What's your special trick for an Organized family vacation?

[DisneyLindsay]

Wondered if people would like to post their special tricks to having an organized family vacation...be it a Room organization tip, or a theme park bag packing tip.

Give us your Best tips!

I have 2 I'll start with and add more as the thread goes on.

Tip #1: Staying organized in your room is a big struggle for large families, we are now a family of 6 and need to be organized. I use packing cubes to make life in the room much easier, but I saw a tip on another thread that is even better. Pack small children's outfits by day in plastic zip lock baggies (large ones of course) Pack everything needed from undies to hair bows for that day and that outfit and label them by day..makes rifiling around in suitcases in the early morning hours a thing of the past!
LOVE THAT TIP!!!

Tip#2 Buy Sham wow or equivilent cut up into a little larger than hand sized peices, put into little zip lock baggies. Put a couple of these in your daily back pack or diaper bag for each day...you will be surprised how handy they can be. You can wipe off a wet bench or seat..you can use it to scrub any yucky mess, or stroller, and even clean up the dreaded inevitable lunchtime spills. place back in zip lock baggie when done, rinse out in the room and hang to dry and repack for another day.

What are some of your favorite tips? An organized trip is a happy trip, lol or that is what my mother would say

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

As a mom now the ziplock bag tip is probably the best tip I ever got from the DIS, maybe even better than arrive at Rope Drop!

Another one is for refillable mug users. take a sponge at home soak it in some dish detergent and let it dry out, cut it into smaller pieces and pack in a ziplock, you an wash out your mugs all week using a peice at a time.

 

[mousiemom]

-we are the organizers of our families and i 1st give everybody an itinieary to put in their rooms with times to leave room and all the times of activity in each park. if you're not at the bus stop at a certain time, we leave you and meet you somewhere in the park.
-for those that drive down empty all your suitcase, etc. and put all back into car so you have that much more room.
-we use the hanging organizers for the bathrooms too
-always have baggies in backpack, hand sanitizers, gum and candy

 

[DisneyLindsay]

As a mom now the ziplock bag tip is probably the best tip I ever got from the DIS, maybe even better than arrive at Rope Drop!

Another one is for refillable mug users. take a sponge at home soak it in some dish detergent and let it dry out, cut it into smaller pieces and pack in a ziplock, you an wash out your mugs all week using a peice at a time.

The sponge one is a great tip..better than the drippy bottle that always leaksin your suitcase!

 

[DisneyLindsay]

-we are the organizers of our families and i 1st give everybody an itinieary to put in their rooms with times to leave room and all the times of activity in each park. if you're not at the bus stop at a certain time, we leave you and meet you somewhere in the park.
-for those that drive down empty all your suitcase, etc. and put all back into car so you have that much more room.
-we use the hanging organizers for the bathrooms too
-always have baggies in backpack, hand sanitizers, gum and candy

Love the itinerary for families with Teens or multiple family gatherings! Great Idea...I have always done one for hubby...Then I don't have ot answer 50 times a day..."where are we eating again?" lol

 

[mattsdragon]

Leave the family at home and go golfing.

 

[DisneyLindsay]

Love the over the door shoe organizer for toiletries. Makes the vanity area soo much cleaner.

I bring my Tassimo so I eliminate the coffee run on the busy mornings. Much better Coffee also...can't stand most of the Disney coffee....

I bring the Purex all in one laundry sheets..makes doing laundry soo much easier.

I also bring a pop up laundry hamper one for laundry and another to keep shoes in the room.

I've got many more...What are yours? I'm sure I could really use a few new ideas!!

 

[lsenquiz]

Mini M&M Tubes and Mentos gum tubes for pressed pennies. The M&M tubs hold the money Quarter, Quarter, Penny, Quarter, Quarter, Penny etc... The Mentos holds the pressed penny when it is done.

Bring some coke lids from a fast food restaurant and use them to keep ice cream from dripping down the hands of the little ones. Just put the ice cream stick through the place the straw would normal go and it catches all the messy ice cream.

Pack your park bag the night before for each day. I try to have everything ready the night before so all we have to do is get up, shower & dress and walk out the door.

We also setup a charging station in the room as soon as we check in(bring a power strip). When we get back to the room each night we plug cameras and phones in to make sure they are ready to go in the morning.

I also create my touring plans using the touringplans.com software for personal touring plans. That way I can access via my phone and do not have to carry paper around. I include all ADR numbers in there as well.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

It's easly to organize a park bag by not bringing a park bag.

Assuming your children are old enough to not need a diaper bag.

 

[Nuli]

Staying in a 2+ bed condo and getting enough sleep.

If someone wants to bring something to the park, they have to carry it.

 

[hannahon]

We fly southwest, so 2 free checked bags per person. We pack 2 empty duffle bags in our luggage going down and use them for dirty clothes in the room. We then check them and it frees up room in the luggage for souvenirs.

 

[hops&dreams]

We are certainly not a large family (just the one DD), but some things that helped us:
I made an itinerary book... it has a grid and a note page for each day. The grid is a time table with park hours for all 4 parks, ADR's and special events like parades and fireworks shows. Notes page has ADR #'s, special things we want to check out on that day, such as "free chocolate samples at Ghiradelli STORE side" on the day we had planned for DTD. I also use notes pages to take notes so I can refer back to them as I journal or use notes I took when planning later trips. Like "Dole Whips at Aloha Isle - Pina on pina - YUM!" In the middle, it also has a "vacation overview" which is a grid of the whole vacation, each day a different column and the left axis is time, with Arrival, departure, and ADR's noted on the grid, by time, anticipated/planned parks noted at the top of each day. This last itinerary book also had notes pages for lots of other stuff: each park had it's own, our hotel had one, packing list, height restrictions, emergency phone #'s, addresses for post cards... I took notes in it as I read things on the DIS. This book sounds huge, but it was about 20 sheets, folded in half... fit into the back pocket of my purse. SOOOO handy!!!! (I guess it pays to be a graphic designer to fit all that in one handy tiny book) I kept one copy in my purse, one for DD to take her notes in, one in the laptop bag, and one in our suitcase. I'm a better safe than sorry kind of person.

I bring a couple of (new) garbage bags in the zip pocket of my luggage. We use them in the room for dirty clothes. mid week, I just take the whole thing down to the laundry room, dump them in the washer with a purex sheet, and call it good. As we pack up to go home, most of our clothes are back in the garbage bag as dirty, and takes up one whole suitcase. Clean clothes are packed out of the bag (if they still fit in with the dirty clothes) and they are kept separate enough that I don't feel like the dirty clothes have "contaminated" the clean ones with stink. ha ha

DD's drawer at the hotel also has a spot for her "in room" activities. Her coloring books and other books are expected to be put away, just like home. We also make a "bed" for her stuffed animal (balled up sweater or towel) to keep on the counter or in a drawer so we don't end up with a missing lovey situation. When left on the counter/nightstand, we've had it incorporated into a towel animal display Love the creativity of Mousekeeping!

I make a list of all the chargers and electronics that come with us, so I can check them off and make sure they all come back home with us.

That's all I can think of for now...

 

[Wiloughby1]

wrote this last year, haven't managed to update like I planned, but my tips are all there!

Strategic Packing

 

[jm106]

Pack light and leave room for purchases.

I fold kids shirts and underwear into the shorts by outfit(dont need ziplock, just stack in suitcase.)

I get hand wipe packets so I can take just a couple to parks for sticky kid messes and table wipe at cs.

First sunblock application in room before getting dressed. No missing spots, no spraying ppl around you on the bus or lines Be sure as soon as its done, it goes right back into park bag. I prefer a thick cream kind that I know stays with us(I love Blue Lizard Baby even for big kids)

Our Park Bag has same items daily so no missing things.
I have an itinerary with ADRs on one side(conf # in my phone), any necessary info and back is modified snack list. One single sheet to take for each park, folds up neatly.

 

[Tltorrez]

It's easly to organize a park bag by not bringing a park bag.

Assuming your children are old enough to not need a diaper bag.

Amen to that! I favor cargo pants/shorts. If it doesn't fit in the pocket, then it doesn't go.

I used to carry a laundry bag. Now we just have a family rule -- all dirty clothes go on the floor of the closet.

Also, I always travel with a large supply of ziplocs and trash bags. You can never have too many gallon-size ziplocs.

 

[Tltorrez]

DD's drawer at the hotel also has a spot for her "in room" activities. Her coloring books and other books are expected to be put away, just like home. We also make a "bed" for her stuffed animal (balled up sweater or towel) to keep on the counter or in a drawer so we don't end up with a missing lovey situation. When left on the counter/nightstand, we've had it incorporated into a towel animal display Love the creativity of Mousekeeping!

We do both of those too. Unfortunately we learned the second one the hard way. We lost his Blue Bear on our big trip to Disney last year. It was quite traumatic. On the upside, they replaced it with Duffy and made a fan for life.

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

 

[luvallprincesses]

I can think of 4 that weren't mentioned yet:

A magnetic basket or two for the door to put sunglasses, room keys, etc upon entering room. They are right there to go back out the door without digging around.

Toothbrush holders that suction cup to the mirror - cant stand the thought of laying them down somewhere. Also saves counter space.

Smartphone has completely replaced the need for printouts of spreadsheets, carrying of the Passporter book, etc. Store it all in the phone!

Clothes pins: hanging swimsuits on the pull across line in the bathroom, and holding closed the curtains that never seem to close completely (if you really get to sleep in any mornings!)

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

aaahhhh my favorite things in liferganization, lists,and tips!! Really... I live for this stuff!! I have some of the same tips as mentioned earlier-hanging shoe bag for whatever will fit in it, power strip (don't know how I vacationed without it!!), pop-up hamper. I try to keep track between our trips of when products are running low.For example, if a shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, anything like that is almost empty except for maybe a few more uses, it goes in a travel rubbermaid, or a large ziplock/hefty bag. I try to have enough to last us all for the week we are there--usually by the end of the trip we have used it all up and if it's not empty, there usually isn't enough in there to mess with!! so, in the trash it goes and I don't have to pack it back up!!!
I started shipping things when the kids were small--diapers, wipes, pull-ups, I would pack and ship. I still do a box or two...we don't usually eat a big breakfast so I pack brkfst bars or muffins or something small, even a small box of Cheerios. Also, I pack a package of apple juices or something for in the morning. I take all that, our toiletries,power strip, med kit (aspirin, band-aids,etc) anything that'll fit in the box and ship it to the resort.Last trip it cost me $35 at the UPS store. The only thing out of that box I brought home was the power strip and some meds...everything else got eaten or used up!!!
Ok, this tip I got from a mom of the pass porter threads,...we have done this for several years now and my kids LOVE this. It's more of a tradition now than a need since they are older. It's snack baggies. Yep..snack baggies. I love even saying that--it's sooo Disney trip around my house. If I mention Disney, they ask if I am doing snack baggies--if I say Snack Baggies-they say DISNEY!!!! So, here's the skinny on that. I pack a ziplock bag for each of us, for each day of our trip. So, 5 per day for us. On the front I sharpie each of our names and the day of the week i.e., Mom-Monday , Mom-Tuesday and so on. So, for our crew if we do a 7 day trip we have 35 baggies= I do one for travel day and departure day as well. I just allot how many small snacks each of us get per day...it was really great when the kids were little and the times between meals seemed so long for them.You just use whatever size baggies and however much snack stuff your family likes. Usually in a bag I put a small box of raisins, or a small pack of trail mix; one or two bags of individually wrapped candies like M&Ms or something, some Starburst, or smarties...whatever your bunch fancies, and about 2-4 stix of gum. This is great because I am not digging for gum at the bottom of my bag all day, and it limits how much they get. Often they want one after lunch and dinner and don't even get to the other piece or two left in their bag. I can not tell y'all what a lifesaver this has been. And when it's empty it's over--no begging, whining, or 'He got more than me today',...it's even, it's equal and it's just enough. Now, they can trade between them, like a starburst for a smartie but when they are finished no more. We don't eat lots of candy, or even have candy on hand at home a lot, but when they see so much at a vacation place and ice cream, and fudge, and snacks everywhere, it's not such a big deal if they have their own little stash! They love it. And you can do the same stuff every day, or make each day have diff candy/snacks in them.
OH!! Something else I ship is detergent and dryer sheets...we are sensitive to a lot of detergent and I can't use the Tide and stuff available there, so I pack some and ship that in my box also--& it's something else I use up while there.
Clothespins: for hanging wet stuff and clamping the curtains in the room if you need it pitch dark to sleep. I do!! Of course, it's super hard getting up in the morning when it's dark as a tomb, but we like it!
I do a print out from the WDW website with each of my daily ADRs on it...I write anything I need pertaining to that day on there and just bring it in my bag. Mainly just to have that Conf # in case the need arises. Then at the end of the day I throw that away too. (Gosh, I throw a lot away don't I)
I always have the kids pack a backpack for the plane with their stuff in it--a book, a game, DS,whatever, a snack baggie, and a bathing suit. That way if they want to hit the pool when we get to the resort, they aren't waiting on luggage--we use the ME. And I don't have to carry all of it,..the older they get, the more efficient they have become and are great little packers.
I also use the packing cubes and envelopes. It really revolutionizes how you pack!! I try to bring a few of the hangers that you get at the dry cleaners. Mainly for our light jackets/cardigans, sundresses or a couple pair of jeans. These hangers I leave for the next mom to use!!! What they allow is never enough for a family of 5!!
This year we are bringing a WDW gift card that will be used exclusively for tips at the restaurants. Also, for extras like the soups that aren't included but we always long for!! And if we have any left over on the card, it'll go toward purchases on our last day.
A great thing for our family has been to allot the kids a $ amount and a shopping time.We usually go to DTD toward the end of the trip for souvenirs. They keep their eyes open all week to things they might want, then decide at the end. I think this year I will give them a WDW gift card of their own for this--before we just paid for it all at once, but I know they would like this better.
A disposable camera for the kids...they can take pics of whatever they like, and when they use it up it's done!! then we take it to get developed when we get back and they are thrilled with the pictures they have taken!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

I can think of 4 that weren't mentioned yet:

A magnetic basket or two for the door to put sunglasses, room keys, etc upon entering room. They are right there to go back out the door without digging around.

Toothbrush holders that suction cup to the mirror - cant stand the thought of laying them down somewhere. Also saves counter space.

Smartphone has completely replaced the need for printouts of spreadsheets, carrying of the Passporter book, etc. Store it all in the phone!

Clothes pins: hanging swimsuits on the pull across line in the bathroom, and holding closed the curtains that never seem to close completely (if you really get to sleep in any mornings!)

I knew I forgot some tips! LOL!! I use a cup that is provided in the room and stand our toothbrushes in them.
Also, I pack a cheap bottle of hand soap to bring--I just don't think we are washing our hands as good with those little discs of soap!! I like to pump out some soap!! And then I have more soap to take home for the bathtub for the kids!