What to take with you in the parks? Bag, Fanny Pack, Water Bottles, etc?

We figured we are going to do a small backpack for my husband and a nerdy fanny pack for me.
 
I bring a small backpack, containing my Camelback, antibacterial wipes, small bottle of hand sanitizer, poncho, granola bars for snacks, and lens wipes for my glasses and clip on sunglasses. I carry car keys, wallet, and cell phone on me, and the DSLR camera goes around my neck.

For our next trip, i'm going to a Camelback that has external pockets to put all of that stuff in there. It will be a little lighter.
 
Instead of bringing water bottles, try some collapsible cups. They take up less space and you can fill them at a water fountain, or a sink, easily. Also, I pack some liquid water flavor enhancers since I don't like plain water. I can fit both items in a cargo pocket, if I don't want to bring a bag into the parks.
 
My sunglasses, My phone, My magic band (on my wrist of course), ID, and a Credit Card.

That's it. I don't want to carry anything else.
 
If you can swing NOT having a bag, do it. Going through the "no bag" line can save 20-30 minutes on a busy day. They have meds and bandaids at the First Aid stations. My kids are still little, so no bag wasn't going to happen, but with an 8 yr old and a zipper pocket for my phone I might try it.
 
If you are going to go no bag, pack a few zip lock baggies in your pockets. You can put things in them when you go on water rides.
 
I look at the weather reports, if no rain or a light chance I take a cross body purse. If rain is likely I will wear my backpack with poncho packed in ziplock.
 
Smallish cross body bag. Have sunscreen, Ziploc bag for phones on water rides, ID, and whatever map I've picked up that day goes in there. It's nothing fancy, but has held up amazingly over the last 10 years or so of cruises, DW trips, and beach time. I truly wish I was in a place where I didn't have to take anything in with be, but until DW installs sunscreen dispensers I'm outta luck. LOL.:tongue::tongue::sunny::sunny:
 
I definitely bring a bag. Sometimes it's been a small backpack. This next trip, I'm bringing a lightweight purse.

What do I carry in the bag?
  • travel sized container of sunscreen
  • travel sized pack of tissues
  • 1 or 2 band-aids
  • wallet
  • park tickets - we go to Disneyland since it's much closer than flying to WDW and we can drive to Anaheim (6.5 drive). Therefore, no magic bands.
  • hand sanitizer
  • fan - got this suggestion on Disboards! Not a battery powered fan, but the regular human-powered kind that folds out.
  • water bottle
  • travel pack of ibuprofen and/or tylenol
  • cell phone, charger cord, & battery pack to charge the cell phone with
  • a few snacks - like granola bars, goldfish crackers
  • small Froggs Toggs cooling pad
  • sarong - super lightweight, rolls up really small, and can double as a blanket for everyone to sit on while waiting for a parade
  • park map
  • print out of our RideMax itinerary for the day
I've only had to stash my bag on Star Tours and Soarin'. For stuff like BTMRR or Space Mountain, it fits in the ride vehicle at my feet and doesn't fall out. For Grizzly River Run, I stash it in the free lockers that they have available right next to the ride entrance.
 
buy Klean Kanteen flasks, filled with ice then top up with water they keep my water ice cold for 8 hours in wdw, expensive but best things ever made
 
We don't like the ice from the ice makers in the resorts-yuck!- have seen lots of kids hands in there, so don't really want to fill up our water bottles with that to drink....So if its super hot, we take a backpack with our mostly-frozen water bottles in a backpack. We order a case and have it delivered. But that backpack is heavy- if its not a brutally hot day we get water at QS and use a fanny pack. Those aren't hot to wear- a backpack can make you hotter, imo.
 
I had a med size purse where I kept my phone, medication (including contacts), and money. In a simple draw string back pack, we kept water, snacks, camera, tissues, bandaids, baby wipes, and external chargers. The kids kept money pouches with Disney gift cards so they could buy what they wanted.
 
We always take two backpacks (DH & myself), and DD (14) takes her cross body purse (for autograph book, etc); unless we're dressed up and only heading to a park for dinner or a show. We've tried taking less, but we're just too needy for our stuff. And especially lots of water.

I wear a regular backpack with basic small first aid type things, ponchos, flip flops (helps SO much in the rain bc we normally wear sneakers), lotion, lip balm, our phones, mini deodorants/body spray.

DH wears an insulated soft "cooler" backpack with as many mini bottles of water we can fit, and energy packets for the water. We'll start out with baggies of ice in it. When the ice melts, we throw the baggies away. The water stays cold for the entire day! We ALL drink like fish! Taking refill water canteens, or even bottles that get hot just don't work for us. And it's a hassle to get cups of ice water from crazy busy CS places...We want fresh, cold water constantly. And $ adds quickly if we don't accept our need for it and plan accordingly. We found the cooler backpack at our local Walgreens one year, but they're fairly common to find at many places.

We never have any problems on the rides, even thrill ones like the rock coaster. We just sit the backpacks at our feet and slip our legs into the straps.
 
I always carried a gallon sized ziploc and then before the water rides at Disney/California adventure collected my entire families electronics and kept in the backpack. Sometimes our backpacks would get drenched so this was a great item to have!
 
I'm bringing a Vera Bradley mini hipster for myself. It'll hold my sunglasses, phone, lip balm, ID, and small travel bottles of asprin. I'll also have a Le Sportsac crossbody bag to use as DD's diaper bag. It'll be able to fit 2-3 pull ups, a couple small things of wipes, her sunlgasses, bib and small spray bottle of water to mist her off if she gets hot. Oh and a small board book for distraction at meals.
I carried a large Vera Bradley purse on the stroller last year, and while it fit everything, it was cumbersome to take off the stroller each time we went on a ride. I decided this year to scale down and see if it works.
I know my inlaws carry those vinyl draw string bags over their shoulders, but I'm not sure how comfortable they are.

I love using my mini hipster in the park. Its the perfect size to hold everything you need on you at any given time and super light weight. I never feel like it is getting in my way. I then keep everything else for the kids in a small backpack in the stroller
 
I always bring a drawstring backpack. in it I have a portable charger, sunglasses, my real glasses, flip-flops, and my wallet. I make sure to leave room if I buy anything in the parks. plus it fits on almost every ride I've been on.
 

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