THINGS TO PACK -Let's Pack Together

[sandym718]

The one major thing is not to be put on a packing list, but a to do list. If you are driving to Disney and need to have your drivers license renewed before going, you can have this done a few months ahead. We found out the hard way, changes that have been made in the system. We were going down in August 2008, my husband needed his license renewed. We went 2 weeks before leaving and found out they cross reference your name to a list of people who have outstanding warrents or tickets. Long story short, his name is Jerry Lewis and he was flagged, it took the 2 weeks to prove it was not him, we got the letter 24 hours before leaving telling us he could go get his license.

Really?? That's crazy!! With all the identification you provide it should be simple to figure out WHICH Jerry Lewis he is! My DH gets flagged every time he makes a gun purchase (he's a hunter) and he has to wait the 3 days. Same thing -same name as or very similar to someone who is NOT allowed to purchase a gun. But those aren't necessities like a drivers license! What an inconvenience. And people wonder how "victimless" (no such thing) crimes affect us all. It's the little things...

 

[Christine9125]

Really?? That's crazy!! With all the identification you provide it should be simple to figure out WHICH Jerry Lewis he is! My DH gets flagged every time he makes a gun purchase (he's a hunter) and he has to wait the 3 days. Same thing -same name as or very similar to someone who is NOT allowed to purchase a gun. But those aren't necessities like a drivers license! What an inconvenience. And people wonder how "victimless" (no such thing) crimes affect us all. It's the little things...

We live in Ohio and the ticket was from Rhode Island, no offence to the people who live there, but you will never catch me in that state. Ohio was easy to work with, but Rhode Island was the worst. I had to talk to everyone down to the officer who wrote the ticket in 1998. It took forever to fix. I have to renew mine this year, I am starting 2 months early!

 

[brewhome]

Instead of packing a pop up hamper or special laundry bags we just fill up our largest empty suitcase with dirty laundry throughout the trip, and move onto the next largest, etc (there are 4 of us so we bring 4 plus carry on bags). We never get anything so dirty that it needs to be wrapped in a bag, but if we did, we'd just put it in a souvenier bag or an ice bucket bag.

At the end of the trip, we toss the extra shoes in with the dirty laundry and then we have a suitcase or two of left over clean clothes and souveniers. Works like a charm, and we don't have to pack anything extra!

 

[mikegood2]

Great list of items to go thru.

I would add packing cubes, look them up on ebags. While they are not cheap, I use them anytime I'm away for a few days to help sort/organize my cloths. In a small cube, I can fit 3 or 4 shirts (rolled) pair of shorts, 2 pairs of underwear and socks. Just take them out of my bag and put them in a drawer. They are also mesh and weigh almost nothing.

 

[nkereina]

These lists are great. Does anyone have one that is for a cruise? I know that a lot of the items that we take to WDW aren't needed on the cruise like beach towels. I also know that we won't have quite as much space in the rooms. I'm gratefult for any help. I have started altering my list for the cruise but I'm open to suggestions. Thanks

I used the forums at Cruise Critic last year for my cruise, and there was a list just like this. Very helpful.

 

[ThreeSweeties]

Love packing cubes-one color per family member. They help keep all the kids stuff together and corral the slippery zip-locks that I place their outfits into. During last years trip to Disney, I unpacked the kids clothes and used the cubes to organize the %#@* in my backpack.

Bonus: I use a small one everyday to keep diapers/wipes/changing pad together in the diaper bag. Just grab it out and no digging or searching.

 

[pmb0417]

I have to agree on the OTC drugs. My husband was complaining that I was carrying too many, and then one day at the park, he needed tylenol and my son needed benedryl and I needed my excedrin migraine, then we ran into my mother-in-law and she neede imodium..

 

[trishalynn]

Great tips!

 

[AmandaNied]

Fingernail clippers...every time we go anyplace overnight, someone always has a fingernail issue...and no clippers. I have about 10 pairs of fingernail clippers from all over the country.

 

[MayzDisney4]

Fingernail clippers...every time we go anyplace overnight, someone always has a fingernail issue...and no clippers. I have about 10 pairs of fingernail clippers from all over the country.

This is so funny because my family has the same issue! For some reason we never have nail clippers packed!

I haven't had the chance to go through all the stuff on this list, but I bring a handsoap pump from home (like softsoap) to leave by the sink in our hotel.

 

[disneydotlee]

These lists are awesome!!!

 

[Turtle31]

These lists are awesome!!!

Thank You !! Every year I print this list out and make a few minor adjustments for my family. With every trip we take I have to say I have been able to scale back the crap

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

I just have to chime in with something that happened on my Feb trip to WDW and going on the Disney Dream.

We packed 3 LL Bean rolling duffels, one for me, DH and DD each. When we arrived at MCO there were only 2 bags. The missing bag had all my clothing and toiletry bags for the whole family. American Airlines didn't find my bag until late that night, and it turned up in Guatemala! The 9 hours it was missing was horrible, would I have to replace all my clothing before we left on the Dream? I already lost one day at WDW (airline kept saying "it should be on the next flight from Miami"), now I might lose part of another day! Once the bag was found, it took an entire day to get to MCO and was finally delivered at my hotel at 10:30pm. I was very lucky I got it in time for the cruise and nothing was missing. I also lucked out that at the last minute I did a load of laundry before leaving and put a pair of my jeans and 4 pairs of underpants in DD's bag, so I only had to buy a t-shirt and toiletries to get by until the bag arrived. When my bag did arrive, it still had the 'MCO' tag that was placed on it in Boston, so I have no clue how in the heck it ended up in Gautemala.

Lesson learned... Never, ever, ever again will I fly with out 'cross packing' all our bags. On our next trip 1/3 of my clothes is going in each bag, and the same for DD and DH! I'll bring 3 swimsuits for each of us, one is going in each bag- same for underwear, tees, shorts, etc! I use packing cubes so I'll just set up a little assembly line. If we end up with a lost bag we will at least have more than the clothing on our backs! Trust me, it stinks shopping for clothes 30 minutes before the Gap outlet closes for the evening, when you would rather be at Wishes!

 

[disneyluvrsX5]

These are cool and great to have! Thanks!

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Great list - thanks for compiling it!

Don't forget the self-tanner if you like that My DH and I don't want to shock anyone with our pastiness so we make sure to use self-tanner (that has SPF in it!), especially on the waterpark days.

I also recommend bringing the razors (for women) that have the shave cream already in them - like Intuition.

And for that Florida humidity, bring a diffuser. I have one that works with any hair dryer so I can use the resort hair dryer and just add my diffuser - voila - curly hair!

You also list 'make up' but might I suggest the waterproof kind? It's great when you go to the pool in the afternoon and you don't get racoon eyes but it is great for the humid weather too. I especially like waterproof eyeliner (Make Up Forever sells the best) and waterproof mascara (that's only evening wear for me ).

My kids also like goggles for the pool since their eyes are sensitive to the chlorine.

I don't think I saw those items in your list - but I might not have seen it! But just in case, there are some more packing items!

 

[casa34]

This is great thanks!

 

[nkereina]

I just have to chime in with something that happened on my Feb trip to WDW and going on the Disney Dream.

We packed 3 LL Bean rolling duffels, one for me, DH and DD each. When we arrived at MCO there were only 2 bags. The missing bag had all my clothing and toiletry bags for the whole family. American Airlines didn't find my bag until late that night, and it turned up in Guatemala! The 9 hours it was missing was horrible, would I have to replace all my clothing before we left on the Dream? I already lost one day at WDW (airline kept saying "it should be on the next flight from Miami"), now I might lose part of another day! Once the bag was found, it took an entire day to get to MCO and was finally delivered at my hotel at 10:30pm. I was very lucky I got it in time for the cruise and nothing was missing. I also lucked out that at the last minute I did a load of laundry before leaving and put a pair of my jeans and 4 pairs of underpants in DD's bag, so I only had to buy a t-shirt and toiletries to get by until the bag arrived. When my bag did arrive, it still had the 'MCO' tag that was placed on it in Boston, so I have no clue how in the heck it ended up in Gautemala.

Lesson learned... Never, ever, ever again will I fly with out 'cross packing' all our bags. On our next trip 1/3 of my clothes is going in each bag, and the same for DD and DH! I'll bring 3 swimsuits for each of us, one is going in each bag- same for underwear, tees, shorts, etc! I use packing cubes so I'll just set up a little assembly line. If we end up with a lost bag we will at least have more than the clothing on our backs! Trust me, it stinks shopping for clothes 30 minutes before the Gap outlet closes for the evening, when you would rather be at Wishes!

What a nightmare. I once flew DIRECT from Rochester, NY to Atlanta on Delta and they lost my bag!!! On a non-stop flight! They transferred it to a small charter plane going to Athens, GA by accident. Delta kept blaming the charter company (not operated by Delta) and the charter company kept blaming Delta. They finally found my bag about 6 hours later and since Delta was insistent it wasn't their fault, I had to pay a strange taxi driver $40 to drive it to my hotel. Of course I emailed Delta customer service when I got home to complain and they wrote back saying they couldn't locate my name on the passenger manifest from that flight! I wrote back asking for a manager to contact me and never heard back again. AWFUL! Never flying Delta again.

But the lesson I learned is to always pack a carry on bag with essential toiletries (3 oz or less of course!) and at least a day's worth of clothes or anything I'll need that night. Cross-packing is a good idea too, may be easier for some people.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

What a nightmare. I once flew DIRECT from Rochester, NY to Atlanta on Delta and they lost my bag!!! On a non-stop flight! They transferred it to a small charter plane going to Athens, GA by accident. Delta kept blaming the charter company (not operated by Delta) and the charter company kept blaming Delta. They finally found my bag about 6 hours later and since Delta was insistent it wasn't their fault, I had to pay a strange taxi driver $40 to drive it to my hotel. Of course I emailed Delta customer service when I got home to complain and they wrote back saying they couldn't locate my name on the passenger manifest from that flight! I wrote back asking for a manager to contact me and never heard back again. AWFUL! Never flying Delta again.

But the lesson I learned is to always pack a carry on bag with essential toiletries (3 oz or less of course!) and at least a day's worth of clothes or anything I'll need that night. Cross-packing is a good idea too, may be easier for some people.

I actually just got off the phone with American Airlines. Guess what, when they send your bag to Guatemala instead of Orlando they absolutely will not refund the $25 baggage fee. They said it is a "non-refundale handling fee." Well, they didn't handle it properly! It is amazing they will hold onto someone's $25 when they are completely wrong and don't care if how ticked-off the customer is. I just got off the phone with the Exec Office and we settled for Frequent Flier miles since we have enough miles for another vacation. I am so done with them after our final free trip.

 

[sandym718]

I actually just got off the phone with American Airlines. Guess what, when they send your bag to Guatemala instead of Orlando they absolutely will not refund the $25 baggage fee. They said it is a "non-refundale handling fee." Well, they didn't handle it properly! It is amazing they will hold onto someone's $25 when they are completely wrong and don't care if how ticked-off the customer is. I just got off the phone with the Exec Office and we settled for Frequent Flier miles since we have enough miles for another vacation. I am so done with them after our final free trip.

That's crazy!! I wonder if they LOSE your bag entirely, if they still keep the fee too??!! I haven't flown in many years, it sounds nuts.

That reminds me of the Post Office. They are not responsible for ANYTHING unless you pay EXTRA for insurance. Actually paying for shipping does not guarantee they will actually ship it, ship it on time, or ship it to the right place. Even paying more to ship it Priority does not guarantee it will get there in the 2-3 business days, it could take 10 or more, or never get there, doesn't matter unless you have insurance. So what are we paying for with postage, exactly? The chance that they MIGHT ship it and ship it right? And what is the baggage fee for - for them to just TAKE the luggage, doesn't really matter what they do with it from there??

It's all a racket, I tell you!

 

[lmc318]

That's crazy!! I wonder if they LOSE your bag entirely, if they still keep the fee too??!! I haven't flown in many years, it sounds nuts.

That reminds me of the Post Office. They are not responsible for ANYTHING unless you pay EXTRA for insurance. Actually paying for shipping does not guarantee they will actually ship it, ship it on time, or ship it to the right place. Even paying more to ship it Priority does not guarantee it will get there in the 2-3 business days, it could take 10 or more, or never get there, doesn't matter unless you have insurance. So what are we paying for with postage, exactly? The chance that they MIGHT ship it and ship it right? And what is the baggage fee for - for them to just TAKE the luggage, doesn't really matter what they do with it from there??

It's all a racket, I tell you!

I wish the DIS had a like button. This'll have to do.