DVC kitchen and dining facilities...how many use them...or do you eat most meals out?

[jimmytammy]

We are figuring budget on meals for upcoming 1st trip home and got me to thinking...who uses the DVC facilities for most meals and who eats most meals at parks and resort restaurants?

Be honest with answers. My answer is we will 95% sure eat all meals at other places besides in room. I dont think we really considered DVC from standpoint that we could eat meals in room, but we consider part of the fun of WDW includes trying fun and different places to eat, and the theme parks are definitely still abig draw for us. Maybe our ideas of eating will change over time. Anyway I thought this might be a fun post and a way to get varied opinions on the subject.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

We always eat our breakfast in the room. That alone saves some serious money. Sometimes we eat lunch there if we come back for a mid day pool break. Probably about 50%-50% for lunch. I can't say that we have ever eaten dinner in the room. So many great restaurants around the Boardwalk!

HBC

 

[Regina]

We mostly use the kitchen for beverages and snacks. We sometimes send out for pizza, and we may have bagels and/or donuts for breakfast.

I've never cooked.

 

[EROS]

We've never cooked in almost 6 years of visits. My DW feels that a vacation should be a "vacation" as well from the kitchen. We'll occasionally eat breakfast in the room, but more often get bagels and coffee at the Bakery on the Boardwalk and sit at the outside tables ..........

 

[Laurabearz]

We do breakfast almost everyday....... lunch is out at the parks.... and it is about a 50/50 split for dinner...... since we have young kids (3 and 2) it often isnt worth us to rush thru a meal at a restraunt.... so we cook a lot of dinners at home.

When it was just a trip with DH and I we still cooked breakfast, but ate out the rest of the time...... but I often used the kitchen to reheat leftovers as late night snacks.......

 

[MMCD]

We just returned from our 6 night stay in WDW. We spent $650. $200 was on gas, $325 on grocery and dining for a party of 5 (1 is an infant). The remainder on souvineers and stuff like tolls. I don't count lodging and we used park passes purchased in 2000.

Since we had to cancel 2 previous trips to WDW, this year we splurged on 3 character meals including Chef Mickey's on T-day. FIL paid for a 4th character meal, one other lunch, and a $35 Ghiradelli's (SP?) Chocolate Shop.

Usually we make a large breakfast in our room. Then we will either bring food into the parks for lunch or dinner and go home for either the lunch or dinner. This trip was by far the most expensive we have ever spent for WDW due to the 3 character meals. We usually do one (usually for breakfast). The rest of the time I've cooked at home and freeze it before our trip down. Then when we are WDW, all I do is reheat.

MMCD

 

[Chuck S]

Breakfast is usually in the room - cereal, fruit, snacks. Most other meals are in parks or local restaurants. However, when we took friends, they always had breakfast AND a full, cooked dinner in the room - with a light lunch in the parks.

So, I guess it depends on your budget and how you want to spend your time. If you have small children, you may be in the room for some "quiet time" around dinner time anyway.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

We use the coffee maker, fridge, and possibly the micro.
My wife and I are not familiar with ovens, stoves, or any other cooking utensil.

 

[Granny]

Like many others, we eat breakfast each day in the room. Not only does this save money, but also saves considerable time to let us get into our day that much faster!

We are rarely around at lunch.

And every trip, we eat at least one dinner in the room...even if it's just pizza delivered or room service.


We also do a lot of beverages and snacks there as well.


Like you said jimmytammy....we didn't get into DVC for the kitchen amenities. But we sure like having the kitchen...like everything else, it just gives us more options!

 

[vernon]

Breakfast in the room probably 80% of the time and have a couple of frozen pizzas in the freezer just incase we don't feel like going out one evening.
Use the fridge for plenty of beers and soft drinks.

 

[eva]

Breakfast is usually in the room. But we aren't big breakfast eaters, so it is just rolls, juice, and coffee. We sometimes eat a light lunch in the room if we come back to the room for an afternoon swim. I can't think of time that we cooked dinner in the room. We have ordered pizza before. And we definitely keep things on hand for late night snacks.

 

[MdmMim]

Another one here for breakfast in the room. I do order room service for dinner once in awhile, but no cooking.

 

[DVC-Don]

Lets see, on an average 6 night 7 day stay: We eat breakfast in the room every day except for maybe 1 character breakfast. A couple days of light lunches, especially in summer weather when we come back from the parks in mid day. And a couple of evening dinners per trip. We use the kitchen quite a bit. Sometime I should do a small turkey just to get the smell into the corridors at the VWL!

 

[SamR]

In our family's case we haven't established a track record yet, since we just bought into DVC (BCV) last March, and so far only have one short stay in a studio on record (with our first stay in a one-bedroom coming up next month). However, our plan is to eat all of our breakfasts in the room, except for one character breakfast per trip. We will almost always be in the parks at lunch time. For our dinners, we plan to have one or two dinners out, but the rest will be in our villa.

While some in this thread (and similar ones I've read in the past) have stated that the kitchen facilities were not high on their list of reasons for joining DVC, that is not the case with me. On my last couple of trips to WDW, I have grown increasingly frustrated with the variety and cost of meals for my children. My wife and I enjoy the variety and quality of food at a number of restaurants around WDW, and I don't even complain about the typical prices. However, while we are enjoying that variety, our children are ordering off what is usually about the same children's menu as every other restaurant. (Of course, the "entree" names change...It is amazing how many names they can come up with for chicken fingers and mac & cheese!)

So, we see the opportunity to have family breakfasts, and at least half of our dinners in our villas as being a major attraction of the DVC experience:

• More variety (or at least portion and cost control) for our children's meals
• I do think that we will realize a fairly substantial cost savings. We usually drive (although we are flying for our January trip), and will typically bring a lot of the non-perishable supplies with us.
• Our kids are generally quite well-behaved in public, but after a long day in the parks, there can be a certain amount of stress managing them during restaurant dinners (especially when long waits occur). Therefore, we look forward to allowing the kids to stretch out, watch DVDs, work puzzles, etc. in the villa, while we leisurely prepare and serve dinner.

A scientific survey might determine that the value of the kitchen facilities is directly proportional to the number of children in the party (or at least the number of young children)!

 

[WDWLVR]

On our recent 7 day stay with the in-laws we did breakfast in the room every day but one (went to Cape May Buffet for the character breakfast).

We would grab lunch in the parks or have snacks for lunch back in the room.

We did I think 4-5 dinners in the room and the rest out and about (Rose and Crown for my FIL birthday dinner, Liberty Tree Tavern the night we did MNSSHP).

When it is just the two of us we tend to eat out a little more, but still almost always do breakfast in the room.

I'm a morning person and DH sleeps a little later. It is nice to be able to get up and fix something for myself and then go and read for a while. The reverse happens at night - I'll go to bed and he'll make himself a snack and read for a while.

That's why DVC is perfect for us.

 

[Nanajo1]

When they did away with EE we started with a big leisurely breakfast. We did one CB at AK. We always have luncheon meats, sandwich fixings, fruit and snacks but other than Thanksgiving dinner which we bought at Publix and reheated in our villa we don't usually cook dinner but reheat leftovers from a restaurant dinner.
Now that Magical Mornings are back we probably will do bagels, donuts etc for a quick get out the door breakfasts more often than the big breakfast.

 

[inaminute]

When we go with our entire family we always have breakfast in the room, except for one Character breakfast. We also plan a kick-back-do-nothing-except-maybe-swim day and an early evening so we'll cook dinners on those days. Those who want lunch can get what they want when they want. Since we come from different areas it's a great way to catch up and spend some quality time together.

 

[Terry S]

My kids are young so we do a CB every morning, I suspect when they get older we will do a few breakfasts in. I did bring Peanut Butter and Jelly to make the kids a quick lunch during our break and I made speghetti for dinner one night on our last 12 night stay. I would say a majority of the time we eat out, but it is nice to have the option.

 

[kel3420]

When we go to Disney resorts on property we eat the majority of breakfast's in our room. When we go to Vero Beach, we eat all meals with the exception of a dinner or two in the room.

Have a great trip.

 

[melk]

We have three small kids so we too, eat every breakfast in the room. We also get the makings for sandwiches and either bring them with us for lunch or come back and have lunch in the room. We also have about two dinners in the room. We find it to be more cost effective for us but we do make it out for a few special meals as well as a few fast food type meals.