Price Increases on Disney Summer Essentials: Where to Find What You Need for Less

If you’ve been to Disney World between May and October, you already know what you need in your bag to be a bit more comfortable. Fans, hats, cooling towels, sunscreen, sunglasses, etc. If you’re visiting with kids, cooling essentials aren’t negotiable. Since the heat and humidity are already here, we thought we’d check prices on the most popular summer items and were surprised at the prices. So, we put together a list of a few (way cheaper) similar items on Amazon.

DISCLAIMER: We do not have an active Amazon storefront or any other way to make money on anything you buy on this list. Anything we’re showing in this article is stuff our team uses and is just here for comparison.

The blue Cooling Fans with the styrofoam blades, above, were $24.99 in April of 2025, and are $27.99 now. That’s an increase of 12% in 13 months.

Mickey Stroller Fans, above, were $21.99 in April of 2025, and are $24.99 now. That’s an increase of 13.5% in 13 months.

Cheaper Options

You can definitely find the items above for less, but this is an example of similar products you can order ahead of your trip and save money. Especially the water misting fans! Places like Walmart, Five Below, and even Dollar Tree have less expensive options. We’ve ordered the 3-speed Mickey Clip On fan for friends with strollers and it worked just fine. If you’re coming June to September and you’ll have a stroller, just get two.

The Rechargeable Handheld Fans are great, but there are 5-speed versions that are cheaper as long as you don’t care about having the mouse ears.

The Mickey Cooling Towels, above, were $19.99 in April of 2025, and are now $22.99. That’s an increase of 15% in 13 months. For ONE cooling towel! Sure, it’s cute, but so is saving money. That’s a whole Lightning Lane Single Pass! A family of four would spend $97.48 if each person got just one towel. No.

Cheaper Options

We have these, we have given these to friends visiting the Parks, and they even come with a carabiner clip and a resealable storage bag. That’s less than $4.00 a towel and you can surely find cheaper online. Our advice? Don’t assume you won’t need one and get here and regret it. They work, so plan to bring a few no matter where you buy them. Throw a little ice water in the bag during the day and suddenly you aren’t as angry or ready to cry over the humidity. They really work.

Sure, one FuelRod only charges your phone about 37% (aren’t you totally shocked that we don’t get sponsorships?!?), but once you have one, you can swap it out as many times as you want at no additional charge. Just make sure that you have one or two with you when you arrive, or you’ll be paying $40 for one new kit including the cables.

Cheaper Options

A little Amazon search will show you that two new kits are $60, making each one $30. Way better that in the Parks.

There are FuelRod machines all over Walt Disney World and none of them charge for swaps.

• 9 Magic Kingdom
• 5 Hollywood Studios
• 3 Animal Kingdom
• 8 EPCOT
• 1 or 2 at nearly every Disney Resort

To our knowledge, Disney is the only place with free swaps. There are FuelRod locations at the Universal Parks, but you’ll pay around $3 for each swap.

What’s your summer essential item?