Packing for the entire stay or do laundry?

[tlh0726]

We are going for 9 days/8 nights staying at the POP. Plan on trying to pack light (5 outfits each)and doing laundry once while there. When is the best time to try to do laundry? Husband says to pack 9 outfits and forget doing laundry. Which would you do?

 

[koolaidmoms]

We have younger children so no matter what we end up doing laundry! Spilled ice cream, juice, dirt from the bone yard my kids love to play hard. We have finally given into the doing laundry. In fact it is always my goal to try and bring back at least one suitcase full of clean clothes so I can just put them away and not have to do it when I get home.

 

[MommyBryn]

We are going for 9 days/8 nights staying at the POP. Plan on trying to pack light (5 outfits each)and doing laundry once while there. When is the best time to try to do laundry? Husband says to pack 9 outfits and forget doing laundry. Which would you do?

We always end up overpacking, so this time I'm bringing a few less outfits for everyone and I plan on doing laundry. Last time we had more than enough clothes and STILL did laundry once without even using up all of the stuff we brought first, so we're going to skip out on that this time. It'll be nice, especially with the new luggage rules for flying.

 

[Candikayne]

I pack enough outfits for five days and wash during my stay. We normally stay at the CBR. Each village has a laundry near the pool. I wash while the family is in the pool. That way we kill two birds with one stone. I do not bring any dirty clothes home from my trip (only the pjs from the nite before). I wash at least twice during my eight night stays. With the 50 lb. luggage limit and the new charges for the first checked bag, we will definately continue to wash during the trip. With five checked bags.....the $$$ can really add up.

Next year's trip I will try to reduce the number of checked bags to four.

 

[SGMCO]

we usually go in Sept.whenever it rains everyday and is very hot and humid so even though we pack extra clothes I still end up washing 2 times during our trip because we sweat through everything we have.
We change our clothes whenever we return from the parks (everyone around us is happy including ourselves).

 

[mom2travel]

If staying longer than 4 nights we usually plan to do laundry. We'll throw it in while we're at the pool. We have a mesh pop-up hamper that folds up and fits in our suitcase that we bring on trips with us. Works great both for having a place to put dirty clothes and to carry the stuff to the laundry room.

 

[Kimmumum]

We pack enough clothes for the whole trip because I don't like seeing the same clothes in all of the pics But I do do laundry so that when we get home I'm spending a whole day playing catch up

 

[DISNEYNV]

If traveling with kids it always comes down to doing laundry on vacation...YUCK! But the best part is that you usually have less to do when you get home...a plus! If you have easy access to a washer/dryer I recommend just packing light and doing laundry about halfway through trip.

 

[jrmo]

I'm contemplating this too for 6 nights at AKL with a 2 year old. Good to hear everyone's opinions.

 

[scrappindad]

I normally pack for the entire trip but the past couple of times we've stayed longer and packed lighter and just ended up doing laundry. We leave in a few days and we'll be doing laundry again this time. We aren't big pool people, otherwise I would do what others have suggested and do your laundry when the kids are swimming. I try to do it first thing in the morning after we've had a late night (so the kids are sleeping in a little). Otherwise, we come back early from the park and do it then. Basically, you want to do your laundry when people are at the park. If you wait until night when everyone is coming back from the parks, it's going to be more busy.

Another tip, pack with your loads in mind. What I mean is, I pack with the mindset of lights and darks and avoid things like packing two red shirts that need to be washed separately or packing things that need delicate cycle.

Debbie

 

[asoko]

My dd is the messiest child in the world, so no matter how many outfits I pack I would have to do laundry. Also my DH has a phobia about clothes that have been worn being in the same area as clean clothes. I did our laundry on the weekend when we didn't go to the park between lunch and dinner. There were a lot of open machines. I've used the facility by the Hippy Dippy Pool. While I was waiting I checked out the other part of the Pop, the classic years..very interesting, kind of creepy.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I did some late-night laundry at Pop 2 years ago. We were there for 10 days in December and it was worth it to do laundry instead of packing for the entire trip.

I have a few tips: 1) Take a pop-up hamper like someone mentioned above. It fits flat in your luggage and it very useful for collecting and hauling laundry. 2) Take your own laundry kit - I used a large ziplock bag that contained individual liquid Tide packets (found at Target), a few dryer sheets and a roll of quarters. Many people were scrambling for change and soap and I already had my own. 3) Even though the dryers are big, they take a long time to dry. Spring for an extra one if it's available and spread the load out between two or more. At first, only one was available and it was taking forever. When another one was free, I put half the load in it and it took much less time.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

In all the trips we've been on (kids are 10 and 5) . We go at least once a year , usually twice, on vacation, somewhere, I have never done laundry.

I could never imagine taking time out of my vacation to do housework. Some say they do the laundry while the kids are at the pool, thats fine but I like to relax by the pool and have a couple mai tai's while DH plays with the kids. After all its my vacation too and I'm certainly not going to spend even some of it in a laundry room.

Maybe if we had a villa and the w/d was in the room I might throw in a load. But seriously I doubt that would even happen. To each your own, but for this mama it ain't happenin' .

 

[disykat]

I do laundry on every vacation that is over 7 days. It's always given me an excuse to relax while dh is solely in charge of the kids.

I can spend an hour and a half relaxing while doing a few loads (put in several loads, take a dip in the pool, switch them to the dryers, sit and read a good book) or spend days trying to catch up with laundry when I get home.

My kids always tease me wanting to know who I talked to because I usually make friends in the laundry room and get all sorts of vacation tips etc.

 

[kristinw3girls]

We always do at least one load each vaca.. I hate the idea of bring all of our dirty underclothes and icream stained t-****rts home. It is really easier to do it when everyone is napping around 3 half way thru our trip. My dh never sleeps in the afternoon, so he's it! best of both worlds for me, clean cloths and I'm not doing it for once! I'm bringing the detergent dropps and dryer sheets. It will help save time and trouble.


8 days untill Poly!!!
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[K and K's Mommy]

We have been five times and done laundry twice. Quite honestly my DH has done it both times. I separate it in the room though; otherwise, it would be all mixed together!!

Both times I have loved having it done because you don't go home with as much dirty clothes, and you get some of the dirty clothes out of your room. My DH is a night owl so he does it on a night when we don't do a park night show. For us, we need the kids in bed at a decent hour for them about every other night so they stay nice during the day!

 

[ZPT1022]

We usually do laundry on vacation- either an afternoon or evening where DH will play with the kids in the pool and I will do a few loads of laundry. DH usually feels bad and brings me a drink or two while I'm in there (he's a keeper ) so it's not too bad. I also usually end up talking to the other people who are in there


ETA- with three little kids I would be worried about stains setting by the time we got home if I didn't do laundry, but then we normally go for around 2 weeks at a time

 

[mdurette]

We typically stay for 8 days - we pack for 4 days.

If in a DVC - then the washer/dryer is in the room so it is easy.

For most other resorts - they have them located near the pool. Easy to do on a pool day. Too cold when you are going? Still do laundry - bring a book and enjoy the 2 hours of peace!!!

 

[nicki.momof3]

I never do laundry on a WDW vacation. I overpack and pay the extra luggage charge. It is worth it to me to not have to think about if we have enough clothes for the entire trip.

 

[Del]

Just got back from 7 day trip and it worked well. We packed enought for 4 days and did laundry. We stayed at the Vistana so we had w/d in our suite which meant I could do laundry here and there. Worked out great.

Del