Fridge for Cooler?

[calpete]

We are at the AKL for 13 nights at the end of October. There are six of us in what we hope will be connecting two rooms. We would like to save some money (and time) by eating breakfast and some of our suppers at the hotel. A fridge costs $10/day to rent and one can be had at the WalMart for $80 new! We will not likely want to cart a newly purchased fridge back to California on a plane---seems like a waste, however. Perhaps we can get by with a cheap styrofoam cooler if the resort will allow us to fill it up once or twice a day from the ice machine. Any recommendations from Disney veterens for a first time family?

 

[christianweecare]

We always bring a rolling cooler. Since you are flying you might want to consider one of those collapsible ones that can be folded into your luggage. DH usually makes an ice run each morning before we head out.

 

[halfway there]

Yes, we always used a cooler till we bought a tiny fridge. The cooler was better! The tiny fridge is noisy and doesn't even hold as much as the cooler. It does keep things colder than when we forget to put ice in the cooler though!
A cheap styrofoam one would last you while you're there then be easy to throw away when you're done. I recommend Ziploc bags to keep ice from spilling out once it melts. Fill up a gallon size or two morning and night then lay them on top because that keeps everything below it colder. It helps to start with things that are already cold too. Don't add a lot of warm things all at once. HTH

 

[KathyFP]

Where did you get the fold up coolers. I never thought about this as an option. It would save the cost of a fridge.

 

[PTarbay]

I like the fold up cooler idea.It would save you from having to carry a cooler through the hotel.

 

[christianweecare]

I have seen the collapsible coolers at Walmart. I'm sure other places would have them, as well.

 

[castleri]

Got one of mine at SAMs Club and one at the clearance table in CVS - We have also put beverages in the sink or wastebasket ( if they are plastic) and filled that with ice on occasion, Now staying at DVC it's no longer an issue.

 

[Tigger Fans!]

Where did you get the fold up coolers. I never thought about this as an option. It would save the cost of a fridge.

You can purchase a collapsible cooler just about anywhere! I've seen them at Wal Mart, Kmart, Target, Shopko, they even sell them at my local grocery store. I purchased one a few months ago and absolutely LOVE it! We'll be taking ours to WDW in December!

TTFN!

 

[KathyFP]

Thanks. I am going to go looking!

 

[jdads2]

We had a collapsable cooler when we visited the Poly. It was great, saved lots of time and some $$. Unfortunately I broke it while trying to move it around when it was full. Luckily we had planned on leaving it since we knew we would have more valuable souvineers to bring home.

 

[Cameo]

We used a collapsible cooler on our recent trip and DH just filled it with ice a couple times a day. It worked okay for what we wanted - pop, water, milk for cereal. We had previously used a stryofoam cooler and it broke on day 3. The down side is that you have to pack the collapsible cooler, but it's cheaper than the fridge so we'll suffer. Ours was $15 at Wal-Mart.