Here is an important question that a lot of guests ask themselves.
What should you bring with you to the Happiest Place on Earth?
That’s a good question! You don’t want to bring a lot of stuff that might get in your way as you just try to explore everything the parks have to offer. You will be walking a lot during the entire day, so it’s a good idea to take good care of your back and keep your hands empty. On the other hand, you also want to be prepared for everything, and carry a few important things that will make your visit a more enjoyable experience overall.
Just so you know, your packing list will be more or less the same for all four main Disney World theme parks. It doesn’t matter much if you are visiting Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios.
Your list might change a little bit if you are going to Animal Kingdom and also if you are visiting Disney during the winter. The list also changes a little if you are traveling with kids and toddlers: don’t worry, you can bring their favorite toys, a diaper bag, strollers (as long as it isn't a stroller wagon) and everything they need to have a great time in Disney. We will talk more about this later on.
With that said, here is what you should always bring with you to Disney World:
- Your phone (with the My Disney Experience app installed)
- Wallet (with an official ID)
- Backpack or a fanny pack
- Snacks
- Comfortable shoes
If you are visiting Disney’s Animal Kingdom and plan on going to Kali River Rapids, you might get soaked. It might be a good idea to prepare for it, huh? So, you could also bring, in that case:
- Slippers
- Poncho
- Extra shirt
It might also be a good idea to bring a poncho in case the weather looks bad and rain is coming. You can bring an umbrella, sure, but that usually occupy a lot of precious space, which might be a problem.
If you are visiting during winter, temperatures can get as low as 40 degrees, especially at night. It also gets chilly in Florida, folks. In that case, make sure to bring:
- Jacket/Coat/Anything to keep you warm
If you have toddlers in your party or people with special needs, you might need a stroller or a wheelchair. You might also want an ECV (Electric Conveyance Vehicle) to move around. You can bring your own, or you can rent them inside Disney World.
These are your options:
- Strollers
- Wheelchairs
- ECVs (Electric Conveyance Vehicles)
Let’s check your Packing List
That’s not a lot of stuff to bring with you, right? Always pack lightly so you are not carrying a lot of weight. Here we will tell you why you should bring everything listed above, from a nice, comfy backpack to your favorite snacks.
We start with the basics: bring your phone and your wallet. Yeah, two items that most people use everyday (and some people *cough* use it every minute), especially nowadays with Social Media taking over the world. The phone here is especially useful not only for browsing Instagram, but for contacting your friends and family if you get separated inside the park.
Make sure to charge your phone the night before. One extra tip: reduce the brightness of your screen so you can save your battery. You could also bring a charger with you, but that would also mean losing precious park time just to stop for a few moments to bring your phone back to life. Also make sure you have your My Disney Experience app installed. You will need it to set up your place in a Virtual Queue on the day of your visit, buy Disney Genie+, buy Individual Lightning Lanes and more.
Also, make sure to not forget your wallet. It’s always a good idea to bring a credit card, money and any form of ID. We never know what might happen out there, and any form of personal identification is crucial when going out on a trip.
Next, you are going to need a backpack or a fanny pack. Backpacks are great for families of four, since you can store anything there. Traveling with a smaller party? A fanny pack might suit you better. A backpack is extremely useful to store a jacket, snacks and any souvenirs you buy in Disney.
One excellent detail about Walt Disney World is that, unlike Universal Orlando, most rides allow you to enter while carrying your backpack, from Tower of Terror to Space Mountain and Avatar Flight of Passage. I think that only the newly released Tron Lightcycle Run at Magic Kingdom asks you to remove your backpack and store it in a locker.
Next in our list, we have… snacks! Everyone loves a good snack, and you will be feeling hungrier than usual in Disney World since you will be walking around a lot and spending all that energy. You should bring one or two packs of your favorite cookies, like oreos. Go for something that doesn’t make a mess (sorry, Doritos). If you are traveling with kids, bring some of their favorites as well.
Bringing your own snack has multiple perks. First, you won’t need to spend much more money with snacks at Disney. Yes, Mickey Mouse sells snacks, but of course that they are way more expensive than what you bought at Walmart. Second, you can always open your backpack and enjoy your favorite snack while you are stuck in a seventy minute queue for Slinky Dog Dash or Peter Pan’s Flight.
You might want to bring drinks too, especially a bottle of water. Beverages like a Coca-Cola or a Pepsi are not recommended, since they will get warm fast and they can make a mess if you open them after walking around for a while. With the water bottle you can also refill them at the drinking fountains, which is a plus.
Make sure to wear comfortable shoes. You are visiting a theme park, after all, no need to dress fancy. You want to feel good and cozy for an entire day and, more than that, you don’t want your feet to start hurting after walking for hours.
Those are all the essentials to keep in mind when visiting any Disney World theme park, no matter the Season or the weather.
Now, one of the last items to keep in mind is if you are visiting Disney during the winter. It gets chilly in Florida! We are talking about low 40s at night. Yeah, it’s a bit cold, especially when you are staying up late to watch a fireworks show or Hollywood Studios’ Fantasmic. Make sure to pack something to keep you warm, like your favorite jacket.
Water Rides
It’s funny that there aren’t many rides where you get soaked in Disney World. Not even in the now defunct Splash Mountain you got soaked, not if you compare it to some of the rides across Islands of Adventure like Ripsaw Falls.
There is only one ride in all four Disney Parks that you might get soaked: Animal Kingdom’s Kali River Rapids.
You might need a little more than the essentials if you plan on going there. This is a raft ride where guests face waterfalls and there is water being splashed all around you. You know what that means, right? Yeah, you might get soaked.
You can always bring a poncho with you so you are extra-safe from getting soaked. Ponchos are sold in Walt Disney World for around $12, but you can get one at Walmart for $3. Another good strategy is to bring a pair of slippers and change to them when you ride Kali River Rapids.
You can also just forget about the poncho, bring an extra shirt and change to it in case you get soaked. Extra tip: if you are wearing your sneakers, make sure to take off your socks. Getting your sneakers wet isn’t a major problem, but we all hate wet socks.
We hope you had fun reading about what you should bring to Walt Disney World. You can start preparing your backpack a night before your visit so everything is ready for when you wake up. Now, go get a good night's sleep!
Oh, before that, send us a message! Famvia can help you out and plan your perfect trip to Disney World. Yeah, we can set up everything from your park tickets to where you are going to stay, all while we keep in contact with you, all the time.
