Carrying Water Bottle w/o Backpack

[bumbershoot]

1. That's what the CM's ask you to do. It's not a big deal.

I haven't found a CM telling anyone to get water in any way. I would ONLY do it if directed to. I've never been directed to. (I don't go in the summer to WDW, but we did go to DLR in July, and there were no CMs directing anyone to get water in any way....over at Universal Studios Hollywood, however, there were TMs walking up and down the line with pallets of small water bottles, GIVING them to people b/c it was so hot. GIVING. It was fabulous.)

2. Yes, it is. But the water you get is filtered and doesn't have a taste at all.

I promise you, I've had the water in the parks. I know it's filtered. And I find it to be vile. It stinks and it tastes awful.

Hence the spring water. I don't spend money I don't have to spend, and I have to spend the money on spring water.

I won't drink Dasani in Orlando or Anaheim, either (or in my home area) because it's merely filtered municipal water in the local bottling area. Not wanting to take a chance that it was bottled in Orlando or Anaheim (or my home area, when I'm home), I won't drink it unless it's literally the only thing to drink.

 

[BK2014]

Tervis in the park might be heavy. Also they have a sunscreen issue, and you might ruin the looks of the plastic.

Thanks! I never would have thought of that.

 

[gap2368]

I have several Tervis water bottles. They are great, but they are very bulky and not something I would want to tote around Disney. I use a Chums carabiner bottle holder (https://www.chums.com/hang-on/product/clip-bottle-holder) for normal disposable water bottles. I tend to start out with a fresh bottle in the morning and then sometimes refill from the free water cups available at counter service restaurants. I clip it to my sling bag, but it can also be clipped to belt loops if you are bagless.

I have one of these and they are so easy to clip on your belt loop and keep with you all day and you can get free water at any QS it can be a little hard to pure water in but it is doable and if you want to go bag less and you find you do not like the water bottle you can through it a way and keep the ring thing.

 

[GaryDis]

You might want to check this related thread. My post there, #22, points to a collapsible flask with a built-in carabiner that easily clips to a belt loop.

 

[soniam]

We have purchased a bunch of these, since they were cheap. They work on almost any water bottle I have found. You can also tie a knot in them to shorten the for kids.

http://www.partycupexpress.com/products/laso

 

[dreiwhit]

We have these. The kids were able to carry their own water. I was tired of being a pack mule.

PS the kids did have to go through bag check with these, believe it or not.

+1 on the water bottle carrier. I have personally always hated carrying a water bottle or canteen attached to my belt. Not only does it pull on your clothing, but also will cause varying levels of discomfort throughout the day.

My personal preference is a Camelbak but only because it puts the weight on my shoulders and not my lower back.

 

[maltdizzy]

Myself, we go with the cups of free water. Usually, it's the same filtered water they use for fountain drinks. In the past, some places with self-serve soda fountains had the cups right there by the fountains.

If you spend one day with the water bottle and one day without, I guessing you'll find it's a lot more comfortable and liberating not to have to deal with the weight/bulk.

It really takes something like the sling above, if whatever you use doesn't stabilize the bottle and hold it to you body, it becomes annoying. With something like a carabiner, you're just adding a swinging weight that just keeps tugging at your pants and slamming into your thigh (or worse!).

 

[Kat-n-Mouse]

We bought the water bottle lanyards at Disney about 10 years ago and we've used them all over the world on many trips. They fit around any bottle of water or even a soda or juice. They are lanyards, so it's just a strap and it's easy to pack, plus if you discard your disposable bottle at some point, you can just roll it up and put it in you pocket. My husband always wears cargo shorts and the wallet and phone go in the side pocket. I do a small wristlet for phone, credit card. Use my phone as a camera.

 

[scrapquitler]

I could never feel comfortable doing that.

And municipal Orlando water is vile. (Same with Anaheim)

So it's spring water for me. We being an insulated backpack for the water. We know we are doing our job as the backpack gets lighter.

Orlando water is terrible. But Disney does a good job with their filters, and it is okay.

And yes, they often have trays of cups of water on the counter, so you don't need to feel bad at all about just walkin gup and grabbing a couple cups of water.

 

[Berlk]

I carry a contigo water bottle which has a small loop/hook on the handle. I also wear a back pack, but it's so inconvenient to stop, open my bag, grab my bottle and take a drink, put it back in and carry on. I find that I stay hydrated better and drink more when it's in my hand. I store it in my bag just before boarding a ride, or if we are stopped and I want my hands free I'll put it on a ledge or on the ground. If it wasn't in my hand, I would probably forget to drink!

 

[Meriweather]

That kind of Tervis.....the lid will not come off, but the top will open. We have several.
We use a Brita bottle and like a previous poster, attach a carabiner to the loop it comes with. DH hooks it on a pant loop

 

[DisneyOma]

No. You just walk up to the pick up counter and ask for a cup of water. They usually have them already made up. It literally takes 30 to 60 seconds.

I've never been to counter service where there was a clear path to get up to the food service area. It's pretty solid from the register to the counter with people waiting for their food to be served to them. You'd have to cut/push by people to get up there, and then do the same to get out, after you somehow got past the lines at the registers.

 

[gtpoohbear]

I tried relying on the free cups of water one day - never again, lol! Only the big CS restaurants will do that, not the smaller kiosks around the park.

Walking to the nearest CS place, fighting through the crowd, just so you can drink nasty FL tap water? Totally not worth it! Especially when one of the kids is thirsty "right now". There's no chance all those hoops are going to get jumped through before a meltdown, and it's just a lot of wasted time.

I always carry some sort of bag so I can have cold, fresh water readily available at all times. It's well worth the effort. Carrying bottles by hand would get tedious.

Maybe look into a running belt that's meant to hold a water bottle? I've used a few variations of those over the years, mainly for hiking, but they would work well here too.

 

[dreiwhit]

I've never been to counter service where there was a clear path to get up to the food service area. It's pretty solid from the register to the counter with people waiting for their food to be served to them. You'd have to cut/push by people to get up there, and then do the same to get out, after you somehow got past the lines at the registers.

I agree. Every QS restaurant we went to except for 1 was packed near the counters. There's no way you could get up to the counter to ask for water without waiting.

And, I never saw any trays of cups with ice water in them at any QS restaurant I went to. The only drinks made up were the ones for customer's orders. Maybe trays of ice water is a summer time thing?

 

[mickeyluv'r]

My advice is to skip the water bottle entirely. You can get free ice water from any counter service location.

I have to chuckle slightly at this suggestion.

Just back. One morning, I counted how much water we drank. Before noon, we'd each consumed at least 4 16-ounce bottles each!

The cups they DID give us were little 8 ounce cups that were mostly ice. Same thing at Universal: small 8 ounce cups mostly ice. We did enjoy eating the ice.

I should update one thing though: Universal has the new Coke Freestyle machines. Previously, we were able to use the machines for ice water, but now they ONLY work if you buy one of their stupid soda cups. No way did we want soda!

The other BIG thing we discovered was electrolyte water. We happened to buy some on the first day, but didn't drink any until a few days later. We noticed a benefit right away.

Our plan was to bring a 16ounce bottled for each person, plus a larger bottle to share right after we arrived. We refilled if we passed a fountain, and requested (extra) ice water with meals. Some places gave us bigger cups with our meal.

 

[BelleNickel]

We have these. The kids were able to carry their own water. I was tired of being a pack mule.

PS the kids did have to go through bag check with these, believe it or not.

We did this last year, but they let us through the "no bag" line. If it has changed, I'm wondering if we rolled them up in our pockets and carried the water bottles in our hand if we can go through the "no bag" line. I LOVE the "no bag" line!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Since this thread is almost 2 years old, going to close to avoid confusion.

@BelleNickel - Welcome to the DIS! Feel free to start a new thread if you’d like specific responses to your question.