Packing Tips - Unique Must Haves

Jason always goes with 3 Stitch's. I will not allow more then three. I tease him about bring plushes to Disney where we are suppose to be buying plush's. Anyone that shops for Stitch knows there hasn't been any new one's in a long time.

As far as traveling goes J has one Stitch that has traveled the world with him.

My web cams, I think I'm sharing a little bit of our vacation with everyone here every time I have them on. You should here the reaction from people when I say " I'm gong to have a live web cam from our room" " No not that kind of web cam, a Disney web cam!"

Kristen,I bring a full duffle bag of electronics, plus a computer bag with two lap tops and 2 IPads.

We only have a few 'must haves' packed for Disney, but two of these are.........

1. 2x Pop-up laundry laundry baskets. It gives us somewhere to properly put the day laundry.

2. Calvin Klein CK1. It's one of the smells that we most associate with being in Florida ever since our first vacation. Also, when we need a 'Disney pick me up' when we're at home counting down the days until the next vacation, a little spray of it can really bring a smile to our face.

Pictures of cats. If not my own cats, then my 365 page-a-day cat calendar. And if there's room in a suitcase, I also have three tiny cat stuffies that resemble three of ours. Mini-Aramis, Mini-BJ, and Mini-Oriole. (Sadly, only real Oriole is still alive of the three.)

ETA: How does that make my vacation better? Given my user name that should be self-explanatory. But just in case, I cannot go a whole week without looking at kitties.

I'd like to see the tool belt that goes along with all that!!!

My little plush Cheshire Cat. His name is Chessy (inventive, I know...) and his job is to watch over our room and hold the tip money until the mousekeepers make it to our room.

One thing I sorely missed on this trip was my little black mini backpack. I will never, ever not bring it along again. I bought myself a cute full-size pack for this trip and I hated using it. Yeah, it was nice for carrying capacity but hello, sweaty back! Ugh, no thank you. Little cutesy-pack has been relegated to a beach bag/Castaway Cay bag.

Other stuff that gets packed without too much thought - a power strip, a pop-up hamper, an over the door shoe holder for toiletries and a hanging shoe holder that I actually use to hold shoes, otherwise I'm constantly tripping over size 12 clunky boy shoes. We also added Nalgene-type water bottles to the mix this time around and were very glad to have them.

Drawer dividers the kind that are fabric & collapsible - they don't weigh much or take up much space but they can be a godsend for coraling all the small miscellaney that seems to collect in your room. Sure you can use them for your socks & underwear but one on top of the dresser or table can catch receipts, change, Coke bottle caps for those who do Coke rewards, pins etc. They can also be used keep cords & chargers from taking over a drawer or they can keep the instant oatmeal, cereal bars, granola etc. together & in one place so there's room in the same drawer for the socks & underwear.

A small cheap wristlet that's big enough to hold my wallet, phone & quarters for laundry it makes accidently running those things through the wash because they got mixed in with your laundry much less likely & it makes a quick beverage & snack run to the food court while the above mentioned underwear & socks are washing much easier.

Yorkshire Gold tea bags (and Christmas mugs if we go in December)

I don't know if this is property-wide but the laundry room at POFQ has these nifty little machines that lets you charge the cost of doing your wash to your room account. Basically, you tap your KTTW card and it asks you which machine you would like to use. You enter the number and it starts up. No more quarters!

In 1993 I was solo backpacking around Europe and met a fellow traveller Lynda - we hit it off right away and ended up travelling together for a month through Italy, Austria and Germany. We were sitting at Heidleberg train station (she was heading back to London for her flight home and I was off to France for the last two months of my trip) feeling sad that our travels together had come to an end when she said she had to duck off to the bathroom. When she came back, she had bought me a little soft toy moose - we named him Basel after the hot guy I'd met the night before, lol - and she bought him for me so I wouldn't get too lonely and he had strict instructions to keep me safe.

Basel has now been with me on half a dozen overseas trips I've made since then and will continue to be the little piece of love and home that comes with me on my adventures.

When I have gone with infants, my HUGE space saver was the disposable collapsable bottle, complete with it's own disposable nipple. They were the COOLEST things EVER! They are like little bags that are rolled up and easy and light to pack.

Not having the need to cart a diaper bag into the bathroom is a bonus. I took the little bottles, and some powdered formula along with bottled water in a small bag. As the day goes on, the bag empties out.

I put all of my diapering needs in this other contraption. This hangs from my stroller, and doesn't have to come off when I collapse the stroller. Opens full to act as a changing pad and stores enough diapers wipes and cream for a day or 2. Has a little storage place for the diaper disposal bags. I use this all over the place, not just WDW. Target had some in cute colors, but they didn't have the storage that I was looking for at the time. I have had mine for quite a few years now. Things may have changed. It folds up into a fairly small rectangle. I bought mine at Walmart.

I know that this forum is for grown ups, but I am a grown up, and these made / make my life easier.

I bought these plates for F&W festival- crazy right?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mingle-Easy-Party-Plate-Pack-of-6-/180672818976?pt=Dinnerware_Serving_Dishes&var=&hash=item2a10f06f20

Well, here I am packing as we speak! I know it is crazy, but I have a ceramic Mickey coffee mug that I just gotta have for my AM coffee. Plastic does not get it. Also, my plush Mickey and Minnie ride to all Disney trips with me and hang out in my room. (would kinda enjoy carrying one around with me sometimes but adults doing that might be a little weird, unless there is a kiddo nearby. But I am a little weird. I am down with that.)

In 24 hours I will be across the FL state line, I hope!!!

You guys have inspired me for the next trip with all these great ideas!!

Two things I found helpful were air freshener spray and clorox wipes. Especially while we were on the road.

I also always put a reusable shopping in my personal bag, one of the ones that's made out of a lightweight fabric & can fold up in to it's own pocket. It doesn't weigh much & takes up almost no room in my bag but comes in handy. Plus now a days more & more places are charging for plastic bags so having your own reusable bag with you could actually end up saving you money.

Excuse me! If I didn't know you like I do, I would take offense to that!

OK Mr. Hub, Pal Mickey's are different. (That is a Pal Mickey, no?) And for the record, you are both my Disney hero, AND totally cool.

I will dance by the scary clown pool tomorrow in your honor. Hairy images aside.

Yes that is my Pal Mickey!

I'm dancing with you in my heart Doc!

Wow DisneyDoc am I soooooooo jealous. ONE MORE SLEEP and you will be there. Have a super time.

Tomorrow I will be at DOUBLE DIGITS. YES - HALLELUJAH.

Love hearing all of these ideas !! DisneyDoc, have a safe and fantastic trip !!

thank you all, and yippee for double digits, pirategirl!

Amy received the Space Airbags you put your clothes in and roll the air out of them. We used them for Alaska and I was surprised at how much room they saved and how wrinkle free they were. Our Bed, Bath and Beyond sells them for around $22 and you get about 6 bags. Amy tends to be an overpacker so these were serious luggage space savers

Scrappy got me this recently for the trip. A flexible power strip.

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And here is some of the electronics I take

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So do you take a U-Haul to transport all of that?

Oh the robot camera does not go, yet!