What to Pack In Your Disney Park Bag – Our Top Must-Have Items!
Wondering what to pack in your Disney Park Bag? We’ve got a full list of our top must-have items for our trips to Walt Disney World!
Having visited the Florida theme parks many times over the years, we’ve identified the essential items we always end up needing in our Disney park bags – especially when we spend hours and hours in the parks. Each of the items below are things that we use during our trips at one point or another, and several of them we use every day.
Every trip is different and there are times when we may not need some of these items (particularly if we are only visiting for a few hours), but if we’re planning on being in the parks for most of the day we usually bring all of these items along just in case we need them. Some of these items are absolute necessities – like park tickets and sunscreen – and others are helpful additions we like to bring along to make our time in the parks a bit easier and more relaxing. Check out our full list below to help you pack your Disney Park Bag for your next trip!
1. Park Ticket / MagicBand
If there’s one thing you will definitely need when you arrive at the parks, it’s your park ticket! You’ll be given a plastic card ticket to use at the park gate in order to get in, and this card will also be loaded with your other info you may need to access throughout your vacation, such as FastPass reservations (note that FastPass+ is not available during Disney World’s reopening phase).
You can also purchase a MagicBand to use instead of a ticket card if you prefer, which will essentially work the same way. Whichever ticket option you have – card or MagicBand – you’ll definitely want to make sure you have it with you when you arrive at the park gates for the day!
BONUS TIP: Disney should also send some sort of confirmation email to you when you purchase your tickets, so it’s a good idea to keep this email on your phone just in case you should need to show it to guest services if you loose your ticket card or MagicBand. (you should also be able to access your ticket info from your My Disney Experience app.)
2. I.D., Cash, and Credit Cards
This one might seem more obvious, but it can be easy to forget these items if you use your MagicBand for everything, including your purchases. While you will probably be able to do most of what you want to do in the parks with just your MagicBand, there are certain things that you will need another form of identification or payment. For instance, if you’d like to leave a tip at a dining location you may want to use cash, or if you’d like to order an alcohol-based beverage you’ll need to show your I.D.
BONUS TIP: Disney Chase Card Members can often take advantage of special character meet and greets at certain parks, which will require both your I.D. and your Chase Card to enter (keep in mind that traditional character meet and greets are not available during Disney World’s reopening phase). It’s always a good idea to have all of these things with you just in case you need them!
3. Face Masks
Since the reopening of the Florida theme parks in July, masks continued to be required for guests over the age of two. Anyone visiting the parks will need to wear a mask for the foreseeable future, so it’s very important that you remember to bring along at least one mask. We recommend bringing two or three per person in case you loose one or it gets wet.
BONUS TIP: You may also want to consider bringing along a couple of different styles if you aren’t sure which mask will be most comfortable in the heat for long periods of time.
4. Hand Sanitizer and Sanitizing Wipes
This probably goes without saying, but hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes are some of the most important items you’ll want to bring with you to the parks. This is especially true now, as sanitization has become paramount due to the recent health concerns. Currently, hand sanitizing stations and hand washing stations can be found nearly everywhere in the parks (and thorough cleaning of high-touch areas have become more frequent), but it’s still really helpful to have your own sanitizer on hand. Sanitizing wipes are also great to have if you want to clean something in particular (like an item you buy at a gift shop) or if you’ve just eaten something sticky and paper napkins just aren’t cutting it.
5. Cell Phone
Again, another obvious one, but it definitely needs to be on this list. Not only is it a good idea to have your cell phone in case of emergency or if you get separated from the members of your party, it’s also a great idea to use the My Disney Experience app while you are in the parks. You can use the app to check, update, cancel, or update any of your reservations, take a look at all the maps of the parks and resorts, look up park times and wait times for attractions, Mobile Order from Quick Service dining locations, and much, much more. You can also take great photos and videos with most smart phones now, so that’s another great feature you’ll probably want to use in the parks.
6. Battery Packs, Chargers, and Cords
If there’s one thing that really stinks when you visit Walt Disney World, it’s when you run out of battery in your phone or camera and realize that you’ve forgotten your charger. Even if your devices have normally long-lasting batteries, you might be surprised just how quickly they will run down when you’re in a theme park for eight hours or longer. Between taking photos and videos of everything in sight and checking the My Disney Experience app all day (which we highly recommend for keeping up with your in-park reservations), you’re likely going to be using your mobile device a lot more than usual.
You could always buy a Fuel Rod charger while you’re in the parks if you’re in a pinch, but these can be very costly (especially now that each charger swap for any rods purchased after October 2019 requires a fee). That’s why we recommend taking your own chargers along with you in your park bag. There are a lot of good charging packs on the market, but overall we suggest finding one that will get you more than one charge but is still light weight. We usually carry one to two chargers each for each of our mobile devices, and you will want to make sure you bring the correct cord along with you.
For your camera, you’ll want to consider buying some additional batteries to bring along. Some lower-level cameras run on AA or AAA batteries, but a lot of point-and-shoot and DSLR cameras require specific battery packs. You’ll want to make sure you purchase the battery packs that fit in your camera, and you may end up changing batteries two or three times a day depending on how many pictures and videos you take. My Canon G7X Mark II is an excellent camera, but its battery life unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired. I usually bring along the main battery and two extra batteries so I at least get four or five hours out of my camera each day.
7. Sunscreen
The “Sunshine State” is definitely a fitting name for Florida! The Orlando area in particular can get extremely hot, and the sun feels extremely close. When you’re walking around a theme park all day having fun, it can be easy to forget to apply sunscreen often, but it is especially important since you can burn very quickly. Even if it’s cloudy, sunburns can still happen, so it’s good to have plenty of sunscreen on hand no matter what the weather looks like – and the weather in Florida can change within minutes! You’ll definitely want to stock up on sunscreen for your trip and bring it every day in your Disney park bag.
8. Sunglasses
You’ve probably already guessed this, but the sun in the “Sunshine State” is very bright! If you forget your sunglasses, you may spend most of the day squinting, which isn’t very much fun… especially if you’re trying to take pictures. A note of advice though – try to bring along tough plastic sunglasses if possible. I once forgot that my rimless glasses were on top of my head, and when I bent over to pick something up they fell off my head onto the hard concrete, the lens popped out, and my glasses broke (and the worst part is that I had just bought them at a resort gift shop the day before).
BONUS TIP: There’s always a chance that you’ll drop or lose your sunglasses in a theme park with as much as you’ll take them on and off, so consider bringing along a couple of cheap, tough pairs or attaching them to a strap around your neck.
9. Poncho or Rain Jacket
It may seem weird that a state known as the “Sunshine State” experiences rain nearly every day during the summer, but it definitely can. Heavy rain showers and thunderstorms usually pop up in the afternoons and can come out of nowhere, so having a poncho or rain jacket in your Disney park bag can be especially helpful. It can rain quite often during the non-summer months too, so you might want to keep one in your bag just in case.
BONUS TIP: They can also be useful for water rides like Splash Mountain or Kali River Rapids to keep you from getting completely soaked!
10. Umbrella
An umbrella is good for blocking out both the rain and the hot sun. You can usually find small, foldable umbrellas in most stores or on Amazon that work well and will fit right in your Disney park bag. It’s great for keeping dry in lingering rain, as well as for protecting you from direct sunlight. Make sure you get one that’s sturdy, though, since winds can be pretty powerful during those frequent pop up showers and storms.
11. Portable Fan
Portable fans are a fantastic addition to your Disney park bag essentials! Not only is Florida weather often hot, but the atmosphere can also often be sticky and still with very little breeze at times. Having some light air movement from a portable fan can greatly help, as can a water misting fan. The water misting fans available for purchase at Walt Disney World are ok, but they are quite large and pretty expensive (around $20 a piece), so we prefer to bring our own smaller fans with us to the parks.
12. Water Bottle
It is very important to stay hydrated while you’re outside in extreme heat for several hours at a time. You can always get free ice water at any Quick Service location in the parks, but it will usually come in a cup without a lid. Since you can’t take open beverages on attractions, we like to bring a water bottle along with us so that we can pour the free ice water into it. That way, if we don’t finish our drink before it’s time for us to board a ride, we can still bring it with us. You can also utilize the water filling stations (more are popping up around the parks), so it’s good to have a bottle on hand for those as well. We like to pack our foldable silicone bottles in our Disney park bags since we can easily roll them up and pack them away whenever we don’t need them.
13. Insect Repellent
Unfortunately, Walt Disney World is not bug-free. You might have to fight off pesky insects like mosquitos while in the parks – especially if you are anywhere near water or visiting during the evening hours when they are often more prevalent. It’s a great idea to bring some bug spray along with you in your park bag, or you might even consider taking along an insect repellent bracelet. We seem to have pretty good success with these bug bracelets we found at Walmart when we wear them all day, so we usually bring along several to use for the entire length of our trip.
14. Bandages and First Aid Items
First aid items are definitely essential, but also easily forgotten when packing a Disney park bag. You’ll find several First Aid stations located throughout each of the four parks, but there may be times when you aren’t close to one when you need something simple – like a bandage for a blister – and you don’t want to walk all the way to the nearest station (especially if you have a blister!). For this reason, it’s a great idea to pack some first aid items in your bag so they there right there when you need them.
15. Plastic Zip-Top Bags
Plastic zip-top bags have multiple uses, from holding small items like bandages and coins to keeping your electronic devices dry on water rides. We especially like to use clear bags to hold and organize items in our park bags so that security checks are easier and quicker. Plastic zip-top bags are cheap and come in a variety of sizes, which makes keeping your items all together and safe from water splashes much easier than if you just dump everything into one big pocket!
BONUS TIP: Another great reason to have zip-top plastic bags on hand right now is so you can store your masks. We carry extra masks in one bag, used masks from the day in another (if we need to change our mask because it gets wet, an ear strap breaks, etc.), and a bag that holds the mask we are currently using while we eat. Since you don’t want to place your mask directly on the table to avoid the spread of germs, having an extra bag to keep your mask off the table is really helpful!
16. Camera and Accessories
Finally, you’ll want to consider bringing along a camera and whatever various accessories that you might want to have on hand. You can always take pictures and videos on your smart phone, but you may be surprised how quickly your storage will fill up with all of the memories you’ll want to capture each day. Since you’ll also likely be using your phone to check your plans on the My Disney Experience app, your battery will also run down much faster than it normally does. We highly recommend bringing along a small, lightweight camera in your bag to use along with your phone camera so you’ll have a better chance at having enough battery life and storage to capture every awesome memory without needing to take time to delete photos or scramble to find a charging station. Accessories you might consider bringing along include extra batteries (make sure you get the right kind for your camera), extra memory cards, a silicone case (hard concrete and cameras aren’t a good combo!), and a tripod. Keep in mind that while most small, handheld tripods are ok to bring along, Selfie Sticks are not allowed in the park, so be sure to leave those behind.
Extras to Consider Bringing Along:
The following list are items that we don’t necessarily consider our top must-have essentials, but they are things that are often a good idea to pack in your Disney park bag depending on your plans for the day, the weather, etc.:
- Facial Tissues / Napkins
- Reusable Straws (plastic straws at Walt Disney World are no more, so if you don’t like paper straws you’ll want to bring along your own reusable ones)
- Cooling Towel
- Snacks
- Anti-Perspirant
- Lip Balm
- Hat / Visor (this is especially helpful for Animal Kingdom which doesn’t have as many shaded areas)
- Socks (wet socks are the worst)
- Jacket / Coat (for cooler days during winter months)
- Water Bottle Strap (this is great if you have a larger, metal bottle that you won’t want to carry around all day)
- Lanyard (this is great to have if you’re using a plastic ticket card instead of a Magic Band)
- Carabiner Clip (for attaching items or ears to bags, strollers, etc.)
- Phone Clip Case or Strap (I can’t even count how many times I dropped my phone in the parks)
- Water Resistant Phone Case (great for those water rides)
- Plastic Sacks (for putting wet items in, like a wet jacket after the rain)
- Reusable Shopping Bags (the plastic bags from the gift shops can sometimes transfer colored dye onto your hands)
- Change for Coin-Press Machines (if you like to collect pressed pennies, you’ll need pennies and quarters)
- Stroller Identifier (so many strollers look alike and they often end up side-by-side in corrals, so you’ve want something like a ribbon to help identify which one is yours)
What do you like to take along in your Disney park bag whenever you visit Walt Disney World? Are any of these items on your must-have list? Tell us in the comments below!
While you’re here, check out some of these related articles to help you get the most out of your Walt Disney World vacation with the recent reopening changes:
As always, we encourage you to visit Disney’s website for all official information and to make sure that none of this information has changed since this article was written. Disney frequently makes changes and updates to their parks and offerings. Because of this, the information in this post was current at the time of publishing and is subject to change at any moment. We update our website and articles as often as we can, but it is always a good idea to double check Disney’s official website before planning your trip or visiting the Walt Disney World Resort.
Last Updated October 31, 2020