How do you handle Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner when staying Offsite?

[devotedchristian]

If your resort does NOT have a restaurant OR your Resort has a restaurant with limited Menu options?

Do you Cook in your Villa, Suite or Vacation House?

We are staying at Marriott Grande Vista 4th of July weekend (3bedroom Villa with Full Kitchen) and it only has 1 restaurant.

I called the restaurant Nick's Grill and they emailed me the menu of their B/L/D but I didn't notice in any vegetables.

We are 2 families with little kids coming together and we are trying not do alot of driving.

Nick's prices seem comparable, but I wonder if should cook. But then I thought, I'm on vacation, do I want to cook??

Thoughts/Suggestions?

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Hi there

we normally eat breakfast in - but out for lunch & dinner. If we are round the pool then we will have lunch at the villa.

As you say - you are on vacation!

 

[ICF]

We usually eat breakfast in the condo, lunch at the park and dinner depends on how the day went.

If we ended up going to the condo in the mid-afternoon so the kids could rest in the afternoon, then we usually eat at the condo or pick up McD's or something from a nearby place before heading back to the park for the evening.

 

[*disgal*]

This trip is a long one (15 nights) so we have to be more careful of the food budget. Last trip was the free dining plan on site. This one's going to be a lot different but we've done it before so no big deal.

We will have breakfast everyday in the condo.

Lunch will mostly be packed or at the condo......we have a few times we lunch in the park.

Dinner will mostly be at the condo (we are coming back almost everyday for a swim/rest break, so this is easy to incorporate) but there are a few times we have dinner at the parks.

For the dinners in the condo, I don't have anything real fancy planned. Some chicken crockpot meals, tacos, easy casseroles......stuff like that.

Ya do what ya have to do, right? Every family has their own wants/needs. Our family has decided since we come a long way (NY) we want to stay longer. That means I have to cook some. I thought I would hate it, but the one offsite trip we took I cooked easy things, like above, and I found I didn't mind it. Having a plan was the key. If it's 4pm and you don't know what's for dinner, you'll most likely go out to eat. I'm too tired then to plan something.

Even if I didn't cook, I would still want to have a kitchen(for drinks, cereal, muffins, bagels, fruit and did I say drinks! . That, and the washer/dryer, were the only things we really missed when we stayed at POR.

 

[dougsmom98]

We do a lot of easy breakfasts at the villa - bagels, doughnuts, muffins... and some fruit. For lunch we eat in the parks, or if we are at the villa or by the pool we make easy lunches like hot dogs, frozen pizza, sandwiches, or left overs from our dinner the night before. For dinner we almost always get take out. We generally have enough left over for lunch the next day for a few people at least. I am not sure exactly where the Marriot Grand Vista is, but in general most places do not have a shortage of nearby restaurants and all the restaurants we have gone to have take out for even their full dinners which often include salads and vegetables. On our last trip we did cook a frozen lasagna and garlic bread on our first night and had left overs for lunch for several days after that.

 

[ainemcgrath]

We staying in Grande Vista for 3 nts in July before moving to Floridays and I was wondering same thing about b/fast.

Looked it up on a map and there's a Denny's right next door!

 

[mom0104]

I save my Disney Visa Points to pay for food in the parks. I will do breakfast in the Villa with the exception of one morning when we go to the Crystal Palace. Lunch will be in the parks and dinner will either be in the parks or out somewhere depends on our schedule.

 

[madge]

If your resort does NOT have a restaurant OR your Resort has a restaurant with limited Menu options?

Do you Cook in your Villa, Suite or Vacation House?

We are staying at Marriott Grande Vista 4th of July weekend (3bedroom Villa with Full Kitchen) and it only has 1 restaurant.

I called the restaurant Nick's Grill and they emailed me the menu of their B/L/D but I didn't notice in any vegetables.

We are 2 families with little kids coming together and we are trying not do alot of driving.

Nick's prices seem comparable, but I wonder if should cook. But then I thought, I'm on vacation, do I want to cook??

Thoughts/Suggestions?

We do a lot of eating in the condo - all breakfasts and some lunch & dinners, depending on the schedule for the day. I don't mind cooking on vacation, though - within reason

When we arrive in Orlando and get settled in the condo, our tradition is to go out to dinner (usually Uno's) and then to the outlet mall & Publix.

One thing that has worked well for our family is having plenty of healthy snacks at the condo - we will go to the parks in the AM, have a counter service lunch in the parks, and then come back to the resort for swimming. After swimming, we'll have some cheese & crackers, veggies & dip, chips & salsa, etc. Nothing that requires much prep or clean up, but is tasty and takes the edge off for dinner. We usually go to Epcot in the evening, and snack through the countries.

Enjoy your trip

 

[Darcy03231]

We rent a house and eat most meals in (we're there for 14-16 days). Since we go in the summer we hit the parks early for about 4 hours and then back to the house for a break and to swim. We go back at night for a few hours. Since we're there for so long there's no rush to get everything in, we have plenty of time. We cook easy meals, grill out a lot for dinner with salad and some type of macaroni or potato salad.

 

[sympatico]

There are many restaurant options in the International Drive and Lake Buena Vista areas. You should have no problems finding something that you like. Also along 192 in Kissimmee there's most any kind of food you can think of.
We usually eat breakfast in, lunch where ever we happen to be at the time and dinner (supper) at a sit down restaurant.
IMHO it's easier to get breakfast at home with little kids. You can buy what you know they'll like.

 

[MiaSRN62]

We eat sometimes in the villa....mostly breakfasts and lunches. We like to eat out for dinner or order room service. Our timeshare is the Vistana. There are 2 restaurants, a snack stand, and a Pizza Hut. All will deliver to the room.
We also drive to wdw for some meals (or just eat there while we're in the parks)---to me, this is part of the vacation experience. During a 10 night vacation, we might schedule 5 nice sit down meals in wdw.
I do shop and stock the frig in our villa, but I rarely cook a full course meal. For lunch, maybe cold sandwiches, potato salad or cook a frozen pizza etc. The most I've done for dinner was spaghetti and meatballs, or maybe some mac and cheese. We do eat eggs, pancakes, bagels for breakfast. I love having the full kitchen, but I don't utilize it to it's fullest. It's just nice to know it's there if I want it

 

[PortieOwner]

It has been a long, long time since I stayed off property but I would get up really early and hit Bob Evans/Cracker Barrel or a breakfast buffet and really load up. Then have a small lunch of sandwiches back in the room in the early afternoon (nap/swim time). Then dinner back at WDW in Epcot or a resort.

Breakfast is a cheap meal but can keep you going all day. Last Sunday for Father's Day we went to Bob Evans for an early breakfast. It was enough that I had no lunch, and wasn't even very hungry by dinner time.

 

[Cruz91]

We eat breakfast at condo (like most folks), pack a lunch for the park (quick and easy to do when the kids go to bed the night before), then saved enough money on the first two to eat dinner out. Having said that - we still probably end up eating dinner back at the condo 2 - 3 nights just because we need some rest time and don't want to fight the crowds.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

ONe of the benefits of staying in the condo or in a suite with a small fridge etc IS eating breakfast in. It saves time AND helps to keep the amount of junk food to a minimum(although I do consider cereal w/sugar junk). But my family always eats breakfast in the condo. My husband has diabetes and at least for this one meal I know he will stay on track.
I always stock the fridge(at Wal Mart) with fruit and even some ff ice cream for when we are in the condo. I also buy some bag salad etc. If you need to watch your weight like I do it makes it easier to whip up a "meal". I do not cook but will buy a rotisserie chicken at Publix and serve it with frozen green beans and salad.

It really is better to eat in for as many meals as you can just from the health perspective. Personally, I get tired of eating in restaurants all the time.

 

[isla bonita]

We eat well at the house fresh fruit. pancakes, bacon, ham or sausage, bagels, english muffins, toast. My husband is the breakfast cook.

Then I try to get us reservations for a later lunch at one of the table service restaurants. Lunch is usually a lot cheaper in the parks. When we get home we either have pizza, taco bell or something at the house.

On down days we usually BBQ at the house. I am not big on clean up so we use our grill a lot. My DBIL even made grilled pizza one night. OH my god it was the bomb!!!!!!! Love that man just because of that.

We always have drinks and snacks, icecream is a must.

We enjoy going out to dinner but with 5 of us and down for 10-17 days it gets pricey. Me and my husband try to do one dinner out with out the kids.

 

[ttfn3]

We normally stay in Orlando in a 2 BR timeshare. In fact, we have stayed at the Marriott Grande Vista. When we stay offsite, we do not go to the parks everyday. Sometimes, we never go the Disney parks **gasp**. Orlando has wonderful timeshares and we enjoy hanging out at the pools.

We always have breakfast in our unit. Much more relaxing and nutritious. Our breakfasts meals are what we normally eat at home. The MGV is very close to a wonderful Publix on Vineland. We stock up on fruit, bagels, lunchmeat, cheese, bread, drinks, cereal, eggs, soups, yogurt, veggies, snacks, etc. I do like to eat out for dinner. Lots of choices within a short drive of the MGV (one of our local favorites is the Orlando Ale House). Or we have also picked up "dinner" at Publix. They have a nice ready to go/eat area with chicken, subs, etc. If you like sushi, there's a nice sushi place near the Publix that DH likes to get sushi to go.

If I do cook in the villa for dinner (or if we are at a condo at the beach), it's always quick dinners like spaghetti, baked chicken, pizza, pan of lasagna, salads, or fish. We also heat up leftovers for our dinners out. One perk of staying in a condo is that you have a fridge to store leftovers!

One other suggestion is if you have two families that you share the cooking. We have done that when we have vacationed with friends at the beach. The food prep time becomes a time to just hang out together while we pull dinner together. Everyone then eats together.

Have fun. I'm sure you'll enjoy the space with little ones - and having a washer and dryer!

 

[spiceycat]

done a bit of everything.

eat at offsite places - Ponderasus is not far from you and pretty cheap. there is definitely the Denny. Eating in the villa - what I mostly do. Eaten at Disney (don't do this very often - too expensive and my food allergies means we will be there at least 2 hours - too much park time)

eaten at the same places as home - MacD, Wendy, CHick n lay, burger k, etc.

I work 8 to 11 hours per day - so I cook on the weekends at home. Or just do quickly meals.

So cooking when I have time for it - can actually be fun.

this places - timeshares, villa, condo, houses - are clean and actually fun.

You might enjoy cooking for a change.

 

[Detailor]

We are staying at Marriott Grande Vista 4th of July weekend (3bedroom Villa with Full Kitchen) and it only has 1 restaurant.
I called the restaurant Nick's Grill and they emailed me the menu of their B/L/D but I didn't notice in any vegetables.
Nick's prices seem comparable, but I wonder if should cook. But then I thought, I'm on vacation, do I want to cook??
Thoughts/Suggestions?

Grande Vista isn't really just limited to Nick's.

The Copa Loca is open for lunch and diner with outdoor seating at the pool complex that's across the lake from the main clubhouse and reservation area.
This isn't a fancy eatery, just a bar and grill, but a nice on-site change of pace.
There's a Pizza Hut express and the Marketplace store between the reservation area and the main pool area. The Marketplace has sandwiches, coffee, etc., in addition to the normal convenience store goods.
Also, as is typical of most timeshare resorts, local take-out places serve Grande Vista.

And, as others have noted, there are a lot of restaurants in the general area - up International Drive or down along the way toward Downtown Disney.

Dick Taylor

 

[cinamin27]

if you are close to a Publix, check out their meat department for dinner ideas. They have a good selection of ready to bake meat entrees like stuffed flank steak florentine, stuffed peppers, Jerk Pork, stuffed chicken breasts & quite a few other things, they are raw but already made up & in a foil pan that you can just throw in the oven. Also the seafood department will season & steam your seafood for FREE. LOVE their steamed old bay & garlic butter seasoned shrimp (& they have shrimp for $4.99-6.99 per lb for LARGE shrimp quite often - a pound or 2 can feed quite a few people!)

 

[deejay-55]

We stay off site, and we don't cook on vacation - there are so many family restaurants to eat out, and all way less expensive than the on-site dining options.