Author: Budget Diva
Here are some important tips from the Budget Diva on how to save money on snacks and meals at Disney World!
Many people are not aware that for years Disney’s “official policy” was that people (unless they had special needs) were NOT allowed to bring food and drinks into the parks. However, it was rarely, make that NEVER, enforced. However, now Disney has changed that policy to officially allowing soft-sided coolers, food and drinks to come into the parks!
This is a HUGE money saver for those traveling on a budget! Coolers must be “soft sided coolers” not the big heavy hard sided coolers on wheels. No over-sized coolers will be allowed, nor are glass bottles, baby food jars, etc and no alcohol. (Interesting fact: beer is not sold in the Magic Kingdom!)
I recommend that you pack snacks and drinks and maybe even lunches every day to save both time and money. You will be thanking me once you see the lunch time lines at Disney World!
Below is a list of foods that make for great snacks/meals that are quick, easy and mess free:
- goldfish
- raisins
- cereal bars
- trail mix (you can make these at home ahead of time and put in plastic Ziploc baggies)
- string cheese
- peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (stay away from meat, it could go bad!!)
- Gatorade or any juice to keep little ones hydrated (NO straws allowed in the Animal Kingdom so you’ll have to take them off of your juice boxes! )
- Gerber crunchies or puffs for little ones
- energy bars for the adults-trust me, you’ll need this
- bananas
- grapes (in a Ziploc baggies)
A great soft sided cooler is the Coleman 24 can cooler. It is available at Wal-mart and Target for about $27.
However, if you want something cute, personalized (and a little pricier) check out ThirtyOneGifts , they offer adorable water resistant monogrammed insulated coolers in various sizes and patterns. You could have your family’s name written on your bag with the phrase “Disney Vacation” if you want to get creative!
Remember, if you’re going to want to keep anything cold you will need a refrigerator in your room. You can read THIS POST about which resorts have refrigerators in them and which have mini-fridges you can rent.
You might also want to consider having groceries delivered to your resort. You can find information on grocery delivery by clicking HERE.
Thank you for starting my search on how to pack a lunch at Disney. We have been several times but have always bought the food there. This time we’re trying to save a little money but the thought of carrying food and dealing with that is a little scary
Hi Christy,
You can definitely save quite a bit of money by going this route! If you have any questions or need any more ideas, please don’t hesitate to ask! We also have several articles on how to dine on $40 per adult, per day (for breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack) if you still would rather eat inside Disney. Have a great trip and let us know if you need anything! ~Character Diva
How hard is it to carry all of this? plus the other essentials for the kids? i had a stroller the first visit so we used it as storage. however kids are to big for stroller now.
I’ve brought in snacks, drinks, and lunch before. It’s very doable with a backpack. Just use a couple thermal lunchboxes (I use the ones made by thirty-one). As for drinks, we just bring in small water bottles bought from the Disney store and carry them on a caribiner on the top “handle” of the backpack. We do have to fuss with them when we ride coasters but I typically just leave the backpack in one of the overflow bins they have at loading/unloading dock. While this started as a money saving strategy, over the years we’ve kept with this simply to cut down our midday time in lines and having to deal with fried foods after fried foods.