Fridge or cooler?

[missypie]

I love having an in-room fridge on vacation...but I hate that I could buy two dorm sized fridges at Target for what it will cost to rent one for 10 days at one of the deluxe resorts. Wha tis your philosophy? Do you pay the money, thinking "What's another $100 compared to what we're paying?" or do you fill a cooler with ice every morning and evening? (We'll be flying, so we can't bring a big one.)

 

[drogerstn]

We take a cooler and add ice as needed. The resort refrigerators are very small and as you already mentioned, cost $$$.

(We'll be flying, so we can't bring a big one.)

We take a full-size (54 quart), hard-sided cooler with us whether we drive or fly. If we fly, we have used duct tape and we have used luggage straps (not both at the same time) to secure the cooler. The last time we flew, we used luggage straps. We use the cooler as luggage when flying (or leave it empty) and then buy groceries and ice after we arrive in Orlando.

 

[Uncle Albert]

We also carry a cooler. Even in concierge. My wife only likes ice cold cokes and having them is a big part of our vacation because it has become a tradition for us to sit on the balcony and enjoy one every evening. Even a smaller cooler can hold a fair amount of drinks in fact it makes the cooler work better and the ice lasts longer if it is jam-packed. We only put ice in it once a day in the morning.

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

If I had rented a refrigerator for evry trip I made, I could have taken twenty more trips with the money...plus the ones they give you don't hold that much...So I always bring my cooler. Usually I only have to add ice once a day.

 

[poohandwendy]

We take a soft sided cooler that collapses and velcros together to about the size of a small attache case. It has a plastic liner that zips into the inside (extra waterproofing). Bought it Sams Club for about $30. It is perfect for air or road travel...takes up practically no space. But when you open it, it is about the size of a small refrigerator. I would say it could hold (8) 2 liter bottles standing upright....

It also has 4 collapsible can holders in the lid and comes in smaller sizes from what I remember...

we only have to fill it with ice once a day.

 

[poohandwendy]

Another nice thing about it is that you can fill it with clothing or whatever for the trip home, it is sturdy enough to check as luggage on the plane...

 

[skiwee1]

I'll be the lone one and vote for a fridge. Whether we drive or fly we always rent the fridge. I can't be bothered with filling and emptying a cooler all day. With going to WDW 30 days a year that comes out to a lot of fridges I could buy but so what. With all the money spent on a hotel I could have bought a condo someplace!

 

[karemore]

I didn't like the cooler. I didn't think it kept the milk cold enough, and I got tired of dealing with the ice every day.

Next trip I'm either going to spring for the fridge, or I'm going to buy one of those portable mini fridges.

We'll be able to use that every time we stay someplace without a fridge.

Karen

 

[photobob]

For $62 you can purchase a Coleman electric cooler at Walmart. it is 40 quart and comes with a power cord for your car and an a/c power cord for the room. Generally the way these things work is they will keep things 30 degrees cooler than the surrounding air. We've got a Igloo electric coller we bought several years ago and have used it for four trips to WDW as well as several other vacations and it has paid for itself many times over..

 

[jody]

We fly and buy a styrofoam cooler for about $4 when we get there. We put ice in it once a day and it keeps our soda and beer really cold. It's very inexpensive and nice to have.

 

[dpic]

Originally posted by skiwee1
With all the money spent on a hotel I could have bought a condo someplace!

That's my thinking, too. We are going to Wilderness Lodge for 9 nights. We are going to spend a lot of money, so I'm not going to save a few bucks to mess with ice and soggy bottles, milk cartons, etc.

 

[SonicLogic]

Originally posted by jody
We fly and buy a styrofoam cooler for about $4 when we get there. We put ice in it once a day and it keeps our soda and beer really cold. It's very inexpensive and nice to have.

\

Also, most people leave those styrofoam coolers in their rooms when they check out. Mousekeeping collects these up and stores them for later use. If you need a cooler, just ask one of the Mousekeepers and I bet they will be able to give you one!

Just leave it behind for the next guest in need!

 

[TN Traveler]

We had a cooler and glad we did! Filled it once a day and was perfect. When we went to Puerto Rico 7 yrs ago we bought a little styrofoam cooler and used it to store lunchmeat, Pepsis and Mayo. Was perfect. Just filled it w/ice every day and saved major $$$ on breakfast and lunch. We've done this on several trips.

 

[tmli]

Just a tip, if you don't want to deal with soggy food, etc from melted ice....bring large ziplock freezer bags from home and fill those with ice when you need it. When melted empty out and refill.

 

[dkrause716]

We have done it both ways. In January we stayed at The Grand Floridian-they give you a fridge for free (as they should!) We are going for 10 days in July and will stay half the time at WL and the other half at Beach CLub. I really don't feel like spending $100 extra for a fridge so we are taking our collapable cooler. It folds flat and is very sturdy. I will put ice in Ziploc bags so that we don't have to deal with water sloshing around. We've done this before and it worked great!

 

[tjmw2727]

We also use a cooler, most times a styrafoam $2.-$4. model bought at the grocery stop. I just can't pay the 11.65 a day esp if its a stay of 4 or more days.

I keep the soda warm and pour over ice as needed then I buy the juice pouches for the kids or OJ in a plastic container. You can also get the milk in plastic jugs with a screw on top - takes care of spills and leaks. If you get juice boxes just put them in a zip lock and only chill a few at a time as they do get very soggy. We also use the zip locks for vegies and left overs.

One good icing in the am and one in the pm and everything stays very cold. I also try and keep fresh clean ice in the ice bucket for our drinks.

TJ

 

[jawbones]

I like having a way to keep things cool in my room, too. However, since we started staying onsite, it has become less necessary. I assumed that most people purchased the refillable mugs at their resorts. I know that people have some things other than beverages to keep cool, but most people in this thread are talking about sodas and other drinks. Just my 2 cents.

 

[ugadog99]

Since we drive, we do things a bit differently. I bring my own dorm size fridge. The things we don't want getting soggy I put in the fridge. For the can drinks and juice, we use our cooler. I know it would be easier to just rent the fridge from Disney, but I just can't justify the ridiculous price.

 

[tjmw2727]

Originally posted by jawbones
I like having a way to keep things cool in my room, too. However, since we started staying onsite, it has become less necessary. I assumed that most people purchased the refillable mugs at their resorts. I know that people have some things other than beverages to keep cool, but most people in this thread are talking about sodas and other drinks. Just my 2 cents.

We don't care for the taste of the water at WDW at all. IMHO even the soda tastes bad so I like to get bottled soda at the grocery and keep it in the room. So Mugs don't work for us as I won't drink the soda and my girls prefer milk water or juice.

We like to have breakfast in the room so we keep milk and juice to avoid a trip to the food court. It saves $ and time!

TJ

 

[drogerstn]

A few additional comments:

For the price of a refillable mug, I can purchase around 70 12-ounce cans of coke. I won't drink near that much during a 7-10 day trip. In addition, its more convenient to have cokes available in our room rather than walking or driving to the food court.

I prefer a hard-sided cooler over the styrofoam. It seems wasteful to use the styrofoam coolers since they are basically throw-away items and we already have a large hard-sided cooler.

I prefer a hard-sided cooler over the soft-side. We have a soft-side which is very convenient for short excursions, but it does not insulate near as well as our hard-side cooler. For a long-term stay, the better insulation means less maintenance during our stay. Also, the hard-side has a drain plug which makes it easier to get rid of melted ice (water).

Ziplocs come in handy and can make dealing with the melted ice easy no matter what type of cooler you use.