There’s a lot of advice out there on what to pack for Disneyland Paris. We’ve got a blog about this ourselves! And a lot of the advice is common, and helpful – decent shoes and socks, waterproofs, phone chargers and the like. But what about some more unusual items that people may not think to pack, but that could really help your Disneyland Paris trip? Below we’re sharing some of the more out there items we’ve packed for Disneyland Paris that have proved very helpful!

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Food storage bags

When you’re thinking about bags for Disneyland Paris, you’ll probably be thinking about your park bag, or the case you’ll be packing your belongings in while travelling. But food storage bags can be a great help on a Disneyland Paris trip!

Food storage bags such as Zip Loc bags are small, pack down easily and are light to carry into the parks. But why have them? Well, got a half eaten snack you don’t want to waste? Pop it into a food storage bag. Need to take a loved snack into the park with you that you can’t buy in there, or to save some cash? Food storage bag. Socks got wet in a rain storm and you don’t want them making everything else in your bag soggy? Food storage bag. Little one had an accident like a nappy blow out and need to store their dirty clothes? Food storage bag! You can squeeze the air out of them so that they compress their contents well, and by sealing them up it should prevent their contents from making everything else in your bag damp, sticky, or smelly!

There’s a lot of different types you can buy, and can normally find them in your local supermarket or online. We like this set on Amazon, because it contains multiple sizes, perfect for scaling from small snacks to holding full changes of clothes as need be!

Vacuum storage bags and pump

We’re recommending another type of plastic bag here, vacuum storage bags – and a pump to compress them with!

When packing for your Disneyland Paris trip, every inch of storage space in your luggage can be at a premium – as you are travelling to Disneyland Paris, and even more so on the way back when you might have a few souvenirs added into the mix! But here vacuum storage bags can be your best friend – soft items like clothes and cuddly toys can be sealed inside, and then the pump used to suck out all the air – meaning that everything takes up a lot less space. This has been a great help to us when at Disneyland Paris as it allows us to take smaller luggage for ease of travelling. It’s also really handy for your dirty washing – place it together in a vacuum bag and seal it, and it won’t get in contact with any clean clothes and you’ll be able to pop it straight into the washing machine when you get home!

You can get different types of pumps for vacuum bags including hand pump ones, but if like us you can have painful hands and want something easier (and smaller) to pack, then a small rechargeable pump is great. We used this set of vacuum bags and pump from Monvane on our last trip and it was a great help for us with packing and unpacking!

A range of over the counter medicines – even if you don’t regularly take them

Most people know to take their prescription medicine away with them. But when it comes to common over the counter remedies like painkillers, indigestion medicine and cold meds, a lot of people don’t worry about packing them because they assume they’ll easily be able to buy them at their destination. Right? Actually, in Disneyland Paris – wrong! We’ve mentioned this lots of times but I’ll keep repeating it as I still see people getting constantly caught out – you can’t by any medicines outside of a pharmacy in France!

If you need just a one off dose of a medicine, like some paracetamol to knock a headache in check, then First Aid in both parks can issue you with one dose. But if you mess up your back and need regular doses of painkillers they can’t help you – and your nearest place to buy any will be the pharmacy at Val d’Europe! Definitely not on site at Disneyland Paris. So while we’re not advocating that you take an entire pharmacy with you, here are some common medicines we recommend you pack, just in case. (Hopefully this goes without saying but please only buy medicines suitable for your use, and if you aren’t sure consult a doctor!)

• Painkillers – People have their own preference for painkillers but we’d recommend packing something like paracetamol or ibuprofen, or you could get something that combines both. If you’re prone to flares of more severe pain, you might want to visit a pharmacy for something stronger, for example something that contains codeine.
• Pain relieving gel – Believe me your body and feet may thank you at the end of a long park day if you have some pain gel on hand! I’m a fan of Ibuprofen Gel, while Ken prefers Voltarol.
• Indigestion remedy – Richer food and weird meal times can do a number on your digestion! We like Pepto Bismol as it covers a lot of bases in one product, and you can get a small bottle that fits easily in a park bag. If you prefer chews though then Gaviscon Double Action can also work really well. And if you suffer with IBS flares occasionally, packing some Buscopan just in case can be a really good shout!
• Cold remedies – Just in case a bout of sniffles hit, packing a cold remedy like Lemsip can be a really good idea. It can also be a good idea to pack some throat sweets like Strepsils. And remember to pack something like Calpol for little ones!
• Antihistamines – If you’re visiting in the spring and summer in particular, the grounds of Disneyland Paris are full of flowers. They look beautiful but may not be much fun if you have hayfever! If you know it’s something that could impact you, packing some antihistamines is a good idea.
• Cold sore cream – It’s easy to get chapped lips at Disneyland Paris, particularly in very cold or very hot weather, and this can lead to cold sores if you’re prone to them. Packing a cold sore cream like Zovirax can be a good idea – I’ve had to use this on more than one trip to Disneyland Paris!

KT tape

KT tape, or physio tape, is cloth tape that can be applied to your body to support joints that are injured, or to aid recovery. If you’re prone to injuries then we think it’s definitely worth taking, but if you’re not we think you should consider packing some!

Why? Well even if you’re not prone to injuries or weak joints, things can happen at Disneyland Paris. Twisted ankle from stepping off a curb or on the trolley tracks in Disneyland Park. Strained shoulder or back from carrying a park bag all day. Sore ankles and feet from all the walking. And the nice thing about KT tape is that it’s a sort of Swiss Army knife for injuries – regardless of where the injury is, there’s normally a pattern of tape that can provide support. So taking KT tape saves you having to pack a range of potential bandages ‘just in case’! We recommend the KT Pro in particular as we’ve found it’s tough enough to stand up to a full park day but is also kinder to skin and less likely to irritate it.

One thing to note though with KT tape – while it comes pre-cut into strips some types of taping need half strips, so packing a small pair of scissors can also be handy. (These can also be great to have on hand for things like taking tags off clothes, labels off Minnie ears and packaging off toys!). Just make sure if you’re flying, particularly if you’re going to be using hand luggage only, that you use a pair that’s going to be allowed. Something like these small travel scissors might be okay, but be sure to check your airline’s rules before travelling!

Small bag padlock

Disneyland Paris is a magical place. Sadly, it can attract some not so magical people – including pickpockets. They tend to target people when large crowds are gathering, so for the fireworks, or trying to get on the shuttle buses at the end of the day. We recommend trying to keep an eye on your belongings, but realise that’s awkward if you’re wearing a backpack!

If that’s going to be you, we’d recommend investing in something like a small bag padlock. We’ve used ones from Samsonite before and found they worked very well – they’re small and light, but also secure. We’ve also used these when in central Paris, particularly on public transport, for added peace of mind.

If you’d rather not have an obvious padlock on your bag, you could buy a bag with inbuilt locks. We’ve used bags by Pacsafe and find them really good for security, and they also tend to be lightweight and robust enough to stand up to a long park day! What style you want will depend on your needs, but there’s a whole range on Amazon to choose from.

Reusable shopping bag

Let’s face it, in Disneyland Paris you’ll probably be buying stuff. Maybe a lot of stuff, depending on your self-control of lack thereof. As a result, you’ll probably need some shopping bags. But it’s law in France that you can’t get single use plastic bags, so in Disneyland Paris all the shopping bags you can buy are reusable. They’re fun, and great. But if you keep buying them the cost adds up fast!

Packing a small, reusable shopping bag that you can fold down and keep in your park bag can be a real help here. Our favourite brand for this is Nanobag as their bags pack down really small, are super lightweight and are super strong. We’ve also heard good things about Eco Chic bags – they don’t pack down as small but people seem to really like them and they’re a little cheaper. We found having a reusable bag really handy particularly for grabbing items like drinks or snacks from the hotel gift shops.

A really good phone case and / or wrist strap or lanyard

One thing most Disneyland Paris holidays involve nowadays is a lot of mobile phone use – whether that’s checking wait times in the app, taking photos, placing mobile orders for food, or posting to social media about the awesome time you’re having! So with all that use, make sure your phone is protected.

I admit it, I’m clumsy. And having a really good phone case has protected my phone from breakages caused by fumbles in the past! It’s hard to recommend a specific case as that’ll depend on your phone, but I can highly recommend Otterbox cases as I’ve been using them for years! (I particularly like the Defender cases).

You might also want to think about a lanyard or wrist strap for your phone, so it’s easy to have on hand, and it’s also attached to you so it’s less likely to get dropped or fall out somewhere and get lost! We’ve found Orbitkey products good in past, but of course you should get what works best for you and your device. And if you’d like a more secure grip on your phone, then think about adding something like a Popsocket. They do lots of designs, even some cute Disney ones!

Print outs of booking confirmations

Go back a few years and this would have been a no brainer – everyone would have printed documents confirming their travel and hotel reservations and more. Nowadays we can do almost everything from our phones so many people don’t think to take printouts – but technology isn’t perfect!

Here’s the thing – phones can lose charge. Reception can be unstable and flake out at the worse possible moment. Apps and booking systems can refuse to load or develop a glitch. Your phone may even go AWOL (see my point above!) It happens – probably more often than you’d care to imagine! This is where having paper print outs of key booking documents can be a life-saver, it means that you can prove bookings when your device decides to have a funny five minutes. We’d recommend taking paper copies at least of your hotel / package confirmation, travel tickets and booking confirmation, and park ticket booking (if purchased separately). You might also want copies of confirmations of bookings for things like meals or special experiences like My Royal Dream, as the Disneyland Paris app has been known to lose these for no good reason in the past! If you don’t want to take printouts of each one I’d at least take a record of the booking times and confirmation numbers, just in case. And for things stored on your phone like tickets taking screenshots is also a good idea, as it can prove that you had a booking etc in place if the technology then decides to fail!

On a somewhat related note, we like most folks pay for pretty much everything at Disneyland Paris by card, but we always try to take a little bit of cash with us just in case. The card payments system at the parks has been known to go down before now and having some cash might mean you can still buy lunch or something if needed this happens to you! (There as cash machines on site but expect them to charge unless you’ve got a travel money card that includes free cash withdrawals).

So there you go – some of the more unusual things we’ve packed for Disneyland Paris that we’ve found can really improve a trip. Anything to add? Let us know in the comments, and while down there please subscribe to our blog. You’ll receive all our blogs into your inbox as well as a free copy of our Magically Different Guide to Disneyland Paris attraction accessibility (otherwise £3). We’d also love to see you over on our YouTube channel! And if you’d like to support our work, please consider leaving us a tip. Thank you!