Trip Report - Magic 7-Day Western, 8/14 - 8/21 (Packing Day - August 12, 2004)

[Michele25]

Our Very First Cruise – Magic 7 Day Western 8/14 – 8/21, 2004 (aka the Hurricane Charley Mystery Tour)

Packing Day– August 12, 2004

Cast: Me – 40, DH 42, DD 9 ½, DD 6
Meeting Friends On the Cruise: Dear Friend (DF) 41, Dear Friend’s Husband (DFH) 45? Dear Friend’s Daughter (DFD) 12, Dear Friend’s Daughter (DFD) 8 ½

I have never packed so much and for so long in my entire life. Since having our girls, my husband and I have taken “casual” beach vacations with them, and have never had to pack formal clothing for them or us. What a challenge it was to get everyone’s clothes together! Being the obsessive planner that I am, I have read just about every single packing list I could find – not only on the DIS boards, but also the one listed in the Passporter’s Field Guide, and those I could find on other Cruise sites. I have enough clothing and supplies to tide us over for the next 6 years – or just incase the ship gets lost and we end up on “Gilligan’s Island”. As I spend the entire day packing, (yes, I actually try to fold our clothes in between layers of tissue paper to avoid wrinkles—now I know I’ve lost it!) I am glued to the Weather Channel to keep tabs on what is happening with Tropical Storm Danielle and Hurricane Charley. At this point it is predicted that Charley will hit land in the Tampa area. I am worried, however, that this will affect our flight into Orlando tomorrow. My husband has called the automated line at the airport approximately 344 times and everything is still on schedule. Our flight tomorrow is with US Air. We leave Buffalo, NY at around 10:00 a.m., fly into Pittsburgh, and then arrive in Orlando around 2:15 pm. We will stay at the Hyatt at MCO and then take the Disney Transfer to the Port Saturday morning. Our friends are also staying at the Hyatt, but they have a later flight than we do, and are not scheduled to arrive in Orlando until around 9:00 p.m.

We head off to bed around 11:00 pm and I pray for the best and try to sleep through my excitement and nervousness.

 

[lookingforward]

Michele, I laughed out loud when I read about your packing. I am the same way. We took an 11 day t rip to WDW two years ago and I was fanatical. My whole family and all my friends laughed when I pulled out my kids clothes each day. The clothes were packed in giant zip lock bags, one for each day, one bag for each kid. In the zip lock was underwear, socks, shorts, shirt, hair accessories, etc. Everything they needed to get dressed except the shoes. It was easy and I did not have to dig through suitcases to find each piece. When the day was over the clothes went back into the zip lock for laundry. The funny thing about my packing was that everyone made fun of me but on the next family trip they ALL packed that way. HA!

Thanks for taking the time to write the trip reports.

 

[Michele25]

What an awesome idea, lookingforward!! You bet the next time we cruise, I'll try that!

I did, however, on the recommendation of someone on this board in the "All the Best Tips Summarized" thread, put our socks and underwear in ziploc bags. I remember reading her suggestion, "Somehow the thought of an airline employee pawing through my undies wondering where his/her hands have been" kind of freaked me out, so all of the underwear when into a ziploc. I also realized that that was probably a good idea when, after the cruise, we picked up our luggage at our final destination only to see someone's suitcase zipper had ripped open and all kinds of clothes were hanging out of the suitcase. Can you imagine seeing your family's undies scooting down the luggage conveyer? How mortifying!!

Anyway, thanks for the great tip and the affirmation that I'm not alone in my packing obsession!!

 

[wide awake]

I know the people on this board LOVE ziploc bags but...THINK of the environment. I was never a tree hugger type until I had my DS, then I really started thinking about what type of world I'm leaving him. I make a real effort not to use disposable/one use items unless I just have to. I'll get off my soapbox now.