Eating in the room???

[Jon99]

We are staying at a VWL studio in December, looking to save some money by eating in the room at least once a day, perhaps lunch the most often... Other than sandwiches, what are some good ideas???

 

[Junebugwv]

Maybe you should think of the types of food you will be eating away from the villa and plan meals that will not be the same as you eat in the parks. For me that would be some hearty soups (maybe a good frozen type to be heated in the m/w) or a package of salad with grilled chicken and dressing.

 

[bethyg]

We recently stayed at DVC HHI. Bring a crock-pot (or if flying, nuke them in the m/w). Some frozen meals (I think by banquet) are great and cost only around $5, and some are even low-fat. There's a homemade chicken/noodles in a green bag that has less than 5gm fat per serving and it tastes great! Do a side salad or fruit and you've got a meal for under $10. We also grilled out, bought some chicken breasts and some charcoal and had some great meals, very inexpensive.

 

[HayGan]

How about some of those ramen noodle bowls (heatup water in the coffepot) or those little chicken or tuna salad kits that come with everything. You could always order a pizza or eat some leftovers from dinner the night before.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Do a search on here - there's lots of good threads on this topic! Try this one; it has lots of great ideas:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=929269

Personally, we find breakfast to be an easy meal to do in the room, rather painlessly. We also find sharing to be a must. IF you decide on a character - all-you can- eat breakfast (or perhaps lunch), and dine early or late, you can probably get by with just two meals that day. Buffets aren't inexpensive, but if you think of one late breakfast as being breakfast and lunch, then $18 per adult doesn't sound quite as painful.

 

[Tinkerbelle99]

Eating in the room not only saved us some money but time as well. We drove down and brought a portable fridge(you can rent them from the hotel). We would have cereal in the morning. Sandwhiches, we even brought along a small George Forman and made grilled cheese and hotdogs. We had breakfast in the room everyday and snacks/lunches as time permitted.

We have done this on both our trips and would do it again.

We brought along bottled water too and that saved a bundle for us aswell. 32 bottles of water from Sams $5, one bottle bought in the parks $2.50 (this was off peak season. I have been told that the prices can be higher during the summer). Between the fridge and filling up those Sams Club insulated bags with ice during our stay, we had cool water with us all the time.

Did my husband think i was crazy for lugging all this stuff with us when we drove down - YES.
Did my family thing i was nuts when i took my portable fridge on the plane to WDW (it fit into a duffle and counted as one suitcase) - YES.
Did they all appreciate the money saved and convience - YES!!!!

 

[Smydovro]

We were just there 9/28 to 10/05 and we ordered food from we-go-shop. We ate breakfast in the room (donuts, poptarts, bananas, cereal bars etc.) I think eating back in the room for lunch wouldn't have been practical for us since we were at the parks most of the day. But eating in the room was a great time saver for us in the a.m since the lines at roaring fork were long and we wanted to be at the parks at opening. Getting to restaurants in the morning for breakfast was just too time consuming. Have fun!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

If you stay at a Moderate or deluxe, you'll have a fridge in your room,now. It's a big plus, IMHO.

I second the water! Even if you aren't a water drinker at home, having water on hand in the parks can be a great thing, especially if you are going to be using a stroller. It just isn't a great idea to live off of soda the whole time you are there. If you won't have a stroller, then it might not be worth lugging around more than one or two bottles a day. You can also bring a few cans of soda or something with you and save money by drinking water with your meals but soda between meals. Disney will give you free ice/ice water at any place that sells drinks for free, but bottled water will taste better. There are also water fountains and sinks you could use to refill bottles.