Is dining a hassle when staying offsite?

[tulsanurse1]

Have a ressie at Corondo Springs for May 31-June 8th but Im serioius questioning if Ive made the right choice. If we stay on site, we will most like get DDP because of the prices for food there. My question is how do you approach dining when your staying off site. Do you drive off site for dinner? or lunch and dinner? Do you waste alot of time traveling? I like some of the prices Ive seen for offsite.

 

[joellyn23]

On the contrary, I love dining when staying off site because you have so many options. We tend to lunch in the parks and bring some snacks for the kids and dinner -- well, we can pick up some fast food on the way back to the villa or stop for a sit down dinner. We aren't the type that stay from park opening to closing though so I never feel as if we're wasting time going out for meals.

We have snacks & sometimes leftovers at the villa that we can eat/reheat when the mood strikes too!

 

[isla bonita]

I find having the options are a plus. Some nights we cook, only on the grill so there is no clean up, we make reservations for lunch I find it is much cheaper in the parks to do lunch, sometimes we get take out and eat by the pool, some times we do sit down outside the park.

Just more things to think about. We like trying new places and have found some fun good eats places. My kids will try different items so it is not to hard to find things they will enjoy.

 

[kileybeth]

I have to smile at this post. since we've never yet had the pleasure of staying on site (yup, trying to remedy that!) I feel qualified to give an opinion here!

we are ones who stay in the parks all day. either eating a breakfast buffett included in our hotel ressies or eating something in the room before we head out or on the way. character breakfast work too.

for lunch we do carry in snacks and such for when munchies hit or for holding over a few hours if we want to eat a late lunch at TS restaurant. otherwise lunch is counter service which I never find very expensive comparitively and like most of the choices?! remember , my opinion.

By time we are done in parks, it seems by the time we are out of parking lots, and onto the road and looking for food it is so late nearly everything we would like to try is ready to close. I can't tell you how many times we've ended up at Denny's laughing our heads off at something ridiculously funny (or it seemed that way after hours of touring and late dinner. . .)

My crew is pretty flexible tho and will just do whatever works best for the day. We have also ridden Disney transportation to a resort for dinner and enjoyed that too.

My DH is never one to want to take lots of time for a meal that he paid to spend in the park!

I do like dining off site tho for the simple reason there are usually good deals and familiarity for kids and larger family.

So my opinion would be do both! some of each. We do like to try at least one TS in parks each trip.

Hope that helps a bit. We ar looking at windsor hills for first time (I will so miss daily room service!) but the prices can't be beat!

 

[winniethepoohsmom]

We've always stayed onsite, but we rent a car for the week and sometimes eat outside of the park for dinner. We take off days in between park visits to hang out at the pool, take a ride to the coast or go to a waterpark. We usually eat off site on those days. There is some restaurants just outside of the parks. We have eaten across from the entrance by downtown disney I believe it's called the crossroads and then gone into the parks for the evening. It can get expensive eating all your dinners at disney TS.

 

[mbb]

... we make reservations for lunch I find it is much cheaper in the parks to do lunch, sometimes we get take out and eat by the pool, some times we do sit down outside the park.

........

Sounds just like one of our days, Deb

We like to hit the parks early in the am, get in the headliners, have a wonderful, leisurely late character breakfast - or early lunch - use our FP for whatever 2nd time big ride, or show we wanted to see...and then, back to "home" for a pool afternoon..

We always plan to go back to the parks...but we're usually having too much fun and wind up staying put
Pizza, chinese, barbque, buffets, and yep, late night snacks at Denny's too..it's all good!!

But, we're not park commandos, and really enjoy our busier mornings, and lazy afternoons All spells vacation to us, YMMV

 

[mom0104]

Last time we were there our hotel had a breakfast buffet, which was wonderful. We weren't used to the heat and found breakfast ended up being our largest meal of the day. I made APs (reservations?) for lunch places we wanted to visit throughout our stay and a couple for dinner. Our hotel had a couple of fast food choices on site which we used in a pinch. Again because of the heat I found we just didn't have the appetites we usually had.

This time we are staying at Windsor Hills in January. The weather shouldn't be as much of an issue. I plan on buying things to prepare for breakfast but the rest of the time we will eat in the parks or stop somewhere nearby. I have the disney Visa and I plan on using a portion of our points for eating in the parks. It feels like we are eating for free.

 

[spiceycat]

kissimmee along US 192 has a bunch of eating places - generally within walking distance of most of the hotels. (this does not include timeshares)

International drive has also a bunch of eating places.

so you can probably walk to one from your hotel - if you want too.

that say I won't stay offsite without a car. you have much more choices.

 

[sunlver]

I have been to Disney A LOT of times, and never have stayed on site. We try not too spend too much money on food. For us, we eat the free cont breakfast at the hotel.. We normally eat lunch in the park, but never sit down type, just the quick type(counter service I guess its called)For dinner, sometimes we just have fast food. When the kids are tired and cranky, a quick trip through the Wendy's drive thru is enough for us. Sometimes if we find a restaurant along the way that doesnt look too busy we may stop for dinner. We try NOT to spend too much money on food. We arent their for the food, but for the adventure of the parks, the characters etc....

 

[smi727]

I've also never stayed onsite. We eat a big breakfast at our rental home before heading to the parks. We try to hold off on lunch until 2-ish and we always eat CS. When we stay until close, we snack (popcorn, ice cream, pretzels, etc) during the evening parade/fireworks and stop at Denny's, IHOP, or another 24 hour type place on the way back. It works out well for us and it's a lot cheaper!

 

[MaMa3Princess]

I've also never stayed onsite. We eat a big breakfast at our rental home before heading to the parks. We try to hold off on lunch until 2-ish and we always eat CS. When we stay until close, we snack (popcorn, ice cream, pretzels, etc) during the evening parade/fireworks and stop at Denny's, IHOP, or another 24 hour type place on the way back. It works out well for us and it's a lot cheaper!

This is exactly how we do it and we also cook inside our villa or rental home!

We also pick up those coupon booklets to save 10% off or catch a buy one get one free type deal.

 

[suggies08]

We have always stayed offsite in a Villa and didn't find it a hassle at all finding a place to eat. We generally ate a quick breakfast at the Villa before heading to the parks and then we try to eat a late lunch in the park. If you can eat around 3 it will pretty much tide you over until late. We usually grab something fast on the way back to the Villa after the park closes or just fix something there.

There are tons of restaurants. The Golden Corral has good hot food and not that expensive. They have a wonderful breakfast buffet also. We have stayed offsite for the last 4 years and absolutely love it. I think you will find plenty of nice places to eat and lots of variety

 

[swillis]

Stayed offsite last year, and I really loved it. We are staying onsite this year, mostly because I wanted to give the DDP a try and see what is better for us.

I loved the accomodations we got last year (Marriott Grande Vista) We paid for all our meals out of pocket, and didn't stick to any sort of a budget.

This year we are staying in the Wilderness Cabins, and we are paying more per night, for less room. The ONLY reason to give onsite a try (for me anyway) was to try the DDP. I'm trying to see if we even out on the deal. Pay more for a room, but less for food vs less for a room and more for food.

I found the location of our hotel very easy to get to and from the parks. It wasn't a hassle to come and go at all.