Taking a budget too far (possible debate)

[Cindy B]

I am a self proclaimed budget queen. I have brought food (snack items) and a cooler with me .. (I also drive so the cooler is also "road food" as well)

I have used the resorts microwave for popcorn and such.

I would never bring my own micro, george forman, etc.. becasue that is a lot of work. I can see (and have seen ) people bringing in hot dogs and nuking them in the microwave... same with an Encore/Lean Cuisine type thing! -- ( I didnt' do either one of those!)

I have also seen people bringing cup of soups -the ones in the stryofoam bucket--and using the micro to heat that up. (not me either)

Personally, I have seen people really go crazy to save. I hav been victim of trying to save a lot.

Personally, I hate restaurants. I like to cook, and I can't stand the waiting, the person waiting on me, etc... I can't stand not being able to cook things the way I like them, or have things happen on my time table. --By the 2nd day of my vacation, I am itching to cook my own food. That does NOT mean I whip out the George Forman and go to town! I do not use oatmeal packets in the coffeemaker either.

I have been known to get deli stuff and make my own sandwiches. I have also been known to order a pizza.

I clean up the mess, and all that also.

I draw the line at small appliances!

 

[GEM]

I hate to get involved in this, but I have a question. Is there actually a "no cooking" rule, or does everyone just assume that? For the record, I have never cooked anyting at all in any hotel room, but when we stayed at the Aninmal Kingdom Lodge last month, the family who was unloading their car when we pulled up was being helped by a bellman and he unloaded a small microwave and one of those pocket sandwhich maker things from their trunk and put it on the cart. I didn't catch the whole exchange because I was dealing with our towncar driver, but the bellman said something about how smart that was and how many people did that sort of thing to save money. So, I 'm just wondering - is there an official "no cooking" policy or not?? I wouldn't do it myself because it seems like a lot of work, but I am wondering if those of you who are talking about rule breaking and reporting people to the front desk are really aware of Disney's offical policy - if there is one. And, wouldn't an iorn or a curling iorn or a heating pad or even a coffe pot (which Disney provides in many rooms) be a much bigger fire risk than a microwave, anyway?

Again, I am not a closet cooker (literally or figuratively) who is trying to defind myself. It's just something I was wondering about.

For the record, though, the first several trips my husband and I took to WDW together we were both still in college and just getting by. We took stuff to make sandwhiches, ate fruit and cereal in our room for breakfast, stayed at some dinky motel on I-Drive, and didn't buy one single souvenir. We don't have to do it that way any more. We can stay in nice places, eat at nicer places, buy nicer stuff - but you know what? I still think those first few trips were the most fun. We had the best time! So please don't assume that just because someone is munching on their brought-from-home granola bar while you are enjoying your Mickey icecream bar that they are having a bad time!

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Originally posted by Doesney
I am all for saving a few bucks when I can, but the lengths some of the budget board people go to blows me away. My philosophy is, if I can't afford to eat what I want on vacation, then we probably have no business going at all.

When all is said and done, a disney vacation is quite expensive, but there are certain things that I will not sacrifice, and food is one of them.

No, I will not eat army rations, nor lunchables, nor will I pack up the the kitchen appliances to save a few bucks. I will not let a 2.00 savings on a voucher dictate where I will eat, nor will I force the family to share meals. I won't take dessert back to the room and save it for breakfast the following day.

I feel a vacation should be about splurging and while we do not always have 300.00 meals, we eat where and what we want.

Am I the only vacationer that feels this way or are there others that eat whatever they like?

Well, My DBF and I consider ourselves to be "poor". We live in MA and we are poor by MA standards. If we made what we did and lived in anotehr state, maybe we'd be considered middle class but here, we're not.

We feel that we work hard and save up for a vacation every year. This year we were lucky enough to have two.

However, we will never be able to stay at the AKL concierge or other deluxe resorts like many of you do. We just will not ever have that kind of money unless we hit the lottery.

We MIGHT be able to do it, but if we did, we'd need to skimp on food big time that trip.

That said, food for us, is a higher priority than somewhere pretty to sleep at night. We don't like pools and have no real desire to stay around our resort all day anyway. It's just a place to sleep.

We'd rather spend that extra money on a few nice meals at the World Showcase.

I think that not everyone can afford to go all out and spend the $$ on a nice resort and fancy meals or a meal plan each day. This is esp. true for people who don't use the resort anemities or eat big meals and I think people, like us, who don't have much money to spend, want to figure out ways to minimize costs so that they can still at least have a vacation.

I know I have to save big time just to go. In fact, I was only able to go this year because I sold a bunch of stuff on Ebay. Unfortunately, the most expensive thing I sold broke in transit and the post office is denying my insurance claim (I paid $3 to have the package insured for $115). This was after I used the $115 to pay some bills.

Now I have to scrape up $115 on my own to pay back the buyer. That hurts me bad. I can't afford to take it out my next paycheck.

But you know, I could be hit by a bus tomorrow. I'm not going to live my life for "what ifs". I work my butt off in a miserable job every day , and will soon be taking a temp second job where I'll be working 7 days a week 8 hours a day. And I feel like I deserve a vacation. If that means hanging out on the budget board, and finding ways to save $20 here and there, it makes the difference for me between being able to go or not.

 

[pjlla]

Originally posted by GEM
I hate to get involved in this, but I have a question. Is there actually a "no cooking" rule, or does everyone just assume that? For the record, I have never cooked anyting at all in any hotel room, but when we stayed at the Aninmal Kingdom Lodge last month, the family who was unloading their car when we pulled up was being helped by a bellman and he unloaded a small microwave and one of those pocket sandwhich maker things from their trunk and put it on the cart. I didn't catch the whole exchange because I was dealing with our towncar driver, but the bellman said something about how smart that was and how many people did that sort of thing to save money. So, I 'm just wondering - is there an official "no cooking" policy or not?? I wouldn't do it myself because it seems like a lot of work, but I am wondering if those of you who are talking about rule breaking and reporting people to the front desk are really aware of Disney's offical policy - if there is one. And, wouldn't an iorn or a curling iorn or a heating pad or even a coffe pot (which Disney provides in many rooms) be a much bigger fire risk than a microwave, anyway?

Again, I am not a closet cooker (literally or figuratively) who is trying to defind myself. It's just something I was wondering about.

YES, actually someone recently took the time here to post a reply he/she received from WDW with the "official word" about cooking in standard hotel room (meaning not suites with kitchenettes). It is a no-no. If I can find the post I will put a link here...................P

Here it is....
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=592395

 

[Alice28]

I think you are right, for the most part. For our 10 day trip last Feb/March I brought cereal, paper bowls, plastic spoons, pop tarts, bagels, afternoon snacks like Pringles, goldfish, and fruit snacks, and we stopped at a store on the way in with the town car service and got milk, cream cheese, yogurt, fruit and bottled water. We ate all of our breakfasts in the room because we didn't want to waste park time eating breakfasts, and I did want to save a few bucks by bringing my own water and some snacks for the kiddoes.

However, we ate WELL and ate OFTEN including Shula's, 'Ohana, Chef Mickey's, Cape May, Benihana, Rose and Crown, Whispering Canyon, etc., etc. I think we budgeted $1000 for food for the week, and that was about right- food is a big part of our vacation- we eat pretty boringly at home most of the time...take out Chinese or an occasional lunch at Chili's or Baja Fresh is about the fanciest we get having two young boys. But eating for us is part of the fun and the experience of vacation. I don't have a problem with other families bringing sandwiches, etc if that's how they can swing a trip to WDW. I do have a problem with appliances in the room, as I would worry about fire hazards and codes.