Packing Help Please!

[mkymouse4ever]

I am trying to organize this year, and do NOT want to bring everything I own. (which we usually do) We are going for 2 weeks and plan to do laundry in middle of stay. How many pairs of shorts / shirts / dresses / swimsuits would you recommend? The bell staff would be much happier if we cut this down! Please reform this compulsive packer! Thanks, MKY

 

[RobinMarie]

1 swim suit
1 cover up
5 pairs of shorts (one neutral pair that will go with your new shirt)
7 shirts (plan on purchasing one for yourself at the World)
- 4 T-shirts
- 3 tank tops
(allows for two changes of shirts in a day if needed)
1 casual dress (for parks or shopping)
1 dinner outfit
1 pair of pants for either cool night or dinner in air conditioned situation with light sweater that matches.
2 pairs of pajamas - one pair may be sweats to do laundry in.
6 pairs of socks + other necessities for under clothes
1 pair of sneakers (some say two pairs but I switch to sandals)
1 pair of shoes to wear to/from pool
1 pair of dinner shoes
1 pair of sandals

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says....................................Think of this as 3 five day trips. We are only three, but on our last ten day trip we only checked one bag, and that was they changed the way they counted carry ons, in 1999 we checked no baggage. I would also do laundry more often, you can pop out a load or two while the kids swim, doing a weeks worth seems like it would take a long time. Also, everything we pack can be washed at the same time if need be, all cottons or permanent press with no delicates or colors that might bleed, satin, silk, etc..
DW loves it because at home I do 4% of the laundry!! At WDW I do 100%. Take child down to swim, start up my two loads. It takes about 1 1/2 beers to wash and 1 1/2 beers to dry. I bring it down in a suitcase, and for a one beer bonus I neatly fold and pack everything back into suitcase. Mom is happy for the two hour break, child is happy to swim, and I don't know but for some reason I'm happy too!!!!!!!

 

[MLindaG]

This is what I do. I first start with a calendar of our trip with space to write down our outfits for the day. (I usually print one out for each child as well as myself and dh). Then I mark what days for which parks. (When the kids were little I used to plan certain outfits for certain parks........ MM shirt/shorts for MK......Star Wars shirt/shorts for MGM) I will take a different outfit for each park day (I don't like wearing the same outfit for two different parks because then when the pictures come back it looks like we're wearing the same stuff all the time.) I then mark down an outfit for each park day. Then I try to figure when I'm going to have time to wash/dry. Since we usually stay in a condo that has a washer/dryer right in the unit this is easy.......But I like to hang dry most of my clothing so I have to allow a couple of days for the clothing to dry. With 5 of us I can do a load before I go to bed each night. Then I write in an outfit for our trip down and then for when we come back......then fill in the R & R days with park clothes. Generally I usually take outfits for the number of parks we will visit. When the kids were little this worked out really well as I didn't have to think about what they were going to wear and when they got to dress themselves we would work on the chart together and they would dress themselves. I always threw an extra outfit in just incase we had an emergency and needed a different outfit. I believe it worked out when we went for two weeks I took 7 outfits per child.

 

[mkymouse4ever]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! Ok, plan to prefigure clothes in with parks/ps's, make a list (found great planning list on theme park board), wash more frequesntly, And try not to bring 2 large suitcases + carry on! Thanks, MKY