Top 7 Dining Hacks at Disney Parks to Save Time and Money During Your Trip

With so many amazing foods to try at Disney, from offerings at themed table-service restaurants to delicious quick-service snacks and treats, dining can be just as much an adventure as the attractions and rides during your vacation. Whether you are enjoying the immersive atmosphere of Space 220 at EPCOT or marveling at the beautiful view over the water at Disney California Adventure's Lamplight Lounge, you'll be in for a treat no matter where you choose to eat.

However, when you're looking at the cost of a Disney vacation and planning out the different areas you need to budget for, dining is one area that can often add up to a substantial expense. Between smaller snacks and bigger meals, dining can easily eat up your time and money if you're not careful. We have some tips for saving money and time in this area of your Disney trip so that you can avoid draining your wallet and make the most of the dining experiences offered.

We visit the Disney Parks regularly and over the course of many visits have identified some helpful tricks that we rely on when it comes to food at Disney. Keep reading for the top 7 Disney dining tips we recommend!

Eat Breakfast Before You Arrive at the Parks

While it can be tempting to sit down to eat breakfast in the morning, this is the one meal we'd recommend eating outside of the parks. Mornings are the best times to ride popular attractions with lower wait times before the parks get more crowded in the afternoons, so you'll want to make the most of this time to enjoy the rides.

Of course, we don't recommend skipping breakfast completely—you can either get some easy items you can eat in the morning like muffins, yogurt, cereal, etc. delivered with our above tip or grab something that you can take to-go so that you can eat it while you're waiting outside of the turnstiles. You can also opt for an early breakfast at your hotel as well before you leave for the parks. Even eating a light breakfast before you leave for the parks will help you stay energized until your next meal. See some of our recommended hotels near Disneyland that offer free breakfast!

Split Food With Others In Your Party

If you don't have a particularly big appetite, you may find that the entree sizes for many restaurants are too much for you to finish as one person. Personally, as a lighter eater, I split food with someone else in my party on almost every Disney trip. This is an especially smart thing to do if you're ordering a dish that has generous sides.

At quick-service restaurants, you can see an idea of how big portion sizes are through the pictures when you go to mobile order food and make a determination from there. This trick may not work for every dish at the Disney Parks as some may be smaller in size, but if it is feasible, it can be a great way to save money and make sure you don't overeat. Splitting food can also work well if you're getting several smaller dishes, especially for food festivals like the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival and Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival. This will allow you to try a little bit of several food offerings without filling up on one thing!

This is also a good tip to keep in mind when dining at Disney with kids. We consider not sharing meals to be one of the biggest mistakes that parents can make at Disney, as splitting can prevent food from going to waste if your kids are often lighter eaters.

Bring Your Own Food/Snacks

Some visitors don't know that you can actually pack your own food to bring to Disney as long as it's within the guidelines. Guests are allowed to bring their own food as long as it's not in a glass container, doesn't require heating, reheating, processing, or refrigeration, and doesn't have pungent odors. You can also bring a cooler into the park provided that it is not bigger than 24″ long x 15″ wide x 18″ high and doesn't have dry or loose ice (reusable ice packs are recommended as an alternative).

While you don't have to do this for every meal at Disney, bringing your own food can be a great way to save money at the parks. Items that will store well like sandwiches can work great for a meal! If you're not interested in bringing a full-on meal to the parks, you can also bring some smaller snacks to keep you full throughout the day in between meals. We recommend snacks like granola bars, nuts and trail mix, dried fruit, crackers, etc. This can also be an effective way to make sure you get some healthy foods in during your Disney trip, as it's easy to be tempted by some of the heavier snacks like Mickey pretzels that can fill you up before a meal if you're not careful!

See some of our best Disney snack ideas for some of our recommendations for what to bring with you during your park day. This leads us to our next tip…

READ MORE – 10 of the Craziest Food Items You Can Get at Disney Parks

Get Food Delivered to Your Hotel Via Grocery Delivery

If you want to bring food into the parks and are flying to your Disney vacation, it may make sense to get groceries delivered to your hotel so you don't have to worry about traveling with your snacks and can order any perishable items you may need. You can order items to make sandwiches, any snacks you'll want for the parks or your hotel room, quick breakfast foods, drinks and bottled water, etc. Using grocery delivery, you can have any foods you'll need for your trip waiting at your hotel when you arrive and avoid the hassle of having to go get these after traveling.

You can have a delivery service like Instacart drop off your groceries to bell services so you can conveniently pick them up. See our guide to grocery delivery at Disney World and grocery delivery at Disneyland for everything you need to know! If you'd prefer to get groceries yourself when you arrive, you can also take a quick Uber or Lyft to the nearest grocery store. See our guide to Uber at Disney World and Uber at Disneyland for more details.

Use Mobile Ordering to Save Time

For Disney quick-service restaurants that offer this feature, you can use mobile ordering to skip long ordering lines. Through the Disneyland or My Disney Experience app, you can select a window for pickup ahead of time and pay for your food. This can be a great time-saver, as you can dodge the long ordering lines that can build up for some of the most popular locations. You can easily place the order while waiting for a ride or walking around the park and then swing by the dining location to pick up your food without having to carve more time out of your day. You can place your mobile order as you're standing in line to ride Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, then have your Cold Brew Black Caf ready for easy pickup right when you get off! Mobile ordering can be a huge timesaver if you use it effectively.

Make sure to look ahead at when you'd like to place your order so that you get your desired pickup time, as these will be pushed further out as the day progresses, especially when it's more crowded at the parks. You can always change your arrival window if something comes up. You can see our full guide to mobile ordering at Disneyland and mobile ordering at Disney World for a step-by-step illustration of the mobile ordering process and everything else you need to know.

Don't Spend Money on Water Bottles at Disney

Water bottles can be very overpriced at the Disney Parks, so we recommend either bringing your own water bottle if you can and refilling it throughout the day. See our guides to water bottle refill stations at Disney World and water bottle refill stations at Disneyland for the locations where you can refill your water bottle. If you want to stick with regular water bottles but don't want to spend extra money on them in the parks, you can get them delivered to your hotel as part of a grocery order and bring them with you in your bag.

Another option is to get a free cup of ice water from counter-service locations at the parks. Don't make the mistake of overspending on Disney water bottles when you can bring your own or get water cups for free!

Get a Dining Package for Entertainment

Our final Disney dining tip is to consider a dining package to enjoy reserved viewing for popular entertainment. Time is money when you're at Disney, so you may find it worth it to splurge on a package so that you don't have to spend a significant amount of time staking out a good spot far in advance of shows. If you were already planning on dining at a location that offers a dining package for entertainment, it makes extra sense to get one.

At Disneyland, we've found dining packages like the World of Color Dessert Party (with seated viewing for the show) and the Fantasmic! dining packages like the Blue Bayou Fantasmic! package to be especially worth it. You can see our guides to Disneyland dining packages for more details on the different options available. At Disney World, the fireworks dessert parties are popular options, and we recommend getting a dining package for the Candlelight Processional to ensure you get a seat if you're planning on seeing a performance during the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays.

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