Receiving MMS abroad without turning on data roaming

Hello

I am traveling abroad this summer and am bringing my smartphone. I intend to keep it on only so i can recieve calls and texts and reply only if nessicary. Since these services do not require data I can keep data roaming off and avoid the fees.

However I realized that even though I can recieve MMS abroad without an additional fee (using my domestic text plan), I will be unable to with data roaming off since MMS requires a data connection. So if I want to check for MMS I have to turn on data roaming, which could lead to massive fees as the phone downloads other things in the background. 

I would like to see if there would be any way to receive these messages without having to potentially face charges of $20/mb for content my phone downloads in the background. So far the only possible solution I have seen would be to keep data roaming on but to edit the APN on the phone so the phone can only access data for MMS and nothing else, thus avoiding the $20/mb fees, however I am not sure how I would go about doing this.

Any advice would be great

Thanks