Do we need a grocery stop with dining plan?

[angeluna]

We usually make a grocery stop before going to the hotel. This time we got the dining plan (first time to try). After hearing how much food there is do you think we will need a grocery stop? My main concerns are for quick breakfast in the mornings. Usually we grab a muffin for breakfast then eat a early lunch. One other thought would be DH sometimes likes to have a beer in the hotel room. I know we could buy that at the hotel, but cost wise which way is better. Thanks for any and all answers!

P.S. Doing the single digit dance, and last minute panic!

Forgot to add that the Limo will charge $25 for the stop.

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

We are. For bottled water and breakfast stuff....muffins, bagels. Juice boxes too.

 

[DCDisney]

If you are driving or have a limo service it doesn't cost you anything so you might as well do it. For us this trip we decided to try ME and I'm just planning on packing more snacks in our luggage that we'll use for breakfasts. The thing we used most from our previous grocery stop was the bottled water (but we'll get that from teh meal plan now) and juice boxes that I can pack anyway. Even not being on the dining plan previously we threw away most of our food we bought and half the case of water. It depends though for just the cost of a few beers at the hotel it could easily be worth stopping.

Yvonne

 

[kjs1976]

If you have a fridge in your room, I would make the stop. We bought snacks, milk, and things for sandwiches on the last trip and saved ourselves a lot of time and money on snacks or quick meals. I always forget how screwy your schedule will be at WDW so, like I said, you eat snacks at weird times and it's always nice to have them available when you don't feel like spending 3-4 bucks on a snack at the food court or gift shop.

 

[3for Me]

I agree with the above...just bringing some "quick" breakfast food and a few drinks. We are driving though, so it will cost us nothing to stop.

Didn't think about the beer...I'll have to add that, as it'll make DH very happy!

 

[tndisneyfan]

We did. We bought breakfast type stuff and a few snacky things to have in the room. We usually would eat a light breakfast in the room, early CS lunch, and then a TS dinner.

 

[lucky1]

We did a grocery delivery and really the only thing we used was the bottled water and some fruit, so we did end up throwing out quite a bit of food.

We never felt hungry.

 

[patsal]

I would stop for bottled water, and maybe a few breakfast items/fruit. Not so much for me but for my kids--DS would not make it to the park without something to bring his blood sugar back up.

 

[gigi1313]

we found that we did not need to do a grocery stop when on the meal plan 'cause we had more than enough food... quite often we took our dessert to go (chose things that were easily stowed unless we were heading right back to the resort) and had enough food at our CS breakfasts that there was always something left for the next day (or we used two or three credits for the four of us for breakfast so we stretched our credits out) although i recently heard that the dining plan no longer allowed for a side *and* a dessert at breakfast and that's where we got the extra mileage, so i am not sure if it would be as feasible in the future...

also water bottles are considered a snack on the DDP and we did not need to buy extras...

 

[mom2alix]

We usually make a grocery stop before going to the hotel. This time we got the dining plan (first time to try). After hearing how much food there is do you think we will need a grocery stop? My main concerns are for quick breakfast in the mornings. Usually we grab a muffin for breakfast then eat a early lunch. One other thought would be DH sometimes likes to have a beer in the hotel room. I know we could buy that at the hotel, but cost wise which way is better. Thanks for any and all answers!

P.S. Doing the single digit dance, and last minute panic!

Forgot to add that the Limo will charge $25 for the stop.

If all you're really getting is breakfast items and maybe water, it's probably not worth paying the $25 for the stop. Even with the mark ups onsite, you probably wouldn't save enough to make back that $25.

 

[maine_jennifer]

For June, my nephew and I are making a grocery stop for breakfast items and bottled water. We will be saving around $30 but the car service I use doesn't charge extra for a grocery stop. I would say save the $25 and just go with the dining plan. I also did a comparison and saved about $25 on my last trip using the dining plan but ate WAY more food that I usually would. Not a good thing, so I probably won't be doing it again.

Cheers!

 

[scubamouse]

we're doing a stop. we like the kids to start the day w/milk. we'll pick up some 'go-gurt', fruit and mike's hard lemonade for us

 

[LIFERBABE]

We found we didnt need it.

We stayed at PC and we didnt have a fridge. The DP was more than enough. I used the snacks for bottled water and Powerades and there was so much food, we were able to share some credits and still have food left over. We ate well and didnt want for anything.

I would agree, that unless you are stopping to buy alcohol, you probably won't recoup the $25 you will spend to get there. I would just pick up a couple items at the resort if you feel you need anything.

You could budget the $25 plus what you would spend at the grocery store and just spend that onsite. The Hess gas stations onsite are very reasonable for beer, soda and water.