Have you stayed in a place with a kitchen?

[cwnhokie]

How much did you eat in and how much did you eat out? We are staying in my dad's timeshare. I am trying to plan a good and truthful balance of saving money by cooking our own meals and enjoying my favorite part of vacation, eating out. Any one who has done this in the past, what did you do?

 

[ducklite]

When we first bought DVC I thikn in the back of our minds we thought we might do some cooking. It never happened. We do have breakfast in the villa, and maybe some microwave popcorn, cheese and crackers, fresh fruit, etc. But if it didn't go into the microwave, we never cooked it.

Especially if it's off-site, I'm not sure you'll really want to leave in time to get back for dinner. Breakfasts I can pretty well say you'll ahve in the villa--but if you like character meals, you'll have that to consider as well.

Anne

 

[pjlla]

Our experience has been this.

Our first family trip was when the kids were pretty young (almost 4 and 6 1/2) during January 2002. We stayed at Homewood Suites in Kissimee. Since the parks closed early and the kids were young, we headed back to our hotel for dinner almost every night. We would have a late afternoon/early evening snack in the parks and then late dinner at the hotel (although I must admit, more than once the kids either fell asleep on the way back to the hotel or they were too tired to eat!). We had bagels and fruit, mac and cheese, or DH would go out and get pizza or subs. And pb & j was always an option! It saved money as well as precious park time and it worked out well us. We had free bkfst at the hotel every day, which was perfect for us, and we had lunch in the parks (mostly counter service... not to be cheap, but just to save us time). We did have a lunch at RFC at the AK and CRT bkfst one morning, and lunch at Planet Hollywood at DTD once.

Fast Forward to January 2004....kids are older now, but park hours are still short. We did stay at the HS again. (We were very happy with both stays). Again, we had the free bkfst, but this time it was a full bkfst, including eggs, bacon, sausage, as well as the usual, bagels, pastry, fruit, cereal, and juice. We had this every morning except for our CRT morning. Since the kids were able to handle more park time, we did some park hopping, so we were in the parks more hours. But we did still have a late dinner at the room at least once (we left Epcot before Illuminations because we were too cold... grabbed McD on the way back and ate in the room). We mostly kept drinks and snacks in the room. It was very handy for that.

Not sure what we will do the next time. I'm tempted to stay on-site (haven't done that since our honeymoon in 1992!)... but the kids really like the Homewood Suites and I like the "spreading out" room it gives us, plus the option of using the kitchenette if I want to. Guess we will have to take a family vote on this!

HTH..................P

 

[georgina]

We didn't cook full meals much, but if we had a big lunch in the parks, we would have sandwiches, yogurt, fruit, etc, for dinner. I would get bagged salad, frozen lasagna, mac & cheese, eggs, cheese, for quick dinners.

 

[oogieboogie]

We've tried staying at suites or places with kitchenettes, but it never works out because part of the appeal of a vacation to us is the eating part, especially at Disney. We plan our days based on where we want to eat! That and I just don't want to bother with cooking when I'm on vacation.

 

[swilshire]

We always stay in timeshares. The one thing to beware of is buying too much food when you get there. We always wind up at the end wanting to eat out but having food that we don't want to throw away. Shopping at Sams Club probably contributes to this.

We always eat breakfast in. Usually either eat a lunch we carry in or fast food at the parks. Then have dinner at our condo. Or sometimes we go back to the condo for lunch, then do dinner in the parks. We seldom wind up eating out twice in the same day.

One thing that helps keep the cook happy is bringing easy to warm up stuff. We buy 96oz Stouffers frozen lasagna, that is really quite good. Also pick up frozen foods the teens like, such as Hot Pockets or Pizza Rolls. We sometimes spend one of the first evenings cooking some things that can be reheated through the week, such as baked chicken or taco meat. We also keep lots of salad stuff and buy nice breads to go with our meals.

Eating out for us gets expensive fast, since there are six of us with kids ranging in age from 6 to 19. We're usually just as content with simple meals "at home" the majority of the time as long as we get a few treats.

Sheila

 

[tbelfonti]

The only time we've cooked meals on vacation was when we travelled with my folks. My mom would plan our meals.

We've stayed Off property other times and just used the kitchen for breakfast meals or we ordered out. I can't be bothered to cook when I'm on vacation!

 

[DiznEeyore]

We own DVC and often cook meals in the villa. We do it for a few reasons - 1) We get tired of "park food" after a while; 2) We all have sensitive stomachs and cooking our own food is helpful; and 3) It definitely saves money!

We eat breakfast in the villa almost every day (except for a character breakfast or two) and usually have lunch or dinner "in" as well.

I have to say, though, that it's much easier to do being onsite -- don't know that I'd have the endurance to leave the parks, drive off-property, do the meal thing and drive back. If that doesn't bother you, go for it! It can be nice to have something "familiar" instead of constantly eating restaurant food, even on vacation.

 

[poohbear2]

We go to Florida every year so we only go to one or two WDW restaurants at a visit. We always cook our own breakfast every morning. We usually have lunch at the parks or go back to the timeshare for an early dinner. We return to the parks until closing and we usually have a snack there. I don't think we could go out every night and have a huge meal; too costly. Our meals at the timeshare are not fancy. Basic easy cooking. But its nice to have that option.

 

[Gillian]

Breakfast in the villa -- we need our protein!

Cold or frozen water was a big money saver for us since we all drink it. We also packed our own snacks for the parks - carrots, cheese cubes, pretzels, crackers. sometimes frozen juice boxes. When my mom was with us we even packed sandwiches. ,

I'm not much for cooking on vacation so we mostly had dinners out. For us the benefit of a villa or condo is the space! The full sized refrigerator is the best part of the kitchen.

We did save money on food, but not by eating dinners in. Drinks and snacks are very expensive so by bringing our own we didn't feel bad spending a lot on nice dinners.

 

[disneysteve]

We've stayed in places with kitchens many times at Disney and elsewhere. The main appeal for us is two things and cooking isn't one of them.

1. You get a full size refrigerator and freezer.

2. You get a dining table and chairs.

We always eat breakfast in our room and it is nice to be able to keep a carton of milk, one of OJ, some sodas and snacks, etc. Also nice to have a freezer to freeze our water bottle over nite.

As for the table, its much nicer to sit there rather than balancing on a little coffee table or bedside tables in a hotel room. And we always get a pizza from Flipper's one nite and bring it back to the room.

Do we ever cook? Once in a while. Last trip, we made mac and cheese and a couple of tv dinners one nite when we were all really worn out and didn't feel like going to a restaurant. And of course there's always microwave popcorn.

 

[d-man's mom]

I stayed at the Disney Institute in 1997 with 5 adults and one 2yo. We loved having the full kitchen- only cooked dinner one night, but it was great for breakfast. The full sized fridge was perfect for all of us, and I was happy that we had maid service- I remember she even ran the dishwasher for us!

 

[powellrj]

Almost always do breakfast in the room, and we like to have snacks at night in the room too. Usually we will have breakfast in the room, a large lunch and then snack when we get back to the room. Once we are in for the night, we really don't like to leave, so having easy to fix things are great and having cold drinks to come back too is nice too!

 

[crisi]

DVC member.

Breakfast yes. Other meals. We made a peanut butter sandwich or two.

Overbuying is a problem.

We like to eat out, too. I could skip counter service burgers, but honestly, when we are hungry we don't go back to the villa - and we get hungry too early to take the afternoon break. And while sit down lunches are cheaper, we like our big meal in the evening.

A big factor is how long it takes to get back to your resort, and how long you'll "push" before you are starving. Lunch at Disney (and dinner on occation) turns into "I have to eat RIGHT NOW!" because I've put off the initial signs of hunger for one more attraction. Then its either counter service lunch or snacks to "hold us" until we can find something (or, in your case, head back to the room). Four Mickey Bars at 11:00 so we can hold off to have a meal back in the room isn't saving us much money.

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

Our first DVC trip was last summer at BCV. We were there for 5 nighta and had breakfast there every day plus dinner 4 of the 5 nights. I didn't mind cooking at all. DH took the kids swimming while I threw a load of laundry in and made dinner. It was MY quiet time and cooking is relaxing to me. I don't mind cooking on vacation if that means we can splurge on other items throughout the trip. We planned carefully what to puchase and ended up with very llittle leftovers. BOught ground beef and that went a long way (tacos, spaghetti, burgers) Did salads too which was a nice change from home.One box of cereal is pleanty for breakfast along with a pack of bagles and cream cheese. I didn't do lunch in the room though as we were at the parks.

I know some people have the kitchen and never use them but I think it is worth the extra few bucks to have one.

 

[marcyinPA]

We stayed in a FW cabin once. We made breakfast every morning (sometimes it was hot, sometimes just bagels or cereal) and only ate breakfast out once (Trails End). Instead of a character breakfast, we chose to do Chef Mickey's for dinner.

We also made dinner twice. Spaghetti once and hot dogs once. We were on a budget.

It was nice to have the ammenities of a full kitchen. We made lemonade, froze water bottles, had fresh fruit and snacks to bring into the parks, plus REAL coffee every morning when we first got up. The mousekeeping even ran the dishwasher!

I love eating out just as much as the next guy, but it was also nice to have something different and not worry about $$.

Aside from the torrential rain, it was a great trip!!

 

[Figment1964]

We always stay in timeshares and love having a full kitchen. Like so many others have already posted we do have breakfasts before leaving the condo. We have overbought on a couple of trips so I try now to really think ahead about what, realistically, we need to buy and know that I can always make a trip back to the store if I really need to.

The time I absolutely loved having the kitchen was during Hurricane Frances when we were inside for 48 hours. I was able to fix real meals for my family and we had some snacks like ice cream and ready to bake cookies, etc. That certainly helped pass the time since we had no other choice but to stay inside!

 

[disneysteve]

Regarding overbuying, this being the budget board I'm sure we all share the same mindset at the supermarket: the bigger package has the better unit price so its a better deal. Of course, that isn't true if you throw out half the package. It took me a while to get that through my head and start buying the smaller package when we are at Disney so there is little if any waste.

We generally drive down so we bring all the non-perishable stuff from home and can take back any left-over stuff worth saving. We'll even bring home perishables and just keep them in the cooler. Obviously, this doesn't work if you are flying.

 

[cwnhokie]

Thank you all! You know what I love about these boards? So much information. You know what I hate about these boards? So much information. Anyway, I'll keep thinking and rethinking it until it's over. This is our first time. We are going with my parents. Next year we are going back with DH's parents. I'm looking at this year as our planning year. This is what I'm thinking...

Breakfast in the room everyday except one that we have PS at Crystal Palace. Then take snacks to the parks. Go back to the place for late lunch/rest/early dinner depending on how we feel and then back to the parks. Then plan some places that I really want to hit for lunch or dinner spread throughout the week. My sons are 2 and 4 so I think we will be heading back for naps anyway.

 

[EdDome]

We're DVC also but it's rare if we eat in other than breakfast. We made frozen pizzas last year while Hurricane Charley blew through and everything was closed. First time we ever used the oven.