Any Picnic areas/parks in or near Disney?

[DreadpiratK]

Does Disney provide any areas outside the parks where you can eat your own food? We're thinking of packing a cooler for lunch or dinner and eating it outside the parks, but without going back to the house (we'll be about 20-25 minutes away, so it would be a little time consuming).

If not, are there any parks nearby that wouldn't take too long to get to?

I know you can bring your own food into the water parks, so that's no problem.

We do this all the time, twice in the last few weeks at the zoo and at the Ren faire. Usually we just find a nice grassy place near the car and lay out the picnic, then wander back in, but I don't see that happening in the Sahara like parking lots at Disney!

 

[SandrA9810]

There's actually a nice grassy area in front of Epcot, over by the kennels.

For MK, ride the monorail to the TTC to get your picnic gear, and hop on the tram back in. Then head to your left into the poly and find a nice grassy spot on the beach.

For Studios. Take the Friendship boat over to Yacht and Beach Club or Boardwalk.

Animal Kingdom is kinda in the middle of no where. But it's actually really close to 192. If you exit the parking lot following the AKLodge sign to the right. At the stop light hang a left onto Sherbeth RD. Just before you reach 192, on your right is a McD's and a few other fast food places. If you're visiting in the off season and the park is closing early, it's easy to accomplish almost everything by 3-4pm.

 

[Marionnette]

Softsided coolers are aloud in the parks. No hardsided coolers. No rolling coolers of an type. There are lockers at each park that you can rent for large items like backpacks and medium size coolers. There are no designated picnic spots in the parks. Counter service tables are supposed to be for the use of the patrons. But we all know how that goes. Disney doesnt want the cast members to confront guests over small infractions of the rules. Driving back to your vacation rental would prolly take less time than trying to find your way to a public park just so that you can eat. But just going back to your car from the park will consume an inordinate amount of time. I think it makes more sense to either bring packable snacks into the parks and buy lunch there unless someone in your group has a restricted diet that disney cannot accommodate.

 

[jshuff1]

you can just go back to your car and eat lunch just like at a football game tailgating

 

[Mysteria]

There's actually a nice grassy area in front of Epcot, over by the kennels.

For MK, ride the monorail to the TTC to get your picnic gear, and hop on the tram back in. Then head to your left into the poly and find a nice grassy spot on the beach.
For Studios. Take the Friendship boat over to Yacht and Beach Club or Boardwalk.

or maybe a sandy one.

 

[SandrA9810]

LOL. I do love swinging on the bench swings, but sitting in sand is not my idea of comfort. And coming from the TTC, the sandy area is a bit further down towards the pool/marina. There's a nice little piece of land that juts out into the lagoon. It's my favorite spot for watching july 4th fireworks.

If you don't mind taking some time out of your day, you could go over to Ft. Wilderness. There's picnic tables on the porch of trail's end and a fun playground across the way. There's lots of people cooking at the fort, so there's lots of places to eat, even if it's your own food.

 

[DawnM]

We take our own cooler into WDW parks most days we are there.

I have this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Igloo-Maxcold-Maxpack-Cooler-Blue/dp/B002NGBGHU

It is sold exclusively at Target. I even called the company to see if they sold it anywhere else.

We find a place to sit at tables in the parks and enjoy the Disney "feel" even though we are not eating Disney food, although we sometimes get a side or drink.

At Epcot we eat at The Land tables usually. We get fastpasses to Soarin' and then sit and have lunch while we wait for our time to go on.

At MK we often go to Cosmic Ray's to eat.

At AK we eat in Africa or Asia at the tables.

At HS we usually eat over at ABC commissary or over at the tables by Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground.

BUT, we never go to WDW during peak season so we are NOT taking away tables from paying customers. I would not feel comfortable doing that. And, as I said, we do often get some fries or a drink to go with our meal.

Dawn

 

[swilshire]

Eating is a great way to spend time while waiting for a parade. We try to find a shady bench on the parade route.

Sheila

 

[DreadpiratK]

Thanks for all the help! I'm not sure what we will do yet, but we like to have options. We'll all be packing a fanny pack full of snacks while in the parks, and then probably heading off site for a rest and early dinner, but not necessarily to our resort every day. This plan has worked very well for us on past trips.

One other question: We have a soft sided cooler we use, but it's got small wheels on it. We seldom actually roll it since it doesn't pull well, but will this not be acceptable in the parks due to the wheels? Anyone know the rationale for this rule?

 

[DawnM]

On a quick search it has to do with anything that can be pulled behind you.....and could interfer with people walking around, tripping, etc....

I know this is the reason many schools don't allow them either.

There is also a policy about taking wagons or anything that can be pulled behind you.

I would not take the risk and get a different cooler to bring.

Dawn

Thanks for all the help! I'm not sure what we will do yet, but we like to have options. We'll all be packing a fanny pack full of snacks while in the parks, and then probably heading off site for a rest and early dinner, but not necessarily to our resort every day. This plan has worked very well for us on past trips.

One other question: We have a soft sided cooler we use, but it's got small wheels on it. We seldom actually roll it since it doesn't pull well, but will this not be acceptable in the parks due to the wheels? Anyone know the rationale for this rule?

 

[dfchelbay]

Does Disney provide any areas outside the parks where you can eat your own food? We're thinking of packing a cooler for lunch or dinner and eating it outside the parks, but without going back to the house (we'll be about 20-25 minutes away, so it would be a little time consuming).

If not, are there any parks nearby that wouldn't take too long to get to?

I know you can bring your own food into the water parks, so that's no problem.

We do this all the time, twice in the last few weeks at the zoo and at the Ren faire. Usually we just find a nice grassy place near the car and lay out the picnic, then wander back in, but I don't see that happening in the Sahara like parking lots at Disney!

You can actually go to Fort Wilderness. It's Disney's own campground. It's right next to the Wilderness Lodge. It's a short boat ride from the Magic Kingdom, or you can drive there and park in overflow. Tell the guard you are visiting the Fort for a little bit. There are playgrounds, stores, pony rides, horseback riding. You can visit the horses you see from the Magic Kingdom. Just look into things to do at Fort Wilderness Resort. It's on the WDW website. You can also read the Camping at Disney forum here on the Disboards.

We love it there and I highly recommend a visit to check it out for yourself.

 

[SandrA9810]

They've redone the parking lot once again. There's no more overflow lot. So the best bet for entering the campgrounds is taking the boat over to the marina. Plus the Settlement is where everything is, or the Meadows in the middle.