Thursday's Tip

Let's talk hydration. It's pretty important in general, but especially in the Florida heat. At its worst, dehydration can contribute to serious health problems such as heat stroke. But even mild dehydration can cause fatigue or--worse?--just general grumpiness. Bottled water can cost upwards of $3 or more at the Disney theme parks. In the past, we've carried in several bottles of our own to off-set the cost. In addition, we would bring along flavor packets (Crystal Light, Kool-Aid, etc.) to use in water from counter service restaurants, due to the sulfur taste that often accompanies Central Florida tap water. Most recently, we have begun using a filtered water bottle, which allowed us to drink freely from any water fountain or tap without worry of the taste or quality. We loved this on our last trip: it meant we carried only one bottle (we took a couple of extra plastic cups to share from the one filtered bottle) and we always had fresh, great-tasting water at our disposal.

But here's the thing--my new Thursday's Tip: Disney now filters its tap water, so you can now drink water freely (both without cost and without reservation) from most any Walt Disney World restaurant without worrying about the taste of the water. That essentially means that there's no real need to carry water or even a water bottle into the Parks, since you can get a free cup of water at any counter service location.

That said, I don't think we'll be retiring our filter bottle anytime soon. It's still great to have the convenience of stopping at any water fountain and grabbing a quick drink, instead of having to stand in line for a fresh cup from a restaurant. And we always like to have a little in our bottle, in case someone gets thirsty while we're standing in line. Still, it's great to know that there's one less item on our "must pack" list, for those times when we want to travel light in the Parks.

Thursday's Tip

I'm a big proponent of saving money by taking food and drinks into the Disney Parks. Topping our list of items that we typically take into the Parks is bottled water. We usually buy a case (on sale, of course!) at home and take it along with us. Each morning we pack at least one bottle per person. We tend to drive to the Parks and often keep a cooler in our car to refresh our water stash midday. (These are all bonus tips--enjoy!)

But this year, we're doing something different. Thursday's Tip: take a filtered water bottle to WDW. I had read many reviews from Disney devotees who are hooked on water bottles with built-in filters, but until recently, I hadn't seen these in stores (and they were a little pricey online, especially when you factored in the shipping costs). But lately, I've been seeing several varieties of bottles with filters in stores, so we decided to try the "Brita Bottle on the Go."



This retails for around $10 (but you can find them for $7 or less with coupons), and the filter lasts for about 2 months. My husband has been trying this out at work for the last few weeks--we have excessive algae in our water this time of year in Tennessee, and his office doesn't have a filtering system. His assessment is that the filter works quite well, but he is a bit concerned with the possibility of leakage around the rim. Hoping that isn't an issue, but we tend to keep everything in ziplock bags anyhow.

Our plan is to take 2 Brita bottles and share them. (We may pack a few small plastic cups for the girls, since they aren't crazy about squeeze bottles. They should fit over the top of the bottles for compact packing in our bag.) This should also cut down on the weight we carry into the Parks! I'm kinda psyched about having a little extra space in our car too (minus the case of water we usually bring). More space for shoes--yay!