Filled with excited anxiety

We leave for Disney in 12 days!!! This is our 2nd trip as a family, but the first one I feel really prepared for. I found this group days before our first trip and knew from then that I would have to take another trip just to use all the great tips and info that I found here.

I’ve been planning this trip for almost a year. I have been reading this forum, making notes, buying T-shirts (for me, my family refuses), and now I’m scared to death to actually start packing. When do you guys start the packing process? Should I wait another week? Am I way behind schedule?? I have a feeling I am going to be obsessed for the next two weeks.

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You will get very mixed responses to packing! I’d probably already be packed at 12 days out, but if we were having a good summer (which we’re not so far!) I’d have to keep some shorts out to wear and hope I could get them washed and packed last minute.

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Oh no! You’ll never be ready in time!

Just kidding, I always wait until a day or 2 ahead of time. Just make sure you have everything that you need, you’ve still got time to have things delivered.

If I was going during winter so nobody was wearing the clothes we were taking I’d probably pack earlier.

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Ok, we leave about when you do. My daughter is packed because she has enough clothes to last a year and never wear the same thing twice. She got a lot of Disney shirts and some shorts for her birthday this year so they pretty much went straight into her suitcase so that was easy.

I am also packed. But I spent about 15 minutes doing it. Basically, I’ve got a busy couple of weeks coming up. I had a basket full of clothes that came out of the laundry room Saturday so instead of putting everything away, I just put what I wouldn’t need between now and then in a suitcase. I’ll just have to throw in a couple of pairs of shorts and I’m ready.

My wife and our sons on the other hand are a different story. She’ll be scrambling around packing the last few things while I’m sitting in the car ready to go and there will be at least 2 things that didn’t get packed and we’ll have to make a stop somewhere to get something after we get settled into our room.

That’s just how we roll… everybody has their system. In the end, just make it work.

Have a great trip!!!

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I start putting together items about a week before I go. (Mostly OTC medicines, band-aids, snacks, power strips & battery chargers.) I wait to do clothes until about 2 - 3 days out. MY DW & DD wait until the night before!!

We have a “Disney box” that is sitting handy somewhere about a month out. Just for those random thoughts - oh, we better bring these autograph books. Or that pressed penny holder. All manner of junk will find its way in there; we drive to the World usually.

As for clothing, if it’s a winter trip packing can be done much earlier, easier and less frantically. Summer trip, unfortunately, last minute due to not many clothes (that actually fit and allow climbing in and out of ride vehicles). And cool in heat and humidity.

My packing method is similar to @janamelia. The stuff we don’t use in our everyday life gets back about a month out. Then I worked on planning outfits (took photos so we could keep wearing some items) and gathering snack food. The actual packing happened in the last 3-4 days.

Outfit photos are a good idea.

When we first started going to the World regularly I noticed that maybe 50 - 75% of what I brought never got worn, especially in the winter. And I was packing clothes for warm weather (unlike DH who wanted to bring flannel shirts, because that’s what he was wearing). (He grew up in FL)

I can’t stand to waste time, space and energy toting stuff I’m not going to wear. I finally figured out that I wanted different colors when I’m in FL.

Over the years my color palette at home has shifted gradually to more FL colors. Probably because I’ve realized black and navy are not going to remove, visually, enough to make any noticeable difference.

Anybody else notice a difference in FL clothing preferences?

Not really. My DH and DSs wear shorts almost every day. I try to persuade them not to take black and navy T shirts because they’ll get too hot but they still do - and I take a few myself! I would very rarely wear shorts at home though.

I like the outfit photos idea!! I’ve been wondering if I should pack extra clothes (because we will want to change on the hottest days) or if I should do laundry mid week? Any thoughts on that? And is there a laundry service I can use or would I need to do it myself?

My stuff is lightweight quick dry so I can rinse in the sink and it will be dry 1 hour later but I am worried about my husband. Those heavy cargo shorts. We will be gone from home for 2 1/2 weeks. They are big and heavy to pack and take forever to dry in the dryer. They would never dry over the shower curtain rod. Not sure what to do.

We leave in 4 days. I’m going to start packing tonight. Summer travel is pretty easy though. No heavy coats, sweaters or pants. I like to wait until we’re close enough to have a reliable forecast. I’ll bring the rain coats just in case and maybe an umbrella.

We’re leaving for our trip two weeks from today and I started packing last week! Make a list, check it twice – that way you know you’ll be prepared!

Ditto on seasons. I pack earlier for our November trips because no one is wearing shorts around here then. For our summer trip, I’ll probably pack as soon as our weekly laundry is done, about 4 days before, and force the kids to get by in the meantime on what is left.

I take cargo shorts, but I leave the heavy weight kind at home. I’ve invested in some lighter weight, quick drying cargo shorts and I don’t even know how I did the parks before I got them. They’re so much more comfortable and they dry out from rides like Splash super fast. Maybe not worth buying more shorts if he won’t wear them, but I find myself wearing that style a lot more often now just because they’re so much cooler and more comfortable. If you’re looking for ideas of what I’m talking about something along the lines of Columbia performance fishing gear or some of the material Under Armour golf shorts are made from is what I try to find.

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I’m a last minute packer for sure, especially if it’s the same season at my destination as it is at home. I keep travel toiletries in my gym bag, though, so that part is easier. I find that if I pack more than couple of days in advance then I’m more likely to take something out to use it and forget to put it back.

I’m a detailed list maker, though. I write down exactly what items I want to pack as soon as I have a good idea what the weather will be, and then I know to at least have them washed or available when I’m ready to put it all into the suitcase. That cuts down on last-minute frantic searching.

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I am such a list maker! And then I tick everything off as I pack it.

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I tick it off twice. Once when I gather everything to organize it, a second time when it goes in the bag!

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I totally do this too :rofl:! …to and from WDW so I make sure I’m not leaving anything behind accidentally!

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I’m shocked to find other obsessive organizers here on the TP forums.

Shocked. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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