A Review on Adventure Gear!
I knew from our last Disney trip I would need to keep as much weight off of my bad shoulder as possible, so I spent a good amount of time looking at hip packs.
Who knew that "fanny packs" aka bum bags (and whatever else you'd like to call 'em) would become popular again?! An item I pretty much sore I'd be caught dead wearing has become one of my favorite accessories.
Three packs were brought to Florida:
Dakine Hot Laps 2L Pack
Travis used my Dakine pack, which since my purchasing it, had been my most favorite pack. This one had ample storage room, you also had a soft-lined pocket for your phone, and it had the ability to hold a water bottle. It was apparent early on that we needed to use packs with the most room so we could store essentials- emergency ponchos, sunscreen stick, lip balm, and money. This pack had plenty of room for Travis' needs about 99% of the time. There was maybe a 1% where we wished we had a bag with us instead due to needing an extra shirt or keeping a hat with us.
Pinch Flat Designs Enduro Pack
This pack became the clear winner for me during the tip. Not only was it roomy enough for me to carry my emergency poncho, sunblock stick, travel-size deodorant, lip balm, and eye drops- it also had room for me to put in a kleenex pouch and my sunglasses! Bonus storage, I used the bungee on top to hold a long sleeve shirt in case I would get cold at sit-down meals or in AC. I used this pack 99% of the trip and really liked it. Plus it was perfect on water rides due to its water-resistant properties. It doesn't have a soft pouch for phone, but it came with a zipper pack that I used to store my phone in and it works slick! (I'm no longer using a ziploc baggie, haha!) I even used the pouch as a clutch when we had dinner at California Grill to keep it classy.
Silver Rider Stitch Works Marine Biologist Pack
Because of how much stuff we had to be able to carry with us, I wasn't able to use this pack as much during the park days as I had hoped. During the day we had to be prepared for everything, and there wasn't enough room in the pack for me to hold everything and a shirt. However, I did use it a couple times when we went in the evening hours when I knew for sure that I wouldn't have to carry sunblock or an extra shirt. It is a very comfortable pack with a good amount of room if I didn't need to carry the kitchen sink with me. (At Disney, you need to be prepared for any/everything.) I like that it's not flashy and the pink color is a fun contrast to the black, so it can go with a lot of outfits! It's water repellent as well which makes it handy for use on rides or other adventures. I will use this pack more for home and rides, but knowing what I know now about Disney in the summer months, I need more storage.
All in all, they were excellent investment pieces and were totally worth the money spent. It was surprising to see how many folks were using hip packs on our trip- there were a lot!
Clothing choices were all aiming towards comfort in hot weather, as a person who wears jeans 99% of the time, I knew I needed to up my shorts game. For reference for Shredly gear in terms of sizing:
I wear a size 0 in the Shredly shorts.
I wear a size Small in most Shredly tops
I'm 5'2" with a short torso/long wingspan and roughly 30" inseam.
Weight- honestly I don't know, but the last time I was weighed I was 116 and some ounces.
Shredly Multi-Sport Shorts were excellent to wear in the Florida heat. I wore my Shredly shorts the entire time we were in Florida minus our dinner at California Grill. I really liked the size pocket with the snap closure, which is where I kept my small wallet. It made it simple to grab and I knew it was there all the time because of the weight. The snap was secure, which made me feel confident that I wouldn't lose my money.I did have first-gen pair of Multi-Sport shorts that did not have a waist adjustment, and that was okay. They were still comfortable and withstood rides and snacks without me feeling like "Gosh, I wish I could let these shorts out!"
I loved how the shorts I purchased worked with pretty much every top I wore, and they brought some fun and pizazz to the daily outfits without looking quite as loud as I typically do on the mountain bike trails.
Shredly has a lot of patterns and colors, in my opinion, something for everyone- colorful, flowers, patterns, you name it!
For tops, most of what I wore were Shredly Honeycomb tanks, and they were absolutely amazing. They were lightweight, comfortable, and had a flattering fit. Not to mention they felt silky soft, too! I loved how they had a lightweight material back to them that really allowed for breathability. I also liked the fact that if I did go on a water ride or got sweaty, they would dry out rather quickly. I'll admit, I did wear a couple multiple times, but usually split the wears between half-days.
I also have to say that I was super impressed with how anti-stain the shirts are, and maybe I just had incredible luck. I was wearing a lighter, mint-colored shirt and ended up getting a little colored soda splatter on it. I dabbed the spots with a wet wipe and it totally disappeared! Then during dinner at Be Our Guest I unknowingly splattered some sauce on my shirt. Again I wet wiped, and there may have been the slightest hint of discoloration, but the heathering of the fabric made it hardly noticeable. I did pre-treat when I got it home, and it looks as good as new. Amazing!!!I also loved the Wheelie Tank from Shredly! I bought two of the same color, one in size Small and XS. I like how long the tank is, and the design on the back is super cute.
Long sleeve shirts that were brought were the Shredly Explorer shirt and my Outdoor Research Reflection LS shirt.
I won't link to the OR shirt because they have since re-designed it or changed the name and I can't find a "current" style/name for it.
So, the Explorer shirt I feel I will have great luck with it back home or if we go to Flordia in the winter again at some point. It was a PERFECT airplane shirt as it ended up being very cool on our flight out. Our first night in Magic Kingdom it was useful, but I found that after that evening that the lighter weight OR shirt worked better and was slightly smaller to pack on top of my hip pack from Pinch Flat.
The Explorer shirt is going to be a casual-fitting shirt, but it does have a feminine fit. It's going to be roomy enough for all of your layering needs. Travis felt the shirt looked too big on me, however, due to my wingspan and shoulders, the size small is what I feel to be the appropriate size. Otherwise, if it were a smaller size it would be tight in the shoulders if I snapped it shut or the sleeves would hit above my wrists.
The OR shirt worked like a charm for many days/nights, and what I love most about it is that it is water repellent to a degree. It's very quick to dry out, which is super handy. I really loved that ALL of my tops had that ability, and really nothing shirt-wise ended up smelling stinky! (Which I thought was an awesome thing.)
Now, another thing I'll talk about randomly is that since the winter I transitioned over to natural deodorant. I feel I'm still in the process of finding what I like the best, but I do know that the kind I use the most can cause some discoloration on my shirts due to the oils.
At this point, my go-to deodorant is Schmidt's Charcoal + Magnesium as it (imo) really helps neutralize odor and goes on fairly easily. I've found that their rose-scented one really needed to be warmed up a lot before it could be applied, and if it wasn't soft enough I rashed my pits.
For reapplying during the day, I got travel-sized deodorants from Native in the Coconut & Vanilla scent. I tried this deodorant for a few weeks prior to our trip and after a day at work, I felt like I could smell a little...smell. So I figured that this wouldn't be my go-to to start the day, but I could reapply with it if my original application failed.For traveling, I used my Dakine carry on roller bag and used my new Supacaz Swag Bag for my additional carry on. I packed the backpack fairly light, primarily only using it for fluid storage so I could bring back items from our vacation rather than shipping them.
It worked super slick, and I really liked that I could buckle it across my chest and waist. There was plenty of storage as well, which was awesome. I, unfortunately, found it covered in someone's lunch remnants after it was under the seat on the airplane, but it was super easy to clean by tossing in the washer. Good as new!
So there you have it, a detailed list of some awesome products that I tried out for multi-use during our trip to Disney! I had a great time putting these items to the test during our busy days in the Disney Parks and know that they will work awesome for any future adventuring we will do.
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