or buy bottled water outside of the park

Bottled water in the park costs $3.50 a bottle. That can add up rather quickly. Refillable bottles can be filled up at water stations around the park. We filled our insulated bottles with ice in the morning and we were able to have cold water almost all day. In addition, you can always ask for a cup of water or ice at the restaurants and quick-service counters.

Purchasing bottled water outside the park is also an option. Before using refillable bottles we would bring a couple of bottles per person in small backpacks (along with our snacks). Yes, we began the morning a little heavy laden but our load lightened as we drank the water. In hot weather, since we have had freezer available, we would bring at least one froze bottle and one chilled. The frozen would melt by the time we were ready to drink. If only partially melted, we would add water from drinking fountains to hasten melting.

HOT TIP: Line your backpack with a plastic bag to keep condensation produced by melting bottles from soaking through your bag (in very hot weather this has a nice, welcome, cooling effect).

8) Eat Bread

We could seriously make a meal of this for our whole family. The Pacific Wharf Cafe in California Adventure sells whole sourdough loafs and rounds for $5.19 each. With some butter that they have setting out, two loaves would be a filling meal (but not very balanced) for our whole family. Just add some cheese brought in our insulated lunch bag and we would be golden!

9)Make a plan and stick with it

Set a food budget before you go. Plan ahead how many meals you are going to eat in the parks, off-site or bring yourself. IF you deviate do so with cheaper options. Look up menus at restaurants to see what it will cost your family to eat there. The Disney website has a list of all their restaurants with menus for your preplanning.

Our Vacation Meal Plan

Our last trip to California was 10 days. We planned $200/day for our family of 9 (2 adults, kids 1, 2, 5, 6, 14, 16, and 18) Our plan was to eat breakfast at the house everyday, pack lunches 6 days, and eat dinner out every night. Obviously we weren’t pinching pennies but if we didn’t have a plan we could easily spend $300/day on food.

• $400 at Costco and grocery stores for all breakfasts, 6 lunches and snacks (we ate A LOT of snacks including many veggies and fruit)
• $100 dinner at California Adventure
• $120 dinner at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen
• $104 dinner at Mimi’s Cafe
• $50-60/each for 10 other lunches and dinners
• $92 snacks (yummy Dole Whip, Ghiradelli sundaes and some others)
• Grand total spent on food $1775

We were $225 under our budget. Woohoo! Now, I will say that we were all VERY tired of PB&J by the end. I also would have liked more snacks if I had known we had the money (probably better that I didn’t).

In closing…

There are so many options on ways to splurge and save on food at Disneyland. You can apply some of the tips above and not others. Any steps you take to save will make a difference. Take some time with your family to create a food action plan that fits your budget and how you want to eat.

Do you have a favorite tip to save on food at Disneyland? Share in the comments below so that others can benefit from your great ideas.

Happy travels to you…until we meet again!

Another saving money post you might enjoy: Saving on tickets at Disneyland