During a recent visit to Disneyland, we noticed that several families were wearing Camelbaks, the water filled backpacks that are often popular with hikers and bicyclists.
At first, the idea of bringing a Camelbak seemed excessive. Does anyone really need (or want to) carry that much water with them at Disneyland? But as the day wore on and the temperature continued to rise, I couldn’t help but think that this was a brilliant idea.
From a cost perspective, you would be amazed at how much you can spend on drinks during a hot day. When we got home, we added up the cost of buying drinks everyday and realized that we had spent approximately $70 per day just to stay hydrated. We were shocked! When you’re in the parks, you don’t always realize how much you are spending on the little things and bottles of water and soda really add up fast.
The packs range in cost depending on where you buy them and what brand you get. The Camelbak brand costs about $35 and up, but you can find other brands of hydration packs at Wal-Mart, Target, and other big retailers. We recently purchased a few for $20 in Target’s camping section and I’m told that they often go on clearance after the back to school sale ends for as low as $5.
The adult packs typically hold 2 liters and a child’s size holds one liter of liquid. You can use drink mixes like Kool-Aid singles, Crystal Light singles, Lipton singles, or even Mio to flavor your water as well.
The various styles of adult packs have multiple pockets for holding whatever you need to carry. A friend has two different packs, a small red 1 liter pack and a large pale blue 2 liter pack. The larger pack has one large pocket, great for storing rain gear, snacks, extra napkins, etc, and one small pocket just the right size for park maps, autograph books, pens, extra pins, pressed pennies, and other small items.
I have a few recommendations for using the packs. First, nearly all of the packs are made for use with both water, flavored waters, and in the case of a pack we got from Target, even beer was listed as acceptable.
If you use Kool-aid or another powdered drink mix, you will need to rinse the bladders out each night and allow them to dry. Camelbak makes a cleaning kit with drop in tablets and special scrub brushes, even one that will clean out the tube from end to end.
If you don’t want to leave the bladders out to dry every night and your room has a refrigerator, you can rinse them and refill them with clean water before putting them in the fridge overnight. I wouldn’t add the flavoring until just before you leave for the day, but filling the bladders the night before does make it easy to grab them and go.
In the end, this is a very economical way to keep the whole family hydrated and odds are that your family really won’t miss the soda that you don’t buy.
