Anyone pack sandwiches for the day?

[pixxi]

We are trying to save money. We were talking about having groceries delivered. We don't have a fridge but can probably keep lunch meat cold in the sink with ice. Will the park let us bring in sandwiches? We plan to eat snacks and dinner at the parks.

 

[Justsyd2]

Disney does allow people to bring in food. However, I would suggest getting a Styrofoam ice chest for your room, and a soft sided cooler to keep your items cold while in the park. The last thing you need on vacation is to have someone get sick.

From WDW Website:

Can food be brought into Walt Disney World Resort hotels and Theme Parks?

Guests are allowed to bring food items - such as snacks or foods that do not require heating - into any Walt Disney World Resort hotel. If you have food items that need to be refrigerated, please ask the front desk at your hotel to have a refrigerator placed in your room. Refrigerator may require an additional charge. Guests are allowed to bring food items-such as snacks or foods that do not require heating-into any Walt Disney World Theme Park. Inform a Security Cast Member of any food items when you enter the Theme Park.

 

[yammer]

We've been bringing in pb&j and snacks on our last few trips and have never had a problem with security. I think there is a rule about not bringing in food, but it doesn't seem to be enforced. By the way, I've heard of some hotels that will provide a small fridge for a fee. Have fun!

 

[SoonipiLady]

have a small cooler delivered with your groceries, either that or pack a really sturdy box (folded flat) and a couple heavy duty garbage bags and make a cooler yourself. We brought sandwiches to the parks last year and they never bothered us. Saved us a bunch of $$ at lunch so that we could spend our $$$ on a nice dinner. We sit down everynight as a family for dinner and try to stick to that routine on vacation. (it's about the only thing we do on vacation and home).

Karen

 

[PolyHereWeCome]

Yup, sure have! To avoid smushed sandwiches, I like putting them in the sandwich-sized ziploc-type flat plastic containers. Multiples stack nicely in a backpack and I throw in some grapes or carrot sticks in there, plus in my backpack I'll put a couple of empty water bottles (we don't mind drinking tap water, so just fill up in parks) and some snackbars -- just like that we avoid lunchtime long food lines and save $25+ bucks for the 4 of us.

 

[ZPT1022]

I'd be nervous about the ice and if the bags of lunchmeat and cheese have even the smallest tear the stuff inside will be soggy and gross. Lesson learned on a road trip with a packed cooler. Nothing sealed tight and everything was waterlogged from melting ice and seriously disgusting.

 

[DisneyBrat]

we took pb&j sandwiches in the parks. I found that the plastic sandwich shaped container fit into our fannypack. We would also packed snacks too in the same fannypack. It saved us ALOT over the course of 10 days.

 

[3boymthr]

From a time, effort and expense point, PB&J or PB & Fluff are the way to go for lunch. But if you are allergic or just don't like PB and definitely want to take lunch meat then I would say go for it, but as PP mentioned, over time zipper bags will definitely take on water when immersed and your meat and cheese will get nasty very quickly. If you don't want the water issue we have bought the meat in the resealable gladware containers; I think it's Hillshire Farms brand, but other brands may come in these containers as well or you can pick up a set of gladware for about $4. These containers did not leak when we took them camping for a week. We have used the containers to store cheese and butter too.

With regard to the coolers, if you don't want to spend for styrofoam, there are some nifty large sized collapsible and soft sided coolers that you can get for free if you have a mycokerewards account. The coolers hold up to 24 cans of coke which would be more than adequate for a week's worth of lunch meat. One even comes with plates.

 

[michael's mom]

Which resort are you staying at? The moderates and deluxes all have them and there are a bunch of refrigerator swaps here on Disboards that you could swap a fridge for a small fee and then you'd have a refrigerator in your room.

I'd also suggest either packing a collapsible cooler or buying a styrofoam one. The sinks aren't really big enough to hold enough ice to keep your food cold while you're at the parks, at the pool, and sleeping. Besides, I think it'd be a bigger hassle to have to keep running to the ice machine.

 

[funhouse8]

We do, I find wraps to be the best so your sandwich bread doesn't get smashed. If you have a freezer, freeze some water bottles and this will keep your food cold plus frozen water is a treat.

 

[torinsmom]

I would be worried about the meat going bad in the Florida heat, unless you are planning to bring in a cooler with ice. I would do PB & J and other types that don't need to be kept cold. You can always bring fresh fruit, crackers, chips, etc to tide you over. We went back to the room to rest/eat every day when we were at WDW in August. Saved money and also gave us more energy to keep going that night.

Marsha

 

[wall*e2008]

You can bring in food to the parks. I am one who would not eat lunchmeat that was only on ice for days. Too risky. If you must do sandwiches then do PB&J. No cooler needed.

 

[JB2K]

Shades of Green sells brown bag lunches exclusively for this sort of thing -- you order them the day before, then you pick it up as you leave the resort for the parks.

Best of all, the price is right...

 

[loveysbydesign]

We packed sandwiches and bagels with cream cheese as well as Kool-aid singles to use with our free cups of ice water...plus other healthy stuff like baby carrots, apple slices and bananas! Also the Polar BPA-free water bottles are great as you can freeze them ahead of time or dump in a free cup of ice water from the counter service places.

 

[wdwpjs]

With 4 kids, and liking to visit the parks more than once a year, we have learned how to cut costs. We find a hotel off grounds that has a free b-fast in the morning. Our lunch is what we bring in the park in our coolers. I love the pb&j uncrustables. You buy them already frozen so they are nice and thawed when you get ready to eat them. We also bring the larger type of lunchables. Walmart sells them and it consists of several indivdual wrapped ham or turkey, cheese and crackers. All of them are wrapped seperately so the wasted food is cut down. We also bring fresh fruit, gogurts & cheese sticks in the food cooler. Our other cooler consists of drinks. We also like to carry a backpack full of snacks. Beef jerky, cookies, pringles, fruit rollups etc. We bring our own strollers in and the ice chests fit nicely in the bottom of the stroller. We have gone to the parks in July and also in the cooler months and have never had a problem with the food going bad. We put alot of ice on the drinks and we keep ice in baggies and the frozen blue ice blocks in our food cooler.
For dinner we eat at a c.s. or wait till we get off grounds and get something through a drive thru. We do splurge for one character meal a trip. This has worked for us for years.


me, DH, DD17, DD13, DS6, DD3

 

[pixxi]

Thanks for all the ideas. 3boymthr-I am a coke rewards member. I will check out the site to see about that cooler!

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

http://www.target.com/IGLOO-Maxcold...se=0&index=target&rh=k:igloo back pack&page=1

This is not the exact cooler we bought but it’s similar.

This is what we do on lots of trips. It has saved us a lot of money (and fat and calories) over the last few years.

We spent roughly $25 at Target and bought an Igloo brand insulated, back pack cooler. It’s very lightweight and insulated to keep things cold.

While at Target, I took the backpack to the aisle where they have the Rubbermaid containers. (Like Tupperware) I bought a large rectangular container that would fit inside the insulated back pack. I chose the biggest one I could get that would fit. Be sure to leave room for a blue ice. You can try all of these things out for size before you leave Target.

I make sandwiches at the hotel and place them in the Rubbermaid container. When we’re going to the parks, place the blue ice pack and the Rubbermaid container in the insulated backpack. It stays cold until lunch time and all is well. It keeps the sandwiches from being smashed. I also put a can of Pringles in the outer holder where you should place a bottle of water. So, Pringles and sandwiches for lunch.

When the Pringles can is empty, you can keep it for the next day to use as a container if you want to refill it with cheetos or something else you don’t want to get crushed.

This works well for us not only for Disney but also trips to the zoo etc.

For drinks, those in our family who drink soda buy a soda for lunch and also Disney will give you a glass of ice water free at any of the counter food services if you don’t drink soda. Crystal light and many others make those single serving powder drink mixes if you don't like the taste of water.

I also stash a few wet wipes into the pocket on the outside of the cooler backpack. I've also taken little cups of applesauce in that cooler pack as well when we took little nieces and nephews.

I hope this helps. It has saved a TON of money over the last few years for us. Have a great trip!

 

[MomtoGKC]

We do it. My kids love it - they think it's like a picnic! Last time we had a soft sided cooler that normally holds about 6 cans I think. I had three rubbermaid sandwich containers that I use in their lunchboxes at school. The cooler fit three peanut Butter sandwiches and three chocolate milk boxes. Then I put pretzels and cookies in my backpack and they were all set. not only so we save money, but they like that food better than Disney food anyway!

 

[Emme]

What are some of the spots you who take sandwiches eat them? Do you find a bench or sit on the grass? This sounds like a great idea I'm just now sure where I would go to eat . Thanks!

 

[wdwpjs]

We have a favorite spot in each park.
MK- the walk way between Tomorrowland and Toontown by the railroad. Also the walkways on the water in Frontierland.
Epcot- on one of the many park benches in Future World. We like the ones in front of Imagination on the water.
HS- we used to eat lunch in the park this day and eat dinner while waiting for Fantasmic to start. We also like the waiting area at the bottom of TOT. Shady and cool.
AK- too many to say but our favorite is the walkway between Asia and Africa. There are little areas that are on the water that are so pretty and that give you a great view of the tree.
I guess we have a water theme! haha