Your kid is finally through the 3 hour line to see Anna and Elsa, the dynamic duo from Frozen, and she is walking up for her first hug. You pull out your iphone or Android PDA to take a video and you realize your phone is at 1% battery power! Seriously?!?! Don’t want this to be a reality for you? We have a few suggestions of tech that you may want to pack for your trip to Disney World so that you’re ready for anything. The Boy Scouts say “always be prepared”, and they’re right!
7. iPad or nintendo – You’ll spend a significant amount of time in line, on the bus or monorail, waiting for food, and chances are, your little one will more easily pass the time by playing their favorite app or game. I’m all for requiring my kid to behave no matter the circumstance they’re in or where they are but when you acount for all the factors of a Disney trip including: hot weather, eating lots of sugar, disrupted sleep, lots of walking, inundation by sights and sounds, a little 1 on1 time with a device they’re familiar with from home may prove to be a little bit of safe harbor from all the input the get at Disney.
6. Walkie talkies – You have a cellphone but your kids don’t. If by chance you get separated, having a “clip to your belt” walkie on them could help them find you again. Also, using phones to catch up with people in your group burns through you precious phone battery so limiting phone usage is great. Walkies are a great way to keep a group of your party in touch when you’re on the go!
5. Camera batteries – Whether your camera uses regular batteries, rechargable batteries or plugs in straight to the wall, make sure you have a backup set of batteries available for swapping in your bag. Also, if you haven’t used your camera in awhile, make sure you open the battery area to make sure there aren’t old batteries inside. Batteries can corrode easily when not in use and leave deposits on the contact points inside your camera. Clean these off with a soft bristle brush and store it without batteries to limit corrosion, especially considering the hot humid climate in Florida.
4. SD Card – this is the tiny little square cartridge that stores the photos you take. Make sure you off-load all current photos at home on your computer, delete all photos from the cartridge and put the newly-wiped cartridge back into the camera. You should also buy extra SD cartridges with you because you’ll take a lot of photos at Disney. It’s estimated that 4% of all photos taken in the U.S. every year are taken at Disney parks. Whew! You might even want to bring your laptop with you and offload photos once you’re back in your hotel if you want to recycle SD cards for daily use.
3. Camera and video camera – If you’re one of those photography purists that likes to take the best possible high resolution images you can get – then break out the camera bag and your wicked hot camera and video camera. Make sure you do as we suggested above and bring extra SD cards and batteries.
2. Battery bank or power stick – Remember my opening paragraph? This happened to me when we went to see Ariel, my daughter’s favorite princess. UG! Needless to say, I went and bought a battery bank power stick that I could jack into my iphone when I’m away from power outlets. Genius! There are several levels of power sticks you can buy. The cheapest I’ve found is at 5 below by the cash registers. You can also find others at like like this one at Amazon.com or Best Buy. Make sure it’s compatible with your particular cellphone. Also, the power stick doesn’t do you any good if it isn’t charged. Remember to charge your camera batteries, cellphones, walkie talkies and power sticks every night while you sleep. Oh! And don’t forget to take the cord that connects your phone to the power stick.
1. Smartphone – You got it baby! With high resolution cameras, Disney apps for finding your way around the parks, cell service to reach others in your party, the one thing you can’t leave back at your hotel is your smartphone. You’ll want to document every part of your trip at Disney. Make sure you charge it up at night and get one of the battery banks I mentioned above to make sure you don’t run out of power. Between running “My Disney Experience” to track your reservations and FastPasses and having to crank up your screen brightness to see your screen in the bright Florida sun, your battery will drain quickly!