Cracking down on outside food?

[sscamarogirl2000]

I was shocked the first time we went to Disney and you could bring anything in. One day we did pack a cooler but we left it in the car and went back out there and ate and took a break when everyone was hungry. I guess I'm used to going places where you can't bring anything in even a bottle water or snacks for a diabetic. Personally i don't want to have to carry anything so i was bummed when my older daughter called and asked if we could bring anything in because then i was stuck toting a bag with water and snacks in it. I personally think that there should be at least certain places you can eat if you bring your own meal like .....not standing in line pulling out a 4 course meal for your family of 5. Which happened right in front of us waiting in line for monsters Inc. Which then lead to my youngest one complaining that she was hungry. She got a granola bar and told if she wasn't satisfied with that we were leaving the park for the day so she sucked it up, but I'm also a parent that refused to take my kids to Disney until they were old enough to walk all day long without a stroller because i didn't want to have to keep up with it. I save for an entire year and sometimes two years to go to Disney so i go ahead and budget food in. Luckily all 3 of my daughters are old enough now to rotate the bookbag around so no one is stuck all day carrying it.

 

[Smbmoyers]

Me and my family live in the middle of nowhere. Literally the closest fast food restaurant is 2 hours away. So the excuse of "we don't cook on vacation" is very real to me. We go to town maybe twice a month so rather than those 2 out of 31 days I cook breakfast lunch and dinner. That thought aside I have a bird of a three year old who no matter what you order him sometimes doesn't eat. Snacks are important for us. Id be upset if Disney didn't allow us to bring in his goldfishys, cookies, fruit, or veggies.

 

[disneygirl777]

I hope this isn't true . For years we've always only purchased food in the parks (usually QS with a few moderately priced TS meals), however I always found myself eating the QS meals just to eat and not enjoying them in most cases; I loved the TS meals though. So when my dad and I went a few weeks ago we took sandwiches for lunch some of the days as opposed to buying QS and then took the money we saved and put it towards some nicer TS meals. It was wonderful! It also took the stress out of eating QS, no waiting in lines or carrying trays of food around while searching for a table; we just found a nice bench somewhere and ate. Hopefully their crackdown will focus on large coolers and such and not just ziploc bags with sandwiches in them? One can hope haha

 

[brown1990]

It will make a HUGE difference to me. I spend 4-5 weeks at WDW each year and brownbag it about 1/2-3/4 of the time. I know this is an unpopular opinion but I find the WDW restaurants wildly overpriced for what you get. IMHO, the Disney eats are okay but nothing special. I had the QSDP on my last trip and, by the end of the week, had a hard time facing another "Disney" meal. I also did a couple of table service places with friends. My tab at Wave (food was okay, nothing special) was almost $70. I've had breakfast at Be Our Guest several times and when I think about what $25 gets you for breakfast or $70 for dinner in NOLA (even in the French Quarter) compared to BOG and Wave they're not even on the same playing field.



And, for the record-I never purchase food at stadiums and only rarely in museums, other theme parks, etc.

I agree with you and i do this as well when we travel.. and when we are out about in our state. We started driving 2 years ago from iowa instead of flying because its cheaper and we can pack as much as we need in our luggage. And we can leave property to go to a grocery store to stock up our room. so dont be ashamed your just thinking outside of the box to spread your money out more

 

[Jake]

that why they built WDW the way they did. It takes 10 to 15 minutes to get to your car and the same amount of time to get back to the park. You cant go back to your car to eat..... They want to make it difficult to take food in. Then comes the insulated back pack. So you can easily bring some type of food in.

 

[Googelibear]

Even when we did come with the kids, we never brought food nor drink, including water, to the parks. It's part of our vacation to buy what we want at the parks.
Bringing in food to me is the equivalent to bringing food to a restaurant.

 

[mom2rtk]

Even when we did come with the kids, we never brought food nor drink, including water, to the parks. It's part of our vacation to buy what we want at the parks.
Bringing in food to me is the equivalent to bringing food to a restaurant.

We don't bring food or drinks into the parks with us, but I just don't see it as the same as a restaurant.

 

[HopperFan]

that why they built WDW the way they did. It takes 10 to 15 minutes to get to your car and the same amount of time to get back to the park. You cant go back to your car to eat..... They want to make it difficult to take food in. Then comes the insulated back pack. So you can easily bring some type of food in.

Not true. When the MK was built there was a picnic area at TTC for families to go eat their picnic meals.

I'm sure they figured they could either send guests out to eat their large picnic, including drinks and desserts and make virtually no money from these guests.
OR
Let those few bring in their lunch, many of whom will buy drinks and with the money they save buy lots of overpriced snacks.

Picnic areas in the other three will be even easier to get to and more tempting.

 

[danygirl]

Bringing out own food makes such a difference. Saves our budget and lets us eat what we want when we want. I am diabetic, I can honestly say that no place has ever denied me the opportunity to bring in my own food. Too much liability for them. I have never had to bring a doctors note, usually just call ahead and find out the procedure.

 

[akadada]

Not true. When the MK was built there was a picnic area at TTC for families to go eat their picnic meals.

I'm sure they figured they could either send guests out to eat their large picnic, including drinks and desserts and make virtually no money from these guests.
OR
Let those few bring in their lunch, many of whom will buy drinks and with the money they save buy lots of overpriced snacks.

Picnic areas in the other three will be even easier to get to and more tempting.

Agreed. According to the book Project Future, in addition to wanting a lot of room to grow, Disney also wanted a massive greenbelt around the parks so that when approaching the kingdom the experience wasn't deteriorated by the cheap T-shirt stores and other tourist spots that diluted the value of being onsite. He regretted not buying more land around DL because of this issue.

 

[Virtucomp]

My feeling is that this rumor is getting bigger than the real story. Along with all the other safety measures Disney must put in place they are looking to reduce the giant coolers people bring into the park. A small soft side cooler with no glass bottles is allowed. A giant rolling hard side cooler that may contain unacceptable devices is not and should not be allowed. Look around the news and see the issues Disney and Universal must deal with today. Any changes they are making are to keep guests coming by making them feel safe in the park. Remember it was only a few months ago a guy got into Universal with a gun.

 

[Googelibear]

We don't bring food or drinks into the parks with us, but I just don't see it as the same as a restaurant.

It isn't the same as a restaurant - I could not, at that moment, think of a better comparison. LOL.

 

[Don Duck]

Bringing out own food makes such a difference. Saves our budget and lets us eat what we want when we want. I am diabetic, I can honestly say that no place has ever denied me the opportunity to bring in my own food. Too much liability for them. I have never had to bring a doctors note, usually just call ahead and find out the procedure.

During hotter months, we bring a few small resealable bottles of Gatorade (semi-frozen). Since we do not drink Coke or iced tea, we sometimes bring small resealable bottles of Pepsi (but have since sworn off soft drinks). Since Disney counter-service restaurants will gladly provide free cups of ice water, I do not see any issue with bringing our own bottled water (again, resealable, and partially frozen). We typically bring a few small snacks to tide us through the lunch rush.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

For us, being allowed to bring in outside food is much more about convenience than cost. If my children get hungry at 11 am but our ADR is not until 12:30, I can whip out a granola bar or a bag of cereal and tide them over for another hour or so. If I don't have anything to give them, then the kids are uncomfortable and unhappy, which means we are all uncomfortable and unhappy. Unhappy guests are not good for Disney.

Sometimes the kids get very thirsty, but waiting in line for a simple cup of water can take a while. If I have juice boxes or water bottles with me, I can quench their thirst without having to wait in a long, hot line.

Disney does not need their guests to be any grumpier or more uncomfortable than the already are. Taking away the ability to bring in food or drink could result in more unhappy guests, which certainly has a monetary value to the company.

 

[Tiffany_m15]

Things can always change but for anyone that is concerned about this, I can tell you personally we brought in a backpack full of food, sandwiches, and drinks and had no issues about 3 weeks ago. This is what we brought in: ziploc bags with PB&J sandwiches, orange slices, individual potato chip bags, granola bars, individual snack cakes, frozen water bottles, and Brita water bottles filled with ice water. We stayed the whole day and only bought one thing (a dole whip, who can resist, lol). It definitely is a budget saver. Actually we had to leave and come back in so we had two separate security people check our bag and nobody said anything. Hope this helps anyone that is nervous about bringing food in.

 

[DopeyDame]

Last time we brought in some food, the security guard asked if he could have some of the snacks. My 3 year old said sure and tried to give him some

 

[Magnetgirl25]

We have always brought bottled watter in the park and some juice boxes and some snack items. That's it. If will not fit in the bags it doesn't come with us. Who in their right mind would want to pull around a full size cooler at Disney. People ruin it for themselves. Why take advantage of it?! A lot of ameusment parks do not allow anything but one bottle of water per person. Disney is being nice about it personally.

 

[Vijoge]

Not to compare our Six Flags park with Disney Parks, but ours in STL does not allow anything. I brought in a bag of goldfish for our youngest when she was about 3, and they made us take it out and put it in the car. I don't know what they do about people with health/allergy issues.

We're in the Chicago area and Six Flags in Gurnee will allow me to bring in a moderate amount of snacks due to my having diabetes. It's never been a problem. However, we do have to leave our cooler with our meal food in the car, just like everyone else.

 

[PollyannaMom]

(Disclaimer - I've only read the first and last pages.)

I've never brought in a picnic lunch, but I have had "emergency cranky kid" (or parent ) snacks - like a granola bar or a pack of fruit chews - in my bag and never had a problem. I think reasonableness is the key here. Pulling around giant coolers does seem like a crowd hazard, but a baggie full of goldfish crackers in your purse seems like good planning.

Hey, maybe there's a money-making idea for Disney here? "Picnic with _____" (different characters different days of the week). Build a picnic area, stock it with characters, and provide some sort of safe way to leave your cooler (along the lines of a coat check - or even a "Mini Magical Express"! - put it on a tram near the gate and it magically appears at the picnic site) and charge a flat fee per group. - You'd pull in people who don't feel table service is in the budget, and people who would rather pack something specific than buy counter service...Hmmmmmm?

 

[diskat]

We were in line at soaring and a family in front of us sat down and pulled out a meal for their children. The meal consisted of a little crockpot type container and plates and silverware. We kinda just stood there amazed. I have no problem with this but not in a moving line
.