Packing Beyond the Obvious

[aspen37]

medicine- along with prescription meds..tylenol, immodium, pepto,cough, allergy esp if you have a kid with you...you never know when they will get sick.
sunscreen, bug spray, bandaids, liquid spray bandages, hand sanitizer, baby wipes( some snacks are oh so good and sticky) sandwich bags(diff sizes).
i carried the meds in a soft zip up pencil case that i got for walmart. fit really nice in our back pack.

I always carry a small first aid kit. I put Band-Aids, antibiotic like neosporin, alcohol wipes, Aleve or Advil, a personal size of eye drops stuff like that.

 

[Mikailova]

Earplugs. you never know when you might need them. kids have problems with fireworks. Someone gets a little sniffly from the change in weather conditions and suddenly snores for the first time in their life. And my personal favorite from a trip to the AL coast for my aunt's wedding, a tree frog decides to take up residence right outside your hotel room and wants everyone to know he's ready to find that special someone. They have saved me more than once.

 

[hpgirl500]

One thing my family always tries to remember to pack is a pack of cards, typically a small one if we can manage to find one. One family member takes turns being the "table" - it's great for waiting in line, especially if it's not moving.

 

[squirrel]

Have you purchased glow sticks or other light ups? It will save you money!

 

[Disney Anna]

Ditto to the extra underwear, socks and bras. Easy to forget for those of us lucky enough not to live in a humid climate.

Swim goggles. I wear contacts and these are a must.

 

[Mom2twinboys]

Have you purchased glow sticks or other light ups? It will save you money!

This is great I went to the dollar store for our oct trip and bought several packs of the necklaces that glow and when the children saw one of the carts with all of the lighted toys we would pull out our necklaces, it probably save us $100 !

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

Ambien CR
You would think after a day in the parks I would fall into bed and fall asleep. It wasn't like that at all. My adrenaline was going and I couldn't get to sleep. So, I wish I had brought my Ambien CR. A good nights sleep is needed at WDW.

Lysol
To disinfect the room. I know Mousekeeping is great. But, we have been known to find old dirty socks under the beds and dust on ledges. With three kids and a week of fun ahead, we don't want anyone getting sick.

Baby Wipes
Whether you have a baby or not, these come in handy. Also, alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

A Disney Trivia Book or Hidden Mickeys Book
These will help make the time go by quickly while in line.

Jennifer

 

[nettii]

pop up hamper
It helps keep all our dirty clothes in one spot!
Hats- This is a life saver for my family!

 

[HappyPeach]

I think all or most of these have been mentioned, but I'll give a big ditto to:
ziploc bags, rain ponchos, pop-up hamper, roll of tape, scissors, lysol or clorox wipes, a few clips or clothespins, sunscreen, extra batteries, power strip (nice to have all your chargers together so you don't leave them behind), mini-first aid kit, basic medicine like tylenol, rolaids, sudafed.

I also like to take a small soft sided cooler, one that will fold down flat in my suitcase.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We've done 42 trips so far and got our packing down to a science, all on paper, necessities that always go and other items by the length of the trip. Clothes and that sort are by length of stay, we will never do laundry on a trip, as for essentials, here's some of ours: portable DVD player and DVD's, WDW resort TV is awful and we use it on the train trip in. Corkscrew, small tool kit, power strip, extension cord, headphone splitter and extension cord for DVD player, spare batteries, all chargers for camera, cells, Ipods etc, our yellow 7 year old Disney ponchos, zip lock bags for food and ice, books and puzzle books and magazines,. The usual items for personal hygiene are always loaded and replenished after every trip and ready to go when we are, say with deodorant, shaving supplies, toothpaste etc. And we go as far as only having vacation clothes that only go to WDW so it's real easy for us to pack for a trip and not forget anything. It's harder for us to go for a weekend 175 miles to our sons and daughters home than to WDW. I also have to be packed and zipped, list checked off at least 2 weeks before we leave, hate last minute thoughts. Then when we return home, I go thru my stuff, see what was used and quantity against the packing list and adjust where necessary or add to, east piesie for me to go to WDW, wife has a struggle and I don't get into that fight, she has her way, I have mine but we try not to duplicate any items we can share. I always tell her, take whatever you want but you have to haul the bag and I'll haul mine.

 

[xiola]

We've done 42 trips so far and got our packing down to a science, all on paper, necessities that always go and other items by the length of the trip. Clothes and that sort are by length of stay, we will never do laundry on a trip, as for essentials, here's some of ours: portable DVD player and DVD's, WDW resort TV is awful and we use it on the train trip in. Corkscrew, small tool kit, power strip, extension cord, headphone splitter and extension cord for DVD player, spare batteries, all chargers for camera, cells, Ipods etc, our yellow 7 year old Disney ponchos, zip lock bags for food and ice, books and puzzle books and magazines,. The usual items for personal hygiene are always loaded and replenished after every trip and ready to go when we are, say with deodorant, shaving supplies, toothpaste etc. And we go as far as only having vacation clothes that only go to WDW so it's real easy for us to pack for a trip and not forget anything. It's harder for us to go for a weekend 175 miles to our sons and daughters home than to WDW. I also have to be packed and zipped, list checked off at least 2 weeks before we leave, hate last minute thoughts. Then when we return home, I go thru my stuff, see what was used and quantity against the packing list and adjust where necessary or add to, east piesie for me to go to WDW, wife has a struggle and I don't get into that fight, she has her way, I have mine but we try not to duplicate any items we can share. I always tell her, take whatever you want but you have to haul the bag and I'll haul mine.

Wow, Pepe. You need to come take care of my family, I decided Your skills are admirable and amazing, for sure.

You would think that threads like this would get redundant, but every time I read one, I pick up a new tip. I am constantly copying and pasting to this list I have saved on my computer.

The only problem is space! We're taking one large suitcase that we will check. It will have all of our liquids in it. I would like to only take one additional carry on bag. (there are only three of us.) So I probably won't be able to take advantage of all of these great ideas.

 

[twokids0204]

Body Glide...

 

[mwse4tubbies]

I think that it is possible to do it with one check bag. We went earlier last month and checked 2 bags, we had a lot of food, though because I overestimated how much baby food and breakfast food we would need. We each also had a carry on and we are 6 people.

I always try to think ahead and have a little bit of any kind of medicine I can imagine we would need (Benadryl, cortisone cream, Pepto, Gas-X...anything that could ruin our trip if we didn't have).

The only thing I wish we had had was extra sunglasses. Dh's broke and my ds lost his so it would have been perfect to have extra!

 

[northwds]

I always bring some plastic clothes pins. Use to hold the drapes closed....can't stand light coming in the room at night. Also good for hanging clothes up in bathtub and clipping stuff to stuff.

 

[northwds]

Can you pack a can of spray Lysol in your checked luggage? Or do people pack the wipes? Thanks

 

[Melora]

Finally on our last trip I got smart and kept my final packing list. I rewrote it neatly and put it into my "travel trunk". Now for our next trip I wont have to re-think what to bring. When we got home I wrote down anything else I realized I should have brought and now have a fairly comprehensive list of what we need.

Here are some little things that end up being important:

earphones for the plane so I don't have to buy them for the kids to watch the movie. (I pack one for everybody then bring one or 2 extras in case one fails)

We always bring extra medications because we never know what we will need and it costs a fortune at the park. (pain reliever, anti itch cream, tums, Ive even been known to throw in some prep H.. just in case!)

Finger nail clippers.. cant do without these because I WILL break a nail or the kids will get a hang nail.. great for clipping tags off stuff too

tweezers..Ive used them for something every trip

I bring my own bath towels because I like to wrap up after my shower and the Disney ones are smaller than I like

I whole heartedly recommend zip locs. Last trip we ended up using them to pack up the kids leftover food from meals. Those boxes they give you don't hold anything inside for long.

I always bring an extra duffel bag folded up in case we have more stuff to bring home than I anticipated....or I put the dirty laundry in it so its separate from anything clean. We are a family of 5 who travels with only 4 suitcases so if we have an extra bag coming home it wont cost.

I will bring back the Disney purchased ponchos. I will never do the dollar store ponchos again. They ripped and tore immediately and felt like I was wrapping myself in saran wrap. We ended up buying Disney ponchos and if (WHEN) they tore, usually around the neck after being taken off multiple times (we were there during Tropical Storm Faye so there was TONS of rain), Disney replaced them for free. They don't TELL you they will do that when you buy them but I heard that tip here and sure enough, we replaced 4 of them for free last time when we had 7 people traveling with us.

 

[northwds]

Bump

 

[JerseyJanice]

A small bottle of dish soap (stowed inside a Ziplock in case it leaks). Good for washing out mugs and in case you want to hand-wash some small pieces of clothing.

In a checked bag, I like to bring a small serrated knife. I find a lot of uses for one like cutting tags off purchases, splitting food brought back to the room, using the tip to screw off battery covers, etc.

I was going to suggest a Sharpie to mark initials on refillable mugs, but I believe I've read that they now come in an assortment of handle colors, so you can tell which mugs is whose.

 

[taylor3297]

Instead of bringing dish soap in a bottle, I buy sponges, cut them into squares, put dish soap on the sponges and let the sponges dry out. Then put them in a plastic baggie. This way I have dish soap to clean my mugs and I can just throw the sponges away when I am done and I don't have to worry about soap leaking in my suitcase. One time, even though I have my with dish soap in a ziplock bag, some how the bag came undone and the dish soap leaked out.

If you are staying somewhere that has a beach with lots of sand, bring baby powder. My kids love playing in the sand at the Poly and the sand loves to stick to them. With a little baby powder it comes right off. Also, putting a little baby powder on your body helps keep you feeling fresh on a hot, humid day.

 

[abcboys]

Extra sunglasses. I packed extra and it was a good thing because some pairs of the kids went missing in action.