What's the BEST way to shop for groceries when staying at a Disney Villa Resort?

[Rubeng724]

Well, we're a family of 8, and we're used to staying at a villa off-property with a rental car. With the rental car, we would go to Wal-Mart or so and spend around $300 in groceries. Next year, we're finally staying at a Disney Deluxe Villa Resort, in a 2 Bedroom Villa, and since we're staying on-site, we will NOT rent a car because we will use Disney's Magical Express.

So, what's the BEST way to save money on groceries while staying on-site? Are there any grocery stores in Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas and/or Bay Lake Tower/Contemporary Resort? (We will be staying at either one of those.) If so, how are the prices? Also, could we rent a taxi from a Disney resort to go, say, Wal-Mart? Any other ideas will be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Minniesgal]

We are using garden grocer. The only supermarket super close is the goodings at the crossroads and it is awful. A taxi to Walmart or Publix would work but I suspect you would be as cheap hiring a car for the day. We did garden grocer apparently the prices are a little inflated but they only charge $2 for delivery and the service is great I figure it is once a year so I can live with a little bit of inflated prices. It also saves a lot of time

 

[hill6]

Garden Grocer is great. We have used them in the past. There is also a decent selection of items in the resort stores too if you need additional items. You may pay a bit more for the food but you will save that in cab fare and lost vacation time.

 

[Best Aunt]

1) GardenGrocer has the groceries on their website. You chose from their list. If you want something not on their list, you call and ask. They deliver to your hotel. If you aren't in your room, they leave it with bell services. Yes, bell services has a fridge for keeping your perishables cold. Delivery charge is on the website.

2) WeGoShop is a personal shopper. You make the list, they go to the store of your choice. Delivery charge is on their website. The delivery charge may be more than Garden Grocer's, but the items are not marked up; you pay what they paid the store. You can pay extra to have them go to a second store. They can go to Wal-Mart, Publix, etc.

3) Order items in advance from the grocery section of your Disney hotel. There is a charge for this. The order form is on the DVC member website. But if you are getting a DVC villa through Central Reservations Office rather than DVC Member Services, this might not be an option for you.

4) Or just go to the grocery section of your Disney hotel and carry the stuff up to your room yourself. (If the resort has a DVC, the resort gift shop will have a grocery section.)

5) Rent a car for a day from the Dolphin hotel or the Car Care Center. Go out for dinner, buy your groceries, return the car.

6) Take a taxi to the grocery store and back to your hotel.

7) Use a towncar service instead of Magical Express to get from the airport to the hotel. The website will tell you if they will do a 30 minute grocery stop on the way to the hotel.

8) Rumor has it that the Whole Foods store in Orlando will deliver to your hotel. I haven't heard from anyone who has tried it yet.

9) Buy non-perishable items at home and ship them to your hotel. If your hotel has a convention center, packages shipped UPS or Fed Ex will be taken to the convention center. The convention center office is run by an outside company; they charge a handling fee when you retrieve your package. I believe this would be an issue at BLT but not AKV.

I'm probably forgetting something.

 

[disneynutz]

We rent a car for the day and take a break from the parks for a couple of hours. We eat off site, always get the food and brands that we want, when we want it and we don't have to pay fees or tips.

Bill

 

[cheesemouse]

1) GardenGrocer has the groceries on their website. You chose from their list. If you want something not on their list, you call and ask. They deliver to your hotel. If you aren't in your room, they leave it with bell services. Yes, bell services has a fridge for keeping your perishables cold. Delivery charge is on the website.

2) WeGoShop is a personal shopper. You make the list, they go to the store of your choice. Delivery charge is on their website. The delivery charge may be more than Garden Grocer's, but the items are not marked up; you pay what they paid the store. You can pay extra to have them go to a second store. They can go to Wal-Mart, Publix, etc.

3) Order items in advance from the grocery section of your Disney hotel. There is a charge for this. The order form is on the DVC member website. But if you are getting a DVC villa through Central Reservations Office rather than DVC Member Services, this might not be an option for you.

4) Or just go to the grocery section of your Disney hotel and carry the stuff up to your room yourself. (If the resort has a DVC, the resort gift shop will have a grocery section.)

5) Rent a car for a day from the Dolphin hotel or the Car Care Center. Go out for dinner, buy your groceries, return the car.

6) Take a taxi to the grocery store and back to your hotel.

7) Use a towncar service instead of Magical Express to get from the airport to the hotel. The website will tell you if they will do a 30 minute grocery stop on the way to the hotel.

8) Rumor has it that the Whole Foods store in Orlando will deliver to your hotel. I haven't heard from anyone who has tried it yet.

9) Buy non-perishable items at home and ship them to your hotel. If your hotel has a convention center, packages shipped UPS or Fed Ex will be taken to the convention center. The convention center office is run by an outside company; they charge a handling fee when you retrieve your package. I believe this would be an issue at BLT but not AKV.

I'm probably forgetting something.

Exactly! What a great response! We have done #1 and #4. Yes, the prices through Garden Grocer are more than my local store, but not enough to make me not use them. Have used them 4 times now and no issues. We use the hotel grocery section in a bind or to replenish milk or other perishables as needed. Once I ran out of baby wipes and wow, did I ever pay dearly. The items in the hotel grocery section are very expensive compared to a grocery store. But you are a captive audience so it's as expected.

 

[GrumpyBelle]

Exactly! What a great response! We have done #1 and #4. Yes, the prices through Garden Grocer are more than my local store, but not enough to make me not use them. Have used them 4 times now and no issues. We use the hotel grocery section in a bind or to replenish milk or other perishables as needed. Once I ran out of baby wipes and wow, did I ever pay dearly. The items in the hotel grocery section are very expensive compared to a grocery store. But you are a captive audience so it's as expected.

This is what we do also. GG is totally worth it.

 

[Hopefully]

I have used wegoshop.com 7 times and I highly recommend them. I prefer to make my own list, rather than shopping a "virtual aisle" like you do on Garden Grocer. As stated, their delivery fee is higher, but they do not mark each item up like Garden Grocer does. We find that we save the delivery fee on just the bottled water alone (over buying on site at Disney). I always schedule a late afternoon delivery on our arrival day and they deliver right to our Villa. They offer a 30 minute "delivery time window" vs the 2 hour window Garden Grocer has.
We usually buy breakfast food, fruit, juice, water, coffee, soda, beer, wine, cheese and crackers, and other snacks. You can choose the store they shop in and they give you the original store receipt. You can indicate whether you will accept substitutions to brands or not. I have had the owner call me on my cell from the store to check on a substitution twice in the past.
I highly recommend them.

 

[Ntrain]

How far in advance you guys place the orders? I'm going on Dec. 22 and is a really busy time and I was thinking of placing the order a month before do you think that is ok? Maybe sooner?

 

[tnd]

When we stayed in villa, we ordered from Garden Grocer and were very happy with it. Got everything very promptly and it was exactly what we ordered.