Soft sided Cooler for park

[gmar1210]

We are thinking of investing in a good soft sided cooler for the parks. There are only 4 of us (kids are 5 and 8 months). Was thinking of A polar bear 12 pack cooler or an RTIC soft pack 20. We will only be bringing a few bottles of water and maybe sandwichesfor lunch and snacks since we really don’t care for the park food. Do you think the 12 pack cooler will be sufficient or should I go with the larger cooler.

 

[NYCgrrl]

We are thinking of investing in a good soft sided cooler for the parks. There are only 4 of us (kids are 5 and 8 months). Was thinking of A polar bear 12 pack cooler or an RTIC soft pack 20. We will only be bringing a few bottles of water and maybe sandwichesfor lunch and snacks since we really don’t care for the park food. Do you think the 12 pack cooler will be sufficient or should I go with the larger cooler.

12 pack will be fine and can be stored in your room's fridge readily. You might want to cut back or eliminate the bottles of water
since ice cold cups of water are available at most if not all quick service eateries.

HTH

 

[Betty Rohrer]

We are thinking of investing in a good soft sided cooler for the parks. There are only 4 of us (kids are 5 and 8 months). Was thinking of A polar bear 12 pack cooler or an RTIC soft pack 20. We will only be bringing a few bottles of water and maybe sandwichesfor lunch and snacks since we really don’t care for the park food. Do you think the 12 pack cooler will be sufficient or should I go with the larger cooler.

one tip make sure you have ziploc type bags for uce as you cant take loose ice thru security

 

[gmar1210]

one tip make sure you have ziploc type bags for uce as you cant take loose ice thru security

Ah yes, almost forgot about that. Usually we use freezer packs but may use ice in ziplock this time.

Has there ever been issues of cooler theft. Thinking of getting a yeti since we will be using it a lot for the beach and pool.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Ah yes, almost forgot about that. Usually we use freezer packs but may use ice in ziplock this time.

Has there ever been issues of cooler theft. Thinking of getting a yeti since we will be using it a lot for the beach and pool.

have seen squirrels chewing thru some soft sided ones I stroller areas

 

[NYCgrrl]

Ah yes, almost forgot about that. Usually we use freezer packs but may use ice in ziplock this time.

Has there ever been issues of cooler theft. Thinking of getting a yeti since we will be using it a lot for the beach and pool.

Can't speak on theft @ WDW and understand your concern w/ the Yeti line on that score. I own one of the hard sided versions and have to say it lives up to it's reputation for long camping trips.
I used it as my freezer cooler during weeks' long primitive and semi primitive trips to great success. Still, for your anticipated use, I see little value in paying the regular price for the soft sided version.
A Pelican or Polar Bear cost and weigh less and are great for day trips, on or off the beach. Not sure if the Pelican line uses YKK zippers (the "gold standard" for zippers) but surely the Polar Bear line does. Give special attention to the back pack versions as some are lacking in padding and may require modifications to keep your chest from being overly stressed.

Have fun and HTH.

 

[Klayfish]

Personally, I think Yeti, RTIC, etc....are a huge waste of money, along the lines of Bob strollers. You can get a nice soft sided cooler from Amazon or WalMart for less than 1/2 the cost of those overpriced things and they'll do the job just as well. We have a huge soft sided cooler that we've been using for our WDW trips for at least 8 years now. I think DW got it at Wal-Mart, it's nothing fancy. It does a wonderful job and has held up to at least 150 park days. We pack that sucker full, so it's been abused quite a bit. It's finally now showing wear and is ready to be replaced, but we have definitely got our moneys' worth.

Nobody has ever touched our stuff in all the years we've taken it, and we'll leave it sitting in a stroller for hours at a time. Not saying theft doesn't happen, it does. But since we have a non-fancy cooler and non-fancy stroller, guess nobody bothers. Squirrels will get into food, but only if it's left open. Never had a squirrel get into our stuff.

 

[Koogs]

We are thinking of investing in a good soft sided cooler for the parks. There are only 4 of us (kids are 5 and 8 months). Was thinking of A polar bear 12 pack cooler or an RTIC soft pack 20. We will only be bringing a few bottles of water and maybe sandwichesfor lunch and snacks since we really don’t care for the park food. Do you think the 12 pack cooler will be sufficient or should I go with the larger cooler.

I don't have experience wth teh expensive soft side coolers. we had a cheapie that holds about 6-8 bottles of water and a bag of ice. It does reasonably well throughout the park for the day if you don't open it much. We also took insulated bottles for us and the kids filled with ice/water and we had ice in them all day refilled by the cold bottles. I have a hardsided RTIC 20. The inside is small compared to the outside. I dunno how space efficient the softside is.

1) figure out what your stroller will fit with the cooler and the diaper bag. Whatever you do, make sure your cooler and diaper bag fit in the stroller or else.

2) be realistic on what you want to take and how you're going to operate. We kept a bag in the stroller 95% of the time along with the cooler. We always left the bag with teh stroller except meals. My wife had a cross body for her phone/money.

3) things always can walk from a stroller. how serious? I dunno. I would likely not use a yeti cooler in disney and leave it unattended it may be fine, but there is a lot of unattended time. I'd consider camouflaging it if you're set on it. Personally, its one more thing to worry about.....I'd get something I wouldn't worry about

 

[Deb & Bill]

Here are the rules for WDW including information on coolers.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/park-rules/

 

[gmar1210]

Personally, I think Yeti, RTIC, etc....are a huge waste of money, along the lines of Bob strollers. You can get a nice soft sided cooler from Amazon or WalMart for less than 1/2 the cost of those overpriced things and they'll do the job just as well. We have a huge soft sided cooler that we've been using for our WDW trips for at least 8 years now. I think DW got it at Wal-Mart, it's nothing fancy. It does a wonderful job and has held up to at least 150 park days. We pack that sucker full, so it's been abused quite a bit. It's finally now showing wear and is ready to be replaced, but we have definitely got our moneys' worth.

Nobody has ever touched our stuff in all the years we've taken it, and we'll leave it sitting in a stroller for hours at a time. Not saying theft doesn't happen, it does. But since we have a non-fancy cooler and non-fancy stroller, guess nobody bothers. Squirrels will get into food, but only if it's left open. Never had a squirrel get into our stuff.

Well the Walmart 12 can softsided cooler is $40 but it ranked very low as far as reliability and craftsmanship. The cooler I am purchasing is the polar bear 12 which is $60 but rated as one of the top 12 can size coolers. Would rather spend a bit more and have something that I can count on, especially when it comes to keeping milk cold for my son.