Organizational tips for staying in a value room?

[daisymomof4]

Little kid daily outfits packed in ziplocks was one of the BEST online tips I've ever read! Saves time in the AM because the kids and my hubby know just what the kids are wearing. I can dry my hair without hearing, "Honey, where are his socks?" Now that most of my kids are too big for outfits in ziplocks I pack tops and bottoms folded/rolled together in the case and fill a ziplock with undies and socks. Spare outfits in ziplocks are also handy to keep the backpack organized.

We usually travel with 2 small pop up hampers. One for dirty clothes and the other for shoes. If you're driving you could pack some things in a sturdy laundry basket so you have it for shoes or dirty clothes. You might have a 10 minute walk of shame with a laundry basket to your room but you'll be glad you have it, lol.

Love the idea in this thread to hang an organizer and give everyone one place to put their stuff. It always ends up on the table and I can't stand that.

 

[NorthernGrl]

Little kid daily outfits packed in ziplocks was one of the BEST online tips I've ever read! Saves time in the AM because the kids and my hubby know just what the kids are wearing. I can dry my hair without hearing, "Honey, where are his socks?" Now that most of my kids are too big for outfits in ziplocks I pack tops and bottoms folded/rolled together in the case and fill a ziplock with undies and socks. Spare outfits in ziplocks are also handy to keep the backpack organized.

We usually travel with 2 small pop up hampers. One for dirty clothes and the other for shoes. If you're driving you could pack some things in a sturdy laundry basket so you have it for shoes or dirty clothes. You might have a 10 minute walk of shame with a laundry basket to your room but you'll be glad you have it, lol.

Love the idea in this thread to hang an organizer and give everyone one place to put their stuff. It always ends up on the table and I can't stand that.

We do the laundry basket too. Driving from Canada, we have plenty of room in the van. I don't even pack into a suitcase, but straight into the folding hamper. The 4 kids outfits go into the ziplocs, then tossed in the hamper, dh and I pack into a garbage bag that goes into the hamper. The over the door shoe organizer, closet organizer and snacks are packed into a laundry basket. One change of clothes per person and toiletries all go into a duffle bag.
When we get to the hotel we're staying in on the way down, we just take in the duffle bag. Once at Disney, we unpack the clothes into drawers or hangers and the snacks on the shelves. Shoe organizer goes over the door with space for toiletries and small items (keys, sunglasses etc). The closet organizer has cubbies for the kids to put toys etc, then the laundry basket goes by the door to corral shoes and the hamper goes by the sink.

 

[leebee]

At POP, we set up the ironing board in the closet (at the end of the sink area). We don't have too many hanging outfits, and find the additional "counter space" more valuable than hanging/closet space.

Bring clothes pins to hang bathing suits on the line in the shower.

We have magnetic "clips" that hang on the room door on the inside. I put paperwork (park schedules, ADR list, daily schedules) there so we can find them easily.

Utilize the window sill... shoes can line up here, or everybody's water bottles. Nothing valuable, or course, so nobody is tempted to break in!

 

[chocovrdmicears]

Didn't read the previous posts so I apologize if these are repeats:
We have spent many fabulous vacation at POP. I am a silly over-planner/over-organizer.. - here are my tips.

1. Hanging shoe organizer - bought a few at the Target Dollar Spot - hung them from the closet area - perfect for everyones pj's, socks and unmentionables().
2. Suction cups with the hangers on them - I initially brought them to decorate our window - had a few left over - put 1 in the shower to hang the bath puff (not a fan of face cloths - weird - I know) - also put a few on the door mirror for holding hats and lanyards.
3 Kept all our *don't need right now* things in a small suitcase under the sink...(medicines, extra batteries).
4. Bought a suction cup toothbrush holder from the dollar store for the bathroom mirror - adds space to the counter.
5. Used the plastic drink cups they provide for sink storage. One held all hair elastics - another held make up - another held qtips.
6. Put our big suitcase on the luggage stand and put our laundry detergent and dryers sheets in it - all dirty laundry went in it - then half way through our stay we would just roll in down to the laundry during a pool break.
7. BEST investment (and will be packing it for our upcoming trip) - a magnetic basket for the back of the room door - that is where our car keys, room keys and sunglasses go. No searching around for them in the morning - I also pack a few other magnets to hang the Park Hours, our ADR's etc...

HTH!

 

[Pembo]

I take two laundry bags - one is white, one is blue. We sort our dirty laundry before putting it in the bag. If I'm not doing laundry on the trip I just put the bags right in the suitcase. I also bring a stainstick that we leave out for easy use.

Another vote for ziplock bags - I use A LOT of them when I pack and they always have a use when we come back home too.

We often drive from Ohio - we use beach towels as our blanket in the car for the drive. I try to wash those before we head home so we can use them in the car again. Also we bought a plastic bin with a lid that fits perfectly in the back of our van. (WE have a Kia so there is a lower space). We put all kinds of things in the bin and it's easy to carry to the room.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I'm trying to think of things other people haven't mentioned.

Our Dollar Tree has little paper cloth baskets that fold flat. I have a collection of these and put them into all the shelves and such and all our snacks and treats, car keys and such go into them. DH and I also each have one or two for socks and undies inside our drawers.

Oh, and I always bring a little lap blanket for the car ride. DH likes the car cold enough to hang meat, so I use it during the trip to cover my bare legs, then when we get there, it's nice to have to curl up under in the evenings.

Also, someone mentioned shoe hangers to put outfits in - this is great. I also have a sweater hanger just like this. This frees up a LOT of drawer space for a small investment of closet space.

Binder clips or clothespins to clip the patio curtain closed are useful.

Oh! Clorox non-bleaching wipes. I love these and always bring a travel pack with us. They will clean anything, including clothes - honestly they work much better than Tide pens. Very useful.

I rubber band the cords of all our chargers so that they stay tidy and don't get tangled up.

Oh and this year, for a first time, I'm bringing a little accordian folder - coupon sized. Everything paperwork is going in it to live and then going in the glovebox.

 

[kjpotter]

Thanks everyone for the ideas keep them coming!

 

[disney777]

Not a storage tip, but if you like drinking your own coffee, you might want to bring a coffee maker, since Values don't have them in the room.

There are some great tips. I'm always solo in my room, so I don't need to worry about space, but I do bring my own hangers if I can, then leave them/throw them away at the end of my trip. I like the ironing board idea! I may use that in the future.

 

[cruisingkat]

We have stayed at two different values - POP and AoA. We haven't had a problem with storage at POP, however LM rooms at AoA were a problem. The drawer unit had very little space on the top, the table was about half the size of POP's. The sink did not have a shelf above the counter so you really lost a lot of space.
We do drive and usually have a lot of luggage as we usually are away from home for a month or more stopping at Disney as well as visiting other areas. We have a bag of Disney "stuff" - one of the canvas totes that were offered as buy with purchase a few years ago. In it we keep our ponchos, fan, paper towel tubes for bringing home our creations from the drawing academy at HS, Disney hats, etc. I can hang that from the pegs on the wall. The unused luggage we put on the other side of the bed to act as a night stand.
I use the Disney popcorn buckets to store munchies - love the fact that they have different colored handles and lids so we know what is in each without opening each one. The buckets also help keep the munchies fresh from the FL humidity.
I use a small packing cube to hold cords for electronics, we bring along a power squid - like it better than an power strip - to plug in all the electronics. The power squid has tentacle like plugs so you can plug in those transformer plugs that many electronics use.

 

[MichelleWDWfan]

Usually it's just me and DS 17, so we always unpack everything.

We like to fly in early & go to a park our 1st day. We come back to the resort early the first night....our luggage is in the roomby then, so we unpack, get settled, and set out clothes for our next day.

I didn't know you could request extra hangers...ty for the tip.
I usually bring extra hangers from home. I like to hang up all of our shirts.

My tips would be:

Lock your valuables in the in room safe.
I always put extra money, pins & jewelry, wallet, mp3 player, nook, etc in the wall safe in the room, during the day while we are out and about.

If you plan to decorate your room window & door:
Remember you can't use tape, or any type of adhesive.
Bring Suction cup hooks, window clings. 3m command strips also work well. Your door is metal...so magnets are great for using on your door decorations

 

[daisymomof4]

Oh I never thought of using magnets on the metal door or the ironing board for extra surface space, I'm going to have to write those two down so I don't forget!

 

[keishashadow]

We are staying in a studio at the Beach Club and its smaller then a value!

but it has SAB, makes up for a lot of ground fyi, BCV studios have approx 100 more sq ft than a standard value.

OP we're currently booked at ASMu and have enjoyed many vacations when staying in the values. Lots of good suggestions here. Mine (actually by edict of he who carries said luggage - DH) is to pack the suitcase, then open it up and take out 1/3 of the clothing. If you run out, wash something out overnight and let hang in bathroom or stroll down to laundry and multi-task during pool time.