Ice

[twinscandc]

Is there an Ice Machine like at the resorts or would we have to buy bags of ice at the store in FW?

We will be camping in a Coleman Pop Up with only a small fridge.

We would like to have a cooler for soda's, etc!!

 

[Pop-up-family]

There are ice machines at each bath house, however they take 8 quarters only ($2.00) and the bags are only 7lbs, and if your lucky you'll get the full bag. Some of the machines only filled our bag half or 3/4 full. We went to the Meadow Trading post and complained and they gave us back $2.00. There is also a machine at the Meadow Trading post, and they are real nice about giving you quarters for the machines.
I personally think the ice is a big rip-off. For the price you should get a full 10 lb. bag at least. When you only get 7 or less lbs. , it melts as fast as you put it in the cooler.
I think we spent at least $5.00 or more a day on ice with temps in the upper 90's. And that was just the drink cooler. The food was in an extreme cooler and not opened as much, so we only had to add ice one time in 5 days.

I would highly suggest the Coleman Extreme cooler.

 

[MikeWazowski]

Jsut because campers probably use more ice then people at the hotels that gives them the right to charge for it. WDW should just give free ice at Fort Wilderness just like they do w/ all of there hotels.

 

[Memph1s]

We have not bought Ice at FW in months as we have only been doing long weekend trips. However the machines used to give you about 9lbs of ice to be put in a 7 lb bag. We always took a garbage bag so there would not be any waste. Also know that you need to have whatever you are catching the ice in under the dispenser and ready BEFORE you push in the quarters.

I whole hardily agree and endorse the Igloo Ultra Cold and Coleman Extreme coolers. They really do keep ice much longer than regular coolers. Sam's has the Igloo Ultra 50 for 19.95, a great deal.

A big part of the problem with the ice machines at FW is being a vending machine that has to dump lose ice into a bag the ice is only at 32* and so starts to melt right away. If they set the machine to a colder temp. the ice would refreeze in lumps that would not dispense well.

I make my own ice at home and keep it in the deep freezer at about -20* and it keeps much longer than ice you get at the store. I also use block ice in the food cooler. We spent 10 days in late July at FW and I started with a 40 lb block of ice in the food cooler and only added 1 bag of FW ice and I still got home with about a 10 lb block. This was in an Igloo ultra cold cooler that sat out in the heat under the awning for 10 days.

Free Ice would be a very nice perk. I would even be happy with paying $1 a bag to keep down the waste.

If you are lucky and around when the guy comes to service the machine send you kids over to watch. We got 3 or 4 bags of free ice over our 10 day stay.

 

[Rhonda]

We bring 2 coolers. In one of them, we put a 10-pound block of dry ice before we leave home. We keep the meats, milk, eggs, mayo, and other perishables in there. The dry ice lasts about 4 days, depending on how much we open & close the lid.

In the other cooler, we keep ice cubes and pop & things that won't spoil or melt when the ice melts. We just keep dumping the water and refilling that one through the week.

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

My trick for packing our cooler is to freeze my extra cartons of milk (I'll buy the 1 qt size for the trip). I will also save empty bottled water bottles, fill them 4/5 with water (or Crystal Light) and freeze those (you can drink them when they thaw). All extra hot dogs and meats get frozen at home. I'll freeze blocks of ice in old Cool Whip containers and dump those in too.

We also purchased one of those ultra coolers this year ... the sides are thinner so we were able to put WAY more stuff in than our old cooler.

We probably didn't need to start adding ice until the 4th day and then it was just one bag a day after that. If we went off-site for any reason, I'd buy ice at the gas station/grocery.

Unfortunately, nothing is going to be as good as what you can do at home. The ice companies don't freeze the ice to the same temps so they start melting sooner. The "cubes" are usually hollow so they don't last as long either.

Just one of the downsides to not having a 'fridge in the camper.

 

[sltrawick]

As far as the ice that comes out of the machine. We usually get more than a bag full. So, I will fill up the bag they provide and then have a Wal-mart bag handy to take whatever else comes from the machine. We have always ended up with more than the bag will hold.

This time though, we are just bringing our mini fridge and using it instead of buying ice. At $2.00 a bag....it gets to be very expensive. And I agree with MikeWazowski. All the hotels offer free ice...why not FW?

 

[murphyb74]

Is there a convenience store near FW that sells large bags of ice cubes and block ice? We use a 50 qt. Coleman Extreme on wheels for ice cubes and just bought a 100 qt Igloo MaxCold that we want to put block ice in once we set up camp. Thanks!

 

[tim5055]

Originally posted by sltrawick
At $2.00 a bag....it gets to be very expensive. And I agree with MikeWazowski. All the hotels offer free ice...why not FW? [/B]

Obviously it's economic. Think about it from thier point of view. At a hotel, very few people have coolers or need ice thus they can get away with fewer smaller ice machines.

At FW everyone has a cooler and needs ice. If they provided it for free they would need several very large ice machines at every comfort station. Even reducing the price would increase the ice sales to the point that they would need mor or larger machines.

I actually would rather they sell blocks and lager bags for a reasonable price athe the meadows trading post. If 7-11 can sell it that way and make a profit, why not FW?

 

[sltrawick]

I totally agree. I would much rather spend a bit more on ice and get a bigger bag then what they offer at FW (or any other campground for that matter)

 

[murphyb74]

So, the 7-11's down there sell block ice? Does anyone know where the closest one to FW is located?

 

[sltrawick]

The last time we were there, the Meadow's trading post sold block ice. That was last summer.

 

[Disney Campers]

Bumping