Want to save money (and time) at Disney? During these pandemic times, dining at Disney looks different. Capacity is controlled and seating (even in outdoor areas) can be limited. Here’s how to save money on snacks at Disney by bringing in your own. When you pack snacks for Disney, you control when and what you eat. See a nice spot without many people? Stop and eat! Download one of our free snack planning printables and plot out your Disney snack game!

Disney Snack Packing Skills You NEED to Save Money at Disney

Disney vacations can be the trip of a lifetime. However,  if you’d like to afford it more than once in your lifetime, there are tips and tricks to save money at Disney. If you’ve already searched for discount tickets and specials, the next big way to save is on food. (If you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, we recommend Get Away Today for discount theme park tickets.)

Our family of six saves by planning ahead and bringing our own food for snacks and breakfast. Snacks for everyone add up; we estimate we save roughly $50 a day by bringing our own snacks, more on days we pack in lunch too!

Packing vs. Buying Snacks at Disney

We also are a family of grazers. At any given point during the day, someone is hungry and needs a snack. Add in some food allergies, and finding snacks during the day can become a process.

On the flip side, part of the Disney experience is eating the food! We still eat some meals in Disney restaurants, choosing sit-down ones for lunch some days so we get a break. Then we eat dinners at quick service locations as we split up for evening rides and bedtime. Check out this list of the best snacks at Magic Kingdom so you can plan those splurges.

Once upon a time, the snack-planning process was harder because we had to bring the food with us during the drive to Disney. Enter Amazon Prime. It is now even easier to save money when packing snacks at Disney. Next time we head there, I’ll be sending my snack list straight to my Disney resort via Amazon Prime’s one day delivery.

Snack Planning

Advance planning is the best friend to a Disney vacation budget. Once we know we’re going to Disney, we start discussing meal options. Full disclosure: Dining reservations make me twitchy. With six in our family, I feel like it puts more pressure on us to stay on a schedule and make dining reservations ahead of time. We usually reserve one or two meals for our entire vacation and do walk up or packed food the rest of the time. Also, I highly recommend Yak & Yeti in Animal Kingdom. It is one stop we always work in.

If we hit a free Disney dining deal on our visit, we might consider changing our views. If you’re curious about the dining plans we break them down here. (Dining plans are currently suspended during Covid.)

I like to sketch out our trip on paper by day and slot in meals and snacks so I know how many Disney snacks to buy and pack. Click HERE for a free Disney snack planning worksheet! 

Amazon Prime Now Delivers to Disney!

Oh glorious day! Amazon Prime now delivers to Disney area resorts. (That means Universal too!)  Get a 30 day free Amazon Prime trial here before your vacation. With same day delivery available on orders over $20, Disney food shopping just got WAY easier. Orders $35+ have free delivery, under $35 will cost you $5.99.

Now you may be saying, why so much strategy if I can just Prime everything to my resort? Well, things don’t always deliver on time and I promised to save you money. I am thrilled to have this option for perishable items but will probably continue to hoard and coupon for nonperishables.

Snack Ideas for Disney.

When you’re thinking about snacks to pack for Disney, consider snacks that are easy to eat, that aren’t messy, that are non-perishable and that your kids will actually eat.

• • 1. 1. • String Cheese
          • Pretzels/Chips (Tube chips like Pringles pack easily, or grab a variety pack to please everyone)
          • Fruit snacks
          • Pop-Tarts/Oatmeal Single Serving Packs/Boxed Cereal
          • Baby Carrots
          • Peanut butter and jelly (if you don’t want to make them, buy Uncrustables)
          • Crackers & Cheese
          • Apple Slices (the pre-treated ones)
          • Go-Gurts (you can freeze these also)
          • Go-Go Squeez or similar fruit sauce packets
          • Granola bars
          • Raisin packs
          • Trail Mix/Nuts/Dried Fruit
          • Clementines, Bananas, Apples, Pears, Grapes
          • Flour tortillas (These stay fresh longer, pack easier, and squish less than bread.)
          • Goldfish or Cheez-It type crackers
          • Nilla Wafers/Graham Crackers/Cookie Packs
          • Beef jerky
          • Baby food pouches for little ones
          • Fruit leather
          • Hummus packs & Veggie Sticks (through local delivery)

Think about how you are going to pack the snacks and consider whether you’ll have access to a fridge in your hotel room. If you have access to a fridge, plan to bring some ice packs to freeze and a soft sided small cooler to put your food in to bring into the parks. These super thin ice packs are great if you have freezer access.

TravelingMom Tip: If you won’t have a freezer in your room, you can use the first aid break-to-activate ice packs. I love keeping these on hand because they’re useful for injuries and food.

Click HERE for a free Disney Snack Shopping List! 

Pack Things Your Kids Will Actually Eat

Attend to Those with Allergies.

Don’t Forget about Drinks

Breakfast Will Give You the Most Bang for Your Buck

Pick Some Treats for a Fun Surprise

Download These Apps to Save on Your Snack Shopping

After you’ve made a list of snacks take a look at it. What can you buy now? What is perishable and needs to be bought or ordered when you’re on site?

Split the list and start looking for deals on the nonperishable items. Set a calendar reminder or Google Task to order the other items so you don’t forget.

Start a Snack Gathering Bin

Get Your Snacks to Disney Cheap 

Buy Big, then Split into Snack Sizes for Disney

Sometimes you can catch a great deal on individually portioned snacks. (Sam’s Club and Pepsi partner for a deal about twice a year). Usually though? The smaller the pack, the more expensive per ounce. We buy regular size boxes of favorite snacks and break them down into individual servings using plasticware containers or snack size bags.

Then we pack them smart so they don’t crush into crumbs.

Use Plastic Containers for Packing Snacks. 

Part of my snack packing strategy involves large plastic cereal containers. These hard plastic containers ensure our crunchy snacks don’t turn into dust.

After the snacks are eaten, I pack our dirty laundry into them so they fit into the suitcases for our flight home.

Additional bonus? You can fit so much more by consolidating items into plastic and discarding boxes (particularly in the granola bar category).

Set up a Snack Command Central

How Can You Make It To-Go?

If you are packing food for a large family, you may want to consider renting a locker at the park. However, there is something to be said for the convenience of always having everything with you. Remember coolers and dry ice along with large strollers are banned at Disney. We’ve always found a backpack and small soft-sided lunch bags with ice packs do the trick.

You don’t need a fancy cooler. We’ve always had great luck with a trusty and affordable Coleman soft pack. Keep in mind that Florida is HOT. Meltingly hot. Even items that may not need to stay chilled do better in coolers or lunch bags to keep from getting too sticky. We use the kids school lunch bags for smaller items.

Planning our snacks for Disney allowed us to save at least $50 a day. Those $5 snacks and drinks add up! I put our savings towards the purchase of Memory Maker, which pleases the grandparents in a big way!

What are your kids’ favorite snacks? How do you save money while in the parks?