Cooler transportation suggestions at the parks without a stroller?

[megster1123]

The thing is, the last several years our kids have been small so bringing 2 larger coolers, and a couple of soft sided reusable grocery bags was simple. We usually had (2) large strollers so we could just use the strollers to move the coolers around. It worked perfectly!

Good lord that's a lot of food. That's all just for the day?

 

[Allen Conway]

Good lord that's a lot of food. That's all just for the day?

1 cooler: large ice block or bag + 10-14 water bottles
1 cooler: medium ice block + 10-12 sandwiches. 5-6 for lunch and 5-6 for dinner.

This is for 5 people for an entire day at the park; 2 meals. It's not actually all that much food. Problem is in FL it gets hot. 90+ degrees over many hours and you need a decent ice pack to keep things cold. This has saved us easily thousands on food and drinks over the last few years though as annual pass holders that attend often.

 

[chicagoshannon]

I'd cut down on the water bottles and just ask for free water at QS locations.

Be careful with food in lockers. When I was a kid (30 years ago or so) we rented a locker for our lunch (probably PBJ sandwiches) and when we returned to eat the lunch it was filled with ants. We never rented a locker again.

 

[Allen Conway]

Be careful with food in lockers. When I was a kid (30 years ago or so) we rented a locker for our lunch (probably PBJ sandwiches) and when we returned to eat the lunch it was filled with ants. We never rented a locker again.

Interesting and good to know As I mentioned above I'm not totally sold on this process and will look to refine it a bit. QS restaurants are nice for H20, but not if I have to wait in line for 20 minutes at Electric Umbrella for example at lunch to get it. I'm really starting to warm up to the idea of using a filtered water bottle and water fountains in the park.

 

[megster1123]

1 cooler: large ice block or bag + 10-14 water bottles
1 cooler: medium ice block + 10-12 sandwiches. 5-6 for lunch and 5-6 for dinner.

This is for 5 people for an entire day at the park; 2 meals. It's not actually all that much food. Problem is in FL it gets hot. 90+ degrees over many hours and you need a decent ice pack to keep things cold. This has saved us easily thousands on food and drinks over the last few years though as annual pass holders that attend often.

What's in the grocery bags? Not trying to be a pain, I just can't imagine lugging that much stuff around all day, I'd be ten kinds of miserable. The savings sounds really nice but I max out with my crossbody bag-thing and a small soft side cooler.

 

[chicagoshannon]

I agree it sounds like a lot to carry around. We usually have 6- 4 adults, 2 kids and take one soft sided cooler. We take a few frozen water bottles, sandwiches for everyone, and usually bags of chips. We also have a couple of frozen yogurt smoothies and an apple or 2, plus granola bars. We usually eat an earlyish lunch and then buy a snack for the kids in the afternoon. We grab dinner on the way back to the condo.

 

[Allen Conway]

What's in the grocery bags? Not trying to be a pain, I just can't imagine lugging that much stuff around all day, I'd be ten kinds of miserable. The savings sounds really nice but I max out with my crossbody bag-thing and a small soft side cooler.

So the grocery bag (if I said it plural earlier, we only have 1) holds the non-perishables. Snacks, fruit, cookies, and chips. The bag doesn't weigh too much.

At one time we had all (3) kids under 5 years old = 2 strollers. Carrying a bunch of stuff was super easy.

 

[Allen Conway]

We grab dinner on the way back to the condo.

That's the kicker right there -> if a family only does (1) meal at the park, it cuts all this in half. Since we drive about 75 minutes to the park, we always make it a full-long day at the park sometimes leaving at 11PM to go home, so we need (2) meals.

 

[jo-jo]

Freeze most of the water bottles and forget the ice. That's half the load right there. Can you bring the the cheese and meat packed separately? The rolls don't need to be chilled. You could get down to one cooler and one bag with rolls, chips, cookies and wipes.

When does your day at disney start? Do you eat breakfast at 8 , then drive and start walking around disney at 11? I'd make sure everyone ate something ( bagel/ poptart/ apple) and drank at least 4 or 5 oz of water before you left the car. That way everyone starts out not thirsty or hungry and a bit less to carry.

But I agree if a stroller works for you, use it. I half want to bring a stroller just for my DH to push around. His balance is not always so great and feels better having something to hold on to.

 

[Allen Conway]

Freeze most of the water bottles and forget the ice. That's half the load right there. Can you bring the the cheese and meat packed separately? The rolls don't need to be chilled. You could get down to one cooler and one bag with rolls, chips, cookies and wipes.

When does your day at disney start? Do you eat breakfast at 8 , then drive and start walking around disney at 11? I'd make sure everyone ate something ( bagel/ poptart/ apple) and drank at least 4 or 5 oz of water before you left the car. That way everyone starts out not thirsty or hungry and a bit less to carry.

But I agree if a stroller works for you, use it. I half want to bring a stroller just for my DH to push around. His balance is not always so great and feels better having something to hold on to.

Our family isn't the greatest at getting up super early so we end up in the park around 11AM. We do eat breakfast at home, but by the time we get to the park the kids start to get hungry.

As to freezing the H2O - I think we would need to sip a bit of water out of each one before freezing. We did that on accident before and sometimes the bottles over expand, break, and then leak once they melt.

 

[Westcoastwild]

Our family isn't the greatest at getting up super early so we end up in the park around 11AM. We do eat breakfast at home, but by the time we get to the park the kids start to get hungry.

As to freezing the H2O - I think we would need to sip a bit of water out of each one before freezing. We did that on accident before and sometimes the bottles over expand, break, and then leak once they melt.

What I'd do is 1 soft sided cooler with food. And then buy an insulated water bottle for each member of the family. It really wasn't a problem for me to fill mine at the park, and presumably if your kids are old enough to do without a stroller, they are old enough to carry around a small thermos. You could always get a sling strap for the water bottles or cinch sacks- those are easy to carry onto rides. I don't do a backpack but I can fit at least a waterbottle, sunscreen, and snacks into a cinch sack.

Or instead of the soft cooler, do non perishable snacks- the kids would probably be fine with that, lol.

 

[jo-jo]

Our family isn't the greatest at getting up super early so we end up in the park around 11AM. We do eat breakfast at home, but by the time we get to the park the kids start to get hungry.

As to freezing the H2O - I think we would need to sip a bit of water out of each one before freezing. We did that on accident before and sometimes the bottles over expand, break, and then leak once they melt.

So if the kids are already a little hungry, I'd give each of them half a sandwich before leaving the car.

I've never had that happen with the water bottles I use (could be brand issues?), but I'd rather open them, take out a bit and freeze than to lug around ice just to keep the bottles cold.

Also instead of all water bottles, how about some juice pouches? I know water bottles are good for opening and closing over and over, but at a meal will the kids drink a full 5 or 6 oz? Juice pouches or something like capri sun roaring water which is just flavored water make great chill packs. My daughter uses them all the time for the kids school lunches. Freeze them and they keep lunch cold for hours.

 

[texasroni75]

I totally understand from a budget perspective the need to bring in the bulk of your food for the day. If it were me, I'd still bring the stroller, as I really don't care what anybody thinks about me pushing one with no kid and having having it full of snacks and waters. But, there's always the "insulated backpack" route.

Like this one: http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cole...gclid=CJno17_G184CFQQKaQodGJwPlQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

Yes, it would be heavy in the morning, but would get lighter as you used up what was inside.

Plus, as the kids get older, each one can have their own small bag with a water or two and their own snacks.

Lockers to me just feel too inconvenient. The time to get to and from the locker at meal time is about what you would spend waiting in a line to get your free ice water. And after seeing several people doing disgusting things at water fountains, I cannot recommend them even using a filtered bottle.

 

[Allen Conway]

And after seeing several people doing disgusting things at water fountains, I cannot recommend them even using a filtered bottle.

Oh wow this is good info. I had planned on using a filtered water bottle, so maybe this is a no-go. Like people dumping junk or spitting or something nasty?

 

[texasroni75]

The water fountains: I've seen multiple people putting their mouths directly on the spigot, once saw a mom wash her baby's bottom in one, and various people dumping nasty looking things from cups, etc into the water fountains (and seeing it splash all over where the water comes out). There's just no knowing what the person before you was doing there.

 

[Allen Conway]

The water fountains: I've seen multiple people putting their mouths directly on the spigot, once saw a mom wash her baby's bottom in one, and various people dumping nasty looking things from cups, etc into the water fountains (and seeing it splash all over where the water comes out). There's just no knowing what the person before you was doing there.

That settles any thought of getting water from the fountains

 

[Hikergirl]

Since you get to the parks around 11 I would just eat lunch at the car before entering, that is one less meals worth of stuff you'd have to lug around.
I would also make everyone carry their own stuff (but that is because I refuse to be a pack mule on MY vacation). I would pack each kid their dinner in their lunchbox, put it their backpack with some snacks for in between meals. I would get those foldable water bottles and fill them up with water from the CS restaurants not the water fountains.
In reality I'd probably say screw it and buy 3 CS meals for everyone to split for dinner.

 

[PennyInPink]

I know fanny packs are old fashioned now, but my kids each had one with their own snacks for the day. A child should be able to carry a couple snacks. More than that is too much eating anyway. They dont need to be poking something into their mouths all the time. And we taught our kids that NO snacks bought at the park was just that. NO. Budgeting like that was the only way that trip was going to happen. A previous poster was right; they can eat lunch before you go in. Refillable bottles are the way to go. Bring flavor packs if you need to. Not all CS places are busy all the time.

 

[xlxo]

I wonder if they will let you in with one of these..... would sticking a Disney logo on the side count?

 

[Allen Conway]

I wonder if they will let you in with one of these..... would sticking a Disney logo on the side count?

HAHAHA! That's awesome. That would be hilarious if I was riding that down Main Street!