Past Windsor Hills guests-How much did you actually use your kitchen?

[northriver]

As a previous poster mentioned, I'm just as, if not more, excited about the laundry facilities as I am the kitchen! I don't plan on cooking - cold breakfast and probably take out - we could do that in a hotel room.

Laundry, however, I'll be doing every couple days!

 

[New England]

We will be staying at WH in April. My plan is to grocery shop in FL for all breakfasts and some food for a few lunches and a few dinners in the fridge. This is our first WDW trip so I kinda have to see how it goes.

I can't eat all park food all the time (health reason) so I do have to eat homemade food for at least one if not two meals a day.

I am interested to know how y'all carry your packed lunches into the parks? Our boys are 6 and 8 so we won't have a stroller to cart our stuff around in.

 

[loveysbydesign]

We will be staying at WH in April. My plan is to grocery shop in FL for all breakfasts and some food for a few lunches and a few dinners in the fridge. This is our first WDW trip so I kinda have to see how it goes.

I can't eat all park food all the time (health reason) so I do have to eat homemade food for at least one if not two meals a day.

I am interested to know how y'all carry your packed lunches into the parks? Our boys are 6 and 8 so we won't have a stroller to cart our stuff around in.

We always had a stroller. I'd recommend just a cheapy umbrella stroller to cart your stuff around in...it's better then hauling around a bag that will end up feeling much heavier by the end of the day then it did in the morning. When my ds was 6 we went for the 1st time and even he needed a break to ride in the stroller once in awhile and he's normally like the Energizer bunny so we were pretty shocked when he wanted to ride in it! We had a soft sided cooler to keep our food/water bottle in and a separate bag with our camera/money etc in. Then we'd take the camera bag with us on rides and leave the soft cooler with the stroller. HTH and have fun!

 

[loveysbydesign]

As a previous poster mentioned, I'm just as, if not more, excited about the laundry facilities as I am the kitchen! I don't plan on cooking - cold breakfast and probably take out - we could do that in a hotel room.

Laundry, however, I'll be doing every couple days!

Its' great having laundry facilities right there in your condo/home! We packed less clothes and then we didn't have much wash to do when we got home either! Plus heaven forbid you get the dreaded Disney stomach flu at least you can wash your stuff right away!

 

[northriver]

I think most people pack lunches in soft sided coolers and make use of the lockers at the parks to store it during the day. However, like most things, Disney has raised the prices of the locker rental to outrageous levels, I want to say it is around $10 a day, but I'm not sure so hopefully either someone will come along with the exact cost or you can find that elsewhere.

I think for the cost of the locker rental, I'd be tempted to bring one of those cheap umbrella strollers just to hold the lunch cooler. Just park it somewhere in the shade and leave it there all day until you need it. The umbrella strollers can be purchased for $10-20 at the mart stores.

I would probably be most likely to just cart it around in a backpack and make something simple like peanut butter/jelly, fruit, etc. If you pack anything that needs refrigerated, freeze water bottles to keep the lunch cool. I don't bring lunch into the park, but I do bring it for the day we are on the plane over lunch, I pack two pb&j's in one of those disposable sandwich tuperware containers, my sandwiches are a bit squished but it doesn't take up much room or add too much weight to my bag.

 

[FayeW]

We have stayed offsite on each of our 4 trips, and have used the kitchen for breakfasts, snacks and a few lunches/suppers each time.

We usually have all breakfasts at the condo. This is the cheapest, easiest, and most convenient meal to have at home. This last time we stayed at Windsor Hills, and we did have at least 3 lunches, maybe 4 at the condo (out of 8 possible lunches). I think we also had supper in the unit 4 times.

For breaksfasts we had a selection of cereal, eggs, microwave bacon and sausage, croissants, toast, fruit and juice.

For lunch I had purchased cheese, cold cuts and buns so we mostly had "subs" on hamburger buns.

For dinner, the night we arrived I picked up a package of fried chicken from the deli at the grocery store when we were picking up our groceries, and served it with some Lipton rice. A couple of other nights we had a family size Stouffers' frozen meal. One was chicken alfredo (which was delicious) and the other was chicken parmigiana, and we had garlic bread and some kind of vegetable with it.

I also bought 3 packages of Pillsbury ready to bake cookies (hey, they were on sale!) so we enjoyed fresh oatmeal rasin, chocolate chip, and sugar cookies for dessert and snacks in the park.

I think we may have taken some sandwiches to one of the parks, but I can't remember for sure. I did pack 4-6 bottles of water, 4 juice packs, and some of the fresh cookies in our backback each day. I think one day I packed a tube of pringles as well. I really hate the expense of having to buy drinks in the park and I really don't mind carrying the backpack. It was nice to be able to have a cookie and a drink when we were feeling a bit "peckish" and not have to figure out what everybody wanted, wait in line and spend a king's ransom.

Some people can't be bothered to carry a backpack with snacks, or make a simple lunch or dinner. For us, it's no big deal to throw something in the microwave and some garlic bread in the oven. Budget wise, it made it much easier to say yes to the requests for popcorn and ice cream because we usually only purchased one snack in the park each day.

It was our first time staying at Windsor Hills and we really enjoyed it. We made a concerted effort to spend more time at the resort enjoying the amenities. A couple of mornings we went to the pool around 9:30 or so and swam for an hour before heading to the parks, and on two other days we went to the parks, then back to the condo for lunch/swim/playground and then on to a different park in the evening. Made for a fairly relaxing vacation, overall.

 

[DWFan4Life]

We stayed at Windsor Hills twice during our trip because it's closer to WDW. Yes, we cooked there sometimes if we really have to save money. My kids loved the pool and playground, they really enjoyed it. Also there's a laundry facilities which is good.

 

[allenr]

We only used the kitchen for breakfast. We had lunch in the parks and dinner out.

 

[Papa Deuce]

Well, this will be our first WH stay, but we have stayed in several places with kitchens. I would say that every day we used the kitchen at least once. I expect that will be even more true this trip as we are only doing 1 day at Disney, and possibly one other day at Universal.

 

[loveysbydesign]

Well, this will be our first WH stay, but we have stayed in several places with kitchens. I would say that every day we used the kitchen at least once. I expect that will be even more true this trip as we are only doing 1 day at Disney, and possibly one other day at Universal.

Love your Scrapple description...yum give me some grilled with apple butter!

 

[pixidust princess]

I was thinking it would be nice to pack lunch in a cooler and leave it in our vehicle. Is there a grassy area outside of WDW to have a picknick or would we be sitting in the parking lot eating our lunch?

 

[loveysbydesign]

I was thinking it would be nice to pack lunch in a cooler and leave it in our vehicle. Is there a grassy area outside of WDW to have a picknick or would we be sitting in the parking lot eating our lunch?

You'd probably end up in your car...there are a few wooded areas/strips in between the different lots but there really isn't anywhere to sit and eat plus there's no guarantee you'll be close to those wooded spots.

 

[ericsgm]

Once you've been to a Disney theme park, you'll quickly see that going back to your car and having a picnic won't hold much appeal. HOWEVER, if you are getting ticketes with the 'Water Fun and More' options, you could head to Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon with your cooler. They are great spots for picnics, not to mention that they shouldn't be missed as parks in their own right.

We travelled to WDW in the fall with two 3- and one 4-year old, and our Windsor Hills vacation house was one of the best things ever. While we had looked very much forward to escaping the kitchen, we found ourselves only to happy to avoid a dependance on dining out. The little ones just can't do park marathons, and we'd enjoy one meal out each day, mainly at mid-day. We even happily cooked ourselves a full 'Christmas Dinner' before heading off to MVMCP, despite having planned otherwise. Much easier on parents & children, all around! Have a ball... you will love not having to find a place to eat all the time.

 

[pixidust princess]

You'd probably end up in your car...there are a few wooded areas/strips in between the different lots but there really isn't anywhere to sit and eat plus there's no guarantee you'll be close to those wooded spots.

That is what I was afraid of. Our last trip we were on property w/the dining plan, so food wasn't an issue. This time I am thinking of ways to save money and still do the table service meals I want. Counter service dining is is just such "normal" food that I would like to find a way to get around it. The other problem is we are park commandos and spend most waking moments in the parks. I am going to have to have to think on the issue some more. Good think I have until October!!!

 

[loveysbydesign]

That is what I was afraid of. Our last trip we were on property w/the dining plan, so food wasn't an issue. This time I am thinking of ways to save money and still do the table service meals I want. Counter service dining is is just such "normal" food that I would like to find a way to get around it. The other problem is we are park commandos and spend most waking moments in the parks. I am going to have to have to think on the issue some more. Good think I have until October!!!

As long as you have a soft-sided cooler you can take it with you into the parks!

 

[pixidust princess]

I may take the option of packing a soft sided cooler and rending a locker for the day. I don't want to carry it around. Thanks for the tips all and we will have to wait and see what the other 5 members of our party want to do.

 

[Cindy B]

Ok, I guess we are different than most.

All breakfasts in the kitchen.

Most lunches in the parks.

All but two dinners in the condo. For dinners, we got things like frozen lean cuisine bags (like the all in one combos), Bertollis, frozen pizza, Stouffer mac n cheese, bagged salads, garlic bread. I think one night we made tacos as well.

This was the week of TS Faye so it was just miserable out.

 

[hockeymomNS]

For our last few trips we have rented a house. I was last hold on as I did't want to cook on vacation. Then one trip, I realized just how much money we WASTED in restaurants. Trying to be good parents, we would drag these kids to a restaurant at the end of a long day, spend $50 - $75 on food that they just picked at cause they were tired. Now we usually eat breakfast in the house, pack snacks, lunch in park and sometimes diner out, but mostly a
dinner eaten casually as you relax by the pool or tv.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

We used our kitchen a lot! All breakfasts, snacks, a few lunches and all dinners. (We did do one late breakfast at Chef Mickey's and one dinner at the HDDR.) We'd eat breakfast in the morning, pack snacks like trail mix, beef jerky, etc. in my baggellini, then come back for lunch and/or supper. Granted, I made 'easy' dinners: chicken and noodle casserole, spaghetti and garlic bread, hot dogs/burgers, etc. but it saved us lots of money and wasn't any bother for me. I'll be planning to do the same when we head back next time.

 

[James65]

We were at WH last week. Ate breakfast (cereal, muffins, etc.) every day in the condo. The first day we brought a cooler with drinks into MK, but decided it wasn't worth the stroller rental (DS only got in it once). Except for one dinner at Chef Mickey we ate all other nights in the condo ... brought two frozen meals from home, and ate sandwiches the rest of the time. I believe we saved a lot of money this way considering lunch for four people was +$40 in the parks.

As other posters said, I also loved having laundry facilities. Took advantage of those several times during the six day stay.