keeping things cold.

[TripletDad]

What have people done to keep things cold in the room? Rented refridgerator, used a cooler and ice, or something else that has worked for you. Thanks.

TripletDad.

 

[carene]

When we have stayed in rooms with no refridgerator, we tried using ice buckets, but by the time we got back from the parks etc, the ice had melted and the stuff had gone warm.

So mostly, we just left the air conditioning on all day and put all our drinks, snacks and stuff beside that.

Not perfect, but better than nothing!

Carene

 

[barbnbrian]

We bought a styrofoam coaler during our grocery stop and would fill it with ice twice a day. We would only put in the amount of water bottles/drinks we would need for a day at a time.

 

[Susiesnowflake]

We, too, use a styrofoam cooler. Much cheaper than renting a refrigerator, and things always stay cold. We fill it with ice in the a.m. and again at night. On another post, someone recommended putting the ice in ziploc bags. That would make emptying and refilling much easier. Although we buy a styrofoam cooler each visit and just leave it there when checking out, others have said housekeeping could provide you with a used one, if you just ask. I'm sure many get left behind.

 

[carene]

Although we buy a styrofoam cooler each visit and just leave it there when checking out, others have said housekeeping could provide you with a used one, if you just ask. I'm sure many get left behind.

Thanks for the tip about this!
We will have to try it next time!!

Carene

 

[Ratpack]

We just brought our igloo cooler on wheels from home. Good place to pack snacks for the trip. Then at the resort, I would just wheel it out to the ice machine once a day and fill'er up. Had cold stuff all week. Even kept milk in there.

 

[stephaniebatesjones]

My family does several things.

We do take the collapsible cooler. Since it collapses it travels easy, and when we get to the hotel we fill it with ice (put the ice in zip-locks) for big items.

We also use mini-desktop fridges for smaller items (juice boxes, medicine, cheese, milk, etc.). I posted on the budget board that these mini fridges are on sale at wal-greens and wal-greens.com for 29.99. This is a GREAT BUY. This fridge also heats. It comes with car adapter and wall adapter so you can use it in the car and hotel. My family has 3 and we plug them up in the room instead of renting a fridge. Works great. Just remember to take plenty of zip-locks because you will have to stack stuff. If you buy 2 or 3 of these at this great price it will pay for itself compared to what you would rent a fridge for. Then you can use them over again on future trips or even in your home. I think it's worth it.
This price is only good untill saturday April 5th so get it fast.

Hope this helps

steph

 

[NandP]

Buy a CHEAPIE $3 styro cooler and leave when you check out...

By the way... use Ziplock bags (good ones) to hold the Ice, it will minimize the mess inside the cooler.....

Renting a fridge costs more than buying new cold food/drinks every day! Not worth it IMHO...

Good Luck

 

[626]

I always bring our biggest cooler. Fill it with ice each morning and it keeps food cold all day.

 

[dsanner106]

The new silver colemen coolers are guaranteed to keep ice for 5 days, and did for 7 on my trip. Wal-mart has them on a good sale this week for19.95. They are the ideal way to go.

Dsanner106

 

[Limmer]

We flew and used transfers our first trip so a grocery stop to buy a cooler did not happen but we bought some drinks in the gift shop (expensive but convenient to have in the room) and just filled one of our sinks with ice and a few drinks. Then we just had to pull the plug when we were done. We did have double sinks so it was not inconvenient (POR).

 

[dahess]

Great advice guys, thanks!

 

[mamabear3710]

We drive so we use our cooler that plugs into the cigarette lighter and then use the adapter to plug into the hotel room. We also brought a regular cooler and kept it filled with ice. We had plenty of room for milk, juice, cold cuts, cheese sticks, yogurt and of course, wine and beer.

 

[MEM]

I have 2 collapsible coolers that I picked up at yard sales for $1 and $3 each, new and nearly new On the plane trip down, they travel flat in a suitcase. We have Tiffany drop us at Publix for 30 minutes and load up on juice boxes, bottled water, Parmalat milk, jelly, sometimes yogurt. I don't fuss with lunchmeat and mayo and such. Either put the icecubes in baggies or the juiceboxes in baggies or else the juiceboxes swell up like crazy from the moisture. I usually make one evening trip to the ice machines to replace what has melted, even though the icewater does an excellent job of cooling.

On the trip home, the coolers get filled with dirty laundry(in plastic bags) and checked liked luggage. Leaves room in the carryons for those all important souvenirs.

 

[bunnyfoo]

Are the styrofoam coolers available at most grocery stores? It sounds like that we could get one in the hotel but I don't want to take a chance... We're going to be flying in and then making a grocery stop with the towncar service.

 

[NandP]

We got ours on our Grocery Stop... I never saw them at any hotel gift shops

 

[bunnyfoo]

Originally posted by NandP
We got ours on our Grocery Stop... I never saw them at any hotel gift shops

Oh... I just meant it sounds like you could get a cooler from the Mousekeepers since they get left behind by other guests. But I'd rather just pick mine up at the grocery store, it will probably make the groceries easier to carry too!

 

[pezheadval]

Originally posted by Susiesnowflake
On another post, someone recommended putting the ice in ziploc bags. That would make emptying and refilling much easier.

I'm so glad I read the tip on putting the ice in ziplock bags! What a great idea! We are planning on bringing our Stainless Steel Coleman cooler for our next trip. It keeps stuff cold for a long time and we use it on the ride down, too.

 

[prince of thieves]

if you would like to invest in on, there are coolers that you can buy that are electric and will either keep things cool or hot depending on what you want. We use ours all the time to take down to WDW and other vacations. They usually come with a car adaptor as well so you can use it in the car for snacks and stuff. they are really handy if you don't want to use any ice.

JAM

 

[robinb]

If you buy a styrofoam cooler make sure you get one with straight sides, like this: |_| and not sloped sides like this: \_/. The straight sided ones hold bigger items more easily like milk and juice that the sloped ones.

We bring a collapsible cooler from home. It holds the essentials: 1/2 gal milk, 1/2 gal juice, cream cheese, juice boxes and beer .