Is this okay to do or no???

[cajun_angel21]

So we have the Disney Dining Plan which will take care of most of our food needs, but my 21 month old daughter drinks nothing but milk. Well, I got the idea to bring milk, bananas, our own drinks, and cereal and snacks, that way we won't have to pay large amounts for things that we eat everyday. Is this okay to do, or will I look like an idiot bringing a cooler to check in?

 

[sukhakuli]

If you are using the DDP, she should be free when you eat, so I wouldn't worry about bringing a lot. When we take my kids to DL, or when we've been to DW we just bring one bowl of finger foods, like dried fruit and cereal, and we use that in a pinch. Usually we just feed them off of our plates when we eat, though. I never buy kids meals for them because they are usually junk so our meals are healthier anyway, and they eat very little anyhow. And my dh and I definitely don't need to clean our plates.

It's been my experience that bringing milk to the parks is more trouble than it's worth. At DL you are not allowed to bring coolers (not sure about DW), and do you really want to haul it around anyway? We bring sippies of water, and then give our kids milk at meal times, and this reaches the three 8 ounce servings of milk a day that children should have.

 

[all4fun]

At DL you are not allowed to bring coolers (not sure about DW), and do you really want to haul it around anyway?

We took three trips to DL (California) over the last several months and prior to that, 4 trips to WDW with DS. We always brought a small soft sided cooler in with us with DS's milk & a small amount of food. Never had a problem. DL and WDW both have an "official" policy of no food allowed, but they never enforce it. People bring in food all the time. And with the security checks, it's not like it's easy to sneak in. No one has ever stopped us from bringing in a small amount of food on every trip.

I do agree it's a bit of a hassle. We only bothered because ds had some eating issues and would only eat certain things. We also had to add CIB to his milk to help increase his caloric intake and it was just easier for us to make sure he was getting enough by bringing it in with us. We usually stay somewhere that has a small fridge w/freezer and pack some "blue ice" packs in with it to keep it cold.

hth.

 

[fakereadhed]

Yes, It's OK.

 

[Evil Queen]

So we have the Disney Dining Plan which will take care of most of our food needs, but my 21 month old daughter drinks nothing but milk. Well, I got the idea to bring milk, bananas, our own drinks, and cereal and snacks, that way we won't have to pay large amounts for things that we eat everyday. Is this okay to do, or will I look like an idiot bringing a cooler to check in?

I always bring my cooler to my room. I bring my own sodas, water, juices.

I think small soft sided coolers in the are ok. I use to carry one in our back packs.

 

[PA Princess]

We just returned from WDW and we traveled with 4 kids...including dd 20 months. She also is primarily a milk drinker, but luckily for us she will also drink water. So in the parks she woudl drink water from a water bottle or from her own sippy cups, and at meals I ordered her a kids cup of milk. Before the trip, my plan was to pay out of pocket for her milk and we order milk at ever table meal with this intention, but now as I type this to you I realize we were never once charged for her milk at any table service restaurant (we had 8 of those). Funny I never caught that until now!

At CS I would just choose milk as one of the kid drinks and have someone share a drink, drink water, or at the resort we would use the mug for one of us. Anyway, we had no need to carry a cooler around in the parks, and I think it would be a hassle I would prefer to avoid if possible. The cost for milk like you would get at a school in the small cardboard boxes is under a dollar, so worth it compared to lugging a cooler on top of everything else there is to lug