Planning your first Disney cruise can feel as overwhelming as navigating through a sea of enchanted characters. When traveling with kids, it’s all about convenience and making it fun. Everyone who goes on a cruise will most likely know to pack THE essentials: sunscreen, water shoes, beach towels, hats and reusable water bottles. Don’t worry—I’ve got the inside scoop on the must-haves that is unique to a Disney cruise and will ensure a memorable and smooth sailing adventure!
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.
1. Fun Door and Cabin Decorations
The magic of Disney is everywhere in the cruise ship. It is a lot of fun when you join in on the Disney shenanigans by decorating your cabin doors. You can be as creative as you want. Think of a theme: princess, pirate, villains, your favorite Disney movie, or simply stick with Mickey and Friends characters. The popular way of doing it is using magnets. You can get customized magnets from Etsy but Amazon has A LOT of items as well.
- Captain Mouse Cruise Door Magnets: https://amzn.to/4ePVD4A
- Captain Minnie Cruise Door Magnets: https://amzn.to/4gUTPZV
On our first Disney cruise, we also brought Disney themed toy magnets to keep our twin toddlers entertained. The cabin walls are magnetic so they had a ton of space for play. Additional toys that were a hit with us are the window cling stickers and finger puppets linked below.
- Melissa & Doug Wooden Mickey Mouse Character Magnet: https://amzn.to/3Nekxig
- Sea Animals Gel Clings for Kids: https://amzn.to/3zJNuQ9
- Disney Mickey & Friends Finger Puppets: https://amzn.to/4eA8XtZ (great bath toy, too!)
2. Pirate Costumes
Disney cruises have themed nights and one of them is pirate night! Most participate by dressing up at dinner time and you can choose to go all out or simply wearing pirate themed shirts. Family matching is always fun and below are the best pirate costumes to consider.
- Dad pirate costume: https://amzn.to/3zxQxek
- Mom pirate costume: https://amzn.to/3zxQxek
- Toddler boy pirate costume: https://amzn.to/4dOrlyh
- Toddler girl pirate costume: https://amzn.to/3ZQ3Dyf
It’s also very important to consider bringing costumes that won’t take up a lot of luggage space. A few and fun accessories can work as well so consider the options below:
- Pirate accessories for adults: https://amzn.to/3Yd3SRB
- Pirate costumes for kids (twins): https://amzn.to/3XVoM7o
3. Fish Extender and Pixie Dusting Items
Fish Extender and Pixie Dusting are two ways to bring Disney magic with your fellow cruisers. These are ways to surprise them with special Disney gifts.
Fish Extender is a more organized way of exchanging gifts. Fellow cruisers usually find each other on social media forums, like Facebook groups, and exchange their cabin room numbers. They buy gifts for each other and leave them in each other’s fist extender hanging organizers outside their cabin doors.
Pixie Dusting gives you the freedom to choose randomly who you want to gift. This is what we did on our first cruise. Our twin toddlers found decorated doors with fish extender hangers and dropped off little gifts to fellow cruisers.
People may choose to bring elaborate, expensive gift items or for those on a budget and want to minimize packing, there are a ton of small gift items you can consider. If you plan to participate, again, make sure to bring fish extender hanging organizers.
- Disney fish extender hanger with pockets: https://amzn.to/3XQF6GC
- Popular option of hanger that you can design: https://amzn.to/4eOexJ4
4. Disney Cruise Lanyards and Card Holders
Lastly, it’s important not to lose your cruise IDs and these cardholders are great to ensure everyone has theirs on them. They are very handy plus you can hang them on your magnetic hooks when taking off in your cabin room.
- Family set of cruise lanyards: https://amzn.to/3ZPp9Ty
- Mickey Mouse lanyard and ID holder: https://amzn.to/3Y7TXxM
- Disney princess themed lanyard and ID holder: https://amzn.to/3Uj4lk3
5. Items to Get Organized
I live for being organized and neat. These items are key whenever we travel and were especially helpful during our first Disney cruise as a family. The magnetic hooks will help you keep clothes off the floor and hang important items like your lanyards, hats and bags. The laundry bag made it easier to pack up at the end of the cruise. Lastly, a touching night light that is wireless and rechargeable was a life-saver. It gets really dark in the cabin at night and having a couple of the wireless night lights with us helped when we needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
- Strong Magnetic Hooks for Hanging: https://amzn.to/3zxQxek
- Laundry bags: https://amzn.to/3TX8pGd
- Night light: https://amzn.to/3ZKPOkx
Set Sail for Adventure!
With these must-haves in tow, you’re all set for an unforgettable first-time Disney cruise. So, pack your bags, prepare for magic, and enjoy the wonderful experience that awaits!
