Grocery Shopping Help

[MagicPixieDust]

We will be in Anaheim in a couple of weeks and are currently trying to work out the best way of picking up some groceries - just water, juice, a few snacks etc. We'll be staying 3 nights at the Desert Inn & Suites and won't have a car...will be arriving by Disneyland Resort Express from LAX sometime in the evening after a transatlantic flight which lands at 4pm.

For ease, I was hoping to arrange a grocery delivery from Vons to our hotel room, however when I went to 'checkout' on their website to reserve our delivery slot it seems there is a problem with using a non-US credit card as the zip code does not match up (hotel details are fine for the delivery address but not on the payment details screen).

Has anyone from the UK, or perhaps elsewhere in Europe, ever managed to find a way around the billing address issue? I found a number of old posts where Canadians in particular were having the same problem but managed to find a way round it by formatting their post code in a certain way, however this doesn't seem to work for UK addresses.

Assuming the grocery delivery idea is totally out, what are our other options? Is there anywhere within walking distance where we can at least pick up some bottled water and basic snacks for the room without having to walk back too far carrying it? Or how much hassle (and $) would it be to head somewhere a little further out in a taxi? I know we'll be pretty exhausted by the time we arrive at the hotel so looking for the most convenient option without breaking the bank!

Hoping someone can help

 

[skiingfast]

If it is just basics go to the 7eleven at the corner of Harbor and Katella. This is the Southeast corner of DLR. This is about a 600 meter walk.

You can also take the OCTA bus down to a Target on South Harbor drive if you need more selection and better pricing.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

As someone in Canada, I've had similar frustrations. I hate to suggest it because of the long-distance phone charges if there's no toll-free option, but sometimes calling and asking for help can get you someone who knows how to get around the issue. But sometimes not. *sigh*
But I would hope that even if the online order cannot be accomplished, that a reasonable grcoery store could still take an order from you personally over the phone. After all, if you used a Visa or Mastercard at the store in the checkout aisle, the location of the billing address doesn't matter at all, so there should be a way to place an order without needing a US ZIP.
Meanwhile, I highly doubt a grocery store would have this, but some sites like bestbuy.com have special billing addresses they have international customers use with a workable ZIP to enter for their order. I had to dig and dig to find it in the billing and shipping pages, but it was there.
I'm not sure where the nearest proper grocery stores are, but there is a Target south of the park (about a mile?), and that could be a reasonable taxi ride. It scares me to think, but just buyng all your water, soda pop, and basic snacks with the added price of the taxi ride could still be a savings over what they charge in the parks for those items!

GL!
AJ

 

[AussieDisneyNut]

When we stayed at the Grand Californian in March this year, we ordered from Vons and paid with a pre-paid ANZ (Australian Bank) travel VISA card in US dollars. We had no problems with the website accepting this card. Check with your local bank and see if you can get a similar pre-paid VISA card, it worked for us and is a great way to lock in the exchange rate.

 

[MagicPixieDust]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I was going to try the pre-paid card route, but decided to see if using a Visa debit rather than credit card would work instead...and it did! I used the hotel's zip code and unlike a credit card purchase it didn't seem to matter - very strange

I think there will be a small fee from my bank for using the card to make a foreign transaction but should only be $1-$2 so worth it for the convenience. I know we will be exhausted after such a long day of travelling and the thought of having to leave our hotel again to buy groceries was something I was definately not looking forward to!

Anyway, just thought I would pass on the info in case it helps anyone else having similar problems in the future.