I have talked about THIS diaper bag more times that I can count, but even with all of its awesomeness and I still stand by it 110%, it can sometimes be hard to get to when I have to have EV scoot up in her stroller chair so that that I can access the bag in the storage area below. Before you even ask, I am a hands free kind of person when in the park so one of us carrying the backpack is out of the question..
Just to give you an idea of what it looks like (see below). We literally have to drop the bag straight down which is why a backpack is important. I do not clip it to the handles although we could as it has its own hooks for that as it swings into our legs when we are pushing and after several hours in the park, this can kinda get annoying.
As mentioned we have a Primark in our Sawgrass Mall (just Google this mall to get an inkling of all that it encompasses) and it is everything and more that it is touted online. The one thing I have learned and since they do not have an online component is that if you like it, buy it. There have been far too many things that I have liked, waited on, went back a couple of days later and it was gone never to be seen or heard from again. The pricing of everything is excellent, so I do not feel like I am splurging on the "do I really need this or not" mindset that comes with deciding on whether or not to purchase it. I just get it...plain and simple and they have an ok return policy, so if I am not happy with it I just bring it back within a day or two. It is only down the road so it is not breaking into my day too much to do a return. I love that their Disney items and clothing are not things that you can get in the parks or in the stores, so it makes everything really special.
Because we were staying on property, I felt that a smaller backpack would be okay for the parks since if we needed anything major or ran out of anything it would not be that difficult to just go back to the hotel and replenish what we needed. I also liked the idea of having a backpack that was easier to access. Although I was not in the market to purchase another backpack, if I came across one, I was needing it to be black since without fail there is some type of food or drink that ends up being spilled in the storage area and I it needed to be something that could easily be cleaned or wiped down. It also needed to have pockets, because well.....pockets. I had gone to Primark as anyone does similar to Target, with one thing in mind (Disney shirts for Commodore) and ended up scooping up everything else that did not comply with that. The boys Marvel/Avengers and Disney clothing are super cute and often they come in packs of two in really fun shirts, shorts, or jammies for $8. I ended up finding these two bags.
I am absolutely in love with both of them. As pictured, the crossbody (which I was actually looking for) has two clips that have holders. One (the long thin one) is either for a phone or credit cards and/or money and the other (the round one) can hold sanitizer, change, a mask etc. It is extremely lightweight (it has a thicker adjustable band) and although I normally use a fannypack, it has become uncomfortable lately (maybe because I keep adding to the items inside of it) and more often then not I end up taking it off and clipping it to the stroller handles which kind of defeats the purpose. I was in the market for something similar to a camera crossbody and this was exactly what I had in mind and it was a steal for only $15. Plus, the black on black Mickey made it really nice and not overtly Disney if that is not your thing (or you would want it to transition to dinner). Having a lightweight crossbody that has a front pocket for my phone (it slides right in) and a second back pocket for things like sunglasses, masks, lipgloss, etc., is positively perfect and still allows me to be handsfree with easy access to my phone (for easy picture taking purposes of course). Honestly this was the thing I needed most since the pockets in the stroller and the cup holders do not fit my Galaxy Note and for anyone that has a Note and lives close to the sun, my camera constantly stops working due to overheating, so this assures that my phone stays cool and nearby while not in use. Plus I can fit my charging pod in the second pocket and let my phone charge while it is in the front.
When I found the matching backpack, it was gameover and I didn't even second gues purchasing the set. Everything fit perfect in this bag. It was lightweight and I loved the vinyl (I am assuming that is the fabric of the bag) that could easily be wiped down if anything spilled on it and again I love the Mickey that is not in your face....not that I would care lol. For $18 it was a lot sturdier than I expected and because of its size it was easy to get it out of the stroller storage basket. It fit everything that we would normally need for a day at the zoo or something of the like (including a Kindle) and there was still room on top since I was throwing the crossbody into it as well when we were getting on a ride. Wrangling two kids with two bags, was not going to happen. With their Kindle is in the backpack I don't like leaving it in the stroller, not for theft purposes (I have NEVER had any issues in Disney), but more so for the heat. I also like that this backpack came with a clip on extra pocket (similar to that of the crossbody) which I used for Sean and I's charging cords to our phones.
This is how everything looked in our bag once we were packed up.
There is a travel tripod in there....don't judge me!
I got the amazing Best Day Ever pouches from the Bullseye Playground at Target (of course) and they came in a set of 2 for I think $3 (if not than $5). They were with the wedding items and I just loved them and the hommage to Tangled (IYKYK). Normally these loose items would go in the front pocket of the gray diaper bag, so instead I threw all of them into the pouch to keep them together. With them being smaller items it kept from things just going to the bottom of the bag and being impossible to find when needed. The only thing I would have changed is how many of those hand held fans I had in the bag (we took three). If anything, I would have packed them and kept all, but one in the hotel room. They took up a majority of the room and once the kids had their stroller clip on fans, we only really needed one of the hand helds in hindsight. It was gloriously hot, but even still Sean and I seemed to be able to hand off one of the fans to one another easily since one of us was always pushing the stroller.
Most everything in the pouch I have gotten from the Bullseye Playground. The three cases are travel reusable straw because my kids hate the paper straws (lets be honest, we do too) that are in the parks, so I bring these instead for a more enjoyable juice drinking experience. We have dispoable toilet seat covers (you never know) and cleansing tech wipes that I use to wipe down our phones if we set them down on anything like tables or are just smudgey. Sometimes the Commodore or EV is in something really cute and they may want something like ice cream or any other treat equally messy, so I bring wipe down/rinsable bibs to keep their clothes clean (hi, I am that parent that thinks of these things). The Disney lanyard covers that you see are actually cases for our vaxx cards. Although I am not sure Disney would ever do it, but they are private and could technically request what they want and with it becoming closer to potential character meet and greets, I wanted to have our cards on us in case that was something they required. Again, it is more than likely never going to happen, but in general, I like having these on us and they are not supposed to be laminated, so Disney covers were a must.
Can you guess who's is who's?! ;)
I buy several of the travel First Generation Wipes (baby aisle at Target for around $2).
I absolutely love them (they are free and clear which is a must) and they are ridged, which not a lot of the travel wipes come in, so they are great for messy butts, faces, and hands as it cleans off everything in one swipe. A family next to us was devastated when they found out they forgot theirs in their room, but we were more than happy to share ours with them lol. Even though we pack lots of diapers for the hotel, we bring about three diapers per kid for a day in the park. Again, the parks we chose were within walking distance from the Dolphin (MGM and Epcot) so if we needed more or extra of anything we could make the conscious decision to go back to the hotel for more or stop off at the Baby Center to buy extra.
The small pockets in the front of the bag were perfect for all those teeny tiny items that I use throughout the day, but need access too. Again, I normally have these items in a the front pocket of gray diaper bag (with the exception of the charging pods), but honestly having this backpack forced me to streamline and not take everything which we often do not end up using a good amount of it anyway. Especially since both kids now are starting to transition out of the baby stage (sob) and more toddler-y. So instead of bringing the entire green pouch that houses all my charging pods (I left it in the hotel room), I packed just two and kept them in one of the front pockets (as you can see, they fit beautifully and honestly with how little we were in the parks, one would have sufficed).
Pay no attention to my nail that I had just snapped off about a day prior ::sigh::
In the other pocket I had Commodore's face sunscreen stick for his oh so not Mediterranean skin and a smallish tube of Aquaphor if the kids got uncomfortably hot as it helps with chafing and rashes. Aquaphor legitmately solves everything and a couple extra binkies if the kids need help with napping in the park.
Being Greek let me remind you of the scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the father puts Windex on everything. This right here is my family...except not only is it with WIndex, but with Rulijel...is that still a thing?!. Huh, according to Target it is...
I still packed the travel food containers in the backpack (as well as a couple of ziploc bags) and threw their snack cups to the bottom of the stroller where I could just reach in and grab them rather than put them in the bag. We had a lot of snacks and food option in the hotel that we had brought with us (the Dolphin has a refrigerator in the rooms), but did not pack anything in the bag otehr than their cups as the weather was all over the place and we didn't end up staying an excessive amount of time in the parks like we normally do. We also did not put their juice in our bags simply because my kids are the habitual "oops forgot to close the spout" type kids and they would have had to go directly in the bag as it did not have side compartments like the diaper bag.
Anyone else's kids forget how to drink when they are given an adult glass with a straw?! Just mine?! Good grief!
It really was amazing what could fit in this backpack comfortably and I do not feel that I gave up anything that normally goes into our gray bag other than excessive amount of space left over which is always nice for the kids rain jackets or treats that I may not want to get wet if it rains. Was the Kindle a "need" of course not, was I grateful for it when we needed it....absolutely. It began to torrential downpour while we were in the tasting arena that is by the United Kingdom. The kids originally started off by running off some steam (it is a large area and with barely anyone in it, it has A LOT of space), but as more people filtered in with the weather we kept the kids close by, so you know what was super handy for this?! You guessed it...the Kindle...I fully am satisfied being THAT parent thank you very much.
At the end of the day it was nice transitioning to a smaller bag for so many reasons like easy access, not feeling as though I am just keeping everything in the bag for the sake of keeping it there, handing it off to security to have them pillage through it only to tell me that 'I can put it back together' (look, I 100% get this and always thank them at the end, but does this make me mildly grumpy?! Yes!). A smaller bag means less for them to look through. They could see everything in it which meant they glanced in and sent me on my 'have a magical day' way. Honestly the only downfall was that it does not keep me as organized as the gray diaperbag. The diaperbag has so many access points and pockets and you feel there is so much space for everything and my organizing heart loves that. This backpack is what it is...a backpack. Luckily I am a 'gotta have all the pouches' kind of girl so I still felt organized and it is definitely a bag that I would use again or at the very least take with us so that if I wanted to go back and forth I could.
We are doing the 50th Anniversary on October 1st (the first weekend it begins) and I couldn't be more excited as I ALWAYS seem to miss out on these celebrations (or at least the opening day/weekends of these events).
Instead of doing MK on the 1st, we are doing it on the 2nd. I could have reserved MK the first day, but honestly, I just was not prepared for what I think is going to be an over abundance of crowds and what I believe will be a reason for opening up the reservation number at least for this weekend. I was able to make a reservation for MGM on the 3rd with ease just the other day whereas everything had been blocked for weeks about a month ago. I am going to assume since the reservations are sticking around for a bit that they will only be doing this the weekend of the celebration. However, this is merely speculation based on my experience with making reservations.
WIth that being said, come to find out that the Ratatoutille ride is also having their maiden voyage (grand opening) on October 1st at Epcot which is the park that we did reserve for that day. I have also never been in the park for the opening of a ride and have no idea what to expect...gotta admit...crowds or not, I am kind of excited for this one. Since it will more than likely be a full day of fesitivies, naps in the stroller, more celebrations, and fireworks I plan on using the gray bag so that I can assure anything that we need will be on hand and then some. Plus, we will be staying in the B Resort in Disney Springs (another fave), so it will not be as easy to go back and forth to our hotel if need be. So be prepared for the revival of that back fairly soon.
Do you have transition bags for the park for your kids?! I love myself a good whats in your bag, so I would love to know what your essentials are....
Also...
Has anyone else ever been in the parks for a big celebration or a ride opening?! What can I expect?! Should I get a frose' first before I attempt to meander over there....a macaron ice cream sandwhich perhaps?!
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