Last Minute Disney Tips?

[Anonymous]

We're going to Disneyworld for the first time on Thursday. I've read here that people order snacks, cereal, milk, etc. from Amazon or elsewhere and have it delivered directly to your hotel, but when I searched I couldn't find the thread. Can anyone help with the details on who to order from, and any other pro tips that you wish you'd known when you first went there? We do have our fast passes, wristbands, etc. thanks!!

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, just wondering, are you staying in one of the hotels nearby, or within driving distance?

[Anonymous]

We ordered from green grocer and it was great

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP, just wondering, are you staying in one of the hotels nearby, or within driving distance?

We're staying at the Port Orleans hotel.

[Anonymous]

I packed our non perishable snacks in our suitcases.

[Anonymous]

You can also try We Go Shop. Sign up asap as a lot of them the slots fill up and you need to sign up in advance. We had milk, cereal, water and snacks delivered to the room.

Download the My Disney Experience App if you haven't already - you can use it to change fast pass reservations and check the wait time of all of the rides.

Buy an external phone charger since you will use up all of your phone battery on the aforementioned app and letting your kids play games while waiting in line.

[Anonymous]

The external phone charger is a must! Make sure you have the charging cable for it so you can recharge that overnight.

Add on the memory maker if you haven't already (you should still qualify for the advance purchase).

Check dining reservations to see if anything else has opened up (I'm assuming you already have reservations).

[Anonymous]

We rented a car for our vacation. The first night we got to the hotel, after the kids went to bed, I took the car out to the 24-hour Walmart (just under 10 minutes drive away) and stocked up on things we'd need. I got breakfast foods, a case of water bottles, snacks for the parks, additional sunscreen, etc.

The other added bonus of doing this is that you can find a bunch of Disney promotional things there for about 40% cheaper than in the parks. So I picked up tee shirts and assorted "gifts" for the kids from Walmart and then we doled it out to the kids throughout the week and were able to keep the in-park purchases down.

If your kids are young enough that a full day of walking may be a bit much for them, I would recommend still renting a stroller. Even though we don't need a stroller 99% of the time, we still got one last year when our twins were 4 and will probably get one next spring when they are 5.5 (probably the last time). We found that although most of the time they walked and the stroller was just for carrying our junk around, when we wanted to cross the park quickly (like moving from Tomorrowland to Adventureland) it helped so that we were not tied to the speed of 4 year olds. Plus, giving them a place to sit every hour or two throughout the day meant that they lasted a lot longer and we didn't have the kind of meltdowns that typically happens when they get tired or hungry. We were able to stay until the fireworks. They watched the fireworks from the stroller, then we walked back to the monorail and they fell asleep in the stroller. We got back to the car and just moved them to their carseats. Much easier than having to carry sleeping children all the way back. If you rent from the park, you have to return the stroller inside the park and then carry your sleeping child to the monorail and then to the car. By renting off-site and having the stroller delivered to the hotel, we could use the stroller all the way back to the car. Definitely worth it. Without the stroller, we probably would have been headed back to the hotel before dinner. A side benefit, the stroller company included a mini-cooler which was great to keep fruit and water bottles in while in the park. We chilled them in the room mini fridge then moved them to the cooler bag and the cool lasted until about mid-afternoon.

Definitely download the Disney app if you have a smart phone. Also bring both a regular and a USB charging cable. And spend the money to buy one of those spare batteries. I found that my smart phone running the Disney app and checking wifi continuously needed about 150% of the typical charge for the full day. There are charging stations in several places around the park. But I found the spare battery more useful. I got one of those and when the battery started running down, plugged it in in my pocket and it recharged the battery to about 50% which lasted just about when we got back to the car and I could plug it into the car charger.

How old are your kids? That might help tailor the responses for last minute tips.

[Anonymous]

Can't you uber a ride to Walmart/grocery store to pick up a bunch of snacks, milk, coffee, etc when you get there?

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks for all the advice!! I'll look at green grocer Disney tonight and if they don't have any slots left for delivery, I'll do what the PP suggested and Uber to Walmart our first night. I'm going to skip the stroller since my kids are 9 and 11, even though I bet they would love it!! ;-p They have no idea how much walking there is at Disney, so I'm fully prepared for some whining. And thank you so much for the tip about the external charger!! I wouldn't have thought to bring ours, but now I definitely will.

Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

My biggest piece of advice is to buy those water bottles that have a built in water filter. You can easily go through $50 worth of bottled water a day with a family of 4, and you really don't want to carry in a ton of water bottles.

Also get the app and check for meal cancellations 2 days out and 1 day out, if you want dining reservations that you didn't get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My biggest piece of advice is to buy those water bottles that have a built in water filter. You can easily go through $50 worth of bottled water a day with a family of 4, and you really don't want to carry in a ton of water bottles.

Also get the app and check for meal cancellations 2 days out and 1 day out, if you want dining reservations that you didn't get.

You can get free water at any place that serves food at Disney.

[Anonymous]

I don't know about Port Orleans but there is a small grocery in most of the other hotels and there is no way it would be cheaper to take an Uber to Walmart -- just buy what you need at the hotel. We stayed at the villas at Wilderness Lodge and bought bread, milk, hot dogs, yogurt, cereal, frozen pizzas, American cheese (for grilled cheese), etc. right there. The prices were not insane, more like convenience store prices. Just pack anything special you want, like a particular kind of energy bar or coffee pod that they wouldn't have at a convenience store.

[Anonymous]

Do the Disney hotels have Keurig's or are they standard coffee makers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know about Port Orleans but there is a small grocery in most of the other hotels and there is no way it would be cheaper to take an Uber to Walmart -- just buy what you need at the hotel. We stayed at the villas at Wilderness Lodge and bought bread, milk, hot dogs, yogurt, cereal, frozen pizzas, American cheese (for grilled cheese), etc. right there. The prices were not insane, more like convenience store prices. Just pack anything special you want, like a particular kind of energy bar or coffee pod that they wouldn't have at a convenience store.

The Wilderness Lodge will have a better selection of groceries than the Port Orleans hotels because Wilderness has the Disney Vacation Club Villas, which have kitchens. None of the rooms at Port Orleans have a full kitchen.