Packing Items - What strange/helpful items do you pack???

[proteus]

hmm...

- bathing suit with double sealed rear pocket for money
- aloe vera in case of sun burns
- night vision goggles for AKL (how is that for weird?)

 

[james'mommy]

My MIL goes everywhere with a mini vodka bottle filled with babyoil. I found one in my son's medicine cabinet just about freaked. Turns out she left it so that she doesn't need to worry about bringing one down.

 

[melancholywings]

I'm making small rice bags (fabric 'pillow' filled with rice), you toss it into the microwave for a minute with a glass of water and it becomes a heating pad. Very useful for sore muscles. And cheap so we can leave it behind if we need the room.

 

[1rileydog]

I love the idea of bringing small Disney toys & glow in the dark jewelry...it's so expensive to buy there!!!!

 

[Lovin Mickey]

Wow, we leave in two months and I really need to get cracking. Good thing we're flying SW so that I can have that extra suitcase.
I read somewhere that you should bring citronella candles and bug spray, especially if you plan on sitting on a balcony for any length of time.

 

[vcgirl925]

1. I'm putting all their outfits in ziplock bag. So each baggie will have undies, socks, shorts, and tee. Also hair clips that match the outfit for my dd. This way each time they need a new outfit all i have to do is grab a baggie or throw a baggy in my bag for the park. Or my dh doesn't have to match clothes he can just grab a bag. Then you squeeze all the air out and it vacuum packs it in and makes it easier to fit in your suitcase.

2. I have a ziplock bag with two sample bags of tide, two with downy, tide stain remover wipes, two dryer sheets, and a roll of quarters for the laundry.

3. I'm bringing glow sticks and bracelets from the dollar store.

4. I'm bringing two pop up laundry bags with handles ($5 at wallmart) to put dirty clothes in and if i decide to do laundry i can just carry the bag right to the laundry room.

5. I bought a gift card that i can add money too at the disney store for souveniers. It should help with budgeting. I've been putting $50 a month on the card so their should be a couple hundred on it by the time we are ready to go.

6. I buy ponchos from the dollar store for the family.

7. Buy the clip on sunblocks and antibacterial gel. Then you can clip it right to your park bag, you save space and you don't have to rummage through your bags looking for it.

8. Get some sort of lanyard for around your neck with an id pocket. This way you can put your park pass, hotel key, fastpasses, and photopass cards in it. Easy access!

9. Bring ziplocks to the parks to put digital cameras in or your wallets to keep them dry on water rides.

10. First aide kit ziplock. Adult headache relief, childrens motrin, antiseptic wipes, bandaides, moleskin, little scissors, nail clippers, ear plugs, & aloe vera gel.

11. Sunglasses holder, either clip or the kind that go around your neck. Most of the rides are dark and it's a pain to rest it on the top of your head. Mine always fall off, this way you can just clip it on to your lanyard or hang it around your neck somehow.

 

[TinaLala]

-Our orange dirty laundry bag
-An extra piece of luggage or a bag or those souvinears
-ziploc bags
-empty tube of M&Ms to hold our quarters and a mini tube to hold our pennies
-sharpie, because we've always seemed to need it for something
-special K breakfast bars


that's all I can think of right now.

 

[Disneymommy2006]

1. I'm putting all their outfits in ziplock bag. So each baggie will have undies, socks, shorts, and tee. Also hair clips that match the outfit for my dd. This way each time they need a new outfit all i have to do is grab a baggie or throw a baggy in my bag for the park. Or my dh doesn't have to match clothes he can just grab a bag. Then you squeeze all the air out and it vacuum packs it in and makes it easier to fit in your suitcase.

2. I have a ziplock bag with two sample bags of tide, two with downy, tide stain remover wipes, two dryer sheets, and a roll of quarters for the laundry.

3. I'm bringing glow sticks and bracelets from the dollar store.

4. I'm bringing two pop up laundry bags with handles ($5 at wallmart) to put dirty clothes in and if i decide to do laundry i can just carry the bag right to the laundry room.

5. I bought a gift card that i can add money too at the disney store for souveniers. It should help with budgeting. I've been putting $50 a month on the card so their should be a couple hundred on it by the time we are ready to go.

6. I buy ponchos from the dollar store for the family.

7. Buy the clip on sunblocks and antibacterial gel. Then you can clip it right to your park bag, you save space and you don't have to rummage through your bags looking for it.

8. Get some sort of lanyard for around your neck with an id pocket. This way you can put your park pass, hotel key, fastpasses, and photopass cards in it. Easy access!

9. Bring ziplocks to the parks to put digital cameras in or your wallets to keep them dry on water rides.

10. First aide kit ziplock. Adult headache relief, childrens motrin, antiseptic wipes, bandaides, moleskin, little scissors, nail clippers, ear plugs, & aloe vera gel.

11. Sunglasses holder, either clip or the kind that go around your neck. Most of the rides are dark and it's a pain to rest it on the top of your head. Mine always fall off, this way you can just clip it on to your lanyard or hang it around your neck somehow.

I LOVE the ideas on your list...one more thing we bring are empty water bottles to refill and the Kool-Aid or Krystal Light (for the adults) Mix Ins. These take up no space at all and help out with the budget and purchasing fewer drinks/water. The mix ins help if your kids aren't big water fans!

 

[tiggger1]

I do the toss and go cup thing but I get the larger ones with the straw.. then I put the place mat. paper bib, toss and go spoon and fork, and a couple individual packs of wipes..I also toss a few of the individual mix ins in a couple of extra toss and go cups.. that way we can get a drink of water from the anywhere if we get thirsty

I also have a small first aid bag and keep a change of clothes for each kid in the bag.. ( usually something lightweight like a sundress for my dd or a one piece for the baby

 

[WDWorBUST]

A great use for that Sharpie - write your name on your photo pass card with it. We have had several times when the photopass photographer took our card - but then had extras and wasn't sure which one was our to put our photo on...until he looked and saw our name. (Of course still record that photopass number in a safe place too)

 

[Missin'Disney]

taking a picture of the photopass number with your camera is an easy way of making sure you are ok incase something happens to the card. Chances are if you just write it you'll misplace the paper.

These tips have been so great, I must say I don't have much to add except:
extra pair of sunglasses- always lose mine!
individual portion cereals for mornings in hotel - so much easier than having to walk to counter service and much cheaper too on mornings without dining ADR
Slippers for hotel room: just feel scuzzy walking on the carpet in there!
Raincover for stroller (has been mentioned but is invaluable)
we take the laptop to watch movies on in hotel room when we need a break from kids to do showers and stuff. the t.v's in hotel don't show Disney movies....just the same repetitive park info over and over and some sitcoms that are appropriate for tweens and older. My kids like their movies, and it's a great way for them to wind down also..

Keep these tips coming guys!

 

[intownfarm]

Ductape is also great for blisters on the feet. I used to be a wildfire fighter and hike miles a day and this is the ony thing I use. Just dont try to take it back off, let it come off on its own in the shower. If you dont want to take a whole roll just wrap a good length around a pen then you have both handy in you bag.

Great ideas. I have several lists now and need to get to a Dollar store and stock up.

 

[Walt Disney Worlders]

Thanks for all the great BTDT ideas! I'm making a list!

 

[licountrygirl]

We don't go until December but I just broke out my little first aid kit and was checking to see what is actually in there. I was a bit surprised - there is only several types of bandaids, antibac wipes, neosporin and some gauze - there's no aspirin or immodium - I'm going to have to add some things to it!

I am also laminating my ADRs on post cards and also laminating my touring plans.

Today I went to Michael's crafts and got a pair of cheapie flip flops for $1 for the "can get wet" rides or the sudden rain storm. They only had one pair in my size and none in any of my families size! Gotta keep an eye out for that before the summer is totally over.

Carabiner water bottle clips and lanyards with a ziploc pouch for the cards and ID.

A small pair of binoculars for Animal Kingdom

On one of the forums mentioned to take a pic of your locker number at each park in case you lose your key or forget where it is.

 

[wlwilliams9]

Bumping and starting my dollar store list!!! I've got 5 months, but it's fun to accumulate everything I need over that time!

 

[kpadalik]

This isn't necessarily something to pack, but it is something to do before you leave each morning for the parks.

Take a picture of your kids right before leaving the room. That way you have a picture w/ whatever they are wearing for the day. It DOES happen - kids get lost at Disney and you can get panicky. (I know, my niece wandered away from her parents and was missing for about 10 minutes. But we found her - at the ice cream cart!) If they get lost, you can show a CM or security what they were wearing, instead of trying to remember if it was the purple tink shirt or pink princess shirt she was wearing that morning.

Also, write your address/phone number on an index card and make it your first picture on your memory card. If your camera gets lost or the card gets misplaced, the person who finds it will be able to see who it belongs to and (hopefully) get it returned. Then you don't lose all those wonderful Mickey pictures!

 

[CTtwins]

I always thought the "clothes in a ziploc" was overkill - but I tried it this year and it was amazing! The kids would pick a bag and get dressed all by themselves!! Yeah! One or two bags I labeled for a certain special day, like HSM clothes for DHS. The best part was I didn't have to fish around in each kids shirt-pile, short-pile, etc. etc. Now I just have to motivate myself to make the bags again when I do laundry there..!!

Someone mentioned vaseline... I wanted to add that it works on Door hinges.. so if you get a squeaky bathroom door that would wake a sleeping child - use a tissue, grab some vaseline and spread it all over the hinge. It will work itself in and stop the squeak. We use this at our house all the time. (DH is concerned that WD-40 is unhealthy to be used inside the house)

We pack alot of what was already mentioned. The Dollar store has so many useful things - night lights, inexpensive zip loc bags... and, if you are flying, they sell headsets that will work on the airplane. (many airlines are charging for them now)

Michael crafts store has a tube of 15 glow sticks for a dollar. They seem to last longer than my Dollar store glow sticks.. I don't know why!! We always bring a lot and then our kids share them with other kids around. The tube is also easy to carry. DH and I can fit them right in our hip/waist bags.

Hope this is helpful!!

 

[*Seanaci*]

Wow. There are some really great ideas in here.

I'd better start making a list and get to my local Dollar Tree.

 

[IllumFan]

I love my lightweight, plastic, medicine lock box. We always bring over-the-counter medications but hotel rooms rarely have a space high enough to keep them out of my toddler's reach. The lockbox is light enough and small enough to pack but secure enough that you can have piece of mind that your child won't get into the medications.

I bought mine from One Step Ahead and subsequently bought 3 more - we like them that much!

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

Not sure if this was mentioned but we always bring a nightlight. It makes finding the way to the bathroom easier in the middle of the nite.

Also, after this trip I will always pack Clorox or Lysol wipes. We all got very sick on this trip with a nasty stomach virus and housekeeping couldn't give us anything to clean up the messes. They either sent a housekeeper out to do an extra cleaning or told us to put a towel over a mess on the carpet until housekeeping could come the next morning.