Do you bring food when staying at a resort?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the first night, I’d do pizza. On the second night I’d eat at the restaurant. On the third night I’d order room service and get two adult meals, bring dinner rolls, eat the rest of the stuff you brought and have that for dinner.

OP here. See, I’m glad I asked! Such an helpful, obvious answer I hadn’t thought of. We will have a fridge and I will do this exactly, rolls and maybe even a bagged salad. The restaurant has carry out so I may do this both nights and we can eat on the patio.

OP you are just gross.

Who does this?..

Feed your kids at the restaurant or leave the premises but this is absolutely absurd

If you can not afford this don’t go.

PP ease up that’s harsh. Whether it is a five star hotel or a courtyard, always always travel with food. I can afford whatever and it bugs me to pay $50 for breakfast when I just want coffee and a muffin. OP bring some food and eat offsite for dinner if you can. Team Mac and cheese cups!!

While I like nice hotels, sometimes a Hampton Inn is perfect. The breakfast is nothing to brag about, but all I need is a muffin or cereal/oatmeal and a cup of coffee and juice. If on vacation, chances are we are eating pretty good for lunch and dinner. There is usually no need for a big breakfast. Breakfast at a resort or nicer hotel can easily reach over $100 for four people…no thanks.

This is old intel from when I had a travel job but courtyard by marriot has the best cheap breakfast in the genre.

That must be insanely old intel. They're one of the only cheap places that acharge for breakfast that's mediocre at best. Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, etc, all have free breakfast.

Pretty sure Hilton Garden Inn charges for breakfast. It used to be free, if you were Hilton Honors Gold or Diamond, now they give you meal credits. I think it’s two $15 vouchers per day, per room if you have two or more guests.

Hampton Inn, of course, is free. I couldn’t see anybody paying for that breakfast. Though Hampton’s breakfast isn’t great, it’s really all you need.

The best free hotel breakfast IMHO is Emassy Suites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will your room have an iron? Lots of hot food ideas if it does.

Just stop. This is a RESORT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the first night, I’d do pizza. On the second night I’d eat at the restaurant. On the third night I’d order room service and get two adult meals, bring dinner rolls, eat the rest of the stuff you brought and have that for dinner.

OP here. See, I’m glad I asked! Such an helpful, obvious answer I hadn’t thought of. We will have a fridge and I will do this exactly, rolls and maybe even a bagged salad. The restaurant has carry out so I may do this both nights and we can eat on the patio.

OP you are just gross.

Who does this?..

Feed your kids at the restaurant or leave the premises but this is absolutely absurd

If you can not afford this don’t go.

PP ease up that’s harsh. Whether it is a five star hotel or a courtyard, always always travel with food. I can afford whatever and it bugs me to pay $50 for breakfast when I just want coffee and a muffin. OP bring some food and eat offsite for dinner if you can. Team Mac and cheese cups!!

While I like nice hotels, sometimes a Hampton Inn is perfect. The breakfast is nothing to brag about, but all I need is a muffin or cereal/oatmeal and a cup of coffee and juice. If on vacation, chances are we are eating pretty good for lunch and dinner. There is usually no need for a big breakfast. Breakfast at a resort or nicer hotel can easily reach over $100 for four people…no thanks.

This is old intel from when I had a travel job but courtyard by marriot has the best cheap breakfast in the genre.

That must be insanely old intel. They're one of the only cheap places that acharge for breakfast that's mediocre at best. Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, etc, all have free breakfast.

Neither Courtyard nor Hilton Garden in offer free breakfast. The best free breakfast of course is Embassy Suites, by a mile.

[Anonymous]

For GW I would 109 pack food I not eating that overpriced crap.

[Anonymous]

The GWL restaurant is disgusting. However their pizza is good, the one in VA has a Dunkin, and they also have a deli with stuff like humus, fruit, etc. don’t go to the overpriced restaurant. I would even do their pizza two nights!

But I would bring like an entenman’s danish and some fruit for breakfast, maybe a cooler with ice and some yogurt. I think we usually get veggies with humus and fries or something like that at the pool. If I was going to splurge, it would be on the ice cream or smoothies.

Have fun! The food is NOT the draw for GWL.

[Anonymous]

Great wolf lodge food is pretty gross so I don't blame OP for wanting to bring stuff.

As an aside, have you gone over with your kids what extras you will be buying? There are SOOO many add ons to GWL and I feel like setting clear expectation as to what you will be spending money on helps.

[Anonymous]

GWL is also not a resort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GWL is also not a resort.

It is pricey though so I understand why many people would need to budget for it. Don’t be an entitled jerk.

[Anonymous]

Not a resort but our family just traveled to some cabins for spring break. I planned to drive to town (can’t order / no reception) 20 mins away and eat in restaurants each night. We ended up running into friends who were doing a taco night out of their hotel room (basically two burners, a mini fridge and a microwave). I got food to do the same and our kids didn’t have to get out of the pool to go into town and then we ate at picnic tables and it was great. I cooked (and the other family cooked) and my husband did the dishes. At home my kids’ favorite meal is a fruit / cheese/ cracker / deli meat platter. Could easily do that in a hotel room with a full size fridge.

Years ago for Disneyland (kids were an infant and a 4 year old) I picked up fruit and granola bars. We ate a full free breakfast at the hotel, fruit and granola bars and something like a pretzel or ice cream at lunch (also saved a lot of time not standing in lunch lines) and then did restaurants at night. One restaurant meal vs 3 made a big difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To save on expenses?

We are taking a long weekend this weekend and traveling to a resort that’s a bit of a drive into town. The resort has dining options but they are absolutely ridiculous; there’s no way I’m paying $30 a meal for my kids to eat. They DO have on-site pizza which we plan to have one night. We will be there three nights. We are already bringing breakfast and lunch foods (cold cuts, cheese and crackers, etc) and pool snacks, but I have no clue what to do about dinner, other than the pizza every night. It’s not like we can cook in the hotel room. This is sort of an oversight on my part. I’m just curious what you would do!

White going to Turks and Caicos I packed chocolate nut bars, trail mix and maybe one other portable snack from coscto. We stayed in seven stars resort. This came in handy. There was a breakfast buffet daily and we took a roll, fresh whole fruit (a banana, apple or orange) daily for snacking later. That’s about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great wolf lodge food is pretty gross so I don't blame OP for wanting to bring stuff.

As an aside, have you gone over with your kids what extras you will be buying? There are SOOO many add ons to GWL and I feel like setting clear expectation as to what you will be spending money on helps.

Yes! Are you prepared for the Magic Quest wands and the arcade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great wolf lodge food is pretty gross so I don't blame OP for wanting to bring stuff.

As an aside, have you gone over with your kids what extras you will be buying? There are SOOO many add ons to GWL and I feel like setting clear expectation as to what you will be spending money on helps.

Yes! Are you prepared for the Magic Quest wands and the arcade?

Or, add-on pieces to the wand? Build-a-bear? A cape?

[Anonymous]

We've stayed at resorts a few times in our 15 years of parenthood. We ALWAYS bring food and drinks. The resort stays have always been tied to some sort of family gathering and (as the "poor" family in our extended family) we are always looking for ways to trim costs while trying to participate in family stuff.

As far as I can tell, our children aren't too emotionally damaged by the whole thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great wolf lodge food is pretty gross so I don't blame OP for wanting to bring stuff.

As an aside, have you gone over with your kids what extras you will be buying? There are SOOO many add ons to GWL and I feel like setting clear expectation as to what you will be spending money on helps.

Yes! Are you prepared for the Magic Quest wands and the arcade?

Op, depending on your neighborhood if you ask for magicquest wants someone might have one to hand down to you. I would totally do it if you lived in my neighborhood—my kids are teens now. Then you just need to pay the smaller amount to activate it. Also it’s totally fine to have your kids share a wand — that’s what we did the first time. Or just tell them not this time if it’s out of your budget — the pools and slides are fun enough! You may want to bring something like a board game or card game for the room if they get tired or swimming. We used to always do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To save on expenses?

We are taking a long weekend this weekend and traveling to a resort that’s a bit of a drive into town. The resort has dining options but they are absolutely ridiculous; there’s no way I’m paying $30 a meal for my kids to eat. They DO have on-site pizza which we plan to have one night. We will be there three nights. We are already bringing breakfast and lunch foods (cold cuts, cheese and crackers, etc) and pool snacks, but I have no clue what to do about dinner, other than the pizza every night. It’s not like we can cook in the hotel room. This is sort of an oversight on my part. I’m just curious what you would do!