when to pack?

[mhingher]

I'm just curious to hear when everyone packs for their WDW vacations. I tend to pack very early and DH always makes fun of me! I am definitely not one of those people that can pack the night before. Since we both work full time, I would like to start packing 1-2 weeks in advance...just to make sure we have everything we need, everything fits, etc. This way if we are missing anything, or need to make runs to the store we have some time... any thoughts?

TIA,
Melissa

 

[WIDisneyFan]

My wife and I are exactly the same way - she will start to pack a good week and half in advance and I will do it the night before. To be fair I travel frequently for business so I am used to packing but it does always make me laugh to see her laying things out that early

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

Well...my trip isn't until October, and I've already started putting certain things in my Disney pile.

I generally start really early, probably about a month before the trip. My husband really made fun of me for this, but he couldn't say enough afterwards about how organized I was, and that I didn't forget a thing! I've already started my packing list. I think packing and planning this early helps get my whole family really excited!!

 

[calie_j]

I like to pack the day before, this gives me the evening and overnight to remember anything I forgot to pack. If I started a week in advance I'd just have to unpack everything cause I'd forget what I had packed

 

[DoomBuggyBabe]

We leave a week from Monday ( YIPPEE!! ), and DH brought the suitcases down from the attic about a week ago. (No, he's not in any hurry, why do you ask??)
They are not yet packed.
He's been tossing little incidental stuff in them as it occurs to him. However, I doubt the major packing will occur until next Saturday night for him and Sunday day for me.
If I packed any earlier I, too, would forget what was in the bag...
Cheers,
Q

 

[Ilovestitch]

We leave in about 4 weeks and I've starting thinking about what I have and what I need to get for our trip. I have been throwing clothes I know I want to take in a bag and started buying some things like sunscreen and ponchos.

I'd say about 2 or 3 weeks ahead of time I make a list of things to pack and things I need to get. Then a few days before the trip, I start washing the clothes I want to take. I like being all packed 2 days before the trip so I can get any last minute items.

What usually happens is I go to Walmart the night before and end up staying up til 1 am packing everything, I HATE that.

 

[B9erSteve]

21 days out and we're making our packing list. About 7 days out we will start packing those things that we have no use for until we leave and crossing it off the list. I plan to be totally packed 2 days before we leave.

 

[Disney845]

I am a night before packer. I don't have separate vacation things and normal things, (i.e. vacation toothpaste, vacation hair products, vacation makeup), so I would have to leave half the stuff out to use before we left anyway.

Although I agree with another poster, I will probably be up all hours of the night, and need to go to walmart at least the night before, if not enroute!

 

[BabyFu18]

I usually pack the day before and on into the night before we leave. I pick up things I will need for vacation a good while before hand, but nothing gets offically packed until the day before because I take things with me I might want up until the last moment.

 

[kydeb1346]

I usually start my packing list a week before so I can see what we need and won't have to run out at the last minute to buy things. DH will pack either the night before or the morning of our departure. I will be throwing things in for at least a week before and marking it off my list as I go.

 

[dyna]

Some of us never totally unpacks. Usually 2-3 days out i do laundry and inform those who will be traveling not to wear they clothes they want to take with them. Always got that few things that can't be packed till the very last minute as well tho.

 

[halld6479]

we leave in a month and I have a suitcase setting on the floor in my bedroom, I bought all new clothes for DH and myself and have the outfits paired up and in the case, and as I purchase something else it goes right to the suitcase, last minute things will go in the last night or two in a smaller carry bag that we use for getting there it is a two night deal for us traveling that way we don't have to unpack the suitcases each night. I did that lat years trip and it went well

 

[mickeyluv]

We leave on a Friday and I plan to start my packing that Monday before. I've already started picking up things here and there when I'm out and about. That week will be a slow week workwise for me so I will have some time to get things together and get everything packed!! Yeah...14 more days and off we go!!!

 

[mhingher]

thanks-- I'm glad to see I'm not totally off! 4 more weeks until I see the mouse!

 

[cavecricket]

Well...my trip isn't until October, and I've already started putting certain things in my Disney pile.

I generally start really early, probably about a month before the trip. My husband really made fun of me for this, but he couldn't say enough afterwards about how organized I was, and that I didn't forget a thing! I've already started my packing list. I think packing and planning this early helps get my whole family really excited!!

I am going in October as well and I have also started my packing!...mainly the toiletries and such....One silly thing I do every year that drives my bf crazy...I put my Mickey soap from the year before in our suitcases to get them ready!!! ( I do this about 6 months in advance! )

 

[dsnycrzy]

Since our trip is in July, I have disney shirts that are light colored (do not feel like the stain removing thing) or just for WDW, that I put in the suitcase as soon as I unpack the summer clothes. Now my baby has more summer clothes that are disney related, that if she wore one outfit or shirt for everyday of the warm spring days and all summer days, she'd still have way too much. So I ziplock bag pack her about 10 outfit right there but leave the bags open for her new panties. I get everyone new panties/undies and socks about a month before and pack those. After 10+ trips, I know I am not a last minute person and I am always running out of time to do stuff the last 2 days or so, (ex. bank, stop mail, car serviced, car washed, house spotless, hairdressers for me, braid my 2 daughters hair, hair cut for my son, supermarket for snacks,etc) I would never think of packing the day or night before, I'd forget everthing wondering if I did other things.

 

[wdwholic1206]

OMG!!!! I start packing about 2 months before we go. I turn the guest room into DISNEY CENTRAL!!!! I make a master packing list and check things off as I go. Of course I pack and re-pack more times then I'm willing to say ( at least once a day). My goal every year is to go down w/ one carry-on and only 2-Lg suitcases. Last year we had 3 carry-ons and 4-Lg suitcases. I actually went out and bought a new one the night before we left. I of course won't mention the one I had to buy while in WDW to bring it all home!!! The guest room stays in DISNEY CENTRAL for about a month after we return home to give me time to unpack and of course remember all the things we did while unpacking. Sometimes it takes me weeks to un-pack a reciept!!!

 

[Ladybugsy]

I have a suitcase especially for Disney "stuff" that is still packed from out last trip, and will be already packed for our next one. It has my cool mister, glow sticks, pin lanyards, rain ponchos, dd's fanny pack, and lots of other things. Why unpack it at all? That's just depressing! If I didn't have my Disney suitcase packed it would be like I was never going back! HORRORS!!!

 

[Karnak]

I have learned from experience what I need to pack for a Disney trip. So, I made myself a check list for WDW trips in my computer, and when the next trip is getting close I print a copy to use while packing. Works for me.

I do the actual packing the day before I leave.

Enjoy.

 

[goofy and max]

We always pack about a week before our Disney trip. If we have some last minute things to pack, we will still have some time to pack them.