Questions about drinks

[MazdaUK]

Hi everyone, hope you experienced WDW-ers can help a rookie!

My youngest son (5) is currently not keen on fizzy drinks - orange squash, milk or (if pushed) water are his options. In Paris we diluted minute maid orange juice with water from the drinking fountains and he took that OK but I'm a bit worried about keeping him hydrated round the parks, especially if the water is really as horrible as people say (horrible compared to London water?).

Do the sachets of Gatorade I've seen recommended make a squash-type drink (and is it orange?)? And are still drinks available in the parks?

Also, we are thinking of buying two refillable cups (for Coronado Springs) - I know you can fill them up with tea, coffee and sodas, but I understand milk is excluded. Is juice also excluded? (I know you can buy big cartons of milk in the shop)

On a separate note, I've seen lots about tipping mousekeeping $1 per day for adults in the room - is this every day, end of the week, end of your stay?

Thanks for your help

 

[BONZO]

Hi,

I'm just down the road from you in Bexleyheath!

Anyway - maid tipping - about $1 per day per adult is about right.

The best bet is to leave the tip daily and why not use these great Mousekeeping Envelopes


As for the drinks, the milk only comes in those small plastic cartons - never seen juice available for re-fills.

We always take some well wrapped Orange Squash - alternatively, you can buy squash down the International Items aisle in the supermarkets.

 

[Miffy2003]

Hi Mazda,

I can help with a couple of your questions, hopefully someone else can answer the rest!

The refillable mugs we had at All Star Movies did not include OJ I'm afraid. You can buy OJ in the resorts and parks - I seem to remember it was approx $2 for an individual bottle.

I saw people buying the bottles of OJ and diluting it with water to get 2 drinks out of one bottle.

We tipped mousekeeping $1 per adult per day, and left it out every morning. They did some great "arranging" with our toys and my girls loved getting "home" to see what the toys were up to that day!

Gatorade is a squash type drink but IMO very different to squash here.

Just a thought, but could you take a bottle of squash with you? Then get the water there (obviously!) I can't remember if you can buy squash onsite (I don't think so but I wouldn't swear to it) but I saw it in most supermarkets (Robinson's seemed to be the most popular, quite pricey though).

We saved an absolute fortune with the refillable mugs we bought

HTH

Karen

Edited to add:sorry, posted at the same time as Bonzo!

 

[gilld]

They always used to provide apple juice at the re-fill stands at the resorts. The chilled water there, from the machines, is also quite drinkable.

 

[Goofyish]

We got some powdered fruit flavoured drinks from Publix that you mix with water. Can't for the life of me remember the name though

My DD seemed to like them, although judging how much to use for a 500ml bottle is a bit tricky as the sachets of powder are designed to make up a quart (what ever that is in metric!).

 

[Disney owl]

my kids don't like the taste of Florida water & we bought bottled water from the supermarket & took it in with us. We also drank gallons of Gatoraide which comes in lots of different flavours & colours!! . Gatoraide is still & can be bought in the parks.

If you are travelling to the parks by car, we kept a polystyrene (spell??) cool box in the car filled with drinks & ice. It was heaven to come out of the parks to a cold drink.

 

[patdavies]

My DD seemed to like them, although judging how much to use for a 500ml bottle is a bit tricky as the sachets of powder are designed to make up a quart (what ever that is in metric!).

A US quart is approximately 1 litre ( 946 ml more precisely), so half the packet for 500 ml

 

[vernon]

I would agree with the suggestions. You can take a couple of bottles of robinsons in your hand luggage, if you've got a car them most of the local (to WDW) supermarkets will carry something close in their "international" aisles (but expect to pay more for them), you can use GAtorade/Powerade or something similar. In summer these are a good option as they replace salts and minerals lost in sweating. WDW stocks, I think, Powerade in the parks, but at $2.5-3 a go it can work out expensive. It is a much cheaper option to either buy a case in the supermarket and take a few with you to the park each day or cheaper still buy a pack of the powdered variety and make it up yourself at your room. Staying in a WDW hotel this is a little more inconvenient than if you are in accommodation that has kitchen facilities, but it is still workable.
Oh as a side note I heard that WDW had dropped( or was going to drop) the charge for room fridges, but you do have to request one in your room. Sorry if that's old news, but I was off the air for a few weeks when I changed country so maybe I missed any discussions on the subject.

 

[tartangirl]

We find the water in the parks to be fine and IMHO much better than London water although if you are used to London water there will be a definite difference in taste so a 5yr old may decide not to like it.

We freeze 3/4 full bottles of water and take them in as they keep the water cool until lunch time by which time we're getting ready to take a break from the park - obviously you need access to a freezer for this and I'm not sure if they're available in the resorts.

 

[KAC2005]

The best bet is to leave the tip daily and why not use these great Mousekeeping Envelopes

Thanks for the link these are great!!!!

KAC

 

[Scottish_Maleficent]

We got some powdered fruit flavoured drinks from Publix that you mix with water. Can't for the life of me remember the name though

Kool Aid Tim???

We usually always take a bottle of Robinsons Special R with us.

 

[MazdaUK]

Thanks for all these - very helpful.

If they have really dropped the charge for the fridge then I will request one when I let them know we want non-smoking room (we did request on with booking but TAs can be unreliable about passing on!), otherwise reluctant to spend $10 + tax every day.

 

[RachaelAitken]

We had the same problem on our recent trip...both kids hate fizzy drinks.
My solution was to buy a couple of refillable non leak cups from the Disney store the sort with the straw and neck string. I then filled with squash for the airplane, prevents spills! and topped up with mineral water mixed with pure juice during the flight.
Once in orlando we stocked up in publix on capri sun and juice cartons. We also found robinsons special r . This had the benefit also of being ten times cheaper than the parks prices. We topped up with water from the numerous fountains through the parks. Water tasted fine to me and the kids seemed happy enough to drink it.
We are staying at Indian ridge on our next trip...make sure you post to let us know how it was. Have a great trip x Rachael

 

[AndRu]

I have to say that last time, the water from the drinking fountains in the parks tasted awful. Maybe it was just the change from the UK but we all found it had a nasty 'twang' to it, especially that of MK, it was ugh!

We just buy loads of Capri-Sun or equivalent drinks as they're easy to pack and carry around the parks.

 

[Hilary]

Lots of useful drinks tips already from everyone but I think you'll probably just have to wait and see what your DS likes/dislikes once you're out there!

Perhaps you could arm yourself with something you kow he'll drink to start him off and you may find he'll quite happily drink the water from the drinking fountains found all throughout the parks if he thinks it's all part of the holiday.

If you can find him one of the 'talking fountains' first, he may be more tempted to drink from fountains all the time in the hope they'll all 'talk' to him!