What is your not so normal item to pack, which is helpful while at WDW ?

Thought I might be the only one who did this (I'm a bit obsessive!) Good to know someone else does it to!!!! Comes in very handy :)
29 days till WDW

Nah, you're not alone! I use a medium sized accordion envelope with dividers.
 
Wow - what a wealth of information! Thank you to everyone. So far I have three pages of notes some of which I'll use in our upcoming trip and some of which I'll use a few years from now when my 3 month old granddaughter is old enough to go.

Two things we do on the first day in Orlando. {We always have a car, so this is specifically for those who can get around easily}. I head to Walmart and pick up some of their cheap autograph books. Then I [and whoever else in the family wants one] use those to make notes, diary entries, impressions of the moments, whatever, whilst we're at WDW. They're small, slip into a pocket and can also be used as a autograph book in a pinch if a certain daughter forgets her real one back in the hotel room.

The other thing is going right to DTD as soon as we're checked in. My Disney vacation doesn't start until I've gone to the Earl of Sandwich. And since I'm like a maniac and will not stop for anything once we hit the Florida border, everyone is pretty hungry. While in DTD, I go to the bath shop [can't remember the actual name right now] and pick up a bar of Mickey soap. *That's* our soap for the week. It's a special treat and smells a lot better than the hotel soaps at WDW. Sometimes we pick up bath bombs, too, for end-of-the-day soaking/relaxing.
 
Wow - what a wealth of information! Thank you to everyone. So far I have three pages of notes some of which I'll use in our upcoming trip and some of which I'll use a few years from now when my 3 month old granddaughter is old enough to go.

Two things we do on the first day in Orlando. {We always have a car, so this is specifically for those who can get around easily}. I head to Walmart and pick up some of their cheap autograph books. Then I [and whoever else in the family wants one] use those to make notes, diary entries, impressions of the moments, whatever, whilst we're at WDW. They're small, slip into a pocket and can also be used as a autograph book in a pinch if a certain daughter forgets her real one back in the hotel room.

The other thing is going right to DTD as soon as we're checked in. My Disney vacation doesn't start until I've gone to the Earl of Sandwich. And since I'm like a maniac and will not stop for anything once we hit the Florida border, everyone is pretty hungry. While in DTD, I go to the bath shop [can't remember the actual name right now] and pick up a bar of Mickey soap. *That's* our soap for the week. It's a special treat and smells a lot better than the hotel soaps at WDW. Sometimes we pick up bath bombs, too, for end-of-the-day soaking/relaxing.

Basin:)
 

94 pages, and 5 days later, and I have a huge list, and kinda want to go sooner rather than later. Waiting for the shortest/youngest to be tall enough to ride everything that counts. Thanks everyone!
 
Just want to say how fab all of these ideas have been!

We are due to visit in October, taking our children on a plane for the first time (eek!) so have loved the three days it's taken to read all of the tips.

Keep 'em coming!
 
I already posted this on a similar but not nearly as comprehensive post but I thought it might be a good addition here as well. Plus, I remembered a few more!

  • individually packaged alcohol wipes. Dual purpose for these: cleaning wounds AND they work great for nausea! My hubby works at the hospital and learned this trick from the Post-OP nurses. When patients have nausea, they will open up an alcohol wipe, fold it up even smaller and then place it under their noses. Something about the smell alleviates the nausea. I often get nauseous when I get a migraine and have tried this trick and it *really* works. Now I always have my trifecta in my purse... migraine meds, aroma therapy and alcohol wipes.

  • a laminated picture of each of our girls with all of their info (height/weight/hair and eye color) written on the back. I take the pics the day before we leave. The laminating keeps them from getting all crinkled up in our daypack.

    If either or both got separated from us (God forbid), I have something I can hand over to cast members that isn't my phone and much easier to see than a picture on a phone. Besides, I want to be able to keep my phone in case they call me, communicate with whoever, etc.

    We also take a picture with our phones each morning so that we can easily remember what they are wearing.

  • Name/info tags. I read this somewhere 5 years ago before our last DW trip and made some. Using an address label template in my word processing program, I made tags which included the following information: The Davis Family, our address, my husbands cell phone #, my cell phone number, our resort name and the dates that we were going to be there.
    The Davis Family
    1234 Main Street, Anytown, USA 12345
    Kevin 678-555-1000 Terri 770-555-2000
    Boardwalk Resort July 30-August 8, 2013​
    You have to play with the font size to get it all to fit, but it will. If any of your items get lost, having your resort info on the *might* help you get it back... maybe a CM will send your item directly to your resort if they can't reach you?? Can't hurt and could certainly help. I printed some out on actual address labels and stuck them on EVERYTHING... camera, phones, eyeglass case, etc. Then, I printed some on iron-in transfer paper. I cut those apart and ironed them onto white ribbon. I cut the ribbon to lengths of standard clothing tag. I sewed those into my daughter's shirts (she was 5 at the time) and we explained to her that if Mom and Dad got lost from her that she should go up to someone with a Disney name tag on, tell them *we* were lost and show them the tag and that they would help her find us. We worked with her on knowing all of that information, but we didn't want to worry about her being scared and forgetting any or all of it. The very first CM we saw upon arrival was our "example". We walked to them and pointed out their name tag. The CM was AMAZING about this, too, btw. Clearly they knew what we were doing and was great about reassuring her that they would find us. That probably seems like a lot of work, but it really wasn't and the improved peace of mind was worth it. IMO.

  • a portable phone charger. We have the Droid Maxx phones so they have a really "big" battery, but using lots of apps (touring lines, my Disney experience, camera), etc. can still wear it down faster than we would like. These chargers won't give us a full charge but can help you make that last call you really *need* to make, etc. They're about twice the size of a tube of lipstick so not huge, but considering the size they are a bit heavy.

  • Earplugs... the foam, squishy kind. While my youngest (5) loves to watch fireworks, she hates the loud noises that go along with them. Might also be good for other "loud" attractions.
 
  • Earplugs... the foam, squishy kind. While my youngest (5) loves to watch fireworks, she hates the loud noises that go along with them. Might also be good for other "loud" attractions.

A favorite of mine for any travel. Hotels/airplanes/etc... can have many unfamiliar and sometimes disturbing noises. It took me a long time to get used to them, but now they are a "never leave home without it" item.
 
This is not just for Disney, but for any international trips. I'm from overseas, so our wdw trip counts as "international":

I'd bring a sorta multi-pocket wallet, to separate the bills. There's a pocket for 50 dollar bills, 20s, 10s, 5s etc. It's really handy when I'm not familiar with the foreign money.

But of course, in wdw, you can easily forget the wallet, thanks to KTTW ;)
 
These ideas are all so great! I've got pages and pages of notes for our first trip in October!!! You guys are great!!!
 
So, how did they work? Worth the purchase?

I bought 2 medium sets (1 set for each of my kids)- I have been using them all summer on our camping trips and love them. I can now fit my kids clothing in one llbean canvas bag instead of 2 bags :)
 
Do the packing cubes compress the clothes so more will fit into the suitcase?

No. It's like a mesh bag. It keep everything organized and conforms to your luggage. I used to use space bags, but I find that when you're packing a suitcase, there tends to be spaces in the corner or sides that would have space. With the packing cubes, you can stuff your cube and it molds into available space. When you close your luggage all the air escapes those the mesh and everything is airtight.
 
Depending on how you pack the packing cube you can compress and pack more, but not to the extent of the plastic vacuum bags. The big advantage is organization, and less wrinkly clothes.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards
 
Wow!! Got through at 95 pages!!
Thanks so much everyone for all the suggestions, I have 3 full pages of ideas for our trip in December!!!
 
Read the first 47 pages so far and have filled a page and a half of paper with packing tips. Thanks for the great ideas!
 












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