Another Disney tip and the weather

[Party Mouse]

I got another health tip when I called Disney yesterday to book our Atlantis excursion (though I know many here suggest going it there on one's own, since Disney includes a light lunch and beach chair and towel and admission to the aquarium, it didn't seem like all that bad a deal to me, though it does strike me odd that onlu 9 and under get the child's rate rather than 12 and under). The man said the typical "wash your hands with soap often" line, but then added, "And use the bathroom in your cabin rather than elsewhere as much as possible." I had never thought about that, but it does make sense, as people typically use the toilet, then turn a knob at the sink to wash their hands (or does the ship have detectors for their sinks rather than a manual knob that must be touched to get water?) and in so doing, are leaving germs on the knob. My own tip, paranoid though it may sound, is to grab a paper towel or toilet paper to turn the knob in the bathrooms if you are using one outside your cabin.

For anyone headed to WDW in the next 9 days, pack some warm clothes. At http://www.weather.com/weather/local/USFL0372?lswe=Orlando&lswa=WeatherLocalUndecided&whatprefs= I noticed that the HIGH for 1/3 through 1/9 is only 68 degrees, with the high on the 4th being a mere 61 degrees. The low on the 4th is predicted at 41 degrees - burr (though hopefully, we'll be sleeping when it's that low).

Happy New Year to all and to all a good year of travel!

 

[Ashley24]

I was just doing research on the weather and wondering if I should re-pack my luggage with warmer clothes! We are leaving tomorrow for the January 2nd Wonder. I really hate the thought of doing that! Darn it!!!

 

[Party Mouse]

Yes, I was happy to see rain isn't likely (even though I still packed ponchos for the water rides - how many such rides are there at the parks and is it worth bringing pochos to go on them?), but disappointed about the weather dropping drastically right as we are to arrive. I was hoping to pack mostly short-sleeved shirts and now am thinking just two short sleeved shirts for the 9 days we'll be in FL/on the cruise might be enough.

I'm also thinking of completely repacking such that some suitcases are just for the cruise and can stay in our rental car during the land portion of our vacation. Has anyone here done that and had it work well? More risky would be leaving some luggage in the car while we're on the cruise (as then if we forget something, we can't just go to a parking lot to get it).

How much luggage can fit in the cabins without having people trip over them? I know we'll each have the carry on (my husband's holding the cameras and walkie talkies and such, mine holding our tickets and medication in case we get sick and stuff like sunscreen and mouthwash that I don't want leaking in checked luggage, and our son's likely holding magazines and books for the flight), but I'm wondering how many big suitcases we can manage to fit in the rental car and cabin. I know I want to bring at least one collapsable suitcase (inside another suitcase going to FL) for bringing back dirty laundry and another one to bring back souvenirs, and we can only check 6 pieces of luggage between the 3 of us (which is usually well more than we need, but we usually don't need light AND heavy clothes for the same trip when we travel). I don't think we can physically haul around 2 large suitcases each even if we had room for them in the cabin and car (which I'm pretty sure we wouldn't). I hate having to decide what to pack and what to leave.

 

[magiroux]

We brought 2 large, 1 extra large, 1 dufflebage, 1 backpack & 1 standard size carry on We were 2 adults, 1 child). We did 1 wk in WDW and 1 wk cruise.

1 large was used for X-mas presents and decorations (normally wouldn't have needed). 1 Extra large was this awesome garmet bag I purchased last year and put all my dresses, dress shirts and slacks for dinner. The other large was for every day clothes.
Dufflebags was used for more presents and toiletries. As you can see I packed quite a few and the only problem I had was in the rental car. I had to put a large in the back seat.

On the ship there was no problem for me to store these. I stacked the super, large and duffle bag in the left side of closet. This did leave us only the right side to store hanging which I just hung the shirts on the safe side and dresses on the long side. The other large I tucked behind one of the curtains and the carry on was tuck into other suitcase. Needless to say I had plenty of room for all the shopping I had to bring home.

Also, I highly recommend "Space Bags" especially if you have to pack more warmer stuff. These things are great and you can grab the vacuums in the hall at the end of the cruise.

 

[sap1227]

I live very near Orlando and the weather has been crazy lately. Today it was close to 80 degrees. The low on Sunday morning was 41. There is no way to tell what the weather will do. When I pack for our cruise I will be packing everything from shorts to long pants and sweaters!!
Only 8 more days until I need to pack, I can not believe it is so soon!!
Have fun on your trip!
Christy

 

[Party Mouse]

For those who are like me and never heard of Space Bags before the above post, you can read about them at http://www.spacebag.com/

Where you can buy them around town (as we leave this week), I don't know, but they do look rather neat, though I wonder how wrinkled they would make things (returning home, who cares, but I mean on the way to a trip).

I think our large suitcases might be what you call extra large as one of them measures 30X20X11 inches and the other starts at that and has a zipper to expand it to probably another 3 inches deep. I wish we were bringing gifts rather than stuff we need to take back home with us! Oh well, we will manage somehow, I suspect. On our 7 day Carnival cruise in 2001, I ended up buying the large suitcase that expands just to have a suitcase to bring souvenirs back in (so bringing gifts back home isn't as convenient it seems as bringing them to the trip destination!), but I think I got a really good deal on it, at least.

 

[Ashley24]

You can also store your luggage underneath the bed if you want...it lifts up. All you have to do is empty it first into the drawers and closet. We didn't know this our first cruise but took advantage of this tip on our last cruise. It works well!
Ann

 

[Cruise]

Originally posted by Party Mouse
For those who are like me and never heard of Space Bags before the above post, you can read about them at http://www.spacebag.com/

Where you can buy them around town (as we leave this week), I don't know, but they do look rather neat, though I wonder how wrinkled they would make things (returning home, who cares, but I mean on the way to a trip).

My local Wal-mart carries them now - a set of 2 large vacuum bags and one "roll" (no vacuum needed) bag is something like $9.88. I've also seen them at Walgreen's, though I don't know the price for them there.

Julie

 

[magiroux]

I bought mine at Linens n' Things. A pkg came with one large(which is HUGE) and one small (which is more like a medium) for $14.99 I think. I fit everything in these two bags. I packed my clothes folded carefully and NoTHING was wrinkled. I was skeptical about using these for the same reason but was pleasantly surprised.

Another tip I learned from these boards is to pack my Garmet Bag dress clothes in the dry cleaner plastic bags. THere was not even a crease in my dress clothes, I was very impressed. I never used the ship iron once. I also doubled up clothes on hangers so that every thing was in a bag and this worked out fine.

I did try to store under the bed but my bed had the wooden slats across and seemed to be securley fastened so I didn't want to mess with them plus they didn't look large enough to fit mine.

 

[Gillian]

If you're flying with those 20x30x11 suitcases, be careful of the expansion! I believe 62 in (l+w+h) is the max most airlines will allow without an extra charge.

 

[mmouse37]

I always pack my shirts/blouses on hangers....I bought very thin coated wire hangers at Wal-mart for 88 cents for a pack of 10 or 12....this way when I unpack all I have to do is take them out of the suitcase and hang them up in the closet. Takes less than 5 minutes for me to unpack once I am in our stateroom. The hangers don't take up any space because they are so thin.

I hate dealing with the hangers in the closet onboard....it always takes me a few trys to separate the two pieces to hang stuff.

I also packed our formal stuff in the dry cleaner bags and not a wrinkle could be found....that tip really worked!!!

MJ

 

[cruisnfamily]

Originally posted by magiroux
Also, I highly recommend "Space Bags" especially if you have to pack more warmer stuff. These things are great and you can grab the vacuums in the hall at the end of the cruise.

We used the "travel" kind of space bags....you just roll the air out. I didn't want to mess with trying to find a vacuum. But, here's my tip. I didn't pack anything in the bags when we traveled to the ship, just packed them empty. Then, everyday, in the evening I would take our dirty clothes from that day and pack them in the space bags. It worked great, no dirty laundry laying around plus we were already mostly packed when the last evening came. Also, for us, we have no problem getting everything in the suitcases going, it's coming home that it never seems to fit...so this solved our problem.

 

[mickeymom629]

I might try this on our cruise! With 6 of us, we usually fill up two huge bags of dirty laundry. I was telling the kids that maybe they should pack their oldest socks and underwear and they can just throw them away as they go They thought I was nuts

Anyway, what a clever idea to smoosh it all and pack it away as we go. I even think they might find that fun (I can only hope

 

[rae519]

mickeymom629
I'm with you on throwing out the old socks and underwear!! After all, you are probably the one who does all the laundry, right?! ; )

And my Mom is a big fan of the "space bags" but as I told her, you have to get all that back in the suitcase later plus anything you buy!

While getting my tickets for my May cruise, a couple at the next counter were being told that their bag was over the weight limit and how much it would cost. They opted to remove items and store them in their vehicle rather than pay the extra. And that they were NOT to lock their bags afterward.

Okay, things change but could they make the change and revert back to the more comfortable seating on the planes?!

Rae