greg

My wife and I will be traveling to Walt Disney World for vacation next week (March 10-14th). Our budget (for both of us) per day for food is $20 for lunch and $35 for dinner each day. We are staying at the Coronado Springs resort and will be visiting Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM, & Animal Kingdom. Within those theme parks, where are the best places to eat and why?

Julie

WDW is very expensive for food. Your budget will barely afford more than fast food for each meal at the park. What I find is a better alternative is to eat a nice lunch at the park for about $45 for two people, pick up a dessert and coffee later and eat dinner off property. I also eat breakfast off property and bring snacks with us to the parks.

$45 will get you and your wife a very nice meal, several selections, buffets, or character meals. Lunch is often the same food as dinner but cost 30%less.

If you eat breakfast on the property at a nice place it could run $35 but you will be hungry by late lunch. Then for the rest of the day you only have $25 for fast food.

patg

Here is what works for us: we get up early and have muffins and juice in the room. Hit the early entry park and tour until it gets crowded at 11 am or so. Either take a big meal now by being first in line for a lunch buffet, or leave and eat off-property. Next, take a swim/rest break back at the hotel. If we didn't eat buffet at lunch, go around 4-5 pm. Return to the parks as the morning visitors are clearing out.

Restaurant Akershus in Norway has good, unusual food. Cape May at the Beach Club resort (out the back door of Epcot) has a nice seafood buffet. Spoodles (a short boat ride from MGM) has good food, but only weekend buffet brunch, I believe. These places are not cheap but the quality makes them a good value. I would definitely recommend priority seating during spring break. Look at
http://www.wdn.com/dwills/contents.htm and
http://members.aol.com/eatwdw/eatwdw.html
for more information and reviews on individual restaurants. Also, the Unofficial Guide to Disney by Sehlinger has a big restaurant rating section.

mara

Instead of eating lunch and dinner you should try doing a huge buffet breakfast and then a decent dinner. Some of the best Buffet breakfasts are Spoodles on the boardwalk. When you go to Epcot Center take the bus to The Boardwalk hotel and then walk thru the hotel to the restaurant. Its is about $15.00 per person all you can eat. Then there is a charachter Breakfast which is lots of fun. The Contemporary Resorts Breakfast with Mickey is great also about $15.00 per persom. Eating a huge breakfast will fill you up for the rest of the day. You can always take a piece of fruit with you for that snack latter in the day. As for dinner the cheapest places to eat will probably be in Downtown Disney. There is the Rainforest Cafe, Wolfgang Pucks & A Blues Restuarant. Like I said before go to the website WDWIG.COM she has some great ideas plus menus you can look at. One more note you can book your reservations to eat before you leave for your vacation.
One more suggestion and this is for Epcot, as soon as you get there get your fast pass for test track the ride first. This will save you long waits for a great ride.
Hope all this helps. Have a great time with Mickey.

Lori

If you can eat your largest meal of the day at off hours (3-4 pm) you'll save money and get a seat much sooner. This works great for us. As others have pointed out, lunch prices are still in effect during this time. If you get hungry later on, indulge in a snack from one of the vendors or shops.

Joy in VA

If you are driving, bring a cooler, stop by a Publix supermarket (they are all over Orlando, it seems) and pick up some fruit and drinks to have in the room. We always drive & I bring cooler, we get milk, cereal, and I bring disposable cups, spoons to eat breakfast in room. We all (2 kids, parents) like Rainforest Cafe at AK or Downtown Disney. I also like the Sci-Fi Dine-In in MGM, also recommend you go around 2-4. The Land restaurant and food court in Land pavilion at Epcot have nice variety. Crystal Palace in MK has nice dinner buffet I have been to. For cheap eats off property you can't beat the Waffle House (my kids love it, & we only eat there on vacation, they think it's a real treat). It is cheap, good basic food - nothing fancy! The Waffle House on 192 - Irlo Bronson Highway - is always crowded. Don;t forget all the restaurants at Downtown Disney - check out the wdwig.com site for more info, menus, price ranges. HAVE FUN!