15 Water Park Essentials for Kids
You’ll Wish You Packed

This is the single most useful item on this list, and it’s the one most families underpack. A UPF 50+ rash guard means you’re not reapplying sunscreen every 90 minutes to arms, shoulders, and backs while kids are in and out of water all day. It also protects against the very real and very miserable problem of getting a sunburn through a wet white t-shirt, which absolutely happens. They’re worth buying for the whole family, not just the kids.

Look for long-sleeve, quick-dry options — short sleeves don’t do much for shoulders, and a shirt that stays wet and heavy defeats the purpose.

Concrete pool decks in full sun get brutally hot — hot enough to blister bare feet in under a minute on a July afternoon in Florida. Water shoes also help on rough pool surfaces, uneven splash pad areas, and any areas with loose pebble or sand. Kids run. They don’t think about the ground they’re running on. The shoes do that work for them. You want something quick-draining and lightweight that won’t get waterlogged and heavy.

Sunscreen at a water park is a different ask than sunscreen at a regular park. You need something water-resistant and easy to reapply over wet skin without a full production. The stick format is the practical winner — applies without mess, doesn’t run into eyes, and takes up almost no space in a wet bag. A spray is good for quick coverage on larger areas and works well for reapplying on squirmy kids. Bring both if you can.

The locker question at water parks is real: pay $20–$30 to rent one and hike back to it constantly, or carry your stuff and risk everything getting soaked? The third option — a proper dry bag — is the one most families discover only after a phone or wallet gets ruined in a regular backpack at a splash zone. A compact dry bag keeps phones, wallets, sunscreen, and a snack completely dry all day. For a full family day, the ultralight dry pack gives you more room and wears like a real backpack.

Hotel bath towels are bulky, heavy, and slow to dry — not ideal for a day where you’re in and out of water constantly. A microfiber quick-dry towel packs down to almost nothing, dries fast enough to use more than once during the day, and clips easily to a bag when not in use. Bring one per person. The personal microfiber towel is a step up in quality if you want something that holds up across many trips; the standard quick-dry option is solid and more budget-friendly.

Even if you have a dry bag for your main gear, a waterproof phone pouch is worth having separately so your phone stays accessible around your neck at all times. You can still use the touch screen through the pouch — checking wait times, looking at maps, taking photos — without pulling your phone out in a splash zone. It eliminates the choice between “carry my phone and risk it” and “leave it in the locker.”

A dedicated waterproof waist pack is different from a regular hip pack — the fully sealed construction means you can wear it into wave pools and around splash zones without worrying. It’s the move for keeping a little cash, IDs, and cards with you at the slides so you’re not hiking back to your bag every time someone needs something. The touch-sensitive screen window means you can still use your phone through it.

Kids dehydrate faster than they realize when they’re active and in the sun, and the default park option — a $5 bottle of water that’s warm within 20 minutes — isn’t doing anyone favors. An insulated bottle keeps water cold for hours, which actually makes kids more likely to drink it. Most water parks have free water fountains or allow outside beverages. Bring one per child, fill it up when you arrive, and top it off throughout the day.

If you have a child in diapers or pull-ups, swim diapers are non-negotiable — most parks require them by policy, and for good reason. Regular diapers don’t work in water (they absorb water and expand dramatically, which is as bad as it sounds), and regular pull-ups aren’t pool-appropriate either. Bring more than you think you need. Between changing after potty trips and keeping a backup on hand, one or two extra is always the right call.

This one surprises people — why would you need a cooling towel at a water park? Because the time between slides, the lunch break, and the long wait in line on a concrete deck can all get genuinely hot even when you’ve been wet all morning. A cooling towel wraps around the neck and drops perceived temperature quickly. It’s also useful for when a kid overheats and needs to calm down fast without going back in the water. For more strategies, see our full guide on how to beat the heat at theme parks with kids.

Food rules vary by water park. Disney water parks allow outside food and nonalcoholic drinks within Disney’s published rules, while Universal’s policy is more limited. Check your specific water park’s food policy before packing a full snack bag. Think portable, non-melting, easy to eat without utensils — granola bars, fruit pouches, crackers, dried mango, that kind of thing. Pack them in reusable snack bags to keep things organized in a wet environment. A spill-proof snack cup is useful for younger kids who tend to dump half their food on the pool deck. Keep travel wipes handy for sticky hands between snacks and slides.

Water parks are fun and also a little rough on kids. Scraped knees from pool edges, blisters from new water shoes, stray splinters on wooden deck areas, headaches from sun exposure — the list of minor first aid moments is longer than you’d think. A small kit with adhesive bandages, blister patches, pain reliever, and a couple of antiseptic wipes covers most of what actually comes up. We keep one in the bottom of the bag on every park day. For a deeper look at what to include, check our full theme park first aid kit guide.

This is the most underrated item on this entire list and the one parents are most likely to skip until they’ve had a bad experience. A wet bathing suit combined with walking long distances between attractions creates friction — and it gets worse over the course of a full day. Inner thighs, underarms, the edge of a swim shirt — all of it adds up. Apply before you get in the water and reapply at lunch. Kids don’t usually complain until it’s already a problem, so getting ahead of it is worth the 15 seconds it takes.

Every time. Without exception. A soaking wet bathing suit in an air-conditioned car for a 45-minute drive back to the hotel is miserable for kids, and kids who are miserable make the end of an otherwise great day much harder than it needs to be. A simple t-shirt, shorts, and underwear per kid takes up almost no room and changes the tone of the ride home completely. Pack them in their own zip bag to keep them separate from wet gear. While you’re at it, pack a few extra zip bags — they’re endlessly useful for separating wet swimsuits from dry things on the way back.

Phone batteries take a beating on a park day — GPS navigation to the park, bright-screen photography, mobile ticketing, looking up wait times, and general kid management all drain faster than expected. Add the heat, which affects battery performance, and a full day at a water park will often have phones in the red by mid-afternoon. A power bank means you don’t have to choose between having a camera for the day and a working phone for the drive home. Keep it in your dry bag and charge it overnight.