When we go to Disney World, we love to use the Disney Dining Plan, so we don’t typically need much in the way of grocery items. Our biggest need for a grocery item when we’re at Disney World, however, is always bottled water! On our recent trip, we used a whole new way to fill that need and it was awesome. Let me share how we quickly (and inexpensively) got bottled water delivered to a Disney World Resort.
While we have driven to Disney World a couple of times, our typical and preferred method is to fly. Even though I hate to fly, I can see the usefulness of having only two and a half hours of flying versus 18 hours on the road (not counting stops). With Disney’s awesome transportation system, we are able to be whisked from the airport to our resort and then all around to all of the parks without needing a vehicle. But, it does make it very difficult to get bottled water.
Hydration is Extremely Important at Disney World
Important Note on Reading this Post: If you really don’t want to read about my adventures with the Disney paramedics, you can scroll through this until you find the bold heading – Option One (But Not the Best Option): Buying Water at Your Resort. If you really don’t care about other options and just want to get to what we did, go all the way to option four (aka – what I thought was the coolest and best option).
You might see the “Hydration is Extremely Important at Disney World” heading, and think, “Uh, yeah. Thanks for that obvious tip.” But, I’m serious!
In fact, after we had been in the park for several hours, and just a few minutes into Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party two years ago, I realized that I didn’t feel well. I hadn’t felt well all day, but I got to the point where I was starting to have a panic attack (like for real, not just for emphasis here) because it was becoming more and more apparent to me that I really didn’t feel well. I even thought for a moment while the panic attack was especially bad as we sat in The Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor show, “What if I die at Disney World?”
I whispered to the kid closest to me as casually as I could, “Hey – I have to step outside. If Dad asks where I am, just tell him I’ll meet you outside.”
I then proceeded to quickly find a cast member and told them that I was very concerned because I felt horrible. They asked me a few questions, and then it seemed like just minutes later, I was meeting Disney paramedics. They asked a lot of questions, took my vitals, and were very kind and helpful. Meanwhile, my family came out of the attraction and basically freaked out to see what was going on.
Okay, sorry. I know – you just want to know where to get the dang water. But, this is important.
It turns out that the reason for all of my symptoms (which also included a pretty decent fever, which I had been totally unaware of until the paramedics told me) was dehydration! One of the paramedics said that they see it a lot and most people visiting aren’t drinking enough water.
They gave me options to go to an urgent care, hospital, or just back to my resort, but I cried and told them that I didn’t want to leave because we were just minutes into the Christmas party that was $500 worth of tickets. They gave me side eyes for being irresponsible, but insisted that then they would get me a wheelchair for Eric to push me around in and that I needed to immediately start drinking a lot of water.
A couple of hours later, we returned the wheelchair and I was feeling well enough to declare that I was ready to throw elbows, if needed, at the Christmas parade if anyone tried to squeeze us out of our spot.
I have been a huge proponent of drinking copious amounts of water at Disney World ever since. That means, of course, that we needed an easy solution to get water.
Explore: Tips for Getting the Disney World Dining Reservations You Really Want (even if you’re already on your vacation)
Option One (But Not the Best Option): Buying Water at Your Resort
Of course, you could buy bottled water from your resort or at the parks. They typically have two types available – one at $3.00 per bottle and one at $4.50 per bottle during our last trip. When you consider that we’re a family of five and I have a tendency of not only drinking a lot of water, but being a heavy pusher of water on my family, that gets extremely expensive.
Even given the prices, we still found ourselves occasionally buying the bottled water. I am of the feeling that if we need it, water is pretty important – I’m buying it.
If you are on the Disney Dining Plan and are eating at your resort, definitely be sure to bring your refillable mug. When we do that, we all get bottled waters as our drinks, which are included with the dining plan meals, but then fill our refillable mugs with fountain beverages for the actual meal. That way, we get some extra waters.
So, from a convenience standpoint, buying bottled water at your Disney World Resort is handy. From a wallet standpoint, you might want to take out a second mortgage before your trip is done.
Option Two (But Still Not the Best): Ice Water from Quick Service Restaurants
This is more like a tip than I think a good solution to your bottled water needs. But, I did for sure want to mention it as a good source of supplementing your bottled water.
At the parks, you can go up to any Quick Service restaurant and ask for a cup of ice water and it’s free. While it’s not as convenient as having it in a bottle with a lid (especially for when you are wanting to go on rides and attractions), it’s a nice option to have.
Explore: Want more than just ice water from those quick service restaurants? Here are our favorite quick service options at Disney World.
Option Three: Schedule to Have Water and/or Groceries Delivered to Your Disney World Resort
This is probably a pretty good option for you planners out there or for those that need more groceries than just water. I’ll let you do your research on the best local grocery delivery place to use, if this is the option you go with.
I hadn’t planned our water needs, and when I tried to look up options when I was at Disney World the last time, it was going to be two days before I could get on the schedule of any grocery delivery places. Most of these places also had pretty decent delivery fees, as well as minimum order amounts. That didn’t work well when we just wanted water.
So, while this might work well for you, it wasn’t a good option for us, especially when we wanted to quickly get bottled water delivered to a Disney World resort.
Option Four: How to Inexpensively and Quickly Get Bottled Water Delivered to a Disney World Resort
Note: Links that are specifically to Amazon Prime Now are NOT affiliate links. I’m just telling you about it because we loved it!
I was thirsty and short on options for quickly getting the bottled water delivered. Then in my searching, I realized that an old and trusted friend might just be the answer to this quandary, as it so often is: Amazon.
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I figured if I used my Amazon Prime and paid for one day shipping, we would get water the next day and it wouldn’t be too bad to buy it in the resort until then.
But then, like a beacon of goodness and hope, I noticed that Orlando (including Disney World) is in the Amazon Prime Now delivery area!
Although I wasn’t familiar with Amazon Prime Now, since we don’t live in an area that is covered by it, I was thrilled to find out that I could have my water in an hour, if I wanted it that quickly and wanted to pay a little extra. Bonus! And, if I didn’t want to pay extra, I could still have it in just a few hours later.
How to Use Amazon Prime Now While Staying at a Disney World Resort
1. Look up the address for the Disney World resort that you’re staying at. You don’t really have to do this first, but it’s as good a time as any.
To do this, we just googled “Address Art of Animation Disney World” or something like that. We were given a street address and the city was listed as Lake Buena Vista. I freaked out for just a second. However, when I put that into our order, the Amazon Prime Now system changed the city to Orlando instead, and we were good to go.
2. You will need to visit Amazon through their Amazon Prime Now site.
This all looks the same as the regular Amazon site, but you will have to put in the zip code where you are located and then you will only see items that you can get through Amazon Prime Now.
3. Put all of the items that you want to order in your cart, obviously.
We ordered six of the six-packs of Smart Water. We calculated before ordering and thought this would take us through the end of our trip. We also had an unexpected fever pop up, and so we added in some Children’s Tylenol.
There are lots of things you can add to your order other than just water (groceries, health and beauty aids, electronics, etc.), so be sure to browse around and add in everything you need.
4. Pick your delivery time at check out.
We were offered two different 2-hour delivery time windows that would have included free shipping. The soonest window would have included two hour shipping. Not bad for free, huh?
However, we knew that we had dinner reservations and just wanted to get our things quickly, so we paid $7.95 for the one hour shipping option. Awesome, huh? It’s especially awesome when you consider that if we had our own vehicle and had driven to Walmart, we would have had to pay tolls and the like. So, we didn’t mind this delivery fee at all.
5. Tip Your Delivery Person
They ask you for a tip amount when you are checking out. Please tip them. This is more like having a pizza delivered than it is like having a package delivered.
But, never fear – if they’re horrible, you actually have 24-hours to change your tip amount. I took advantage of that, and it was very easy. Of course, I actually added more to my tip after the fact because I was so pleased.
6. Wait for Your Delivery
I got notifications on my phone of when my delivery was on its way and when it was getting close. The couple dropping off our order called when they were getting close to make arrangements of where to meet them. They also texted when they arrived.
And, just like that, less than an hour after we placed our order, we had enough water to last us throughout our whole trip for about as much as we would have spent on water in the parks in about a day. It was so quick and easy!
We will definitely use Amazon Prime Now again the next time we are in Disney World, as well as when we visit other cities with Amazon Prime Now coverage.
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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. They don’t change the price you pay. When you shop through them, we might get a small compensation. Thanks!
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