1st DVC Trip in 3 Days - Does Anyone Else Bring This Much Stuff??

[DiznEeyore]

We're heading to VWL this week for 7 nights in a 2-br villa. It will be dh, me, our 8yo ds, my dmil, her best friend, and my ds' brother. I'm one of those compulsive people who has to be packed beforehand as much as possible, and our bags are stacked in our hallway. Good grief! We have SO much luggage, I think the valets are gonna fall over when we pull up! (Either that or be thinking "CHA-CHING!" for the tip they'll be getting to move all this stuff!)

We have 6 duffles/suitcases ranging from GIGANTIC to small, 3 backpacks, a large box of groceries, 2 small boxes of water bottles (I'm picky; bought my favorite on sale), and will have another box with our Mickey sandwich maker, our Mickey waffle iron, and a hand mixer! To this we'll be adding the luggage of the other 3 members of our group! And really, there's nothing we can/want to eliminate.

We are planning on cooking a lot in the villa, as we are all looking for lots of "family time". And fortunately, we have a conversion van that we are driving down it -- we'd never be taking all this stuff if we were flying.

Does anyone else do this??

 

[rbuzzotta]

I pack way too much when we drive as opposed to when we fly. The one thing I realized last trip was that I overpacked on the clothes!! The luxury of having a washer and dryer in the villa was awesome. Especially since my DD has her "favorite" clothes!! Next trip I will pack half as many clothes!

Have a wonderful time and a safe drive.

 

[Chuck S]

Rbuzzotta's right. Cut down on your clothes, you'll have a washer/dryer. I think the units (1Bdrm and larger) have an electric mixer, or you can get one from mousekeeping.

 

[Terry S]

Hey! Where in Michigan are you from? As you can see I am from Livonia and we don't find many people around here as nuts about Disney as our family.

Don't worry too much about over packing. Especially since your driving, if you were flying that would be a different story. I have a 5 yr old son and 4 yr old daughter and wouldn't dream of driving, the flight is long enough for them. (We did even fly after the tragedy, we just got back from Disney on October 6th.) But I imagine with the conversion van, things should go pretty good, the TV will keep them occupied.

 

[kda]

If you really don't want to take that much, cut the clothes by AT LEAST 50%. We found that we kept washing and wearing our few favorites, anyway.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Every one is right about cutting down on clothes. We find we get by fine with 3-4 out fits each and a couple of layers if it is cool. Most importantly, take two pairs of shoes each! Cuts down on the sore feet! We tend to wash a load each day and often wear the same outfits over and over because we have the laundry in the room. The mixer can be left at home. Mousekeeping will bring one right away if you call them. They have most anything else you could need too.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

We just got back from our first DVC trip (BWV) today, and I'm going to make some notes while it's still fresh in my mind, about what NOT to pack next trip. We flew down, and stayed at Portofino for 3 nights, 4 days...no in-room washer/dryer there. so I have to at least accomodate those days without doing laundry. We have 3 kids, and we had 7 mostly very large bags checked, and each of us had a carryon (cameras, kids backpacks, etc.). Packing is such a nightmare for me...I want to write myself some notes NOW, while I'm so sure that overpacking the way I do is ridiculous, so I won't allow myself to talk myself into taking all this stuff again next year.