Splurging on your vacation really feels like vacation to me – just being able to buy or eat what you want and not worrying about how much you’re spending is quite a luxury! I’ve listed some great places to splurge on your meals.
Alternately, if the only way you can get to Disneyland is to save your pennies, then save on! If you want to be the ultimate saver, you can make oatmeal in your hotel room, bring breakfast bars, snacks, even your own PB&J fixings for lunch. But if you want to still eat in the parks, and save a little money, here are some places you can do that as well.
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Breakfast SAVE: Jolly Holiday Bakery. Maybe my favorite place to get breakfast on-the-go, the Jolly Holiday Bakery has the most amazing pastries that are so reasonably priced you could afford to enjoy and a coffee.
Breakfast SPLURGE: Riverbelle Terrace & Carnation Cafe. Few things are as magical as starting your day with a Mickey Mouse pancake from the Riverbelle Terrace or a Mickey waffle, or the amazing Eggs Benedict from the Carnation Café. You can also add fruit or a breakfast meat to your meal.
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Lunch SAVE: Bengal BBQ, Corn Dog Cart, Edelweiss Snacks. Three of the most heralded and popular foods at Disneyland are also some of the most affordable. The flavorful skewers at Bengal BBQ, the best-you-will-ever-eat corn dogs from the Corn Dog Cart (or Stage Door Café), and the world-famous turkey legs from Edelweiss Snacks (as well as several outdoor vending carts) are all amazing options for a little less than your traditional restaurant lunch.
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| Big Thunder Ranch BBQ |
Lunch SPLURGE: Café Orleans & Big Thunder Ranch BBQ. Has delicious more unique fare, since they’re coming from a creole point of view. You can get starters, entrees, and desserts here. The pomme frites, monte cristo, and beignets are particularly tasty. An even bigger splurge might be the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ – it’s served family style, and it’s a lot of food, but for a fixed per person price.
Dinner SAVE: Plaza Inn, Redd Rockett’s, Rancho Del Zocalo. A great way to save at dinner is to share meals. The chicken plate at Plaza Inn is a great one to share (I hear), and I can attest to being able to split the delicious Countdown Chicken Fusilli pasta plus a side of bread from Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port, and the enchilada platter from Rancho del Zocalo is as delicious as it is sizeable!
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| Plaza Inn Chicken Plate |
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Dinner SPLURGE: Blue Bayou. All the restaurants have some delicious options, but if you really want to splurge you’ll want make a reservation at the Blue Bayou. The food is quite pricey, but fancy and delicious. More than that it’s the atmosphere (that place you see at the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean) that makes the Blue Bayou a real splurge.
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| Delicious Monte Cristo |
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| The immersive magical interior of the Blue Bayou |
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| Dole Whips are a must try! |
Snack SAVE: Tiki Juice Bar. Arguably one of the best and most unique treats you will have anywhere, ever is a Dole Whip (or a Dole Whip float) – low calorie, dairy free, extremely delicious, and so affordable!
Snack SPLURGE: Mint Julep Bar. What’s more splurge-y than getting two treats? At the Mint Julep Bar you’ll have to try a Mint Julep (non-alcoholic) and the Mickey Mouse Beignets – yum, yum, yum!
How do you save when you’re on vacation in Disneyland; and what meals or snacks do you like to splurge on?
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Ha, I am the oatmeal and PB&J girl. But, for a treat I will share a dole whip and maybe a churro late at night.
Ha, I’m the oatmeal and PB&J girl. But for a treat I will share a dole whip and maybe a churro late at night.
There is one place we loved to splurge (before kids) and that was on dining! But now that we are paying for 5 of us, we have been saving our pennies on breakfast and lunch, so we can splurge on dinner. Great suggestions here, and we have learned you can save on certain meals without taking away from the vacation.
I’ll share a dole whip with you any time Jeran!
Yep Beth, kids definitely change the dynamic of your vacation. I used to think it would be such a bummer to have to bring my own meals into the park, before kids, but now I know it’s not so bad, and in some ways it’s better!
We’re the ultimate savers, and use our DVC points to get a suite with a full kitchen. We eat breakfast in the room, pack a lunch, and come back for an early dinner (usually something from the crockpot) during the busiest part of the day(and coincidentally, nap time). Leaves our budget open for yummy snacks and 1 or 2 meals out (Blue Bayou is 1/2 price at lunch…)
We definitely like to pinch pennies where we can so we can splurge on other things in the park. Food is definitely an easy place to save. We do free breakfast at the hotel, bring in PB&J, string cheese, goldfish, apple slices… since our munchkins are only 3 and 4, they aren’t picky or insistent on park food. We do try and do lunch in the park because it’s fun to have a corn dog or chimichanga while walking around, and we splurge on snacks (dole whip for mom, churro for the babes). But our one biggest saver is bringing refillable water bottles and drink mixes. I know counter service locations give out free water, but I’d rather refill at a fountain real quick than wait in line for free water. Plus, when we are tired of water, I also have powder and liquid drink mixes so we have some flavor! LoL Definitely saves money when drinks in the park are almost $4 a pop!