laundry at the hotel

[disfan07]

Is it incredibly inconvenient to do laundry when you are not staying in a villa?

I have been to WDW many times but we have never done laundry while we are there.

I am going to WDW in the summer with a family of 4 kids for 14 days and we are trying to keep the amount of luggage for 7 people under control. If we bring 14 days worth of clothes plus everything else we need, our rooms wont be able to hold all of the luggage..lol.

We are going to be staying at either the contemporary or polynesian and we are hoping to get away with about 7-10 days worth of clothing for each person. If we do this, obviously we will need to do laundry. With 14 days we are going ot plan a lot of down time at the hotel but even with that planned, how easy is it to do laundry at those hotels?

 

[indimom]

Now, we didn't have as many people as you, but it's still pretty easy. At most hotels I've stayed at the laundry is located near the pools. So just throw in a load or two or ten and go swimming. Toss it in the dryer and swim some more. Done. Just save yourself some $$ and bring your own detergent/dryer sheets. They are really pricey buying from the machines, especially for that much laundry. (And make sure you check the washer/dryer carefullyfor socks, we lost a couple on our last trip.)

 

[GoofyFairie]

I always do laundry. It is too much to drag enough clothes and who wants to go home to that much dirty laundry!

 

[KristiMc]

I did laundry on our last trip and it wasn't bad. I grabbed a drink and sat by the pool while my DH and the kids swam.

 

[Mathfailure]

I always do laundry away. Preportion powder soap in freezer baggies, bring dryer sheets, good to go!

I find for me doing the laundry after supper, and the kids are asleep, was easier. But we usually went in off season and most of the parks were closed a bit early.

 

[happymommy]

My kids don't have that many clothes anyway! We do laundry every 2 or 3 days on vacation, and it is easy. We just have some down time, by the pool, or on our last trip I got lucky at the Boardwalk Inn - our room was right next to the laundry room. I don't think anyone in the whole resort did laundry but me, as I did it every day (it was as convenient as having it in our villa). I made some coffee early in the morning, went to do laundry and read the paper while it washed and the kids slept in. So convenient!

We only bring rolling carry-ons, so this helps. I don't like checking luggage; it always ends up dirty and banged up, and I'm always afraid they'll lose it.

Sometimes a change machine is broken, so it helps to get quarters ahead of time from the front desk.

 

[Disneyadore]

I Wash my laundry always. A month in Florida with only one suitcase makes this necessary
I just put my laundry in the machine and go back to the room. If someone wants to steel my undies I guess he ore she needs them more then I do AND I get the chance to buy new ones

 

[badblackpug]

Nope, it's not hard. We do laundry on every trip. What we do is unpack our clothes and put them in the dressers when we get there. When we change we put the dirty clothes into the empty suitcases. Then when we need to do laundry we just roll the cases to the laundromat and relax by the pool while they wash and dry. We repack them into the cases and roll them back to the room!

 

[Drusilla]

We do laundry too. NBD. Those new all in one sheets that have detergent, softener and dryer sheet all in one work very well. I just put those in a baggie in one of the outside pockets of the suitcase - very easy.

 

[MrsAlly]

We do laundry on our road trips to the point I now have a very small bottle of detergent I keep in the car at all times (this way if you need to clean something else you have it as well) though I will have to make sure I pack some detergent with me since I'm finding I'm washing clothes not so much because we need to wear them but for some reason my little one like to have bodily accidents on vacations and the other one is newly potty trained and having to keep around clothes that are dirty like that is no fun at all!!

 

[marshmellow86]

At most hotels I've stayed at the laundry is located near the pools. So just throw in a load or two or ten and go swimming. Toss it in the dryer and swim some more. Done. Just save yourself some $$ and bring your own detergent/dryer sheets. They are really pricey buying from the machines, especially for that much laundry.

Ditto!!!!

 

[ZPT1022]

I usually pack a folding laundry hamper in the luggage and pop it open in the room. All the dirty laundry goes in there and I grab it on my way to the laundry room. Since we drive, we usually make a Target run for bottled water and snacks and I pick up a small thing of detergent and dryer sheets while there. It's pretty easy and it's nice because there's no worries if you want to change mid-day or something, no worries about running out of clothes. Last time we were there, everyone but DH caught a stomach bug so we were able to wash favorite animals and blankets and such (like three times because I was skeeved out, but that's a different issue). It's not my favorite thing but I usually do it while we're having pool time.

 

[OceanAnnie]

We do laundry too. NBD. Those new all in one sheets that have detergent, softener and dryer sheet all in one work very well. I just put those in a baggie in one of the outside pockets of the suitcase - very easy.

I do the same thing. I also bring enough quarters for several loads and the dryer. I bought a laundry bag at the dollar tree and a pop up hamper from the dollar tree too. Used the pop up hamper for dirty clothes and the laundry bag to transfer the clean clothes. Both the hamper and the laundry bag held up well. I donated the pop up hamper. Just left it in the laundry room for someone else to use.

I take a book or a newspaper and sit in the nearby lobby while I wait for the laundry. I do it when the kids are asleep, and DH watches tv.

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

I will have to do laundry at some point too. I bought the Purex sheets that they make now. They have detergent, fabric softener and static guard on 1 sheet, so no carrying around a bottle of detergent and a box of fabric softener sheets. I think I paid $5 for 24 of them

 

[disfan07]

Nope, it's not hard. We do laundry on every trip. What we do is unpack our clothes and put them in the dressers when we get there. When we change we put the dirty clothes into the empty suitcases. Then when we need to do laundry we just roll the cases to the laundromat and relax by the pool while they wash and dry. We repack them into the cases and roll them back to the room!

I usually pack a folding laundry hamper in the luggage and pop it open in the room. All the dirty laundry goes in there and I grab it on my way to the laundry room. Since we drive, we usually make a Target run for bottled water and snacks and I pick up a small thing of detergent and dryer sheets while there. It's pretty easy and it's nice because there's no worries if you want to change mid-day or something, no worries about running out of clothes. Last time we were there, everyone but DH caught a stomach bug so we were able to wash favorite animals and blankets and such (like three times because I was skeeved out, but that's a different issue). It's not my favorite thing but I usually do it while we're having pool time.

THANKS!! I like both of these ideas of using an empty suitcase or bringing a folding hamper (or maybe both with 7 ppl..lol)
running out of clothes is definitely a concern with the 4 kids. Not so much with the 11 and 8 year old but more with the almost 3 and 5 year olds.We figure that in the summer the 2 youngest will end up chanign clothes in teh middle of the day (they always spill stuff..like ice cream) We figure if we can get away with like 4 checked suitcases (2 for each room) that would be great.

What's probably going to end up happenign on the laundry days will be....their dad at teh pool with the older kids, their mom doing the laundry and me with at least the 3 year old (maybe the 5 year old) napping in teh room.

(And make sure you check the washer/dryer carefullyfor socks, we lost a couple on our last trip.)

It's funny you should say that. With 4 kids, they lose more socks in the dryer than they can count....i swear on my life that dryers are made to eat socks.

 

[squirrel]

I bring two mesh bags-one large one for the clothes and a smaller one for socks and underwear that zips up and is put into the wash.

I bring my own Tide in ziplock bags and dryer sheets.

I usually do laundry twice for a 14 night stay.

 

[vroomagain]

How much do the washers and dryers cost?

 

[OceanAnnie]

How much do the washers and dryers cost?

I can't remember exactly. Something like $1.25 or $1.50 for washing. About that for drying. Maybe more. It was at least that much. Once I had a hard time finding change. I can't remember if there was a change machine and it was out of order or what happened. I just brought quarters with me the next time.

I encountered some rude, rude people while I was doing our laundry. I didn't care for the way they took over the whole room, reaching around and in front of us, couldn't wait for us to finish taking our stuff out. I mean they came from nowhere! I was with our stuff the whole time. Never saw them. Yet they were rushing us. Trust me. I wanted to finish the job and go have fun, so I didn't need the rushing. I wasn't even sure the washer was empty before they started putting stuff in. I was transferring stuff to the dryer and as I turned to check the washer once more they were putting stuff in! I was standing right beside the washer, all I did was pivot to hand the wash over to be put in the dryer. I never moved and they took over. I said to them, was that empty? They didn't know, so I had them take the stuff out so I could check. That was just some of the stuff they did.

I was nice. Didn't ask them in a mean way or anything. Just one of my laundry stories.

 

[*Seanaci*]

We only went for 7 days and did laundry 2 times while we were there. Stayed at the ASMu. We'd do ours either afternoon (during my sons nap time) or evening when we got back from the parks. It was really a life saver as it saved on paying for extra bags.