Sorry you don't like fanny packs. They are much better than a murse. Look at decent Mountain Smith or REI one. Perhaps you have just used cheap ones in the past.

Also, the bus do NOT make your car unnecessary!! Often, you can get somewhere waaaay before the buses run and beat the crowd by an extra 30-60 minutes, esp the water parks.

Parkhopping will eat more time than you realize


Good shoes
Good hat

Fanny packs for you and wife with the following:
camera
sunscreen
rain poncho for everyone. Carry a 99cent one on nice days, and a "good" Walmart one on rainy days. The cheap ones can be used as seat covers on wet rides so your butt isnt wet the rest of the day.
small windbreaker-good if your wife gets cold easily. hot and sweaty or wet from parks, then inside real cold a/c for dinner, a light packable jacked takets the chill off.
very small FAK with tums,motrin, bandaids and blister stuff
SAK
small light such as Photon or Fenix AA or AAA light
gum
chapstick
purell hand sanitizer
cell phone or FRS radio so you and wife can split up and rejoin if needed.
individual crystal light to make water fountain water taste ok
park map

copy of unofficial guide but leave in room- to heavy to edc at WDW

Plan your day and start early!!! You will get more done by 10AM than you would believe. Most folks want to sleep late and show up at 10 and then the lines really start.
Avoid the park that opens 'early'-thats where all the newbies go!
WDW is not a golly gee whiz vacation. It requires planning or else you will spend most of your day wandering, riding a bus, and standing in line.
Going back to the room for a nap via the bus will eat 1.5 to 2 hours of your day and is really only feasible if you are staying at the polynesian, comtemporary or grand floridian.
Take one day and go to one of the water parks. they are great. Blizzard beach for your kids ages IMO
dont ride the bus to the water park,drive. be there before they open and you will have 1/2 hour or more before all teh bus riding guests can get there and go thru the turnstiles and get settled. do the big cool slides first!
Park hopping eats 1-2 hours as well. Dont spend too much time of your vacation on a bus.

Our typical day was at the park before opening, get in and do the big popular stuff right off the bat.
About 3 when crowds are at the biggest and it seems the hottest, hop to EPCOT and we would eat dinner at a sitdown restuarant (make reservations NOW and plan your days as best you can) See EPCOT before and after dinner or go back early and enjoy hotel pool.

If you have a stroller, you can make it theft proof by leaving a diaper with a bit of choc. pudding in it on the seat of the stroller. Tie a bright bandana on the handle to make it easy to find in a sea of indentical strollers!

Thanks to everyone for all of the great information. It will definitely help!

Neato idea! But do not take your own stroller, rent one. If it disappears, they will give you a new one at no charge...

I carried my fak and sunblock water and a .32 seacamp in a rear pocket holster. I was told, but did not see, nor did I look to hard, that guns were prohibited. Not sure I agree with gun free zones. I do have a wrong state concealed carry permit. No problems.

lol - my wife and I are well into our 40's and don't have any kids. We definitely needed that afternoon siesta/shower... Guess that you all are in better shape than we were.

Definitely agree about getting up early and hitting stuff before 10:00. The car is valuable if one has driven to Disneyworld. We flew in from DFW, took the Disney Express to the resort. It seemed to be cheaper and easier than renting a car that would sit in various parking lots.

Dooooh! Why didn't I think of this. This is genius. And I read this after my kids are past using a stroller.

You can always get a free cup of ice water from any drink location if you ask. That tastes better than the water fountains.

I've used one of those Britta filter bottles at lot at the Disney parks. It helps, but it's bulky and I can't just toss it away.

Now I like to carry bottled water into the park (never any question at the gate) so I can toss the drink when I'm done. Sometimes I refill an empty bottle from a water fountain or pour my leftover super-size softdrink into an empty bottle.

If you're staying on-property, those refill mugs at the resort are a pain. Yes, you can get free refills at the resort, but you end up hiking back and forth to the food court way too often and end up packing empty mugs at the parks all day long. In the end, it's easier and cheaper to buy bottled drinks. Eespecially if you bring them or buy them off-property.

We usually pack a suitcase full of bottled drinks and kid snacks like mini-doughnuts. That way we have an empty suitcase for purchases, etc.

I've tried several different packs at Disney parks and for now I'm carrying a smaller daypack/backpack. I've carried a hydration pack, camera bag, and a travel "man purse" and always end up carrying more than I planned to, especially as my wife starts handing me extra crap on the way out the door. The backpack lets me carry jackets and hats or dry clothes (depending on the season) for the kids, diapers, meds, camera, bottled water, and all my man-gear.

I like the backpack because it's got space to pack everything inside and not snag on a lot of stuff. The shoulder bags with one strap just don't work for me because I end up carrying a kid by the end of the night. It's easier to leave a small bag behind by mistake.

I've also learned the hard way that it's better to carry as much as possible for the family so there's less chance that my wife will leave something critical behind.

A lot of people have given gear advice. My 2 cents? I carry all the usual stuff people bring up. Definately a flashlight. Everything goes into Ziploc bags. Besides helping with water, it makes it easier to find things. I do carry knives at Disney, even though they are prohibited. I usually carry a small SAK for the scissors. Otherwise I've never used a knife at Disney. I rarely carry my usual Spyderco, which makes Disney the only place without metal detectors or pat-downs where I don't carry one.

When night falls and the $10 glowing toys appear, I hand the kids a 50-cent glow stick or now a $3 LED reusable one. It spins just as well and it makes it easier to find them.

I also take a photo of each kid early in the morning, often before we even get to the park, just in case they get lost. We'll have a current picture and know exactly what they're wearing. I also try to wear a brightly colored unusual shirt, so my kids can pick me out of the crowd pretty quickly if they did get lost.

One last tip: spend some time at Disney without your camera or camcorder. Everywhere I go all I see is rows of dads with the camera or camcorder glued to their eye. Go have fun and make some memories with the kids and don't worry about capturing the moment digitally.

Never have run into this problem but I usually don't ride the roller coasters. Rides like Pirates of the Caribbean or the dinosaur time travel etc. are no problem. I usually carry a dedicated camera backpack w/ extras like snacks in the extra room.