Preparing for Your Trip To Disney World

Its no secret that I am a planner at heart. I love checklists and achieve boatloads of internal satisfaction in crossing items off a to-do list! I’ve described myself as “almost type-A” (which my former counselor got a kick out of). Planning for vacation is no different! Especially now that it will come 4 weeks after a pretty major surgery so I’m trying to get prepared early.

In my prepping for our trip, I wanted to share some things I learned about preparing for your trip to Disney World! Here are some cool things that I have found so far in packing for children:

1 – The Disney World Vacation Ultimate Packing List

Seriously this list has it all – including things to remember to put in your day bag for visiting the parks! Hopefully this will help me remember the little things that I always find myself forgetting like extra batteries.

2 – What to Pack in Your Disney Diaper Bag

Another great packing list specifically for your little one! I love that this list was created by a mom and not only does she provide a list of items, she also gives her recommendations on what works and what doesn’t. The Growing Up Disney blog is a great resource when traveling a family trip to see The Mouse.

3- Travel Kids Card

Abby is 2 so obviously she doesn’t have a photo ID. While the airline will not require a photo ID to get on the plane, it is not a bad idea to have one on hand for traveling. Heaven forbid, she get separated from us, but at least this will allow some peace of mind. Creating a travel ID only takes a matter of minutes, ships quickly, and is fairly inexpensive. We ordered ours from Kids Travel Card. I ended up purchased 2 spares so that Hubs and I can each keep one in our wallets just in case.

4- Sippy Cup Straps

If you follow me on twitter, you’ve recently heard my rants about sippy cups going missing in our house. Seriously I have had to buy at least 6 new sippies in the last 3 weeks. I was concerned with how we could keep up with Abby’s cups while touring Disney. I’ve seen several variety of sippy cup straps/leashes  and some of them are quite pricey. I decided to check out one of my fav sites, Etsy, and I discovered the shop HarmonyStyle who has the cutest sippy cup leashes in Disney prints at $5 each! Score!

5- Hit up Dollar Tree & Dollar General

I have seen so, so many cute Disney related items at Dollar Tree and Dollar General (and similar stores). You can save some money by packing some small souvenirs or items to keep them occupied on the plane (or in the car). They have Disney related snack bags and sippy cups. All of these things you can get for a fraction of the price! We traveled to Disney the last time at Christmas so I picked up a Disney Princess stocking at the Dollar Tree and every morning she had a small Disney treat waiting on her in her stocking that I picked up while preparing for the trip at Dollar General or the Dollar Tree. She was super excited and she didn’t care where it came from! Cool points for mom!

Any great sites or products that you would recommend in planning for family vacation? Do you have tips to share regarding traveling with a toddler, either to Disney or in general? Would love to hear them!