Collapsible cooler - pros and cons?

[Cameo]

Has anyone used a collapsible cooler in your room? Please give me pros and cons. Several times we have rented a fridge, but the price keeps going up!! My kids are getting bigger and we no longer have baby food, bottles, etc. so I thought we could get by with some ice in a cooler. Last trip, we bought a styrofoam cooler, but it got a hole in it after a couple days. How big of a collapsible would you suggest? I saw a 48 can size at Wal-Mart for $14. What do you think?

 

[Aubrey]

Our experience has been good with collapsable coolers. When starting from home, we use frozen capri sun drinks (as they melt they make a nice slushie drink for the kids) and frozen water bottles as ice. The two cons are that there is condensation as the ice melts so the cooler should be placed on a tile floor or a towel to protect water sensitive surfaces, and that it is inconsiderate to empty the hotel's ice machine to fill your cooler.

 

[TZMOM]

I bought one several years ago to take on my son's skateboarding trips and used it last year and will again this year. Every night we would use a bucket of ice (we didn't empty the hotel's ice machine) and get a pint of milk from the gift shop for breakfast the next morning. I kept some other stuff in there, but can't remember what it was right now. I wouldn't keep baby formula/bottles in it - not sure the temperature would stay constantly low - but for what we needed it for, I was glad I brought it.

 

[Cinders]

that it is inconsiderate to empty the hotel's ice machine to fill your cooler.

I doubt filling one cooler will empty an ice machine and it is there for guests to use. Obviously the cooler will have items in it and they can either get a bucket of ice or fill a couple ziploc bags. The cooler will also hold any gifts you've bought on your trip home.

 

[Aubrey]

Oh, for heavan's sake, this is not a debate. I didn't say not to use the hotel's ice machine. I said to be considerate and not to empty it. Some machines are high capacity, some are not. Use your judgment and remember you are not the only one there with a cooler or other ice needs.

 

[LKS]

The collapsible coolers leak a lot worse than a regular cooler, well, except for the styrofoam cooler with the hole! We take a big regular cooler, but we travel by car.

I will say that our coolers stay much colder with something BIG frozen in them - we use half-gallon plastic milk cartons with screw-on tops and fill them not quite full and freeze them before the trip. They make good drinking water, but you could probably do the same with other beverages. We don't because we find that they don't mix back up right until they are all the way thawed - unlike water, which you can pour off bit by bit. I like the idea of the frozen capri suns too. Have they ever burst in the freezer? That would be my only hesitation.

 

[HLFDZN]

I freeze them regularly for lunches and have never had one freeze. When we flew to Florida in 2000 we packed a hard cooler and filled it with cereal snacks and dry goods ( airlines do not allow liquid) and duct taped it closed. Now... today security is a lot tighter and you might want to check with the airlines before you do it. After we stored our milk and drinks in the cooler all week, we packed it with extra stuff we had picked up that did not fit into suitcases. It worked really well and we did not have the extra cost of buying breakfast or even milk each day at the resort.
We did 10 days at All Star Movies in 2 rooms with 8 people for about $6000.00 and that included flying. My food bill was a mere $800.00 for the whole 10 days and we ate at a lot of nice restaraunts in the parks. We did limit our eating out to once a day at lunch time. I also packed a hot plate and toaster in an extra suitcase and we cooked light dinners of mac and cheese and ramen noodles... We had a ball!!!! Melissa

 

[drogerstn]

We take a hard-sided cooler if we drive or fly. Just as HLFDZN mentioned, we don't pack ice or drinks in it when flying; we don't think its worth all the extra weight. We use the cooler like another piece of luggage which has good protection for items stored inside.

Our soft-side cooler is convenient for short use, but it does not have near the insulation that the hard-side does. Less ice is needed with the hard-side. There is little or no condensation from the hard-side due to better insulation. The hard-side has a drain plug which makes it easy to just dump ice in and drain water out. We use a ziploc type bag when using our soft-side.

 

[Mic]

We noticed lots of people carrying(or wheeling)in coolers at Blizzard Beach 2 months ago. I also noticed a man wheeling a collapsible cooler around Epcot on July 4th, but I'd always heard that was not allowed. The next week, I purchased a collapsible at Walmart for less than $20. The tag on it stated it holds 56 or 72 cans(I forget which), and it folds up really nicely. I've used it twice, and it has never leaked. I even forgot to empty it after a cheerleading competition, and the thing sat in my utility room for 2 days without leaking. It measure @ 12 x 12 inches when folded out, and will hold 2 gallon jugs and a few water bottles easily. I like it because I can roll it anywhere I am going, unlike the huge Coleman we take with us on trips that I leave in the van. I have also used the frozen Capri-Sun pouches as ice packs with good results.

 

[MEM]

I bought both of my collapsible coolers at yard sales -- one holds 24 cans, the other is twice that size. I have taken the smaller one to WDW 3 times and it works well -- very heavyweight waterproofed canvas exterior and silver mylar-type insulated interior with clear zip out lining...a steal at $1. I pack it flat inside a large suitcase on the way down so it stays clean and check it as luggage on the way back (with dirty undies in it!). We use it for bottled water, juiceboxes (put these in a ziplock bag first or else they swell), milk from the giftshop, jam and cream cheese...we have a Tiffany Towncar grocery stop at Publix first. We also put the icecubes in a ziplock and dump that as the ice melts. The room the cooler takes up in my suitcase is used for souvenirs on the way back. In the resort room, we keep the cooler on a towel, but it has never leaked. Don't like the idea of putting it in the tub with all the chemicals they use to clean it.

Now is the best time of the year to buy since every type of cooler I have seen is heavily discounted. I have also seen them at thrift shops and they clean up well with hot soapy water.