Comparing Grocery Delivery Services at Walt Disney World
Many guests staying at the Fort Wilderness Resort cabins or the DVC Villas with kitchens are looking to enjoy the comforts of home and maybe the ability to save a few bucks.
Fortunately, there are several ways to get groceries and supplies delivered to the Disney Resorts these days; and during a recent stay at the most magical place on earth, we tried out not one — but THREE — grocery delivery services to compare!
So let’s get started with Disney’s own delivery service for the Fort Wilderness Resort Cabins.
Fort Wilderness Cabin Delivery
How it Works:
Guests can build their order via a pre-selected menu of items and place their order via mail, fax, or email at WDWFortWildernessGroceryOrder@disney.com. Deliveries will then be made after 5:00 p.m. on the day of the guest’s arrival.
Pros:
- No delivery fee!
- Orders can be placed up to a year before your stay.
- Deliveries are brought directly to your cabin.
Cons:
- Orders must be received 3 business days prior to check-in.
- Items are the same brand and price as those at Settlement Trading Post or the Meadow Trading Post.
- No fresh fruits or veggies. Just frozen broccoli.
- No vegan/organic products or nut-free or gluten-free snacks (even though some can be purchased at the Trading Posts).
- Delivery is not available for campsites.
- Orders arriving after 5:00 p.m. is later than other services.
Our Notes: Oddly enough, the picture on Disney’s website shows fresh fruit and the slogan reads “Come ‘Home’ to Fresh Groceries,” but yet there are no fresh fruits or veggies on the order form? Also, the reusable bag prices on Disney’s form haven’t been updated to reflect the price increase.
How It Works:
Pros:- Just about everything is available to order from Garden Grocer from fresh produce to gluten-free or kosher to personal care to baby products like diapers and formula.
- The ordering process online is easy and user-friendly.
- Promotions are available for ordering early – as late as 15 days out and as early as 120 days out.
- You can edit your order!
- The site provides details about the items including weight, size, and even cost per item when things come in packs or multiples
- Among the list of resorts available for delivery on Garden Grocer’s website, the Swan and Dolphin aren’t among them.
- Orders must be picked up by the guest at bell services.
- Possible limitations due to the availability calendar.
- Free delivery is only for orders over $200. Otherwise, the delivery fee is $14.
- There’s a $40 minimum order.
- Removal requires 3 days notice or a restocking fee of 25% applies; orders canceled less than 3 days before the scheduled delivery date/time incurs a 50% restocking fee.
Our Notes: In our experience, there was no order checklist included with our order so users will have to manually check everything.
Magical Vacation Grocers
Magical Vacation Grocers was started by a former 26 year Cast Member!
Pros:- Lots of variety that includes fresh fruit! No alcohol delivery at this time.
- Customization. Items can be added or made into a separate transaction.
- Travel Agent Gifts! These are premade/customizable gifts for agents to send clients. There’s a $10 fee per item for creation and delivery. Gifts are delivered to the resort front desk by 3:00 p.m. on the delivery date. The availability calendar still applies.
- A delivery fee of $20.
- Possible limitations due to the availability calendar.
- Orders must be picked up by the guest at bell services.
Price Comparisons:
- Disney: $5.19
- Garden Grocer: $3.55
- Magical Vacation Grocers: $2.50
- Target: $1.89
- Disney: $4.49
- Garden Grocer: $3.75
- Magical Vacation Grocers: $3.00
- Target: $1.99
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We used Publix delivery on our last visit and it was a LOT cheaper than the options above.
Prices were standard Publix prices (we actually bought Pop-Tarts, $2.65).
Delivery was “free” and there was a 7% service fee. We also tipped the driver.
It also came within 3 hours of placing the order so no messing around with ordering a month ahead of time
If you’re an Amazon Prime member, Prime Now grocery delivery is also a great option. No delivery fee for orders over $35 (although a tip to the delivery person is customary), you can choose a 2-hour delivery window, you can order alcohol (if you’ll be present for the delivery to show I.D.), and there’s a wide selection of perishable and non-perishable items from which to choose.
We have used Prime Now the last couple times and it worked great. I would recommend requesting ripe fruit as we got bananas that were so green we were never able to eat them last time. You can also order from Whole Foods through Amazon, but it appeared they began to upcharge the food compared to your local Whole Foods (15%-20% like instacart does), but you still got the free delivery over $35.
Costco delivery worked great for the trip we are currently on. The only caveat is that you pay the Instacart markup of 15-20%, $35 minimum.
Walmart grocery delivery is also an option. We had a case each of water gatorade as well as snacks and breakfast foods delivered to the bell area of Contemporary. There was a delivery fee of $7.95- 9.95 and maybe a minimum order. But you could also get any bathroom supplies or other items that you forgot to bring.
Do they meet you at Bell Services?
We used a local company called water butlers. Their prices are cheaper than the options above. It was a great experience, we ordered few days before our trip, when we landed we received a text message with pictures of our order on the shelves inside bell services. Easy process!