Do You Cook In Your Villa?

[disneynutz]

Just wondering if our fellow DISers cook meals in their villa. We have increase our villa meals, saving money for addilional vacations.

 

[WoodysRoundup]

So far, we've just had fruit, yogurt and cereal for breakfast and maybe a frozen pizza at night. But cooking? NO, not on vacation. I do enough of that at home!

 

[KiminChicago]

We're planning our first trip "home" in October and we're going to cook a lot of breakfasts in our villa. We're going with my sister and her family and the plan is that one or two of the adults can cook breakfast while the other adults are getting the kids up and ready to go. We're not "commando" type vacationers, so this will probably be the fastest way to get us out to the parks without getting up at the crack of dawn. We'll probably do one character breakfast, but the rest will be eaten in the villa.

And we always pack some microwave popcorn and other snacks to make after a day in the parks, just in case someone's hungry before bedtime.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Just coffee, breakfast cereal, with a couple of leftovers thrown in. If I'm solo, I like to have some soup/sandwich fixings. If Disney's idea was that ME would keep people on site, it works for us. For 2 years now, for the two of us, we only get a car for Church on Sunday, and since that's often our last day, we don't buy groceries. With the larger family, however, we find it does pay to have a car and do our shopping...but it's mostly meals for the DGC, Purdue nuggets, mac and cheese, lots of fruit, bread, sandwich meats, cheeses, peanut butter. We have done very little "cooking." I would be willing to, we just don't seem to be there long enough!

Bobbi

 

[LadyKay]

You forgot one selection, none of the above! That is my selection. We always use DDP and room service (morning double shot espressos). I cook, serve and clean at home. Vacations are my brief escape from that.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

No, we really don't cook. Most days, we eat breakfast there ... cereal, toast, fruit, bagels, etc. We do eat some lunches and dinners in our room, but mostly just sandwiches, chips, fruit, etc. Last year, we had a frozen pizza and a bagged salad one night ... that was the biggest meal I've ever "cooked" at Disney!

I like having the storage area, the microwave and the fridge ... but the stove never gets much of a workout when we are there. I like eating out when on vacation.

 

[stopher1]

Breakfast, yes, snacks yes... nothing else really. Pancakes, waffles, eggs, typical breakfast stuff. Cookies, brownies, muffins - those kinds of snacks.

 

[Fatalbie]

Last trip we did the DDP and ordered a grocery delivery. We used we go shop and it was fantastic!! Discovered that the DDP is nice and all but the lack of flexibility for a larger group makes it difficult. Maybe its not so much the group size as the separation of ages, me, DW-GP's-GC's. This spread made it difficult to be so tied to the dining reservations. Most day involved an afternoon snack back at the villa for nap time anyway, and we decided that with the younger ones in the future it will be far more enjoyable to do dinner at the villa rather than plan on x-port time and ressies. This will free us up to go back to the parks at a reasonable hour, or just relax after a meal. It does get difficult when you thought your reservation was at the right place at the right time, sox months prior to the trip, and suddenly one or more of the people in your party are not cooperating with your plans!! LOL.

We always do breakfast in the room, unless a character meal is on tap. Snacks and lunch are usually in the park.

Adults only trips will be DDP all the way!!! I do wish they would do away with the dessert and allow for an app instead. I like to have dessert later at my own pace after dinner has settled a bit.

Jim

 

[StayFLA]

We cook any meals needed at the villa with a few meals out. Always have breakfast, eggs or cereal or waffles etc. and off we go. Lunches are normally bought at the park, but consist mainly of snacks, turkey legs, chicken fingers, ice cream. Mid afternoon at the villa we make sandwiches or microwave stuff. If we return to the villa a little later, we make cheesesteaks, pasta, sloppy joes, etc as dinner. Quick stuff in a pan is key. We will have one or two big dinners out. I'll call the day before or the same day for ressies and have a big table service dinner out and treat it as an event and not just a meal. I will not make early ADR's as I don't plan a vacation around meals unless it is something like princess breakfest or V&A (something really special and hard to get same day).

We've always brought 4 kids on prior trips, but as Fatalbie brought up, if it is only the Mrs and me, I would consider the DDP and eat like we've never eaten before.

Ralph

 

[carol1231]

I make most of our breakfasts and dinners. Lunch we usually eat out. Since we drive I bring our groceries and saves time of going to the store when we get there. I plan out our meals and have it all written down so I know what we are having on which days. Saves a lot of money.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Yes to everything... We're weird in that respect. We prefer to cook all our own meals. Once in a while we buy out... or actually get room service.

 

[shellybaxter]

There isn't a choice for me. The only thing I "cook" in my villa kitchen is reheating leftovers. We use the fridge for water and wine. We like to eat out and have snacks in the parks so we are usually too full to eat much in the room. Our "grocery" stops are for laundry soap, drier sheets and bottled water

 

[bzzelady]

It depends on the trip. On short trips, I just have breakfast stuff and snacks.

On longer trips, or depending which family members we bring with us, I have been known to cook the majority of the meals. Last June when I drove the in-laws down, I premade things ahead of time, sealed them into food saver bags and froze them, and layered them into the cooler. I made meatballs/sausages and sauce, taco meat, and chicken/gravy to go over waffles. We had meatball and sausage sandwiches, pasta night, build your own tacos or taco salad night, white chicken chili, and made chicken and waffles for our friends who live in Kissimmee and miss that Pennsylvania Dutch treat.

Occasionally if I am driving, I bring my crockpot. Usually I will plan what meals I will make with it, premeasure all my dry ingredients for my recipes at home into a Ziploc bag, and get the meats at the grocery store.

When we stay in a villa at VWL, my DD9's tradition is to bake brownies at the beginning of our stay...let me tell you that can drive the guests passing in the halls entirely crazy
Last year when we stayed at VWL, I also made a small turkey on Thanksgiving Day.

So yes...my kitchen definitely gets use when we are in a villa at Disney

 

[edk35]

We do bagels and cold cereal. We mainly use the kitchen for snacks and drinks in the fridge. I think last summer when we were there for 2 weeks...I made a couple of griled cheese sandwiches and a frozen pizza once.

 

[Anal Annie]

We make coffee, toast bagels & heat oatmeal in the micowave. The part of vacation that I look forward to most is NO COOKING OR LAUNDRY! None. Nada! Zip!

 

[jarestel]

We always have coffee in the villa and cook breakfast a couple of times per trip. It's much easier than piling out of bed and trying to herd everyone out to make that ADR time slot. Saves time, saves money, and the food quality is generally as good or better than we get in the restaurants.

But we don't go nuts with the cooking. We still eat out plenty!

 

[Buckeye Fan]

We always have breakfast in our room. We also eat our smaller meal (usually lunch, but sometimes dinner) in our room. It's usually sandwiches, or something we can heat up (frozen pizza, soup, etc.).

 

[wdw1014]

One of our big reasons of buying DVC was so we would have the option to cook in our room. We drive down, so I do grocery shopping before we leave. I cook and freeze many of our meals, then all that is needed is heating. I do try to keep my time in the kitchen to a minimum. We also don't eat all meals in the room.

 

[Inkmahm]

Cook? Never lunch or dinner. Not once.

I like being able to have breakfast in the villa before we head out mostly because it saves park time. I'd rather be doing things in the parks than wasting time eating breakfast.

We rarely eat counter service, usually eat Signature TS. Enjoyment of good food is a big part of our Disney trips for us.

 

[perpetualplanner]

We do a big breakfast in the room - it gets everyone up and moving - think 1 teen and 1 pre-teen boy. We do snacks especially for pool days - cheese and salami and crackers, fruit, chips, etc... Otherwise, we mostly eat out but with that big breakfast lunch is usually minimal (except for the teen who practically lived for the Food & Wine festival beef empanadas last trip).

I enjoy eating dinners out as everyone can be happy with their meal!