Bottled Water

[disbeachprincess]

I'm going to Disney in December with my mother and sister, and we have free quick service dining. In the past, we've rented a car and always stopped at a grocery store to buy a couple cases of water (we only drink water) & other basic items. This year, we are relying on the buses, so we won't have that option. Is there any "strategy" to help us with our drinks? Would we be able to get bottled water w/ our CS meals as the "drink"? Is the only other option individual bottled water w/ snack credits? Or can we carry around our mugs and refill at places in the parks (are there places? is this allowed?)

Thanks, just wondering if there is an easier / more economical way to get our drinks (since it is just water!). I'd rather save snack credits for the popcorn (we LOVE popcorn and Disney's is the best) or to try snacks we've never gotten before because didn't want to spend the money!

 

[kwdw]

You can get free ice water all over the place. Just ask.

Alternatively = buy a couple of bottles of water early on and then just re-used them. I filled them from the tap in my room/water fountains and brought them with me each day. I brought along those instant drink mixes since I dislike FL water! I actually packed an old hotel shampoo container with dish soap so I could wash them out at night.

 

[ses1230]

We always use a grocery delivery service, and we get other things too, like granola bars, cereal, milk, yogurt. We have used Garden Grocer which has a $40 minimum and $12 delivery fee.

You can carry your mug, but the only place to fill it is at a water fountain. The parks don't have soda fountains like the resorts do.

I agree with you, I like to use my snack credits for actual snacks, and I hate spending $2.50 for a bottle of water.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

You can get ice water as your drink with your CS meal. But you can also stop into ANY CS place at any time and ask for a cup of free ice water.

If you are going to need quite a bit of water, like a few cases, I would use Garden Grocer and order your breakfast items, room snack and cases of water to be delivered to your room.

 

[kdka421]

We go in the heat of summer, so we're probably drinking somewhat more water than you'd need to in December...but we always just bring a nice water bottle with each of us, and any CS place (even if you're not ordering anything) you can go up and ask for ice water and they will give it to you for free, then I'd just dump it into my water bottle instead of carrying around the cup. The water is all filtered I believe, most people don't have any issues with the taste (but if you're concerned, I'd suggest bringing some of those little lemonade/iced tea packets that you could add to the water).

 

[2binak]

You could buy a reusable water bottle like Camelbak or Brita which have filters attached and refill them at the water fountains throughout the parks.

 

[TDC Nala]

You can get free filtered water at any CS. I've noted though that some posters don't want any water that isn't bottled. If you drink bottled water exclusively you may want to check into a grocery delivery service.

 

[disbeachprincess]

Thanks for all the quick responses! I don't know why I didn't think of stopping into CS places to ask! I like that idea of then dumping that into my own bottle to carry in my purse (whether a plastic waterbottle or one of those steel containers - I do have some of those so maybe I will pack that!). I will advise my family that this is the best strategy to make the most use of our free dining

Last time we went (3 yrs ago) it was June and there were 6 of us, so we went through 2 cases of water in about 5 days! The weather should lessen that consumption this time.

 

[chartle]

I have been there two times at the end of February and never bought a single drink outside of a meal. OK I did get a slushy drink once.

You are just not going to be drinking water like in June. In fact you maybe looking for hot drinks like coffee or hot chocolate.

We took the Brita Bottles last May and they worked great filtering the water. No need to wait in line at a CS we just saved our ice and refilled at fountains. Also we didn't drink nearly as much as we have in August.

 

[WC*123]

I actually just looked into the water situation for our upcoming trip...I drink a lot of water. Although not as environmentally friendly as filling at the CS locations, I found that some people have Staples deliver water to the resort. I just checked their site and it shows $6 a case with free shipping. I found another post saying the resort will hold the delivery for you as long as they confirm you are staying within a few days. I plan to call our resort before our trip to make sure it works. It would be nice if it was there when we arrive.

 

[chartle]

I actually just looked into the water situation for our upcoming trip...I drink a lot of water. Although not as environmentally friendly as filling at the CS locations, I found that some people have Staples deliver water to the resort. I just checked their site and it shows $6 a case with free shipping. I found another post saying the resort will hold the delivery for you as long as they confirm you are staying within a few days. I plan to call our resort before our trip to make sure it works. It would be nice if it was there when we arrive.

Well at the CS locations they are not going to take your bottle and fill it for you. They are going to give you a cup with water in it that you will also have to throw away.

 

[catne]

just wanted to mention if you're going the route of stopping at counter service places and asking for free water...note a couple of points:

our experience is some places give you a small glass of water--maybe a 6 or 8 oz size. (it was not the regular soda-sized glasses. Would not come close to filling up a 16 or 20 oz water bottle, for sure) And some places did not give ice water, just the small cup of water. Which was cold out of the soda fountain, but was not ice water.

A heads-up:do plan on asking during non-meal times, or you'll be waiting in a long lines to get your water. I did see a guy try to skirt the line at Cosmic Rays to ask for ice water...the gal behind the counter said she could give him the water, but he still had to stand in line and go through the ordering process. He was not happy since the lunch crowd was there by the hundreds.

 

[MermaidMommy]

I read somewhere on the boards that you can substitute a bottled water for dessert at CS restaurants. Does anyone know if that's accurate? If my options are dry chocolate cake or dry carrot cake every day, I'd gladly swap that for some water sometimes!

 

[rlovew]

I don't know about subbing a bottle for dessert but you can get bottled water instead of soda as your drink and what I have done when ordering in the past is to order the bottle of water for my drink and ask for a large cup of water. I drink the cup of water with my meal and then carry the bottle with me for later.

 

[joncorr3]

Instead of getting all those crappy CS desserts, Most CS will allow you to get an extra drink instead of the dessert. We usually get the extra bottled waters and use them a later in the day, then sometimes fill out of a fountain.

 

[cluvsdisney]

You can also use your snack credits to buy bottled water.

 

[tony67]

Keep in mind the "bottled" water at Disney is also filtered water, not spring water.

I usually get water with my cs meals and save the bottles.
I then use the refillable mug to get filtered water at the resort and refill the bottles.
Then I do not need to use my snack credits for additional waters.

Also as someone mentioned you can sometimes get a second drink instead of dessert, but ymmv

 

[Eliserose]

We used garden grocer, got a case and wound up leaving half of it there, unfinished. We wound up with waters from our meals and just didn't need them. I also wound up with extra groceries, I probably wouldn't do garden grocer again. (The service was great, but just not necessary for us.)
Also, just to mention, we wound up with Publix water, which we weren't crazy about at all. I don't think you choose the brand.

 

[Stan Solo]

When we went this AUG it was hot! Our first day we went to DTD walked to Hess and picked up a 24 of water and a few other items we did not want to fly with or could not get in Canada. It was easy to carry I just used my pack pack and a couple of reusable grocery bags.

We brought with us a large mouthed steel bottle each and every morning before heading out I would go to our resorts ice machine and fill them to the rim with ice. Back at the room I then filled the bottles with the bottled water.

The plan was refill the bottles threw out the day with water at CS restaurants. The first stop we made the CM gave me enough ice and water to refill our bottles nicely. After that all we ever got were tiny kid sized cups of ice water even though I showed them the bottles we wanted to fill.

Then I started to just ask for two cups of ice I would fill would the bottles with ice and just used water from the fountains.

I am not a tap water type of guy at all and only drink bottled water but I did not have any issues with the tap water in FL as long as it had lots of ice.

I also brought a bunch of Crystal Light pouches just in case and we did not use even one.