NO food courts at DVC hotels?

[crazik]

Just got back from Vero and Beach Club Villas for our first DVC trip.

I just realized that non of the "deluxe" or "home-away from home" resorts have food courts. Only the value or intermediate resorts have them.... Why is this? Do they feel people who can afford to stay in the more expensive hotels wouldn't want to eat at a food court? I personally enjoy the food courts for breakfast, the occasional lunch or even dinner sometimes. It's less expensive and close to your room....

Does Old Key West have somekind of food court? I couldn't tell from the descriptions I was reading.

Thanks,
KEVIN WYRSCH

 

[spiceycat]

no some of them share a snack bar with the hotels - VWL and BCV - OKW has one snack bar close to the main pool and the one is at turtle pond (just Mexican and hot dogs here).

DVC resorts are considered to be deluxe - deluxes do not have food court - I have a problem with this too - but luckily OKW is very close to PO so I don't have a real problem.

VWL, BCV and BWV all have real room service - OKW just has pizza delivery. I know room service is expensive.

 

[new_yawka]

There is no food court at OKW. given the kitchen facilities (and in the Studio, the refrigerator), the one meal people are most likely to eat in the room is breakfast. A quick boal of cereal, toast, or other simple foods can save time and money. My thought is, even if the DVC resorts had a food court it would not be as well patronized as those at any of the other resorts. OKW does have a small "walk up" place for food (Good's food to Go). The food is good and you can get enough of a variety to keep you happy most of the time.

OKW is a great and very relaxing resort!

 

[crazik]

Thanks everyone,

I realize if you stay in the Villas you can get the kitchen (which is what we had), but what about the non-dvc people.

For example, if you are a normal person staying in a the yacht club, you could get a slice of pizza on the boardwalk or a hamburger at beaches/cream... that's it.... no kitchen to cook yourself... no food court for quick cheap food... you have to eat at one of the nice restaruants on the boardwalk or in your hotel (assuming you are not in the parks).

I ended up eating at beaches and creams twice, the food and icecream was really good! and since i'm here, let me give praise to SPOODLES! Had a great meal there!

Thanks again,
Kevin

 

[spiceycat]

WDW assumes that if you are staying at a deluxe - you won't or need a food court - I think they assume you can order room service or eat at the parks - if you don't like their snack bars.

In Epcot at the Land - is a food court - not a long walk - but when you are tried it could be a problem.

you asked about DVC resorts - all DVC resorts have kitchen stuff - the studio has a refrigerator and microwave. the one bedroom and up have a full kitchen - some people do not like a kitchen in their room I guess they feel they will have to cook - NOT!

 

[bcvillastwo]

I'm not sure if you'd call it a food court, but the GF has a nice little fast food type of place. It's located around the corner to the left just as you walk out the back of the main building. When you walk out the door a pool will be at about the one oclock position and the eating place I'm refering to would be at about the 9 oclock position. I also know that the WL has a similiar place to get fast food.

Other places, such as BWV, Beach Club, BCV and YC don't have places eactly like this but they do have somewhat inexpensive places to eat.

I'm not sure if this is helpful or not.

 

[PamOKW]

I was going to mention the GF as well. They have a 24-hour snack bar that is quite convenient for the type of food you are describing. The Poly, WL and Contemporary all have something similar. The Epcot area deluxe resorts don't have this but I believe I heard there is something similar in the Swan/Dolphin. AKL...I'm not sure.

The DVC resorts are built so you can have snacks and drinks right in your room...just a walk to the fridge instead of the food court.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

The quick service food area at the Dolphin is Tubbi's. They give a 20% discount for DVC members.

Ralph

 

[mbhoxsie]

Every now and then I missed the food courts, but between having a kitchen and scrounging up food on the Boardwalk, usually we're ok...

VB, while not having a food court, does serve Pizza, fries, hamburgers, Conch Fritters, PB&J, Grilled Cheese, and etc from their poolside bar..

 

[jade1]

WL food court is actually very good in our opinion-serves its purpose anyway. The kids are always running down there late at night or when we are back for a break during the day. Always has soup, salad, pizza, fries, burgers, sandwiches, specials and desserts. By far the best of all DVC locations for food courts. Bought Chef boy ardee at OKW one night-hoped I'd forgotten that.

 

[d-r]

Although they do no have food courts, all of the deluxes have a fast food sort of place. WL has roaring forks, GF has Gasparillo (sic), Polly has capt. Hook, contemporary has food and fun center, bc/yc has beaches and cream, bw has the pizza window, bakery, and hot dog stand, and akl has mara. All the deluxes have some sort of "fast food" place that is cheaper - personally, I'm really glad that they don't have a full blown "food court" like the values or moderates! That sort of hustle and bustle would really take away from the atmosphere if you ask me. Also, remember that the moderates and values are bigger, and that the values have no sit-down restaurants and the moderates only one each, whereas all of the deluxes have multiple "sit downs," typically one "family" place (i.e., whispering canyon, boma, 'ohana, chef mickey, cape may, yacht club galley, spoodles, big river / espn, gf cafe) and one or more restaurant that is more "upscale" (ie artist point, jiko, kona (sort of), ca. grill, yachtsman steak house, flying fish, narcooses, citricos). Also, most if not all of the deluxes have a "lounge" with bar food (i.e., territory lounge, victoria falls, tambu lounge, crews cup, martha's, bellview) and a pool bar that has drinks and snacks. It is really just a different type of set up.

 

[MJS]

The YC/BC also has Hurricane Hanna's Grill for lunch and snacks.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Roaring forks is the best! Almost as good as the POR food court in terms of functionality. Being in a studio I could combine foods purchased from Roaring Forks with food I had in the room to make pretty good meals. The only problem was the hike (Disney really should have put a second elevator bank in VWL).

 

[CaptainMidnight]

The Dolphin has a 24 hour food court, which makes it in reasonable walking distance from BWV or BCV. Then all the pools have a grill with sandwiches and drinks, don't they? I know it's not a food court, but it's sandwhich level food and fries. Some might think having the Bar next to the pool is a good idea.....

 

[KNWVIKING]

"The only problem was the hike (Disney really should have put a second elevator bank in VWL)."

How would a 2nd elevator bank at the villas make the hike across WL any shorter ?

 

[erikthewise]

Don't forget that many of the resorts with true food courts have a whole bunch of rooms and at most one sit-down restaurant.

Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, Port Orleans - Riverside, and each of the All Stars have about 2,000 rooms each. None of the DVC resorts are anywhere near that size when combined with the adjacent deluxe resort.

The combination of YC, BC, BCV, BWI, and BWV does have well over 2000 rooms, and the Epcot resorts really could use some sort of food court operation. However the opening of a food court would probably come at the expense of closing one or more of the currently operating restaurants in the Epcot resorts area and/or reduced business at Epcot restaurants. So I wouldn't hold my breath.

IMO a pool bar is not a substitute for a food court, regardless of what's on the menu.

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by erikthewise
...(snip)....The combination of YC, BC, BCV, BWI, and BWV does have well over 2000 rooms, and the Epcot resorts really could use some sort of food court operation. However the opening of a food court would probably come at the expense of closing one or more of the currently operating restaurants in the Epcot resorts area and/or reduced business at Epcot restaurants. So I wouldn't hold my breath......(snip)....

Someone asked about a food court at the last BWV annual meeting. It was suggested that it go in the space now occupied by Atlantic Dance since that space obviously wasn't overutilized.

Believe it or not, the BWV GM said that they were looking into some kind of food court for the resort. However, it sounded like they'd been "looking into it" for quite a while and I got the impression that there wasn't likely to be any decisions made in the near future. He did seem a bit chagrined over the comment re the underutilization of Atlantic Dance, though. IMHO, it's a pretty safe bet that the same question (and response) will come up at the next annual meeting. Apparently, this last meeting wasn't the first time the question had been raised.

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Interesting stuff over on the rumor board about Atlantic Dance and trying to get some more use out of it. There was discussion of making it an Adventurers Club and another PI type bar to help capture some of the Crecent Lake area business. I think one even talked about it housing a magic show. There is definitely opportunity with the big space.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Well, first of all, it isn't a hotel, but a timeshare. Most timeshares are vacation homes, not hotels. Secondly, at WDW the resorts with food courts are definately the lesser ones rather than the deluxe or better.

 

[wdwnut76]

When staying at OKW or WLV, we often drive over to Port Orleans Riverside food court for breakfast. Good variety, good prices...I hate spending a lot of money on breakfast! A food court makes it easier to stay on my diet, too.