fort wilderness grocery delivery 2

Bare Necessities: Comparing Grocery Delivery Services to Disney’s Fort Wilderness

Published on by thewildernessprincess

One of the ways to save big money at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground is to prepare your own meals. A family of four can easily spend more than $500 per day eating all meals at parks and resorts.  And that’s without alcohol. While Fort Wilderness boasts two adorably quaint trading posts, food selection is limited and the prices on many items aren’t particularly budget-happy.

And truly –  the last thing most of us want to do is to fritter away our magical vacation performing time-sucking, joyless tasks such as grocery shopping.

So clearly, grocery delivery to Fort Wilderness is a no-brainer way to save both time and money.

Meadows Trading Grocery
Oh how I love thee, charming Trading Post, but your groceries are soooo expensive.

so how does it work?

For grocery delivery, you’ll select from a delivery service (some popular ones are described below) and place your order online or through a phone app. Be sure to use Disney World’s zip code (32830). The address for Fort Wilderness is 4510 Fort Wilderness Trail, Lake Buena Vista, FL.

You’ll need to allow for a few hours (at least) for your items to arrive. Then the shopper will contact you to pick them up in the parking lot at the Outpost (entrance to Fort Wilderness). Alternatively, you can usually (at least during normal times) have your delivery left at the reception desk where cold items will be refrigerated. If there’s alcohol, you’ll still need to meet. Honestly, I’m just much more comfortable meeting them to pick up my groceries in the parking lot. 

If an item is unavailable, most services will text you asking if you approve a replacement. Most of the time, you’ll end up with 90 percent of what you originally wanted. Sometimes a little more . . .

What about alcohol?

Most can shop for and deliver alcohol. However, you’ll need to meet them in person with your ID at time of pickup for age verification. In some cases, there’s an additional surcharge for booze.

Let’s compare services

Each service has different pricing structures and delivery fees. For our purposes, I’m comparing an order of the following random items:

  • Capri Sun juice boxes (10 count)
  • Organic 2% milk
  • 1 jar Ragu spaghetti sauce (24 oz.)
  • 1 pack of Barilla spaghetti noodles (16 oz.)
  • 1 pound ground beef (93% lean)
  • 4 bananas
  • 6-pack Coca-Cola (16.9 oz bottles)
  • 1 pack Cosmic brownies
  • Nature’s Own loaf of bread
  • Kraft Real Mayonnaise (30 oz.)

Garden Grocer

This old original has been in the business for more than a decade and has quite a loyal following. It’s relatively easy to place your order online. While the delivery fee is only $14 (free if order is more than $200), there’s a serious markup on the grocery items.

Another drawback is delivery time. There was no availability for two days when checked for this article, so it works better when you can plan ahead.

For my order of the 10 items above, the total including delivery was $72.11 (plus optional gratuity). This was the highest of those that I checked.  The six-pack of bottled Coca-Cola was $7.59.

Verdict: While Garden Grocer has loyal fans and an excellent interface, the markup on the items means it tends to be significantly higher than some of the other choices.  It also has fewer product selections than some of the others. For example, the flavors of Ragu spaghetti sauce were limited (my favorite was not listed).  Another issue is that it can be difficult to get a same-day or next-day delivery.

Instacart

For many of us, our serious relationship with Instacart began during the early days of the pandemic. Instacart is among the most straightforward and easy to use, but sometimes the interface is a little wonky.

Among the choices for Instacart delivery were Publix, Aldi and Target. I chose Publix for the availability of name brands to compare with other services.

It may be worthwhile to join Instacart Express monthly for $9.99 to get “free” delivery. You can cancel a monthly membership at any time.

The biggest plus for Instacart is speed of delivery. In this experiment, I found that I could have my order in just a couple of hours.

For my 10-item order, the total price before gratuity was $53.51. But note that on my second visit, it would have only been $44.52 if I had already paid the $9.99 for the month. The 6-pack of Coca-Cola was $6.09.

Verdict: Instacart is a reliable choice with competitive pricing (although there is grocery markup). Its best selling point is the ability to get groceries delivered often on the same day. What I like least is its clunky web interface.

Walmart

Walmart seems to still be working out its own in-house model, but is truly competitive in that groceries aren’t marked up. There’s a simple delivery fee of $7.95 – $9.95, and for $10 more you can get your order within two hours.. There were also plenty of next-day times, but limited same-day times. And here’s a nifty $10 off on your first order (and you can get $10 more for referring others).

Of all those compared, Walmart was the least expensive. A Coca-Cola (6-pack of bottles) was $3.48, and the total cost of groceries was $27.58. However, a minimum of $35 is required so I wouldn’t be able to make this exact order.

Verdict: If price and availability of items is the primary concern, then Walmart is at or near the top of the list. I did not find the speed of delivery to be as good as Instacart, and some report concerns with service and reliability. Probably worth a shot.

Shipt

fort wilderness groceries
Those last-minute burger cravings (and running out of beer) mean I need same-day delivery.

Shipt is a primary competitor to Instacart and its business model is very similar. For Disney World, you’ll go online and choose Winn-Dixie or Publix for major grocery chains. Its interface and navigation were among the best, and delivery times were wide open for the same day.

On the particular items on my list, Shipt came out as one of the highest in price at more than double the price of Walmart delivery. A Coca-Cola 6-pack was $6.39, and the total cost of the ten items (including a $10 delivery fee) was $60.84.

Verdict: While Shipt came out more than 10 percent higher than Instacart, it had similar same-day delivery availability. A primary difference for Fort Wilderness guests is that Shipt provides Winn-Dixie as the alternative to Publix, while Instacart provides an option for Aldi. Shipt also provides some nice sales online, but as buy-one-get-one-free bread.  Shipt will appeal most to those who already have an annual membership ($99 and no additional delivery fees).

Amazon Fresh

Since many of us are logged into Amazon a lot of the time anyway, this is a convenient choice. Amazon provides delivery to Fort Wilderness from its own Amazon Fresh as well as Whole Foods. Note that you can pick only one of these sources for your order.

If you’re an Amazon Prime member, then this may end up being a best choice for you. With prime membership, delivery is free, making the total of my order $36.23 (plus gratuity). I was also able to choose from multiple two-hour slots for same-day delivery.

The only negative is that Coca-Cola was out of stock. In every size. I was a little befuddled by this, and very reluctantly went with the 6-pack of Pepsi.

The interface is exceptionally easy and it’s nice to see a running total of items in the cart.

Verdict: It’s no wonder that this is such a popular one for Amazon Prime members. We’re acclimated to using Amazon, the prices are competitive, and delivery can be fairly quick. However, running out of Coca-Cola and Sprite is not okay.

Deliveries by Dee

Deliveries by Dee is one of many independent businesses that provides personal shopping services to Fort Wilderness. You’ll make your list using the Dumpling app (download on phone). There’s no markup on food items, and the delivery fee is a flat $25.

What’s nice about this is that you are able to choose your shopper through the app and service becomes more personalized.  On the other hand, there is usually very little in the way of same-day shopping and delivery.

Verdict: Great for helping to support laid-off cast members. Fee structure is straightforward, but will need to plan ahead.  A larger order may be needed to make the $25 flat fee worthwhile.

A Favorite Camping Recipe: Boma Copycat Pasta Salad