What to Pack for Kids at Disney World: What’s Inside My Disney Park Bag

We were about to head to Disney World, and the first thing I had to think about was packing for, well, a bajillion kids. If you’re like me, Disney is a big-deal trip. I want everything we’ll need and want with us, so we’re not running to the store and losing time we could spend having fun. Here’s what went into our park backpack, our suitcases, our pool bag and our food bin for five days with our family of six.

What you’ll get from this post

  • Everything inside our Disney park bag, and why each thing earns its spot
  • How I packed clothes for each person, day by day
  • Our toiletry and medicine list
  • How packing cubes make a family trip so much easier
  • The food we brought into the park and the car to save money
  • Two big tips for a calmer, cheaper Disney trip

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Chapters

  • 0:00 Getting ready for Disney World
  • 1:05 What’s in our park bag
  • 3:28 Mickey ears
  • 3:49 Toiletries and medicine
  • 6:12 My clothes, day by day
  • 8:38 The kids’ clothes
  • 13:55 Packing cubes and our bags
  • 15:39 Food we’re bringing
  • 17:39 Tips for your Disney trip

Our trip plan

We stayed at an Airbnb for five days. It was part of a resort-style condo community with a big pool and water slide, and the house had its own little pool out back. Day one was the drive down, day two was Magic Kingdom, day three was a rest day at the resort, day four was Animal Kingdom, and day five was the drive home. That plan shaped everything I packed.

What’s inside our Disney park bag

This is the bag that goes into the park with us each day.

  • Masks for the adults and the kids, with lots of extras in case they get wet. (We filmed this in early 2022.)
  • Hand sanitizer. Honestly, Disney has hand sanitizer stations about every five feet, so they’ve got you covered, but we bring our own too.
  • Ponchos. If you haven’t been to Disney yet, or it somehow didn’t rain on you when you went, this is the one thing I’d tell you not to skip. In Florida you’ll usually get a random shower. It won’t last all day, but being soaked can be a bummer for the rest of your day. We got a bunch of kid and toddler size ponchos plus one-size-fits-most for us.
  • A poncho for the stroller. When you park your stroller outside a ride and it rains while you’re on it, everything gets wet. Throwing a poncho over the stroller saves the day.
  • Light-up wands. You’ve probably seen these sold at every theme park, and they’re very expensive for what they are. Bud bought a big pack of fiber optic wands online so we could surprise the kids instead of overpaying for a trinket.
  • Light-up rings for day two. These rings come out in the evening when it gets dark. You can also find little trinkets like this at Walmart and Dollar Tree.
  • Lanyards with card holders for our park passes, so we can hang them around our necks for quick access at the ride lanes.
  • Headache medicine. I’d hate to get a headache and be stuck with nothing.
  • A small first aid kit with band-aids.
  • My aligners case, so I can take them out while I eat.
  • Ginger chews. I tend to get very nauseous after a spinny ride, so I’m trying these out.

Mickey ears (finally!)

I’d never actually gotten us Mickey ears before, but my two-year-old is so obsessed with Mickey that this time we had to do it. I got a two-pack of black Mickey ears for him and my five-year-old, my daughter picked out her own, and yes, I had to get my glitter ears too. They’re so cute.

Toiletries and medicine

Here’s my toiletry list:

  • Makeup, hair brush and lots of extra hair ties in case one breaks
  • Toothbrush, flossers and toothpaste
  • Shampoo, conditioner, body wash and perfume, all in a zip bag in case they leak (we drove, but it still makes sense)
  • Q-tips, a travel razor, nail clippers and scissors
  • Makeup remover towelettes, face lotion, ChapStick and deodorant
  • My hair dryer and straightener
  • My daily vitamins, allergy pill, allergy nasal spray, probiotics and extra vitamin D. Eating out all week isn’t the greatest on your stomach, so probiotics are a big one for me.

For the kids, I packed their toothpaste and travel toothbrushes in a small bag that fits inside mine, plus kids’ medicine just in case, melatonin, their gummy vitamins and a thermometer.

How I packed clothes, day by day

I pack each person’s outfits by day, so nobody is digging for something to wear.

Me: a short-sleeve shirt and shorts for Magic Kingdom, plus a fleece jacket in the stroller because it was supposed to get cool at night. For Animal Kingdom, where it was going to be in the 80s, a sporty top and shorts with a zipper pocket so nothing falls out on crazy rides. A comfy t-shirt for the drive home, a dressier cami and leggings in case we went out to eat on our resort day, jammies, two swimsuits and a cover-up, plenty of socks, my Nikes for walking all day, and flip-flops. I also brought my Bible study book and notebook so I could keep doing my devotional in the mornings.

The kids: each one got a park outfit for Magic Kingdom, a casual resort outfit, an Animal Kingdom outfit and a comfy drive-home outfit. For Magic Kingdom, all four wore shirts from a Christian t-shirt store called Beacon Threads. The boys had black shirts with white text and my daughter had a red one that says “loved.” Each kid also got:

  • A sweatshirt or light jacket to keep in the stroller for cool evenings. They might run around and never use it, but better to have it and not need it.
  • Jammies
  • Two bathing suits, so if one is still wet the next day, they can put on the other
  • Socks and underwear
  • Tennis shoes for the park days and flip-flops for the resort

For my two-year-old, I added long pants for the drive home and, of course, all the pull-ups (Mickey Mouse ones, yay) and wipes.

Packing cubes are a game saver

If you haven’t used packing cubes before, they’re amazing. Everybody’s stuff stays in one place instead of getting unfolded and messy while you travel. Instead of packing everybody’s clothes into my bag and carrying piles to each room, I hand each kid their cube and say, “Here you go, take this to your room.” We use small packing cubes and a set of medium and large cubes.

When I load the suitcase, the shoes we’re not wearing in the car go in first, then I layer the cubes on top.

Pack a pool bag separately

Our resort said we could use the pool even before check-in. Since we were getting there early in the afternoon, I packed a separate pool bag with everyone’s bathing suits and puddle jumpers for the two-year-old. That way we could change and swim right away without digging through every suitcase.

The food we brought

Disney allows you to bring food and drinks into the park, so if you want to save money, take advantage of it. Here’s what we packed:

  • For the drive and the park: Lunchables, hot dogs and buns, and peanut butter and jelly supplies. My little boys will eat PB&J, so we bring sandwiches in a sandwich container.
  • Lunch sides: fruit cups, applesauce pouches, Kool-Aid Jammers and Pringles, which are the easiest chip to pack without getting crushed.
  • Breakfast: blueberry and pumpkin muffins we baked the day before, coffee-flavored Clif bars for some protein, a gallon of milk and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
  • Snacks: Swiss cake rolls and the mint cookies from Walmart that taste just like Girl Scout Thin Mints, I kid you not. Each kid also gets a baggie of goldfish for the car.
  • Extras: paper plates and a gallon bag stuffed with smaller storage baggies. They take up virtually no space, and you never know when you’ll need one.

Our two biggest Disney tips

1. You don’t have to do every park. If this isn’t your one and only Disney trip, don’t try to fit all four parks in. That takes a much bigger budget. We’ve done two parks each trip. This time we put a rest day between our two park days. Park days are busy and exhausting, the kids go to bed later and wake up earlier, and a day to recover made it feel much more like a vacation.

2. Look at Airbnb or VRBO instead of Disney hotels. You can save a ton, and many Orlando rentals have Disney-themed rooms if you still want that magical stay. A lot of them are condos in resort communities with their own pools. We also shared our house with a family friend, which saved even more.

Key takeaways

  • Ponchos are a must, for people and for covering the stroller.
  • Buy light-up wands and rings ahead of time instead of paying park prices.
  • Pack each kid’s outfits by day, with a sweatshirt in the stroller for cool nights.
  • Packing cubes make it easy to hand each kid their own clothes.
  • Disney lets you bring food in, which is a big money saver.
  • Fewer parks plus a rest day in between makes the trip more fun.

What viewers say

I’m a mama of 4 little kids (8 down to 1-1/2). It’s so nice to see your packing video be so realistic, full of practical suggestions. I relate to you in so many ways.

@candacev.3802 on YouTube

I love your idea to pack sweatshirts and change of shoes in the stroller! Who wants to west waterlogged sneakers 😳? Even some of the indoor attractions/shows/restaurants can get cold, too! I may pack Dramamine for the rides you mentioned and also for the Skyliner and heartburn medicine, just in case, lol. It’s so smart that you’re packing a thermometer and pain reliever medicine. Where did you find your shorts with the zipper pockets? Love that idea!

@rnguyen2516 on YouTube

Things we mentioned

Planning a Disney trip with your crew? Come hang out with us on YouTube. Subscribe to The Johnson Crew on YouTube.

FAQ

Can you bring food into Disney World?

Yes. Disney allows you to bring food and drinks into the park. We bring PB&J sandwiches, fruit cups, applesauce pouches, chips and snacks to save money.

What should I put in my Disney park bag with kids?

Ponchos, hand sanitizer, a small first aid kit, headache medicine, lanyards for park passes, and something fun like light-up wands for the evening.

How many parks should we do with young kids?

On our trips we’ve done two parks, with a rest day in between this time. Trying to do all four parks in one trip takes a much bigger budget and wears everyone out.

Is an Airbnb cheaper than a Disney hotel?

It was for us. Many Orlando rentals are in resort communities with pools, some have Disney-themed rooms, and we split ours with a family friend to save even more.

More from our crew

Full transcript

Hi friends welcome back to my channel we are so pumped because we are about to head to disney world wow I'm so excited okay so first thing we have to think about is what to pack and packing for like a bajillion kids so if you're like me going to disney world is a big deal trip and we want to be sure that we have all the things that we're going to need all the things we're going to want and try to cut down on having to run to the store

And grab this and that because that just takes time away from the fun vacation so I'm going to show you what we're packing for our trip and then I'm also going to show you what we're packing inside of our park backpack what we're going to bring into disney world so that you can see what's helpful to bring with you hopefully I've compiled all of the things that you will absolutely need and want for a trip to disney world we're also staying at an airbnb for five days that has a pool

So we're bringing all the things for that as well so stay tuned here all the things that are gonna go in our backpack we've got masks for the adults masks for the kids lots of extras in case they get wet or something and then hand sanitizer even though disney has hand sanitizer stations like every five feet it seems like so honestly they've got you covered there and then ponchos if you haven't been to disney yet or it miraculously did not rain on you when you went this is like a must-have

And will save your day because you know in florida it rains like you'll usually get a shower randomly not that it'll last all day but you'll get one and if you're soaked that can kind of be a bummer for the rest of your day so these are great these are child toddler size we got a bunch for the two days that were at the park and then one size fits most and we also use these over top of our stroller so you know you park your stroller outside of a ride

And if it rains while you're on the ride your all your stuff gets wet so that's a bummer so I love being able to cover up our stroller with a poncho so we got a bunch of these to bring okay my husband grabbed these he's the best these are the little wands that light up at the ends that you've probably seen sold at like every theme park and they're very expensive for what they really are so my husband went on amazon and bought a huge pack of them

And we're gonna surprise our kids with them while we're there instead of having to overpay for a little trinket for them and then on our second park day he got these little light up rings whoa crazy super fun rings for them to have on day two so we'll pull these things out into the evening when it's getting dark you can also find little trinkets at like walmart and dollar tree my husband also bought these off of amazon these will be going in our park bag as

Well they're little lanyards with a little card holder so we can stick all of our disney passes in here and hang them around our necks for easy access into the fastpass lanes or whatever they're calling them now and I'll for sure have headache medicine in our park bag hate to get a headache and be stuck with no medicine so gotta have that on hand just in case I've never actually gotten us mickey ears before but since my two-year-old is so obsessed with mickey it's like oh we gotta do it this this time

So I got him and my five-year-old these mickey mouse ears from amazon and for my daughter she picked this one out also off of amazon and I'll link all these below and then for me yeah I had to do it I had to go into they're so cute also from amazon love them so I'll take my makeup and this bag and then of course hair brush and lots of extra hair ties just in case one breaks toothbrush toothpicks I mean flossers toothpaste my aligners case

So I'll actually put this in the backpack to go into disney world so I can take them out while I eat and then conditioner shampoo body wash and perfume we're not flying but it actually makes great sense to put all of these things into a baggie just in case they leak so I'm sticking with the baggie for this q-tips travel razor you never know when you're going to need fair nail clippers or scissors so I just like to be prepared you know medicine for the kids just in case we need something we've got it on hand these are all my pills in this fancy bag not pills

But I've got my daily vitamins uh daily allergy pill probiotics which goodness eating out all week you know is not the greatest on your stomach so probiotics are super important and extra vitamin d supplements in there as well um this is my allergy nasal spray that you can use daily which is a huge lifesaver for me deodorant of course a first aid kit really small one that we can put in the disney park bag band-aids and things just in case um makeup remover towelettes and face lotion

And chapstick all of this will go into my toiletry bag here I'll also be bringing my hair dryer and my straightener and for the kids I've got their toothpaste and travel toothbrushes and they will all go in this bag which should fit into my toiletry bag also for the kids we'll be bringing some melatonin and their gummy vitamins and a thermometer just in case we need to check anybody so for day two of our trip we're gonna be going to magic kingdom so this is the outfit I'm gonna wear there it's a short sleeve shirt with shorts

And then I've also got a fleece jacket to bring in the stroller because it is supposed to get cool at night and then I have my outfit for day three which is just us going to be hanging out at the resort and day four is our day at animal kingdom so I've got my unicorn that's my daughter's favorite it's going to be hotter that day in the 80s so this should be great I'm gonna bring a sports bra to wear with this just in case you get sweaty you know

And with some sporty shorts I have lots of nice pockets including these are great because they actually have a zipper pocket so you can really be sure on crazy rides that your stuff's not going to fall out love that day five is just our day to drive home so comfortable t-shirt to wear in the car with the shorts that I'm wearing on the way down and then I've also got this um that's a cami kind of dressier shirt in case we decide to go out to eat on our day at the resort can dress up a little bit

And I've got leggings that I'm bringing as well that I can wear with this and then I've got my jammies comfy pants comfy shirt and then the airbnb that we're staying at is part of a resort that has a pool with a slide and then our airbnb itself has its own little private pool in the back so I've got my swimsuit cover up and two swimsuits with shorty bottoms and then shoes well plenty of socks and my nikes to walk around the park all day long

And then flip-flops I might actually put these in the stroller as well just in case we ride something that we're going to get wet on I can go ahead and just put these on but these are definitely going to be for our day at the resort this is the devotional I'm currently doing it's about the book of john from the daily grace code so I'm going to bring my bible study book and notebook to write notes in with me as well and still do that in the mornings all right for my oldest son my nine-year-old titus we've got his second day outfit here for magic kingdom um actually got the kids not matching shirts

But all shirts from this one christian t store called beacon threads um so his I'll just open up and show you I love this verse and so all three boys have a black shirt with white text on it and then my daughter has a red shirt from them so they'll all wear these to magic kingdom so we've got that shirt with some athletic shorts that's pretty much all my child will wear day three is just hanging out at the resort so just a casual t-shirt

And some athletic shorts imagine that and then day four is animal kingdom so we've got another t-shirt and shorts and then day five is our drive home so he's got another t-shirt and athletic shorts super comfy for the drive home and then we're all gonna have a sweater in the stroller because it's gonna get a little cool at night I don't know if they'll even use it they might be running around and not need it at all but but better to have a knot knee then you do not have

And then jammies he's got his minecraft jammies so cute and two bathing suits just in case one's wet the next day still you can go ahead and put on the other one and then socks and of course underwear and then tennis shoes for the park days and flip-flops for being at the resort and now for my daughter's clothes she is seven years old this is her t-shirt from beacon threads that I was telling you about the red one let me get it opened up for you it says loved love this one she loves it super soft

And she's gonna wear these jean shorts day three is at the airbnb so just casual outfit day four she'll wear this to animal kingdom with her little athletic shorts and then day five is our drive home so she's got a little unicorn t-shirt and she loves these pants are super comfy she sometimes sleeps in them little capris I think they're from walmart so cute and then we're gonna bring this little waffle knit long sleeve shirt for her kind of like a sweatshirt for her in case it gets chilly at disney

And then these are her jammies and then she's got two bathing suits and then socks of course tennis shoes for the park and then flip flops for everything else all right this is for my five-year-old son this will be day two at magic kingdom this is his beacon thread shirt strong courageous which he loves that and he'll wear his camo shorts with that shirt so cute together this will be for our day at the resort his minecraft shirt and some athletic shorts and then I love this shirt

And so to see from h m shine bright like a dino he loves it so he'll wear this for our day at animal kingdom with some fun shorts let's see and then for our drive home comfortable t-shirt and athletic shorts and then we're bringing him a sweatshirt and it matches his big brother for disney and then two bathing suits and socks and these are like his nicer shoes but he claims they're super duper comfortable so this is what he's gonna wear to the park he'll be super cute

And then some flip-flops as well for my two-year-old son this is his shirt that he will wear to magic kingdom with his khaki shorts gonna look so good um this is our day at the airbnb outfit t-shirt casual shorts and then for our day at animal kingdom he's got a mickey mouse shirt so cute and some shorts and then our drive home I'll wear this and then some pants just in case you need some long pants and then I've got a jacket for him a little fleece zip up jacket with a hood in case it gets chilly we'll take that into disney with us oh these jammies they are

So cute and he's obsessed with them he's got his jammies here he's got two bathing suit sets and socks and tennis shoes for the park days and flip-flops and all the pull-ups which are mickey mouse yay and wipes here's what we got going on so far the stack in the middle here are our packing cubes with my clothes and my three boys clothes if you haven't used packing cubes before they are amazing so helpful to keep everybody's stuff in one place and not get all messed up

And unfolded and unorganized while you're traveling and then instead of me packing everybody's clothes into my bag and then having to take like piles out to each of their rooms I can very easily just hand them this whole packing cube here you go you can take this to your room and then this bag has extra stuff to take on our second day in the park and then this is my daughter's luggage that has been around for many many moons she got this from her cousin who is

Now 17. her clothes are in here this is our park bag and then this is our pool bag where our airbnb is is part of a resort it's like a condo community and they have a pool and I checked in with them and they said that we can use the pool even before check-in so since we're able to get there a little bit earlier in the afternoon I went ahead and packed our pool bag we've got puddle jumpers for the two-year-old but I went ahead

And put everybody's bathing suits into this bag so that as soon as we get there we can go and change and go swim for a little bit and not have to dig through all the suitcases so I'm putting the shoes that we're not going to be wearing in the car into our bag to start and then I can layer in all the packing cubes so here's most of the food that we're going to be bringing disney does allow you to bring food into the park

And on our drive there and our drive home we're going to bring some lunch and snacks in the car we're going to be bringing lunchables and hot dogs and buns and stuff for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the park my little boys will eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and we'll just bring them in and a little sandwich tupperware like that and then also for their lunches I got fruit cups and applesauce pouches and kool-aid jammers I figured that pringles would be the easiest type of chip to pack

So it doesn't get all crushed in the car and we can shove it all in there and pack a little tighter not worry about that and then for breakfast this week we're going to be making blueberry muffins and pumpkin muffins the day before we leave and then I also really like these coffee flavored clif bars easy way to get some protein in and then snacks we love some swiss cake rolls and I really love mint cookies uh these are like a dollar at walmart and they taste just like girl scout thin mints I kid you not we're to be bringing a gallon of milk

And cinnamon toast crunch and some paper plates and then I always like to pack some plastic storage baggies you just never know when you're going to need them and they take up virtually no space in your bag so inside of the gallon size bag are two other sizes several of each just in case you never know and then for in the car they'll each get a baggie of goldfish and then I also got some ginger chews I've never tried these before but I tend to get very nauseous after a spinny ride

And so I'm looking for some solutions to that so hopefully these ginger chews can help with that so that'll definitely be going in my park bag so one major tip that I can give is that if you don't feel like you have to get all the parks in in one week like this isn't your one and only ever disney trip then then don't if you're looking at the finances of it if you try to go to all four parks and one trip yes that's a much bigger budget that you'll need for that trip

So on our trips we've just done two parks each time the thing that we're doing differently this time is we have put a rest day in between our two park days because if you have been before you know it it's a pretty busy and exhausting day and you're usually getting your kids to bed way later than you normally would and waking up earlier than you might normally wake up so to try to make it more of a vacation feel and have us not coming home just totally wiped we decided that it would be

So much more enjoyable if we had a rest day in between our two park days a day to recover and recoup and just be relaxed also if you're trying to be budget conscious check out airbnb instead of the disney hotels you'll save a ton of money and there are so many airbnbs that have themed houses or rooms in their house that are decorated just for the kids and disney themes so if you're wanting to still have this like magical stay you can find that in an airbnb or vrbo we found this awesome house we're also sharing it with another family friend of ours

So again another money saver and a lot of the airbnbs in orlando are like condos that are part of a resort community that have their own pool so the one that we got has a big pool with a big water slide and then the house itself has its own little pool in the back they call it like a splash pool I think that is heated so I hope that was helpful to see what we're packing if you have any questions please leave them in the comments below if you've been to disney before let me know what your favorite park is we still need to try out epcot over here all right I'll talk to you soon bye you

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