Last minute things to do?

sheila <3 WDW

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Mar 18, 2011
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We leave in 4 days and are beyond excited. It's or first time driving. Well be staying overnight somewhere on the way there and the way home. 7 nights in Disney hotels, 10 day trip total. Our longest trip so far, counting drive time.

I have my ADR & FP+ reservations, packing list is up-to- date. Itinerary is saved in my phone. Packing will start tonight. Everyone is getting hair cuts this week (highlights for me) and I have a mani/pedi scheduled for the night before we leave.

What do you do in the last few days before you leave? I feel like I am not prepared to be gone for so long. LOL
 
We tend to pack in rubbermaid tubs for the 4 of us (DW, DD2.5 and DD 3 months). We typically drive all the way to Orlando from Central NC (about 625 miles) and stay in a non-Disney, cheap hotel for night 1. We'll then check in at Disney as early as we need to to see the MK opening (so, when MK opened at 8 AM and we were at BWV, we checked in just after 6 AM...when MK opened at 9 AM and we stayed at BLT, we checked in around 8 AM).

Leading up to our trip last week, we took solace that anything we forgot we could purchase en route. The only thing we blatantly forgot this time was bug spray, and we didn't even use the stuff we bought once.

We stayed longer than we typically do this last trip and it went just as quickly.

I print all our plans because it's easy to pass around and see what we're doing the next day. We love using the app in the parks to see who is around to meet.

Enjoy your trip!
 
We pack in totes when we go skiing too. Not sure why we don't do it all the time...?

Anyway, I'll just note that the one single time I got a pedi before a trip was our 2010 cruise and immediately upon arrival at our pre-stay at Beach Club we hopped straight in the pool and I scraped half the polish off my big toe! Nice. So, pack the polish for touch ups.

I'm sure it's not your first car trip somewhere, but I'd say bring lots of movies, snacks, and books. (Which then, for us, require Less Drowsy Dramamine!). I bought my kids MadLibs but my DD11 (I think she was at the time) proclaimed "this isn't a game, it's English!!!" LOL So, not really a hit!

We drive almost every trip, but we rarely drive to the parks. I drive 100 miles RT a day, and it's 11 hours for us to get there, so I like a vacation from driving!! But we always drive to water parks, some resort ADRs, and sometimes to a park, depending on the situation.

Don't think I gave you much good info there, but at least I bumped your thread ;). Have a great trip!!!
 
We back a separate small bag with one outfit/pajamas for everyone to make our night stops on the road easier, so we don't have to grab every suitcase/tote for a quick one night stop.

We go by the public library and rent movies (usually Disney) for free to take to watch.

Arrange someone to get mail, flyers, newspapers, etc. pet care if you have a pet. We usually give a neighbor our resorts/plans. Change air conditioner setting to save money. We sometimes will shut off water too?

We always do a Disney dinner to get us in the mood too.
 

Bikini wax:eek::eek: I leave Saturday and my man/ pedi is Wednesday and the weed whacking is on Friday:rotfl2:
 
We back a separate small bag with one outfit/pajamas for everyone to make our night stops on the road easier, so we don't have to grab every suitcase/tote for a quick one night stop.

That is a great idea! I hadn't thought that far ahead yet.

We go by the public library and rent movies (usually Disney) for free to take to watch.

We will definitely be bringing some movies and a portable DVD player. We have a lot of Disney movies on DVD, plus Dora and Diego. I have a feeling we will be watching a lot of Frozen and Planes (my kids favorites).

Arrange someone to get mail, flyers, newspapers, etc. pet care if you have a pet. We usually give a neighbor our resorts/plans. Change air conditioner setting to save money. We sometimes will shut off water too?

I put a hold on our mail and we have someone coming to feed the cats/scoop the litter. Good point about the A/C! I'll add it to my packing list!
 
I have sort of an odd tip for you. When you get your pedicure, make sure they don't remove any callouses all the way down to new, tender skin.. With all of the miles and miles of walking you do, the callouses protect your feet from blisters. If all of the callouses are gone, you might have some trouble!
 
We also leave in 4 days and will drive to Tallahassee and then on to Pop the next morning. We will be there 7 nights as well!

I know this seems like a crazy thing to do right before a trip, but I am a clean-house fanatic, so I clean my house from ceiling to floor, both my upstairs and downstairs. Mainly I do this because I know when I get home I will be bogged down a couple of days doing laundry from the trip and will have Disney withdrawals that house work will not remedy :)

I hope you and your family have a magical time!
 
We also leave in 4 days and will drive to Tallahassee and then on to Pop the next morning. We will be there 7 nights as well!

I know this seems like a crazy thing to do right before a trip, but I am a clean-house fanatic, so I clean my house from ceiling to floor, both my upstairs and downstairs. Mainly I do this because I know when I get home I will be bogged down a couple of days doing laundry from the trip and will have Disney withdrawals that house work will not remedy :)

I hope you and your family have a magical time!

I do that too!! My house is at its cleanest when we're on vacation:rotfl:
 
We leave in 4 days and are beyond excited. It's or first time driving. Well be staying overnight somewhere on the way there and the way home. 7 nights in Disney hotels, 10 day trip total. Our longest trip so far, counting drive time.

I have my ADR & FP+ reservations, packing list is up-to- date. Itinerary is saved in my phone. Packing will start tonight. Everyone is getting hair cuts this week (highlights for me) and I have a mani/pedi scheduled for the night before we leave.

What do you do in the last few days before you leave? I feel like I am not prepared to be gone for so long. LOL

We are leaving in 12 days from the same area that you live in. This will be our 2nd time driving. We try to stop in Macon, GA which is about a 10 hour ride on the way down then we get up and have about 5-6 hours left the next day. We are planning on pulling into WDW around 3pm the following day. As a lot of other people have said we use totes for all the toiletries and such. Sunscreen and lotions and the shoe rack thing that DW has to hang off the door. Dont forget excedrin and bandaids. My philosophy is that if we didnt bring it I will buy it just to get DW out the door. We always feel like we forget stuff when we leave but we usually do pretty good about bringing what we need. You may want to turn off the water to the house if it will be empty. That is what we do just to be safe. That would be terrible to come home to a burst water pipe. Stop the mail and newspapers too if you still get them.
 
We drive almost every trip, but we rarely drive to the parks. I drive 100 miles RT a day, and it's 11 hours for us to get there, so I like a vacation from driving!! But we always drive to water parks, some resort ADRs, and sometimes to a park, depending on the situation.

Thank you, you have validated my plan for our upcoming trip. DH drives 100+ miles a day for work as well so after the drive from MI we're planning on giving the car and him a break and taking Disney transportation for most of the trip. A lot of people recommend driving to the parks, but I don't want to worry about getting back to the resort if we decide to have an adult beverage or several around WS ;)
 
Thank you, you have validated my plan for our upcoming trip. DH drives 100+ miles a day for work as well so after the drive from MI we're planning on giving the car and him a break and taking Disney transportation for most of the trip. A lot of people recommend driving to the parks, but I don't want to worry about getting back to the resort if we decide to have an adult beverage or several around WS ;)

Once we get to the World we park our car and don't get back in it till it's time to head back to Mississippi - we totally depend on Disney for transportation - one of our favorite perks.
 

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