We all knew that it had been sweltering down in Florida before heading there for 4th of July … did we care … NO. But did we learn that we were missing some vital things … yes!

So learn from us … haha. These are items as a family of 5 (Mom and Dad, a 10yo, a 7yo and a 5yo) that we ended up buying while there. Some items for pure luxury … others for absolute necessity.

First off – a cooling towel! We bought the ones from Disney so they ran us about $16.99 a piece (if you’re an AP, DVC member, or Chase Visa holder you DID get a discount). We bought three of them and just took turns with the girls as to whoever was dying of heat at that moment in time could wear them. Did they help? That’s debatable. I don’t know if it was a placebo effect or if they actually helped. I will say that I threw one over my head when it was raining and my hair stayed way drier than if I had nothing on it. So that was a huge win in my book.

So if you’re going in the summer months I highly suggest buying a few cooling towels and packing them with you.

Next – our 5yo was bound and determined (especially in the heat) that she was not walking. I didn’t want to have to tote around a stroller, but it made all of us happier. We bought a super simple umbrella stroller for $39.99 (again, if you’re AP or DVC you get a discount). We were looking for Minnie but ended up with Mickey. It not only cut way down on the meltdowns from being tired, but gave us a place to hold items that we didn’t want to actually hold.

If you don’t want to buy an umbrella stroller, you can rent one as well. Here is the information for stroller rentals from the parks. https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/stroller-rentals/ It’s $15 a day for a single stroller (or $13 a day for the length of your stay) or $31 a day for the double.

The Disney Single strollers are only rated up to 50lbs and the double is rated up to 100 lbs so if you have bigger kiddos do keep that in mind. I must say – they have moved up a bit in the world and were not the ugly blue and tan strollers anymore, but were red mickey and Minnie ones. I’m still fairly certain they were the hard plastic. If that is not the route you want to take you can always look into sites like scooterbug, kingdomstrollers, buenavistascooters, and many more. Of course the price is going to vary between what you’re looking for and the different companies. For us, it just made more sense to buy the umbrella stroller. Bonus is if you need a scooter as well for a family member that cannot do the walking you can also rent scooters from these places as well!

Ultimately do what is best for your family – if someone was willing to push me in a stroller I probably would have taken them up on it in a heartbeat.

Lastly – if you have little girls – princess dresses! We were planning on buying one in the parks for my H but we couldn’t find a single Elsa dress anywhere. The only princess dress we were able to find was a little mermaid costume. Though – we have found a new site that I WILL be ordering dresses for my girls off of. presleycouture.com My Mother in Law ordered 2 for my N from here and they are AMAZING quality and were definitely a great option due to the heat, but still being able to look like princesses!

Are these all “necessity” absolutely not. We still had a blast in Disney and cannot wait until our next trip. But they did help a bit between the heat, being tired, and feeling special. These are memories that we are making with our girls and as a family as whole so we will do whatever is needed to make all the memories possible.

If you have been to Disney in the summer what are some items you realized you forgot and needed? Leave it all below!

And as always,