Random yet useful items to have for your trip.

[katt789]

i find these scrub singles to be super useful for washing out water bottles and mugs at the end of the day. They have a scrub side as well.

What random but useful item do you bring?

-Over the door (shoe) organizer! Esp helpful considering we're usually travelling with 3-4, 20 something girls who have a lot of toiletries
-Wine Key! Most gift shops will have one to open that bottle you buy but it's nicer to have your own
-A couple plastic bags for dirty laundry (we never do it there)
-Baby powder! (this is in place of the dry shampoo! it's cheaper and personally, it does the job better, might not be the same if you're dark haired though)
-Safety pins!!
-Glow sticks/bracelets, makes for fun at night without having to buy the light up toys, and we make friends sometimes who we end up giving them to! Also great for trading with Jawas
-Portable charger for phones
-Stevia/brown sugar, it's not readily available in the parks and that drives me nuts!

 

[larryz]

A sarong. It serves many uses. You can sit on it like a beach blanket while you're waiting for a parade to start. You can use it as a scarf or wrap it around you or your kids when they get cold after the sun goes down. If your kids are little and you still use a stroller, you can put it over the stroller to block out some the sun in your little one's eyes while he/she is napping. And it hardly weighs a thing.

A sarong sounds saright.

 

[ChloesDaddy]

A sarong sounds saright.

You got me good with that one!

 

[shinysparklybubbles]

My husband laughs...but I always bring scissors. Cutting tags off and other random things...they always come in handy.

I would have paid good money for them. I needed to cut moleskin before the 5k and I had nothing.

 

[ForeverAlice]

Body glide stick for feet. We have never had a blister!

 

[Freiden8]

Dr. Scholl's moleskin padding! Cut it to size for any sore spots on your feet; it is sooooo much more effective than a bandaid.

 

[MeganFyne]

Forgive me if this has been said, there are quite a few responses and I will read them all in due time I bring a tiny (say 1-2 oz) travel spray bottle to get the back of my neck when it gets hot and my fella and I both use flannel re-usable baby wipes to sop up forehead sweat. Works better (and more environmentally friendly) than paper towels for the sweaty among us.

 

[IvyWinter]

Don't know if someone said this, as i didnt go through every page, but a portable phone charger. I have a pretty good one that was on sale on Amazon, can actually charge 2 phones at a time with 2 separate charges, and if you are using it for just 1 phone it'll definitely last you a few days. plus can just plug it in back at the hotel at night to give it even more juice! it's a life saver if you are using the park app that drains the battery, or use periscope (as i do!).

 

[leebee]

Glow stick bracelets from the dollar store- everyone wears one if we are out in the parks at night, so I can find them. I also use one around the bathroom door handle as a night-light. Worked will looped around a stroller handle to help us find it after dark. We've also been known to leave one laying on our window sill to help with finding the room (yes, they stay bright enough...)
Bathroom spray from the dollar store- leave it behind when we head home
Clothes pins- I have some plastic ones from- you guessed it- the dollar store. Use to hang things to dry, clip curtains shut so it's dark in the room.
I got some foldable cloth boxes at the dollar store, too. The over-the-door shoe rack didn't work for us- the door wouldn't close, and who wants an open bathroom door? I usually set up the ironing board in the closet area (it leaves enough space to hang a few things) and put the cloth boxes on it. That's where we keep all our small bathroom things- shampoo, deodorant, etc.- to keep the sink area clear.
Power strip- it's the only place we allow chargers to be plugged in, so we can grab-n-go when it's time to go home. (it's not from the dollar store )

 

[colarey]

I'm trying to think of the items we brought on the vacation we just got home from that we actually used.
- Baby wipes. We don't have a baby anymore but these were vitally important especially during the FoF parade while the boys were eating Mickey bars. Napkins just wouldn't have cut it then.
- Antibacterial hand wipes. I prefer hand washing but was SO happy when I had these after we all played with the honey wall in the Pooh queue. I imagine those walls are responsible for a lot of illnesses.
- Ziploc baggies of all sizes. Great for sorting outfits, storing dirty items, packing up leftover pastries and fruit from meals, protecting electronics on water rides, protecting our bag from an accidental sunscreen spill, just so many things.
- Portable charger, for obvious reasons. Had I not brought it into MK with us we would have missed a lot of pictures we took late in the day.
- Night light for the kiddos.

 

[Original Amber]

I've only read the first two pages but, I have to comment. We usually forget to take reusable bags to the grocery store. So, I packed my son's clothes for vacation and two different weeks of camp in the plastic grocery bags. I tie the handles into a bow so we can reuse the bags.
We pack at least two of each size Ziploc baggie AND a couple of garbage bags. The ziplocs make moving food SO much easier, and neater. (I drive.)

The battery operated LED lights are a fabulous idea. My cousin uses a wheelchair and I use a cart, so we'll be buying lights for them.

 

[Meg29Vanderpoel]

On our first trip last year, I read a million blogs or so it seems on what to bring.. Well with four messy kids and a messy husband, I bought a tide to go pen and kept it in my bag! Best thing ever!

 

[aquabone1109]

Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer and a separate bag for dirty laundry (we drive so we just throw the bag in the car at the end of the trip.

One thing though, please do not bring a slow cooker with you. Back in November we were checking into GF. We went to our room and smelled something strange. Thought it was coming from outside. It was getting stronger and stronger so we called the front desk and had someone come up and check. Someone said it smells like currey and suspected it was coming from the room next to ours. They called security and went into each room next to ours. They found one of the rooms with 2 slow cookers making something that looked like dog food and stunk like currey. They removed the cookers food and threw them away (they were really nice slow cookers). Our room smelled so bad that we had to leave and go to one of the parks. When we came back to the hotel to change for dinner, the smell was even worse. We called the front desk and had someone come up. They agreed that it was very bad and the smell was even in our clothes. They moved us to a 2 bedroom suite and dry cleaned our clothes while we went to dinner (gave us a gift card of $200 for our inconveniences).

 

[Original Amber]

Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer and a separate bag for dirty laundry (we drive so we just throw the bag in the car at the end of the trip.

One thing though, please do not bring a slow cooker with you. Back in November we were checking into GF. We went to our room and smelled something strange. Thought it was coming from outside. It was getting stronger and stronger so we called the front desk and had someone come up and check. Someone said it smells like currey and suspected it was coming from the room next to ours. They called security and went into each room next to ours. They found one of the rooms with 2 slow cookers making something that looked like dog food and stunk like currey. They removed the cookers food and threw them away (they were really nice slow cookers). Our room smelled so bad that we had to leave and go to one of the parks. When we came back to the hotel to change for dinner, the smell was even worse. We called the front desk and had someone come up. They agreed that it was very bad and the smell was even in our clothes. They moved us to a 2 bedroom suite and dry cleaned our clothes while we went to dinner (gave us a gift card of $200 for our inconveniences).

That's awful that happened, but way cool what CM's did for you.

 

[Scotgirl]

We are DVC members and usually stay in a two bedroom villa

Plastic picnic set - great for clumsy people on balconies
Pop up laundry hamper
Bacon crisper for the microwave
Pizza cutter
2 in 1 laundry tabs
mp3 music player
Multiple plug strip
Small first aid kit
Thread and needle
Disenfectant wipes
British chocolate!

 

[norjack]

Nail clippers and floss. While many might remember floss automatically, I once forgot nail clippers...and spent an evening in our room miserable because of it. Torn nails can easily be fixed if you have the right equipment for the job.

 

[CdnCarrie]

What a great idea!

Last year I brought a mini flashlight for my park bag. We were there in February, so it got dark early. That flashlight was a life saver, especially for reading park maps and schedules!

And disinfectant wipes. I would NEVER stay in a hotel without those!

I would think majority of people could use the flashlight on their phone.

We usually leave the bathroom light on over night and keep the door most of the way closed rather than bring a nightlight.

 

[ArielSRL]

I've read through and gotten great ideas!! Thank you all! Some things I have heard before are a collapsible step stool for kids to reach the sinks and stuff (probably only works if you are driving) and command hooks.

 

[Paigevon]

We bring refillable water bottles. The ones that filter so we don't have to drink that Florida water! It came in super handy and plus saved us money not buying water bottles.

Hey, I live in Florida and we don't have gross tap water.

 

[bluezy]

I would think majority of people could use the flashlight on their phone.

We usually leave the bathroom light on over night and keep the door most of the way closed rather than bring a nightlight.

I wish we could do that. But the fan noise keeps us awake and then if one of us does get up to use the bathroom during the night and have to walk into that fully lit room...that's it, we're awake for hours. I guess we're spoiled at home because we have every light in the house on a dimmer so we keep the lights at a comfortable level and then at night we dim down the bathroom lights to a really low level -- enough light to be able to see what you're doing, but not so much that it wakes you up. We're always shocked back into reality when we travel and realize that our only options for the lights in our room are "on" or "off".