Packing Tips for anyone Driving

[neenersmom]

Ok I need ideas on how others pack for driving to Disney. Not what to pack but HOW to pack it all.

We thought about all 5 of us having the same size and shape suitcase so they will stack better, then using plastic storage boxes to pack food and other items. I just want it all to fit nicely into our van and also be easy to unload and get to the room....the thought was that if we have containers of the same size that they would be easier to stack and haul?? Maybe or maybe not.... we just seem to take to much stuff and I need ideas on how you do it.

 

[Reddy]

we have a car so most stuff goes in the trunk & isn't seen
I put the boys clothes in a mesh clothes bag so they are squishable & fit it all empty spots. then they go in the drawers at hotel & dirty clothes fill the bags (helps keep the room clean)
we have to stop for a night so I pack a gym bag with the stuff for the 2nd day of the trip & a 2nd one with swim stuff in case trip hotel has a pool.
My clothes goes on hangers - everything for the complete outfit on one hanger(yes all undies are on there too, certain outfits need certain undies - I'm sure that is more info than you wanted - I wear sandals/water shoes so no socks)
DH packs his own

 

[minnie mum]

It really depends on the size of the family and the size of the car/van!

I'd say try a trial 'pack'. Just empty suitcases and plastic tote bins. See how much you can cram in there.

One thing that we do that makes things easier, since we have at least one overnight stop, is to pack all of our clothes for the trip down in one suitcase (a mixed bag, so to speak). While we do empty the car every night (in case of the car being broken into), we only have to open and repack one bag.

And on the night before we arrive at WDW I make sure that our day bag is packed with everything we'll need for the park, so we can dump all our stuff with Bell Services, get our KTTW and head straight to the parks.

Hope that helps a little?

 

[mousiemom]

the totes work well with groceries, etc. we always overpack on clothes. we end up wearing the same pair of shorts 2/3 times a wk. you can always wash if need be at the resort. my husband always packs our van so neatly and we always take all of our disney plush for the windows. the totes you can put a lot of things in one. i always start packing a month before we leave so i can work with the suitcases.

 

[neenersmom]

Thanks so much for the ideas. I think I will go ahead and buy some storage containers to do like you said and trial pack.... There will be 5 of us and with two teenagers I know they will think they need to take ALL of their clothes!
I also saw on another post about the packing cubes and thought about looking into those. I do the packing of the car and no one else is allowed to touch it....if DH packed we would all have to sit in one seat in the front...he isnt the best at making things fit...

I felt weird about starting to pack so early but after reading on here ....it seems pretty "normal" or at least "Disney crazy normal"

Thanks again. Off to trial pack!

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

We use large duffel bags. They are somewhat "soft" even when stuffed with clothes so that we can push and shove them in place. We find that lots of hard items makes it more difficult pack.

 

[KeepSwimming]

I love Type A Planners like myself!

I use soft sided bags. My daughter and I love Vera Bradley bags and have several large duffles that we use (we each have a different pattern). They hold a ton, and stack easily and "squish" together in the back of the SUV. We can really get a ton of stuff in those things.

Also, the soft sided bags collapse so they literally store at the top of the closet after we have unpacked at the hotel, so no clumsy suitcases taking up room in our hotel or trunk.

My bags break down like this:

1 soft sided duffle for my clothes and make up
1 soft sided duffle for my munchkins clothes, toys, etc...
1 soft sided duffle for misc bathroom stuff and hotel stuff (meds, snacks, etc...)
1 empty soft sided duffle for stuff we purchase and bring back.

 

[Diegosmom]

Havent done the disney drive yet (will do it in Jan) but we travel a lot in the car and I really like to pack in different size and shape bags. We take a car but the soft side are so nice to fit in little spots. We usually do 2 big suitcases and a bunch of little bags. I like to keep all beach/pool stuff in one bag and all bathroom stuff in another bag. If we have to dress up (like at xmas) I pack 1 bag with all our outfits. And instead of totes I really like the reusable grocery bags.

 

[pattibehan]

I have made the drive many times!!I have a large rubbermaid tote with all of my "Disney" stuff in it...things I need for the suite we stay in, pool toys.....Then every thing else goes into soft sided duffles. Shoes and extras go in re-usable cloth grocery bags...easy to carry and they fill in holes!!! We travel with two teenagers, so they each have a"car" backpack with laptops, chargers, books....whatever they want as long as it fits in ONE bag !! Good luck and enjoy the trip.We drive 21 hours, and I love the adventure !!!

 

[LoriH91]

So glad someone asked this question!! We just did a 10 hour drive, one way, in our van. I said it was our test run & the kids were fine!! We are a family of 7, so every seat was full. We packed the car ok, but I think we can do better. I bought 1 set of packing cubes right before we left to see if I'd like them, & I now plan on buying more!! All of my daughter's clothes for the week fit into a large one!! If I can get everyone to use a different color, we'll be set. What I love, is that it will make it so much easier to unpack at the resort, instead of living out of the suitcase!! Our drive to Disney will be 24 hours, so we'll have to stop at least once. Everyone's stuff will go into the overnight bag. Each of the kids gets to bring a bag/backpack of stuff for the car, too. I love those reusable shopping bags for things like the dvd's & our swimming gear!

 

[ryem's mom]

I also use soft sided luggage. The only bins I will have is my "Disney" bin that I have been adding to for the past few months (we don't leave until next March). The other bin will have food in it. We took a trip to Florida this past March for a wedding and took food with us, needless to say the bread didn't make it . We drive a van and there is only 4 of us going, so we can take out the back seat and have plenty of room to pack. We used a car top carrier the last time because 5 of us went.

 

[StitchSpawn]

i love when ppl think to ask good questions...

 

[Pookasaurus]

We are driving from Chicago so we'll have an overnight stop along each way (2 down since we are stopping to see family) - I make sure to pack an over night bag (or two) for hotels so we don't have to unload the entire car and bring the big suitcases in. I also keep bags/totes to toss all the valuables (DVD player, GPS, etc) into quickly when stopping somewhere for the night.

Last year I did my best, but didn't like how the car was packed, so I am going to try to do better this year. We drive a small SUV (Escape) so we don't have a ton of space. There are 4 of us - DH, myself, and our 2 boys ages 4 and (will be) 20mo. We utilize the floor under the boys since their feet don't touch for the cooler/water and I am going to limit us to 2 large suitcases (1 for DH and I, one for the boys) that stack nicely in the back. Then we'll have the smaller overnight bag and I love the idea of using totes - I'll probably get 2 - one for food and snacks and one for smaller bags (laptop, cameras, etc). We brought our pack n play last trip but I'm debating doing without it it this time. The hotels provide them, but we needed something for the little guy at my grandparents.

Thanks for the tips so far and looking forward to more!

 

[Disneylvr1971]

Soft-sided duffel bags are the best. You can pack smaller items you pick up along the way around them. Also agree with the reusable grocery bags. They fold up so flat and there is always a use for them.

 

[loveysbydesign]

Great thread! We are driving down for the 2nd time this Octiber but we are very lucky as my in-laws are driving too....so we'll have their grand minivan to put all our extra stuff and 1 kid in! That way I can put one kid in the middle seat and 1 in the back of our small minivan so they don't pester each other!

 

[tina.tina]

I wouldn't recommend too many hard containers either because as a PP said, you just can't smash them in like soft sided things and they're not easy to carry either. I don't think same sized suitcases matter too much because if everyone has to deal with a suitcase it makes fewer people to carry other stuff. We took 3 suitcases for 4 of us. We have a very large Jeep brand suitcase, another not quite as large suitcase, and a smaller one which is a little bigger than carryon size.

DD10 packed in the small one with room to spare. She is picky so I packed each of her outfits in gallon sized ziploc baggies. It made getting ready so much easier and everything seemed to fit in the suitcase better. I also packed extra shoes in our suitcases in gallon sized baggies.

I packed my stuff in the largest one. DS5 packed his stuff in the next largest one and DH's cargo shorts take up so much room he split his stuff between mine & DS's.

We planned to stop on the way there and took an extra suitcase with clothes for each of us in it.

We always pack toiletries, my makeup, medicine, etc, in another small shoulder bag.

For food, we took a large cooler and put it in the floor of the van in the middle between the front and 2nd row of seats. We took a large soft sided cooler with lots of compartments for snacks and boxes of cereal and kept it in the back seat. We used that to bring souvenirs and any other extra stuff back in it.

Other miscellaneous things:
We took a beach bag full of beach towels and a couple of sand buckets because we stopped at Daytona.
We also took a very small back pack into the parks. I had baggies for each day with different things we needed like ADR confirmation #s but that seemed to be sort of overkill. I also had a box packed with those baggies surprises for the kids to keep them from getting bored during the drive, and stuff to decorate our room.
The kids each took a back pack with toys, DSIs and other stuff they chose to take.
We have a compartment in the back of the van to keep oil, a lug wrench, jack, etc. I was worried about something happening and that we would need to unpack the van to reach any supplies we might need for the vehicle. So I packed a battery powered tire pump, quarts of oil, a good lug wrench & jack, etc.

We had plenty of room for our stuff and we were gone 11 nights.

 

[soarinup]

I know there are probably more variations to the flying packing than I know of, which is why I am asking. My plan so far is this: we each have a carry-on and a backpack. I also plan to take the largest allowed suitcase and check it. It will be mostly empty because I plan on a LOT of souvies. Is this what you would do?

OOPS! I thought I was starting a new thread when I clicked on post......I did not mean to hijack this thread!

 

[LoriH91]

I know there are probably more variations to the flying packing than I know of, which is why I am asking. My plan so far is this: we each have a carry-on and a backpack. I also plan to take the largest allowed suitcase and check it. It will be mostly empty because I plan on a LOT of souvies. Is this what you would do?

OOPS! I thought I was starting a new thread when I clicked on post......I did not mean to hijack this thread!

I didn't see a new thread, so I'll answer, YES take the big suitcase!! I ended up buying one our last trip. It's a good thing Southwest lets everyone check 2 suitcases!! You could even pack it with water (just watch the weight) & non-perishable snacks for the room & park.

 

[3mickeymom]

When we drive, I bring clean Disney beach towels to use as light blankets or rolled up for pillows. When we are at Disney, they can be used as pool towels. Oh, and they are great for covering up car seats in the sun or for placing on a hot seat before you sit down.

Sleep masks to cover the eyes of someone who MUST nap so they can be the second shift driver. It can be hard to snooze in daylight or even at night with passsing headlights.

Earplugs, the soft foam ones for the passengers. They block out or muffle the noise of the radio or dvd player so that you can rest. You still hear enough so that it is not a safety issue. Sure wish I had remembered these on our last road trip when my boys decided to watch to Pirates of the Caribbean and the sword fighting seemed to go on FOREVER!

As for packing clothes, I go along with the soft sided duffels. They conform to spaces better and still stack well. They usually dont have bulky straps so that helps. Kids all bring a backpack with their own gear like ipods and handheld game systems. They keep a change of clothes and their bathing suits in there too. We have a great softsided cooler that sits on the floor in the back seat.

 

[neenersmom]

After reading all the post I do think that the soft sided ones would smoosh better. I bought two totes yesterday one for food and one for shoes, hairdryer, things like that. They were black with red lids...I said hey mickey totes it was a sign to buy them!

I didnt think about it but like someone said they will take up lots of space in the room so we may take them up and unload them and later on one of our trips to the car just put them empty back in the car till time to leave. We can use them on the way home to store all the things we buy so they wont get smashed. They food will be gone so they can hold other things.

I dont like a crowded room so I like the idea of bags that fold up pretty small after unpacked...

Great suggestions so far.