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Flying into Orlando and using Disney transportation to get around can make your vacation both relaxing and affordable. But unfortunately, the Magical Express doesn’t allow you to stop and pick up some groceries to stock your villa fridge!
There are many options for getting groceries delivered to your Disney resort hotel, including Amazon’s Prime Now, Garden Grocer, Instacart, and more.
In this post, I’ll weight the pros and cons of the frontrunners, describe my experience with my top pick for getting groceries delivered right to your Disney World resort, and share some tips for having the best possible experience!
Grocery Delivery Options
Garden Grocer is a grocery delivery service that has been operating in the Disney World area for over 10 years. They only deliver to Walt Disney World resorts (excluding the Swan and Dolphin) and the Wyndham resorts closest to Disney World.
You basically choose from 5,000 items listed on their site (or app) and they will shop for you and deliver them to your resort. While the selection is wide, the prices are significantly more than you would pay in-store. For example, bananas are $0.49 each from Garden Grocer.
You also must choose from time slots that are available for delivery. Same day delivery costs $30 (if there are slots available), next day delivery is $20, and beyond that delivery is $14.
Amazon Prime Now delivers to the Walt Disney World area (finally – it took a while for the service to get out there). 2-hour delivery is free with a $20 minimum order, but you must be an Amazon Prime member to take advantage of the service.
At this point, you can choose select items from Whole Foods, but you can’t shop at a particular grocery store. You can have a huge array of other items delivered as well, from personal care to electronics. A $5 tip for the driver will automatically be added to your bill, but you can adjust it up and down accordingly.
And finally, Instacart is an app and service that offers 1-hour grocery delivery from an array of stores. In the Orlando area, you can choose to shop at Publix, Whole Foods, CVS, Publix Liquors, or Costco.
If you’ve never used Instacart before, I’d suggest waiting to sign up until right before your vacation to get free delivery on your first order! There is a $10 minimum order per store, and if your order is under $35 there is a $4 delivery fee (except on your first order).
My Experience With Instacart
I tried out ordering from Publix with Instacart on our last trip to Disney World. I had the order delivered to our resort (Animal Kingdom Lodge) on our first full day there and overall had a great experience with the service.
First, I loved that I got the exact same prices as I would have in-store. This includes sales! You can even “clip” digital coupons and get the same specials that are offered in-store.
The Instacart app had all of the items I was looking for, including the soy milk that Amazon Now did not have when I checked. I got fresh fruit at a MUCH lower price than in the food court – for example, bananas were $0.21 each, compared to $1.69 each at the food court!
The earliest you’ll likely be able to get groceries delivered from Instacart is 11 am. I placed my order pre-7am and the first delivery time was 11 am-noon that day. While you may be able to get a delivery within an hour later in the day, you’ll have to wait if you order in the morning.
It was easy to select Animal Kingdom Lodge as my delivery location, and you can enter your room number if you have. If you don’t have your room number yet, you can still place an order under your name.
I got updates on my phone as my order was closer to being delivered. I recommend enabling notifications in the app to get updates, even if you normally don’t like app updates like me.
When you get a notification that your order was delivered, you can pick it up at any time from the Bell Service desk at your resort. Don’t make the mistake of trying to get it at the front desk like I did (oops). If your order needs to stay cold, Bell Services will keep it in a fridge until you pick it up or they deliver it.
As I was putting my items away in our room, I noticed that I had been given a smaller container of blueberries than I ordered. I was prompted in the app to give a rating and review of my order, and I noted there that the wrong item delivered. That same day I received an email from Instacart apologizing and giving me a full refund of the item that was delivered incorrectly. 
I got free delivery on my order but I was charged a 10% service fee ($1.92 on my $19.21 order). I was overall very pleased with my savings and the efficiency of getting groceries delivered to our resort with Instacart. I saved over $30 just on the yogurt, fruit, and milk I ordered compared to what I would have spent in the food court! If you are going to eat more meals in your villa, you could potentially save way more.
I think Instacart offers the best value and ease of use of all grocery delivery options at Walt Disney World. If you have any questions about grocery delivery, just send me a message on my Facebook page and I’ll get right back to you!
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