????What is Average Luggage?????

[pattyT]

How much luggage is normal for a family of 4 for 10 days
me, dh, dd-8, and ds-2 are going on our first trip and I can't
believe how much luggage I have packed already - and we are still DAYS away! How easy/difficult have transfers been?
We are flying to MCO via SW, have a rental mini-van from Dollar staying at WL.

Is DH going to kill me for 'packing the whole house'???

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says......................................We tend to travel light, but in three trips to WDW we have only checked one bag, on our first trip for seven days. The last two ten day trips have been done with only carry on baggage. At the very least do laundry half way into your trip, then you only need to pack 5 days of clothes.

 

[pattyT]

WOW!
How many of you?
I am looking at 2 LARGE suitcases, a carry on (Diaper Bag), a carry on (cameras and valuables, and my daughter having a carry on (stuff & snacks)!
And that isn't even enough diapers to cover the week - or swimmie diapers! We need to go to Walmart when we get there!

 

[crisi]

Last trip we took was with my husband, and my kids (2 and 3 at the time).

I had one large suitcase. It had all my clothes, all my kids clothes, and extra duffle for laundry (so you can fill the suitcase with souvieniers). My carryon was my backpack - filled with snacks and diapers for the kids (and a book for mom). The kids brought their rolling luggage carryons (filled with stuffed animals, and some stuff). My husband had his bag (he does a large sized sports bag), his carryon was his laptop. We rented strollers at DW so we wouldn't have to lug them as well - packed swim diapers and carried enough diapers for a day, but bought diapers once we were down their (they were both still in diapers). My husband rented clubs to golf.

Remember you have to haul whatever you pack through the airport if you are flying. We tried to keep it as light as possible - knowing we had two little ones in tow.

 

[TandyR]

For our family of 4 we normally check two medium size bags with a spare bag inside for stuff we bring back. For carry-ons we do a diaper bag, laptop bag, and a toy bag. I alway do laundry when we are down there. Have a nice slow day by the pool and do laundry. The time we stayed in WL we had lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe and I would pop out and go down to the laundry room between courses and move the laundry between washer and dryer and by the time we were done with lunch laundry was done and ready to take up to the room. I normally pack a handful of the tablet laundry deturgent Purex makes the cheapest ones and you only need one tablet with other you need two.

 

[NotUrsula]

I use the "counting hands" rule. The rule is that we can't have anymore suitcases than we have hands available to carry/drag them, without making multiple trips. One hand per bag.

When determining how many hands are available, count two hands for each adult or child old enough to *reliably* schlep his own suitcase. Then subtract every hand that you know will be occupied with something other than a suitcase while in the airport. So, if I've got two small children who must be taken by the hand in the airport, that's two bags we can't bring. (Backpacks are the exception, and you can go "over-limit" by one backpack for each adult, though I don't advise it.) Whatever you do, do NOT count only carryon bags with this rule, because once you claim your luggage, you will be in a quandary about how to get it from the carousel to your vehicle, not to mention the question of if it will all fit. If your children are small enough to need a stroller, it counts, as does a carseat or stack of carseats (we put our carseat in a backpack satchel, you can nest more than one inside it if necessary.)

I should note here that the counting hands rule is not just for trips taken by air. Just because you CAN bring everything but the kitchen sink when you drive, it does not follow that you SHOULD do so. If you don't need it when you fly, you surely don't need it when you are driving, when whatever it is you forgot can be replaced any time by stopping at a store.

We have successfully used the counting hands rule for nearly 10 years now, for both foreign and domestic travel, in all seasons, with children and without children. It's amazing how effective it is.

BTW: Here's the best packing tip. Do NOT pack directly into suitcases! Lay out everything you plan to take on a flat surface such as a bed or table, and let only one person move all the items from that surface into the suitcases. This prevents unnecessary duplication of items by more than one person packing. It also helps you see how badly you may be overpacking; as it is all before your eyes at once. (After something is in a "finished" suitcase, you may forget that you packed it and pack something else for the same purpose.)

 

[Waggy182]

Our guidelines: one suitcase (med size) per person for clothes, one cosmetic bag, one camera bag, one adult backpack for the plane trip (and later in the parks), and each of the children bring their school bookbag for the plane trip with ITEMS THEY NEED (or think they need! ie gameboy, coloring books/crayons, etc.). This way, THEY are responsible for THEIR OWN things, not DD or DM!

It works so well you cannot imagine. And I agree with DisneeDad: 5 days of clothes MAX! That's why there are laundry facilities!

Have a great trip!

 

[crisi]

NotUrsula - what a wonderful rule - I'm stealing it.

Keep in mind that you can ship back stuff (laundry, souvieners) and even ship down stuff to be at your hotel when you arrive. Also, except for underwear, as NotUrsula said nearly everything you will need can be bought (at somewhat steeper prices unless you go offsite - and if you go offsite, you can get the underwear). It is, after all, Orlando, not the deepest reaches of the Amazon.

I always plan on wearing each pair of pants/shorts twice without washing. Shirts get changed daily. But if you are going for a week, you only need to pack 3 pants/shorts, five shirts, undies, socks and a nightshirt. I wear jeans and my comfy tennis shoes. I KNOW I'll be buying at least one shirt there, so I subtract one from my total. So far, no one has ever moved from sitting next to me on the bus - so I must be doing ok.

If you are going at a particularly hot or cool time of year, the packing list changes a little - hot weather, pack some extra and/or plan on washing - too sweaty even for my low hygiene standards. Cool weather and you'll be moving from t shirts to jackets and pants to shorts throughout the day. I just bring a lightweight jacket.

When traveling with kids, I don't bring extra shoes for me (prefering extra shoes for them) or clothes for dress up. Going out dressed up is fun when its hubby and me - don't need to waste the room when packing with kids. I don't bother with makeup on vacation at Disney

 

[summerrluvv]

Originally posted by pattyT
WOW!
How many of you?
I am looking at 2 LARGE suitcases, a carry on (Diaper Bag), a carry on (cameras and valuables, and my daughter having a carry on (stuff & snacks)!
And that isn't even enough diapers to cover the week - or swimmie diapers! We need to go to Walmart when we get there!

So far I have one suitcase completely packed for me, one carry on for DS (the woody rolling suitcase), one carry on for me (just a bag with a strap) and now I need to pack DS's clothes, so I think I will put his in a large suitcase so I have room for the diapers and room to bring stuff home. I am also shipping a 20lb box down with water, drinks, snacks, suntan lotion, etc. And thanks for the reminder! I almost forgot swimmie diapers.

 

[pattyT]

I hate to say this but...
I don't care how convienent it is -

I AM NOT DOING LAUNDRY ON VACATION!
I refuse!

We will buy more clothes first! The only exception would be if something gets 'stained' and needs to be washed right away! I do SO much laundry at home - hey this is my vaca too!

I think I did pretty good though! I am a little over on NotUrsulas great idea though! If we didn't need the stroller and the car seat I would be golden!

As for the idea of wearing things twice - great idea- (might work for DH) except that DS 24 months usually needs to be changes a couple of times a day (and usually gets me a mess as well!).

 

[travelitis]

The lighter you pack the easier it is to travel, bottom line. Here's a rule of thumb cruisers use: Take half the clothes and twice the money you think you need. I do laundry because we have a timeshare with w/d, but at WL there's no way I'd wash clothes. I would plan to wear shorts more than one day. With kids and your length of trip you're going to have a lot of stuff. Just pack so lifting the bags into the van won't break your dh's back. Something I do to conserve space is pack each of my kids' outfits in large ziplock bags and squeeze the air out. It compacts them like the expensive bags you see advertised on TV plus makes getting dressed very easy. I include socks and undies in the bags.

 

[crisi]

That's why we decided to rent both the stroller and the car seat when we got there.

There were a few times at WDW when I wished I'd have brought my own strollers - lugging stuff around the airport was not one of them!

(How is your 2 year old managing to go through several sets of clothes a day? - both my kids were done with that by the end of spit up age - course I just didn't let them eat anything too messy - chocolate pudding - right out. spaghetti - only if it was very light on the sauce. I'm a very lazy mom. Once in a while they need to be changed due to finding a mud puddle, but I can't imagine that would be an issue at Disney.).

 

[pattyT]

Crisi-
Yep as crazy as it is my DH still manages to make a mess of himself constantly! He doesn't need a whole mud puddle at all! It still amazes me! It may not be so bad at Disney because I won't be letting him feed himself ice-cream (much) or play in the sandbox, etc. Usually it is only one change a day!

Usually when he has his hands in something messy he inevitably grabs me and I end up a mess too!

I did do the ziplock bag thing! WOrks great I got 3 dD outfits per bag - she has 4 bags and she is good to go for the 10 days!

 

[NotUrsula]

... off his shirt, either!

Sorry, I just couldn't resist that one!!

 

[AKASnowWhite]

We have 2 HUGE suitcases that each are the size of a small trailer truck! We pack those (DH and I haul), one medium size (more of a normal persons large actually ) that DS(11) can pull, each child (3 of them) has a back pack for homework/activities on the plane....I have a carry-on with snacks/books/magazines, etc for DH and I , and DH has a carry-on with *essentials* in case our luggage doesn't *arrive* at the same time we do (hasn't happened yet, but I'm not taking ANY chances! )

We probably look like we are going for a MONTH, but we usually go for 10 days....and I like to be prepared! Oh - and I always do laundry at least once during the trip, because I can't bear to face all of it when we get home!

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says...................................pattyT, you don't do the laundry, DH does it! This has worked on our last three trips.
Pack up dirty clothes in a suitcase. Send DH to the laundry, if you are on site it will be by a pool so he can take dd, to swim. We only have one child so during laundry time wife gets the perfect vacation, no DH and no DD!!!
It takes two beers to wash, and two beers to dry, and you get a beer bonus if it's all folded neatly and packed back in the suitcase! I always go for the bonus! DD is happy with swim time, DW is happy with alone time, and I'm just happy I got to do the laundry!!!!

 

[pattyT]

He Disnee Dad!
Great Idea
DH will LOVE the beer theory! I'll present that to him tonight!

 

[IowaGirl]

I couldn't resist passing along a tip hubby came up with. We brought four 30" suitcases on wheels, and he bungee corded them together to get around from parking lot to airport, and even around the airport. It was beautiful, He pulled the suitcases and our ten year old navigated from the back. I pushed the stroller with the 5 year old, and rolled a duffle bag behind me full of our snacks.

I just was not going to do any laundry while I was there!!!!! I also bought t-shirts from the goodwill, and if they ended up with a stain, they got thrown away!!!

You know, we were funny to see, and we were even laughing at ourselves, but we were not the people standing in the airport car lot wondering how we were going to make it to the terminal...

 

[pattyT]

WEll Thank you are!
Here was the final count -
One large suitcase (with wheels of course!)
one medium suitcase (again with wheels of course)
one small (almost carry on suitcase that also has wheels) and three carry-ons one for DD one for DS and one for valuables! This would be easy but we also have stroller and car seat

All bags are VERY FULL and very HEAVY!- a little harder ob DH during transfers but no need for laundry!

I used the Ziplock bag meathod for clothes so it was AMAZING what I fit in there!

On the way home we should have room for purchases becuase of diapers etc. will all be gone!

So WE ARE OFF