Car Top Carrier etiquette

[G2MAmber]

okay… I feel kind of silly posting about this but to be honest I just don't have a lot of experience, well any experience with Car Top Carriers. We just bought a used hardshell car top carrier for $75.

We drove to Disney last May with our one-year-old and now we are driving 18+ hours with our one and two-year-old. We did not have a lot of extra room in the van and are hoping this will alleviate that problem.

I am really looking for some advice on what you pack in your car top carrier?? And what things you like to leave in your vehicle?

Also, do you leave the car top carrier on top of your vehicle during your stay? Is it okay to continue driving to parks etc. with it on top of your vehicle? I guess I am just confused what the proper protocol is for a car top carrier!

We personally will be staying at Pop Century for three nights before we transfer over to animal Kingdom Lodge. So I was planning on packing a small bag to tide us over for the three nights at Pop Century so we didn't have to unpack the carrier…

Thank you all so much!

 

[lisajl]

We have only used a car top carrier once and I packed what we did not need right away. I kept an overnight bag with one days worth of clothes, meds, etc.

Ours was a soft top carrier and when we stopped at a hotel, we took it in with us.

We have older kids, so we have a lot of stuff we take. I like to have more room in the van.

 

[katyjeka]

We have a hardtop carrier, and love it. It comes in handy if you buy more than planned, which we always do. I usually pack our clothes, shoes, stroller, blanket, etc.. I try not to put any valuables in ours, even though it locks, as I'm not really confident of the lock.

 

[livsmom04]

This is something that we are looking into getting for our trips to Disney World. Since next year we might be going with a baby we'd like to get something that won't take up the entire back of the van. It's something that maybe for christmas we can get. lol

 

[chartle]

A little late but the directions from my hard cartop carrier said not to drive around with it empty.

But I have no idea what you would do with it in a hotel room.

 

[Pixieflip]

You can ask at the resort if bell services will store it. We do that. I think they keep it with the golf clubs.

 

[rndmr2]

When I was growing up we used a hard cartop carrier frequently for various car trips, including WDW. I am pretty sure we usually would leave it on the car the whole trip, although I can't guarantee it was completely empty. I vaguely remember keeping the empty suitcases in it but I could be wrong. We would pack a small overnight bag so we wouldn't have to fully unpack.

The first time I remember having one at WDW was the year that we had to go to Sears at the mall to buy it before we went home Yep we bought too much! My Dad put it together and on the car out in the parking lot...

We did use it a few times on subsequent trips, though so it was money well spent.