If you fly and stay on site....

[ars0525]

But what if the bags are lost/delayed by the airline? That's the important part, not the few hours normal wait for DME's luggage delivery.

I am curious how would DME know the airline lost your luggage or it never arrived? Obviously at the end of the day when they never accounted for receiving it I suppose, but what if you came in on an early flight? And at what point would you be notified that your luggage is missing? Do you as the airline customer have to work with the airline on that or is DME able to handle the process for filing a missing luggage complaint? I am just curious what the process would be & who is responsible?

To answer the OP: I ship a bag & take a carry on. Things I don't want to ship (electronics usually), meds & paperwork stay with me at all times. Toss in a toothbrush, hoodie for the plane & I'm good to go. We pick up our bags when we land & take them to the Magical Express ourselves.

 

[caroline1851]

We never check luggage, we always bring carry-on. I've had luggage lost a few times... Everything can fit in a carry-on.

 

[happymommy]

I agree with you, OP! When my kids were young, we would have a change of clothes (little kids' clothing is smaller!). Knowing my kids, something could get spilled on them!
We carry on our smaller toiletries, medicines, important papers, etc...
It is good to be prepared. Once, our luggage was delayed by Southwest (came in on a later flight). Of course it was the bag with my clothes! I slept in my clothes that night.
Lesson learned: some folks with more than one checked bag will pack a bit for each person in each bag, in case of a delay. Oh well - it all worked out fine in the end. Never (knock wood) have had a bag totally lost.

 

[happymommy]

We never check luggage, we always bring carry-on. I've had luggage lost a few times... Everything can fit in a carry-on.

We've done this a few times too! I do laundry on vacation anyway.
One trip was to Hawaii for two weeks, and we just brought carry on bags. Stopped at Target on our way to our condo and bought full size toiletries & stuff.
Disney trips are usually in hot weather - so we can pack super light. I never need all the stuff I pack! Waterproof sandals (I wear Chacos, but they're like Keens) are all the shoes we need.

 

[goofy4tink]

I have two carry-on bags....a regular rollaboard, and a tote bag or a backpack. I keep anything I refuse to let out of my sight in that tote....money, camera, chargers, laptop/iPad. Then, I usually pack a swimsuit, change of clothes, with a tee shirt for sleeping, and small toiletries in the rollaboard. If I'm traveling for fewer than 4 nights, I can usually pack whatever I need in my carry-on bags! Especially during warm weather!!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

If you fly and stay on site, do you carry on anything?

I am thinking of getting a small (21in) rolling suitcase to bring as a carry-on. I would put things that I would really miss if our luggage got lost, plus items we could use on our arrival day. (We would also have a computer bag, camera bag, and kids' backpacks with us.)

Basically I would pack 1 change clothes per person, bathing suits for everyone, pajamas, a travel sunscreen, the costumes I have to surprise my kids with for the week, pressed penny supplies, autograph books... etc.

The rest of our toiletries, clothes, sunscreen, etc I would pack, check, and let DME deal with. Everything but the camera bag will be left with the bellhop if our room isn't ready in time.

What do you do?

We did this once.
We planned to swim and had the Halloween party on arrival day. We carried on all the swim stuff. I am fairly certain we checked all the Halloween stuff. But those on the edge with this might want to carry those on.

We had a non-stop flight and it was the first one in the morning. So odds were in our favor for the airline to not lose our luggage. So the only other items we carried on were things we wanted to protect (electronics) or use in flight.

Our room ended up not quite being ready when we needed it, so we just went to bell services and had no issues accessing or belongings.

 

[donac]

The last few times we have gone our plane has landed late so we never checked a bag. We carried everything with us. This time we are leaving at 6am. We will probably check bags this time

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I carry on a change of clothes, my 3-1-1 bag, toothbrush, hairbrush, magic bands, cameras, tablet, my kindle, all the chargers, trading pins and medicines when I fly down. When I come home I add all the souveniers to that bag.

Usually it's a small duffle or my backpack that I use as my carryon bag. It fits under the plane seat in front of me for when there is no overhead space available like what just happened to me on my current trip home from MN.

I keep thinking I want to get a small duffle with wheels to save my back but then it wouldn't fit under the seat in front of me with room for my feet.

 

[BlackMagicWoman]

My carry on has enough to survive 24 hours without the rest of my luggage.

 

[Laz]

As someone mentioned earlier, some of the smaller regional jets won't allow many of the normal carry-ons. You may have to gate check the bag and may not see it until your final destination. I always make sure I have at least one bag that can fit under the seat just in case.

 

[DisneyHardin]

As someone mentioned earlier, some of the smaller regional jets won't allow many of the normal carry-ons. You may have to gate check the bag and may not see it until your final destination. I always make sure I have at least one bag that can fit under the seat just in case.

This happened to us a couple years ago on the way to Disney. The plane was VERY full and we were some of the last ones on, so there just wasn't anymore overhead bin space. They made me check the bag through (instead of just gate check it) and DME picked it up.

 

[Mrsktbrown]

We travel a lot and always carry on the essentials, like meds and an extra set of clothing. We've (knock on wood) never had our luggage go missing, but if it does, I'd always rather be prepared. When it's a shorter trip, we actually prefer not to check any luggage because of the time we save.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

I would never travel by air without carrying at least a small bag (that fits under the seat) with essential medications and a change of clothes.

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't worry about it, bumbershoot. If that would ever happen, I would get a cab to Walmart and pick up a few sets clothing, no big deal.

Having been in a similar situation, and feeling that it WAS a big deal, I personally disagree with that. So we all have to know ourselves.

We had gotten back from a cruise and used a limo service to get to the airport. We got to the airport and decided to rearrange our luggage. Put nearly everything we would normally carryon with us into checked bags. Checked the bags. Got to the gate. Nearly 4 hours before the flight put our names down to be bumped, as it was superbowl sunday and DH was nearly in tears thinking he was going to miss Seattle at the Superbowl (and worse, our flight had a change IN Newark so it was adding insult to injury LOL). (I had asked him multiple times after booking the flight if he was going to be OK with the flight, and each time it turned out he just figured it wouldn't be an issue and didn't REALLY think about what if Seattle got there)

Even though we were happily bumped well before the flight, they would not/could not get our bags off the plane. (I"m going to figure that they went on a different plane than we did and were already in the air...the airlines can choose to do that though we cannot choose to have that happen) So there we were with nothing.

My trip to Target to get things for that evening and the whole of the next day (b/c we weren't automatically put on another flight), along with clothes for THAT day as we had dressed for the airport, flight, and Seattle, and I ended up visiting Epcot while they watched the game...was expensive and annoying and time-consuming.

I am curious how would DME know the airline lost your luggage or it never arrived?

You don't.

But that's not the part I'm concerned with, for the person I was replying to. To bring nothing for that first 24 hours is gambling, and can involve getting to buy some clothes, etc, when you would rather be playing.

Since most of our trips now involve a running event, I'm prepared for the running event and anything I might want for the first 24 hours. We're about to go to CA for a dance event for DS, and you bet he's taking all of his dance shoes and other dance essentials that cannot easily be purchased (let alone broken in) in his carryon.

Speaking of that I'd best get back to packing soon!

 

[White Rose]

If you fly and stay on site, do you carry on anything?

I am thinking of getting a small (21in) rolling suitcase to bring as a carry-on. I would put things that I would really miss if our luggage got lost, plus items we could use on our arrival day. (We would also have a computer bag, camera bag, and kids' backpacks with us.)

Basically I would pack 1 change clothes per person, bathing suits for everyone, pajamas, a travel sunscreen, the costumes I have to surprise my kids with for the week, pressed penny supplies, autograph books... etc.

The rest of our toiletries, clothes, sunscreen, etc I would pack, check, and let DME deal with. Everything but the camera bag will be left with the bellhop if our room isn't ready in time.

What do you do?

I would suggest splitting the load between the other bags and forgo the extra suitcase. Or, get a really good backpack. Many times the rolling carry ons are required to be checked if the plane is overfull. I would hate for you to have all those things packed in a rolling suitcase just for it to be checked at the last minute. I try to bring less on the plane if possible or pack the carry ons really well. I have a backpack with tons of compartments and pockets, so extra clothes fit in there nicely along with everything from your list except costumes, including my iPad and purse.

Usually I travel with it empty just iPad, purse and phone on the way down TO Disney and its full on the way home because of souvenirs.

 

[butterfly71076]

Having been in a similar situation, and feeling that it WAS a big deal, I personally disagree with that. So we all have to know ourselves.

We had gotten back from a cruise and used a limo service to get to the airport. We got to the airport and decided to rearrange our luggage. Put nearly everything we would normally carryon with us into checked bags. Checked the bags. Got to the gate. Nearly 4 hours before the flight put our names down to be bumped, as it was superbowl sunday and DH was nearly in tears thinking he was going to miss Seattle at the Superbowl (and worse, our flight had a change IN Newark so it was adding insult to injury LOL). (I had asked him multiple times after booking the flight if he was going to be OK with the flight, and each time it turned out he just figured it wouldn't be an issue and didn't REALLY think about what if Seattle got there)

Even though we were happily bumped well before the flight, they would not/could not get our bags off the plane. (I"m going to figure that they went on a different plane than we did and were already in the air...the airlines can choose to do that though we cannot choose to have that happen) So there we were with nothing.

My trip to Target to get things for that evening and the whole of the next day (b/c we weren't automatically put on another flight), along with clothes for THAT day as we had dressed for the airport, flight, and Seattle, and I ended up visiting Epcot while they watched the game...was expensive and annoying and time-consuming.

Absolutely, changing flights after you have checked luggage usually causes a delay in getting your things. I'm sorry that happened to you. The airline people should have warned you of that before you changed flights.

I am not a big fan of flying to begin with and the less I have to worry about the better. I would rather not have the hassle of dealing with an extra bag, and trying to find a spot for it. To each his own.

 

[butterfly71076]

I would suggest splitting the load between the other bags and forgo the extra suitcase. Or, get a really good backpack. Many times the rolling carry ons are required to be checked if the plane is overfull. I would hate for you to have all those things packed in a rolling suitcase just for it to be checked at the last minute. I try to bring less on the plane if possible or pack the carry ons really well. I have a backpack with tons of compartments and pockets, so extra clothes fit in there nicely along with everything from your list except costumes, including my iPad and purse.

Usually I travel with it empty just iPad, purse and phone on the way down TO Disney and its full on the way home because of souvenirs.

I do the same thing!!

 

[CounselorX]

We never check luggage on flights. I take my backpack which fits at least 7 days of clothes, a few different liquids in my 1 quart liquid bag, things like sandles, frogg togg, water bottle, my park backpack which can squish to the size of a tennis ball when empty, and all other necessities. In addition to the backpack, I take my laptop bag which holds my laptop, video camera and accessories, and all of our electronics chargers. My wife takes her small rolling suitcase and a decent size purse.

Everything is packed tightly but we can fit anything we need in carry-on luggage. This next trip coming up will be our first 2 week trip, so we plan to take the same amount of stuff but just do laundry around the 7 day mark.

It's easier going in hot weather because all my clothes are shorts, t-shirts and tank tops.

I also make sure to only book bigger planes. If I have to pay a bit more to book a MD80 instead of some small express jet then I gladly do so.

 

[beccasmom]

I use my carry-on (tote-like bag) for meds, electronics, sunglasses, readers, my purse (cross-body that I use while at WDW), extra t-shirt, Magic Bands (if not worn already), a light jacket, and flip flops I can change into once we arrive in Florida. Credit cards and cash are in my purse. My reading material is on my Kindle. My crew is now all old enough to tote their own electronics, etc. We only have a 2-hour flight to Orlando and it goes by quickly.