Do You Unpack at Disney?

[Oz-kateer]

Hi team - this is just a sort of survey to see if my family are oddities....

The Americans on the boards seem to be complaining about lack of drawer space in the rebusrbished rooms at some of the resorts and are asking "but how do we unpack?" It's as though they empty their suitcases into the drawers etc.

Am I the onloy person who can't be bothered and just lives out of the suitcase?

I do hang a few things up, and things will sort of end up in drawers sometimes during the trip, but largely I just leave everything in the bags - except shoes, they do come out. And the cossie which just sort of goes between drying over the shower rail or being worn in the pool.

Whenever I've travelled with other Australians it seems that we always just left things in our bags - is unpacking upon arrival an American thing?

 

[PrincessInOz]

If I'm staying at a hotel for less than 3 nights, I don't bother unpacking and live out of the suitcase.

For anything 4 nights or more, I unpack.

But then, I'm a very light packer (my last trip in May with DH and DS, our checked singular bag going across weighed 10 kilos for all 3 of us) and unpacking and repacking is very simple.

 

[shushh]

We are also not "unpackers". We tend to put the "dirty" stuff in the drawers so I can keep track of when I have to do laundry!

But the Americans seem to hate doing that as well!

We also travel very light.

 

[Jade+3]

We use packing cubes, so all I do is throw the packing cubes into the drawers. We have one each, plus a couple of larger ones for the bulkier items. Toiletries get put in the bathroom and everything else stays in the case.

 

[aussietravellers]

We always unpack (unless we are only somewhere for a couple of days) but when we get to the hotel, first thing is to get everything out of the cases, put them in the drawers and hang and then put the cases away, either in the wardrobe or hide them somewhere (if that's possible, )

I often wonder how on earth people live out of their cases How much room that must take up having two or three suitcases open in a hotel room We do not travel light, one to two suitcases each so to have that many suitcases open and out in the room, its much tidier and less cluttered to put everything away and get the cases out of the way. Gives more space in the hotel room

So no, it's not an American thing

 

[lovintheland]

If it's more than a couple of days we always unpack. With some of the kids sharing cases they end up a nightmare if they live out of those

 

[DizOz]

We only ever unpack the things that hang in the cupboard. Clothes packed in drawers we leave in our bags. Dirty clothes we always take a thick rubbish bag to separate them form clean clothes when we moving to a new city/hotel. It also doubles as a laundry bag when doing the laundry.

 

[kyl]

Unpack if its more than a few nights. I am planning on unpacking for sure with 14nights booked in the one resort. Three children and three adults between two rooms, it would be a nightmare trying to live out of suitecases. I have brought some hanging storage things from the reject shop for our shoes and odds and ends.

 

[heidispidi]

I will end up unpacking on this trip, if only to be able to see the clothes that I brought with me. If I don't unpack, I take the clothes from the top of the suitcase, and end up finding my favourite items down the bottom of the case, when I'm unpacking, back at home!

Anyone know how much drawer/hanging space there are in Hojo Premium rooms?

 

[platypus67]

Generally, no I don't unpack. Maybe this time as we will be there 12 nights, but doubtful. We pack the bare minimum as I don't mind doing laundry on vacation so it is usually pretty easy to keep things in the cases. One for DD and one between DH and myself.

 

[chickyann]

I will end up unpacking on this trip, if only to be able to see the clothes that I brought with me. If I don't unpack, I take the clothes from the top of the suitcase, and end up finding my favourite items down the bottom of the case, when I'm unpacking, back at home!

Anyone know how much drawer/hanging space there are in Hojo Premium rooms?

I recall hanging a lot of our T Shirts & my girls sun dresses up after we washed at the HoJo, so there must have been quite a few hangers & a fair bit of hanging space behind the door.

 

[chickyann]

We use packing cubes, so all I do is throw the packing cubes into the drawers. We have one each, plus a couple of larger ones for the bulkier items. Toiletries get put in the bathroom and everything else stays in the case.

Where did you get your packing cubes from? They sound helpful

 

[Oz-kateer]

You can buy packing cubes at pretty much any decent luggage shop (not a handbag shop) and camping stores sell them too. Sometimes store like Big W and KMart will sell them but I didn't think the quality looked good. In KMart, the zipper on the display one was broken - didn't exactly entice me to buy.

I found these ones to be good value and good quality:

http://www.gogogear.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=3463

(they have various combinations of sizes, check further on the site)

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

We use the Eagle Creek packing cubes:- http://theluggageprofessionals.com.au/eagle-creek-pack-it-folder-18.html

We have 2 18" ones for the adults and 2 15" ones for the kids, plus the little zip up ones for socks and jocks.

We used them last US trip and they were amazing. Saved so much space and kept things from needing ironing.

As for unpacking, I don't normally. We just live out of the cases. I do hang a couple of things but other than that all in the cases.

 

[Stitchnut]

We NEVER unpack, but just take out what we need. We take along a bottle of wrinkle release spray and freshen the outfit for the next day and hang that up overnight. As for toiletries, each of us has a ziploc with our name written on it in sharpie and we take that into the bathroom with us. When we are done, it goes back into the suitcase. For dirty clothes, we bring a seperate bag for that and put things in when needed. We even put our own pillows back into bags and place them on a shelf. The thought of something accidentally falling on the floor or in the sink. Ok... I'm probably a little too picky.

 

[Kalice]

wrinkle release spray WOW, never have heard of this but it sounds great. Anybody know where I can get this. I am all for absolute minimisation of ironing.

I do unpack, our clothes at least, if we are staying somewhere for more than 3 nights. I find putting a couple of suitcases away can give valuable space. Plus I am a very messy person when it comes to suitcases, it all just ends up a jumbled mess.

I wish we packed less, for our last US trip we had one suitcase each. Plus a carry on. Although, all the winter stuff seemed to take sooo much space.

 

[aussietravellers]

We take along a bottle of wrinkle release spray and freshen the outfit for the next day and hang that up overnight.

Oh I have never heard of wrinkle release spray, must look into that . Where do you get that from?

As for toiletries, each of us has a ziploc with our name written on it in sharpie and we take that into the bathroom with us. When we are done, it goes back into the suitcase.

OH I could not be bothered to do that, it would remind me of boarding school having to take our toiletries to the shower then back to our room We just have ours arranged neatly on the shelf in near the sink (or under the sink if there is a shelf there) and the shampoo etc just stays in the shower.
For dirty clothes, we bring a seperate bag for that and put things in when needed. We even put our own pillows back into bags and place them on a shelf. The thought of something accidentally falling on the floor or in the sink. Ok... I'm probably a little too picky.

Do you take your pillows from home?

 

[Jade+3]

Where did you get your packing cubes from? They sound helpful

I got ours from here http://www.bagworld.com.au/shop/brands/eagle-creek-bags-eagle-creek-luggage/
They dont seem to have a very big range now.

We have a 15" for me and an 18" for DH. The kids use a Pack It Cube which surprisingly fitted all of their clothes (they eldest is 5, so we are talking little kids clothes though). I also have another Pack It Cube for DH and I for socks, undies etc.

I tried the space saver bags, but found them not worth the hassle.

 

[aussietravellers]

I am excited about these packing cubes! I am going out tomorrow and will get some of them, they sound fantastic.

Another wonderful tip and idea that has been picked up from wonderful Disers

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

The packing cubes and the packing folders really are amazing. The space saving alone is worth it. But the fact that everything stays neat and is easy to repack a case if you are having trouble fitting everything in is brilliant. We even use them for weekend getaways. My husband takes one with him to Sydney every week for just a one night stay because it keeps his shirts all neat.