We always saw the kitchen as the number 1 reason to buy DVC. We always ate breakfast before going to the parks. When the kids were younger we came back to the room for naps and ate dinner early before returning to the parks. As the kids got older we came back around lunch time, used the pools, ate dinner and returned to close the parks. We could pool hop in those days so that was nice. We would usually do 1 character meal per trip as a splurge, and had Dole Whips and Mouse bars as snacks every day. We always had a 1BR or 2BR for the kitchen. We either drove down or rented a car so our first stop was a grocery store to stock up for the trip. We ate the same meals we ate at home, roast beef, chicken, potatoes, fresh vegetables, we even cooked a turkey dinner one Christmas, lol. We could buy a case of beer, some wine, juice and soda for the kids, park snacks (we always took gummy snacks, granola bars, etc ).
Most of our trips were 10 to 14 nights so the cost savings were huge over eating at the parks. I guess if our trips were shorter we would see the advantage of eating at the parks. Thinking back over 20 plus trips, I figure we have eaten at most of the major on-site restaurants once or twice like the castle, Beauty and the Beast, Prime Time, Sci-fi diner, Hoop de doo, Ohana, etc.
Even now when its just the 2 of us, we get a studio but bring in enough food so we don't have to spend a ton of money at the parks. Now (pre covid), we go off site to eat if we feel the need but our trips now are over 14 days at a time so we spend less time at the parks and more time exploring the resorts or just sitting on our AK balcony and watch the animals with a bottle of wine.
Tony and Debbie