Should I bother bringing a cooler?

[jle323]

We're going down in September with my 18 month old son. We're planning on heading back to our resort midday for naps, so is it worth it to bring a cooler to the parks?

Thanks!

 

[pooh4evr]

I would just take a small lunch bag type for water or juice boxes- it will save you money in the end.

 

[jle323]

Thanks!

 

[Princess Roo]

Another option if you don't feel like bringing a cooler is to put some drinks in the freezer section of the room fridge and some in the regular section. The regular ones are ready to drink the first few hours and the freezer ones later on.
We put one drink for everyone in the backpack and the partially frozen one in the stroller until we need it.

 

[LuvOrlando]

-

 

[zaza]

We've never had much luck with the freezing of water bottles--seems like the freezer isn't big enough/cold enough. We take ziplock bags (the freezer ones, they're heavier) and just put some ice in one to keep our drinks cool in the soft-sided cooler. We had a cheap (actually free) 6-pack size cooler in May and it would leak sometimes. That wasn't a problem because we kept it in the mesh bin under the seat of the umbrella stroller, but it could be a mess if you stuffed it in a backpack. I just "upgraded" to a $5 6-pack cooler from Walmart that has a hard plastic insert, even though it's a soft-sided cooler. We're going to Silver Dollar City next week, and I'm hoping it works better with the leakage problem.