Do we really need to bring food/ snacks?

[mrzrich]

Just to let you know, the meal plan now comes with 2 snacks a day. You will be fine with just the plan.

 

[pooch]

A bounty platter fed 3 of you in that group? Really? Wow; your CMs are way more generous than ours have ever been.

Yup. DD made a sandwich from the biscuit, bacon & some of the eggs. DS had the waffle, sausage & some potatoes. They shared the large orange juice. I had the rest of the eggs & potatoes & coffee in my refillable mug. Perfect to start the day.

And, yup, we brought a boatload of snacks home

 

[soniam]

We like to hit rope drop. We get there 45 minutes to an hour before park opening, so the food courts are not always open. Plus, stopping to eat would require even more time. We eat something quick, like cereal or a bar, in the room, car, or waiting for the bus. Sometimes we stop at a grocery store on the way from the airport and pick up hard boiled eggs, pastries and milk. So, be sure that food can be purchased at the time you would want to eat. Also, if your family gets hangry and lines are long, that can be a bad situation. Bringing a little bit of something for the first day or two can help head off a bad situation.

Also, we are kind of picky about some snacks, like DS and DH only like specific bars and I like a particular brand of beef jerky or almond butter. So, if your family wants very specific snacks that are not easily purchased, then I would bring those with you.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I have and they never get eaten. They did when they were much smaller (fresh fruit, granola bars, goldfish) but now that they are a teenager and pre teen it doesn't fly. My kids would much rather have Disney goodies that we can't get at home. They know what's out there now.

 

[Farro]

We never pack snacks, it's vacation, we buy them! We don't have kids though.

But between two snacks, a quick service and a table service, we will have more than enough food. Although we will buy a package of bagels and cream cheese from the resort and leave in room if we need a quick breakfast in the morning before an EMH or rope drop.

 

[scrapquitler]

I am in the process of packing for our trip. I had planned on packing snacks and breakfast items, but now I really don't want to pack anything we don't absolutely need (we are flying).

Can we get by without snacks and breakfast stuff? Are there enough light breakfast items and snack stuff available in the food court if we need them? I noticed the food court is open pretty late, which is good.

We will be on be dining plan, so I can't imagine we will need that much outside of it. But I also don't want to get there and regret not packing any food!

There is plenty of snack things available to purchase. However, the small individual things are fairly expensive compared to home. The size chips that cost 99C at home cost $2.99 or so at the food court. Single granola bars might cost $2.50 for a box of six at home, and are that much for one pouch at the food court. For me, it's worth packing a couple of boxes of peanut butter crackers and granola bars and a tupperware with a few apples/oranges so that we can grab something to eat before we head out in the morning and we don't have to stop at the food court adding an extra 10 minutes or so to the time it take us to leave the room and get to the park.

 

[alex9179]

I don't eat until lunch time, DH is whatever, and my 13 and 12 yr olds have small to average appetites but appreciate a more frequent eating schedule on vacation. My 9 yr old is a bottomless pit and stress eats in exciting/active environments. I'm taking some snacks to keep their energy from bottoming out and to avoid hangry moments. I have to make my 13 yr old eat something because she never realizes that she needs some refueling before she goes ballistic. It's a 10-15 min "discussion" I'd like to avoid but she never learns.

My kids use a LOT of energy and the constant activity at WDW leaves them without their usual reserves. I'll have quick breakfasts, because we rope drop, and a couple of cereal bars for each kid to tide them over on the way to eat!

I'd pack the minimum to keep people from getting grumpy. Worst case, you realize that you want more groceries and can order or Uber to a store.

 

[happymommy]

I think we need to keep in mind, OP has a dining plan. Any of them give you, in my opinion, a LOT of food. Snack credits are good on a lot of things, like biscuits and gravy, fried rice at Yak & Yeti CS, plus a million sweet things.

I agree, granola bars tucked in your suitcase, are a nice idea. And I always order at least 2 cases of water delivered, as I don't like the taste of the water, even making coffee.

Still, on a dining plan, you do get quite a bit.

 

[alex9179]

I think that part of the "problem" with the dining plan is that, at meals, you get a lot but that doesn't help when they aren't very portable items. Sometimes it gets thrown away. At least, it wouldn't work well for my kids who end up eating small amounts often. The changes this year alleviate some of that. How a person deals the activity and appetite, individually, is going to drive how important frequency is and whether packing food is a good idea.

We don't use the DDP but I don't pack a lot of food for the parks. I hate hauling around a bunch of stuff and don't bring water, either. I use the filtered at the soda stations in CS places. I hate the tap water, too. It's the same at our house in Tx

 

[halfpintpeggy]

I think that part of the "problem" with the dining plan is that, at meals, you get a lot but that doesn't help when they aren't very portable items. Sometimes it gets thrown away. At least, it wouldn't work well for my kids who end up eating small amounts often. The changes this year alleviate some of that. How a person deals the activity and appetite, individually, is going to drive how important frequency is and whether packing food is a good idea.

We don't use the DDP but I don't pack a lot of food for the parks. I hate hauling around a bunch of stuff and don't bring water, either. I use the filtered at the soda stations in CS places. I hate the tap water, too. It's the same at our house in Tx

Do you like the filtered tap water better than the regular tap water? Just curious if you think it still tastes "swampy."

 

[alex9179]

The filtered is fine and not swampy. It's like water from a Brita. Regular tap, directly from a faucet, is tolerable in a life-saving situation

 

[GenGen22]

You won't need to pack any snacks. When we went we had a ton of snack credits left over and were using them to buy treats at Goofys candy co. To bring home with us. We also didn't use all of our dining credits. It was just way too much food.

 

[BigredNole]

Not at all. You are more than welcome to buy only stuff at Disney. Mickey is happy to take everything you want to spend. However, if you want to get a $0.25 snack that's the same as a $5 snack, that is your choice. A box of gummi snacks goes a long way and it is less than a snack at Disney.

 

[Dis703]

I think it's a personal preference. I much prefer to order groceries or bringing food to have in the room so we can have a quick meal before heading out than dealing with the lines and crowds at the food court in the morning. And the dining plan wouldn't be enough for me to have breakfast and still snack like I generally do during the day. My kids have allergies which make buying snacks in the park harder, but even if they didn't the cost of the snacks over time gets to be a bit much.

So it's not really necessary but I find it very helpful to save both time and money.