TEMPORARY Refrigerator Removal from Walt Disney World

[Hedobaby]

I am so worried about our booking in October. We are coming from England so we cant exactly bring a cooler with us! Hope it is sorted by the time we arrive!

 

[luvmy3]

Well at least everyone here is notified and can plan accordingly. If the people on the dis are that upset for those that won't know then we should make sure we bring coolers, etc...and save the fridges available for those that truly didn't know. JMHO

I'm paying Disney enough for my vacation, I won't be doing their job too

 

[bartleby1]

Are there any updates of what guests are finding when they are arriving? Are there currently no refrigerators? Are they being told upon arrival that there isnt one and being given one if requested? Planning on bringing a cooler for drinks, but food isn't as easy to keep on ice. I'm kind of a stickler for food being kept at proper temps for safety reasons.

 

[kim929]

We are arriving on 8/5 so I called Pop century directly and was told it was going to be a few months before all the fridges are replaced so I asked if I could request and pay for one and they told me there were no available refridgerators for my time frame.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

What did everyone do before WDW had fridges in the rooms?

 

[Sandi]

What did everyone do before WDW had fridges in the rooms?

Our first on property stay was in 1996 at CBR and we had a refrigerator. The only time I haven't had a fridge was at Pop where I participated in a fridge swap. The deluxes and moderates have had them at least since 1996, so we've counted on them. My BWI stay isn't going to be ruined if I don't get a fridge when we arrive at the end of next week, but it would be nice to have one. BWI told me that, if my room doesn't have a fridge, they'll store our cold items in the refrigerator in bell services.

 

[bartleby1]

What did everyone do before WDW had fridges in the rooms?

Since we've been staying onsite at POR we have always had a fridge. Before that, we stayed offsite in a hotel that provided free breakfast so we didn't have much of a need for food in our room. Plus, our offsite hotels have always had a fridge anyway. We spent the last two summers traveling the country, in a different hotel each night. A fridge is pretty standard nowadays, even in cheaper hotels. Being able to eat breakfast in our room is a huge money saver for us which helps justify the enormous increase in Disney hotel rates over the past few years. When deciding whether to stay onsite or offsite this year, free breakfast offsite was what made me originally book offsite, but when I found a great deal at POR thru a travel agent, we decided we could swing onsite if we ate breakfast in our room. Having a fridge was part of our decision to book onsite. I do understand disneys predicament, but I don't like that it will be costing me more money. Eating breakfast out for a family of 5 is not cheap and we are staying 13 nights. The cost can be significant. It would be nice to hear some updates from them so we know what is in store for us when we get there.

 

[bartleby1]

We are arriving on 8/5 so I called Pop century directly and was told it was going to be a few months before all the fridges are replaced so I asked if I could request and pay for one and they told me there were no available refridgerators for my time frame.

Thanks for posting. Not really what I wanted to hear, but I do appreciate it, LOL!

 

[jrmasm]

Our first on property stay was in 1996 at CBR and we had a refrigerator. The only time I haven't had a fridge was at Pop where I participated in a fridge swap. The deluxes and moderates have had them at least since 1996, so we've counted on them. My BWI stay isn't going to be ruined if I don't get a fridge when we arrive at the end of next week, but it would be nice to have one. BWI told me that, if my room doesn't have a fridge, they'll store our cold items in the refrigerator in bell services.

Did you rent it? We stayed at CBR in 2001 and there wasn't a refrigerator in the room. We used a collapsible cooler.

 

[Serrina89]

Thanks for the tip. Leaving in 5 days and just bought a 50 can + ice collapsible cooler for 10 dollars at walmart. It says it will still have ice after a day. It's the size of a beach bag collapsed. Hope you guys find this tip helpful.

 

[DisneyDreamer1974]

My TA emailed me stating that if we did not have one in our room, we would be issued a $15 credit per night, which that is good. But I will still have to buy a cheap cooler to take at the Wally World before we head out to the Yacht Club. I just wish there was a way of knowing whether or not we would get one. Really don't want to buy one if we don't need it.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

What did everyone do before WDW had fridges in the rooms?

We purchased a dorm size fridge from Wal-Mart and brought that with us each trip (driving). After fridges were put in all of the rooms we sold it on Craigslist so we no longer have it.

We'll bring a cooler this trip just in case our room doesn't have a fridge. But we will still ask for one and hope for the $15 / night credit if they don't have one for us. Honestly the room prices have gone up more than that per night so we are paying for having one.

 

[MarkC71]

We just came home from WDW yesterday and stayed at the Grand Floridian. On the way to our room after check in we walked past two full pallets of new refrigerators. They had just put a new one in our room earlier in the day. So we had one for our whole trip. I would guess they are going to be able to install the new ones in all the resorts much earlier then they announced. I have photos of the new refrigerators but couldn't figure out how to load them on my comment.

 

[squirrel]

We just came home from WDW yesterday and stayed at the Grand Floridian. On the way to our room after check in we walked past two full pallets of new refrigerators. They had just put a new one in our room earlier in the day. So we had one for our whole trip. I would guess they are going to be able to install the new ones in all the resorts much earlier then they announced. I have photos of the new refrigerators but couldn't figure out how to load them on my comment.

Are they just refrigerators or is there a little freezer inside?

 

[MarkC71]

Just refrigerators, no freezer section. But is was cold enough to keep freezing our bottles of water.

 

[kaytieeldr]

We purchased a dorm size fridge from Wal-Mart and brought that with us each trip (driving). After fridges were put in all of the rooms we sold it on Craigslist so we no longer have it.

We'll bring a cooler this trip just in case our room doesn't have a fridge. But we will still ask for one and hope for the $15 / night credit if they don't have one for us. Honestly the room prices have gone up more than that per night so we are paying for having one.

Rates have gone up because costs have gone up. Utilities cost more, goods cost more, renovations cost money, maintenance costs money, wages have increased, insurance is up. Room rates never increased due to refrigerators being placed in the rooms. Nobody's paying more for having refrigerators in the rooms.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Rates have gone up because costs have gone up. Utilities cost more, goods cost more, renovations cost money, maintenance costs money, wages have increased, insurance is up. Room rates never increased due to refrigerators being placed in the rooms. Nobody's paying more for having refrigerators in the rooms.

I don't think you can say across the board nobody is paying more for a room when they put fridges in all of them. That is unless you work for Disney and were part of the room cost assessment group The price for the fridges I'm sure has been worked in there. Disney just didn't pay for them out of the goodness of their hearts.

 

[luvmy3]

I don't think you can say across the board nobody is paying more for a room when they put fridges in all of them. That is unless you work for Disney and were part of the room cost assessment group The price for the fridges I'm sure has been worked in there. Disney just didn't pay for them out of the goodness of their hearts.

I think the fridge would fall under the "goods" the pp mentioned. Also the cost to run them falls under "utilities". Disney had to purchase them and they need to pay to run them, that cost is passed onto the guest in their room charge.

 

[frannn]

We have plenty of meals scheduled between the DP and TIW. Problem is DD10 takes meds that curb her appetite...so she doesn't always eat at regularly scheduled times. We were counting on the fridge to store her leftovers and snacks for when she does get hungry. Due to the meds she goes underweight, so I have to be sure she eats whenever she wants. She also has tantrum issues when the meds wear off, and it gets bad quickly when she doesn't eat. I called the resort to explain that we have a "sort-of" medical reason we need to have the fridge available. This issue is compounded because we are staying at an AS resort & the Sports food court is being refurbished, so it will probably be over crowded time consuming mess to get her a late night snack at our resort. They said it can't be guaranteed, but will request one (since we don't have meds that need refrigeration). I am going to pack protein bars and beef jerky sticks to keep her protein and calories up, which will hopefully hold up in the heat. There are some meals we can share with her and just use a CS credit for her later, but we have many character buffets and HDD scheduled. I really want the fridge as opposed to monetary compensation for it not being available. Yes, the $15 would be plenty to get her a fresh snack each night, but we really don't want to battle the food court after a day in the parks.

 

[Luvchefmic]

We have plenty of meals scheduled between the DP and TIW. Problem is DD10 takes meds that curb her appetite...so she doesn't always eat at regularly scheduled times. We were counting on the fridge to store her leftovers and snacks for when she does get hungry. Due to the meds she goes underweight, so I have to be sure she eats whenever she wants. She also has tantrum issues when the meds wear off, and it gets bad quickly when she doesn't eat. I called the resort to explain that we have a "sort-of" medical reason we need to have the fridge available. This issue is compounded because we are staying at an AS resort & the Sports food court is being refurbished, so it will probably be over crowded time consuming mess to get her a late night snack at our resort. They said it can't be guaranteed, but will request one (since we don't have meds that need refrigeration). I am going to pack protein bars and beef jerky sticks to keep her protein and calories up, which will hopefully hold up in the heat. There are some meals we can share with her and just use a CS credit for her later, but we have many character buffets and HDD scheduled. I really want the fridge as opposed to monetary compensation for it not being available. Yes, the $15 would be plenty to get her a fresh snack each night, but we really don't want to battle the food court after a day in the parks.

I don't understand the issue, what foods need to be refrigerated ? You mentioned Character buffets and HDDR none of which you can take food out of when you leave If there are TS meals that you will have put in a doggie bag how would it stay safe/fresh anyway unless you were planning to go back to room immediately and use a refrigerator ? In about 3 weeks when you arrive it is going to be HOT and food won't stay safe while running around parks unless you plan now.

Why not carry a small cooler/lunch insulated bag with you for those and pack a collapsible cooler for the room You'll have to deal with resort food courts too anyway to re-heat won't you ?