We Went to Disney World, and These Aldi Products Were Must-Haves
Packing is essential to a good vacation. Leave something behind, and it can throw a real hitch into your plans. Years ago, I forgot to pack overnight pull-ups for a young preschooler for a family camping trip, and it was late evening and we were far from any stores. We managed to find one small grocery store miles from our campground that had pull-ups and hadn’t yet closed for the day, but it was an ordeal. Since that fateful adventure, I always make a detailed packing list for every overnight family trip we go on so I don’t forget anything important.
This year, my family went to Disney World. It was a big trip we’d planned and saved for years to go on, and it was vital to think carefully about what to bring along. We deliberated about what kinds of luggage we’d need, what sorts of day packs and bags to bring into the parks, what sorts of sun protection we’d need, and how we’d charge our phones, to name just a few things.
Of course, being an Aldi blogger who uses a lot of Aldi products in my day-to-day life, I realized that my family ended up using quite a few different Aldi products during our time at Walt Disney World. Here’s a roundup of some Aldi products we brought along with us. If you’ve used Aldi gear on a Disney vacation, let us know about it in the comments at the end of this post. Just keep our community guidelines in mind.
Note: some of these products were limited-time Aldi Finds, while others are Seasonal Items or everyday Regular Buy products. I denote what’s what in this list. If a product isn’t currently in stock at your local Aldi store, you can’t order it online from Aldi.
Lacura Sunscreen
Sunscreen is a must at Disney World. The sun’s rays are intense in Disney parks, and you don’t want to deal with a painful sunburn on vacation. I packed several tubes of Lacura sunscreen lotion from Aldi. (Aldi sunscreen also comes in a spray can version, but I wanted sunscreen we could easily apply in our resort room or while standing in ride lines or other crowded situations, so I left the spray at home.) This is a Seasonal Item Aldi tends to stock during the warmer months. The 3-ounce squeeze tubes have plenty of sunscreen, yet they are a small enough size that they’re easy to tuck into a backpack or day bag so you can reapply it throughout your day in the park. (We also used some Daily Facial Sunscreen, from Aldi’s cousin Trader Joe’s.)
Read our full review of Lacura Sunscreen here.
Aldi Snacks and Breakfast Foods
A Disney vacation is expensive, and one way we reduced costs around the margins was by bringing some of our own breakfast and snack foods in our checked luggage … mostly Ziploc-style bags filled with granola bars, fiber bars, nut bars, and the like that I purchased in advance from Aldi and Trader Joe’s. We also placed an Aldi Instacart order the day we arrived at our resort, ordering additional quick and easy breakfast foods such as fresh fruit, pastries, and juice delivered right to our hotel.
This not only saved us money over buying breakfast on Disney property, but it also allowed us to eat as we got ready, helping us get out the door faster in the mornings so we could rope drop some of our top-priority rides in the parks.
You can read our full post about how we saved money by ordering Aldi groceries via Instacart delivery at Disney World here.
Aldi Licensed Disney Mini Backpack
In early May of 2024, Aldi sold a whole collection of limited-time Aldi Find licensed Disney gear that included hats, water bottles, shirts, tennis shoes, mouse ear headbands, and mini backpacks. The timing was perfect for our trip, and we had a heyday picking up items to take with us.
One standout was a mini backpack that looks a lot like popular name-brand Loungefly mini backpacks. Loungefly mini backpacks routinely cost $70 to $100, but we bought the Aldi dupe for just $14.99. The Aldi mini backpacks came in different designs, including Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, and Donald Duck. We bought the Minnie version — a mini Minnie backpack, which has a cute ring to it. It has 3D features similar to many Loungefly bags and is just the right size for holding a rain poncho, wallet, glasses case, lip balm, and other items you need for a successful day in a Disney park. In a pinch, you can even put a small plastic water bottle inside (we know, because we did).
We didn’t realize just how big of a deal Loungefly backpacks are at Disney World until we actually arrived in the parks. A lot of people wear Loungeflys at Disney. We saw them everywhere, all the time, in multiple different designs and patterns. At first glance, our Aldi mini backpack looks almost indistinguishable from a Loungefly. It was fun to wear it on vacation knowing we paid a lot less for it.
Read our full review comparing the Aldi mini backpack to a name-brand Loungefly mini backpack here.
Aldi Licensed Disney Bucket Hat
A good hat can be an essential part of protecting yourself from the Florida sun. Licensed Disney bucket hats and baseball caps were another part of that huge drop of the limited-time Aldi Find Disney gear that happened in May of 2024. Being a child of the 80s and 90s, it’s interesting to see bucket hats becoming trendy again. I picked up an Aldi reversible bucket hat with Mickey face silhouettes. It helped keep the sun off my head and out of my eyes, and keep raindrops off my glasses, and its soft and compact foldable design made it easy to stuff in a backpack when I wasn’t wearing it. No one had any idea I bought it for just $5.99 at a discount grocery store.
Read more of our thoughts on the bucket hat here.
Aldi Licensed Disney Ears Headband
Among the most popular souvenirs at Disney World are mouse ear headbands. The name-brand headbands are sold in a variety of colors and styles, with endless themes for different characters and movies. These headbands aren’t cheap at Disney, though. Most of the ones we saw cost around $35. However, we picked up a pair of limited-time Aldi Find $4.99 ears at Aldi in May of 2024.
The Aldi ears initially look identical to the ears we saw sold at Disney World. Upon closer inspection, we noticed one important difference: the Aldi ears appear to be glued to the headband, while the Disney ears appeared to be sewn onto their headbands. The headbands sold at Disney World looked like they might be a little more durable, with the ears less likely to fall off after lots of wear and tear. One of the ears on our Aldi headband was a little loose — but still firmly attached — by the end of our vacation.
Despite the cheaper construction, we still feel like the Aldi headband is a great deal at just $5. After all, you really only need a pair of ears to last for the duration of your vacation, as it’s unlikely you’ll wear them a lot at home. Also, the Aldi ears don’t pose any problems that some glue and DIY efforts can’t fix.
Read more about the ear headbands here.
Aldi Licensed Disney Water Bottle
We tended to pack small plastic water bottles in our day bags or pick up free ice water in the parks. We also packed some metal vacuum insulated water bottles in our luggage to use when we were in our resort room. This $9.99 limited-time Aldi Find Mickey face water bottle I bought from Aldi in May of 2024 was among those water bottles we used on our trip. It keeps water cold, holds a decent amount, and is easy to use, clean, and fill.
Read more about the water bottle here.
Aldi Disney Character Earrings
The final bit of limited-time Aldi Find Disney licensed gear we bought at Aldi back in May 2024 were some Mickey and Minnie face earrings for just $4.99. These are cute little earrings with jewel accents on Mickey’s ears and on Minnie’s bow. They were perfect for showing off our Disney style in the parks.
Read more about the earrings here.
Gardenline Garden Hat
As mentioned earlier, sun protection is so important when you’re on a Disney vacation. Florida, especially when it’s not winter, is hot, and the sun is bright. One family member opted to use the Gardenline Garden Hat I purchased as a limited-time Aldi Find for $8.99 from Aldi two years ago. It offers plenty of shade for your face and head, with an adjustable chin strap. Plus, it can fold up and fit compactly inside a backpack when you aren’t wearing it.
When our family member met the Disney character Pocahontas in Animal Kingdom, Pocahontas stated, “I like how your helmet folds up.” Pocahontas approves, so there you go.
Read our full review of the Gardenline Garden Hat here.
Aldi Grogu Mandalorian Battery Pack
You use your phone for a lot these days at Disney World. The My Disney Experience app lets you reserve a Lightning Lane or a spot in a ride’s Virtual Queue, order quick service food, check into your resort room, check in for your table service dining reservations, check ride wait times all over the parks, and find your way around the parks, to name just a few things. This means — for better or worse — that you are likely to spend a good deal of time on your phone at Disney World.
When we sat down for lunch or dinner in the parks, we often charged our phones with portable power banks. One of the best ones in our supply was a little Mandalorian-themed battery pack I bought as a limited-time Aldi Find at Aldi in December of 2020. Since Star Wars is owned by Disney, it seemed fitting to bring Grogu along for our phone charging needs.
This is the way.
Boulder Gallon Storage Bags
Gallon Ziploc-style storage bags are an underrated but vital part of a lot of travel. I used Aldi Regular Buy Boulder Gallon Storage Bags to store granola bars from home in our luggage, which we then ate for quick breakfasts and snacks in our resort room. Those bags were also useful for storing toiletries such as shampoo or body wash that we didn’t want to leak or spill in our luggage. (I double bagged our toiletries, putting them first into Boulder storage bags and then into plastic grocery bags for extra protection against leaking.) Also, after the rainstorms that are common in Florida, we put our damp rain ponchos in Aldi Boulder storage bags inside our backpacks so they wouldn’t get everything else in our bags wet.
Boulder Trash Bags
Another underrated travel item, some family members packed Aldi Regular Buy Boulder Trash Bags to store dirty laundry in. It helps to keep the sweaty, stinky stuff separate from the clean stuff among your luggage.
Lacura Oatmeal Body Wash
I love this Regular Buy Lacura Oatmeal Body Wash. It’s gentle on sensitive skin, with a mild and clean-smelling fragrance, and it is great for the entire family. I didn’t mess with travel-sized toiletries due to the length of our trip, so I brought the entire Lacura bottle with us and set it in our resort room’s shower for my whole family to use all week. (Our shower was stocked with complementary full-sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, which I tried, but I found them to be underwhelming, so I’m glad I brought our own toiletries.)
Read our full review of the Aldi body wash here.
Honorable Mention: Live in Style Sling Bag
Aldi sold a surprisingly spacious sling bag in May of 2024 that includes a pocket that pulls out and holds a small water bottle. This seemed like a great hands-free way to tote a phone, wallet, water bottle, and other small items around Disney parks. Ultimately, we left this bag at home because it wasn’t big enough to hold a rain poncho — at least not the thicker reusable rain ponchos we purchased for the trip. However, if rain ponchos aren’t important to you, or if you have a smaller poncho, this bag might work well for you.
Read our full review of the sling bag here.
What Aldi products have you used on a Disney World vacation? Are you planning a Disney vacation and taking some Aldi items along? Leave us a comment below.
