A year ago this week we were excitedly heading off on a grand adventure. We took five kids, ages 7 and under, to Disney World for a week! I’m sure you’re thinking we’ve lost our marbles, but it was an amazing trip! We made some wonderful memories and can hardly wait to go back in a few years.
While planning for our trip, I put a lot of time into researching all the things we would need to make the trip successful and as relaxing as possible for the adults. I never found good lists of extras, so I have put together my own to share with my readers. Some of these were things I already had and loved, and some were items I bought specifically for our trip.
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The items we used the most on our trip were our stroller and baby carrier. Y’all. Do not attempt Disney World with small children without these items! Just don’t.
Carrier –Our favorite carriers are the Ergo Originals. We have 2, and use them both all the time (sometimes both at the same time!). They are easy to put on and take off, comfortable for kids and parents, and extremely sizable. My husband and I are nowhere near the same size, but we both use these carriers with no problems. I actually ordered a waist extender when I bought my first Ergo because I wasn’t sure of sizing. We ended up not needing it though.
Stroller– There are several ways to go about this. Many people will recommend renting a stroller, however, we did not fly, so it was not a problem at all for us to take along our own stroller. We have several little ones, so we have used a double stroller for years. We took our beloved Combi side-by-side to Disney World and were very glad we did! We had no trouble getting it in or out of anywhere, and the bright green color made it easy to spot in the seas of stroller parking. However, as I typed up this list, I discovered they no longer make that particular stroller. *insert crying* This makes me sad because I actually am needing to buy a new one now. (apparently pushing 5 kids, two which are way over the seat weight limit, on a double stroller at the same time causes them to break down. LOL Who knew?) Here is another one made by Combi that is similar to what I had. We’ve used Combi products since our second baby was born, and have never been disappointed.
The next most used items were our water bottles. It was much easier to stop and refill a water bottle than to stand in a line to get a new drink every time someone was thirsty. I scoured brick and mortar stores and the Internet looking for a good deal, but also bottles that would be mostly spill-proof with kids. I finally settled on a twin pack of Brita 20 oz. bottles with filters and was very pleased. You never know about water quality and taste when traveling, and I wanted to have them for future travels also, so the filters were a huge bonus. These were also easy for the little ones to use while being mostly spill-proof due to the soft sides needing to be gently squeezed while drinking. (Nothing extreme. Even the 16 month old had no trouble using them.)
Another favorite of mine was our back up power bank for our phones. Y’all. If you are planning any kind of trip at all, go buy one right now. I LOVED having this for our trip. There are charging stations located in the parks, but having a charger in our backpack was much more convenient! Our phones got used a ton during the day, taking pictures, checking park maps, updating FastPass+ reservations, etc., and it was SO nice to be able to put one on the charger whenever it was getting low and not once have to worry about conserving battery power or finding a charging station.
Another fun little item that ended up big helpful was Snackeez cups. Honestly, these were an afterthought. I found some on sale with cute Disney character prints, and I couldn’t turn them down. However, they ended up being very useful. Again, we drove instead of flying because that’s how we roll, so I needed something to serve snacks in on the drive. In the past I’ve used little plastic baggies for this, but individual cups made it easier for the kids to pass them to the front for refills and resulted in much less trash being dropped in the floor of the van.
These are just a few of the items we found to be extra helpful on our trip to Disney World. Some say vacations are just life away from home for moms, but I’ve found with a little planning and teamwork, even moms (and dads) can have fun on vacation.
Happy planning!
Be sure to also check out my 5 Tips for Disney with Little Ones for more ideas on having a stress-free Disney World vacation with kids!
