Food - Eat at home or eat out?

[Andrea T]

I guess vacation means different things to different people. To me it means eating out 3 meals a day. I love a long leisurely breakfast with someone to refill my coffee cup at least 4-5 times!!!! Spoodles is one of our favorite places except Sunday...then it's Tonga French Toast at the Poly after mass. Lunch is quick at where ever we happen to be. Favorites are Beaches and Cream and The Plaza. For dinner we to like to always try different places. A must every trip is a character meal or two and DEFINITELY the Flying Fish! We allow our 8 year old son to bring his gameboy to dinner (never at the dinner table at home) so he's not overly bored. We end every evening at the BW Bakery...can't go to sleep without cookies and milk! We do spend a lot on food but it's an important part of my vacation experience. Of course to DH, vacation means jogging every morning and working out every evening..... You gotta wonder when we have time for the parks!

 

[prncssjas]

I think I am in the minority too!! When DH and I go to WDW, the last thing we feel like doing is cooking or preparing meals. I know how much $$$ it saves, but we are fortunate enough to be able to budget eating out. And I just love the food at WDW, the desserts and snacks are terrific. Plus, we aren't heavy eaters...if we have a big breakfast (at Spoodles, our fav!!), then we won't be hungry again until dinner, with small snacks in between. This works out really well for us. We are lucky...as I am sure once we have kids, this will most likely change and we would have to re-evaluate!

 

[TriciaT]

We also do the last lunch seating usually around 3:00 for a combo dinner/lunch. Prior to DVC we would eat a light food court breakfast or a muffin on Main Street and then snack around 11:00, fruit, ice cream, or popcorn, maybe an eggroll. At 3:00 we would have a wonderful, leisurly sit down lunch in an uncrowded restaraunt. Crystal Palace, Tony's Town Square, Coral Reef, were empty at that time during our last trip over July 4th. Then we would have a late night snack if we got hungry again. (That was during summer's late hours)

Now that we have DVC, those breakfasts and probably the late night snacks will be in our room, saving us even more $$.

I am thinking about using Netgrocer to ship down most things, and stopping at a grocery store for perishables when we get there.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

As much as my DW and I both like to cook, we equate vacations with eating out. That said, we tend to do a combination. Our first visit to WDW as DVC members is next week, but in the past we have stayed at BWI and in a studio at VB as well as at the Disney Institute. We paid extra to have a refrigerator at BWI so I include our experience there in this description. Most days, we eat much the same breakfast as we have at home: bagel or toast with coffee and juice. We do try to include at least two restaurant breakfasts during a week-long stay. Sometimes this is a character meal, sometimes not. Next week, we will definitely do the Spoodles buffet at least once and possibly twice. Lunch will be fast food at one of the parks or quick-to-fix lunch/leftovers in the room. In fact, the availability of the refrigerator and microwave are real attractions for us, since we usually have leftovers from some of our dinners and we add a few snack-type foods, beer, pop, water, and the breakfast foods when we make our grocery stop. Dinner at a variety of restaurants around the world is an important part of our vacation experience. We usually make PSs for every other night. Next week, we will do the Biergarten, Artist Point, and the Yachtman's Steakhouse. These are "full" meals for us: appetizer(s), entrees, dessert(s). I enjoy a glass or two of wine and maybe an after dinner drink as well. Because of the quantity of food if you order an appetizer and dessert for each person (at the sit down restaurants, that is, no chance for leftovers at the Biergarten buffet), we expect that we might have some leftovers which we will take back to the room. We usually plan meal times for these meals so that they are our primary evening destination; thus we are not wandering a park after dinner carrying our leftovers. On nights when we don't have a PS, we might do counter service at one of the parks or hit a food cart at Epcot or along the BW, take a chance on getting into one of the sitdown restaurants at a park or DD, drive offsite to one of the non-Disney eateries, or even raid the refrigerator if there's something from a previous meal really calling out to one or the other of us (in our house, leftovers are community property; if you don't want to share your leftovers, you'd better eat them sooner rather than later ). Once in a while, we even make a same-day PS for a restaurant we want to try or for a restaurant we visited on a prior trip and want to eat at again. We do try to do different restaurants than those we've already done during a particular trip (although I must admit that during a trip to London two years ago we found a small Italian restaurant in the neighborhood near our hotel which was so good that we went back our last night before returning home; not only that, but we again ate there twice during our trip this past March). As the number of restaurants we've tried around WDW has increased, our list of places we would definitely try again continues to grow. So many restaurants, so few nights.

Our children are grown, so we no longer have to worry about their care and feeding during vacations, but when they were younger, we did pretty much the same thing for breakfast as we do now (including one character breakfast each trip to WDW). The budget was tighter then, so we usually had only one "serious" dinner each trip, always planned for our last night at WDW. Any other restaurant meals were usually done at lunchtime rather than dinner, since prices are usually less expensive and menu selections are frequently just as good. If you do any WDW buffets, you usually save some money at lunch compared to dinner without sacrificing too much in the selections. Then dinner can be fast food or fix it yourself in the room.

Ralph

 

[Lisa P.]

I agree that it's WONDERFUL to have the option for both, whatever suits YOU! Even when we stay at offsite timeshare villas, making at least one big (though simple) meal daily saves us $$$ over eating out. We're a family of 5 (no very small children), plus we sometimes bring others along. Saving where we can enables us to travel more and we LOVE to travel. We mostly eat in, with one or two nice sitdown restaurant meals per week, plus we share occasional snacks or counter service meals at the parks.

Since we drive, we usually pack a couple grocery boxes and a cooler from Sam's Club at home or we visit WalMart or Publix on arrival. We bring or buy cereals, eggs, milk, bagels/rolls, fresh deli meats, rice mixes, pasta & jar sauces (alfredo & tomato), frozen foods (chicken parmagiana, hot pockets, corn/veggies, pizza, ice cream novelties), pretzels, brownie or cookie dough, prepackaged & cut veggies to add to bagged salad (or a tray gathered at a grocery salad bar), dressing, cubed cheese, lots of fresh fruit, (precut if it's melon or messy). On arrival day, I usually boil eggs and make a pound of pasta to store in the fridge in ziplocs - handy to microwave with restaurant leftovers.

We also bring paper plates and plastic cups, so it's easy to take a meal poolside or onto the balcony - always welcome in our family. I find that with our choice of groceries, I don't cook much at all. Anyone in our whole family can throw stuff together in the microwave or a pizza/brownies in the oven. The kids take turns making coffee and everyone rinses & stacks their own dishes in the dishwasher, like at home. Since we also love to relax together for at least a day or two at our resort, eating in works really well for us. We've been to Orlando many times and a leisurely pace is great when we're there, at least for some of the days.

 

[DisneyMim]

Yes I agree with the fact that the wonderful part about being DVC members is that there are so many options. My family is not big on breakfast so we eat in when we are staying at a DVC resort. Lunch and dinner are always out though. Part of OUR Disney magic is the different restaurants and we have always enjoyed trying new ones and revisiting (again and again) old favorites. I had to laugh at Alysa and her tea!! YES!!! I hear you. I HATE tea from a coffee maker!! We usually stay in a different Disney resort every time we go before moving to a DVC resort and eat Breakfast out while there. I usually just get coffee because it's so much easier and nobody seems to make it the way I like it. By the time I get into my DVC kitchen I'm ready for my tea!! I'm another one who hates to cook while on vacation. I'm a Stay-At-Home-Mom and the "kitchen is my office" so when I'm away I don't cook, but it is a HUGE selling point for DVC. Isn't it nice to have options, if only for a cup of tea???

 

[mrsdon]

We usually eat our breakfast and dinner in the room.
Last time we went to OKW we bought groceries to last a week.(And snack food)
We went to AKL at Bomas for our 1 dinner out that night. We spent the same amount of $$ on food for one meal as we spent for the whole week.
Im one who loves to cook and hates to pay the high $$ to eat out anywhere.
Besides its nice to take our time getting ready in the morning and we can eat in our jammies.

 

[lsutigger]

One of the things I'm looking forward to in Oct for our first trip home is the options for food. This will be our first driving trip also. I'm planning on bringing breakfast stuff and some favorite meals from home that we know freeze well, in individual microwavable containers. It won't take long to heat them. We'll probably eat one meal out each day. I love some of the park food, call me crazy. It is only DH and I so the cost is not too high. But one can only eat so much park food. So the option to have some home cooked meals without really doing the cooking is looking good. Only 88 more days

 

[nytiggr]

Eating on vacation, emm, I'm getting hungry already.

There are so many great ideas here but I had to add
my 2 cents, FWIW.

1st - not a plug but Publix probably has the
best supermarket prices.

2nd - we also buy Zephyrhills spring water to take
into the parks with us, which WILL save a small fortune.

3rd - for nice evenings out, try the California Grill
for a fantastic view and pretty good seafood;
and try Le Cellier in EPCOT for good Canadian
beef, eh. Nice steaks.

Emm, bon appetit!
- NYTIGGR

 

[Disney Doll]

We go to Publix, which is on the OKW side of WDW, but offsite, of course,when we first arrive, and get some breakfast foods (ie-cereal, milk,bananas,bagels)and some snacks and soda.I would caution you not to overbuy, unless you KNOW you are a person who will be spending a lot of time in the room. More often than not, we have left food there, or been scouring the parking lots for other guests to give it to as we're leaving!!!! In any event, we do breakfast in the room usually, and lunch and/or dinner out. Sometimes we do an early dinner/late lunch type thing, and then just snack later in the evening. We don't do any "real" cooking (other than making Starbucks coffee, and I don't know if that counts as cooking!!), since that's the same thing we do at home, and the purpose of vacation is to do different stuff!!

 

[msdis]

We have only ever stayed in a studio and for the 2 of us last trip we spent 150/8 nights and the trip before we spent 50/8 nights total food bill on property which includes the grocery store at the resort. We bring a lot of food from home since we don't rent a car and usually 1 counter service per day is what we eat out. Although 1 trip we ate out twice the whole trip. But our goal is 1 meal a day out and that usually run 12-15 for the both of us.

 

[Tigger1]

We are a group of 7. 2 real adults (yea, right) and 5 children from 9 to 19.

We make a stop at Super Walmart for milk, soda, ice cream, lunch meat and many items we never get around to eating. I also bring a few things that I could just as easily purchase when we get to walmart. A stop to the fruit stand for oranges, grapefruit and fresh orange juice is also a must do for our crew.

The first night we end up at downtown Disney, rainforest this last year, Wolf gang puck in 2000.

We eat breakfast at the hotel (usually we just have coffee the teens never wake up until noon).

On days we go to the parks we eat one counter meal or several junk food meals (Turkey leg, snow cone, popcorn (not the kids, just the "adults" eat junk food meals)) . This year no meals that had any charactor. Other years at least one at lunch time.

This year we did go to Fort Wilderness for a bufffet lunch. Cost was about $9.00 per person. Pretty good, beats hamburgers.

We also have Papa Johns pizza usually once. The past 2 years we also went to Jungle Jims.

Cost at Disney for the 7 of us is about $100 per day for food. Well I like to think that it is close to that. Maybe a little more on some days.

Vero is a different story. We have never ate at any restaurants onsite or offsite. We make a trip to Sams club and Walmart in Vero. Buy a weeks worth of food for about $150. Stay 5 nights, the last night we try to eat everything that is left, haha. This may be the only time I enjoy cooking. Imagine the ocean view to look at while dicing onions. It puts a tear to my eye, hehe.

Tigger