DVC..Not what do you eat in the villa, but HOW ?

[eeyoresmom]

We have been to WDW sooo many times and I guess have fallen into a routine. The kids tease me about getting a 1 or 2 bedroom villa because we never use the kitchen ( except for breakfast) I don't even like to be tied to dinner reservations every night but am having a hard time scheduling our days so that we are back at the resort for meal times. We are always there for park opening so are ready for an early lunch ( 11:00-11:30) We usually stay in the park another hour or so then back to the resort for a rest. By 4:00 we usually head back to the parks. Anyway this is what works for us. Anyone do it differently so that you eat some meals in the villa?

 

[Granny]

Well, you are pretty much describing a commando touring vacation which many WDW frequenters (like DVC owners) have gotten away from. So I think that's the quick answer...we just don't tend to wear out the parks from opening until late.

We tend to eat breakfast in the villa every morning. Other than that we just have some snacks (cheese, crackers, etc) and drinks. We don't cook big meals any more, though we used to make spaghetti or mac & cheese when the kids were young.

I think that many people are similar to yourself and consider all that nice equipment to be "kitchen decoration" for the villa.

By the way, Merry Christmas to you!

 

[bzzelady]

It depends on the focus of our vacation whether we use the kitchen or not.

When we were there in November, we ate breakfast there all but one day.

My DD likes to make her own brownies (she doesn't like the ones made by the mouse) so we drove everyone in our end of VWL crazy with the smell!

I often do macaroni/cheese or easy lunches if we are around the villa during the day. I have been known to take my crock pot with me when we drive and make a pot roast at the beginning of the week for all to pick at for the rest of the week. If we are on a 4 day or less vacation, nothing but cereal touches the bowls in the kitchen!
This past November, I had one lady remark to me (with this amazed look on her face), "What...you actually use your kitchen??" I guess that maybe she is not in the minority as I used to think.

 

[disney junky]

With BW, we are close enough for going back from Epcot and MGM. The only times we really use the kitchen are breakfast and snacks, as someone else mentioned. We usually get lunchmeat, maybe keep some hot dogs in the fridge, but we don't really plan around meals.

 

[Sully]

Last Feb. we stayed for the entire month in a studio at OKW and a studio at SSR. Needless to say, we ate most of our meals in our studio. We took along plates and utensils including an electric frying pan. We did just fine. For the few times when we did eat out, it was a late lunch, cheaper than dinner. For an entire month, we could not afford to eat out all the time. But, we were there for an entire month.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

We do EXACTLY what you do! When we don't visit the parks, we still eat out. I'm beginning to agree with your kids, even though I don't think I'd want to give up the living room space and separate BRs. Here's to our next generation of DVC owners!!! I see the studios will be popular rental choice!

Some of our habits...if we're in the parks, we eat at the parks. If we have a car, we'll drive off site 2 or 3 times for dinner. Otherwise, we take busses to several places for dinner (ESPN Zone, Spoodles, Rainforest Cafe, etc.). We LOVE the Coronado food court, so we hit it once or twice. If you like Mexican, the wet burritos and quesadillas are great!!! Anyway, on the rare occassion that we stay in for dinner, we'll do a frozen pizza, breakfast or sandwiches (lunch meat or PB&J) in the room. In all honesty, though, we've done that maybe once or twice in the many, many times we've visited. We just enjoy dining out and that's what we do!!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

 

[AKV707]

DW and I are newbies, having had only one trip so far as members. We were in an OKW studio and had breakfast every day in the room. Our next trip will be an 11 night stay in an AKV one bedroom value villa. Because we will be there so many nights, we are planning on cooking dinner in the room at least 4 of the nights. We also do not do the parks commando style anymore so this should work out fine.

Oh, and Merry Christmas to everyone here! Off to dinner with the family at my Mom's!

 

[melk]

We always eat breakfast in the villa. If we eat our lunch out at one of the parks, then we're usually back to the villa for dinner. Otherwise we come back to the villa for lunch and go out for dinner. So basically, it's one meal out a day. I'm sure we'll have more meals out once the kids are grown, but for now it's a system that works well for us.

 

[matilda]

We too are newbies just coming back from a one week stay in a cabin at FW. We ate breakfast every morning in the cabin which saved us money right there but also time, getting that extra sleep in the morning not having to rush is priceless. During our stay we became DVC members and have already booked a stay for July 2008 at the BC and plan on eating some lunches and at least one dinner back at the villa. Hopefully this will make us return and get a little rest instead of pounding the pavement all day every day. If you drive and have room for a cooler I would recommend maybe taking some pre made dinners with you so all you need to do is bake it when it is time to eat such as spaghetti sauce, meat loaf, lasagna.

 

[tjkraz]

We have always taken a mid-day break and we will usually have either lunch or dinner in the room. Our period as DVC renters (and then owners) began when our oldest son was 18 mos old. So taking a mid-day break for naps only made sense.

Next year our youngest will be turning 5 and starting full-day kindergarten, so the days of naps being a necessity are coming to an end. Still I think the breaks suit our touring style. Although we don't visit in the middle of the summer, I appreciate the ability to just unwind for a few hours (it IS a vacation after all), and even change into a fresh set of clothes for the evening.

Our breaks normally fall somewhere in the 12pm to 5pm window. That makes it very easy for us to either have lunch or dinner in the room on any given day. It's rarely anything fancy--salads, sandwiches, mac & cheese...about the most elaborate thing we ever made was a spaghetti dinner for 8 with box noodles and sauce from a jar.

Our desire to eat in the room is driven more by convenience than a desire to save money. The kids can still be a pain in restaurants--particularly when they're a bit tired from walking the parks and all of the rides still becon outside the window. In a typical 6-7 day visit, I'll schedule 4 or 5 table service meals and plan to do counter service a couple other times. Aside from that, eating in the room is perfectly convenient and fits right into our schedule.

 

[Demosthenes]

We grill out one or two nights in a stay. We make pizza in the room once a stay. I make waffles or breakfast burritos everyday (yes, every day) for breakfast. None of this is an effort to save money, but honestly just because we enjoy it.

Last 4th of July, when we were at HH, we ate in every meal but 2. That sounds bad to some people, but we had the time of our lives

 

[Luigi's Girl]

We never use our kitchen for any meals while on vacation!

 

[gracelrm]

We usually visit for a week at a time. We generally eat breakfast in the room each day, but I don't even turn on the stove for that. I might do bacon in the microwave, poptarts, cereal, donuts, granola bars, fruit, etc.... We probably have lunch in the room 4 or 5 times during the week and always eat out for supper. The only time we didn't use this plan was the time we were on the dining plan. We like to do the parks early - come home by noon or 1:00, have lunch, swim, rest and then back out by 6:00 or so. As our oldest child gets older, leaving the villa for early morning entries is becoming harder and harder. She's 14 and doesn't like to get out of bed and makes us all hate early mornings because of it

 

[Longhairbear]

We have always been breakfast only, and a few pizza dinners at the villas, but that is going to change this next trip in Jan.
We are trying to save some money, and eat healthier, by eating in more. That means ordering from Garden Grocer items not available at the Disney markets. Actually we will probably order all our groceries from an offsite place. Lunches will be at the parks, or resorts, but breakfast and dinners from now on will be villa cooked.

 

[OlderMan]

We're like the earlier poster who makes most meals in the villa.

We cook like we normally cook at home--breakfasts and dinners.

Breakfast is usually eggs. bacon/sausage, bagels/bread, etc.

Dinner can be chicken, pasta, burgers/steaks grilled by the pool.

It's quite a bit cheaper than the Dining Plan or even fast food off site.

Just our preference...

 

[dianeschlicht]

We have done it "both ways". If it's just the two of us, we usually only eat breakfast in the villa and have one table service place scheduled each day. Then we might have a light supper in the villa too, if our sit down meal was midday. If we have a latter sit down dinner planned, we might have a quick light snack or sandwich when we are back at the villa for our midday break.

When we have guests, it depends on the style or needs of our guests. If they happen to be folks who are needing to spend the least possible, we will plan on cooking all meals in the villa. If they like to eat out, then we do pretty much what we do if it's just the two of us.

We have had several trips with large groups (9-11) in a GV. On those trips, we have cooked all meals in the villa, and it has been like a big party! We had several different family groups, and each group was responsible for the meals for a given day. That kept both the expense and the work down for the group as a whole. It turned out to be GREAT fun too! Whichever group was responsible for making the meals on a given day got to set the menu and the meal times. The rest just needed to show up at those times, and if they didn't...oh well... they got their own meal.

 

[LindaBabe]

Our most elaborate meal was Thanksgiving turkey for 6 complete with stuffing, mashed potatoes and a vegetable. We probably won't do that again - our villa had three ways to drain spaghetti, but no platter.

Even in a studio, we do breakfast 'in' every day. Alone, I always have a fruit bowl, veggie tray, and rotisserie chicken, as well as uncrustables and my favorite REAL coffee - cannot STAND that swill in the food court.

In March, we're taking off for a six week driving trip of the east coast including stays in Hilton Head, Vero Beach and WDW. In an effort to economize as much as possible, we're staying in studios, and I'm packing my crock pot and maybe the electric fry pan.

We used to tent camp, so even a studio kitchen is quite luxurious. After all, it has power, running water and a fridge that doesn't need to be iced. On vacation, I'm relaxed enough to cook for fun, not 'just' because we have to eat!

 

[spiceycat]

you just to need change your schedule a little.

start by not eating lunch at the parks - stay at the parks until noon (like 11 am myself) - then go back to the villa to eat lunch.

stay at the villa - resting, relaxing, swimming, shopping until 6:00pm be sure to eat your dinner before you leave.

then go the park that night that has EMH - no matter what your earlier park was.

you can do it!!!

then it is definitely okay to eat a snack in the parks.

 

[Pakey]

We do not cook at home so it certainly wouldn't be considered on vacation. Last trip, in a 2 br, we didn't even walk into the kitchen area, let alone use it for anything. Wait, I do think we threw purses, bags on the counter.

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

We eat breakfast in the villa every morning and once during the week we cook a frozen pizza and during the week when we have a "resort day" we make sandwiches to eat. Other than that we just eat snacks-- We buy bottled water and we each take one to the park in the morning and evening (if we go back to the villa) and a snack to have in the late morning.

The grocery bill for the week is about $130 but hey I have all the comforts of home.