New fridges--no freezer?

[Juliah]

The pictures I saw of the refrigerators in the renovated Polynesian rooms look like they do not have any freezer section. Is that correct?

If it's even slightly hot, we freeze gel packs overnight to put around our DD in her wheelchair because she is so heat sensitive from dysautonomia. Is it possible to still get one of the little refrigerator/freezers for this reason even if one of the new refrigerators is built into your room?

 

[SueM in MN]

I don't know, but think they probably got rid of their other refrigerators at the Delux resorts when they built these in. But, the Value Resorts don't come with frigs, so they might be able to get one from there. I do know (from our hospital having bought some new little refrigerators lately) that some of the companies are not putting the freezer part in any more. They don't keep things very frozen and make it hard to control the temperature of the refrigerator part.
I wonder if you would be able to make your own little freezer compartment by putting ice into the ice bucket, putting your gel pack. If you put the top on, it should stay at least very cold, if not frozen. Without putting the ice bucket in the frig, we have managed to still have some ice in the morning.
Another possibility would be to take/pick up a small ice chest. I've got a colapsable one I got at Sam's Club that is supposed to keep things frozen for up to 5 hours. Filling it with ice should get your ice pac pretty cold.
Another possibility would be to get a refillable ice bag (the old fashioned kind like this) or just a ziplock freezer bag. You can pick up ice in First Aid or any of the counter service restaurants when you need it to fill the bag.

 

[Juliah]

Thanks for all the ideas, Sue! I never thought about an old-fashioned ice bag. That might actually be better than the gel packs because, like you said, we could keep refilling it throughout the day, whereas the gel packs only last a couple of hours. Hmm, even a small soft material cooler might work as long as it was leak proof.

 

[Belle1962]

Not sure how many you use but I keep a couple of those instant ice packs you find in the first aid section in my backpack. You squeeze them to activate and they get VERY VERY cold quickly and last a while. I think they're about $1.00 a piece.

 

[Selket]

The fridge in our rooms last summer at the CSR and CR didn't not have a freezer compartment. I ended up using ice in ziplocs to keep the insulin cold on the way home (and for drinks I brought in our little lunch cooler).

 

[dj2]

the old fashioned ice bag really sounds like a great idea--but if you decide you still wanted to use your gel ice packs, a restaurant in your resort might possibly be able to freeze them for you over night.

 

[SueM in MN]

the old fashioned ice bag really sounds like a great idea--but if you decide you still wanted to use your gel ice packs, a restaurant in your resort might possibly be able to freeze them for you over night.

You could ask, but I doubt that they would be able to do it. There are a lot of food safety rules about not storing non-food items in the food storage refrigerators and freezers (especially brought from outside).

 

[Juliah]

Thanks for all the replies! We've used the hot packs that you snap, but I didn't know they make cold ones, too. That would definitely be worth a try.

 

[BCV23]

I can confirm that the new frigs in Rapa Nui do not have a freezer. Those larger frigs in Rapa Nui with a seperate freezer compartment were great weren't they? The new rooms do look beautiful.

 

[Ambassador]

It is true the new refrigerators do not have freezers. But we found that the cooling element will in fact freeze a cooler pak, or anything else resting on the 'shelf' box of the element. You can always use ice from the Hall ice machine as back-up.

 

[Juliah]

BCV23, yes the old fridges at the Polynesian were great! I like that the refrigerator is now integrated and won't take up extra floor space, but I'll miss the freezer. I'm glad to hear the rooms are beautiful. I'm a little nervous about how they will work for our needs. Did you happen to have anyone in your party sleeping on the day bed? Before, my 6' 1" DS could sleep on one...now that they fold open, I'm wondering if they're still as comfortable.

Great tip, Ambassador, about where to put the cool pack in the fridge. Thanks! That makes me think...perhaps if there's a temperature adjustment, we could make the whole unit almost as cold as a freezer (so long as we didn't care if the milk and oj might freeze).

 

[Selket]

Frio makes cooling packs that are popular with folks who travel with insulin. They also make some packs that are larger and meant as cooling packs for the wrists, head, etc. You can see them at: http://coolerconcept.com/pages/prod2.htm if you scroll down to the cooling bands and head soother.

They are activated with water - no fridge needed. I haven't used one or ordered from them - fyi - but I believe this company was the one that brought the frios to sell at the Children With Diabetes conference we attended last summer at WDW.

 

[BCV23]

Selkat, I keep meaning to order a Frio. Someone on the DIS posted about them some years ago.

Julia, our son slept on the daybed. It looks very,very comfortable. Tikiman measured it and said it is longer than the old one. I think it may be a smidgen more narrow but not much if at all. Our son has Down Syndrome and is only 5" tall so can't help more about that. Sorry. One thing that is different is that the closets have no doors on them now so they are more like cubbyholes. More accessible but not as pretty as in the other refurbished rooms.

Ambassador, that is a good point about the refrigerators that I almost mentioned except I was afraid to mislead anyone. We had trouble with pop cans freezing on that shelf. I cleaned the refrigerator three times in 5 nights as a result. And if we tried turning up the temperature, everything else was barely cool. Good idea for the cooler pack to go on that shelf. However, I didn't try freezing one of the cool packs we used on the trip down. Should have thought of that!

Anyone with insulin should probably keep it on the door shelves. That is what we did without any problems.

 

[Juliah]

Thanks for the feedback on the daybedk BCV23. After sleeping on one too many horrible rollaway sofas in hotels, I was concerned by the idea of a foldout daybed, but it sounds like it will be ok.