Don’t Forget To Buy These 9 Things Before You Visit Disney World
UPDATE: Masks are now required at Disney World. My favorite masks for a Disney vacation can be found here.
Let’s be honest, a Disney World vacation is expensive! We know that most families save over time so that they can take their family on vacation to visit Mickey Mouse. We’ve loved our trips to Disney and have enjoyed each of the four parks, however, we realized there were lots of ways to save money on a Disney vacation and one of them was by preparing ahead of time and buying a handful of things before our visit. We hope you’ll find this Disney World packing list helpful! Scroll to the end of the post to see how you can get Discounted Disney Tickets.
Being at Disney is like being in a whole other world. This also means that it can be expensive to purchase items within the parks that you could have purchased before you arrived. Don’t worry, we have a list of things you’re going to want to purchase ahead of time.
Read More: How To Plan a Disney World Vacation in 2021
Visit our Amazon Storefront for all of our favorite items in one place.
1. The Ears
Let’s talk about Disney Ears. You may think you don’t want any but then you’ll get to the park and the Disney fever will overtake you which is why it this item made it on our Disney World packing list. You can easily order incredible ears online and then you won’t be tempted to pay double for them in the parks. Here are a couple of our favorites (click the picture for pricing info)!
2. Pins for Trading
Pin trading is so much fun for kids and adults. If you don’t know what it is then let me tell you about it. You can purchase Disney pins and trade them with any cast member that has pins to trade. It’s so much fun. My girls scored some great pins during our last visit. In fact, while staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, we visited the front desk because we locked ourselves out of our room (to make matters worst we were in our pajamas!) the cast member helping us gave my girls Beauty and the Beast pins. This is my all-time favorite Disney movies so I was thrilled. It’s really fun to watch your kids discuss the pins they’re going to trade.
Do you want to know how to save money on this fun activity? Buy your pins in advance! I purchased a set of pins off eBay for 1/2 the cost of what ONE pin would be in the park. The good thing about doing it this way is that your kids will end up with a ton of pins they don’t want, so they can trade those when they get to the Disney parks (we also got some international pins which was pretty cool).
It’s important to remember that you have to purchase official Disney pins. The cast member won’t trade them if they are fake pins. The best way to know if you’re buying from someone selling the correct pins is to read their reviews. I also bought cheap lanyards off of Amazon which included a cardholder so I could fill out my contact information in case one of my children got lost. WIN WIN WIN!
3. Snacks & More Snacks
Food, it’s where I spend the most money. I work really hard to plan ahead but I know that when the situation confronts me, I’ll lean towards whatever is easiest as far as food is concerned. The first time we visited Disney I did not pack snacks. Which resulted in me spending way too much money on food in the parks. The second time we visited I was prepared and saved a ton of money!
We packed snacks and we kept them in our room. Each day we would pack enough in our backpacks to get through our time in the park. We also ate breakfast in our hotel room (oatmeal, cereal, breakfast bars). You can bring food into the parks so pack a lunch! We tried to eat out only once a day. Sometimes this would consist of quick-service food (which is still expensive).
If you’re flying then take an Uber or Lyft to a Target or Walmart to buy your food, drinks, and alcohol. The cost of the ride will be worth it! You can purchase a meal plan when buying your Disney park tickets and this too can help out with the expense of buying spontaneous snacks and meals in the park. Make snacks a priority on your Disney World packing list.
4. Reusable Water Bottles
You can request FREE water in the parks. We would stop and fill up our reusable bottles and this helped us avoid overpaying for bottled waters and soda. Florida is hot so you’re going to want to drink as much water as possible.
TIP: Buy a bottle that you can clip to a backpack that you carry into the park.
5. Autograph Books
Watching your kids gather autographs from some of their favorite characters is one of my favorite things to do at Disney World. I’ve always purchased our kid’s books off of Amazon. They are cute and inexpensive!
6. Portable Chargers
I took over 600 photos during our last Disney vacation! Seriously, you’re going to want photo proof of this experience. Days spent in the parks can be long and your battery life will not last longer than your kids desire to explore every inch of Magic Kingdom, trust me on this. Come prepared with a portable battery charger! Here is a link to my favorite one, I can charge my phone multiple times with this charger.
7. Disney Gift Cards
You can buy Disney Gift Cards before your trip and use those to save money. For a complete breakdown of how to do this visit here. One of the ways you can do this is to purchase a Disney Gift Card at target and use your RedCard to make the purchase. You’ll instantly save 5% on the gift card!
8. Disney Toys
I like traveling with my family and because of this, we’re always looking for ways we can cut down on our spending. One of the ways we do this is to avoid buying overpriced toys everywhere we go. My kids end up playing with them for a short period of time and then later my kids can be found in my kitchen gluing paper plates together (much cheaper). The point is, I’d rather create memories than buy things.
With this being said, once you get to Disney it’s going to be almost impossible to avoid the never-ending begging that will come from your little humans who want to walk around the parks with a NEW toy. Don’t worry, we have a solution. Order some fun Disney Toys online, like the bubble makers and other popular toys. You can get them way cheaper online at places like Amazon. Surprise the kids with them once you get to Disney. They’ll experience the same joy at half the cost! Here are a few toys you can get from Amazon that my kids LOVED!
9. Walking Shoes
I seriously cannot stress this enough, good walking shoes are KEY! You’re going to be spending a ton of time walking through all of the parks and you don’t want to cut your day short because your feet were hurting.
If you’re buying new shoes for anyone in the family, be sure that they break them in prior to your vacation. I would never suggest that you wear brand new shoes into the parks.
I’d recommend tennis shoes or sandals that have a back strap.
All of the items mentioned here can be found at my Amazon Storefront for easy shopping!
Discount Disney World Tickets
For my last two trips to Disney World, I’ve purchased my park tickets and reserved my resort stay through Get Away Today. Their customer service was top notch and they had the best price on Disney tickets! They reached out after my ticket purchase to see if I needed any assistance with booking the Magical Express, Fast Passes, or any dining experiences. I now recommend them to EVERYONE! Get Away Today will continue to look for discounts even after you’ve booked your trip and they will credit your account if they find additional savings which we LOVE!
Visit here to see their current deals on Disney World Tickets.
Check out our other Disney posts:
- How To Plan a Disney World Vacation
- 8 Things To Know Before Your First Trip to Disney World
- The One Things You Should Know About Toy Story Land
- Adults Makeovers at Walt Disney World
- If You’ve Got One Chance To Visit Disney World Here’s Your Must-Do List
- Things You Won’t Want to Miss at Animal Kingdom in Disney World
- Amazon Prime One-Day Delivery Now Available at Disney World
Last update on 2022-05-22 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
