Pulling a U Haul for luggage experiences???

[MandM-Mom]

let me provide some more details for those that were confused LOL
We are driving in a 2009 Journey with my husband and I, a 5 year old an almost 3 year old and my parents
there is only room in the back for 3 small carry ons because the kids will be sitting in the 3d row seats
we debated using the roof top but then it is a hassle to take everything down for our overnight hotel stops there and back
so we are considering the small uhaul for our luggage and I just wondered what others have done when they needed to get their luggage to Disney and it did not fit in the vehicle
We have 4 large suitcases, I like the idea someone gave of shipping but I would be afraid of it getting lost or not arriving on time???

If you have a hitch I would definitly look into the hitch carrier that I mentioned above, reasonable priced , and easy to have behind you and no extra charges for extra axels on the toll roads. We loaded ours right up in August and no problems

 

[Darcy03231]

We have the same issue when driving with our family (we're a family of 6). We ended up buying a Thule roof top carrier and it works great. We make sure to pack the overnight stuff in small bags which go either in the small space in the back or under the seats (duffle bags). All of the luggage goes in the roof top carrier and doesn't come out until we get to our destination. We looked into renting a trailer once from U-Haul as DH wanted to bring the bikes but it was really expensive, and this was about 10 years ago.

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

BTDT! This was us heading down to Disney last month (seriously!)...

We spent a week in NC at a family function (which necessitated the trailer - lots of big items) and then headed down to Disney from there. We had no place to store the stuff in the trailer and it was logistically easier for us to keep the trailer for the duration.

Our minivan gets an average 16.7mpg on the highways according to the trip computer. With the trailer, we got 15.9mpg so it really wasn't that much of a hit. You can use EZPass to pay tolls with a non-commercial trailer such as a UHaul.

We stayed a week at SSR where there is lots of parking. We backed the trailer into a slightly out of the way spot, unhitched it and put a universal coupler lock on it to keep anyone from hitching it up and taking it (but seriously, would anyone want to?? ). We had a heavy duty padlock on the trailer door.

The kids named the trailer "Huey" and it (he?) spent the week lounging in the parking lot of SSR with nary a care in the world. At the end of our vacation, we hitched him up and drove back to NJ.

The trailer was a 4x8 and is the smallest one UHaul rents. We had it a total of 17 days and it cost us $280. We did run into one problem when we did a signal check the morning we were supposed to leave NC for FL and discovered that none of the trailer lights were working. A call to UHaul's 800 number got us in touch with a VERY friendly local UHaul full service center where the tech diagnosed a blown fuse in our car and gave us a few extra fuses for free. There was no charge to help us even though the problem was technically in our car, not the trailer. (We gave the guy a nice tip, though!)

Anyway, yes it can be done. It may not be the cheapest way to go but it's certainly possible and those trailers sure do hold a LOT. We were very careful to load it properly (majority of weight up front) and had no issues with swaying or any other potentially hazardous driving conditions and were comfortable traveling at the highway speed limit (65-70 in most places on I-95).

If you do decide to rent one, bring extra fuses, reserve it a day or two before you need it as UHaul is notorious for not having what you need right when you need it (not always their fault, though), keep the rental contract in the car with you, and grease the ball on the hitch as it makes backing up much easier (trust me... ).

ETA - Some UHaul locations carry these sport trailers which may be a good option for you - I think they're kind of cute! A quick search says they're around $20/day.

http://www.uhaul.com/guide/index.aspx?equipment=trailer-sport

 

[K and K's Mommy]

We've done a cartop carrier twice. We've always stopped for a night while we are driving and never had any trouble leaving it on top of the car. We've seen lots of other cartop carriers at the hotels along the highway.

 

[jennifer293]

I only know of one family that ever pulled a U-Haul to carry their stuff to WDW...that was the Gosselins (Jon & Kate + 8) and they have 8 kids! They unloaded their stuff right in front of the Wilderness Lodge.

I saw that one, and did you notice they brought one of those little tykes picnic tables in it??? WHY!!! Seriously did they drag that thing out at their stops when they ate maybe? Kate is a little bit much for me, but I guess you have to be that high strung when you have 8 kids.

 

[jennifer293]

We needed some extra room on our last trip so we got a cargo carrier basket that hooks into the hitch on our Trailblazer, it worked great for us. Still had the extra room but wasn't towing anything. We had a lot of stuff too!!!! This is what we used http://www.discountramps.com/hitch-cargo-basket.htm We really loaded it up, and dh put a tarp around it from the bottom up so we didn't get any road spray or rain and put a 4 ratchet straps, it went no where!!! We purchased ours at Harbor Freight for 59.99, its aluminum.

We have one of those and DH framed it up with plywood as well so it looks like a box on the back of our car. We have used it many times when hauling his Cross Country team around with us and all their duffle bags, and we have taken it to Disney once before we bought my Yukon XL with all that extra room in the back!!