What Should You Pack for a Disney Cruise With Young Kids?

I’m the type of person who counts down every single day from the moment we book a Disney Cruise until the morning we’re leaving for the Port. Disney cruises have become a passion of mine, and they’re experiences I truly look forward to sharing with my family. Even packing is exciting because it means our cruise is almost here, and getting everything ready makes it feel that much more real!

My husband and I have been on several Disney cruises with our two young kids, currently ages 5 and 3, and we have more planned for the future! We typically sail to the Bahamas and Caribbean, and along the way, we’ve learned what things we need to bring and what we can leave at home.

To help other families prepare for their own Disney cruises, I’m sharing some of our experiences and packing tips in this post. I’ve also put together three printable packing lists for adults, kids, and babies and toddlers with everything we’ve learned in one easy-to-reference place. 

You can download all three packing lists for free by clicking the button below, with no email address or signup required!

What We Pack for Ourselves

We’ve learned that packing a few extra outfits for a Disney Cruise is always a good idea. Especially when you decide to wear your regular clothes into the splash pad with your little one, only to discover there are water features coming from every direction and you’ll definitely need to change before dinner. Yes, I’m speaking from experience!

We’ve traveled at different times of the year, and for the most part, T-shirts and shorts have been perfectly comfortable. Depending on the time of year, though, you may appreciate having a light jacket or sweater if you plan to spend time out on the deck at night. The breeze can make things a little chilly as you’re heading to your next destination, and the air conditioning inside the restaurants and theaters can make it feel colder at times too.

If you’re sailing to the Bahamas or Caribbean, your Disney Cruise will typically include a themed Pirate Night. Dressing up in a pirate costume or themed shirt is completely optional. Plenty of people participate, but not everyone does, so you won’t feel out of place either way. If you’d like to learn more about Pirate Night, you can check out our Pirate Night post here. 

Depending on when you’re sailing, you may also want to pack outfits for other themed nights. For example, Halloween on the High Seas cruises are a fun opportunity to bring costumes, while Christmas sailings are a great time to pack holiday outfits for family pictures. 

When it comes to swimsuits, we’ve managed to bring just one per person. I hang them on the retractable clothesline in the stateroom bathroom, and they’re typically dry by morning. It might not save much space in your suitcase, but every little bit helps make room for more souvenirs!

For electronics, there are plenty of charging options in the stateroom, including different types of outlets. Before packing, I recommend taking a quick look at Disney Cruise Line’s prohibited items policies. Some electronics aren’t allowed, while others may require inspection, so checking ahead of time can help avoid delays with boarding and having your checked luggage delivered to your stateroom.

For moms who are nursing, take a look at Disney’s policies for bringing coolers and contact Disney ahead of time if you have any questions about safely storing breast milk. Most staterooms have beverage coolers, which don’t get quite as cold as regular refrigerators. It’s worth talking through your options before sailing so you know what arrangements you’ll need.

Travel documents are one of the most important things to pack because without the proper documents, you won’t be able to board the ship. Review what’s required for your itinerary, check expiration dates, and keep everything easily accessible on embarkation day. We use a travel wallet that holds our family’s passports, driver’s licenses, and Port Arrival Form all in one place.

I also have a separate post about counting down to a Disney Cruise that goes into more detail about preparing for embarkation day. 

What We Pack for Young Kids

Our kids are picky eaters, and although we’ve been fortunate to find food on our Disney cruises they’ll eat, I still feel more comfortable having snacks from home as a backup. They need to be packed in a carry-on bag and in the original manufacturer’s packaging, but having a handful of familiar snacks provides peace of mind that’s worth the extra logistics to me.

Refillable water bottles are also a must on our Disney cruises. We can fill them at the soda machines and find ourselves constantly refilling them throughout the day. They’re especially helpful at night when someone wakes up thirsty, since I don’t have to worry about an open cup spilling.

Another item we recently added to our packing list is reusable straws. The ones available onboard, including in the rotational dining restaurants, are typically paper, and our kids chew through them pretty quickly. Bringing our own makes things easier than constantly asking for replacements.

Even with all the activities, shows, and crafts available onboard, there’s still some inevitable downtime before meals or bedtime. We’ve found that bringing a handful of toys and activities helps, especially when we’re sitting in one of the rotational dining restaurants waiting for the kids’ food. Magnetic tiles, blocks, and puzzles are some of our favorites, along with Play-Doh and Crayola mess-free coloring pages.

My kids like to bring their favorite stuffies from home when we travel, and any parent can tell you that’s a risky move because they can easily get lost. But having them along makes the kids feel more comfortable, so I’ve found a simple way to keep track of them and make sure they don’t accidentally get swept up during the daily stateroom cleaning.

We pack their stuffies in Ziploc bags and keep them in our carry-on bags until we reach our stateroom. Each morning, before heading out for the day, we put them back in the bags and tuck them into the safe if there’s room, or into one of the suitcases. That way, they’re out of the way when the stateroom is being cleaned. It’s simple but effective, and we haven’t lost a stuffy yet!

On our most recent cruise aboard the Disney Wish, we brought a folding travel potty seat for my older son, and it worked out great for the stateroom bathroom. The toilet is already fairly low to the ground, so adding the seat made it easier for him to use the bathroom independently, just like he does at home.

When it’s time for a bath after a long day exploring the ship or at the beach, having a few bath toys and a plastic or collapsible rinsing cup can make things easier. Our go-to toys are small animal figurines because they’re easy to pack. I’ve forgotten to pack a rinsing cup on previous cruises and ended up using the glass from the bathroom, which wasn’t ideal. Once they’re done, I lay everything on a small towel to dry before putting it away for the night.

Disney Cruise Line does sell some baby and children’s essentials in the onboard gift shops, including diapers, wipes, baby food, and common over-the-counter medications. However, in our experience, the selection has been pretty limited, especially when it comes to sizes. In a pinch, you could probably pick up a pack of wipes without much trouble, but anything requiring a specific size or brand is something I’d rather bring from home than rely on finding onboard the ship.

What We Pack for Babies and Toddlers

Disney makes sailing with infants and toddlers pretty easy. A lot of common baby and toddler items are available to borrow during your cruise at no additional cost. We have a whole post about the complimentary items available on a Disney Cruise that you can check out here.

When we went on our first Disney Cruise, my younger son was just about 18 months old. He was still taking a bottle and needed a Pack ‘n Play to sleep. Disney provided a bottle warmer, diaper pail, and Pack ‘n Play with sheets for us to use during our cruise.

Since suitcase space can be limited, we found that bringing just a couple of bottles and cleaning them with a travel bottle cleaning kit worked better than packing enough bottles for the entire cruise. The kit we found has a small drying rack, different-sized brushes, and even a little pump bottle for soap. Disney also has a limited number of complimentary bottle sterilizers you can ask to borrow, but I didn’t want to worry about availability. Bringing our own cleaning supplies worked better for our family.

We also like to bring a small, lightweight stroller for our younger son. On our first cruise, we brought our regular everyday stroller, but it was too wide to fit through the stateroom doorway while open, which made getting him in and out challenging.

Since then, we’ve switched to an umbrella stroller, and it’s worked out really well. It’s small enough to navigate the narrow hallways and doorways, and light enough that we can carry it upstairs instead of waiting for an elevator. You’ll also need to store your stroller in your stateroom, so having one that folds easily and can tuck under the bed is helpful.

A stroller is especially useful when visiting Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point. Unlike Castaway Cay, Lookout Cay has a pretty long walk from the ship to the tram pickup area. Having our stroller made that walk much easier with a toddler.

What Should You Pack in Your Carry-On vs. Checked Luggage?

You’ll have the option of bringing checked luggage, carry-on bags, and personal items on your Disney Cruise. The number of checked bags allowed can depend on the length of your cruise. Speaking from experience, I highly recommend checking as many bags as Disney Cruise Line allows so you have less to carry around with you on embarkation day.

With that being said, there are certain items you’ll want to keep in a carry-on bag. For our family, we like using a small suitcase with wheels. It makes navigating the port with young kids easier when we can wheel our bag behind us instead of having to carry it.

In our carry-on bag, we pack all of our snacks, which need to be sealed in their original manufacturer’s packaging. You can also bring bottled water if you choose, but we’ve found using the water onboard the ship to be easier. If you’re bringing baby food in jars or pouches, it needs to follow the same packaging guidelines and cannot be homemade. When our younger son was still drinking formula, we also had to bring an unopened container in our carry-on bag, rather than pre-measuring it like we would for other types of travel.

One of the most important things to keep with you is your travel and cruise documents. You’ll need the appropriate identification for boarding, including the documents you used during online check-in. Be sure to have your Port Arrival Form available as well.

Keep any valuables and medications in your carry-on bag, too. Checked luggage is loaded onto the ship and delivered to the staterooms throughout the afternoon. We’ve been fortunate to receive our bags shortly after boarding, but they can arrive later, so it’s important to have anything you might need in the meantime.

We also like to bring a change of clothes for the kids, just in case. Depending on your boarding time and plans for the first day, you may want to pack swimsuits so your family can spend some time at the pools before your luggage arrives.

If your kids are bringing favorite stuffed animals, blankets, or a toy they wouldn’t want to be without, I’d recommend keeping those in your carry-on bag as well. That way, you know exactly where they are, and if someone asks for their favorite stuffy, you don’t have to explain that it’s in a suitcase you won’t have access to until later.

Everything else goes in our checked bags, and we can enjoy having fewer things to keep track of when we first get onboard!

What We Don’t Pack for a Disney Cruise

After focusing so much on what you should bring, I also wanted to mention the things we leave at home. The most obvious answer is anything on Disney Cruise Line’s prohibited items list. I recommend reviewing the list before you start packing so you don’t accidentally bring something that isn’t allowed onboard.

We also try to keep in mind that space is limited in the staterooms. While we’ll pack a few extra outfits for everyone, we try not to bring more than we really need, especially since we like to save some room for souvenirs.

We don’t pack bed rails because Disney can provide those for the kids. On our last cruise, when they happened to run out, our stateroom host was able to make a soft barrier using blankets and towels, which actually worked out better for our family than the typical bed rails.

Other items for young children, like the bottle warmers, sterilizers, diaper pails, and Pack ‘n Plays mentioned earlier, can be left at home too since Disney has them available to borrow onboard.

For toiletries, we usually bring the kids’ soap and bath products from home, but my husband and I are happy to use the shampoo, conditioner, and body wash provided in the stateroom. There’s also a hair dryer available, so that’s one less thing we need to pack.

If you plan to enjoy the ship’s rotational dining restaurants and other casual dining options, like Marceline Market on the Disney Wish, there’s no need to pack formal clothes. Casual outfits work well for most meals onboard. Adult-exclusive restaurants like Palo have their own dress codes, though, so that’s something to consider if you have a reservation.

Download Our Free Disney Cruise Packing Lists

I hope this post has helped answer some of the questions you may have about packing for a Disney Cruise with young kids. Don’t forget to download our free printable packing lists for adults, kids, and babies and toddlers. All three lists are included in one PDF, with no signup or email address required.

My hope is that these resources help make your family’s Disney cruise a little more magical, starting before you even leave the house!