What to Pack When Visiting a Disney Water Park

When Cash and I renewed our Disney passes this year, I added the Water and Sports option. This means unlimited admission to Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon water parks! So far, Blizzard Beach is the only one open (Typhoon Lagoon reopens soon- on March 19th!), but we’ve visited three times in the last two months and are big fans!

Now that we have a few trips under our belt, I thought I’d share some tips, including what to bring with you for a fun day!

What Food And Drinks Can I Bring?

First, we can start with what’s not allowed. The rules are the same as those for the other Disney parks, which means you can’t bring in a full-sized ice chest or anything on wheels. Instead, we brought our cooler backpack, which was big enough for two people for drinks and snacks. Like the Disney theme parks, you can bring in anything, excluding alcohol and glass containers. While I’m sure they reserve the right to check your bags as you enter, they don’t have a designated bag check and have never looked in ours.

Food and drinks that we love to bring:

• Granola bars

• Fruit (we LOVE frozen grapes!)

• Water bottles

• Cans of soda

• Pub Subs (For those who are not local: That’s a Publix grocery store sub sandwich- they are the best!)

I’ve also packed chips, but Cash turned down his nose at the Takis- when you’re out in the sun all day, cool refreshing food always sounds the best.

What Else Should I Bring?

Along with our cooler bag, we usually bring a dry bag and a waterproof fanny pack. We leave the bigger bags and towels at our chairs, and I bring our more valuable items (phone, money, car key) in the fanny pack that stays with us all day. I feel pretty safe leaving most things in our chairs, but even though it’s rare to have anything go missing, I still feel better if the important stuff stays with me.

Here’s what we pack:

• Bandaids/Neosporin

• Sunscreen

• Beach Towels

• Swim Goggles

• Disney Popcorn Bucket (They have a stand where you can get discount refills, just like at the theme parks!)

• Baseball Cap (I like wearing a hat to keep the sun off my face; this style stays on my head well, even on the rides. A lot of people wear bucket hats or hats with a strap. As much as I love my straw sun hat, it’s just not as practical for the slides.)

• Sunglasses (Rumor is it’s easy to lose them, so maybe bring your least favorite pair, but I wear my prescription pair that fit pretty snugly, and they stay on no problem.)

• Chapstick

• Koozies (Because we bring soda cans, and I like to keep my hands warm and drink cold.)

• Water Shoes (I like to wear them because the pavement gets HOT, but Cash prefers to go barefoot. Try and find a comfy fit because you’ll be doing a lot of walking.)

• Go Pro (I used the wrist strap, and they let me bring it on every ride. We got some entertaining ride videos. It’s also fun to use underwater at the wave pool.)

That’s about it! You'll need more gear if you’ve got a little one. However, many areas are stroller friendly, so you can easily pack a diaper bag and have a place for your little one to nap in the shade if needed!

Other Tips

• I’ve mentioned my fanny pack; I bought this one, which is SUPER waterproof and fits well. However, most rides have rules posted that you can’t ride them if you wear any clothing with buckles, straps, etc. I solve this by wearing a tank top over my bathing suit (a cute Disney-themed one, of course), and I tuck the fanny pack under it. That way, I can ride the slides safely without worrying about anything getting caught. Besides that, I’ve worn sunglasses, a hat, and water shoes on the rides, and nobody minds.

• If you’re a minimalist (a concept wholly unfamiliar to me) or your mom is visiting with you and can hold all the stuff, skip all this and wander around barefoot in your swimsuit all day- it sounds like heaven!

• We usually skip the lockers, which seem like a hassle and a waste of money. Everyone leaves their stuff on their chairs.

• If you want to grab lunch in the park at Blizzard Beach, Cash and I recommend the hot dogs at Avalunch. They come with a bag of chips, are very filling, and are super delicious. We ate for under $25 (bringing our drinks).

• If you’re staying at a resort and don’t want to bring your drinks, they have a refillable cup you can purchase and refill all day at the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines (much like the cups at the resorts). There is also a souvenir beer cup that you can get that allows you discounted refills the same day.

• There is a chair lift at Blizzard Beach that is super convenient, but the line can get long. That being said, the stairs are brutal, and there are many of them. We try and space it out and ride the chair lift about half the time, and take the stairs the other half, so we aren’t dead tired, but we still get some exercise in and keep our wait times lower.

That’s all I’ve got for now! I hope to come back and update this (and write more blogs) once we’ve also visited Typhoon Lagoon!