buying a refrigerator for your trip

[Purrrrfecta]

I was in Lowes buying a dryer the other day, and I saw a small refrigerator for only $55 brand new.

I always get one from the hotel because I am on insulin, but for those of you who would find it cheaper to buy

Would you buy it and either have it sent or lug it if you are driving?

Just curious

 

[mad4themouse]

For me, the costs of shipping and re-shipping the unit would out-weigh any possible savings that I would net by purchasing one. That's because we fly to Orlando.

If I were driving, I think that it would take up an aweful lot of valuable luggage space. We don't drive a minivan or large SUV. We're probably the only family in suburban American that doesn't own one or the other!

So for me, it wouldn't be worth it. I'm sure there are others who would consider purchasing one and taking it along. I've seen threads where people take microwave ovens with them and they also take up a lot of space.

 

[bkrusen]

I have heard that if you have a medical need the hotels at WDW will give you the refrigerator for no cost. Have you tried this?

 

[disneysteve]

Rather than buying a fridge, get a thermoelectric cooler. They are far more useful and convenient. You can plug them in to the cigarette lighter in the car and keep things chilled as you drive. Then when you reach your destination, you just bring it in and plug it into the regular outlet. We've had ours for years and taken it everywhere.

As for taking up space, that really isn't an issue. Either we pack it with food which we would be bringing anyway, or you can pack it with clothing instead of a suitcase and just use it as a fridge when you arrive.

Steve

 

[mudnuri]

We just bought a Coleman roadtrip cooler at Wal-Mart. It comes with both the car adapter, and normal plug in adapter. It's also a 'heater' or a cooler. It claims the internal temp on cold, will be 42' colder than the outside temp. It said to pre-chill stuff, for best results. I put a case of water in the fridge today for our trip we leave on Friday.

The cost was 62.77 at wal-mart, the cost for 6 nights at ASMovies for a fridge was $60.00 We are going to use it not only for WDW but also at St. Augustine for the following week, so we'll get our money out of it even if we never use it again.

According to the box, (I havent taken it out yet LOL) it holds 52 12 oz cans of soda, or 6 2 litre bottles...it's "40 quart"...whatever that means LOL

I've read on here its important to keep the fins open so the fan can cool properly...we'll use it vertically in the truck, so the fins are on the top. I plan to plug it in on Tuesday night, and put in some ice blocks with towels to absorb the moisture...then Friday morning, at 3am, just before we leave, I'll put it in the truck, and get it loaded with the water etc...

If we were flying, I probably would just bite the bullet and rent, but since we're driving and theres room in my Envoy, we bought one

Brandy

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by mudnuri
we'll use it vertically in the truck, so the fins are on the top.

I'm not sure if this is recommended or not. Check the manual to be sure.

I plan to plug it in on Tuesday night, and put in some ice blocks with towels to absorb the moisture...then Friday morning, at 3am, just before we leave, I'll put it in the truck, and get it loaded with the water etc...

There's no reason to plug it in on Tuesday if you don't leave until Friday. Just plug it in the nite before. It won't get any colder in 3 days than it will in a few hours.

As for the ice thing, don't! These coolers are not designed to hold liquids. They can handle a little condensation from cans and bottles, but any significant amount of water (from melting ice) can wreck the thing. And it wouldn't make it any colder anyway. Just load it with items that are already cold and you'll be fine.

Steve

 

[mudnuri]

Thanks Steve, but here's what I read in the owners manual...believe it or not, I actually read these! DH thinks I'm crazy but...

"This cooler may be operated in either a horizontal or vertical position. When used in the verticle position, make sure that the cooling vent is always positioned at the top and that it is never covered.

Also from the manual, and I should have clarified, not ice, but frozen blocks

"Use frozen coleman Brite Ice ice substitutes to chill the coolers contents even quicker"

But I will agree with you steve that if I prechill the items, and also use the brite ice, the night before, we'll be okay....

Thanks for the thoughts though because I'm sure there are some that can only be used horizontally, etc.... great thing about the Dis someones always watching our backs!

Brandy

 

[HappyLawyer]

try the insulated backpacks for the parks

 

[BrianMonk]

or you can pack it with clothing instead of a suitcase and just use it as a fridge when you arrive.

Oh, but I just hate putting on cold clothing!

 

[donnajon]

We have a small refridgerator that we took on our last trip. We took one of the seats out of the van and put it behind the front passenger seat - we made wure it was secure in case of an accident. The we put our portable tv/vcr on top of the fridge for the kids to watch on the way down - it gave them a better view. Worked our great and saved us $100 for a 10 day visit. We're doing it again in May.

 

[Purrrrfecta]

Well for anyone who is staying for longer than 10 days it may work out

cost at Lowes 58.00
shipping 11.94


Thats $70 and you could have it delivered to your hotel
order on line as well

 

[maggiew]

If you are flying, couldn't you just include it as one of your checked pieces of luggage?? I was thinking about doing this on our next trip. We have 4 people and there is no way we will have our maximum # of pieces of luggage (I think 2 checked bags per person plus 1 carryon). So I was going to try and count it as one of the checked pieces.

Maggie

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by maggiew
If you are flying, couldn't you just include it as one of your checked pieces of luggage??

My concern doing this would be the beating it would take. Baggage handlers aren't known for their gentleness. Can you check something and have it handled appropriately by marking it Fragile?

I often wonder how common it is for folks to arrive in Florida, zip over to Wal-Mart or Target and pick up a mini-fridge and return it a week later on their way back to the airport. I'm not suggesting that because there is an obvious ethics problem there, but I suspect it happens fairly often.

Steve

 

[leebee]

Actually, I'm surprised that someone hasn't started a "refrigerator swap" thread! You could just pass on the fridge to someone from the DIS who's checking in when you leave!

 

[Purrrrfecta]

Yes, a refrigerator swap could be a cool thing. Have it going at each of the hotels.

That would be awesome......
OK how do you start it leebee?

 

[gracelrm]

Thanks to advice on this board last year, we bought a themoelectric cooler. We have used it to take with us to WDW and on a trip to San Antonio last summer. We've also gotten some good use out of it going to family reunions and holiday celebrations with family. We have a mini-van and have always packed a cooler - so this didn't really take up any more room than the large cooler. I'm glad we purchased it. I have usually let it run the night before we leave and take the cold things out of our regular fridge before we leave. It was a good purchase for us.

 

[Mic]

I purchased the Coleman roadtrip thermoelectric cooler about a month ago when the price dropped from $65 to $62 and some change. I had been looking at them for about a year, since several people had posted on this board how well they worked. We are DVC members, so I rarely have a need for a fridge at WDW, but just this past weekend I did. We spent 4 nights at Hotel Royal Plaza, and the cooler worked great. My minivan has a total of 4 lighter plugs(I don't know what they're called), so finding a place in the van to put it was easy. We put it in the very back, vertical(upright, like a fridge rather than horizontal like a cooler), and it cooled just fine all the way to FL(10 hours) and back. In the room, we kept milk, orange juice, deli meats and cheese, and salad dressings in the Coleman, and a few 20 oz. bottled drinks and water in a "regular" ice-cooler. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I think the Coleman is much lighter than a small electric fridge. The dorm fridge I lugged up 7 flights of steps the day before classes began seemed a lot heavier than our little Coleman roadtrip. I've had mine plugged up at home since we purchased it...it sits on a counter in my utility room so my kids can grab Capri Suns, juice boxes, and gatorade out of it on their way out the back door. I think it was well worth the $62.

 

[kadaten]

We've had a "beer fridge" (tall dorm fridge) in our rec room for years. We took it to Disney in December to use in our "hospitality room" (extra room we booked so the 20 of us would have somewhere to hang out) for sodas, juice, milk, and adult "tasty beverages". If we weren't staying at SOG in 2 weeks (free fridge in every room) we'd do it again No sense paying $10/day when I can just throw mine in the minivan!!