I've brought a crock pot before. It's nice to have dinner ready when you get back.
Just remember
*you might be close to a BBQ or far away--that might affect how easy it is to use
*pasta for 8 won't fit in that pot--I'm thinking of bringing down one of those plastic pasta cookers that you just add boiling water to (sorry for poor english--6am here)
*two stouffers' lasagnes in the oven work great with a salad but take a while--send someone back to the room early to get it started
*have salad as your side dish so you're only cooking the main part of the meal
*buy some rotisserie chickens at the market when you get there and use them over salads for lunch and as part of a dinner
*consider having garden grocer deliver groceries twice during your trip instead of once. The refridgerators are small, some food goes bad quickly, and the delivery charge is waived after $200 (if I remember correctly). With 8 people I'm sure you can hit $200 with water bottles and such. Include diapers, laundry soap, and anything else you'll need to get up to the *free* threshold and lighten your packing!
*We had pasta twice and lasagne once (over an 8 night stay) and I thought this would be too much italian food. Well, we were so hungry it didn't matter what we ate. And we had plenty of special snacks and desserts in the park to compensate for the lack of variety at dinner.
*Don't forget pizza is a good backup, especially on the dreaded packing-to-go-home night. I'm sure someone here has the number for Donato's delivery. Call from the bus back to the resort so you don't have to wait long for your pizza
OK, I'm rambling. We just cook a lot on vacation. That's part of the reason we bought into DVC--I like the rooms with the full kitchen. We tried the dining plan on the last trip but it's too much for us (too much eating, too much sitting, too much planning).