Your liquid intakes whilst in the parks

[acishere]

I usually avoid getting soda except for a rare TS meal where I don't get a beer and Club Cool.

I either bring a bottle of water in or I buy one early in the day. Then I refill it at water fountains the rest of the day. Getting QS food I always get the free ice water and order extra to refill the bottle with cold water.

Sometimes I get a Powerade too for a chance of pace.

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

We bring refillable bottles from home, fill them with ice and bottled water and bring them with us (we don't like the taste of the tap water down there).

 

[Sans Souci]

I don't really drink pop, so I bring a 1 L bottle, some packets of Crystal Light, fill it up with water and drink that.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Perhaps it's the 'Britishness' coming out in me but I just can't imagne marching up to the till and saying "Two cups of free ice water please". I realise that after paying about $1,500 for our two Premium AP's it's hardly 'free' but nonetheless it seems alien to me in Disney World doing that. Don't worry though I will try it, though part of me still thiks they'll look at me like some scrounger and say "No".

This could even work to my advantage though. When Mrs Merg is thirsty and wants her bottled water I'll say "Oh no my dear, you wait here and I'll go and buy you an iced water in a cup rather than have you struggle drinking from a plastic bottle, sit tight and I'll go and purchase it for you as nothing is too good for my wife". I could be dining out on this for a good while before she twigs

Totally agree with you. Despite the cost, I'm still not upset about paying for beverages. I know about the free water, but never ask for it.

 

[cw1982]

Totally agree with you. Despite the cost, I'm still not upset about paying for beverages. I know about the free water, but never ask for it.

I don't know that anyone is "upset about paying for beverages" lol... but at the same time, I don't see why there's anything wrong with taking advantage of something that Disney cheerfully offers its guests. It's not like anyone has ever acted like giving me a cup of water was an inconvenience to them. Clearly, Disney wants to do what they can to ensure that guests don't get dehydrated, which is smart on their part from a legal and publicity standpoint, so by all means, if I'm thirsty and don't want to pay for a soda or don't want to add the extra calories/caffeine/chemicals to my intake for the day, then I'll absolutely take full advantage of the free water.

 

[slappy magoo]

I second the notion that you should avoid sodas if you're trying to hydrate (versus just wanting to drink a soda). The sugar and caffeine (unless they're diet and/or caffeine-free) will make you thirstier, faster. A Coke might taste good to some, but it won't do the job slaking the thirst.

And this may be a personal thing - as much as I love iced-cold water, I find warmer water works better when it comes to slaking thirst on a hot humid day. Not hot, just not iced, cold. I feel like the coldness actually dries my mouth out and then I always want my mouth to be cold and then I drink more water than I need and at my age and with long lines, that's an accident waiting to happen!

There are Brita water bottles you can purchase with replaceable filter cartridges, they usually come with one or two filters with the first purchase but you can buy more. This way you can fill them up at any water fountain and not worry about the water being filtered, as your attached filter does the job.

 

[Chef Mickey]

I don't know that anyone is "upset about paying for beverages" lol... but at the same time, I don't see why there's anything wrong with taking advantage of something that Disney cheerfully offers its guests. It's not like anyone has ever acted like giving me a cup of water was an inconvenience to them. Clearly, Disney wants to do what they can to ensure that guests don't get dehydrated, which is smart on their part from a legal and publicity standpoint, so by all means, if I'm thirsty and don't want to pay for a soda or don't want to add the extra calories/caffeine/chemicals to my intake for the day, then I'll absolutely take full advantage of the free water.

Tons of people complain about beverage cost. That's all I meant by upset about paying. I just don't care how much they cost because I know that's one way they make money. They have to...

Also, nothing is "wrong" with taking advantage of it and I understand Disney would rather give water out free than have a dehydrated guest. I'm just saying, like the Brit, I don't feel right asking for free water.

 

[SAV]

We all downed numerous cups of the free water every day. It was great to just come up to a stand and ask for "4 cups of ice water please" and be on our way. During our 7 park days we had the free water every time we ate with the exception of our sit down meal at Sci-Fi and one other time my DW wanted a pop with her meal.

 

[PhilharMagician]

Typically either rent a car of take a limo with a free grocery stop and buy enough bottled water for 2 per person per day. At about $7.00 per case for water in a grocery store we save a good chunk of money. We freeze and/or refridgerate the bottles of water and toss them in a back pack for the parks. At meals we will have soft drinks or an adult beverage and at table service meals we continually ask the server to refill our water to help us rehydrate from the day.

Buying bottled water at $2.50 a pop can get expensive and deter someone from staying hydrated and the drinking fountain swamp water is horrible at best.

 

[slappy magoo]

Buying bottled water at $2.50 a pop can get expensive and deter someone from staying hydrated and the drinking fountain swamp water is horrible at best.

And speaking on behalf of the selfish b@st@rds of the world, if you're on a meal plan, do you want to waste a precious snack credit on something that by all rights SHOULD be thought of as free and a fundamental right, the right for everyone to have clean water upon request, when you can use it for a Dole Whip or cupcake as big a your head?

I understand the politeness in thinking you shouldn't get something for nothing, but it's water. You need it to live and it's cheaper for them to give you free water than it is to deal with a lawsuit if they deny you water when you're dehydrated and have a heat-realted stroke or other episode. Once we get used to the idea that we ought to pay extra for water, they'll start charging us for air.

 

[cw1982]

And speaking on behalf of the selfish b@st@rds of the world, if you're on a meal plan, do you want to waste a precious snack credit on something that by all rights SHOULD be thought of as free and a fundamental right, the right for everyone to have clean water upon request, when you can use it for a Dole Whip or cupcake as big a your head?

I understand the politeness in thinking you shouldn't get something for nothing, but it's water. You need it to live and it's cheaper for them to give you free water than it is to deal with a lawsuit if they deny you water when you're dehydrated and have a heat-realted stroke or other episode. Once we get used to the idea that we ought to pay extra for water, they'll start charging us for air.

I can't like this enough times! The markup is more than high enough on their other sales to make it so that their free water doesn't even make a dent in their bottom line. If it did, rest assured, there would be a bigger push for them to stop offering it.

 

[KCheatle]

We love drinking Smart Water on our trips. I bet we drink 2-3 bottles/day. We love that it has electrolytes, so it's basically like drinking Gatorade but without all of the dye and sugar and stuff.

I have to admit that I love the Smart Water option that you have as a "snack" option. I buy Dasani water bottles for $3/crate all the time, so spending $3 on one bottle is very frustrating. But, Smart Water is very expensive, and in fact, last time I checked didn't even come in a crate-option. So, I do feel like I'm getting a good deal then with buying Dasani water while I'm there.

 

[Dwarful]

I have never been given a hard time over getting the free ice water. Sometimes I will make a purchase with it and other times its just...need a quick drink. I did once try to fill a spray bottle and then refill the cup to save the extra cup but they said they couldn't take it back over the counter for health reasons so they had to give me a new cup.

 

[MDactor1980]

I have NEVER brought a water bottle into the park with me that was full of booze to dump into sodas (or Dole Whips) at some point during the day. NEVER.

 

[C&D]

Water, coffee, and when in Epcot, Club Cool (mostly Beverly; I'm old and my taste buds have acquired the taste as good).

 

[mergatroid]

Tons of people complain about beverage cost. That's all I meant by upset about paying. I just don't care how much they cost because I know that's one way they make money. They have to...

Also, nothing is "wrong" with taking advantage of it and I understand Disney would rather give water out free than have a dehydrated guest. I'm just saying, like the Brit, I don't feel right asking for free water.

Well I'm definitely going to ask for it later this year, that's for sure! Once I've done it I'm sure it will then become second nature, it's just the idea still seems odd as I'd never heard of it before. Some great ideas in this thread so far though, thanks to all

 

[Phil Porter]

I drink a lot more water when I'm on holiday which is a good thing but at the same time when I'm over in america I save like crazy so I've got plenty of cash to buy what I want when Im out there.

We also take a pack lunches to the parks and throw in a few cans of pop.

 

[thomas998]

As soon as we get to Orlando we stop at a supermarket and buy a couple of cases of bottled water, then take it to the hotel and put them in the refrigerator; some to be frozen and other just cold. Then when we head to park we take a bag with at least 1 bottle of frozen and 1 bottle of just cold water for everyone in the group. If we have rent a locker we do, but usually I just schlep around with the bag that gets lighter as the day wears on. We might get some soft drinks when we eat in the park, but water works much better at hydrating you than sodas that usually have caffeine that actually causes you to urinate more and lose more water.

We try to avoid the local water they give you at service counters because it tastes horrible. I honestly wonder if Disney add bad flavors to the water to try and convince people to buy bottled water or cokes.

 

[katie123]

And I'm not talking alcoholic binges at the F & W though you can contribute about that if you prefer .

I was more thinking about the amount you folks end up drinking when in the theme parks to quench your thirst and what you drink. Being from the UK we're not really used to the really hot days and so walking around in the Florida heat can be quite thirsty work. I've got to be honest, if money was no object then I'd drink a hell of a lot more soft drinks in the parks than I actually do! Instead I spend the majority of the time passing soft drink stands and not buying them due to the prices. Plus when I do end up getting a bottle of Sprite or Coke, I find that it's only the first few ice cold gulps that I actually crave or need and end up carrying a half empty bottle around with me or even bin it before it's empty. Of course shortly afterwards I'm craving another one and regretting binning the previous one even though a warm soft drink has never done it for me.

I honestly try to not buy more than two drinks any single day unless we're eating at Disney in which case I'll buy a large drink with the meal on top of my walk around beverages. I regularly stop at the free water fountains to drink and laugh at Mrs Mergatroid's inability to get the stream of water into her mouth .

So how does everyone manage? Do you buy drinks everytime you're thirsty or is this way too expensive? Anyone take their own drink holders in with you and if so do they keep the liquid cold enough to hit the spot? Are the water fountains the only thing you normally use and am I the only one who has a wife unable to use them without soaking herself? And finally isn't 'Club Cool' in Epcot one of the greatest Disney creations, I actually had 18 drinks in there during several visits one day a few years back

Hi
I always have this dilemma as I dont want us all to drink soda all day. (cost plus health issues!)
Got a great solution this year- I am going to stock up on the new Robinson's concentrated drinks pouches that have been brought out before we leave the UK- they do about 20 drinks-you just squirt it into water and cost about £2 each. Available in Sainsburys and asda, don't know about other shops!
Also bought foldable/ collapsible bottles at local cheap shop for 70p each. Can carry a pouch of juice and each of us has our own bottle which takes up little room.
Should save a fortune/ valuable snack credits and calories¬!

 

[LAKid53]

And I'm not talking alcoholic binges at the F & W though you can contribute about that if you prefer .

I was more thinking about the amount you folks end up drinking when in the theme parks to quench your thirst and what you drink. Being from the UK we're not really used to the really hot days and so walking around in the Florida heat can be quite thirsty work. I've got to be honest, if money was no object then I'd drink a hell of a lot more soft drinks in the parks than I actually do! Instead I spend the majority of the time passing soft drink stands and not buying them due to the prices. Plus when I do end up getting a bottle of Sprite or Coke, I find that it's only the first few ice cold gulps that I actually crave or need and end up carrying a half empty bottle around with me or even bin it before it's empty. Of course shortly afterwards I'm craving another one and regretting binning the previous one even though a warm soft drink has never done it for me.

I honestly try to not buy more than two drinks any single day unless we're eating at Disney in which case I'll buy a large drink with the meal on top of my walk around beverages. I regularly stop at the free water fountains to drink and laugh at Mrs Mergatroid's inability to get the stream of water into her mouth .

So how does everyone manage? Do you buy drinks everytime you're thirsty or is this way too expensive? Anyone take their own drink holders in with you and if so do they keep the liquid cold enough to hit the spot? Are the water fountains the only thing you normally use and am I the only one who has a wife unable to use them without soaking herself? And finally isn't 'Club Cool' in Epcot one of the greatest Disney creations, I actually had 18 drinks in there during several visits one day a few years back

If you ask at a quick service counter for ice water, they will give it to you with no charge. I find water to be better for quenching my thirst than a sugary soda on a hot, humid summer day in Orlando, especially given Disney prices for soft drinks.