For those who stay in a 1br+, do you cook meals? How much/often?

[MissCecelia]

A big selling point for the 1brs for us was that my husband & kids get the space they love and I get the ability to cook breakfast and light meals. Our youngest has autism and is very picky Also I have a medical condition where my diet needs to stay on track.

Cooking breakfast in the room is a no brainer and will work GREAT for us. I'm wondering if coming back to the room for a light lunch/rest is a viable idea if we're staying 8+ days. Just doing this would cut our food budget by a WHOLE lot and we'd all get the rest we need.

My husband isn't sure I'm going to want to be making my own sandwiches and salads on vacation and thinks we'll miss out on park time if we come back to the hotel to eat. I like to put my total needed for vacations in our month budget and I'm making our 2018 budget that includes our 2019 trip so I'm wondering your thoughts.


Thanks!

 

[lovin'fl]

Never. Bring or get breakfast type grab and go items and drinks. Never cook a thing. Just brew coffee and may make a pitcher of lemonade or tea. Eating at Disney is part of the vacation for us, a big part.

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

We never cook, but it seems to make sense in your situation.

 

[BillPA]

We often cook, mostly breakfast and lunch but some times diner also if we have the G-kids. We go 2-3 times a year for 7-9 nights each trip. We enjoy the resort more now, no longer do the crazy commando park visits, haven't for years. I assume most DVCers after they have been members for lots of years will do the same.

 

[JETSDAD]

We do midday breaks and will cook supper probably 2-3 times in a week stay. Just simple stuff that we can bring with us when we drive such as pasta and sauce or canned soup. Also some snacks such as nachos. We aren't big breakfast people so just grab a granola bar or muffin in our room before heading out. We may start grabbing some more fresh ingredients when we get to FLA as we stay more often.

 

[disneynutz]

We look at it as a resort vacation with parks available if we feel like it. What are you going to miss in the parks during years of Disney vacations, you aren't one time visitors? Cooking minor meals, salads, sandwiches, fried chicken from Publix, stouffers meals, breakfast is easy and will save you enough money to allow you extras days on your vacations. We also do laundry if we need to, no big deal to start the wash as we leave the room and move to the dryer when we come back, same with the dish washer, we wash all dishes that we intend to use when we first check in and daily after that.

Bill

 

[ludari]

I always purchase breakfast items, snacks foods and items that are easy to make such as sandwiches for my week or longer trips but I also like eating out when on vacation. However if I was in your situation with picky eaters and diet to maintain I would probably cook more in the room and the kitchens in the one-bedrooms are sufficient to do that. I hope this helps.

 

[momto3pirates]

We cook breakfast and sometimes late evening snacks after we get back. At WDW we don’t leave the park and expect to return later. The transportation back and forth just takes too much time. Our youngest has ASD as well and doesn’t handle long waits well. Lines for buses and getting into the park are a lot for her to take. We do like to have the kitchen. It’s nice to stock up on food I know she will eat so we have groceries delivered.

 

[bbak30]

We had a 1 bedroom last trip. The extra space was nice, but breakfasts was the only thing we ate there. And it was cereal, canned cinnamon rolls or biscuits. Nothing fancy.

 

[kirstenb1]

Our younger dd has autism as well. We eat breakfast in the room, and lunch in the parks. She is usually done with crowds by 3, so we go back to the room for an easy dinner. Her favorite is tacos, but you can use the lettuce and tomato for make your own sub. And by cooking the hamburger meat, but putting some aside, you have spaghetti meat, etc. Really easy meals. The last few years, we've used Garden Grocer to deliver our groceries, which makes it even easier. This has been a huge help to us, especially when she was younger.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We have had a frozen lasagna meal with salad quite a few times. It does take a long time to bake.

 

[pinklotusflower]

We stay in one beds & make breakfast, some light lunches like salad/sandwiches & some evening meals. Being vegetarian's the option's in some of the parks are poor as we like to eat healthier options. We also like to spend the afternoons chilling at the resort so are going back to the resort anyway. It definitely saves money as well.

 

[quandrea]

Every day. Breakfast for sure and then one meal in. I meal plan so I know exactly what to buy. I don't mind the cooking at all. Dd has allergies so I also do a lot of baking. The meals are simple, using minimal ingredients. Just did my grocery order today for January. Here's what we will eat.


Sloppy joes with Coke slaw and a veggie tray

Chicken noodle soup casserole with salad

Chicken fettuccine Alfredo with salad, green beans and garlic bread

Lasagna night

Spaghetti night

Nachos

Honey lime baked chicken tacos

Sandwiches with Cole slaw, carrots, dip, pickles and chips

Baked chicken with peas, carrots, mashed potatoes

Chicken tater tot casserole

Chilli Mac

These are things I don't often make at home. Simple but tasty

 

[keaster]

We usually have breakfast in the room but not a cooked breakfast (more like cereal/toast/fruit/bagels). For non park days we will do sandwiches/hot dogs in the room and then we do a couple dinners in the room but simple ones like spaghetti dinner or pizza or something like that.

 

[skippytx]

We cook a lot in the rooms. My kids don't really care for park food, and I get tired of fast food type meals really quickly. We take an afternoon break every day anyway, so we make really good use of the kitchen and laundry in the room.

We always have breakfast in the room. Biscuits, Eggs, Toast, Grits, stuff like that. Lunch is generally sandwiches. Dinner is a tossup. We take a late break from 2ish to maybe 6 and then go back to the parks so we tend not to do a normal dinner unless we have an ADR somewhere.

We save quite a bit on park food using the kitchen in the room. Makes me crazy when I end up throwing 20 dollars worth of food away because they don't want it or fill up on 1 chicken tender and some grapes. They're grazers by nature though so I let them have snacks in the park within reason. The full size fridge is great as well. We do a big shop the night we get in and stock up for the week.

The kitchen and laundry are probably 40% of the reasons we became DVC members, just so much nicer having those amenities in your room.

 

[BLLB]

Breakfast in the room daily. Can be quick or eggs/pancakes. Lunch is in the park. Dinner cooked at the villa at least 4-5 times. We have also ordered pizza delivered.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Never. Bring or get breakfast type grab and go items and drinks. Never cook a thing. Just brew coffee and may make a pitcher of lemonade or tea. Eating at Disney is part of the vacation for us, a big part.

Same here. We mostly use the refrigerator for cold drinks to go with our snacks in the evening.

 

[LBHouse]

We usually stay for 6-8 nights. We cook most/all our meals in, family of 6.

 

[Dendycat]

We plan to buy breakfast cereal and eat that in the room but won't be cooking. We've booked a 2 bed for the space and laundry facilities rather than the kitchen.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

A big selling point for the 1brs for us was that my husband & kids get the space they love and I get the ability to cook breakfast and light meals. Our youngest has autism and is very picky Also I have a medical condition where my diet needs to stay on track.

Cooking breakfast in the room is a no brainer and will work GREAT for us. I'm wondering if coming back to the room for a light lunch/rest is a viable idea if we're staying 8+ days. Just doing this would cut our food budget by a WHOLE lot and we'd all get the rest we need.

My husband isn't sure I'm going to want to be making my own sandwiches and salads on vacation and thinks we'll miss out on park time if we come back to the hotel to eat. I like to put my total needed for vacations in our month budget and I'm making our 2018 budget that includes our 2019 trip so I'm wondering your thoughts.


Thanks!

We never cook except maybe breakfast, making some hardboiled eggs to eat before we leave in the morning. We do buy cereal and snacks, but as far as cooking a meal, it's never happened once so far since 2010 lol