Anyone take their own meals into the park?

[tlh0726]

Locker prices and dimensions:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/tips_for_touring/Lockers.htm

Check the cooler policies for the different parks here:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/tips_for_touring/coolers.htm

I learned something from that link. You can't bring a cooler into AK?!! Anyone have actual experience with this? I suppose it's to protect the animals. I know that they don't have lids for their beverage cups and no straws are available. I never thought twice about not being able to bring a small cooler into the park. Has anyone run into this rule before?

We usually have a small 6 pack size soft side cooler that we hang from the handle on our bike stroller. I am pretty positive that we had it in AK during our last trip in October.
It is fairly close in color to our stroller, once we stretch the strap to go over the width of the stroller handle it kinda looks like it is attached to the stroller. Maybe it was missed ??

 

[Kat&Dom]

I have taken Rice Crispy Squares and Fruit Snacks into the park with me. It never fails that we just get in line and my son is suddenly starving so having the 2 different snack items keeps him happy. We also bring water into the park with us - one bottle frozen and one bottle cold per person. My son is a huge water drinker so it saves a lot of money bringing in our own bottles of water.

We usually stay off-site in a condo so have breakfast there. Then we head to the park for rope drop and leave around lunch time to have lunch at the condo. We relax and swim during the heat of the day then head back to the parks in late afternoon. We usually eat something before we head back to the parks so we don't really spend a lot of money on food in the parks. If we do eat at the parks, I find the food portions are so huge that we share.

Our budget does have room for Mickey Ice Cream and Popcorn though - my son loves those so it is his treat. I don't mind spurging for a treat when I know that we are saving so much in other ways.