What to Buy for a Disney Trip with Kids

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They say Disney World is the most magical place on Earth and don’t get me wrong, it is truly magical! It is also an expensive adventure! From Resorts to Park Tickets, Disney World is not a budget vacation, especially at peak times. To save time and money, I have made a list of What to Buy for a Disney Trip that I would love to share with you! I have also included links to the products I have personally purchased for Disney trips and can recommend.

Character Clothing and Accessories

Mickey Ears

Ooh, the fun part! First things first, Mickey ears!! I am blown away by the variety of Mickey ear designs available on Amazon and Etsy. Pick up a pair for each park, depending on who you plan to see, and maybe even character meals too? Run wild Mama!! At a fraction of the price per pair, Mickey ears are a must-buy in advance item.

We love these Minnie ears from Amazon. They are thinner quality ears than the ones at Disney, but having tried both, they fall off far less because they are so lightweight. The Disney ones we purchased on-site would not stay on my daughter’s head. One caveat is that they all seem to have bows, but Baby J refuses to wear ears and would rather wear hats so it hasn’t been a big issue for us.

Princess and Character Clothing

Next up, are the princess dresses, tiaras, character outfits, and accessories. In other words, the most important things for kids! I would advise purchasing these in advance. This allows you to wash them and be sure they fit in addition to paying far less than you will at Disney. It also helps to avoid the potential disaster of the ”must-have” character clothing item not being available on-site. I also pack tiaras for Little A to wear with her princess dresses. I love these tiaras with combs that hold them in place without being uncomfortable.

Ponchos

Bring ponchos to Disney! It rains often in Florida and while it may only be a short shower, it doesn’t take much to soak your family and make for miserable kids. Plus if you have ponchos you can be out and about scooting through lines while others seek shelter from the rain. Win-win! Ponchos are reasonably priced on Amazon and fold flat in your suitcase too.

Fun Items

Disney offers guests unique and memorable opportunities such as character autographs (hopefully returning soon) and pin trading to name a few. Prepare in advance for these opportunities to avoid scrambling last minute to locate them and head to Disney confident that you are ready for these amazing experiences.

Autograph book and pen/marker

I hope autographs come back with character meet and greets this month (writing this in April 2022 with a projected return date of 4/18/22 if all goes as planned). We forgot to bring an autograph book for our first trip and had to buy one at Disney. I must say I was surprised by how limited the options were for cute covers on-site. There was no time to shop around as we had to have it for our first park day.

We have brought thick black ink pens both times They are big enough for the characters to be able to hold and don’t bleed through the pages like a Sharpie or other marker might. Plus no way am I handing a toddler to approach a character for an autograph, disaster!

Pearl Cage Necklace

If you are thinking I am crazy and wondering what I am talking about, no worries. At Epcot, in Japan, you can pay to pick an oyster and take the pearl home. There are beautiful necklace “cages” that you can buy to hold and display your pearl. We purchased this Minnie Mouse pearl cage for Little A and the pearl fits perfectly. It truly is a beautiful keepsake.

Bubble Wands

Oh, the famous bubble wands! Making kids have temper tantrums since who knows when. Don’t get me wrong the bubble wands are cool but not worth the price. Baby J will promptly try to figure out to dump the bubbles out or use the wand like a sword and break it so we will be bringing our own (with bubble refills)!

Convenience

Let’s make things easier for the parents for a minute! There are a few things you should bring to Disney for your convenience.

Stroller

If you have little kids, don’t skip this. Little A will be 7 on our next trip and we are still renting a stroller. Walking the parks and resorts is a lot, especially for kids. If you don’t want to end up carrying people, a stroller is the way to go.

Bonus, strollers hold ALL of the things! Grab one with a big basket underneath and add a Mommy Hook or two so all of your things are secured as you walk around Disney.

We have rented from Kingdom Strollers on all 3 of our Disney World vacations and had great luck. Kingdom Strollers meets you at your Disney Resort for stroller pick up and return at the time you choose. When they bring you the stroller, a quick tutorial on folding up and re-opening the stroller is provided, which is so helpful!

Be sure to reserve your Kingdom Stroller in advance to be sure you get the stroller you want. Our favorite is the Double City Mini GT. There are also single and double Bobs, City Mini double and single strollers, and Summit double and single strollers. Kingdom Strollers also carries The Liberty Special Needs Stroller. Cribs with bedding are also offered.

Mommy Hook

These large stroller hooks are amazing. Grab two to hook onto your stroller bar/handle. We used one to hold water bottles for easy access and no spilling. The other held our park backpack. Just be careful to have enough counterweight in the lower basket so the stroller doesn’t flip over when the kids get out because of a heavy backpack.

Park Bag

Can we talk about Lounge Fly?!? These bags are so beautiful. We carry too much with little kids to use them as a park bag at this point, but someday!

Little A chose a Lounge Fly bag as her one big purchase during our most recent Disney trip and it is truly beautiful and so well made. While they do sell the bags on Amazon, I would advise purchasing them directly from Disney/Lounge Fly to avoid a fraudulent bag. The bags meet the minimum for free shipping and ours arrived within 3 days, not much different than Amazon in terms of delivery speed. Totally with it for a sense of security.

Click any of the Lounge Fly bags above to head to shopDisney.com and grab your favorite for your next Disney trip!

Our park bag is typically my husband’s North Face backpack. It has lots of pockets and room for everything we aren’t comfortable leaving in the stroller when we have to park it for rides. It’s not glamorous but it works. Pack everything you MIGHT need that day. I mean everything.

Snacks

Don’t get me wrong, I love Disney’s delicious food and snack options for myself and my husband. But I have one picky eater and 2 kids who get “hangry” quickly so snacks are a must for us. I order all of our snacks in advance via Instacart and placed my order at the airport to be delivered to the hotel on our arrival. Click Here to hop to Instacart and place your order.

Snack Containers

Florida is humid. Kids are messy. Two great reasons not to bring an entire box or bag of chips or snacks that you have to hand over to them. Bring snack containers to fill for the parks (also handy on the plane or car ride to get there). This also lets you change up the snacks each morning as you pack your park bag.

Water Bottles

Refillable water bottles are a must with so much walking and often hot, humid weather. f you can grab ones with the hook tops, they can go right on your Mom Hook for easy access. Disney has multiple refilling stations throughout the parks. We also order water as part of our Instacart order to fill our water bottles.

Safety

We are still Moms who need to keep everyone in one piece on vacation. Purchasing any of these must-haves in a store on-site at Disney is insanely expensive. These are also things you want to have on hand when you need them and not have to hunt them down.

Sunscreen

Florida’s gorgeous sunny warm weather should be respected. Those of us who bust out of cold New England and hop down to warmer weather and being outside all day are more than likely going to end up sunburned. My kids have sensitive skin so I buy our favorite brand in advance and bring it with us. I bring a big container of sunscreen for the pool and smaller (aka lighter weight) containers for the park bag.

Clip-On Fan

Strollers can get hot, especially if there isn’t much air circulation. I highly recommend bringing a clip-on fan if you have a little one who will be snoozing in a stroller as you are out and about. We have this one from Amazon that has rechargeable batteries and had great luck with it lasting all day at Disney.

Hand Sanitizer

No explanation is needed on this one, especially with COVID out and about.

Disinfecting Wipes

I swear by Wet Ones Antibacterial wipes with babies and toddlers (and I did pre-COVID too!). I wipe down any touchable surfaces on airplanes, the table and high chair at any restaurant, and really anything that I worry a kid will lick, touch, etc. For little hands, I use the Wet Ones sensitive wipes (baby wipes work too) to wipe down hands for snacks on the go.

Masks

I feel like things can change in a minute with COVID and it’s better to have masks on hand than to be scrambling to buy some if needed.

First Aid Kit

I am talking super minimalist here! A few bandaids for skinned knees (or blisters from those cute new shoes Mama!) and some antibiotic cream. Keep your first aid kit with you at all times to save a lot of time and drama by being able to quickly repair your people on the go.

Basic Medications

Again, super basic. Tylenol/Motrin/Benadryl. Maybe it’s the healthcare provider in me, but I always travel with these and have needed them more than once. Baby J has a bad habit of getting sick on vacation.

On one of our Disney trips, he spiked a fever in the middle of the night and was miserable. I was SO thankful to have Tylenol and Motrin in the room and not have to hunt them down in the middle of the night at Disney. Benadryl is always handy in new environments or if trying new foods, so I bring that too just in case.

Packing

You may be thinking this is a lot of stuff to bring. Yes, it is but that’s traveling with kids! I swear by these packing cubes by BAGAIL. They come in a variety of colors, so each family member can have their own to avoid confusion.

For Disney trips, I assign a park to each cube and both kids’ outfits for that park are in one place including Mickey ears and any other accessories. It has worked well for us and kept mornings in a small hotel room a little less crazy.

Memory Maker

I know, I know, this is something you have to buy from Disney. But it is also something that costs less to purchase in advance of your trip, so it makes the list!

Memory Maker is an incredible service that Disney World offers via its extremely talented photographers. Simply scan your Magic Band with each photo or ride and you will have access to ALL of your photos from your trip, across parks, restaurants, and anywhere with PhotoPass (depending on which package you purchase). You own the digital images and can download them to make prints, photo books, etc in the future. 

Mamas you do not want this to be another trip where the photos look like Dad and the kids went on vacation without you because you were behind the camera. I truly believe this is a must-do, more so than an expensive character meal.

Enjoy!

I hope this list of What to Buy for a Disney Trip helped you to prepare, be ready for anything, and most importantly spend more time making memories and less time hunting down random items that you could have packed. It may even save you a little money that you can spend on something fun on vacation!

Let me know your must-purchase in advance items for Disney so I can add them to my family’s list for our next trip!