THINGS TO PACK -Let's Pack Together

[katibosch]

Hi & I apologise if this is not where I ask but how much do you leave for mousekeeping, I am from Australia where we do not tip so have no idea what is expected... we are leaving in 2 weeks so I need to get this sorted.

I plan to follow the $1/day rule too. We're fairly neat so they won't have a LOT of work to do beyond basic cleaning, I don't think.

 

[kirboo]

We have always tipped mouse keeping $1/person/day. So as a family of five, we would always leave them $5. We are fairly neat people, we pick up after ourselves and don't leave stuff out everywhere. Basically they clean our bathrooms, make our beds, and empty the trash. That's what we give anyways!

I plan to follow the $1/day rule too. We're fairly neat so they won't have a LOT of work to do beyond basic cleaning, I don't think.

Thanks so much, its costing $8500 in flights alone so I am glad to hear its not too much, especially when the room is so expensive anyway.

 

[JLa01844]

LOL #158 should read (incase #157 has failed).

 

[ARAITHEL]

Thanks so much, its costing $8500 in flights alone so I am glad to hear its not too much, especially when the room is so expensive anyway.

EEEKKKKKK!!!!!!!
Plane fair...wow....here's my opinion of the tipping:

I generally leave whatever loose change I have accumulated during the length of our stay for Mousekeeping...which can add up to a lot since I don't generally pay with change...just with paper money. So my loose change could add up to 15-20. With only four of us in a room, that is plenty. And we are neat...and don't need our bed changed every day.

WDW is the ONLY place I ever tip the housekeeping staff when we stay at a hotel. I would say that in the US it's not customary to tip housekeeping. We are in hotels every month for our occupation, and i don't tip them anyplace else. I'm not sure what housekeeping makes...I bet they don't live on tips like wait staff at a restaurant. I generally only tip "mousekeeping" on the last night, that's if they've done a good job the entire stay...

No good job, no big tip. GREAT job! GREAT Tip! (Same for wait staff at restaurants.) Leaving 8-20% at a meal is generally the norm here. Sometimes they get 5% or less if they aren't that good.

I do, however, tip anyone who handles our bags...Like the magic express drivers. $1 per bag. Again...not good customer service, no tip.

 

[Thumper_Man]

I generally only tip "mousekeeping" on the last night, that's if they've done a good job the entire stay...

No good job, no big tip. GREAT job! GREAT Tip!

One thing I've seen mentioned several times on these boards as to why many people tip "mousekeeping" daily is because chances are you might not always have the same person. People have noticed that they have seen different mousekeepers tending to their rooms. Some are really good, and some not so much. So that is why they make envelopes and leave tips every day for the mousekeepers. Leaving one big tip at the end means the person cleaning your room at the end will get all the tip, even though they may not have been the one cleaning your room the whole time you were there.

 

[dsnyrn]

I do not know why they tip this way in Nebraska, but the remaining part of the USA tip at least 15-20% for wait-staff!! For mouse-keeping, as the above member mentioned, we always tip daily for the same reasons. We leave an extra $5 on the last day. We tip generally $2 per person a day. We also tip baggage $1 per bag.

 

[Leslieloody]

EEEKKKKKK!!!!!!!
Plane fair...wow....here's my opinion of the tipping:

I generally leave whatever loose change I have accumulated during the length of our stay for Mousekeeping...which can add up to a lot since I don't generally pay with change...just with paper money. So my loose change could add up to 15-20. With only four of us in a room, that is plenty. And we are neat...and don't need our bed changed every day.

WDW is the ONLY place I ever tip the housekeeping staff when we stay at a hotel. I would say that in the US it's not customary to tip housekeeping. We are in hotels every month for our occupation, and i don't tip them anyplace else. I'm not sure what housekeeping makes...I bet they don't live on tips like wait staff at a restaurant. I generally only tip "mousekeeping" on the last night, that's if they've done a good job the entire stay...

No good job, no big tip. GREAT job! GREAT Tip! (Same for wait staff at restaurants.) Leaving 8-20% at a meal is generally the norm here. Sometimes they get 5% or less if they aren't that good.

I do, however, tip anyone who handles our bags...Like the magic express drivers. $1 per bag. Again...not good customer service, no tip.

What if different people clean your room. Or MouseKeepers change the route they take? Why wait until the end of your trip/ Make it daily. You might reap some extra benefits if you tip daily. Just saying.

 

[adoucet]

*bump* -will be updating later

 

[tikster1]

Ear plugs...You never know when you're going to have noisy neighbors when you may want to go to be early or sleep a litle later!

 

[tinkerbellsmom05]

Sham-wow's cut into strips and put under clothing in those spots that sweat more than others.
Hate having sweat spots on the front of my shirt! lol!

 

[DakotaRose]

Me too!! However, on balmy days I swipe stick deodorant in those spots. My face might be red and sweaty, but I don't look like I'm melting.

 

[Mousemom]

We travel pretty light. Minimal amount of clothes (we do laundry while at WDW). But a couple things I always bring.

1. My own coffee and filters
2. Flavored Coffee Creamer (froze before we leave)
3. Imodium
4. Small flashlight
5. My own shampoo/conditioner
6. Bar of soap

 

[Suelala]

Enjoyed reading all of this, but this is my 5th trip...and I just added 40 things to my list...40 things I have never needed on any of the other trips!
I will add the tip envelopes, pop up hamper, body glide and clothespins for hanging wet suits...and I always take the essentials...but it's not Siberia and I need to erase some of the "what if" stuff from my list!

 

[niknakk]

Great tips!

 

[JoJo1980]

Yaaaaaaay somewhere I can share my over packing thoughts

Seriously, I already have planning spreadsheets and we're not going until 2014

 

[fiestamomma]

i need bigger luggage!

 

[fiestamomma]

141.) Temp. Tattoos with your phone number to put on young kids in case they get lost.

Does anyone know where these might be found? Ordering online? I've never seen this, but would love to have it for our upcoming trip.

How have some of you "labeled" your children with phone number, etc? I considered just writing it on the inside of their arms with a permanent marker but that seems....I don't know. I'd just rather another option, I guess. Any other ideas?

If you google you may find temporary tattoo paper for purchase for your home printer. You can personalize to your hearts content! I found a five page pack for 6.99 on Amazon. The five pack was more than enough to make 60 tattoos for my sons bday party and I have two sheets left over so I'll make some emergency tattoos for our trip

 

[Ashlander]

If you google you may find temporary tattoo paper for purchase for your home printer. You can personalize to your hearts content! I found a five page pack for 6.99 on Amazon. The five pack was more than enough to make 60 tattoos for my sons bday party and I have two sheets left over so I'll make some emergency tattoos for our trip

That is a great tip - I hadn't thought of that! We have the dog tags we made on our first trip and attach them with a safety pin to the kids. Luckily our phone numbers have not changed

 

[Dizisfun]

141.) Temp. Tattoos with your phone number to put on young kids in case they get lost.


Does anyone know where these might be found? Ordering online? I've never seen this, but would love to have it for our upcoming trip.

How have some of you "labeled" your children with phone number, etc? I considered just writing it on the inside of their arms with a permanent marker but that seems....I don't know. I'd just rather another option, I guess. Any other ideas?

I don't know where you can get the temp tattoos...but when we went with several grandchildren a few years ago I went online and ordered wristbands. We wrote our phone numbers on the inside of the band with permanent marker before putting them on the kids. We instructed the kids that if they got lost or separated from us that they were to go immediately to a CM and tell them they were lost and have the CM remove the wrist band and phone us. (We still do this even going to the smaller theme parks in our area, Dutch Wonderland in PA has the wrist bands for the asking) Fortunately we have never lost a kid...

 

[itsjustlisa]

here is one source for temp. tattoo paper. i have some but haven't tried it yet.

www .silhouette america. com / specialty Media . aspx

(remove the spaces - haven't posted enough yet)

this particular stuff is used to print on an inkjet and then cut out with the Silhouette machine, but i'm thinking you could cut out just with scissors if you are only doing the emergency info. the machine is for cutting our special designs so not needed for emergency info tattoos.

i plan on doing this on our next trip!