Question for those who pack a lunch

[mshanson3121]

What do you do with it while you're in the parks? Do you rent a locker? Just stash it in your stroller?

 

[sweetnjmom]

We haven't done this in the past, but will be packing lunches for this trip. The plan is to keep our soft insulated cooler in the basket under our stroller. The stroller we have is compact with an usually sturdy basket for an umbrella style (Maxi Cosi Mila, since discontinued) and the cooler fits easily. We'll bring lunch for at least 3 of our 6 days in the parks.

 

[Jaime4004]

I carry a back pack with the lunches in it (including small cooler for cold stuff). A lot of people like to be bagless, but for me, my back pack is like my security blanket

 

[Candleshoe]

In the past, if we had a stroller it stayed with the stroller. If we didn't, we rented a locker and kept the lunches in there. ($7/day was still cheaper than most meals.)

This will be the first trip in a while where we've packed some lunches — and we will not have a stroller.

 

[sweetnjmom]

If we didn't, we rented a locker and kept the lunches in there. ($7/day was still cheaper than most meals.)

Good to know that the cost to rent a locker is around $7/day. We are considering renting one on our AK day if there are lockers near Kali River Rapids. We want to bring a change of clothes and have a safe place to stash our camera during that ride. I know a tad off topic, sorry.

 

[staceyeileen]

We keep it in our stroller basket - no idea what we'd do if we didn't have the stroller!

 

[Candleshoe]

Good to know that the cost to rent a locker is around $7/day. We are considering renting one on our AK day if there are lockers near Kali River Rapids. We want to bring a change of clothes and have a safe place to stash our camera during that ride. I know a tad off topic, sorry.

You need to double check the cost It's been years since we had to rent a locker! I want to say 2008.


Also, the lockers are all at the front of the parks. Bring a gallon sized ziplock bag, put the camera in that, and then the bag+camera in the storage in the middle of Kali. Don't rely on that storage to be dry Use the added protection of the ziplock

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

soft sided cooler, food, ice pack and into a locker until we are ready to eat.

AKK

 

[2Gma]

We pack lunch in soft sided cooler and stored in stroller. This time we won't have stroller so I am considering purchasing backpack style cooler from Target. We like to have food ready for when we get hungry and don't like wasting $ or park touring time waiting to eat.

 

[Candleshoe]

Soooo.... what do you all put IN your lunch boxes? (Besides blue-ice or frozen water, of course.)

 

[mickeyluv'r]

To us, the added cost of a locker, plus the time it takes to access a locker = not much of a savings.

Also consider food safety. Florida is HOT, especially this time of year. An upset stomach is among the quickest ways to really ruin a theme park vacation.

We're also not fans of carrying food around all day.

Our solution is a low-key multi-pronged approach. On any given day we maybe use two of these:

1.) Bring a small snack to the park- usually fresh fruit. We eat this shortly after arriving, so we don't carry it very long, and don't delay our park arrival.
2.) Buy minimal food for lunch, avoid peak times, split entrees and snacks- look for no line opportunities.
3.) Ice cream makes a great lunch option.
4.) Eat before/after going to the parks. Throw a couple buffet meals into our trip, and we are happy to skip a meal. Often we're having so much fun, we forget to eat. A 3pm snack is more than enough to tide us over until a big dinner buffet. We often keep some food in our room.


The one big exception for us is carrying water. A second easy way to ruin a trip is to get overly dehydrated, which often leads to illness of one kind or another.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Soft-sided cooler stashed in a locker. We bring drinks & snacks for the entire day, plus enough real food for 1 meal (typically lunch). A pair of $5 Footlongs being the typical lunch for our family of 4. If need be, we supplement that with CS food & drink.

 

[puffkin]

We bring sandwiches, chips, fruit, packs of cookies, etc. I freeze capri sun type drinks and water bottles for ice packs. Right now we just do a soft sided cooler in the stroller. Once we are past stroller age in another year or two we will probably just do the backpack approach. There are 3 adults so we can just take turns carrying. The lockers are a pain to access since they are at the front of the park.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Soooo.... what do you all put IN your lunch boxes? (Besides blue-ice or frozen water, of course.)

Onsite guests don't get a freezer- except DVC. Rarely, some rooms the dorm fridge have a tiny freezer section, but many don't.

If you are onsite, and don't have an in room freezer, luggage services/bell services will freeze a cold pack- BUT - retrieving a cold pack from them in the morning is potentially very time consuming.

We've been known to refrigerate water bottles.

I do own a very awesome soft-sided cooler small-backpack. I bought it at Target last year for about $20. Bonus, it has padded straps. I don't really like using it in the FL theme parks though. WE are much happier when we don't have a bag.

 

[sweetnjmom]

We're staying off site, and the frig is supposed to have a freezer. So we'll bring those "ice" packets to put into our cooler. As for lunch, as long as everything stays cool we'll bring PB&J sandwiches and maybe turkey. Lots of packaged snacks (graham crackers, chips, etc.) and a ton of water.

Also, the lockers are all at the front of the parks. Bring a gallon sized ziplock bag, put the camera in that, and then the bag+camera in the storage in the middle of Kali. Don't rely on that storage to be dry Use the added protection of the ziplock

Thanks for the FYI. We may just leave the change of clothes in my son's stroller and put the camera in a ziplock, inside the water resistant camera bag. I'll get a big ziplock for my crossbody bag.

 

[mshanson3121]

Next question - WHERE do you eat your packed lunch in the four parks? Especially places that offer shade.

 

[Candleshoe]

Next question - WHERE do you eat your packed lunch in the four parks? Especially places that offer shade.

MK:
-- We used to eat in the area behind the Christmas store on our first trip. Not realizing it was a smoker's area! No one was smoking there, on that trip. Very quite and out of the way and shady.
-- Tom Sawyer's Island!

AK: Trails around the Tree of Life

Epcot:
-- In front of Body Wars on the benches
-- In Monnoco there is a tiled room off to the side that is almost always empty and serene.
-- In Germany or Italy
-- In Norway, we buy a dessert (mmmm!!!) and eat our lunch with our Norway dessert at a table

HS:
This park is the hardest. One time we at on a stoop on the streets of america. That was cool, but not much shade. However it was December.
Near the Muppets fountain.
Around echo lake.
This park to me has the hardest to find "out of the way" and "out of the sun" locations.

 

[Alessandra Gabriel]

We also pack a soft sided cooler and store it in the basket under our stroller.

We have packed:
Frozen water bottles
Frozen Lipton Green Tea Bottles
Hummus
Carrots
Turkey sandwiches
Veggie Straws
Fruit Snacks

Our favorite place to eat is behind Cinderella's Castle by the fountain.

 

[bumbershoot]

MaxCold Igloo cooler backpack. Stays with us.

We keep it in our stroller basket - no idea what we'd do if we didn't have the stroller!

Speaking from experience here, what happens if the stuff from your stroller is taken? What if your stroller is taken? What then?

We had things stolen (at DL, but it does indeed happen at WDW as well) and stopped leaving stuff in the stroller. Then one day I saw a squirrel gnawing on the lid of a water bottle in the stroller, and I got really grossed out. (then I saw a squirrel sitting on a pool chair delicately licking the mayonnaise from a packet without making it obvious the squirrel had been there, and if the family had come back to eat more they would have eaten squirrel spit, though we did tell them when they got back) So then we left NOTHING in the stroller. Which is great practice for post-stroller.

Bring only what you can carry, that's our theory! (lockers are an option but they mean more walking and that's not an option I take)

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

What do you do with it while you're in the parks? Do you rent a locker? Just stash it in your stroller?

Stroller or backpack/shoulder bag.
We have never rented a locker.

As to what would happen if our lunch is stolen? We hope the thief enjoys it and we would just deal. I don't consider PB&J to be a valuable in the grand scheme.

As for squirrels--that is kind of gross. But our food is in a zipped soft sided carrier. It would be obvious if our stuff would have been rummaged through.