Packing: What papers do you bring in this digital world?

I’ve read that some people bring print outs of Touring Plans, some bring print out of ADR confirmations, ticket confirmations… Since everything is on the apps/magic bands these days (ADR, park tickets, extra party tickets, Fast Passes & touring plans on the lines app) - do you still bring paper print outs JUST IN CASE? What do you suggest I bring and what is a waste?

I used to do that until maybe my last vacation… I’d print out hotel reservations, airline boarding passes, other reservations, etc… and never need them. If you’ve got a smart phone with a data plan, you’ll always have access to your stuff. Plus, a lot of places can just bring up your reservation with a credit card as a plan B.

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I print my touring plans because coming from the UK I’m relying on WiFi to access them on my phone. That’s about it.

I do screenshots of any documents I would’ve printed before. I do this in case the wifi isn’t working, or MDE isn’t working, or whatever. I also find it’s often easier to pull up a picture than make any app work. I even do this with my touring plans. I know that if I access it on the app I can refresh and update it, but sometimes I like to refer to the original.

I will usually create a separate folder in my photos, and call it “WDW Mar 2019 Reference” or something similar. This way I’m not sorting through all of my trip photos to find a certain document or screenshot.

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I print out the reservations, just in case. Also to show to the DME people, since we don’t get a confirmation email from them.

I also take my insurance documents.

And Touring Plans.

And ESTA confirmations and flight itinerary.

Basically anything we may need. I don’t want to rely on WiFi to retrieve things.

And I hate using my phone for stuff like that. I’m just really scared of running up huge bills for data, ever since DS did that - about $500 worth of charges because he’d over-ridden the settings in error. Luckily he was 14 and DH argued that the phone company should have blocked it way sooner - the contract actually stated they would stop at £50 ($62 or so), and they failed to do so. So they waived the charges. But it scared the c**p out of me ever since. I use my iPad, so if there’s no WiFi, I can’t access anything.

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I don’t print anything. I’ve never needed conformation numbers for hotel/dining reservations and if I did I could just access them from my phone.

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When traveling for pleasure, I like having two independent ways of getting at my travel documentation/information, so I will have printouts of all important reservation confirmations. When I travel for business I just rely on apps, because I have the corporate travel agency as my backup.

I print the daily itinerary only because my DH prefers having a hard copy and it does list some info for our beach stay/rental car as a back up. Everything else I screenshot and have a notes file on my phone with all of the important numbers. I also make a little abbreviated version of my TP that I will set as my phone’s lock screen so that I don’t have to constantly open a file on my phone, I can just tap and see it.

Funny, this was my to-do this week. Collect all the info and put it in my phone. :smile:

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I used to print everything, and not I just save documents in the cloud and add confirmation numbers to my calendar on the appropriate dates. I’ve never needed them either, but I like to have them saved just in case.

I print out my mousekeeping envelopes (cause I’m a geek) and a few copies of my spreadsheet of my TP (easier to quick-look at them during the day, but they get beat up with all the folding/refolding so I end up getting only a day or two of use)

I used to print out everything, but it turns out none of it was ever needed.

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I like having a hard copy of my TPs. I also have an all encompassing spreadsheet that includes our overall schedule and reservation numbers (prints on 2 - 3 pages). I put them in plastic protectors and bring the spreadsheet and corresponding TP in my park bag.

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I print out a complete vacation calendar for DH and DD10, then print a daily miniature with TS, FP, a couple characters locations we wanna see, and anything we don’t wanna forget (like getting a French copy of every map for DD :roll_eyes:) they get put in CC size laminates for DD10s purse. Keeps us from using our phone battery as much and she doesn’t have to ask what the plans are.
P.s. do the resorts have maps in French?? :rofl:

screen shots of reservations, a printout of TP - I like the ease of the tiny map, and having a print version keeps me off my phone

I really like this idea for older kids!

I love the idea of screen shots saved in an album on my phone. Just saved a bunch! Thanks guys. I was not looking forward to bringing a ton of paperwork.

This. I saved everything as a PDF to my phone. Only thing you need is your ME bands and paper if you’re doing that.

I bring print outs of all ADR Confirmations and a print out of my FP+ reservations shown on the MDE website … just to have some proof in case things are somehow missing or deleted from the DE website.

I bring a folder in my personal bag with boarding passes, car rental confimation, insurance papers. I don’t worry about Disney. They have many redundencies in their system, emails galore.

I bring the other items because they are all from different sources so instead of scanning or trying to group them all digitally, I find it simpler and faster to just print the confirmations. Faster for referencing in a pinch too.

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I suspect those are famous last words for some who may have lost an ADR or FP due to an MDE glitch …

It never happened to me, but I have seen posts on various boards (I don’t know if they are true, but I wouldn’t want to take any chances).

I have been the person standing at the podium at Disney and they can’t find my reservation. I always bring a printed copy. It gets thrown out once we check in and are seated at the ADR.