Tips for Grocery Delivery at Disney World
Want groceries for your Walt Disney World vacation? Using a delivery grocery service is a money-saving way to get snacks and foods brought to your hotel. This post offers tips, info, and a comparison of Instacart, Amazon Prime Now, Walmart+ or Ubering to Target, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, or Publix. (Updated March 17, 2024.)
There have been a lot of big changes on the grocery delivery front in the last few years as new services have popped up and others have faded. As a threshold matter, grocery delivery is still allowed at Walt Disney World. Other rules and policies have changed regarding ECVs and luggage handling with the end of Disney’s Magical Express. However, nothing has changed with grocery delivery.
Hotels still allow bell services and the front desk to accept groceries (depending upon how they’re ordered/shipped), with the same procedures as before. We’ll discuss the specifics of that here, but suffice to say, we still strongly recommend getting groceries at Walt Disney World for an easy way to save time and money, among other things…
Grocery delivery has become more popular among Walt Disney World guests during the current ‘era’ of inflation, which has disproportionately impacted food costs. Menu prices at Walt Disney World were high before, but they’ve gone up even more in the last year. This is on top of everything else at Walt Disney World– prices have increased significantly across the board in the last couple of years. Just look at How Much Does a Disney World Vacation Cost?
Naturally, many visitors want to trim their trip budget down a bit, and food costs are one of the easiest ways without compromising the quality of the experience. We cover how to this in Top 14 Ways to Save Money at Walt Disney World in 2024, one of which is doing grocery delivery specifically for breakfast and snacks.
For one thing, there’s almost no opportunity cost to this. If you do grocery delivery and order Coke or other packaged snacks, they’re going to taste the same as the ones you buy at Walt Disney World. The only difference is they’re significantly cheaper. Same goes for fruits and vegetables, which are incredibly expensive in the parks, and taste no different from what you’d get at Walmart or Publix.
As for breakfast, it’s the weakest meal at Walt Disney World. By skipping breakfast at the food courts, you aren’t missing much–unless you enjoy powdered eggs and rubber bacon–by eating breakfast in your room. Put that savings towards better lunches and dinners!
We’d actually take that a step further and argue that replacing a counter service breakfast with in-room groceries can actually improve your Walt Disney World vacation. It’s easier and more efficient to do breakfast in your room, and having nutrient dense groceries in your room can give you a healthy, energizing start to your day.
All of this means that grocery delivery will not just save you money, but also time and headaches. Even if you don’t want to prepare full meals, we’d strongly recommend some basic snacks and simple items to tide you over so you can avoid the dinner-time rush crowds. Beyond doing grocery delivery, our single biggest dining recommendation right now is eating at off-hours. If you can eat breakfast in-room, take a snack with to the park, and eat “lunch” at 2 or 3 pm and “dinner” after 7 pm, you’ll save a ton of time and frustration.
Turning to logistics, it’s worth starting by noting that standard resorts at Walt Disney World have moved from regular mini-fridges to glass front beverage coolers, like what’s pictured above. These do not have freezers, and display a sticker on the outside indicating that they cool to 41 degrees and above.
As you can see in the photos here, we always get yogurt and cottage cheese as part of our grocery delivery orders. That might be playing with fire and is not a “best practice” for dairy, but we’ve never had any issues. We wouldn’t store raw steaks or eggs in these beverage coolers…but there’s also no reason to purchase either of those things since you’d have no way to cook them.
The absolute easiest way to buy groceries (aside from bringing them yourself in checked luggage) is to go to the gift shop in your Walt Disney World resort hotel. Every hotel has a limited selection of groceries, including refrigerated stuff. While a banana isn’t actually $10, there is a substantial markup on everything in these shops.
These items are still cheaper than buying prepared items in the parks, and it’s a nice option to have in a pinch, but you really shouldn’t expect to go “grocery shopping” at your hotel. It’s impractical from both a cost and selection perspective.
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at some of the best options for getting groceries at Walt Disney World, including Amazon, Walmart Plus, Instacart, nearby convenience stores or grocery delivery for inexpensive breakfast, beer, fruit, vegetables, and other things typically sold for a large mark-up by Disney…
Grocery Delivery
For those unfamiliar with grocery delivery services, the gist of the service is that you go on their website, order from a preset selection of groceries (you can also make special requests that they typically fulfill) at prices that are slightly marked up meeting a minimum dollar requirement for the order, they go to Publix or Whole Foods and pick up the items, and drop them off at your hotel. It’s basically what it sounds like: a personal grocery shopper.
Grocery delivery services takes the items you order directly to your hotel at Walt Disney World, leaving them with bell services (which refrigerates perishable items). For every resort stays at Walt Disney World in the last two years, we’ve used Walmart+ for grocery delivery. Walmart+ is basically the superstore’s answer to Amazon Prime. A membership to Walmart+ costs $98 per year or $12.95 a month. However, you can currently do a free 30-day trial to Walmart+ via Sarah’s referral link.
Our experiences with Walmart+ at Walt Disney World (and beyond) have all been top-notch. We really like the ability to track order progress in the app and receive real-time updates, which has enabled us to meet the driver to receive the order rather than having them leave it with bell services. (That’s just a matter of personal preference–we’ve also had orders dropped off when we were in the parks.)
One big recommendation we have with Walmart+ is to order a few days in advance. Order time slots can fill up, and you might have to pay surge pricing or choose an inconvenient delivery time if you order last minute. We’ve also had to do same-day orders for items we needed in a pinch, and it worked out fine–but it wasn’t ideal. (It’s also not always possible–we’ve seen slots totally full during holidays or hurricane season.)
There are several Walmarts that are convenient to Walt Disney World, so the service is pretty efficient. If you don’t have a Walmart+ membership, you can also just order from the store’s website or app and pay a delivery fee. Walmart+ is our #1 choice for grocery delivery at Walt Disney World as of 2024.
We’ve also used Instacart and have had positive experiences with that. In case you’re unfamiliar with it, Instacart is essentially a personal shopper service. You essentially browse the aisles of local grocery stores right from your phone. After placing an order, an Instacart shopper goes to the store and purchases your items and delivers them to you.
You can place an order from Publix, CVS, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, or Whole Foods. We’ve only ordered from Publix (which is the grocery store in Florida, so that’s probably what you’ll want to use unless you just want booze), but the experience was good. All of the same upsides as Walmart Plus, just slightly more expensive. For $10 off your first Instacart order, here’s Sarah’s referral link.
At this point, Instacart would be our #2 grocery delivery pick after Walmart Plus.
Another similar option is Amazon Prime Now. When ordering via the app or Amazon.com, you can have items delivered within 2 hours if you have a Prime membership–there’s now a $9.95 delivery fee for items sourced from Whole Foods, and Amazon Fresh orders now have a sliding scale for delivery fees based on the cost of the order.
We’ve found that selection is more limited via Amazon Prime Now than Walmart Plus, and prices are generally higher–especially if you’re shopping at Whole Foods (but it’s probably obvious that Walmart is cheaper than Whole Foods). With that said, Amazon offers tens of thousands of daily essentials including numerous dry foods and perishable items like deli meat, pizza, cheese, bread, juice, etc.
Still, it’s Amazon, which is efficient and has a huge selection. That makes it #3 behind Walmart+ and Instacart.
Finally, there are the locally-owned and operated options. The top of this category is Dizzy Dolphin Delivery and Vacation Grocery Delivery. The former was established by Disney Vacation Club members and the latter was created by former Cast Members.
We’ve heard great things about both Dizzy Dolphin and Vacation Grocery Delivery from readers, friends, and even (current) Bell Services Cast Members on the ground at Walt Disney World. If you want the most reliable options, more dedicated customer service, or to support local businesses, these are almost certainly your two best options.
However, we’ve yet to use Dizzy Dolphin or Vacation Grocery Delivery. The big impediments for us are the premium pricing and delivery fees. I don’t doubt that both are fantastic, and having local teams that are experienced with Walt Disney World and the ins and outs of grocery delivery at the resorts certainly helps. But we’ve yet to have any issues with Walmart, Instacart, or Amazon (knock on wood)–and the cost difference makes those choices obvious for us. To each their own, though.
Another option worth mentioning is Garden Grocer, which was our go-to for about a decade (maybe more). We really want to keep recommending them since they’re locally owned and operated. However, the prices have skyrocketed and are not even remotely competitive with Walmart+ or Amazon. Garden Grocer also has more limited selection, and requires ordering further in advance.
We’ve also heard a growing number of mixed reviews for Garden Grocer in the last two years–something that never used to happen. As such, we no longer recommend Garden Grocer at all. We don’t not recommend them, we’re just indifferent to them. There’s no compelling reason not to use Walmart Plus, Instacart, or Amazon at this point.
In terms of what we order, carrots and grapefruit are go-tos for while we get ready, throwing a couple pieces of fruit in our bags to take to the park, and find this works really well. With a single banana, apple, or orange costing $2+ in the parks, this savings adds up quickly. It’s also probably better “natural” energy than the copious amounts of caffeine I consume on any given day at Walt Disney World, too. If you drink, another great money-saving use of grocery delivery is for beer; for less than the cost of a single beer in the parks, you can get a 6-pack!
Orders are delivered to bell services at your hotel within the delivery window selected. When we’ve used the service, I sign up to receive both an email notification and a text message (optional) when the goods arrived. Our delivery experiences have been flawless. Groceries are picked up from Publix, and cold items were separated out and refrigerated by bell services at the hotel (so be sure to tip them).
Walt Disney World is now charging a $6 per package handling fee for each package that is received through the front desk or delivered to your hotel room. Previously, this package fee only applied to resorts with convention centers, but it is being extended to all hotels.
The good news is two-fold. First, if you pick up your order from bell services, there’s still no fee (as that’s not the front desk); it only applies if the order is delivered to your room. Second, the fee is still far less than you can expect to pay on mark-up on groceries at Walt Disney World gift shops.
Other Ways to Get Groceries at WDW
Now, onto alternatives. There are some other grocery delivery services in Orlando, including Grocery Express, Kroger Grocery Delivery, and Shipt. If you have a membership to any of these, you probably already know how they work and have your favorite. If you don’t, there’s no point getting one for Walt Disney World.
If you have a rental car, you might just go to the grocery store yourself–unless you want to save time. Even if you don’t have a rental car, you might consider going yourself. Thanks to Uber, you can make a round-trip grocery run yourself for about $25-35 depending upon your Walt Disney World hotel, the store to which you go (see addresses below for closest location, and how long it takes you to shop.
For starters, use our Tips for Using Uber at Walt Disney World post as a primer if you’re unfamiliar with Uber. Next, when you request an Uber, make sure to contact the driver immediately and inform them that you’re doing a grocery run, to see if it’s okay with them. Drivers will more likely be okay with this if you tell them they can drive around the parking lot while they wait for you (drivers are paid in miles and minutes, so if they sit parked waiting, they won’t make much while you shop).
If you’re a Whole Foods enthusiast or move at the speed of Big Al in a grocery store, and plan to spend 60 minutes getting to intimately know the place, you might just have one driver drop you off and then request another to pick you up. Most drivers don’t mind passengers with groceries but, again, you might want to contact them to confirm (it doesn’t take a detective to deduce that a pick-up at a grocery store is going to have…groceries, though).
If you’re going to get groceries yourself, hit up Whole Foods (8003 Turkey Lake Road, Orlando, FL 32819), Publix (Regency Village Shopping Center, Vineland Avenue, Orlando, FL), SuperTarget (4795 W Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy, Kissimmee, FL 34746) Target at Flamingo Crossings (204 Ruby Red Place, Winter Garden, FL 34787) or Trader Joe’s (8323 West Sand Lake Road, Orlando, FL 32819).
The Target at Flamingo Crossings is one of many stores in that new development that has recently debuted. This is a smaller store, but has a robust selection of groceries and booze (it primarily services College Program housing and area hotels). This is about 10 minutes from Coronado Springs, Animal Kingdom, or the All Stars. Although beyond the scope of this post, Flamingo Crossings is also an up-and-coming hotel district that we’d highly recommend. See our Guide to Flamingo Crossings: Walt Disney World’s Second Springs for more info & advice.
Another option if you don’t have a rental car and don’t want to pay for Uber or a taxi is to hit up the Speedway gas station that’s located within walking distance of the Swan & Dolphin, Disney’s BoardWalk Inn (just outside the parking lot), and Yacht & Beach Club. If you’re staying at the Swan & Dolphin without a car, this might be your best option as those two hotels no longer allow grocery delivery.
Selection is limited (…it’s a gas station), but if you need to stock up on air fresheners and Rockstar energy drink, this is the place for you. The selection isn’t quite that limited, and it’s actually a good, low-budget option. I would strongly not recommend doing this unless you’re staying at one of these hotels. You might look a little crazy carrying a bag of groceries on two separate buses en route back to your hotel, and frankly, you wouldn’t just look a little crazy doing that, you’d be a little crazy going through all that hassle.
Shipping things to ourselves from Amazon or Amazon Pantry has been another option that has worked for us, too. Amazon is great if you’re only looking for pre-packaged items. We’ve found beef jerky, energy bars, Starbucks VIA, and Gatorade mix packets to be some of the best things to get from Amazon. You might also want to check out what other snack items currently have coupons via Amazon. We have other suggestions in our What to Pack for Walt Disney World post.
In terms of the logical options, I think that about covers it. I say logical because there are likely some “out there” solutions like buying different snack items at each gift shop in World Showcase and spending $593 in the process, but that would defy logic. If you don’t want to spend your limited time going on grocery runs, Amazon, Walmart Plus, and Instacart are all good options. Alternatively, those with a rental car or willingness to use Uber and an extra hour or so to spare might consider going to one of the many grocery stores located about 10 miles off-site.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? If you’re interested in learning more about hotels, our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page is a good place to start. For where to eat, try out our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews page. If you want to save money on tickets or determine which type you should get, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at unconventional things you should take on your trip. Once you arrive at the parks, our Walt Disney World “Ride Guides” are great for determining what to do and when to do it. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
How do you get groceries at Walt Disney World? What are your favorite items to order when you have groceries delivered to you? Have you had any positive or negative experiences with the grocery delivery services? We love to hear from readers, so if you have any thoughts or questions, post them in the comments!
FYI: We used your Uber code last fall for our Disneyland trip (thank you!) and instead of $15 off your first ride, it gave us $5 off our first three rides.
Apparently Garden Grocer does not deliver to some of the “off site” hotels any more, like Hilton Bonnet Creek where we will be staying.
Thanks for all this info!
Can a grocery shop be placed online from the UK?
We just got back and had used Instacart. Ordering was really easy and they had what we needed. We placed the order a few days early, requesting delivery the day we arrived but it appears it may have been picked and delivered the day I placed the order. Pop Century had no problem holding the order and keeping the milk refrigerated. Biggest problem was our shopper put our last name initial instead of full last name and it doesn’t appear he put our arrival date as I had requested. Needless to say Pop had no idea which room to deliver it to. Pop was great when I asked about missing the order and quickly found the order without a full name and had us check the contents to see if it was ours. I complained to Instacart, the apologized and said they would make the shopper aware so it doesn’t happen again. I would not hesitate to use them again. I had received codes for $10 off but it appears it was only good on $35 orders but did not state that.
Instacart made the name error with me too! They used my google or facebook name rather than the first/last name that was provided. In fact, the shopper text’d me and I made sure to let him/her know my name/resort information. The shopper text’d me about an item that was avail in a diff size than ordered, I ok’d the substitute and provided a 2nd substitute, I didn’t receive either item. The shopper tex’d me on the way to the resort with an ETA at Pop Century in 20 minutes. I kept checking with the bell desk but they said no order had been received from Instacart. One hour later I walked down to bell desk, my name was not on any of their logs. They took me into the shelter where they keep deliveries and we had to look through all of the packages to identify my groceries. Needless to say it was a waste of time. It’s a shame because it was otherwise a good experience. The selection of items was good, the ease of the website was good and they substituted an item and didn’t charge me the diff in price. I suppose the overcharge was absorbed because the substitute was without my approval. Even though there were some snags I think that I might give instacart another try.
We tried using Safeway for delivery to Copper Creek Villas at Wilderness Lodge. It was a disaster! Despite frequent assurances that they would deliver the night we arrived (while we were in the air) and let the concierge sign, they did not deliver. The next morning, after talking to customer service, we thought we had worked it out, and yet, while at the park, I got a call from the driver that since we could not sign, they would not deliver. We finally got our groceries, but it was not a good experience. Even after complaining about the problems with a $270 order, we got little response from Safeway. Don’t recommend.
This is a timely post as I have been researching grocery options for our upcoming offsite trip. It looks like Publix delivers via Instacart and Walmart seems to have the same curbside pickup we use here in AL. There was reference to a Publix curbside as well, but when I tried to click it sent me to Instacart. Have any other readers used this? Thanks!
Hi Joy, timely post. We are heading to Disney offsite next week. I have also been researching Publix Instacart. The problem will be delivery time. I want it to arrive after 4P and can not specify. What is Walmart Curbside?
Cheryl, Walmart Curbside is their grocery pickup service. You go to Walmart.com then sign in to the grocery site, choose your store, order and pay for your groceries, picking a day and one hour window to go pick up. When you get there, they will have a designated spot to park and they will bring everything right out to you. It’s a great, free service. We used it on our trip last week with no problems.
Thanks for the great info, Tom. We’re staying at OKW later this year and plan to use Garden Grocer. In addition to keeping refrigerated items chilled, does anyone know if bell services have the facilities to keep frozen items in a freezer? If not, I will adjust my cart accordingly!
Does Disney charge anything to have Amazon Prime Now leave an order at Bell Services? I saw somewhere they charge $5 a package.
No they don’t. We had 2 Prime Pantry boxes delivered during our stay at French Quarter a couple weeks ago. There was no charge and they delivered the 2 large boxes to our room. We did have to go to bell services and sign for them first.
The resorts with convention centers charge a $5 package pickup fee (Yacht Club, Contemporary, Boardwalk, Coronado–I think that’s it).
We had deliveries from Amazon (not Prime Pantry), Disney.com, and Green Grocer while we were at CBR two weeks ago and for each package we were assessed a $5 fee by Bell Services.
Pop Century did not charge us the $5 fee on our Prime Now delivery, but they did charge us for a regular Amazon delivery.
This was Oct 2017.
Thank you for all the tips Tom! We are staying for two weeks this year and we were thinking about trying out a grocery delivery service. We are staying in a 1BR villa so we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try it out. 🙂
I used instacart for wholefoods which I found really good. Only issue I had was that they were out of 12 bottle packets of water and sent a 24 bottle packet of water which cost more and we didn’t drink all of.
I also got milk, cereal, bananas so I could have breakfast in my room and not have to buy.
Did they deliver?
We used instacart on our trip in November. I compared to garden grocer and it was much cheaper. It’s like the Uber of grocery shopping. Order online, pick a delivery window. You get text updates while someone is shopping and it’s dropped of at bell services.
How far in advance did you place your order for Instacart? Thanks!
About a week before we left. I did create a cart about 3 weeks before we left and they sent a coupon for 10 dollars off and free delivery on my first order
We usually drive down (from NJ…I’m a glutton for punishment), so this usually isn’t a problem. The only time we flew, my sister who lives about 40 minutes away was coming to the parks with us one day, so we put in a request with her for snacks and liquor.
Definitely avoid the Publix on I-Drive/Vineland! Guests staying at MK area or Disney Springs resorts will want to go to the one on 535 and Reams (from MK requires driving through “backstage” areas). From Animal Kingdom or Boardwalk area Celebration is probably your best bet. Slightly farther but much less of a traffic headache than the others are the new Publix and massive Wal-Mart at the new Hamlin development, 429 and New Independence Parkway.
I’m not a fan of Garden Grocer. I had a bad experience with them and I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get it fixed. This is not the thing you want to do when you’re on vacation as time is at a premium.
A LYFT ride from Pop Century to the Wal-Mart on SR 535 Vineland rd. In Kissimmee costs less than $11 one way. At this Super Walmart you can get a full line of groceries and they have liquor including wine and beer, a drugstore and any dry good you could want. So for approximately $22 in transportation costs and an hour’s worth of time you can get everything you need. Now that’s what I call a bargain…
Shipt is a great choice. In Florida, the orders are shopped at Publix and delivered to the hotel. There are so many people who visit Disney that already have the membership and delivery is free when you spend over $35.
I have an account here in Illinois. I just chatted with the Shipt folks to find out how to get my account to work in Orlando. Just curious if you had any issues with Shipt. I have not had any here.
.
We use Shipt in Indiana and also used it Oct 2017 at Pop Century. We had the same good service and communication that I’ve become accustomed to back home. It was left with Bell Services in with temperature appropriate storage. We’ll definitely use it again this fall!
D you have to place your order once you are there? Will it bring up the local store choices like it does in my hometown?
Thanks!
Thank you Tom for the recommendation of Garden Grocer in the past. I now use it on all my annual trips for breakfast and lunch items, snacks, drinks, and Jai Alai IPA. I saved a lot of money reducing typical 2-3 Disney counter/table service meals a day to only one Disney counter/table service meal at night plus drinking the delivered beer back at hotel rather than using the bar at the hotel. Also, my waist line thanks me since I eat healthier and smaller portions for breakfast and lunch. Their service is very convenient and you never have to leave the Disney bubble to go to the dreaded real world grocery stores.
You forgot something when mentioning why folks are loyal to Trader Joes. Cookie butter. If you haven’t had it, then you’re missing out on pure decadence. Try it with apple slices or spread on wafer cookies.
And the wine there is surprisingly good too.
Stop mentioning Uniqlo! I don’t want everyone finding out how great they are! And yes, we may have possibly spent more $$ there than any other store during our last trip which means it’s a good thing we packed light. Haha!
Hi There,
I saw that Garden Grocer sells beer. Is there a service that will deliver wine or liquor?
Thanks
We have used Garden Grocer for several years now, and yes we usually get beer and wine from them also. If you go on their website you can see all of the selections, brands etc.
On your first purchase with them you have to provide id stating you are of age.
They keep that on file for future purchases, I believe.
In all of the years of using them we have not had one item missing, or have been charged incorrectly. Also I keep vacation files from each year we go as both mementos and for referring back to, and in the several years of buying through Garden Grocer there has been none to a minimal increase in price for items.
t
Thank you
Shipt and Instacart both deliver beer, wine, and liquor as well as groceries.
Thank you
Just a thought about beer and wine. We have only had one experience and that was with Safeway and not good. But it’s our understanding that you have to be present to receive an order with beer or wine in any resort so they can verify age. That seemed to mess us up on our first order. Maybe everyone doesn’t require that but I would check if you are not going to be present when the order arrives!
hi, we stay just off property and rent a car. traveling with kids and grandparents. if you have a car, costco is a great option. usually we just go to the wal-mart (which is also fantastic for disney souvenirs—sometimes exactly the same items) and it’s close by. last year we went to the costco at the beginning of the week and picked up water/drinks/milk, rotisserie chicken, snacks and premade sandwiches. awesome if you don’t do the dining plan (which we don’t). plus it’s much cheaper and healthier. we bring in some food/fruit/veg snacks so supplement what we buy in the park.