Bringing Food

One great way to save some money in the parks is by bringing your own food. This can mean anything from packing your own snacking food to bringing food for meals. Here we’ll discuss a few things you should think about and know if you are planning to do this.

About:

Contrary to popular belief you do not have to eat the food that Disney sells. It is often overpriced for what it is and some families may have extremely picky eaters or dietary requirements to take into consideration (though Disney is great at accommodating many dietary limitations). Disney is perfectly okay with people bringing their own food and drinks into the parks. There are some limitations it’s useful to know about, but in general this is a great way to save some money on a Disney trip. For those people who are looking to plan a budget Disney trip or have a recalcitrant 2 year old who will only eat goldfish, you can and should bring your own food to the parks.

Planning:

One nice perk of staying at a Disney resort is that the shops in the resort all have basic food items (we always buy milk from there), and you can get grocery items delivered to the resort and pick them up from bell hop. We will note that bell hop will not deliver the groceries to your room, but generally have carts available for if you buy heavy items. Even if you aren’t planning to bring all your food to the parks this is a great way to save a little money.
For cold items, all of the resort rooms boast a refrigerator but it is small, does not have a freezer (unless you are staying in a suite) and some people do have issues with how cold they keep food items. So plan your food accordingly.
Some food and drink items you cannot bring into a Disney park:
- Loose ice (though ice in a baggie is perfectly okay)
- Food that needs to be heated up to eat (idk that they will stop you, but there is not a microwave available in the parks for food)
- Alcohol (you can buy it in the parks but you cannot bring it in)
- Glass containers (we’ve definitely gotten away with bringing a glass starbucks frappuccino into the parks before, but the official site recommends against it)
If you brought your meals with you to the parks, or are just looking for a place to sit for a while, all the parks have little side tables situated at different locations just for this purpose. If it’s not a peak dining time you can also often grab a table at any of the quick service locations. However, when things are busy we have seen Cast Members policing the entrances of quick service locations to make sure only ordering guests can use the tables.

Recommendations:

Water bottles - Some people like to bring refillable water bottles (you can find free water in the parks if you go looking), we prefer to buy a flat of water bottles to be delivered to our hotel room. A flat of 12-24 water bottles is significantly cheaper than purchasing the $4 bottles in the park.
Starbucks Frappuccinos (or portable caffeinated beverage of choice) - We like to get these delivered to have on hand at the park. While there are Starbucks and Joffery’s locations in each park, sometimes those lines get long and you don’t have time/ or don’t want to stand in them just for coffee.
Snacking food - especially if you have children (or people who get hangry) in your group it’s a great idea to have some snack food on hand for when you are running between rides or if you know they will really only eat one snack, better to have it on hand than try to get them to eat something new in the middle of a melt down. Plus, the goldfish are going to cost less than the ice cream bar.
Breakfast food - another easy way to save some money at the parks is to bring (or have delivered) breakfast food. While most resorts do not have a microwave in the room, there is one in the food court that anyone can use. We like to buy a half gallon of milk from the hotel shop or food court to keep in the room for cereal, and use the food court microwave for oatmeal. We prefer to bring our own paper bowls and plastic ware for this, but in a pinch you can go to the food court and grab plastic ware and ask a Cast Member for an extra bowl.