Pack to the parks

[khunter]

We leave to go to Disney in 3 days, 20 hours, and 38 minutes. I am a little excited if you can't tell. We are taking our two sons (6 & 3 1/2) for the first time. I am trying to pack a bag to take to the parks with us, what are the items that you must have at the park with you?

[T-Belle]

I carry a messenger bag. I usually make sure I have the following items- water bottle, tissues, pack of hand wipes or small hand sanitizer, tylenol, band aids, cell phone and small snack. I also have a small address book and stamps in case I want to buy and send post cards from the park.

[mdhiggin]

rain ponchos(good for rain, Kali River Rapids or Splash Mountain), autograph books and pen, lanyards on occasion, camera, chapstick

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

We always take refillable water bottles, camera, film, batteries, wipes, bandaids and for kids that young light snacks-such as cereal bars or goldfish......

Don't forget money for souveniers and a sharpie pen for autographs

[stephntampa]

Bring sunscreen and a hat.. its getting really warm here and the sun is intense!!:vacation:

[dancin Disney style]

I make a little mini medical kit with a small make-up bag. It contains...Tylenol, kids Advil, bandaids, mole skin, wet wipes. I also take ponchos, gum or mints, a mini hand sanitizer, sun screen, shout wipe, pen, wallet and camera. Some times we will also have a few granola bars or something similar. This all fits in a bag that is about 10 X 12.

[g8rgirl29]

Along with the PP's ideas, a mini magna doodle for lines and a change of clothing and hand towel so they can get cooled off at Ariels Grotto and fountains throughout the parks.

[PrettyMinnie]

I don't have much more to add to what the was said before, except maybe an extra pair or shoes. (This might have already been said) THe reason for this is if it rains, or you get wet on a ride, wet shoes are the worst to walk around in.

[AvonleaCF]

As little as possible.

1) a small wallet (or change purse) with nothing but
a) ID
b) 1 credit card
c) park ticket/resort key
d) cash

2) two servings of pain relief (Advil) and Pepto Bismol (capsuls). placed in a tiny ziplock bag (the size spare buttons come in) and placed in the wallet

3) hand sanitizer

4) cell phone

Water I get in the parks (ask any food place for a large cup of ice water; no charge). Sunscreen I lather on before heading out and reapply when I go back to the resort (breaks are a must).

[dmosher]

We generally take a small backpack with rain jackets, sun screen, 1 refillable water bottles our notes and lists, and cameras. Small but effective and ready for all situations.
:pipes:
D

[Coach Goofy]

A travel size bottle of baby powder for the chaffing.:eek2:

[MickeyandTink]

We always take refillable water bottles, camera, film, batteries, wipes, bandaids and for kids that young light snacks-such as cereal bars or goldfish......

Don't forget money for souveniers and a sharpie pen for autographs

Good suggestions. In addition to the above (and other posters), I would strongly recommend a small digital camera over film. Bring an extra set of batteries AND the small disposable rain ponchos (we usually figure 2-3 per person for a weeklong trip, bringing one per person into the park each day and leaving the rest in the room).

I stress the cheapie disposable ponchos because the good, heavy duty ones that last get VERY heavy by the end of the day.

[DANAM]

I am a serious over packer. I carry a messenger bag as my purse with a wallet just for Disney for all our room keys, money, ect. Also in this bag I have our Disney Jr. Encyclopedia of Character's (which we use as an autograph book) Fat retractable Sharpie's for charcter's to sign with, wipes, diapers, sanitizer, washable markers for Epcot (they give the kid's sharpies to use and I don't want our clothes ruined) plus they can use them when we wait to eat. I also carry around several zip top bags both small and large. I put left over kid's meals in them. My kids like to snack on the grapes or crackers later on and can't really finish a kids meal. I also have a shirt 2 or 3 sizes bigger than my child wears. I throw this on them when we eat. My kids are messy eaters and they will wipe there hands on there shirt from time to time.

Then we have a stroller bag. I normally leave this bag attached to the stroller. We haven't encountered any theft problems. In that bag we have rain gear. Stroller cover, poncho's, umbrella's plus juice boxes for the kids and waters for us. We also carry some snacks into the park in this bag. Also a change of clothes for the kids now that they are getting bigger normally just a top. Oh and I forgot the light up things for them to use at night for parades and such.

I know it sounds like a lot but I am always prepaired and haven't encountered anything else we would need.

[KatrinaJ91]

wow....I can remember being a heavy packer for the parks when our kids were little. Now that our youngest is 16, we stuff only the essentials (id, tkt, cell phone, camera) into our pockets....slather on the sunscreen before we head out, cross our fingers that it doesn't rain and just have a blast without the weight! I know families with youngsters need to have a ton of stuff, but it is great to be free!!

[minnesotafreeze]

In my backpack I carry the following for my son, wife and myself:

phone
camera
sunscreen
granola bars
sunglasses
wipes
poncho
caps
snacks for my son if he has a melt down while waiting in a queue:mickey:

[Daddy Mouse]

Everyone has given good suggestions for what to take with you. I would add ear plugs if anyone is sensitive to noise. Good luck take your time and enjoy this experience with your children.

[Mousemates]

The above lists pretty much give you the basics...the only thing I would say is to be careful about what you use to "pack your feet in" for a day at the park. Make sure everyone's shoes are in good shape, well-broken in, that they are comfortable, and that they wear them in the park the way they wear them at home (DS once wore a pair of shoes without socks to WDW...and discovered they rubbed his heel that way and made a blister that required us to make use of moleskin (fortunately we had packed some with us in my very fashionable "utility belt." :mickey:)

[iheartdisney]

one of the things I don't like to leave for the parks without are a couple ziploc bags....they come in handy for wet clothes or easily portable leftovers (carrot sticks, apple slices, chips or pretzels) from the kids meals to double as snacks later on. (I have a son who is hungry 10 minutes after we've eaten!)

[DisneyCouple07]

I used to have a fanny pack that was just used for cell phone, camera and extra batteries as well as a small pad of paper and pen.

I have since upgraded to a small back pack (drawstring sack type, and it has plenty of room left for some souvenirs). The only real addition has been ponchos (we have the Mickey ponchos, and they do get heavy as previously stated, but I gotta have Mickey). We pack few band-aids and some Tylenol, and some Benadryl (in case of allergies). I also carry a couple of ziploc bags—but I use them to keep my electronics dry in case of wet weather or rides (KRR, SM).

Being that you have children, I would say bring a snack and some sunscreen as well.

Hope you and your boys have an awesome time. :mickey:

[Nascfan]

Sunscreen, bandaids, pain killer of some sort for headaches, sunscreen, autograph books and pens, maybe some small snacks for your boys (save some $ that way), sunscreen, wetones type wipes for quick cleanups, did I mention sunscreen?

[MaxPower]

If you are driving yourself to the parks- Don't forget to bring something to jot down your parking row and more importantly--how many spaces down from the tram poles you are parked in that row.

[dream6]

We try to bring as little as possible because no one wants to carry it - small change purse with id, room key/ticket, debit card, a few band aids, and chapstick. For the days we aren't planning on coming back to the hotel for a break then we take a small bag and add sunscreen, camera, water bottles, tylenol, and granola bars. Oh, and long sleeve shirts because we go in March and it's cool in the early mornings and evenings.

[sleepingbooty]

I'll add a couple more to the list:
Maalox Quick Dissolve Chewables (or Tums:sick:)
Travel pack of flushable wet wipes (my kids need these in the loo - yours may not)

[miracle1018]

For the location of the row, we take a picture of the sign where are vehicle is parked and remember how far down the row.
We also didn't see anyone else have it, but we use a "Hydrapack" the type used for biking and fill it up with cold water. It stayed cold all day and we were at the parks for approx. 12 hours and the water didn't warm up and we didn't run out of water. As well as a good handy way to get a drink no matter where you are, it has several pockets for your snacks, tickets, money etc.
We saw some very "poor" shoes; a lot of gel shoes and thin plastic sandles. The most unreal pair of shoes we saw there was a shoe in which the heel had a spring built right in. I wonder if they were comfortable?
We ended up going to Walmart for our Disney clothing. It was about one third of the price of on site.

Mark & Becky :mickey: