We are similar. I prefer to travel light and on the rare occasion that I have to buy an $85 outfit, I do. Much better than packing up what amounts to an overnight bag and then never needing any of it. People so often say travel with kids is hard. It doesn’t have to be—you just have to keep it simple.I take exactly ONE bag into the parks at this point and had the same style bag when the kids were those ages (they are 12 and 14 now). We go to Disneyland every week and WDW every two years. Its basically a purse...crossbody Overland brand Donner bag. This is what is in my bag, it hasn't changed in over 10 years:
Water in an insulated bottle (Camelbak Podium Big Chill-easy for everyone to drink out of, easy to fill at soda fountains with ice and water, doesn't sweat, lightweight)
Wet Ones Travel pack of wipes--absolutely ESSENTIAL with kids of all ages (I used 4 packs over our 10 day trip last week)
Kids and adults OTC pain meds (3 of us are prone to headaches) - I keep chewables in a tiny pill pouch for the kids and prescription migraine meds for myself.
Sunscreen Stick-less messy to apply vs liquid
That's it. The other stuff is my personal stuff: chapstick, gum, wallet, compact hairbrush, phone charger
We all wear hats and sunglasses, and at WDW specifically, we bring ponchos every day and one person carries them all along with 2 lightweight travel umbrellas in a drawstring sling style bag. We used the HECK out of the ponchos during our recent trip.
I never bring in snacks, change of clothes, etc. We buy snacks when we are hungry. One time we did have to buy an entire outfit on the fly due to my son throwing up all over himself and having a urine accident simultaneously. That was expensive, but the Disney gift shops sell EVERYTHING including socks and underwear, so it worked out (was an $85 outlay of money, though). He was 3 at the time.
We are similar. I prefer to travel light and on the rare occasion that I have to buy an $85 outfit, I do. Much better than packing up what amounts to an overnight bag and then never needing any of it. People so often say travel with kids is hard. It doesn’t have to be—you just have to keep it simple.
Same here. And you had lots of fun. Makes the kids a pleasure (mostly), rather than work.Yeah, I never did the packmule thing. When the kids were in diapers, I would bring exactly two and a small pack of wipes. If I needed more, I would buy them at the baby care centers (which happened exactly once...kid had a blowout and I used ALL the wipes on one change). If it didn't fit in my one bag, it didn't come with us.
They'll get plenty of pool time, but both kids hate having wet hair, since we can't go in and dry after they're finished, we'll probably avoid that. You can't get them out of the pool, but my god, they hate wet hair after the fact. We are taking a stroller.
Yeah, I never did the packmule thing. When the kids were in diapers, I would bring exactly two and a small pack of wipes. If I needed more, I would buy them at the baby care centers (which happened exactly once...kid had a blowout and I used ALL the wipes on one change). If it didn't fit in my one bag, it didn't come with us.
My initial thought for an August trip is ponchos. Especially after reading this. Yes, you can buy ponchos. But you can get completely drenched just in the time it takes to walk from the exit of the attraction you entered before it was raining to walk to the nearest shop. Plus, the shop might have a line 20 people deep. If you can even get in, due to all the people who flock to any covered location when the skies open up.
I started taking my son when he was just shy of 3 and I was a single mom so was not going to be a pack horse too. I carried a little baggy with his snack choice of the moment and a small travel pack of hand wipes and that was it. If he got too dirty for words, we just went back to the room and changed and we used Disney transportation to do it, either buses or the monorail. He hated strollers so we didn't take one. If toward the end of the day he got too tired but not too tired we needed to go back to the room, I'd rent a Disney stroller. If it rained, we bought a poncho or if it was raining when we left, we would carry one. If he wanted/needed water we stopped and got it. It really was just easier for both of us if I wasn't carrying everything. We went slow and did things on his time schedule, if he got tired we would stop and just sit on a bench. I didn't take anything to keep him occupied in lines, he was a curious kid so we actually talked to each other.
I always pack a couple of lids (from deli containers, etc...) that I cut a small X in the middle of. Slide these on the sticks of Mickey bars and popsicles to catch the drippings...it saves lots of sticky hands and stained clothes.
Whoa - that's genius. I bet I could ask for some when we eat and before such treats.
My twins gave up the strollers by three. They were happy to walk—preferred it. Since we didn’t do commando park days, they could handle the mileage. Bonus was they were tired from a busy day and slept well at night.This sounds like how we roll and gives me hope we can do this the way we were thinking. Mine will be just shy of 3 too. So, no stroller at that age? I'd almost try it given that I spend more time begging him to ride at places like the zoo than the time he spends in it.
Thissnacks (go-go squeez, goldfish, dry cereal...)
Hoping that being in the room in the late afternoon will keep us away from the majority of that. The kids really do poorly when they're wet. They're wearing weather proof shoes for sure. The little girl loves to wear heels, but those aren't even coming with us. I kinda wanted her to have them for some nice meals, but decided her sandals and jelly shoes would be just fine...I know a battle coming and wasn't going to war over heels in the theme parks at night.
Whoa - that's genius. I bet I could ask for some when we eat and before such treats.
ALL of the rain on our trip happened after 7pm. And it was serious rain most days. We were on the Speedway when about halfway through, the skies absolutely opened up and dumped a biblical amount of rain on us. I frantically put my son's poncho on WHILE HE WAS DRIVING and he was the only one of us that didn't look like he jumped in a pool when we got off the ride 5 minutes later. It was insane. I have never been that wet from rain in my life. Everything down to our underwear was dripping wet when we got back to the resort. It took 8 towels to just wring the majority of the water out of the clothes so I could hang them up without dripping all over the place. Luckily the kids had on Crocs and I was wearing mesh Skechers Go shoes. My poor husband wore his running shoes. They took 4 days to dry fully. That happened on our first park day. After that, the second it even LOOKED like it might rain, the ponchos came out.
One of my kids HATES being wet while wearing clothes, due to sensory issues from autism. That experience on the Speedway seemed to have cured him of that fear, though. He was laughing the whole time. Shocked the heck out of us....We were expecting a full blown meltdown.