Just Back - great time, low expenses!!

[DiznEeyore]

Cloudkicker:

There are a couple grocery stores not too far from WDW. If you go to Downtown Disney, instead of turning left into the Marketplace, go a little further and hang a right onto Hotel Plaza Blvd. Follow it til it ends at Apopka-Vineland. Goodings is located right across the street in the Crossroads Shopping Plaza. Never been there, but I understand their prices are quite high.

A little further away is Publix, which reportedly has better prices. Go out the same way, turn right onto Apopka-Vineland, and Publix will be about 3-4 miles down the road on the left-hand side of the street.

Also, the Allstars don't have a fridge in the room, unless you want to pay $11/day. But you could take a collapsible cooler and fill it with ice to keep a few things cold. And the food court does have a microwave you can use.

Hope this helps!

 

[frost5000]

We tried the collapseable cooler idea . We brought bagels and creamcheese for breakfast and used the toaster in the food court. It kept the food cool, not cold and everything was floating by the end of the day. We fared better with dry goods stored in one of the dresser drawers. We brought - power bars (after day 2 we threw out the remaining bagels/ creamcheese), poptarts, dried apricots, apples, goldfish crackers, individual lunch box snack packs, carrot sticks, and juice boxes. I also brought ziplock bags, and packed individual snack packs for each day. The gift shop sold doughnuts and breakfast pastry as well as breakfast bars for standard retail prices (box of doughnuts - $3.49) which is much cheaper than the food court. We ate breakfast in the room, then ate the snack packs in the park, we bought a late counter lunch (around 2 or 3 in the afternoon) and bought an evening snack or if we were really hungry we bought a pizza when we returned to the All Stars. We enjoyed eating the snacks out of the backpack while in line. Our backpack was checked by security before entering each park, and they always allowed the food.

 

[mousemahoney]

Thank you so much for the food ideas- I am going to walmart tomorrow and was trying to think of non-perishables that weren't too 'junky' for the kids (and us) to eat.


51 hours and counting.....

 

[jencap]

I am a budget queen as well - my husband and I will be in Disney 12/9-15. I have an off site hotel booked (Ramada Plaza - looks really nice) - because its giving us a free full breakfast buffet every a.m $59/night. I just saw - on this website somewhere - that Disney is offering the All Star Resorts for $59/night. But then we have to EAT in WDW and this adds up.... also, we want to do a day or 2 in Universal so will we feel "trapped" if we stay IN Disney??

 

[DiznEeyore]

jencap:

If you have your own (or rental) car, I don't think you'd feel trapped by staying onsite. On our first trip, we stayed at the All Star Music and spent time outside WDW (Sea World, shopping, etc.).

Under normal circumstances I'd say go for the onsite hotel, but now that benefits such as Early Entry are gone, then I'd definitely consider an offsite hotel, esp. one that offers breakfast. But remember that you will have to add travel time and daily parking fees if you stay offsite.

I guess what I'm saying is that ultimately, only you know what will work out best for your family. Let us know what you decide!

 

[frost5000]

Jencap - we stayed offsite last time we went. We didn't find any more magic at the all stars. It allowed us to go without a rental car, so we saved money, but we only did Disney. You might want to consider one of the downtown disney hotels, they seem to be offering very good specials right now, but I'm not sure if they offer breakfast. It sounds like you have a pretty good deal going right now, so be sure to add in the cost of breakfast to other rates.