Two Toddlers and Drinks

[OurGiggleButtons]

My husband and I are planning a trip to Disney next August. We have a two toddlers and will have a 3 month old when we go. I have read a bunch on how to save money at DW and one of the things that I have read is that guests are able to bring in outside drinks. My question is would it be smarter for me (having two toddlers) to bring sippy cups and outside drinks or just buy in the parks? I figure it would be smarter budget wise to bring outside drinks but I am still unsure.

Thank you- Ashley

 

[nugov2]

Depends what they drink. My kids don't really drink juice, so we brought a backpack full of water bottles both cold and frozed(because it was June and super hot). Then when we ate meals we ordered something off the menu. I just filled my 2 yr olds sippy cup with cold water, but he was also good taking sips right out of the bottle with someone holding it.

 

[ilovebassets]

Just came back with a one year old and three year old. They have color coded sippy cups that I filled with water at the beginning of the day that we refilled throughout the day. The three year old would get milk if we got a kids meal for him that we would share between the two of them. We also brought along some enfagrow ready to feed single serving boxes that I used for the one year old which he likes. Those would come in handy if we spent all day in the parks after napping in the stroller.

 

[JediBonas]

I ordered milk and water delivered to our room from one of the delivery companies and put that in their cups (those camelbak water bottles) for the parks. We went through a lot of milk (two 24 month olds) and I feel like we definitely saved money over buying that stuff in the parks. Plus, I was able to get the organic milk they drink at home.

 

[Perditamarie]

Definitely bring your own drinks...and familiar snacks too. It is often not convenient to find an appropriate drink to purchase....unless they drink a lot of soda. Also, August is super hot, so you will not want to hunt down a drink, then wait in line for it, as the kids get fussy. I particularly thought it was tricky to find juice.

You will save money and have everything conveniently on hand. Same applies to snacks - they may like to try new things, but you will love having a snack you know they like (and don't have to hunt down in melting heat) right at your fingertips. I would suggest bring in a soft sided cooler.

Welcome to the Dis and happy planning.

 

[magicwishes]

We bring refillable water bottles for kids and adults. We just refill them with water in the parks. If we get a drink with a meal and want to keep it, we just fill up our water bottle. We also bring crystal light or similar single serving powder mixes to add to water in case someone wants something flavored to drink. We bring two per person on the trip. That way we have a clean one for the next day and can just throw the dirty ones in the dishwasher. We get ready for the day the night before.

 

[LovesTimone]

When DD's were little. I used a collapsible cooler. I would freeze a couple bottles of water, and take in caprisun, juice boxes. The frozen water would keep everything cold. With the frozen water as it thaws you could add Gatorade, koolaid or crystal lite packets to the water, which worked out well for us.

I would take the sippy cups for meals. We normally did not buy the kids meals. We would by 1 adult meal for them to share. It was less expensive and they there was more food for them to share. We would divided the drink into the sippy cups.

As a suggestion trying to keep the sippy cups and bottles clean is a chore. But I found that this works really great. Buy some really cheap sponges, wet and cover with dish detergent, let dry cut into squares or strips, throw in a plastic baggie and presto you can wash out the cups/bottles anywhere, then throw away the square. I also had a really small bottle brush that I pick up at the dollar store that worked out to clean the spouts and nipples on the bottle. No hassle clean up.

 

[MSSANDRA]

In August it's going to be very important to keep them drinking almost constantly. I doubt you are going to want them to drink a ton of soda and buying juice and milk will get expensive and milk might not be the best choice in the heat. I would plan for lots of water and then decide if you want to carry bottles or just buy as you go. Maybe bring a few juice boxes that you can pour into sippy cups. You can get cups of free ice water from any CS place too. If you want, you can bring a child friendly flavor adder to add to the water you put in there sippy cups. When mine were little, a packed a ton of the disposable sippy cups. We did reuse them except if they had milk in the parks in them, but if we lost one it was no big deal.

 

[OurGiggleButtons]

Thank you all so much!!!

 

[sweetiee]

All places that have fountain drinks will also give you a free cup of ice water. Is ask for it even if we bought a soda and refill our bottles with it. I keep bottles full of water and they are nice about giving water free. I feel it is responsible for them do guests don't get overheated.

 

[epsmith921]

I brought a sippy with milk into the park and then an empty one for water or milk later. Though we pretty much always went back to the room so that was easy to switch out around lunch.

The soapy sponge pieces were awesome as well. Just did the dishes at night in the room and it was so easy.