Anyone take their own meals into the park?

[SoonerSarah]

For anyone that took their own meals into the park, what did you do with the food while you were going about the park?

I know lockers can be rented for...$10? I think, but are they big enough to put coolers in?

Anyone just cart everything with them in a stroller?

Any good ideas for me? We aren't certain that we will be doing this, but for various reasons we would prefer to eat as little park food as possible.

 

[csharpwv]

We have taken a light lunch with us before - but it's very simple.
If you have ever heard of Pepperoni Rolls (They were first made here in WV for coal miners to take into the mines for lunch as something that was both filling and really easy to eat)

It's a bread roll with thinly sliced sticks of pepperoni baked into them. So they don't spoil.

We took a dozen with us, and we each had one for lunch every day along with a granola bar, a pop tart, or something small like that.

It saved us a lot of money - and helped us maintain a $500 budget for our trip. (Gas, meals, daily expenditure) That $500 did not include park tickets or lodging. We had Premium Annual Passes, and I used hotel reward points for out stay at the Hilton at Downtown Disney.

 

[JoannaOhio]

This is my first visit back to these boards in about five years. I visited WDW in December 2000 with my daughter and then 9-year-old granddaughter. We ate a good breakfast before going to the park, then carried food in insulated containers in our backpacks - peanut butter sandwiches, carrots, raisins, granola bars, etc. I think the only meal we ever bought at the park was fish & chips in Epcot.

In December 2005 I visited WDW again with my daughter and her soon-to-be 2nd husband, and my granddaughter who was then 14. My son-in-law uses a motorized wheelchair due to MD, and we carried most of our snacks in an insulated bag on the back of his wheelchair. Being on a budget both times, we chose not to spend the money (not to mention the time) to sit down and eat at any of the Disney restaurants.

My daughter went back to work two weeks ago after a year of unemployment, so we've started talking about going back to WDW sometime in the next couple of years - to take advantage of the unused days on our multi-day passes - and before my granddaughter (who is now 19) is no longer living with us. I imagine we'll probably follow the procedures we used on our previous trips.

We chose to carry our own food because we wanted to spend our money on other things, (like souvenir sweatshirts, etc.) - and would rather spend our time riding rides and visiting attractions than sitting in a restaurant. We would rather enjoy leisurely restaurant meals outside of WDW.

JoannaOhio (now living in Virginia)

We also took Brita water bottles so we could drink filtered water throughout the day.

 

[nstem]

It is easiest if you can carry it with you. First you save the locker money (which negates a lot of the savings) and second it can be a pain to walk back. One thing we did a lot of was bring our drinks and even chips, etc but buying a FF main course. We did a lot of double burgers and ask for an extra bun. It made for a cheap lunch using the drinks we brought. HTH

 

[SoonerSarah]

Yeah, I don't really have to be walking all over to get food out of a locker, but we will have 10 in our party, and since I'm the Mommy, it probably wouldn't be me. HAHA I'm just kidding.

Anyway, we will have a double stroller, so I'm hoping that we will have enough room to put a cooler in the bottom, but I'm going to try that out once we get to our house. We did plan on taking in drinks and apples, grapes, mangoes, cucumbers and bell peppers since those are all fairly portable and my daughters favorite fruits and veggies.

Joanna, we are also prefering to spend our money on other things as this trip isn't going to be something that happens all the time.

 

[PrinceCharmingsMom]

Hello all! I am a local and we go pretty frequently...My DS3 who is a picky eater...Me and I have had bypass surgery and am fairly limited on food and my Mom and Dad who are on wheelchairs/scooters. We always take food/meals in, especially at Epcot. There is lots of ethnic foods there but not any that my DS really likes so I take a lunchables for him for Epcot days. We eat breakfast before we go in to the parks and I always take a cooler full of snacks and drinks w/ drink sticks in a ziploc baggie. It keeps me from spending money on snacky foods. (Chex Mix, Goldfish, Fruit snacks) We do budget 2 or 3 sit down meals throughout the course of our week long trips, but that's mainly to get out of the heat and have a break.

When at MK we get a Turkey leg and share it for lunch with our drinks and grapes.

I do always take in a ham sandwich and some trail mix I make at home to help get in my protein. I don't put the mayo on it but do take little mayo packets in my cooler. It really helps to have a prepacked "scout" ready cooler with lots of compartments for condiments and sweetners.

We also all take in our own double insulated reusable water bottle and everytime we get close to a stand we ask for ice...its free and the castmembers will be glad to give it to you. We put in the ice add a drink stick to our water bottles and have drinks the whole trip. That saves alot when water is $2.50 a bottle and I myself use 4 or 5 a day. We just keep a case at the hotel and load up everyday before we go in.

HTH!

 

[crusoe2]

We've used a backpack cooler to take in bottled water and snacks. With the way prices on everything are going up, we may be using it for full meals on our next trip. We've booked a couple of character meals and had planned to just grab something from a cs place the rest of the time. But we may have to pack in some picnics if we want to keep the character meals.

As for what we packed in the cooler - we took a bottle of water for each person and refilled them throughout the day, took some of the flavor packs to add to the water, and packed crackers or chips, small slices of cheddar cheese, and grapes and strawberries. It was really nice being able to find a bench and pull out our snacks when we were hungry instead of having to stand in line somewhere. Turned out to be a real money and time saver.

 

[Deb & Bill]

No glass, no rolling cooler, no wagons. They do allow small coolers - like six pack size.

 

[searlproudbottom]

edit

 

[searlproudbottom]

On Our last visit we brought with us an insulated collapsible lunch bag that was roughly the size of a 6 pack of sodas maybe a little bigger. It was plenty big enough for four sandwiches and a bottle of water. We put some water in the freezer the night before that kept our sandwiches cool then we drank the water. We kept fruit and individually bagged chips in our day pack. After lunch we collapsed the lunch bag and put it in our day pack and we were good to go. By eating breakfast in our villa and packing a lunch we were able to save quite a bit. It also made our sit down dinner in the evenings something to really look forward to. At first I thought packing lunches for a family of four was going to be a real pain in the backside but it was no big deal at all.
I found these packs on the net but there are plenty of other sites if you look around.

http://www.rei.com/gear/feature/sea...-_-lunch bag&gclid=CIiL4JfTqKcCFQcBbAod0nCYBg

good luck to you
Searl

 

[marcemc]

We usually have a quick breakfast in the room & we also bring water & snacks.

I pack two peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for my boys in case we catch a show or tour around lunch time.

 

[darthspud]

I'm a really big snacker when I'm in the parks... so this trip I plan on bring baby carrots, trail mix, cheese sticks, bottle of water and even a bottle of the small bottles of soda this way it cuts down on what I buy even though there are 3 snacks that I have to buy when I'm there its just tradition and then when I feel its time to have a little bit more I generally can get away with buying a kids meal

I also have breakfast in my room along with some cheese crackers and pepperoni for snacking when im in my room

 

[kmccain]

We usually camp and bring our dogs so we have to go back to walk them and eat then but one visit we left him at home.

I had a backpack cooler that i put a lunch in every day. I made sandwiches from wraps, Pringle potatoe chips and cold beverages that kept it all cool. I carried it around until we ate. It saved a lot of time and money!

 

[delmar411]

I'm not sure they'd allow you to bring in a big cooler. For 10 people I'd plan on bringing a few of those soft sided 6pack sized lunch totes. Pack sandwiches in one, veggies in another, etc. If you have flat blue packs those would work nicely in that size cooler.

 

[Marionnette]

For anyone that took their own meals into the park, what did you do with the food while you were going about the park?

I know lockers can be rented for...$10? I think, but are they big enough to put coolers in?

Anyone just cart everything with them in a stroller?

Any good ideas for me? We aren't certain that we will be doing this, but for various reasons we would prefer to eat as little park food as possible.

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?

 

[DawnM]

http://www.expotv.com/IGLOO-Maxcold-Max-Pack-Cooler/29-S5a

These are sold at Target.

We take one into the parks with us and take our own lunch and snacks.

Dawn

 

[MissJanice]

We have APs and live about 45 min away and we pack lunch every time we visit. I put it in a lunch bag/cooler under the stroller with some ice packs. Then we eat it around 11:30/12:00 at Columbia Harbor House or Tom Sawyer's Island. It's usually just sandwiches, chips, drinks and some fruit. My kids eat more than if we buy lunch for them and it saves us money for a treat or a nice dinner the next time. If the drinks don't stay super cold, we get cups of ice at any QS or beverage station.

 

[prncess674]

If you are concerned about paying for a locker and you will be driving in, you can always keep it in the car and then have a parking lot picnic. If you have park hoppers you can use lunch as a reason to hop to another park and have each person carry in their sack lunch at the second park.

I would plan on a big breakfast before leaving then have lots of non perishable snacks for the afternoon. No one says you have to have a traditional lunch. If I eat a big breakfast I am good to go for most of the day on plenty of snacks. I even pack several perishables, but I usually eat those first. Yogurt tubes and string cheese aren't going to curdle or "go bad" in a few hours I eat those as my first snacks.

As Americans we are overly paranoid about cold storage. A frozen water bottle near most foods will keep most things cold enough. If you do decide to rent a locker then have a small soft side cooler to keep those things that really need to be cold. Everything else: bread, chips, cookies, etc can be kept outside of the cooler.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...Then we eat it around 11:30/12:00 at Columbia Harbor House or Tom Sawyer's Island. ....

Tom Sawyer's Island would be okay. But you really should leave Columbia Harbor House to the guests who pay to eat there at that time of day. Unless you are purchasing something from CHH to add to your meal.

 

[MissJanice]

Tom Sawyer's Island would be okay. But you really should leave Columbia Harbor House to the guests who pay to eat there at that time of day. Unless you are purchasing something from CHH to add to your meal.[/QUOTE]

We really only go when it isn't busy. And we only eat at CHH if the upstairs is empty or if we get some fresh yummy french fries to go with the rest of our meal.