Refrigerator or cooler?

[welovedis]

I am trying to decide what to do for our fall trip to ASMo. There will be 4 of us traveling (Me, DH, 4-year old DS & my mom) & we will be staying in (hopefully) connecting rooms. I want to save some $$ by eating breakfast & possibly late lunches in our room.

My options are the $10/day fridge or take/buy a cooler to use in the room. I have seen the kind of coolers that you can plug into an outlet (like a mini-frige) & heard of others just using collapsible coolers & re-filling with ice. We will be there for 8 days so the fridge would be $80 if I went with that option.

Anyone have any advice/ideas on the subject? My main concerns with doing the cooler would be that getting the ice daily would be pain??? & worrying that the food would not stay cold for the whole day??? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Karen

CBR--9/00
ASMo--9/0

 

[robinb]

I buy a disposable styrofoam cooler when I stay at a place without a fridge.

You need to be careful about the kind you get, though. I bought one in Augest that was slanted with the bottom of the cooler smaller than the top like this: \_/. Things like milk and juice did not fit well and it made the cooler more fragile. I needed to repair it with duct tape. In November, we bought a cooler that was technically smaller, but was thicker and straight up and down like this: |_|. We could pack things better and the sides didn't have as much stress on them.

The cooler worked great! I filled it with fresh ice in the morning before going out and in the evening before bed. I used a plastic bag from the grocery store to haul the ice back to the room. Things stayed nice and cold the whole day.

Some folks like to pack a collapseable cooler and others check a regular cooler as baggage. It's a personal choice, but I prefer not carry as little with me through the airport.


-- Robin

 

[shirleyb]

Come on, this is the budget board, of course we're going to say cooler! LOL. In reality, the ice is free and easy to come by. I used my collapsible cooler to load up on ice, then carried it back to my room to dump in the big cooler.

We drove, so it wasn't an issue hauling it. We ate breakfast in the room every day, and also snacks and made sandwiches on the way to Disney. It worked great for us.

Shirley

CBR Jan 2000
Next Trip Jan 2002 Where to stay?

 

[LeahA]

Are you flying or driving? We bought a Coleman electric cooler for about $70.00 at WalMart. We drive to Disney, and many other places. We can plug this in our lighter, and there is an adapter to plug into a wall socket. What is also nice is that it requires no ice and it will keep foods cold or hot depending on what setting you use.

This was another tip I got off these boards!

 

[drogerstn]

We usually check a regular hard-sided cooler with our luggage when flying using duct tape or luggage straps to secure it shut. We pack the cooler with items that would normally go in a suitcase but nothing that must remain cold (we purchase those items after arriving at our destination).

Draining and filling the cooler daily with ice when we stayed at Dixie Landings took very little effort. The food and drinks will remain cold. I like having a cooler that has a drain plug. You can get a hard-sided cooler that has rollers; I haven't tried one but I've read where others have recommended it.

 

[SusanD]

This year I took the colapsable cooler to WDW and I was very pleased. I folds down to the size of a binder and can be used for either hold or cold foods. It works well and we have used it many times since. It was about $15 at Walgreen's.

 

[TinkerbellRules]

We've done both cooler and frig. We also drive so we always bring the cooler anything with stuff in it. It really isn't hard to the get the ice, but I've actually thought of purchasing a "dorm" frig since it's the same cost as renting. I've thought about those coolers you can plug into an outlet in the van, but it states (from the ones I've seen) that it only keeps it cold up to 45 degrees cooler than outside (inside vehicle) temp. I've often wondered about whether this keeps it cool enough (I worry about spoilage). Say you have to stop somewhere and it's 80 degrees out. Course it gets much hotter inside the vehicle. Obviously you never leave animals or children in it because it only takes, what, 10 mins for the temp to soar over 120 or something like that. You get my point, I think. That's the only reason we have purchased one of those. If it's just pop, no big deal, but we take more than that.

Just remind to get ice every day and I don't think you'll have a problem. Our friends do it as well.

Been there, done that, going back!
Off-site 87, 88
All Star Music 97
All Star Music 98
All Star Movies 99
Ft Wilderness Oct 00
BWV/WLV Oct 01

 

[Disneydenise]

Okay I have done it both ways. We fly and when they raised the price of the frig to $10.00 a day the cheapskate in me just couldn't do it I could eat a meal in Disney for what I would spend on keeping snack food cool. The collapsible cooler we got last year at Sears was great it had wheels like luggage. I froze juice boxes and stuck them in it and checked it with our Luggage. The Juice was stil frozen the next day. I packed Ziplock bags and kept 2 in my fanny pack so when we would be coming back fron the parks we could just stop by the ice machine and fill the bags. I did that twice a day. My kids are old enough to run down the hall to the ice machines and fill the bags for us. I would try to do it in the afternoon and then at night after everyone had snacked and before bedtime. Everything stayed cold and fresh and nothing was sitting in water getting soggy. I had a rubbermaid container in it with fruit so it wouldn't get bruised. The cooler was great and I don't think I will ever get a frig again.

 

[Snoozan]

I used the collapsible cooler on my last trip. It was one that was to hold 18-24 cans of soda. We kept 1/2 gallon of milk and cans of soda/beer in it. I brought gallon ziploc bags with me so we filled one every morning & one every night and everything stayed icy cold. I'll never spend $10/day for a small refrig again!

 

[My2boyz1]

The collapsible coolers you are speaking of - are they like large insulated bags (soft sided) or are they like a regular cooler (hard sided Coleman for example)?

Natalie

 

[idontknow]

We just bought a soft sided collapsable cooler at Target. Their sporting goods section was 30% off this last week. Ours holds 48 cans and it collapsed to fit into the mesh part of our 21" suitcase. I can even fit things in the outside compartments of the suitcase still. We paid $13 for it last Monday. Target is clearencing alot of merchandise right now. Even if there is not a sale sticker on it, take it to a scanner and check the price that way. I just bought a 5 pc luggage set regularly $99.99 for $9.99! No fooling! I actually bought 2 sets....I'm giving one as a B-day present to our aunt. She is going to Arizona the end of Feb.

 

[TinkerbellRules]

Hello, fellow, Hoosier! What a buy at Target! I was just there yesterday in Westfield/Carmel, but didn't see those great deals. I'll be going tomorrow!

Been there, done that, going back!
Off-site 87, 88
All Star Music 97
All Star Music 98
All Star Movies 99
Ft Wilderness Oct 00
BWV/WLV Oct 01

 

[welovedis]

I'm going to be flying down, so perhaps just a foam cooler would be ok for us to buy on our grocery stop when we arrive. I am also going to look into those plug-in type & see what they sell for around here. Totally forgot that ice is free (duh!) at the ice machine!!!

Thanks again everyone!

Karen


Heading out to my local Target right now!

 

[Candace]

Atlantislimo.com rents the fridges for $5/day dorm size or $7/day larger (about 1 1/2 times the size of the smaller one). They charge $10 to deliver.

 

[mickeyc]

Our family used both the hard sided coolers and the collaspable. I have found the collaspable to be more convenient. When we took a trip out west we folded it and took as a carry-on when boarding the plane. They are very sturdy and don't leak. Also, the zip lock bags were very effective in keeping the melting ice from leaking on the items in the cooler. There are alot of good ideas mentioned in this post and I would agree with most no need to rent a fridge for $10 per day. I changed the ice once a day in the morning. Enjoy your vacation and keep those items cold!!!

 

[mickeyc]

Our family used both the hard sided coolers and the collaspable. I have found the collaspable to be more convenient. When we took a trip out west we folded it and took as a carry-on when boarding the plane. They are very sturdy and don't leak. Also, the zip lock bags were very effective in keeping the melting ice from leaking on the items in the cooler. There are alot of good ideas mentioned in this post and I would agree with most no need to rent a fridge for $10 per day. I changed the ice once a day in the morning. Enjoy your vacation and keep those items cold!

 

[TinkerTell]

We checked our cooler (with wheels) as baggage at the airport. The handle made it very easy to pull around. The advantage that we didn't even think about before the trip was that it became a very useful place to pack all of our souvenirs in when we left!

 

[Daisimae]

We used a soft-sided cooler on our last trip. I had asked for a fride with our reservation, but, after finding this board and reading it, I decided to cancel it. We got milk for DH's cereal from the store at PO and kept it in the cooler with can's of soda and boxes of juice. If you do this, be sure to use ziplock bags for the ice, it's less messy and easier to carry back and forth. We changed the ice in the am and pm. Very easy. Each container of milk lasted for cereal two days. We still have the cooler to use when we go in October.

Daisimae
Proud Survivor of the Space Mountain Morning-Mini Marathon and Splash Mountain Rapid Rampage
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[babslittleones]

We bought a hard sided cooler for about $12 at Wal-Mart after we arrived in Orlando. It worked great. We filled it with ice each evening and everything (even the milk) stayed nice and cold. We didn't have room to take it on the plane home so we just gave it to someone that was checking when we left. It worked out great and alot cheaper than renting the refrigerator.

 

[n2mm]

Here's an off the wall comment. Why not ask for a king bed in one of the rooms. Whenever we get a king bed, it is always considered a "handicap accessiable" room, and everytime we get one, it always has a refrigerator in it. It is located in the cabinet where the draw space is (of course, you lose 2 draws). I don't think folks know about this. We don't ask for these rooms, so, please no comments about taking them away from people who need them, we are CMs and we take whatever rooms they give us that they can't fill. They do tell us what they have, but on several occassions they've ask us to take the king room because it only sleeps 2 adults, with no other sleeping arrangements for any others. They do have connecting rooms, so parents could sleep in the king with the kids in the connecting room. They cost the same (at the All Stars Resorts) and having the refrigerator is great. We always bring our thermal folding cooler, because we never know what kind of room we will get.