How to pack for a park day at Walt Disney World
So you’ve got your park tickets, you’ve booked your Disney Resort Hotel, and you’ve ordered those Magic Bands to get you into it all! Now you’ve begun to look at your packing list. You’ll probably remember to pack the basics like clothes, shoes, and a toothbrush, but in my opinion, what you pack for a day at any number of Walt Disney World Parks is of utmost importance!
I carry a backpack every day of my life like my mom carries a suitcase-sized purse. Just like my mom’s purse, my backpack is full of essentials for my daily life. Not having a backpack on me feels wrong, but for me, my park day pack needs to have all the things I consider necessary or I won’t be able to get the most out of my Walt Disney World experience! I totally understand that’s not everyone’s preference, but here are a few things I will never be without during a day at Walt Disney World.
Backup Battery
If this is your first trip to a Disney Resort, you might assume that tasks like snapping pictures of your trip will be your heaviest phone usage, but the real battery drainers are in the My Disney Experience (MDE) App. MDE hosts your Disney Resort hotel reservation, provides wait times for rides, and is the only way to access Lightning Lane and Virtual Queue information (trust us, watching your phone shut down while you try to refresh the app for your final attempt at a Virtual Queue boarding group can be devastating).
A backup battery will keep your phone all juiced up throughout the day so you don’t have to stress. While you can pay to rent one from the park that you can swap in and out with a fresh charge, I just keep one with me daily so I don’t have to trade them in and out because you’re better off just getting a higher quality option.
If you want a budget friendly option from $20-$30, the Anker Nano is great! It’s nice and compact, but still delivers fast charging and can get your phone back up to 75% if you need it. If you’re like me and want some specific features like wireless magnetic charging (no more carrying cables!), grab this MagSafe battery from Anker for $40. Or, if you have a large Walt Disney World party to share your battery with or just want to avoid having to recharge your battery each night of your trip, get this massive one from Anker that can charge your phone 5-6 times per recharge (~$50)!
Snacks
Just like your phone needs to stay juiced up, you do too!
There are practically infinite options to snack and dine on all across the Walt Disney World Resort and we definitely recommend you try a lot of them! While it may be that your goal for your trip is to try all the food that Walt Disney World has to offer, in our experience, we have found that having the option to munch on your favorite snack while waiting in line can make all the difference in your experience.
Not only does a bag full of snacks provide you the freedom to hop from one ride or attraction to the next without stopping, but it can save you money too! I mean, with the cost of a single stop around the park likely costing your family the same as a case of your favorite snack crackers or cookies, that $20 box of mini Oreos doesn’t seem nearly as pricey as it did in the store.
While I can’t tell what exactly to pack here because that is completely subject to taste, I can recommend a few types of snacks. Personally, I like to pack some protein bars, beef jerky, and some individually packed snack crackers and cookies. Most importantly, though, I am sure to pick up my Walt Disney World refillable popcorn bucket the day I first step foot in a park. With refills at ~$3, that thing is a gem! And it makes a great souvenir to collect!
Liquid IV
This one is new so it still feels a little bit crazy to me… because it kind of is… but it saves me money soooo…
In the swampy heat of the Florida sun, my family is constantly tempted by the ice cold gatorades around the parks. At $5 a bottle, it’s so hard to justify…even though we give in sometimes. On our most recent trip, we had the bright idea to bring some Liquid IV to try and provide ourselves an alternative. And, it worked out great! So great, in fact, that I will never go back sans these little packets.
Most places that have fountain drinks around Disney World will provide you with as many free cups of ice water as your heart can possibly desire (Yes, they will literally give you as many as you can carry. Take 2, or take 20…). Pour them into a bottle with a pack of Liquid IV or your preferred hydration booster/sports drink and you’re off to the races!
You can grab a pack of them from Amazon here, but I recommend visiting your preferred wholesale membership store like Costco to grab the best deal!
- Amazon: Lemon-Lime Liquid I.V. – 16 Count (~$25)
- Costco: Liquid I.V. – 30 Count (~$30)
I recommend reusing an empty Powerade or water bottle from the park for Liquid IV, but you’re going to need regular water too!
Water Bottle
In my daily life, I carry a backpack with a few very important daily items and the item with the greatest priority of all is my water bottle which my wife refers to as my security blanket. It’s always with me and I feel dehydrated just from its lack of presence in my life when I forget it somewhere.
Because my water bottle is the thing I have on my person the most in my life, second only to my iPhone, I don’t mind spending a bit for a really nice one. Don’t get me wrong, I still have an affinity for my old Nalgenes from college and will still crack them out from time to time, but I currently use a LARQ as my daily driver. If you’re unfamiliar, LARQ has some cool technology that sanitizes and disinfects your water with the magic of a focused UV light in the lid. I got this because my I picked up a terrible habit in my days as an outdoor professional where I would use a standard water bottle for WAY too long and it would begin to smell so so bad. Problem solved!
Now how does this magic mix with Disney World magic? They also have a filter straw lid to swap on which makes your water taste better than the Florida water that even sorcerer Mickey can’t fix. Do you need this level of a container in your life at Disney World? Definitely not.
What you do need is to stay hydrated for walking 10-miles a day around the world at EPCOT or from Pandora to Mt. Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Do yourself a favor and drink water. A lot of it. Whether you spend $15 on a basic but nearly indestructible Nalgene, spend too much on the most epic water bottle experience with LARQ, or pick up one of those giant bottles you see fitness people carry around constantly, bring a water bottle and refill it often.
Rain Jacket
Like a water bottle, this item is constantly with me wherever I go because I live in one of the rainiest places in the country. You may not have a need for a rain jacket in your daily life, but at Disney World, rain gear is a necessity… You don’t want to be that person in your party scavenging all the merch stores for $20 ponchos that are basically trash bags because you weren’t prepared for this one.
I bring my daily driver along with me for this one too. It’s a stretchy rain jacket with pit zips for ventilation and it’s crazy light weight since it’s built for rock climbing, but it’s quite costly. Now just like the water bottle, I don’t believe or expect that most people share my affinity for high quality products in this area, but I do recommend you pack something a little better than the ones you immediately throw in the trash can because they didn’t actually keep the water out.
The Backpack
So we have all the things to put in a bag and carry along throughout our park day at Disney World, but now we need something to stash it all in! If you’re like me and use a backpack all the time, you probably have a comfortable one that you can fill with all your Disney goodies, but if not, you may need to pick something up.
I currently carry a 32L Patagonia Black Hole backpack every day that is perfect for a trip to Disney. It’s waterproof, extremely comfortable, and large enough to fill with whatever chaos my wife and I decide needs to travel home with us from the parks. I sometimes swap to our camera bag which is a 30L Peak Design Everyday pack that once again hits all of those features. Again, I’m a gear snob so you almost assuredly don’t need this just for a vacation, but those are the three features I would look for in a bag that I will be carrying constantly.
If you’re just looking for something to hold some stuff, take a look at this basic Jansport. It’s decent quality without the bells and whistles. It’s a classic for a reason. Want to guarantee your stuff doesn’t get wet even in the craziest of sudden Florida monsoons, check out this backpack/dry bag from Earth Pak for around $60. I haven’t personally used it, but I’d definitely give it a try. Looking to upgrade your gear for your everyday life outside of Disney and using this trip as an excuse, get this Peak Design Everyday Pack that I will swear by for the rest of my life ($250+)!
