Packing and flying for all you that have experienced

[Brumeiser]

This will be our first time packing for a trip down by flying. What I wonder is this I am done packing my clothes and toiletries and in my bigger set of luggage (it is within airline standards) and it will all fit. This will be a 6 day trip. This is my dilema should I thin this luggage down and use the second suitcase? There are 2 adults and 1 child so we could have 6 checked luggage and 3 carry on. I don't know what we are going to buy for souverniers but I want to make sure we have enough to get us home. Any suggestions will be most gratifying since we leave in 6 days. Thanks

 

[Tara]

Even if you are within the size limits, the real concern is weight, especially if it's a big suitcase. Airlines are a lot more strict about weight limits and will charge you an excess baggage fee if your bag weight exceeds their limit. (Most are 50 lbs, I believe, but check with your carrier.) I would spread it out into two bags and that way you have room for souvenirs.

 

[scoutsmom99]

I'm not sure I'm follwing right so this advice might not sound right if I didn't understand right.

If possible pack everything in the smaller suitcase and the pack the small case into the larger case and then you will have a case to use for souvies and whatever else your hear desires. For me it is always easy to pack for heading down there, but getting everything to fit on the way home is the bigger problem.

Like Tara said weight is the bigger issue. Last time I was over by a few pounds, but the skycap let it slide and I gave him a generous tip for that ! I'm a serious over packer..I guess I just like to be prepared for anything!

 

[Corryn]

Yeah, the whole weight thingie really spoiled it for me. I was obsessed with Space Bags because I could jam soooo much clothing into one suitcase!

I didn't even realize it until we were packing for our trip this past April and someone on the DIS mentioned NOT to use the Space Bags because more clothing in the suitcase = more weight in the suitcase. The difference in the amount of clothing I can get into my luggage is unbelievable with and without the Space Bags. So this trip we packed sans Space Bags and when we got to the airport (both to go to and come back from Florida), we still had to take clothing out of one suitcase and stick it in another so the weight would be under 50 lbs.

This trip taught me something (that the luggage company will love): My next trip I am purchasing one big suitcase and one rolly carry-on suitcase for each of my girls. That will leave me and my husband with our own suitcases and I won't have to worry about my husbands' dirty underwear falling out of the suitcase in full view of everyone on line while taking stuff out to get the weight down!!!!! I had to carry his dirty underwear in my fancy Bahamas straw bag souvenier onto the plane with me
More luggage with less inside is far better than less luggage with more inside.

 

[can'twait]

I haven't seen anyone mention this, but has anyone used their bathroom scale to weigh their bags during "test packing" or final packing to make sure the bags are not over the weight limit?

 

[mrFDNY]

two things, check the website of the airlane you are flying to see about weights of luggage allowed,
SECOND AND MOST IMPORTANT!-put anything like shampoo,or anything liquid in plastic or any other kind of bottles.double bag in a zip lock bag.so if anything were to bust open your clothes are not covered in liquid.learned this the hard way in vegas.but everytime i got next to a male i got a smile and a look.cause dw perfume was broken(who brings 13 gallons of perfume anyway?)a huge bottle and got all over my stuff.even after a couple of washes i still smelled preaty!

 

[jonestavern]

mail the souvenirs home. be sure to adequately insure & put the receipt in a safe spot.
does yr resort have a washer/dryer? this can cut down on the changes of clothing you'll need, freeing up suitcase space.
It doesn't work for everyone, but we like managing on 1 carry on a piece.

Have a great trip!
Jean

 

[crazy4disney01]

We always try to pack so there is still some room left in all the suitcases. My DD has one, Me and DH share one, and then we have a hardcase one for toiletries, pull-ups, makeup, small cooler for the parks, and stuff like that.

I use my bathroom scale to see how heavy it is before I leave. We tried to stuff everything in a hard-case suitcase last year and ended up having to pay $25 each way because it was too heavy. We pack a dufflebag too for souveniers and dirty clothes and stuff like that. Going down we put the dufflebag on the top of our clothes before we shut the suitcase so coming back we know we have extra room and have always used it (pretty full) returning from our trip. I know it is so convenient just to have one bag but it may be better for you and your wallet to carry more luggage.

Too with Magical Express your not really having to tote your luggage except entering the airport to check-in and leaving to the airport to go home.

Chelly
_______________________________________
1 day until our 4th WDW Vacation!!!
"i'm so excited...Just can't hide it"

 

[DisnyMama]

I made the big mistake with oversized and overweight luggage a couple years ago. The airline allowed the really large pullman so I thought it would be smarter if we just had one suitcase each- THE BIGGEST THE AIRLINE WOULD ALLOW! I never gave any thought to the weight until I checked in my suitcase which of course being winter contained sweaters, pants, shoes, jackets, etc. The weight limit was 50 lbs and I went over by 3 lbs. I had to pay a $25.00 over limit fee. I had no choice at that time. When we came home I spent the possible $25.00 they would charge me coming home on a WDW bag and stuffed some clean stuff in it and made weight -EXACTLY!

LESSON LEARNED: as previously posted, it's better to take smaller bags to be sure that you do not go over the weight. Now I have these huge suitcases and the airlines are changing the demension limits also. I know that Song will not allow the very large cases.

 

[rflorek]

We go for 8 days. I pack my larger suitcase with almost everything. I bring the smaller, carry-on suitcase (which I send as checked baggage), and only put a couple of beach towels and some flip flops inside. That way, my sister and I have all of the room in this extra suitcase for any souveniers and t-shirts that we buy during our stay.

 

[SkipperBubba]

DW and I both take reasonably large suitcases, but I'm pretty anal about pre-weighing them on the bathroom scale. We usually make weight with 10-15 pounds to spare. She uses her camera bag as a carry-on for the trip to the World and packs a big duffle, then uses that as the carry-on for the return flight. That way there's room for souvenirs. One other consideration for us is that we usually rent a convertible for the week, so we can't use the biggest suitcases on the market. It's bad enough that we have to drop the top to put one of the suitcases in the back seat

 

[babar41]

I used to take everything except the kitchen sink when I traveled. (Kitchen sink just wouldn't fit in the suitcase. ) I would break my back hauling around these suitcases that would kill you to get in and out of a trunk. I changed my outlook on how to pack years ago. Here are some suggestions.

1. What type of vacation do you want? Do you want to spend a few hours doing laundry instead of relaxing or parking? My answer has always been NO! Laundry is part of the real world, when I'm on vacation I am in a fantasy world. So I know I need to bring enough clothes for our entire trip.

2. Limit what you bring. There are some things that can be worn more than once, my jeans for example. I take 2 pairs of shoes and 1 pair of moccasins. Since I am wearing 1 pair of shoes, that means I only need to pack 1 pair and the mocs. Look at how long you are going to be gone, what clothes you realisticaly have to bring, throw in one more outfit as a just in case, then stop packing the clothes! (I have this weird thing that if there is room I like to keep packing)

3. Pack an extra duffel bag or two. Dirty clothes can go in them freeing up room for the all important souvies!

4. Since the really large suitcases hold a lot, they can also weigh a lot when full. Big suitcases should be for larger items that are lighter weight. Make sure to weigh your cases. Nothing says you have to totally fill your big case! I like to bring it because sometimes the souvies I choose are too big to fit in a smaller case.

5. Put your souvies in a suitcase at the end of every day. This way you'll know when you are running out of room... and remember, you can always ship!

6. All meds and toiletries should be in ziplock bags to prevent accidents, and should be in your carry-on. (I've found bottles lids don't pop off when they are in the cabin with me while if they are in the luggage compartment they do.)

7. Know your limits, both weight and numbers. Stay within them or pay rediculous fines.

Good luck to you and have a wonderful trip!

 

[milmore104]

I am usually an OVER packer. I tend to bring a lot of "just incase" items like lotions and medicine type stuff because it's hard to find and expensive down there. But a rather uncomfortable moment on a trip made me not over pack so much. I was WAY over the 80lb limit and had to rearrange dirty clothes in front of everyone. Now I don't carry my iron w/ me adn things I can get there. Anyway to answer your question don't over pack your suitcase if you can bring 2 that are not so full I highly recommend it. You never know what your going to bring home and if your using DME then why not you really won't be lugging your bags throughout the airport. Have a great trip!

 

[addicted2disney]

barbar41.
I was just going to say.. I always pack a few empty duffle bags. We always need more room for the trip back home. YOu are allowed to check 2 bags per ticket on the plane. We have 5 of us.. me and DH get the biggest suitcase, my 2 DD's share one, and my DS gets one, and thats the one we stick the rain ponchos, beach towels, and extra duffle bags in. Then we have one bag for toiletries ( I second the double bagging of shampoos, lotions, etc. Something opens up in our bag EVERY time!! )

 

[goofie4goofy]

We are seasoned trevelers and frequent flyers

What I do is pack all toiletires shampoo, cologne, soaps..anything that spills in ziplock bags. I also pack all the mdications in a ziplock bag. I pack OTC medications (pepto, aspirin, bandaids, etc..) in another ziplock bag. I pack all this stuff in 2 carry on bags, along with the camera, jewelery etc. Anything that can spill or is valuable. So many times on the way to somewhere, someone needed a Pepcid or something, so it is great to have it in your carry on luggage.

In checked baggage, which has a 70 pound weight limit per bag for domestic flights. I pack all shoes in the bottom of 1 suitcase. I then put lots of items in ziplock bags, with the air squeezed out. I pack bathing suits, socks, underwear, accessories in them because they are small items that can take up lots of room. I then layer the packed ziplock bags over the shoes to protect the clothing. Then I put all the folded clothes on top of that. I use this bag for t shirts, shorts, jeans basically folded clothing that will not wrinkle.

In another suitcase (we have a wardrober) I pack all the dressier clothes like dressses, skirts, slacks, blazers. I pack them in the dry cleaning bags. I leave them on hangers and just put them on the hook in the suitcase (that's what a wardrober is, a travelling closet) but if you fold the clothing as little as possible, in the dry cleaning bag it will not wrinkle either.

You are allowed 2 checked bags per person and 2 carry on bags that fit the dimension of a carry on bag. This can be a bag type or the wheeler type. We carry on a total of 4 bags (2 carry ons, 1 purse and 1 laptop) and check 2 and we are 2 adults with enough clothing to last a month! I over pack because we both dress by mood

On checked bags, size des not matter but weight does. On carry on, weight does not matter but size does.

Another hint for your luggage: Buy another luggage tag and on it write all your travel info, flight numbers, travel dates, place visiting, hotel name and cell phone number. This way in case it's lost, your luggage has all the info on it and will be quicker on getting to you.

Do not pack anything of value or anything that can spill (even if it is in a ziplock bag) luggage gets thrown around and things break...and also items are stolen.

When I travel with my neice and nephew, I pack their carry on bags with snacks and a juice box or two and a favorite blankie On the way home these carry on bags come in handy for packing souviniers.

Also anything you BUY in the airport does not count as a carry on. So if you have 2 carry ons each and decide to get souviniers in the airport, you can carry on as much of these bags as you want. Packed luggage counts as carry ons, not shopping bags...I just learned this on my last flight when I had 2 bags of Lush products that I bought at the airport store...so it is true.

 

[MazdaUK]

We went out with 3 suitcases between 2 adults and 2 children (for 2 weeks), plus a carry-on each (I packed a bag to use for the pool in one of the cases and used it on the way home to hold the clothes we'd need to change into for our return to cooler climes!). We took lots of "slightly past-it" T-shirts and oldest socks, panties plus oldest trainers - all this "past its sell-by" went into the bins after wearing. This made room for nice new clothes from the Premium Outlets, nice new Disney clothing, souvenirs etc. - mind you, we still had to buy an extra suitcase for the return trip.

Result - no yucky washing (or not too much) - just a suitcase of nice new clothes to help beat those post-Disney blues!

 

[deadhedjen]

We also learned the weight limit of bags the hard way. We are a family of 6 and we checked 2 bags. THe biggest one was over and the second one was under weight...had to do a lot of shuffling around to get it all to have both make weight. 3 of our kids wanted to take carry-ons and they mostly just had snacks and stuff to keep them entertained in them...so for our trip home we put more stuff in those carry-ons.
One major lesson we learned from that first trip was TAKE LESS STUFF, lol!!!!
We learned to pack a lot lighter after that, lol.
Another lesson learned was to put the souviner Mickey fudge in your carryon. Apparently if your luggage is x-rayed the box of fudge looks like either a big hunk of cash, drugs, or explosives. DH and myself both had to step over to the security area at MCO while security went through our luggage, testing our fingers for traces of explosives, etc. Not fun. After we were done with that, we had to re-pack everything and then have security tell us that this happens all the time with the boxes of fudge. They said to put it in our carry-ons next time. Whatever. Those bags get x-rayed too, so I don't see their point.
Oh, and we always gate check our stroller and use it to throw all the carry-ons on top of it....its easier to carry the littlest kid instead of carrying all those carry-ons, lol.

Jennifer.

 

[jonestavern]

does yr resort have a washer/dryer? this can cut down on the changes of clothing you'll need, freeing up suitcase space.
Jean

Sorry, I should have specified--OP right- vacation is not about laundry-we only need 2-3 loads done for a 10-14 day visit (with carry on only)we'll put in a load at the resort, have a coffee or drinks, toss in dryer, take a walk, laundry finished! takes no more than an 1hr 15 min --we are early risers--or at 'break' time from the parks--or, when DS was younger, the laundry 'chore' provided one of us with the time for exploring our resort. DH, a very early riser!--has also surprised me by doing the clothes, so at 7 am I wake up to a fresh stack of folded apparel Laundry is also a good rainy day thing.If at DVC it's a snap to put a load in at night & dry it in the morning.

Jean

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

There's so many good ideas.

Also, anytime during the year when you are NOT traveling, it is wise to keep an eye out for small size plastic containers. I save all the smaller medicine bottles from my prescriptions. I then carefully peel of my prescription label and put it on a smaller bottle. I double pack all prescriptions. I have the full amount in my checked baggage, and also the full amount in my carry-on. This way, if EITHER ONE is lost, I still have my blood pressure meds.

Always use smaller plastic bottles of all toiletries so that you can discard them when used.

If you are packing extra shoes, use the inside of the shoes to pack something in there, too.

 

[Lynn4Mel]

I didn't read through all of the posts so I don't know if this has been mentioned.

What I did was pack one suitcase of snacks, small box laundry detergent and any other thing that is not clothes and H&BA related that will be used when we are gone. Then pack enough for everyone (4 of us) plus a couple of extras in 2 suitcases. The suitcase that has the snacks is empty at the end of the trip for souviners and sometimes I will even add an empty duffle bag if I have the feeling I may go overboard with my shopping!

This time going down with the schedule I have I will be able to do laundry in the middle of our trip and then last day there so we don't have to pack as much and then won't have to go home with suitcases of dirty laundry. Who wants a chore to do as soon as you get home?