Cooler bags & drinks

Can you please advise as i have just seen that you are NOT allowed to take in your own cooler bags or own drinks into any of the Disney parks..? surely this can't be right..can it..?

It depends on your definition of cooler bag. we took a backpack filled with snacks and frozen capri suns that thawed out during the course of a very hot day. Nobody batted an eyelid-I'm not sure though on the reaction you would get with a "hard" purpose built cooler box.

you are allowed to take small cooler bags say with 4 sports bottles and snacks in, but Disney does draw the line at the hard boxes , remember though ALL bags are searched before you go into Disney .

you can buy a special cup full of juice when you go in for around $10 and allows to as many Free refills all day long at designated points. We always buy one and just share it between the family as they are too heavy to carry around , we then fill it up at every point we pass.

I remember doing that at one of the water parks (getting drink mug and then refills...) do they do them at the main parks then..? MK, AK etc

We have always taken frozen water bottles, fruit and snacks into the parks and have never been stopped or in any other way been informed that was not allowed.

TOM

we take our cooler bag in all parks are ok with it except animal kingdom where we took a smaller 1 (not a so obvious pull along one)

Friends of ours took drinks and snacks with them when they went to Aquatica - they had their bags searched and they weren't allowed to take the items in with them.
So they had to end up taking them back to the car.

I've heard Aquatica are very strict but when my niece went in May they didnt realise and had packed a lunch. First they were told they couldnt take anything in but when they explained that my 3 year old great niece has many allergies they said they could take it in. I dont know if it was because they also had a baby with them, they told them not to bother sorting it but to take it all in.

We always take drinks to the parks. The trouble with the refill cups is that my daughter (23) has never liked any fizzy drinks and I only like a little before i get fed up with them.

Aquatica were VERY strict when we visited the park a couple of weeks ago. They were not allowing any cool boxes in.

I'm sure it was only because of the allergies that they let them take it in so i hope not too many people suddenly "develop" allergies as it will stop the ones with genuine need being able to take them in.

We have had a problem with Busch every time we go. We always take food as one of my daughter's is gluten free; even when we explained that they very begrudgingly let us take it in. However out of all the parks I find Busch has the least helpful attitude to customers service. If it wasn't for the fact that the rest of the family love the combination of rides and animals I wouldn't bother going.

We returned on monday and we took drinks and snacks (crisps, biscuits and cereal bars) in our backpack in all the parks.
Aquatica have signs up stating what you cant take but we were able to take our frozen water and also a huge bag of crisps in with no problem.

Last week Disney were fine with taking in Food and Drink but Universal were very strict about it and refused to let in any outside food and drink.

Universal were also very unflexible in their menu options as well.

At The International Food Place (sic near to ET Ride) where they have a sort of food court with Asian, AMerican, Italian etc dishes my wife wanted the Chicken Parmesan but doesn't like Pasta so asked to substitute Fries for Pasta. They wouldn't let her so she asked to speak to a manager to find out why not. The manager said the meals are pre programmed into the till so even if she did substitute Fries for Pasta we would get charged for a side order of fries as well as paying the full price for the Chicken Parmesan with Pasta.

We take a bag in (Not Cooler) to the parks everytime we go. Bits of snaks but more importantly Frozen Bottle Water we kept in the freezing the night before, never had any problems.

The heat melts the water during the day but nice refreshing cold water to drink.

Hi
We were in Aquatica last week and a family in front of us in the bag line had to take all their snacks etc back to the car, they were really upset but the bag checker wouldn't budge. We just took in frozen bottles of water in a rucksack which was fine and ate ice creams while we were there. At Seaworld, Busch Gardens and Universal we took in the said frozen bottles of water, apples and crisps in the rucksack with no problems. We did find though that we went back to the villa with the apples and crisps because it was so hot all we wanted to eat was ice creams.

Maybe they are getting stricter as their income from guests is dropping due to lower numbers.
Obviously they want us to buy their food and that will only happen when you can't take anything in with you. Usually fruit, crisps and water are fine.

[drinkbeer]

Never had a problem at either Disney or Busch. Take drink bottles, and cordial to dilute from their water fountains. We also take crisps and biscuits. We still end up buying their ice creams, and drink and crisps/cookies. If they were more strict, I think the reaction may well be to buy less, or drink more water.


[drinkpepsi]

[cheers]

We always take frozen water bottles and a few snacks in a backpack- never had a problem.

In Jan, we took food and drinks to all Disney parks, IoA and Universal (in a small cooler ruck sack with ice block). There were no issues during bag searches. Last year, at Aquatica, I was worried by the warning signs that no food or drink was allowed in the park but there were no issues at the bag search. Nor should there be - some of these parks have poor food choices compared to their restaurant and fast-food counterparts in the surrounding areas. I don't object to paying a park premium just as long as the food is good - but a turkey leg or something-and-fries does not always appeal, and on most occasions we don't want to spend the time for a full sit-down menu. It really is their loss as well because many people load up on food before they arrive.

If it is true that some parks are getting stricter about this, I'll be opting for the less-strict parks (especially with Aquatica as Blizzard Beach/Typhoon lagoon are perfect alternatives).

I don't think parks have a problem with water bottles and the odd small snack but you can understand they want you to buy their food.The water bottles are then useful to refill from the water fountains. Also its a real pain to keep carrying the stuff around with you espeically if you want to go on the rides.

We used to go back out of the parks for either lunch or dinner to have a break away from the sun and a proper sit down. Then we could go back refreshed for the rest of the day.

Thanks for all your comments. The main thing was that my son suffers from CF and he needs a high in-take of salt from energy drinks..(you should see some of the faces i get when i put loads of salt on his food..) Just want to make sure we can take in Powerade etc and crips, chocolate etc for his enrgy levels.

Surely your doctor can write you a letter explaining you need to carry those around for your son's specific needs. In the event someone would say it's a problem, ask for a manager, explain and show the letter. Bot most likely you'll be fine if you keep at a smaller bag. We have a backpack which is also a cooler, very handy.

As an alternative to taking and carrying bottles of ice or water, the restaurants with soda fountains in the parks will give you, free of charge, beakers of iced water.

It's filtered water, so it doesn't have the typical Florida water taste, and if you don't like plain water take some Crystal Lite flavour sachets with you.

Much easier to carry a few small sachets in your pocket/purse than bottles in a backpack.

VV

We took a foil backed shopping bag type cooler bag with frozen water and picnic into Disney last visit and never been challenged and I assumed all the parks were the same, this next trip we plan to do Seaworld and Universal so will be more careful. Thank you for the heads up.