advise? first trip to WDW without stroller

[sue_go_disney]

This is our first trip to Disney without a stroller to put all our "stuff" in. Anyone have advise on how to lug things around? Resort mugs, raincoats, autograph books, etc? Do you have the kids carry a small pack each, or take one larger backpack, then take turns carrying? Are there any rides that you can't take a bag on, and what do you do with it?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We utilize lockers

 

[brymolmom]

Welcome to the world of the stroller-free. I bet you will LOVE it!

I, too, would lug a lot of stuff around when we used a stroller. But I will tell you that each trip since then I have brought less and less stuff with us and I LOVE it!!!

Here's what we do:
Bought a SMALL backpack (maybe 12 - 16 inches high) for use specifically for WDW. IN this goes some granola bars (if not on the dining plan - no food if on the dining plan), ponchos (folded really small and ONLY brought when really necessary...If it's 90 degrees out we don't mind getting wet because it's refreshing), ONE small autograph book (not one per kid, one total), sunscreen and dh's glasses case (so he can switch between his sunglasses and regular). 1 bottle of water goes in the holder on the outside of this backpack.

Dh and I take turns with the backpack...It is REALLY LIGHT when we don't have the ponchos (which is 75% of the time).

In a cross body bag that I have on me at all times I keep money, tickets, camera.

We NEVER carry resort mugs - they aren't big enough to last much after the bus ride - then they're just dead weight the rest of the day. So I suggest leaving those in your room.

That's it.

That would be my best advice - Go down to the BARE BONES for what you bring with you and you will be much happier.

At WDW - you can bring a bag (small to medium at least) on EVERY ride. So no fears there.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

Walmart has ponchos in their camping section that are 97 cents and are in a super small package and lightweight. We've always just stuck two of them in DH's cargo pockets for rainy days or water rides.

 

[monorailsilver]

We just came back from our first stroller free trip since 2000 but in reality it was only 3 trips with a stroller.

My 12 yo dd had a baggalini cross body bad. It was small but it fit her thermos water bottle and her phone and hair ties, sun glasses. It was mainly for her to carry her own water.

My 9yo dh had a cinch/sinch sac. He kept his sun glasses, thermos water bottle and when he wasn't wearing his hat it was in there (we use hats for characters to sign) as well as his iPod so he could take pictures and kik his friends pictures from the park.

My 7yo had my older baggalini. I planned on carrying it but she wanted a new one and there was no way I was going to spend $40 on the same bag but a different color. Of course she moaned but in the end she stopped carrying her stuff.

My dh carried my 7yos water plus 2-3 extra water bottles, his sunglasses and not much else. He used a light weight back pack. He kept saying he was going to use the backpacks he uses for travel but those are heavy/bulky.

Me, I carried a baggalini cross body well sort if. It had a long enough strap to do that. I carried dh & my water bottles in it, my phone snacks for the kids and when needed my camera (dslr).

I don't do autograph books since they just get put in the closet so my kids do hats and most of the time they wear their hat. I just hold the sharpie.

I didn't bring rain ponchos at all. One night we could of used them but we hung out in Norway for a 1/2 instead. The ponchos are heavy and we looked at the radar before we left for the evening and if it showed little to no rain we weren't worried. A little sprinkle in 100* temps is nice!

We don't carry the mugs either. We don't need them. We don't do the dining plan so we drink water for lunch and dinner (bottled, not FL). Our water was cold and my kids still had ice in theirs despite the hot temps. I refilled them during the mid day break. We only used the resort mugs if we went to the pool or on our pool days. I did see people with their mugs clipped to their bags/belts. I had a clip that I was able to clip the hats on my bag as well. If buying a bottle of water in the parks wasn't equivalent to buying a 24 pack at Walmart I would just carry my camera and phone.

Oh and it was actually nice with out the stroller. I forgot what that was like.

 

[Krobo1211]

I got a Bagallini (sp?) and it was perfect. It's a crossbody and fit both kids autograph books and pens, my coin press collection pouch, camera, sunscreen, wet ones, advil and I don't think much else. Bottle of water went on the side pocket. We never carried resort mugs- way too big, way to much to think about with 4 of them. We didn't carry snacks since we were on the dining plan and non of us were ever really starving for a snack while at the parks. I agree bare bones is the way to go. Lugging all that stuff around just becomes an extra headache IMO.