Favorite/Best Park Bags

NikkiDP

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 2, 2017
DH and I have an old school backpack that we use and gets the job done, but I don't love it. What are people's favorite lightweight but highly functional park bags?! We have a separate bag for our camera but never travel into the parks without our refillable water bottles, medicines, snacks, chargers, ponchos, etc. 🎒

To those who don't use a park bag, what's it like to just go in with a phone and a MB? lol :faint:
 
I'm an admitted bag hoarder and I'm constantly on the hunt for the next perfect bag!

I've decided that using the same bag every day for an extended trip is terrible for my neck/shoulder comfort. My top three in the rotation are a Travelon Anti-theft Classic Backpack, Vera Bradley small backpack (old style with Mickey print) and the baggallini Messenger bagg (also old style). Close runners up are the ebags Piazza Day Bag and my Kavu Rope Sling. These all fit my point and shoot. I could go smaller if I ditched my camera.
 
I rarely carry a bag any more. I try to wear sundresses and shorts/skorts that have pockets. It's my mb on my wrist, my reading glasses around my neck and my sunglasses on my head. I have a little stick on pouch thing on my phone that an ID, cc, AP if I have one that year and a little cash will fit in. That goes in my pocket. If it's going to rain (and we've never been when it hasn't) I either carry an umbrella or attach one to a belt loop if I have one or fold a little disposable poncho up and put it in my pocket. That's it. If I get a headache I go to first aid and get something. For water, I use the free water at the QS locations. We rarely eat snacks but if we do, we just buy some fruit at the parks. Even when my son was little I didn't carry a big bag, we just went back to the resort if he got too dirty for words. Men have cargo pockets and my son carries the phone charger in one of his.
 


I'm an admitted bag hoarder and I'm constantly on the hunt for the next perfect bag!

I've decided that using the same bag every day for an extended trip is terrible for my neck/shoulder comfort. My top three in the rotation are a Travelon Anti-theft Classic Backpack, Vera Bradley small backpack (old style with Mickey print) and the baggallini Messenger bagg (also old style). Close runners up are the ebags Piazza Day Bag and my Kavu Rope Sling. These all fit my point and shoot. I could go smaller if I ditched my camera.

I'm kinda loving on the Tavelon bag! I keep telling myself that we need to reduce what we bring in, and we really don't have all that much, but I'm one of those people that needs to have a fair amount of control haha. I hadn't considered that the same bag could lead to back pain, but it makes a lot of sense. We unfortunately aren't in the Florida area so our park bag is also one of our carry ons to save suitcase space.

I rarely carry a bag any more. I try to wear sundresses and shorts/skorts that have pockets. It's my mb on my wrist, my reading glasses around my neck and my sunglasses on my head. I have a little stick on pouch thing on my phone that an ID, cc, AP if I have one that year and a little cash will fit in. That goes in my pocket. If it's going to rain (and we've never been when it hasn't) I either carry an umbrella or attach one to a belt loop if I have one or fold a little disposable poncho up and put it in my pocket. That's it. If I get a headache I go to first aid and get something. For water, I use the free water at the QS locations. We rarely eat snacks but if we do, we just buy some fruit at the parks. Even when my son was little I didn't carry a big bag, we just went back to the resort if he got too dirty for words. Men have cargo pockets and my son carries the phone charger in one of his.

All that sounds fairly doable except the QS water haha. We only get the QS water but our refillable bottles are Brita cause neither of us can stand the taste of Florida water :crazy2: I view you as a brave individual to wear a dress to the park haha. I'm not a big dress wearer in everyday life, let alone when I'm climbing in and out of rides and sweating to death! I go for shorts but the pockets are never big enough :sad2: My DH doesn't like walking for extended periods with stuff in his pockets so that is unfortunately out haha

It's awesome! :D No bag check, no sweating from carrying a bag, no moving the bag every time you get on and off a ride, no "who has the bag???", it's liberating. Everyone should try it. :)

It sounds like a dream! We are staying at the Poly in January so I'm thinking I will try to go no bag if we pop over for a few hours. Being so Type A it will not be easy, but man that no bag line always looks so inviting!
 
If it’s just me and DH, I carry this bag with my phone, lip balm, cards, bandaids, blister block stick, advil and DHs contact stuff. If my 4yo is with us we have the stroller so I pack a bit more in there but still carry this little bag on me.

1BDD0310-5D02-4E0D-933A-67787C108F11.png
 
I use a standard backpack... With Princesses. I use it to carry my water bottle, charger, lunch, etc.

Loungefly-Disney-Princess-Backpack.jpg
 


I actually used a clear bag the last time we went (kind used to get into a lot of sporting events these days). The bag-checkers loved it! It was enough to hold wallet, phone, and a couple of water bottles. I no longer have toddlers though.
 
...
It sounds like a dream! We are staying at the Poly in January so I'm thinking I will try to go no bag if we pop over for a few hours. Being so Type A it will not be easy, but man that no bag line always looks so inviting!

I used to carry a ton of stuff to the parks every day in a crossbody bag. I wanted to be ready for any little thing that could possibly go wrong - I needed to be prepared! After a few trips to Disney I realized that we weren't using 99% of what I was lugging around every day and what we *did* use could easily fit in our pockets. But I still couldn't bring myself to not carry the bag o' crap -- I was sure that if I left that bag behind just once, within 15 minutes of leaving the room, we'd need *something* that I didn't have in my pocket but would have had if I had just brought that bag with us!!! One morning during an unbelievably rainy visit, we decided to go to DTD/DS. It hadn't started raining yet that day, but we wanted to go do our souvenir shopping at a non-rainy time and it looked like we were going to have just a brief reprieve from the rain that morning. We were only going to be there for a few hours, so I didn't bother to bring the bag with me -- just put our tickets (before magic bands), credit card, and some cash in a lanyard pouch and headed to DTD/DS. We bought our souvenirs and had them sent back to the resort. And then my husband said the words that nearly sent me in to a meltdown: "It's really nice out. It doesn't look like it's going to rain anytime soon. Why don't we go to a park?" I immediately said we couldn't do that because I didn't have "the bag" -- how would we possibly survive????? He assured me we'd be fine and if we needed something, we'd buy it. He had to continue to convince me during the entire bus ride to AK. I was sure it would be a disaster -- but it wasn't. We didn't need anything from the bag during our visit to AK. That was it. I stopped carrying a bag to the parks that day and haven't looked back. And other than a few packs of tissues (I didn't bring enough in my pockets that day -- daughter was dealing with some environmental allergies), I've never once needed something from that bag that I stopped carrying 10 years ago. Everything I need, fits in my pockets....and it's not much. We've always bought water/drinks and snacks in the park, so that wasn't an issue for us when I stopped carrying a bag.
 
I don't like wearing a backpack in the parks. I find it's hard to get things out on the go and I don't like having it behind me where I can't see if it's bumping someone, being opened, etc. I have a few Baggallini bags that can be worn crossbody or as shoulder bags. I switch back and forth to keep my shoulders comfortable. When I use a bigger one I also add a pad to the strap to make it more comfortable to carry. They fold down very small, so I put 1 or 2 inside other bags when we fly.
 
ll that sounds fairly doable except the QS water haha. We only get the QS water but our refillable bottles are Brita cause neither of us can stand the taste of Florida water :crazy2: I view you as a brave individual to wear a dress to the park haha. I'm not a big dress wearer in everyday life, let alone when I'm climbing in and out of rides and sweating to death! I go for shorts but the pockets are never big enough :sad2: My DH doesn't like walking for extended periods with stuff in his pockets so that is unfortunately out haha

The QS water is filtered, it's the water used in soft drink machines so you don't taste the Florida water, I can't stand that taste either. I do wear sundresses in my every day life a lot, I wear them sitting around the house and to work. I live in Georgia and I just find them a lot cooler then shorts, air can circulate. I don't have a problem getting on and off rides with them, just tuck your hand around them, they all come to just about my knees. When I buy shorts with pockets I always stick my cell phone in them before I buy them to see if it fits, if it doesn't, I don't buy them. The key is to just not carry anything other than my cell phone with shorts since the pockets are so small. I carry an umbrella instead of a poncho most of the time and that has a wrist strap that is detachable so I can hook it around a belt loop.
 
I actually used a clear bag the last time we went (kind used to get into a lot of sporting events these days). The bag-checkers loved it! It was enough to hold wallet, phone, and a couple of water bottles. I no longer have toddlers though.

That's very clever, I never thought to do that. It would make the lines move much faster for sure. We don't have kiddos yet so we are just carrying our junk haha
 
View attachment 424246 Small 12L Backpack, plenty of pockets, outside water bottle netting and full straps. Perfect for the parks, as it fits easily in all the rides. I tried multiple bags over the years and we have found our perfect bag for the parks.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MTX27PO/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That actually looks really similar to our camera bag! It is crazy compact which is actually really nice. The bag we currently use is an old school backpack so sometimes it becomes victim to "well we have the room."
 
I used to carry a ton of stuff to the parks every day in a crossbody bag. I wanted to be ready for any little thing that could possibly go wrong - I needed to be prepared! After a few trips to Disney I realized that we weren't using 99% of what I was lugging around every day and what we *did* use could easily fit in our pockets. But I still couldn't bring myself to not carry the bag o' crap -- I was sure that if I left that bag behind just once, within 15 minutes of leaving the room, we'd need *something* that I didn't have in my pocket but would have had if I had just brought that bag with us!!! One morning during an unbelievably rainy visit, we decided to go to DTD/DS. It hadn't started raining yet that day, but we wanted to go do our souvenir shopping at a non-rainy time and it looked like we were going to have just a brief reprieve from the rain that morning. We were only going to be there for a few hours, so I didn't bother to bring the bag with me -- just put our tickets (before magic bands), credit card, and some cash in a lanyard pouch and headed to DTD/DS. We bought our souvenirs and had them sent back to the resort. And then my husband said the words that nearly sent me in to a meltdown: "It's really nice out. It doesn't look like it's going to rain anytime soon. Why don't we go to a park?" I immediately said we couldn't do that because I didn't have "the bag" -- how would we possibly survive????? He assured me we'd be fine and if we needed something, we'd buy it. He had to continue to convince me during the entire bus ride to AK. I was sure it would be a disaster -- but it wasn't. We didn't need anything from the bag during our visit to AK. That was it. I stopped carrying a bag to the parks that day and haven't looked back. And other than a few packs of tissues (I didn't bring enough in my pockets that day -- daughter was dealing with some environmental allergies), I've never once needed something from that bag that I stopped carrying 10 years ago. Everything I need, fits in my pockets....and it's not much. We've always bought water/drinks and snacks in the park, so that wasn't an issue for us when I stopped carrying a bag.

This literally sounds like it could have been a story straight out of my life! On our last trip we ran into a similar situation where the only bag we had with us was the camera bag. I was SO uncomfortable even though we were in the park a total of I think two hours. I loved not having it but the little person at the back of my mind kept poking me with what if situations haha. To be fair, we generally do use everything we bring with us, but more often then not the bags become full with any souvenirs or just general things we don't want to carry. Neither myself or DH like to have things in our pockets or carry items so I figure try to find a bag that is a little more walking friendly since I don't think we are ditching the park bag anytime soon.
 
The QS water is filtered, it's the water used in soft drink machines so you don't taste the Florida water, I can't stand that taste either. I do wear sundresses in my every day life a lot, I wear them sitting around the house and to work. I live in Georgia and I just find them a lot cooler then shorts, air can circulate. I don't have a problem getting on and off rides with them, just tuck your hand around them, they all come to just about my knees. When I buy shorts with pockets I always stick my cell phone in them before I buy them to see if it fits, if it doesn't, I don't buy them. The key is to just not carry anything other than my cell phone with shorts since the pockets are so small. I carry an umbrella instead of a poncho most of the time and that has a wrist strap that is detachable so I can hook it around a belt loop.

Ooohh that makes sense. We were wondering why some water had the taste and others didn't. Still love the Brita bottles though, can never be too safe haha.

I always tell myself to check the pockets before I buy and I NEVER remember, whether its shorts or jeans. Drives me nuts. Pockets that fit things should be a given no matter what!
 
my DBF brings his northface backpack which is very similar to any standard backpack. he has so much empty space that we felt it was a little unnecessary to bring with us to the parks that i have started to travel with a much smaller option that works perfectly for us. It doesn't have side pouches which is the only downfall (but i'm sure there are ones out there that do) and it's just big enough to fit a poncho, phone chargers/cords, wallets, sunglasses/cases, a few snacks, etc.

plus i got a cute one!

something like this..you can google 'small backpack' and quite literally find what i'm talking about!
425781
 

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