Too Fridge, or not to Fridge???

[sassydisneymom]

Hey there, Hi there, Ho there, hope your as happy as can be!!!

My family of 4 will be going on our first trip WDW this June. We of course are on a tight budget. We are staying ASmovie, for 7 nights. And I've added the dining package.

I didn't reserve a fridge, but after reading post about the amount of food you get, I was wondering if we should spend the extra $70 for the week for the fridge??

We were planning on taking cooler, for extra water, milk, and stuff.
DO YOU THINK WE REALLY NEED A FRIDGE??

Forgiveness from all please, I've posted this on serveral differn't forms to get as much advise as possible. I need all the help I can get!!!

Thanks again
Karen

 

[the kabuki]

I skipped the fridge(cooler is more like it) and stopped at Walmarts. Picked up a HUGE cooler on wheels for $18. Filled it with ice nightly and when we left, just left a note in the room that anyone who wanted it could have. It was brand new(only used 5 days) so I figured someone would want it. Also picked up breakfast foods and we ate brkfst in the room in the morning-saved a whole bunch of time and money. I know you're getting the dining package, but the cooler would be nice just to keep snacks & drinks.

Now, we had a rental car so we were able to stop. If you don't , I've read that others have shipped a box down to the resort scheduled to arrive on the day they did, so you might be able to box up a cooler, put some non-perishables in it and have it waiting when you arrive.

BTW-the fridge they supply is REALLY tiny, and never really got things cold. If something was already cold, it would keep it that way, but I wouldn't expect to put anything warm in it and have it get cold

 

[MickeyMacks]

I'm just taking my $10 soft-sided picnic cooler than squishes up pretty small to pack, but can hold 12 cans, big enough for waterbottles, juice and milk from the gift shop (OK, so maybe a couple beer too ). I'll cool it with ice from the ASMu ice machines every night. I've had it for years so if there's no room to carry it home again, I'll just leave it - I'm saving myself $90 on fridge rental for 9 nights so could afford to buy a new cooler bag!

 

[HitchhikingGhost]

Last time we were at ASMusic we rented a nice fridge from ABBF. A week was $45, and was delivered and picked up at the luggage room. Really nice one too, like new, and held A LOT of stuff.

The ice thing was a pain for me, and it was definately worth the $45 not to hassle with it.

Have fun!

www.abbf.com

 

[Lisa Anne Colling]

If you are driving and have a little room in your car, the plug in coolers are wonderful! They work just as well as a fridge. No ice needed! They are pretty reasonably priced now. much cheaper then renting a fridge and you can use it again and again. Our's has lasted 6 trips to Disney and other places. We got it to keep our 6 year olds baby formula cold on our fisrt trip with her to Florida. It has since help the formula of 2 more babies and has been well worth the money we paid for it!
Lisa

 

[southtexasmom]

We have a cooler that we take with us. We use it like a piece of luggage and check it like luggage at the airport. It worked great for us.

 

[NJDisneymom]

I just came back from POFQ on the dining plan and we had quite a bit of stuff in the fridge each day, especially drinks and water bottles. You get a drink with each meal and since we also had bought a few refillable mugs we didn't need to use those drinks with the meals. We brought them up to the room and they were great to have later.

I would probably spend the money to have a fridge if it wasn't included, we did last trip but DS was on formula so it was more of a necessity then.

 

[Suzanne74]

Personally if I added on the dining plan I wouldn't worry about a fridge at all and maybe just a small cooler if you really want it. I rather not have to worry about all that on vacation and $70 adds a lot to the budget. If you get a few extra drinks or so then use the room bucket for ice. The dining plan gives you more than enough and any extra food you get - even if you fridge it, where would you heat it up? I think the whole point of the dining plan is to NOT have to worry about saving or storing any extra food. Most of the time people can share some meals at the dining plan (esp huge counter size meals) then you have leftovers for the food court at night or early if you need it.

I think the fridge is more for people not on the dining plan. GO and enjoy!!

 

[patrenoe]

If you are driving and have a little room in your car, the plug in coolers are wonderful! They work just as well as a fridge. No ice needed! They are pretty reasonably priced now. much cheaper then renting a fridge and you can use it again and again. Our's has lasted 6 trips to Disney and other places. We got it to keep our 6 year olds baby formula cold on our fisrt trip with her to Florida. It has since help the formula of 2 more babies and has been well worth the money we paid for it!
We also have used the plug in coolers for all of our trips. It is the best thing since peanut butter.

 

[TinkAtHeart]

My family and I usually just buy a large styrofoam cooler when we get our groceries. We can usually find one for about $3-$4. That way, we don't have to pack one. With them costing so little, we don't think twice about leaving them behind at the end of the trip.