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Being on a Budget = no dining meal plan for me


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Because I cannot buy my camping reservations,park tickets,and dining plan all at one time, I am not eligible to buy the dining meal plan:( bummer.

I thought I could pay for my camping, then the park tickets, then later the dining plan...but nope,that's not how it works.

I guess I will need to buy some groceries and then find air tight coolers, that are Sniff Proof against Bears, and any other critters who try to steal food at the campsites... ???

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The dining plan is good for some folks. In my opinion, many folks can do better just paying as they go. We share a lot! Many meal portions at WDW are HUGE.

Maybe you could take the money you were going to use for the dining plan and put it on a pre-paid credit card or disney gift card. Then you have your food budget ready to go!

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As others have said, if you were prepared to spend money on the dining plan, you can still eat out at WDW, and probably cheaper than you would have with the plan. The dining plan tends to put you in a situation where your schedule revolves around dining reservations, and you get too much food. Research the quick serve options...there are some really good ones! Maybe plan some easy breakfast and/or lunch options at the campground that don't involve cooking and you are good to go and still relaxing.

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One cool thing about NOT being on the dining plan is that you can make a meal out of 2 or 3 awesome appetizers. We love doing this because it lets us try a variety of things, the portions are generally big enough that we still have more than enough food, and we save a LOT of money. :)

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Because I cannot buy my camping reservations,park tickets,and dining plan all at one time, I am not eligible to buy the dining meal plan:( bummer.

I thought I could pay for my camping, then the park tickets, then later the dining plan...but nope,that's not how it works.

I guess I will need to buy some groceries and then find air tight coolers, that are Sniff Proof against Bears, and any other critters who try to steal food at the campsites... ???

You should be able to add the dining plan up to i believe 5 days before your arrival. We do that quite often. If you want any help with this let me know.

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Another thing you can do to avoid cash outlay right now is book your package with a 1-day ticket, then add the dining plan 5 days out, then once you arrive, upgrade your ticket to the number of days you actually need by paying the difference.

But as others have said, traveling solo, I tend to eat mostly counter service, with a few table service thrown in. There are some good counter service with unique offerings

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One reason that we camp is so we can cook our own meals. It really helps us keep the budget down. What I like to do is spend a lot of time before we leave cooking and baking so I have hardly anything to do on vacay to put food on the table. Crockpot freezer meals are great for this. We also took our own hot dogs and fixins to the campfire on night and cooked our dinner there! :)

Hope you have a great trip!

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StacyLynn - when are you going to be at FW? I find that the best part about staying there is not HAVING to eat out if I don't want to. But I agree with putting that $$ you were going to spend on the dining plan on a gift card and just use that. :wave1:

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I will be tent camping at FW December 23-27. I really like the idea of putting the money I would have spent onto a card and use it as needed for my meals. I didn't think that I would really eat as much food as I would be spending on the dining plan. I do prefer to do quick meals , and simple stuff at the campground, so that's how I'll roll :)

Except I read about some tiedye cheesecake , and a pineapple dole whip which I plan on tracking down and giving a try :)

thanks for the info. and suggestions everyone, much appreciated.

-Stacy

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  • 3 weeks later...

StacyLynn - when are you going to be at FW? I find that the best part about staying there is not HAVING to eat out if I don't want to. But I agree with putting that $$ you were going to spend on the dining plan on a gift card and just use that. :wave1:

I am going December 24-27 . I cannot wait. Super excited!
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