Universal not allowing bottled water to be brought into the parks??

[Daydreamer64]

I just read another thread (budget board ) about bringing food into the parks and someone had said that they went spring 2003 and Universal didn't allow water bottles or any other "stuff" brought into the parks that they had to throw their water bottles away ( I'm assuming they were plastic? ).

We went in July of 2003 and took our water bottles into the parks ( Univ/IOA ) everyday ( 4 days ) without any problems. Were we just missed or are they not allowing water bottles into the park?

It seems a dangerous decision to tell people that they can't bring water with them especially in the heat of the summer time. My oldest child has an immune system problem and he is not to eat out or drink from any public source of water ( water fountains ) as part of our infection control measures - he also wears a mask to protect him from other's germs should they be sick. Most CGD kids have to be isolated.

I wondered if this was a temporary measure due to 9/11 since the thread was origionally started in the following spring that may have been stopped as the fear died down.

If you have gone to Universal/IOA lately and brought your back packs and or water in - drop a note an let me know how it went- we won't bring food in ( it will be in the cooler at RPR ) but will be taking water into the parks if we can.

TIA

 

[Tricia1]

We were at US/IOA last week.
We had a few snacks in our backpack--poptarts, granola bars and small things like that and didn't have any problem. I walked in one of the parks one day with a bottle of water in my hand that I bought at the hotel (not the same brand they sell at the parks) and didn't have any problems.

 

[phamton]

I brought water today and also a can of coke. I've never had them say anything. Sometimes I bring peanut butter sandwiches to snack on.

 

[damo]

I've never heard from anyone on this board that they had to throw anything away. I have seen that happen at Six Flags Parks though.

 

[Eclpz314]

Last July they did searches of purses, etc. (with a stick thing) and I removed my bottle of water to make it easier. I even jokingly told him he could clean out my purse for me and throw out anything he didn't recognizeThe attendant never said anything about not being able to take it. And at RPR the club staff insisted we take water from the lounge with us to keep from getting dehydrated.

 

[highlander447]

It sounds like this person may have had a glass bottle as we went in 2002 for first time and never had a problem same again 2004 snacks juice water no problems

 

[mtblujeans]

We visited US last Fall and they still search your bags upon entering. They did not have a problem with us bringing water bottles in during the day. However, they made me pour the water out of my bottle (filtering bottle) when we entered for Halloween Night. I also had a small "first aid" box with bandaids and disinfectant cream and the person at the gate (Halloween Night) made me step aside and ordered another employee to make me empty the kit. The second employee did not seem to understand what the problem was with having a first aid kit in my backpack and apologized repeatedly while inspecting the kit. Perhaps it just depends on the employee....

 

[phamton]

They were very strict for Halloween Horror nights to keep people from sneaking alcohol into the park. They were also more vigilante about searching for weapons, drugs, needles, etc. On those nights they also made you empty your pockets.

HHN nights can have more problems than on other visits though. Expect to be searched on those nights. Normally bringing in water is not a problem except on HHN.

 

[Daydreamer64]

I didn't think it should be a problem - it just struck me that the poster ( it was on a thread from the budget board ) stated that they had to throw the bottles away. We won't take any food into the parks - too much junk to load Mom down with but we will be taking our water bottles.

 

[kellymonaghan]

Maybe the source of the misinformation was a Disney troll. Remember the guy who complained about how bad Universal was because it rained when he was there?

 

[BarryHom]

I remember once at Disney, the bag checker saw a big 3-4 pound bag of beef jerky in a kid's backpack and he waived him through!

From what I've seen, water and snacks are OK. If you're bringing in the turkey dinner, you might want to leave that in the fridge.