Bringing Water Bottles into the Parks?

[SeaGirl]

I was at my local Six Flags Amusement Park this weekend. Security confiscated all water bottles at the entrance. Wouldn't allow you to bring one in. I thought it was pretty nasty considering it was 95 degrees outside!

Anyway, just another scheme to get you to buy THEIR drinks. I'm planning a trip to Disney in less than two weeks. Please tell me I can take a water bottle inside the park..............

 

[tar heel]

You may take in as many as you want.

 

[Jamieb]

We were there last week and usually took 1-2 bottles each day and never had any problems. Security just waved us through each morning after taking a look in the bag(s).

 

[brimel]

Don't sweat it! Stick them in the freezer the night before (allow room for ice expansion), and they will melt during the day and give you (fairly) cold water all day long!

 

[gshoemate]

We always take a cooler packed with gatorade and water, never had a problem. Bring a soft sided cooler with you, that way it won't take up much room on your travel to WDW.

 

[NotUrsula]

You can get around that Six Flags rule with a Brita bottle. It isn't "outside food or drink" since it is just a container. Of course, with Six Flags, they also skimp on the number of water fountains for just the same reason.

The water fountains in Disney parks mostly have very cold water, though it is rather ugly-tasting (thus the Brita bottle, which takes care of the taste.) My favorite fountain is the one under the train station at MK, right by the lockers; it must be about 34 degrees!Universal, on the other hand, has no cold water in fountains. On my last visit, they had even taken to putting notices outside the shops, noting that the water for sale in the shop was cold.

I like Brita bottles not only because they save money, but because they save my back, too. Carrying around an empty fillable bottle is just so much easier than carrying a whole bunch of commercially bottled water. I have a plain neoprene "holster" that clips onto my belt loop, to hold it and keep it from sweating.

 

[Minnie Mare]

I am planning on bringing in water bottles as well. I'm confused about the cooler though. Do they allow soft sided coolers in the park or do you keep them in your room and carry the bottles into the park in your back pack/bag? I have a nice sized soft cooler, that we can easily carry and it won't be so big as to be an annoyance to anyone.

 

[loriandmatt]

PLEASE NOTE: they are cool with bringing in drinks as long as the container is PLASTIC. We didn't realize this and tried to bring in snapple in glass bottles once and had to leave them behind. (well, being the cheepo's that we were, we actually chugged them right there in front of security and threw the bottles in the trash - rather than waste all that cold tea.)

- lori

 

[gshoemate]

I believe Disney allows all coolers. I have seen people bring in the full size coolers with wheels. And have seen people bring all items to make sandwiches. Coolers are also searched upon entry. Now I do know that at Sea World and Busch Gardens their sign says no coolers and at Busch Gardens they enforced it and we had to take our small soft sided cooler back to the car. We always take a cooler, but we also have a stroller with us so we don't have to carry it. And the size of the cooler depends on how many people are with us, usually we take one that hold 6-8 bottles.

 

[smjj]

We had no problems taking in our bottled water at WDW. They have multiple parks and that makes a difference, you could have bought the water at a park you just left. I do think the security taking the bottles at Six Flags is heavy handed but these type of parks are probably loosing a lot of money now that lots of people are climbing onto the water wagon. I am sure that if Disney could, they would stop it also. Eisner likes to make a lot of money you know. We were joking on our last trip that they had the Disney Imagineers looking into fountains that were designed to not allow the empty bottle to fit under the spikit to refill.smjj

 

[Safari Steve]

~Glass containers, alcoholic beverages, and coolers that cannot be held by one person with one hand/arm are not allowed.
~Feel free to bring bottled water (you may want to freeze some of the bottles over night if possible so they stay cool).
~As for *most* of the water fountains being cooled, all of the outdoor fountains have refrigeration units, just run the water for a few seconds and the compressor will kick in. (I actually heard a guy complain loudly that a water fountain at Epcot was "intentionally warm." His wife held the button down for about 12 seconds, tested the temperature with her hand, and said something like "were you just looking for something to complain about?" He had a drink and filled up his plastic bottle.
So, yes. Bring water. You will need to drink alot of water to stay safe and cool and hydrated and we want you to be safe and cool and hydrated.

 

[Lovetherodent]

We took in our 1 quart water thermos/cooler (it probably has a different name, but that's not coming to me right now) filled with water and ice. We still had ice in it when we went back to the resort for the midday break. No problem with security--they didn't even ask us to open it.

As for regular pastic water bottles--everybody had them. Don't even give a second thought to bringing your own water into the park. It seems to be the norm.

 

[Safari Steve]

The funniest thing about the situation I mentioned in my previous post was that the guy complaining that "Disney just wants us to pay for sodas" was just a few yards from Ice Station Cool, where you can drink free sodas (Apple Lift, Krest Ginger Ale, Kinley, and Smart Watermelon are all quite good too).

 

[Minnie Mare]

Thanks, this was a lot of help I plan to bring enough water for each of us each day, we are big water drinkers, so this will save us some money to spend on things that are a lot more fun

 

[hucifer]

Originally posted by NotUrsula
I like Brita bottles not only because they save money, but because they save my back, too. Carrying around an empty fillable bottle is just so much easier than carrying a whole bunch of commercially bottled water. I have a plain neoprene "holster" that clips onto my belt loop, to hold it and keep it from sweating.

What a great idea! How much are they? Where can we find them? Do they come with a strap so I don't have to "carry" them?

 

[NotUrsula]

"What a great idea! How much are they? Where can we find them? Do they come with a strap so I don't have to "carry" them?"

Brita 24 oz. filter sport bottles run about $6-8 dollars each, depending on where you buy them and if they are on sale. Do buy them at home, though; we forgot ours on one trip and tried 6 stores in Orlando to replace them, but they were all sold out. Most general merch. stores like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, etc, or large drugstores like Walgreens or CVS will carry them. Sometimes grocery stores have them, too. The filter is replaceable, and each filter is good for about 15 gallons of use. The bottles don't come with a strap, but they have an indentation that goes all the way around about 1/3 from the top, an inch or two under the wide-mouth cap. You can take any piece of ribbon or webbing that's about 1/2 inch wide, and slip-knot it around the bottle at that point. Since it is a squirt-squeeze bottle, you don't really need to have one for every person; we share.

Culligan also sells a similar bottle for a similar price, but they are not as widely available. I think that one is slightly larger, around 30 oz. The Brita fits in most auto cupholders, I don't know about Culligan.

Edit: After writing all that, it occurs to me that you might have been asking about the neoprene holster instead of the bottle.
I got my belt holster at Target some years ago, it looks a lot like this: http://www.uspolyinc.com/neo7.html You can usually get them at places that cater to campers and boating enthusiasts.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

For years Disney's policy has been no outside food except for water and baby food/formula.
It is a policy that is rarely, if ever, enforced. They do turn away coolers on wheels.
Security is there to check for weapons, not peanut butter sandwiches, which generally pose no threat.
The water parks do allow food and coolers.
Personally, I could care less if someone brings in food, just be considerate when sitting down at a concession area, which is there for people buying something in the concession, and don't take all the seats.

 

[SeaGirl]

Thanks everyone for the information! I was worried that Disney would confiscate the water like Six Flags did!

 

[crazelion]

Now I found it odd that Six Flags confiscated the water bottles. I go to Six Flags Over Geogia all time with my season pass and I always bring powerade, water and water bottles in with me and never once had anything said to me.

Unless they started doing this then I will be highly upset. Then I will started bring my Six Flags water bottle with me get water that way.

I will checked out when I go to Six Flags sometime this month to see if I can bring my pwoerade in.

I refuse to pay for powerade when I can get free at work.

To answer question yes can bring water into Disney World. I was just there I was there July 4 weekend and carry powerade, and water in everyday.

 

[disney1990]

One other thing to know. Any of the counter service restaurants (not carts) will gladly give you a cup of ice water. We drink ice water with almost all of our meals at Disney. One, it saves money, but more important, in the hot, hot summer, water is the best thing to drink.