Luggage v. shipping

[jretzlaff22]

So I 've gone a little crazy with pillow gifts, surprises etc for the kids and now I'm wondering how we get it all down there. We are able to take up to 6 checked bags for the three of us (thanks southwest) and three carry ons. I'd like to have our welcome gifts with us in the carry ons as I've heard sometime the Magical Express takes a while, but I'm not sure what to do with the rest. Take an extra suitcase or ship it down?

Opinions?

 

[stitchlovestink]

So I 've gone a little crazy with pillow gifts, surprises etc for the kids and now I'm wondering how we get it all down there. We are able to take up to 6 checked bags for the three of us (thanks southwest) and three carry ons. I'd like to have our welcome gifts with us in the carry ons as I've heard sometime the Magical Express takes a while, but I'm not sure what to do with the rest. Take an extra suitcase or ship it down?

Opinions?

Okay, I'm a bit confused. Are you saying that you need all six suitcases plus all 3 carry ons for all of your other stuff? So you would need to pay for a 7th suitcase or ship your items ahead? I must confess that I am not a light packer at all and even for as long as our trip was we still didn't use all of our luggage space until the way home and that was because I did quite a bit of Cmas shopping during our trip.
If you have truly used all of your allowable luggage space, my suggestion would be to box the stuff up and get a shipping quote. Then compare that with the cost to check the additional piece of luggage. Whichever is cheaper is how I'd go! HTH!!

 

[MichiganKris]

I don't see how shipping would be a good option, unless most of the extra things you are bringing can be consumed in Disney World. Don't you need to bring it back also?

 

[englishteacha]

How long is your trip? I spent 3 months abroad in winter with 2 suitcases and a backpack. I can pack for a week at WDW in one suitcase, with a carry on with my book, itinerary, iPod, phone, laptop, change of clothes, etc. I bet you can pack clothes for the 3 of you in 4 suitcases, then you have 2 suitcases to play with.

I'm always afraid the airline will lose my luggage, so when we check bags, I put half of my clothes in DH's suitcase and he puts half of his in mine. That way if they lose one bag, we both still have clothes to wear. If you pack a few outfits for each person in each of 4 bags, I bet it will all fit with room to spare. Put your gifty items in a 5th suitcase.

 

[tinkmom2]

I shipped a box down to the Dream and one to the resort. Both were mailed out the same day. The one to the Dream made it. The one to the resort came the day after we checked out.( I mailed them two weeks beforehand via USPS) We had some FE gifts in there and our Halloween costumes for the MNSSHP. I would recommend packing your excess in carryons. Some people swear by mailing stuff down and this is the first time we had a problem but the problem was big enough to make a damper on our vacation. I didn't have one of our FE gifts to hand out on the cruise either.
I am a big packer but for the four of us I only brought two suitcases and 2 carryons. Clothes can do double duty and you can always wash clothes if need be. For us we were in the water most of the time. The resorts have their own pillows and I worry about carrying stuff home that you can catch on the plane or from hotels. We also brought along an extra duffle bag if we needed it for souvies and a soft sided cooler.
I carry things like swim suits in our carryon and surprises I don't want damaged.

 

[stitchlovestink]

I don't see how shipping would be a good option, unless most of the extra things you are bringing can be consumed in Disney World. Don't you need to bring it back also?

Excellent Point!! I hadn't thought of that! I would imagine "most" of the items are probably going to need to be brought home. So shipping wouldn't be a good choice because then you wouldn't have the 'extra' suitcase or bag for the way home...
I KNOW how much extra stuff I pack (way too much!!! ) I can't imagine that there is someone who actually packs more!! But I still manage to get it all within the allotted amount of luggage (which amazes DH!)