Saving money on fridge rental during our stay..

[rauchfamily3]

We are planning a trip to Disney in October. We have found some great military rates at various hotels (onsite and off) except the majority of the places we are looking at do not have fridges. We need a fridge to keep milk for my son (2 years old) and yogurt and such for him as well. So, my question is, has anyone brought an electric cooler (the kind that plug into the wall or your car cigarette lighter) to keep in your room to keep stuff cool, instead of paying 10 bucks a day to rent a fridge from your hotel? We are staying 7 nights, so that would be 70 bucks alone, just to rent a fridge, but we can buy a brand new full sized electric cooler for around 50 bucks at Wal Mart and we'll have it for as long as we ever need it!!! Is this a good idea?? Will it keep things like milk and yogurt cool enough to not spoil during the week? Sure I think the idea is appealing, especially on our drive down and drive back home again.. it'll definately come in handy in the car, but will it work for what we need it to do in the hotel room??? Anyone know?

 

[tar heel]

We use a regular old ice cooler. Actually, a pretty nice one with wheels. Ice is free and plentiful -- just replentish it once a day. We always keep milk, water, sodas, juices, etc., and they stay ice cold.

 

[dg39]

We always use to get a fridge, but that $$ surely adds up at the end of a trip. Why don't you get a regular cooler, a cheapie from Walmart or anywhere else, and just fill it up with ice 1 or 2 times each day. Like the other poster said, ice is free and a cheap styrofoam cooler is around $4.00. If you need alot of room you can buy 2 coolers and fill them up with ice. At the end of your stay, if you throw them away it hardly cost you anything. You can do alot more with that $70.00 or so from renting a fridge when a cheapie cooler or two that will serve the same purpose.

 

[Mickey527]

We have used the electric cooler that you are talking about. We even use it when we are staying at our DVC in a Studio because the fridge is just not large enough to put all our sodas and food, plus our take home leftovers. I have a friend who never drinks water or milk, his first drink in the morning is Pepsi and his last drink at night is Pepsi. He goes through 3 or 4 liters a day and I lose count of the cans on vacation.
If you are driving the fridge will come in handy, but don't ship int if you are flying. Go to the local Walmart or even Publics and pick up one of those styrofoam coolers for a few bucks. You can get enough ice from the ice machines to fill it, and put your milk etc in after.
We have found that if you use soda cans as the bottom layer then fill the cooler with ice you can put your milk on top and it won't get soggy because you have it out of the ice.
Don't forget, you can bring any canned or plastic drink bottles into the park but no glass bottles are allowed. Peggie

 

[malitke]

Hi- We have purchased an electric cooler for our trip in Sept. We are driving down and planning to have a few light meals from the food we bring. The main reason we got an electric cooler rather than a regular cooler with ice, is the trouble with filling up with ice everyday. Probably doesn't make a lot of difference either way, but DH was really excited about the electric cooler so that's what we went with.

 

[CindyKansas]

We also have one of the electric coolers, in fact we have 2. One the size of a regular large icechest and the other a smaller one that about 6 cans of soda and water can be placed in for shorter trips. We take the larger one anytime we go on vacation on our vehicle. We have the adaptor so that we can plug it into a regular outlet after checking into the motel/hotel. We took it with us last year when we stayed at the WL for a week and it was so nice to have a cold PEPSI when we got back to the room.

 

[disneysteve]

We've had one of the electric coolers for years and love it. We have used it in the car and in various hotel rooms. Keep in mind that the AC adaptor is usually extra, not included when you buy the cooler, but still well worth the price.

We have kept everything from milk, juice, cold cuts, etc. in the cooler and never had a problem with anything staying fresh and cold. It is definitely better than renting a fridge. Only limitation is you don't get a freezer.

Steve

 

[POOHandEGG]

We just bought one of these electric coolers because we have quite a few road trips coming up this year. We took it on our first trip to Utah last month and it was great! We saved so much money on meals alone on the way that we probably paid for the cooler! It was great to have in the hotel that we stayed at and it stayed perfectly cold the entire time. Since we were able to stop at a grocery store we picked up more fresh food than we normally would have, veggies, some fruit, etc, so I felt good about that too that we stayed out of the vending machines. We are going to Disney in December and look forward to bringing it with us....last time we went to Disney we did the cooler route and I have to say for the trip...this electric one will be much nicer and definitely less hassle.

Edited to add: We got ours at Walmart and it included the AC adaptor.

 

[prncess674]

Most offsite hotels I have checked seem to include a small fridge and microwave. I would keep checking around. What hotels are you looking at and what are the prices? Perhaps someone here can steer you to a hotel with fridge that is in your price range.

 

[Mic]

Dawn-
How big is the cooler you found at walmart for $50? The one I have had my eye on for a while is the Coleman(I think 40 qt) that plugs into the lighter in the car or a regular plug in the room. It is holding at $67.77 right now. When I first looked last year, it was $88, and the price came down when walmart started carrying an Igloo brand that was a little larger and not the conventional cooler-type shape(looked more like a small fridge). The Igloo is currently in the $88 range, and both walmarts closest to me have these, but are sold out of the Coleman. I hope I have not waited too long to purchase. I noticed the local walmarts also carry a smaller warmer/cooler that plugs into the lighter in your car, and looks like a console that fits between/on your front seat(s). It is in the $35-45 range.