Hi all.
Just a thought exercise. It’s a ways away, but Mrs. TriSec and I have always wanted to stay at the Contemporary. Realistically, it’s going to be a split stay - Value vs. Deluxes for a night or two.
But perusing some menus, I just had an idea - suppose we stay “cheap”, like at an all-star or even offsite, but then we eat the hell out of Disney. (Victoria & Albert, California Grille, Brown Derby, etc.)
What say you all? Anyone tried this? At the end of the day, it’s still Disney!
That’s been our approach! Never at the hotel except to sleep and shower anyway!
Would totally be my preference too.
Totally agree. We stayed at All Star Movies for 11 nights in January. Same money could not even buy 3 nights at deluxe. Ate at TS restaurants every day, character meals, buffets, you name it!
This is literally what DH and I do. For our first trip together (first ever for him), we camped but ate signature for every dinner. It was wonderful.
That being said, I am a rope drop to close kind of girl. So I don’t mind not having a nice hotel to lounge around - my money is much better spent on food and cocktails.
We do the opposite. I’ll readily admit I’m a hotel snob.
I also don’t think the food at WDW is all that (although I am looking forward to giving V & A a try). But I think that if that’s what you want to do, go for it.
A trip to WDW is expensive no matter what, so it’s important to prioritize and pay for the extras that are important to YOU, and minimize expenses on the things you don’t care that much about, never mind what other people think. (I would stay on-site, though, just to save time and stay in the bubble. Fighting traffic fills me with woe).
Have great time!
+1
I agree with the idea, but unfortunately I feel that on general the more expensive WDW restaurants are not really worth the price tag. Except for V&A - the experience is definitely worth it, especially if you manage to get the Chef’s Table.
Maybe stay at the cheaper resorts (all rooms are the same in the dark?), go for value restaurants, and plough the savings into posh meals at home? 
We stayed at the Contemporary once. I liked it. It’s very spacious. We had a theme park view, which was worth it, since my DH was sick that day, so the rest of us just stayed on the balcony to watch the fireworks. We only stayed the one night, though. That’s all we could swing (post-cruise).
We usually stay off-site. Per your question about eating all WDW food, I think you’ll find that you have so many more options than just WDW food if you’re off site. Sure, you’ll do a couple of restaurants, but then you’ll see what else is out there around the world. Also, you’ll have your own kitchen, so breakfasts will be much easier.
My husband and I did this and had a great time! It was just a long weekend trip, but we stayed offsite and did a lot of non-ticketed Disney things like walking around Disney Springs (so many good places to eat there!) and self-touring the deluxe resorts. We were entertained and saw lots of fun Disney things, plus felt more relaxed than we do in the parks. Our big splurge instead of park tickets/staying onsite was dinner at V&A, which was really memorable and fun for us. If meals are usually the highlight of your trips, I say go for it!
Or stay expensive, eat expensive. (And that’s why we’ll be eating sandwiches every day for lunch and cooking in on our summer vacay, But Disney was so worth it! BC location was awesome.)