The Dark Side of Disney - Leonard Kinsey [19]
Well, there are options! You CAN eat and drink at WDW on a budget!
Split an entrée and an appetizer. Many of the portions are too big anyway, especially at the Counter Service restaurants, so why not order a single appetizer and entrée for two people and split it? Of course, you can’t do this on the DDP because each person has to order their own separate entrée, but if you’re not on the DDP you’ll find that this is usually just the right amount of food for two people.
Or you can order more food and bring back leftovers! This works especially well if you’re eating at Epcot and are staying at one of the Epcot Resorts, because you can walk back after your meal, put the leftovers in the fridge, and go right back to the park. I end up doing this a lot and leftovers make a great breakfast or late-night snack.
Don’t eat breakfast, then go to a buffet for lunch, stay there and eat for at least two hours, and then don’t eat dinner either. WDW buffets don’t end up costing much more per person than a full table service meal, but you can eat a lot more, especially if you stick around for a while and let the first round of gluttony settle. I personally recommend Boma or Tusker House, although Germany gets an honorable mention for the surprisingly reasonably priced liters of beer and awesome entertainment.
Tip: The dining rooms at these buffets are usually so sprawling and packed that it becomes very easy to secretly load up a plate of muffins, rolls, brownies, or whatever, and dump them into a large freezer bag, which can then be stashed in a purse or backpack. I used to wrap up cookies in a napkin and put them in my jacket pocket. Yeah, it’s pretty ghetto, but you’ll forget all about that when you’re eating Zebra Domes in your resort Jacuzzi later that night.
Taking this one step further is a tip that might actually be illegal, is definitely immoral, but is also totally fucking delicious! Pecos Bill’s and Cosmic Ray’s at The Magic Kingdom have epic toppings bars. Lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, shredded cheese, cheese sauce, sautéed mushrooms and onions, lettuce, and a variety of other condiments make this a vegetarian’s dream buffet. Bring a few paper plates from your resort, head over to one of these two counter service restaurants, and load up on free toppings! I’ve seen people bring their own tortilla chips and make a monster taco salad, or they bring their own rolls and make a great grilled veggie sandwich. Again, I think this is technically theft, but there are no signs saying “toppings bar for paying customers only”, so I figure it’s fair game.
The Entrance to Pecos Bill’s, home of the Topping Bar
Free sautéed mushrooms and cheese sauce
Free tomatoes, lettuce, and shredded cheese
As long as we’re talking about theft, you can get all the free food you could ever want in The Utilidors or behind the scenes at Epcot. For whatever reason they leave racks and racks of food sitting around out in the open. Mostly I saw sodas and rolls, but I’m sure if you looked around you could find more. Not that I’m advocating theft; this is more like a desert island scenario, like maybe The Mad Hatter stole your wallet and ran down to The Utilidors and you followed him and got lost and couldn’t find your way out and instead of resorting to cannibalism while waiting to be rescued you ate stolen bread.
I recently heard of an actual food theft: A large table at California Grill ordered all of the most expensive stuff off the menu, including many bottles of wine. One of the big draws of the California Grill is the amazing view of the fireworks at The Magic Kingdom, but not every table is situated alongside a window. So usually when the fireworks start going off, a bunch of people who are sitting in the middle of the restaurant go out to the deck (right above my secret sex location) to watch the show. Well,