The Crushed Ice Caper
Stephen Simmons (ssimmons@eds.com) sent me the following
note:
First let me say that I have just found your web site
(thanks to Al's web site) and have yet to check out each and every page
but I still believe that I have a question that may not be covered anywhere.
Be prepared to laugh....(I hope)
This may sound easy..... We have taken water bottles with
us on a previous trip to WDW. This is real great for those hot days
while standing in line. However the water tends to get warm. So,
where (in any and all the parks) can one go to get crushed ice? Could
you be specific please (don't just say "in a restaurant" or
"from an ODV cart (considering the carts now serve mostly bottles
I doubt that they have crushed ice). I'd like to be able to mark
up an old map with several locations so that if needed we can "pop
in" and refill the ice in our water bottles.
So, I laughed (Stephen was right), and asked my "inside
sources." Actually, I contacted Michael Hewell (a former WDW
VIP Tour Guide, and now a WDW trip itinerary planner and tour guide -
information on his company, "MICHAEL'S
VIPS", is available elsewhere in this site....just click on the
link.) This is what I was told:
There is certainly no 'official' place to get crushed
ice. All of the outside vendors use 'dry ice' for their ice-cream bars
and such. If a cast member DID give crushed ice to a guest, it would
be at the sole discretion of that cast member, as there would be concerns
about other guests seeing it and expecting that it was now policy.
If he walked into a counter service restaurant and requested
it there, it would only be given if it was not during a peak time and
there were not other guests waiting for their food. Most of the CM's
would reply that he needed to purchase something first ...
What most guests do, however, is put their water bottles
in the freezer over night and bring them to the park frozen. They stay
cool all day usually.
Another suggestion is to have insulated water bottles
instead of non-insulated. The insulated water bottles used for camping
really do work!
My answer above is what I would have given him as a guest
relations host.
His best bet is a counter service restaurant BUT ONLY
during times when they were not very busy.
There are certainly no areas that he can mark on a map
because most CM's will have been instructed to not provide this service.
Sorry I could not be of more help. No need to credit this - there's
nothing to credit!
All humility aside, I'm pleased to admit that I was stumped,
but that Michael knew the answer!
Stephen Simmons followed up with the following note:
Subject: The "Crushed Ice Caper"
Thanks again for doing the research about locating crushed
ice at WDW. It blew me away to find out you actually added this to your
web site.
Not to complain about the answer that you provided, but
we were obviously looking for the "cheap" way to do this.
One of your answers (along with one I got off of a chat room) was to
freeze the water bottles over night. Well, that would require renting
a fridge (cost $10 a day). For that price I can buy several bottles
of cold water! (or even a coke or two). What we will probably do is
locate some insulated bottles (since ours are just the regular ones
like you can purchase in the Disney Store) and go from there.
Being a former CM from DL (way back in the E-Coupon days),
I am sure that if I work it properly I could persuade some nice CM to
provide some crushed ice if needed. It's amazing how friendly CM's become
when they find out you're "one of them".
True, Stephen, but not all of us have that privilege
:)
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