Does any one bring any food/drink into the parks

[MikeWazowski]

I always bring my brita water bottle into the parks (well worth the 5 bucks for it). WE usually bring a backpack and put it in a locker. Any good things to eat that I should pack.

I see alot of people walking around with a big can of pringles, string cheese, 2 liter of coke, and a plastic bag of peanuts. Does people kind of look crazy, but it probably save s a little money. Thanks

 

[ducklite]

When I've got little ones with me we always have snacks such as Goldfish, pretzels, granola bars, Cheerios, etc., plus juiceboxes.

When it's just DH and myself and/or our older teen son it's just water. My DH uses his Brita bottle constantly, but DS & I can still taste the "swampiness" of the WDW water using ours, so we just bring Dasani or Poland Spring.

We aren't big snack eaters and when we do want something we nosh on the treats at WDW that we don't normally eat at home. With just the three of us the cost of a snack during the day (which is often shared between us--like I said we aren't snackers) doesn't make much difference on the budget.

Anne

 

[Terk-1]

I bring a bottle of water with me and a small snack (like snack-size bag of cookies), but that's about it.

 

[Tink]

I bring in some stuff for my kids. They are 4 and the baby will be 22 months on our November trip. The four year old eats only Peanut butter, NO JELLY. So I pack bread and peanut butter for her. She is a very picky eater, and will skip meals if she can't find something she likes. I also bring in a sippy cup for the baby, but we wind up buying milk throughout the day.

 

[Dogslider]

I almost hate to admit it but..no, we don't bring anything in even water. This is for 2 reasons, my whole life is budget, refuse to do it on vacation an more importantly I am just to lazy to carry anything around!
Pam

 

[cinmell]

We don't bring any snacks or drinks into the park with us.

 

[Distriv]

Take a waterbottle into the parks. The night before I fill it half-way up with water and freeze it. I fill it up the rest of the way before we head into the parks and I have cold water for the entire day.

 

[LKS]

I carried granola bars and Mickey Gummy fruits (the Betty Crocker version.) Just a few in a waist pack. Nothing elaborate, but it came in handy when the kids got antsy in a line or waiting for a show to start.

 

[gshoemate]

We have 2 children so we pack lots of snacks. We bring a soft side cooler with water, half frozen half not, fruit snacks, smuckers uncrustable pbj sandwiches, pringles, pretzels, peanut butter cheese crackers, well you get the picture. I have seen people bring in all the sandwich fixins, bread, mayo, cheese, meat. Some people come to Disney on a tight budget and bringing your own snacks help out alot. We have also found that alot of the adult meals end up being to much food for us.

 

[kashkdz]

When we go to the parks with our 3 kids (9,6,4) we always bring a backpack filled with little juice containers, pretzels, goldfishes, twizzlers, cookies, bananas, gummies, maybe a few cans of soda, etc. It sure is a little heavy when we first head out, but no sooner do we get to the parks, do the kids get the munchies. I really don't mind, because I see it as wasteful when the kids ask for drinks every few hours because they are 'dying of thirst', and they end up only taking only a few sips, and then it's tossed into the trash. Bringing a few snacks and some drinks really saves us a lot of money throughout the day; and this way we have extra $$$ for other more important stuff (like souveniers, etc).

 

[luvdamouse]

Like the others, we also bring a water bottle (we use a large insulated bottle, fill it with ice and add bottled water), and also juice boxes and snax for the children.

We've never had a problem, and it's very convenient!

Jo

 

[therealgoofy]

Do you just carry the Brita water bottles around or are they attached to your waist with some sort of strap?

What do you do with them when you go on some of the rides like Rock n Roller Coaster? I don't want to have to worry about storing my stuff in a locker or something before every ride.

Any help is appreciated,
tRG

 

[Jackie H.]

When my kids were smaller, we carried more snacks. We would freeze juice boxes and carry them - they would be just right by mid-morning for a snack. Also would carry peanut-butter and crackers, fruit roll-ups - things like that.

After 3 trips to Disney where my daughter got sick everytime for at least a night (once a whole day spend in the room sick), I read on these boards that the water there makes some people sick. The next trip I carried her bottled water and she was fine the whold time. I don't KNOW if that had anything to do with it, but she will ALWAYS have bottled water at WDW when she is with me!

Now that the kids are a little older (12 & 9), I don't carry in so many snacks. They can make it until meal time and they will eat the snacks purchased instead of throwing away most of it. Also, I can afford it better now.

But if you want/need to carry in snacks, go for it. Disney doesn't mind enough to say anything about it - they don't act like they mind at all. Just don't bring in anything in a glass container.

 

[Bete]

I love bringing goodies in when we come to park ourselves for a parade or fireworks. Once you park you dare not move or you'll be protecting the territory the whole time.

If we are ride oriented I tend not to bring much because it's just too hard to drag everything on and off the rides.

Walking around World Showcase seems ideal to bring your own drinks and snacks; so, we do it for that part of Epcot. Animal Kingdom is easy, too. The rides and shows are rather tame; so, it's easier to do it.

Besides, saving a few bucks you don't have to wait in line which is really what we do it for.

 

[tc]

I always take my Brita bottle. I have it in an insulated bottle carrier with a strap. I also bring jerky and 1/2 of an egg bagel (I have to eat protien every few hours). Also I take a couple chewy granola bars. We put these in Stephen's pockets. He always has shorts with great pockets in the legs. You can ask for ice at any place that sells drinks and they'll fill the water bottle for free. I don't carry a back pack so we can avoid the security lines. I've never had a problem carrying my water bottle on any rides.

 

[TINK61]

It depends on whether or not DH is on the trip with us. He doesn't always come. But, when he does - he refuses to buy counter service food in the parks. Too expensive and no quality (in his opinion). We do have one nice sit down meal per day. We make him carry the backpack though, since he insists on bringing food and drink into the park. Supposedly, you can ask any counter service or drink vendor for a cup of ice free of charge.

I too was sort of worried about what others might think, until I noticed a number of families doing the same thing. Now I'm completely comfortable with it.

 

[Michelemouse]

We usually don't bring anything but a couple of water bottles into the park with us. This October, however, we'll be travelling with two other families (Disney first-timers too!!) and we'll have a total of 6 kids with us. That's a lot of snacks/drinks which translates into lots of cash if we buy things in the parks.

I made each of the kids a small backpack and we got small water bottles at Target (the kind with the freeze stick in them). We'll be staying at OKW and will have several snacks available for the kids (granola bars, packs of crackers/cookies, fruit rollups, etc.). Each morning they will be allowed to pick two snacks which they will carry in their backpacks.

I'm sure we'll still be buying some snacks. There are just some things at WDW that you can't pass by! But I think our system will really help to cut the cost of snacking at WDW.