12 day stay food dilemna

[bord1niowa]

Plans are changing.... We were set up to camp in our pop up and a tent in June. Now we may be buying a motorhome this week. My dilemna is this...do I drag a car behind the 1300 miles each way and lose the mileage or just pull up stake a few times to buy food etc when going into town? There will be at least 7 of us so food may go fast. Does anybody take the motorhome out to buy food during their stay? We'll be staying 12 nights so that could be a lot of food, even with the refigerator freezer. Any suggestions?

 

[des1954]

Depending on the style & size motor home you will be purchasing, it can be a real hassle to pull up stakes & go grocery shopping. Why not arrange to rent a car for a couple of days in the middle of your trip to do any shopping and sight-seeing you'd like to do. Enterprise Rent A Car will bring a car to the Fort for you & then come back & pick it up when you're finished. Rental cars are fairly reasonable in Florida - thanks to all the tourists!!

 

[dreambound]

We used a grocery delivery service when we stayed at VWL. Delivery charges were minimal. You can mail coupons for them to use for you. We used Goodings, but there is a service that will select the store of your choice. We gave a very, very specific list and we got everything we needed except for Yoplait whipped yogurt. They were so on-time it was fantastic!

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

I've heard the food delivery service is good. I say get the food plan instead. When we went in May of this year it cost us $100 a day for the food plan for 2 adults and 2 kids. $25 perperson a day. Our average sit down meal was over the $100 then we still had the counter service and snacks. This way you can stay in the parks more. Just a thought.

 

[kimluvswdw]

We just unhooked the motorhome and went to the store if we needed to. I would gladly take a few minutes of hassle to unhook the rv than to rent a car. It is cheaper to unhook.

 

[bradisgoofy]

I couldn't imagine unhooking everything and running to the store for groceries. First, I woudn't want to drive our Coach in that traffic . The roads around Orlando are just not made for cruisin' around in a 38' motorhome. Second, putting everything inside the coach away, unhooking, running in the slides, pulling up the levelers, starting up the Coach and heading out, THEN coming back and setting up AGAIN . No way!

If you can afford it, bring you own car. BUT, the cost of setting up to pull it will be more then renting a car for your entire stay.

 

[CCIntrigue]

We've camped in FW many times in a TT with an 8 foot fridge, 7 people (4 adults, 3 kids), and had plenty of room for 2 weeks of food. Depending on what MH you buy, you may have more than enough room in your fridge/freezer for 12 days.

But if not, I agree with previous posters. Rent a car for a day or use a grocery delivery service.

 

[bord1niowa]

Well, it's a 28 foot Winnebago Elandan, It has a decent size fridge and freezer. It may be more to buy the set up for towing a car, but it may end up being a necessity for other trips even more local. These are good ideas and give me something to think about. I'll know by weds. if we will buy the motorhome. It looks good once I drive it first. There is one thing I will be looking at first and that is what it would take to replace the air shocks that keep it from swaying side to side. I guess they are bad. Above 60 he says it can rock and roll a little bit. Don't know if that is normal or not, but thought I'd better check it out anyway. Thanks again for the ideas.

 

[Gillian]

People seem very happy with gardengrocer.com Good communication, good variety, reasonable prices.

They also deliver beer (and wine).

 

[jugman]

I've heard the food delivery service is good. I say get the food plan instead. When we went in May of this year it cost us $100 a day for the food plan for 2 adults and 2 kids. $25 perperson a day. Our average sit down meal was over the $100 then we still had the counter service and snacks. This way you can stay in the parks more. Just a thought.

Are you talking about the dining plan?

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

Are you talking about the dining plan?

Yes I am.
We don't spend much time at the campground. It is only a place to crash for us just like the hotels are. If were going that far we want to spend as much time in the parks as we can. So the dining plan is best for us. Next time we go down we might do some more cooking at the site but not much. With that said we are not in the position that most in this thread are. We tow our trailer so it's easy to head out for groceries and head to old town for collectables lol.

 

[BigDaddyRog]

hmmm...I think I might would steal a car before Id drive the MH to a walmart in Orlando!!! If grocery delivery isnt an option, call a cab, the walmart is only 7.9 miles away so cab fare couldnt be that much.

 

[campingpug]

We eat very little in the MH while at FW. Vacation, cooking, clean-up just does't go together. Way too many choices just let someone else do all the work. It's vacation no body works!

 

[terri01p]

I would get the dining plan if at all possible, if that's not affordable at this time try and buy enough food for the 12 days, soda's, crackers, lunch meats etc...you will be suprised how after snacking in the parks etc, people don't eat as much at the camper. The only things I really think you would need to go get would be bread, milk ? I think it's possible to buy for 12 days if you plan good, whenever we went I had enough food for 10 days and had alot of stables in rubber maid tubs and placed it on the picnic table, I still came home with alot of food because we ended up eating out alot. Go buy in bulk, chips, salas, etc...it will last 12 days easy.

Another thing...I don't know how friendly you are...but our neighbors with a super sized monster bus came and knocked on my humble camper door whenever we were at the ft and asked if we made a grocery run would we please let them know they needed a few things so my dh hopped in our truck with the man and flew down to walmart with him, it made us feel good that we could do something for someone . That's just a thought.

 

[SteveH]

We take our motorhome all the time without a toad, our Liberty isn't even setup as a toad yet. Disconnect the power, water and sewer, bring in a couple slides and jacks and head down the road. If you are not planning on going off site at WDW I wouldn't take a toad. Ours is 35' and though I would try to avoid rush hour most the major stores can easily take a motorhome.

 

[wdwbound]

we have a 34 ft Class A motorhome that we take to Florida and most times we tow our Trail Blazer behind. The difference in gas mileage in not towing aa vehicle would go quite a ways in paying for renting a car for a few days to go get your supplies at a grocery store. We HAVE driven our motorhome to Camping World and then to Super Wal Mart to stock up before we check in to FW and have not needed to go back out again during our stay. But then again, I am talking only 2-4 people. Most times we plan our days in the morning whether we are coming back from the parks to eat or not (most cases NOT).