7 (Not so Obvious) Things to Have in Your Backpack at Disney World

On my last trip to Orlando, Florida, I spent two weeks coming in and out of theme parks. From Magic Kingdom to Universal Orlando and everything in between.

Ours was a couples trip and we’re one of those couples that plan every little detail of our vacations, which is a good thing since now, with the Fast Pass system at Disney parks, you HAVE to plan ahead to make the most of your day.

I had been to the parks a couple of times before but my boyfriend hadn’t. I knew it would be fun but I also knew it would be two grueling weeks of waking up early, going to bed late and walking thousands of steps each day (my fitness tracker is my witness).

That’s why our backpack had 7 items specifically bought for this trip which made our park days much easier.

I handpicked these items based on my past experience at Disney and Universal theme parks, in fact, I’m so confident they’ll make your park experience so much better that I’ll say this now… you’re welcome!

1- Ginger pills for motion sickness

These non-drowsy natural pills made from ginger root are a must if you suffer from motion sickness.

I’m 33 years old and for the past few years, I suffer from mild to medium motion sickness. I discovered that veteran cruise ship passengers swear by chewing on candied ginger to avoid seasickness, they even say it’s better than over the counter medication like Dramamine.

I went on Amazon and found these all-natural ginger pills made by Dramamine. I took one pill (as directed on the bottle) about half an hour before starting my day at the park (I took them while waiting in line for the parks to open).

They helped a lot! I still got somewhat nauseous after the big roller coasters, but without taking pharmaceutical chemicals I was able to enjoy my days relatively nausea-free.

If I were to add an item to my backpack for our next trip it would be a nausea relief medication for when the ginger pills don’t work as well.

2- Penetrex Pain Relief Roll-On

A month before our trip I suffered an injury to the Achilles tendon on my right foot.

I was mortified! That same injury, on my left foot, got me in crutches for a month a few years back and I knew how difficult it was to get better from it. There was no way it would heal in time for my Orlando trip.

Those of you who’ve been to any Orlando theme park know how much you walk. Now with the fast pass system at Disney parks, you might have to walk from one end of the park to the other a few times to enter the fast pass lines at your designated time.

I knew I had to do something. I packed anti-inflammatory medication (as indicated by my doctor) and I took a pill at night when my foot was resting. However, during the day the Penetrex roll-on was a lifesaver!

Whenever I felt pain in my Achilles tendon I took out my roll-on and applied some to the back of my heel. Like magic, within minutes I was able to walk pain-free again.

We ended up using the Penetrex roll-on on our necks, backs and even head when we felt a headache coming. To this day I keep one at my house and use it regularly.

3- Reusable waterproof shoe covers

Now, these were an AMAZING idea! People literally kept staring at us whenever we put these on. I overheard them whispering what a great idea it was, some even approached us to ask us where we got them.

I didn’t know these existed but I began looking for this product because a distinct memory of my childhood Disney trips is the sound of my entire family’s sneakers tumbling inside the dryer at night.

I hate the feeling of wet shoes, especially for an entire day! Sneakers will get wet when it rains or in one of the many water rides and then you’re stuck with wet feet for a whole day.

There a couple of workarounds:

• Bring extra shoes on your backpack to swap wet ones with dry ones. This will make your bag heavier and bulkier.
• Wear flip flops. When you’re walking miles every day you’re practically asking for blisters if you wear flip flops.
• Wear Crocs or other rubber/quick-drying shoes. I considered buying a pair of Crocs but I needed the heel elevation that sneakers provide because of my Achilles tendon injury.

None of the above options worked for me so after doing some research I found these plastic shoe covers on Amazon.

They worked perfectly! I give these a 5-star rating and, to give you an idea of how picky I am regarding wet shoes, I was even thinking of the trickle of water you kick up when walking on wet concrete. After a while, that water gets your shoes substantially wet.

Before entering the line of one of the water rides we put the shoe covers on and our shoes remained dry after the ride.

When it rained, we put our ponchos and shoe covers on and while everyone else was taking cover we are able to walk around the park. We did take cover if it was pouring but as soon as we could we covered ourselves up and went on rides while the rest of the guests were under whichever roof they could find.

I can’t recommend these enough! We even used them on a later trip to New York City; I love them!

4- Power bank for your phone

I got this tip from a YouTube channel (I don’t remember which one) and it ended up being a lifesaver. Why would you use a cellphone on the most magical place on earth you ask?

I encourage you to download the Disney app to keep track and manage your fast passes; there’s a park map too in the app but I found it to be slow on my phone so I used the paper map to get around the park.

Another useful feature of the app is seeing the wait times for the rides to decide how to best use your time.

After an entire day of use, your phone will almost inevitably die, and if you’re depending on your phone to request an Uber ride at the end of the day, well, you’ll be in a tough spot.

I don’t recommend any power bank in particular but I do STRONGLY recommend you pack one.

5- KT Tape for blister prevention

Is there a chance your footwear might cause you blisters? If so, plan ahead!

This option can be quite pricey but you can cut the KT tape into smaller pieces to make small “bandaids”. Speaking of bandaids, if you find good, strong, quality bandaids you could use them instead for a cheaper option.

In my case, all bandaids I tried were pretty much trash and the glue didn’t last so I splurged a little because blisters and two weeks of theme parks don’t match!

A good tip to avoid blisters is not to bring new shoes (even sneakers) either bring an old pair or buy new shoes a few weeks in advance and break them in.

6- Quality rain ponchos

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT buy ponchos inside the parks! They are overpriced and extremely flimsy.

Buy sturdy but easy to fold and carry rain ponchos. A good poncho and the plastic shoe covers will keep you dry in the rain and on the water rides.

Depending on the time of the year you visit Disney Wolrd it might rain a couple of times a day. Our last trip was in October and it rained almost every day.

They were short bursts of rain so they didn’t ruin our days but if we hadn’t had the ponchos we would have been wet all day until we got back to our hotel.

Ours were a little short (I would buy longer ones next time) but they were easy to fold once we finished using them and they got back in our bag relatively easy.

TIP: make sure to unfold them at night to keep them dry during your entire trip.

We bought these on Amazon (I didn’t realize this was a 5 count (which would be great for families). They worked great but if you’re on the taller side, I’m 5’11, they might be a bit short and your legs will get wet.

7- Waterproof travel wallet

We didn’t want to leave our passports at the hotel so we needed to take them with us to the parks. That’s why we bought two waterproof passport holders from Amazon to protect our passports from rain and the occasional soda spills.

We wanted to hold on to our passports because we don’t trust hotel safes for our travel documents and, to be honest, I wanted our passports with us in case we were stopped by the police or ICE.

We had a tourist visa to visit the US and I was nervous we wouldn’t be able to prove our legal status without our passport.

Out of the seven items listed above, I would say this is the most optional but for us was a great addition to our backpack.

We kept our money in it along with our cellphones and it held up very well. We still use them to this day whenever we travel and they’re as good as new.

Have a magical trip!

I hope I was able to help you with your planning. These items made our Disney trip way more enjoyable and I would bring them all again next time we visit Mickey Mouse.