Are ice chests allowed in the parks?

[raven69david]

We will be traveling with two 1 year olds on our upcoming trip. We will need to store milk and snacks for them. Do they allow ice chests in the park? If not, what would you suggest that we take those items in?

TIA

 

[DVCJEN]

a small softsided cooler (like for a 6 pack) is fine, but they won't let you take a large cooler in.

 

[figmentfan1]

We took a BIG softside in (holds a 12 pack or so)... they did look through it at security, but never said anything about it. We had cokes for us, bottles, sippes, juice boxes and some fruit. No one seemed to care... my son is a very picky eater and I would just tell them if I don't bring it, he won't eat!

I bought a 9 can softside for this trip at walmart yesterday. It was less than $7. It has a velcro thing in the top so you can reach through without unzipping it (good because it will be in the basket of our stroller).

 

[SammieG]

i have seen people with HUGE coolers in the parks. the hard sides ones. I cant for any reason think why anyone might want to drag something that large around with them, but some folks obviously do!

What kind of snacks do you want to take for them? You can also buy milk in the parks, so unless you are still using formula, then I wouldnt bother to take it with you. We travelled with my son when he was just one year old, and we used to take a spare juice in a small cooler bag for him.. that was fine.. and to be honest in the heat he just drank water anyway. He was more than capable of using the bottles they have in the parks.

But in answer to your question, yes you can take cooler bags in.

 

[COmomof2]

We took a small, soft-sided cooler into the parks everyday. Our boys were 3.5 and 17 months during our trip last April. I didn't want to mess around with sippy cups, so I packed juice boxes and the small bottles of water for them to drink from. It was easier than worrying about losing cups.

At that age, my boys wouldn't finish a whole bottle of water, for instance, so it was nice to put it back in the cooler for later. We had our double stroller with us, so it wasn't a big deal to put it in the basket. We have a car and drive to the parks, so we also don't have to fold the stroller up on a bus, while holding 2 kids and all our other stuff.

Security had us open the cooler at the gates, but it wasn't a big deal, and noone ever questioned it. I say bring one if you have the means to carry it with you all day. I also brought plenty of snacks into the parks for them, too.

 

[Horizons16]

i would be afraid of the milk going bad... if the ice packs didnt hold up to well, you know?

 

[dlf]

Hi,

Just returned last week and we took a huge bag (so heavy 2 of the men in the group needed to carry it!) carrying at least 15-20 bottles of water, cans of coke, sandwiches etc. It was checked each time we entered the park but never questioned.

 

[LoriZH]

We use to just bring sippy cups for the boys and just buy milk or water to fill them and we would also bring a juice box or two, threw it in our backpack with their other essentials along with a couple of fruitsnack not too much one each was fine, but never brought a cooler in or even thought to. That is just too much to carry around for us, it was hard enough with the stroller and backpack, camera case and kids, a cooler would have sent me over the edge, lol. Also we use to put our BP in the locker (there's an idea you could put it in the locker) and just carry the minimal in our camera case while touring the parks.

You can buy fresh milk and fresh fruit (over in toon town) instead of bringing it in and taking the chance of it going bad along with having to tote around a cooler.

 

[misslissa]

Somewhat related... But, we just ordered a small cooler from http://www.disneyflorist.com and it is filled with lots of Mickey Snacks I thought it was a great idea and it will be in our room when we get there.

 

[indigoxtreme]

We went in Sept this year. Everyday we took a softsided cooler. It would hold 6 bottles or water and still had room in the top for fruit or milk sippee cup etc. I took a gallon zip lock bag and filled it with ice. Then I poured this ice over the items in the cooler. The item stayed cold all day long and by the end of the day there was a little ice left and alot of very cold water.

 

[bytheblood]

Don't forget your BBQ Grill!

 

[plutolovr]

Don't forget your BBQ Grill!

I think you can get a grill now with the cooler attached...AND it has wheels!

 

[raven69david]

Somewhat related... But, we just ordered a small cooler from http://www.disneyflorist.com and it is filled with lots of Mickey Snacks I thought it was a great idea and it will be in our room when we get there.

Are you talking about this one?

http://www.disneyflorist.com/produc...ack7&catalog_website_id=&index_id=fol_gourmet

 

[misslissa]

Are you talking about this one?

http://www.disneyflorist.com/produc...ack7&catalog_website_id=&index_id=fol_gourmet

Yep! That's the one! I also payed an extra $10 and got a few other items put in, including some havarti and crackers

 

[DVCJEN]

Don't forget your BBQ Grill!

Hey, and if you are taking the grill you may as well bring the turkey fryer too! And maybe the waffle iron, waffles at the MK anyone?

 

[Missy1961]

Hi,

Just returned last week and we took a huge bag (so heavy 2 of the men in the group needed to carry it!) carrying at least 15-20 bottles of water, cans of coke, sandwiches etc. It was checked each time we entered the park but never questioned.

Good for you, but what did you do with it when you went on rides? Parked it with the strollers?

 

[dlf]

Yes, we just put it on one of the strollers, no problem at all.

Worked out we saved around $350 over the 2 weeks (also visiting US/SW/Busch) which meant we had a lovely couple of character meals.

 

[eeyoreiscool]

We have seen several people carrying the soft coolers into the park. During our last trip we saw security pulling aside anyone who had the large hard coolers with wheels.

 

[SolitaryPhoenix]

I had always thought you weren't allowed to BYO food and drink into the parks; if I would've known, I definitely would have brought more than just one water each last month. Darn!