Eating in Orlando without the bill shock
The dining deals already in your tickets, and the habits that halve the food budget.
Food is the cost that ambushes Orlando budgets. Tickets and flights are known in advance; a family of four spending $150 a day in the parks is not, until it is. Here is how to eat well without the shock.
Use the dining deals that are already in your ticket
The SeaWorld 3-Visit ticket includes an all-day dining deal on every visit: a main, a side and a drink roughly every ninety minutes. For a family that is around £45 a person a day already paid for. Discovery Cove includes all food and drink. If you have either, plan those days as your no-cost food days.
Quick service beats table service
Disney's counter-service restaurants are good and roughly half the price of table service. Satu'li Canteen at Animal Kingdom, Regal Eagle at EPCOT and Woody's Lunch Box at Hollywood Studios are as good as most sit-down meals. Use mobile ordering in the app to skip the queue.
Share portions
American portions are large. Two adult meals feed two adults and a small child. Children's meals come with a drink and a side and are often the best value on the menu; adults can order them at quick service.
Bring water and snacks
All the parks allow food and drink in, except glass and alcohol. Refillable bottles can be topped up free at any quick service counter on request. A bag of snacks from a supermarket saves a fortune against $6 pretzels.
Breakfast at the villa, dinner outside the parks
If you have a kitchen, use it for breakfast. For dinner, the restaurants on International Drive and around Lake Buena Vista are cheaper than the parks and mostly better. Supermarkets on the way home make a pizza night almost free.
The one splurge worth it
A character meal. Book it sixty days ahead, do it once, and treat it as both dinner and an hour of character meets without queueing.
Tipping
Table service expects 18 to 20 per cent; quick service does not. Check the bill because some resorts add it automatically for larger parties.
