First of all I just want to say thank you to everyone who read my previous post about how we do Disney with our sweet little ones. All your encouragement and kind words really mean a lot to me! So thank you again..now let’s talk park bags and all the things inside them!
Ok so to start with, do I think having a park bag is a must? …uh, yeah it kind of is. Even before our trips as parents, we still carried a small backpack with a few essentials. Now with little ones in tow, it is a necessity to have a bag that is full of well, necessitates. You can of course go completely bagless to avoid going through bag check/security, but really that would defeat the purpose of my post and I feel that you will eventually need something and you would really wish you had a park bag handy for that item, just sayin’. Now that we have established how important park bags are, lets talk about our bag and all the stuff inside of it.
We have used several different kinds of bags over the years. Pre kids, we used a little cinch bag and a mini backpack. We now have a full-sized Mickey Mouse backpack that we have been using for several years now. We actually bought it in one of the shops while on vacation one year. My recommendation for your bag would be something not too heavy because you will (most likely) be filling it up with lots of stuff (promise I’m going to share what this stuff is really soon) and that will add weight and you don’t want something so heavy to carry around while touring the Kingdoms. I will say the small cinch bags aren’t the most comfortable with those little drawstring straps, but find whatever works for you! I do think finding a fun Disney themed one is cute and adds to the experience, but totally not necessary (unless you are like me and keep your designated Mickey Mouse park bag packed at all times in case your hubby gets a wild hair and says, “Lets go to Disney World!”…a girl can dream, right?!)
Now that we have established what kind of bag we use, lets FINALLY start talking about what’s inside. Some of what I am about to tell you is pretty common sense, but I will tell you anyway. We always have spray sunscreen, hand sanitizer, water bottles and a travel pack of lysol wipes (to wipe toilet seats or anything else gross my kids will probably touch). We also keep a travel tooth brush holder that is full of drinking straws (top tip here…Disney has pretty much done away with straws and if you do get them, they’re paper and have you tried drinking a dole whip float with a paper straw lately?). Snacks are also pretty essential to our park bag and these will look different for every family, but some travel friendly snacks we usually pack are applesauce pouches, fruit snacks, veggie straws, and some goldfish.
So those are the basics of what is always in our bag ( I do not keep the snacks in my bag while being stored for the next trip, but if you look really hard you might spot a random straw or goldfish that got left behind..#momlife). Next up are some of the things I have added to our bag over the years with some trial/error and we will have these items packed, but not necessarily used every time we go to the parks.
So in case nobody has told you, it rains a lot in Florida (especially during the summer months). We always pack ponchos for everyone in the family (I usually pick up pretty cheap ones that are disposable, but if you want a nice souvenir, you can always buy one in the parks with the Disney World logo on it). Now here is how ponchos work, if you leave them in your hotel because theres a 0% chance of rain in the forecast and you want to lighten your load a bit…it will pour EVERY time. Another pro tip, if you plan on riding any water rides (Splash Mountain and Kali River Rapids) and don’t want to be soaked, throw that poncho on..you’re welcome! Something we tried this summer and actually didn’t hate was packing light weight rain jackets instead of ponchos. It rained one afternoon while we were in Epcot and even though it was the middle of summer, the rain was really cool and it was windy so it was nice to have an actual jacket instead of a poncho. We stored ours in the bottom of the stroller so we didn’t have to carry them in our bag.
Another item that we’ve added to our bag over the last few years is a portable charger. We are on our phones a lot while at Disney World. Either snapping pics of that beautiful castle or trying to snag a fast pass for Flight of Passage, we are draining that iPhone battery. I found the charger we use on Amazon (I’ll leave the link for it at the end) and it was incredibly useful this summer to charge our portable stroller fans! I usually leave this one in the bag because you just never know when you’ll need it. I take it out at night and re charge it so it will be ready for the next day! You can purchase fuel rods in the parks and then exchange them when its empty. At this moment, it is free to exchange. There has been some drama surrounding that topic the last few weeks with Disney charging a exchange fee so this may not be the case in the future, but it is free for now.
If we are planning on being out in the parks when it’s dark, we usually bring the headphones for the kids (for fireworks) and glow light sticks from the Dollar Tree. This is another one of those pro tips..if you are in the parks when it becomes dark out, you will see Cast Members pushing those carts around that are lit up like the 4th of July and your little ones will definitely notice them too. They will then start asking for one of those glow in the dark/light up things…usually having the glow sticks helps distract/appease our little ones. I always pack extra to share with another Mouseketeer who seems to be having a rough time because we all need a little Disney magic sometime to cheer us up.
One last thing I want to tell you about that is always in our park bag are autograph books. Our kids go in phases of loving/being terrified of the characters, but we always keep these in the bags when we are in the parks in case we meet a new character or have a character dining experience. This is one item we usually buy at Disney to have as a souvenir, but you can often find little Disney themed books at Dollar tree that would work just as well and save a few bucks. I have also seen pillow cases, character books with pictures of all the characters, and even a white backpack that was used for autographs. You can get creative with this, but it is such a sweet memory to have. One tip for this one, buy a wider pen/sharpie for some of our character friends who may have a harder time gripping a smaller pen. We have used a click sharpie for years, but I have also bought a Mickey click pen in the parks that we use now.
So earlier I mentioned about going through bag check/security so I wanted to share a few tips on that as well. You cannot get out of getting your bag checked, but if someone in your party does not have a bag, they can go on through security (this is really handy when you have little ones who will surely be impatient while waiting). Go ahead and have your bag ready to be searched by opening up all compartments. This will help the process move a lot quicker. This goes without saying, there are no weapons allowed at Disney.
One question I get asked a lot about taking the bags in the parks is where we put our bag when we go on attractions or shows? Disney allows you to take your bag with you on all rides so we take ours with us. There is usually some space at your feet for your bag or somewhere to place it underneath. This is nice because you don’t have to rent a locker and have to keep going back and forth all day when you need something.
I think that about covers the essentials of what is in our park bag. I mean we still have diapers, wipes and paci’s in there too…what a wonderful day that will be when those can be left out, but I am not going to rush my last baby growing up. I hope this helps someone get a jump start on packing and if you need help planning your trip so you can have a well packed park bag, I’m your girl!
See ya real soon!
Kelly
Link: Portable Charger
Link: Headphones
Wish Upon A Star With Kelly 