Random yet useful items to have for your trip.

[Chainsaw]

A little scented candle and matches for the bathroom, I have a grown son, do the math. We keep a hanging toiletry bag packed at all time, I have one, DH has one and we have a joint one. If he is travelling for work, he grabs his, if I'm vacationing I grab mine, if we are going on a trip together, I grab the joint one. I always have a little pair of scissors and a sewing kit in my every day purse I carry and I keep a small pair of scissors in my car. Since we drive down, it's always there. I also have a corkscrew in my car - don't judge. I take a corkscrew and plastic wine glasses in my luggage.

I keep a corkscrew in my make up bag

 

[ToyStory3]

Lots of ziplock bags to put our phones and things in for the wet rides. Band-aids and antibiotic spray for small accidents. And, wet wipes for lots of things (dirty tables, messes, sanitizing door-knobs and remotes in our room).

 

[AGoofykindagirl]

You are a true hero!! I couldn't imagine how horrible the bra strap incident would be!!

Funny thing is, we didn't know about it until later in the afternoon. We couldn't figure out why this large family kept waving at us and after the third time, Mom told us. They had offered her 5 dollars for 10 safety pins (she declined). But it helped me realize how important safety pins were to have on you. Glad you liked the story and idea. Mom passed away in 2008, but we take her pins and bandaids whenever we visit.

 

[Chainsaw]

So sorry she's not here with you...but it is so sweet how you honor her ways!! <3

 

[TikiGoddess07]

Wet ones they are really helpful in the parks when you are about to eat but there isn't a bathroom around whip your hands really quickly! And kids love it!

 

[Keegansmommy]

A travel clock now that clocks are being removed from rooms
Scissors
Single use laundry detergent, either pods or packet
First Aid kit with different meds/band aids/aloe
Gallon size ziplocs (so many uses!)

Clocks are being removed? Why is that? That seems like an essential for a room!

 

[Keegansmommy]

This is so genius.
Just frickin genius.
I LOATHE digging through luggage for clothes. Outfits in a bag! My DH is gonna think I've lost my mind.

I read this tip a few trips ago and it was the BEST.THING.EVER. Especially since my boys' clothing looks similar in size. It saves having to search through the suitcase and pulling out the wrong stuff. They can grab a bag marked with their name and get dressed! My mom thought I was a little nutso when I bought gallon bags last week and said it was for packing clothes.

 

[bluezy]

Clocks are being removed? Why is that? That seems like an essential for a room!

They are supposedly replacing them with a charging block that has regular outlets along with USB outlets. The thought is that most people have Smart Phones that they use as alarm clocks *and* people need more places in the room to plug things in to charge them. That being said, we're not quite sure why they don't just replace the alarm clocks with the alarm clocks that have the outlets and ports for charging things. And some people have reported that while there was no alarm clock in their room, there was no charging station in the room either. The good news is, you can still request an alarm clock from the front desk or mousekeeping and they will bring one to your room.

 

[swimfin]

We use these to clean the tub before giving our DD a bath. The tub never feels clean after a couple boys have showered in there. I'm totally looking at that poopourri as my boy's are hard on the bathroom. We take several pop up hampers as we use them for various things besides laundry. We use one for shoes. When our 4 boys were little they would toss their shoes off and they would get kicked under furniture etc. We were always running late just because we were looking for a missing shoe. So a pop up hamper by the hotel room door and in their shoes go when we walk in, this has cut down on the stress in the morning.
And we love the clothing in Ziplocs. We use this for Boy Scout camp as well. I spray all their clothes with repellant and bag and label the days. This was after the first year, they were in the hospital for tick disease just for forgetting to use repellant one day. They may be teenagers but they still sometimes forget till halfway through a day to use their bug spray so I pretreat everything for tick repellant before they leave. Mosquito bites are one thing but Rocky Mountain and Lyme disease are not something to mess with.

I will have to try the clothespins on the curtains as the curtain gap bothers the light sleepers on our sleep in day.

We bought an over the door plastic pocket thing but it didn't fit the bathroom door at our room in CBR. Does anyone have a recommendation of a brand they have used sucessfully? This is a great thread and I will be passing along some of these ideas to my Dsis for her first family trip this fall. She has 2 little ones so the stroller ideas are great.

Forgive me for sounding stupid ... ticks at WDW? Was this from the campground?

 

[danceteachermom]

Have not read all 13 pages so not sure if any of these were mentioned.

clorox wipes to get handles, lights, and remotes when we arrive
corkscrew
small bottle of baby powder (helps get sand off feet)
container of hand soap with pump
cheap rain ponchos
sticky notes to use for thanking housekeeping or making a request for more towels/shampoo etc.
sharpies for autographs

Not "random" things...
We order some alcohol and dairy products from Garden Grocer but also started packing a small extra suitcase of snacks for the room. Then we can use this suitcase for any souvenirs we bring home. My kiddos can be picky sometimes and having some sources of protein like nuts, beef jerky, and tiny packs of peanut butter is valuable. Plus we pack cereal so that we can have breakfast in the room. We do not bring or rent a car. If we did, we'd just do a grocery run.

 

[lroger01]

Back braces! Those Velcro-wrap kind you can get at grocery stores or on Amazon for like $15. Total lifesavers.

Husband and I are fairly young and fit people and we really like to walk everywhere so we can take in as much of our surroundings as we can. But after long walking days at the parks our first two trips (we would walk to MK from CR, or walk to Epcot when we stayed at BW) we came back to the room with our spines just wracked from pounding the pavement all day. Now the braces go under our clothes (or between layers when it was chilly last week!) and it's a night-and-day difference at the end of the day. We swear by them. You can't even tell in photos we're basically wearing Velcro corsets.

Love the suggestion to bring a tennis ball to massage muscles and feet at the end of the day! Stealing that one for next trip!

I have that problem too. I found I can solve it by wearing a mid-sized fanny pack so the pack is in the small of my back. The weight pulls on the strap, which pulls my abs in. It provides just enough support to keep my back muscles relaxed. The bonus is the bag is weighted with stuff I can use at the parks.

 

[lroger01]

If you're worried about bringing too much - and you vacation often - mark your stuff. Get some small 1/4 inch stickers (I use smiley faces). Stick them on all the bottles, tubes, gadgets and gizmos you bring. When you use an item, remove the sticker. At the end of the trip you'll easily see what items didn't get used. Sometimes I'll bring unused items anyway on the next trip, but I'll add a second sticker. Once an item goes unused two trips in a row, it's dropped from the next one. I've also done this with clothes. It makes it easier to see what is clean and how much I over packed.

 

[TraceyPoppins]

It's a small thing but I am a color coded spreadsheet making, ADR adherent, tour plan abiding planner so I pack a few plastic sleeves and bring suction cups with hooks and post the master plan on the inside of the door. With spares to take along, of course. Under it is a "Today's Agenda" sheet with the schedule for each day and it says has tips like - Animal Kingdom Today. Make sure you have a poncho if you want to ride Kali and extra dry socks. We Need to be out the door at 8:20 am. We are eating at ... You wanted to try the ... And do you have your hat, sunglasses, spending money, back up charger etc. etc- Did you set out out the Mousekeepimg envelope? and a prompt like Tomorrow is Epcot. It helps set up the day and saves me from answering "What time do we need to leave? Where are we eating? Check the door is an easy answer. It keeps everyone in the loop and shifts some responsibility off mom

I do the same thing but electronically. I create a note on my iPhone with the itinerary including restaurants and send it to DH and DDs so they can refer to it at any time.

 

[TraceyPoppins]

Our DDs are 17 & 14 and they STILL request glow necklaces & bracelets for evenings in the parks. LOL! That's one of the things I love most about Disney -- no matter how old they are or what they're "too cool" to do IRL, they turn into 10-year olds as soon as we go through the gates.

I have DDs 16 and 13 who also return to the golden days of childhood when we walk thru those gates! Somehow we are still buying plushies on every trip?! Maybe I'll pick up the glow necklaces...

 

[TraceyPoppins]

My own hairdryer. Not a fan of the little ones they provide in hotel rooms. Also lots of protein bars for affordable and healthy snacks. They double as quick breakfasts that keep you full.

 

[John Paul]

Glow sticks, disposable ponchos, and cheap Disney Pins to give to random children running out of steam!

 

[epcotty]

ziploc bags with pepto/imodium/advil just in case
umbrella (in bag)
eyedrops
disposable poncho (we'll have to find this in a store somewhere for next time, I've heard Target or dollar stores?)

 

[AuroraMeansDawn]

I keep a corkscrew in my make up bag

Me too! I apply Chardonnay to my sore feet at Disney semi regularly at the end of a long day (internally of course) and much prefer to be prepared!

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I was reading this to my husband and laughing saying, " See I am not that bad, I don't have a drawer, just a bag I keep in the closet". He proceeded to remind me that we have 2 Owners Lockers stored down there, I don't need a drawer as what else could I possibly need to bring that is not in those lockers??
Oops…….

We don't use an owner's locker because we drive. But I do have a large rubbermaid container. It actually is sitting out in our bedroom because every time I put it away, I feel the need to put stuff in it. So out it comes. It has become easier to just leave it out.

 

[LuckyAlpha]

We always pack a pop-up hamper and spill-proof water bottles (empty for air travel).