To launder, or not to launder...that is the question

[Bluesky481]

My husband and I will be taking a 10 night trip to DW this November. Up until now, we've never stayed longer than 4 nights. Thus, we have never had to concern ourselves with whether or not to take time out during our vacation to do laundry at the resort.

So...here's the question I pose: When you take an extended trip to DW do you pack enough clothes for your entire stay? Do you pack 1/2 of what you'll need and run a couple loads in the middle of your trip?

Please share the pros and cons of each from your personal experiences. Thanks for your help with this minor dilemma!:thumbsup:

On a side note, we'll be flying into MCO. Taking into consideration the fees that are now applied to excess luggage/weight, this scenario assumes we would not pack enough to incur those surplus charges. Thanks!

[Young@Heart]

We like to pack less, and do one load of laundry while we're there. It's easy to do it at night, after a day at the parks. I just can't see us bringing more than 5 or 6 changes of clothes, and we change often (usually 2 times a day at least), so with 5 of us, that would just be too much to bring!

[Madame Leona]

We pack enough for 10 days. I just can't imagine doing laundry and still feeling like I'm on vacation.

[sgdisney]

I've done laundry in the middle of every trip we've made. I've always done it by getting up early one morning and relaxing by the pool while the laundry does its thing and the others sleep in.

[slpngbty56]

With a family of five, we also do a load of laundry about mid trip. My DS and I get up early on a day when none of the parks have EMH in the morning. It ended up being a nice way to spend some quality time with my son. That was an unexpected perk:thumbsup:

[IceCreamlover]

I pack for four people for 11 days every year. NO LAUNDERING WHILE ON VACATION!!! We have a new t-shirt every day, & re-use shorts & night-time shirts a few times(basically we're just wearing them for dinner). Works out fine.

[tmosier]

For me, it was a huge pain to do laundry! :mad: Next time, we'll bring plenty of clothes and leave doing laundry for when we get back from vacation--- unless, of course, we have a :sick: situation!

The only way I'd do laundry again at WDW is if we were staying in a villa with a w/d in our room--- now that would be ultra-convenient! No lugging dirty clothes across the hotel. No waiting or checking in to see if it's time to switch the clothes. No pressure because of people waiting to use the machines. No rolls and rolls of quarters (the machines are very expensive and small). No spending my time in the hot and small laundry room, or walking to and from. A w/d in the room would definitely be the way to go!

[mouseketeer mom]

I pack for 5 people for 9 days. No laundry for me. The only time I did laundry was when we had a villa. Otherwise, its just smart packing for me, with no laundry!

[hokies4life]

For me, it was a huge pain to do laundry! :mad: Next time, we'll bring plenty of clothes and leave doing laundry for when we get back from vacation--- unless, of course, we have a :sick: situation!

The only way I'd do laundry again at WDW is if we were staying in a villa with a w/d in our room--- now that would be ultra-convenient! No lugging dirty clothes across the hotel. No waiting or checking in to see if it's time to switch the clothes. No pressure because of people waiting to use the machines. No rolls and rolls of quarters (the machines are very expensive and small). No spending my time in the hot and small laundry room, or walking to and from. A w/d in the room would definitely be the way to go!

While they can seem expensive, we didn't find them to be that small. They were almost the exact same as what we had in the dorms at college (close to the same prices too). If you have a larger size w/d at home then they might seem smaller.

:chipdale:

[disneymom15]

Have never done laundry while on vacation. I find that alot of the clothes can be worn more than once, especially bottoms.

[BronxTigger]

We did laundry halfway through our 8-day trip in 2006. We took a relax day in the middle of the trip and returned to the resort in the afternoon to swim and do laundry.

I did not find the machines to be more expensive than a typical laundromat, and it wasn't too tedious. If you go in the afternoon, most people are at the parks so I doubt there would be too many people doing laundry. I suspect most people would try to do laundry at the end of the day.

[caryrae]

Since it's just me and my wife it's easy to pack enough clothes for the trip in a suitcase each but I would do laundry if we needed to. Ya never know when you will spill on a yourself, someone spills on you. you sit on something, ect.

[bmj721]

Our family of 4 always stay anywhere from 10 to 14 days for our stays and it would be crazy to pack that many clothes, especially when the boys were younger and not interested in staying clean. I pack clothes for half of the trip for each person and on a day at the midpoint which we call Pool day we lounge around the pool and relax while the laundry is done. The family does this together which doesn't require much effort and when it's finished we have a lovely dinner somewhere. I recommend it. This year we will be there in Dec for 11 days and we will be doing the same thing again, this time with Mother-in-law. But, she's on her own for her packing choices.
:mickey::mickey::mickey::mickey:

[bkfree]

For 4 of us on an 8 day stay I will do laundry once.
Since we will be in Dec and the weather is variable, I will take 1 pair of jeans and several shorts per person and just wash these and undies mid trip. I usually take enough tops for the entire trip, but bottoms are easy to reuse.
We will each wear a pair of jeans down on the plane.

The main reason that I take enough tops for everyone, is that I take tons of pictures for mys scrapbook and don't want the same top showing up more than one day in the pictures.

[pianobabe]

It is mainly just DH and I who go on our trips (we go for our anniversary when DS16 is in school). We always do laundry. Our trips are for more than 12 days. About half way through our trip, we always have a day that I use to relax a little more. That is when I usually do laundry. I put all of our stuff in one of the suitcases and roll it on down to the laundry area. While it is washing and drying, I sit by the pool and read. Last year, we stayed at Pop and I loved it because they were playing a lot of oldies music out by the pool. It was wonderful. On our last day, I do our clothes again. At first I wasn't doing that, but it beats having to face dirty clothes when you get home. We always get a later flight out, so I still have time to enjoy going to DTD or just hanging around the pool. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything at all. I pack a small bottle of liquid laundry detergent in our suitcase (in a ziploc bag) and that gives us more room in our bags for souviners on the way back.

[trennedy]

We like to pack as light as possible for our family of 4. We usually do laundry 1/2 way thru our trip. It isn't much of a hassle because the laundries are usually located near a pool. The kids swim and we hang out by the pool and switch the laundry in and out. We only do one or two loads and bring a small container of detergent.

[elmjimmlm]

For our family of 5 we pack enough for the entire trip and try to do laundry near the end so we don't have to take dirty clothes home...

[gnomelady]

When we have stayed in condo with washer/dryer furnished I will do laundry. Try and take colors alike to cut down on laundry loads if you ahve to do laundry.blues & black can washed together. Whites etc. Mix and match. If we come back to the room to change clothes during the day we wear that outfit the next day, pants can be worn 2 days in a row or let them air a day or so. It may take alittle planning but try and not take too many clothes. November is is still pretty warm (I was there 2 yrs ago and it got as high as 90 a couple days). Summer clothes are lighter and don't take up as much space in your suitcases like heavy jeans and sweaters. I always take a light long sleeve denim blouse to put on in the evening incase I get cold. Wear your heavy clothes on the plane like shoes, jeans etc this will help the weight and save some packing space.
Hope this helps

[Mousemates]

We don't like vacation chores, so laundry at WDW has not happened yet. However, we also usually drive down from TN so we can kind of pack whatever we think we might need and not incur any extra bag cost that now get tacked on by the airlines.

[sainter]

We go for 10 days, 4 people. We always do a pool day (or at least an afternoon) part way through the week and do laundry while we swim or sit by the pool with a book.
I like to be able to put fresh clothes on halfway through a hot day if I feel like it, so there is no way we could pack enough clothes for all of us for 10 days and not incur fees at the airport. All of us help with the carrying clothes to the machines and back. Besides, at POR there is always a pool and thus laundry close by. Anther plus is it makes us slow down for at least a few hours and enjoy the resort.

[Jeri Lynn]

We pack less and do laundry about every other day...it's not a big deal to throw in a batch and hang out by the pool until done.

We bring our own detergent and dryer sheets also.

[TheMartellFamily]

We do our laundry mid-day while we take a break from the parks. The kids are in the pool and we are watching them and then the other adult goes in and out of the laundry room to watch for it. We do not have to pack as much. When we are there during the day it is in and out since people staying at the resort are primarily at the parks and the laundry room is not busy.

[JenniferS.]

Last trip I did do some laundry late at night the night before we left so that we wouldn't have to do it when we got home. Just keep in mind that a LOT of other people also had the same "great" idea. I did do some in the early morning while the we swam w/ the kids in the pool. That worked better. We are going for 10 days this year and we are bringing one extra child that we didn't bring before, so there is going to also be more, so I think we will pack and do one wash while we are there.

[#1disneyfan]

We have done it both ways, and I prefer to pack less and do 2 loads while we are there.

On our upcoming trip I plan on doing the wash the day before we check out and head onto the cruise. This way we have clean clothing for the cruise and I have less to pack. I am also taking 3 single use detergents with us. We got them free when we stayed at my mom's timeshare.

[kemps@wdw]

We always laundry :laundry2: as it lets us pack less. I do, however, bring my own detergent and softner (ravel size). It's cheaper, and we usually share w/our other family members. We find it convenient to do all of ours on an afternoon when the kids are napping and the DH's are usually @ the pool bar. We have so far lucked up and had the room to ourselves, or have gotten there and started before others have come in. So, if we have all the units to ourselves, we can usually get done in 1-2 hrs. (just about nap length).

[Wishmaker]

We pack less and do laundry about every other day...it's not a big deal to throw in a batch and hang out by the pool until done.

We bring our own detergent and dryer sheets also.

That is the way we go as well. Another post already had my other thought and that was the price of taking more than one suitcase per person now. I would rather do the laundry.

I stress the bring your own detergent and dyer sheets. :thumbsup:

[azdisneymom]

We have been to WDW 4 times now. I did laundry on trip #2 and will NEVER do it again. It was summer so we stayed at the parks late and I was very tired so put off washing until the next morning. I got stuck at the hotel for a couple of hours doing laundry while my family was off enjoying the parks. :mad: Sure it was my choice ... and I choose never, ever, ever do laundry while on vacation again.

[luvdiznee]

For a 10 day stay I would definitely take half of clothing items, especially pants/shorts and do laundry. Like you said with the add'l airline fees that are being charged, it is not worth it to bring 10 outfits. I would do the 2 day 1 pant rule but with different tops every day. Enjoy. 10 days is great. :mickey:

[Puppy Mom]

My BF and I always take one suitcase each and use one carryon.

We pack light and do laundry during the week. We stay at OKW and the laundry is right next to the pool near the building we always stay in.

We like to come back to the resort around 2:00 or 3:00 to swim before dinner anyway so we throw a load in then. It is nice to hit the pool and get all cool and fresh for the evening. You hardly notice that you are doing laundry if you are floating in the pool while it washes and dries.

We do this because we only want to take one suitcase apiece and still leave room for souvenirs. Plus, I HATE to be sweaty so I like to wear a fresh shirt to dinner and back to the parks in the evening.

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

Since it is just my DH and I we usually go for 9 or 10 nights. We NEVER do laundry. I'm on vacation and the last thing I want to do is something that I always do at home. I'm on vacation to relax, have fun and get away from what I do at home. We pack enough clothes for everyday and a couple of extra, just in case. Since it's just the two of you I recommend not doing laundry.

[kaliepooh]

I did laundry on our last trip while my kids swam in the pool; I found this to be very convenient. There are fewer clothes to pack if I’m going to do laundry. I walk with my own power detergent and dryer sheets. The dryer sheets keep the clothes smelling nice and fresh, as I pack them between the clothes in the suitcases. I pack the detergent in a zip lock bag; I’ve never had a spill.

I’m travelling on American Airlines and it’s going to cost me $15 dollars for my first checked bag and $25 for my second bag. There are five of us travelling this time. I want to spend my money at Disney not all with American.

[eandrsmom]

Since it is just the two of you, I'd say just pack enough for the trip. We have 6 in our family, and I am constantly doing laundry at home. I refuse to do it while we're on vacation. Last time, I packed enough for 8 days with no problems.

[Aggie97]

I never do laundry on vacation! I go on vacation to take a break from chores. :) We pack plenty of shirts and undergarments and have never had a problem re-wearing our shorts and jeans. :mickey:

[LandFan]

We pack enough to last us the whole time - we are never at our resorts long enough to swim, let alone do laundry :blush:

As for bringing dirty laundry home, I just pack us each a garbage bag or two and we fill them with the dirty laundry, tie them, and put them back in our suitcases and that keeps the dirty clothes from contaminating any clean ones that may be left in the suitcase.

Then when we get back, we just haul the garbage bags right to the laundry room. It makes the suitcases lighter going up the stairs:D

[jrkcr]

I usually do a few loads of laundry one night for our family of 5. I carry detergent and dryer sheets from home, and rolls of quarters. I fill up a couple of washing machines, and enjoy some time at the quiet pool right next to the laundry room. :vacation:
BUT, the dryers aren't so great at drying(like most coin operated machines). So I hang up damp shirts to dry in our room, :laundry2: and run everything else a second time in the dryer.

It isn't the way to save money, but I hate taking suitcases of dirty clothes home, and having smelly laundry dumped all over the laundry room. :ack:

[SurferStitch]

DH and I pack more than enough for our trips. I easily take enough clothes for 20 days on a 10 day trip!

I refuse to do laundry on vacation. I also refuse to cook or even prepare a microwave meal. I won't even pack snacks to take along. I want to be waited on while on vacation.

We are going for 13 days in October, and I can guarantee that I'll have enough clothes for twice that, and I change at least 2 times a day. I have to take dressy clothes for most of our dinners, too, so that means at least 6 dresses, and a bunch of dressy evening tops/pants. PI will be wasted this year, so I won't have to worry about dressing for that, so that helps a little.

Also, since I throw almost nothing of mine in the dryer, I would have to hang all of my stuff around our room to dry if I did do laundry. Ugh! I'm also a fanatic about doing laundry, and separate EVERYTHING, so I would probably have to do 5 loads to make sure everything is washed properly.

[SFTrny]

Plan for laundry. We plan to bring two thirds of the clothes that we need and then do wash on as much as we can half way through. It is so much nicer to not worry about clothing. We plan our laundry night at FW for a night at the cabin with dinner early. After a few loads, we are ready to go and hit the parks for a last late night view.

[kellyisbusy]

I do laundry every trip at least once. It is normally on an early night when the parks close early or we are just relaxing. I mostly wash just the light stuff, no heavy clothes since they take to long to dry, but undies, t-shirts, that sort of thing. Always bring your own detergent. The little boxes at the hotel will cost $3 or $4 for the same thing you can get at home for $1. I suggest the little washing cubes, so no powdery mess in the suitcase and no liquid mess either.

[LizLovesDiz]

I've done laundry in the middle of every trip we've made. I've always done it by getting up early one morning and relaxing by the pool while the laundry does its thing and the others sleep in.

Great idea to do it this way!!!I usually go at night,around 11:00 but that sounds even better,thanks for the tip!! :mickey:

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

We always drive and like to leave space in the trunk for souveniers...we learned it works for us to take about 4 changes of clothes and do laundry a couple of nights during our stay....this is how I work it in, my son always wants to swim at least twice during our stay....I put the clothes in, take him to the pool, have him come out while I go back and put them in the dryer and then go back let him get back in the pool and in 45 minutes or so, go get the clothes and go back to the hotel....we always do this at night-it takes about 2 hours...and I do laundry on nights we aren't attending one of the fireworks displays.....:)

[Daddy Mouse]

We paln a day to do laundry. Eg. We'll go to TL in the morning and when we return in the afternoon we'll do laundry. Then we'll either go to a park, DTD, or visit other resorts. We will pack less enough for 5 or 6 days. But we will mail items to the resort we are staying. Included in the items we send are detergent and softner. It all depends on your preferences.

[IamBelle]

I always stay for 10 or 11 days and i always do landry. I bring enough for half the trip, about 4 or 5 outfits. Then , when i'm out of clothes i do the laundry. this way, there is less to unpack when you get there, and less to pack when you leave. And, while the clothes are washing, you can go to the pool etc.

[KAT1811]

We are alother family that does laundry :laundry: half way through the trip. Are stays are always between 11 and 14 days so packing a family of five (soon to be six!!! :cloud9:) For two weeks is just crazy. I used to pack for the whole two weeks but as our family grew so did our luggage so in order to travel with a little less luggage (as much as possible with 3 children, soon to be 4 :cloud9:) we (when I say we I actually mean I ;) ) do laundry on a night that we return a bit early from the parks. I get the children settled in bed :sleepin: and then head off to the laundry center while DH stays back at the room. I typicall start a cycle, return to the room for a bit, and then go back to change it over, and repeat. This year I found great Tide travel packets to bring with us this year. I also bring a folding mesh laundry basket (this year I found a three section basket, whites, darks, and handwash). I truly do not mind doing laundry :laundry2: in WDW, it actually gives me a little quiet time :vacation: . Sometimes I bring a book and a glass of wine with me and sit by the pool while I wait for the cycle to finish (not this year with baby on board I'll have to pass on the wine)!

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Don't forget a stain stick.....you will definitely need this

[Septbride2002]

We do laundry on the trip but we stay in a 1 bedroom DVC and they have a washer and dryer in the room. :D

~Amanda

[Disney Doll]

We usually only go for 7 days so it's not as much as your situation, but I usually plan to not do laundry. Of course I do always bring a roll of quarters and a baggie of soap from home because you never know when you are traveling with kids. (I found myself doing an emergency load of laundry once before). We always schedule a rest day mid week for pool time and relaxing so I guess I could do laundry that day, but I'd rather not.

[Kisobel]

laundry and veg by the pool for a couple hours. i really didnt mind it. it forced us to get off our feet. we went last oct and had record heat and humidity. we needed to do laundry, we were going through 2-3 changes of clothes a day.

kate

[Young@Heart]

Don't forget a stain stick.....you will definitely need this

:thumbsup:
I just bought one for our upcoming trip! With 2 boys, no doubt it will come in handy!

[Mackflava99]

Where are you staying?
We stay in the villas so we only bring a few things and wash them each night- but thats because there is a washer/dryer in our room

[Bluesky481]

Thanks for all of the replies, everyone!

After reading all of these helpful posts, I think I've decided that we'll pack enough clothes for the trip (more tops than bottoms) and dress in layers on our flight down to Orlando that we may need during possible November weather fluctuations (we'll be traveling from Indiana, so we could easily wear short-sleeved shirts with a sweatshirt/pullover and light jacket to cut down on some of the packing).

I will definitely bring quarters, laundry detergent, fabric softener, and a stain stick along just in case.:thumbsup: If I should have the need to do laundry, I'll just think of it as a pool break. :blush:

Thanks again for all the great ideas--you guys are the best!!:number1:

[yjgirl32]

On our next trip we were struggling with the same question about wether or not to do laundry and I think we are also going to do some laundry. We will have 9 people going for 10 days. Way too much luggage if we pack for all those days. I think we will be ok becuase there is anough of us adults (since there will only be 1 child) that we can get the laundry done pretty easily and quickly. I am thinking with the extra expense for an extra bag it would be more cost efficient for us. Good luck with your decision making. Have a great trip!

[caryrae]

Thanks for all of the replies, everyone!

After reading all of these helpful posts, I think I've decided that we'll pack enough clothes for the trip (more tops than bottoms) and dress in layers on our flight down to Orlando that we may need during possible November weather fluctuations (we'll be traveling from Indiana, so we could easily wear short-sleeved shirts with a sweatshirt/pullover and light jacket to cut down on some of the packing).

I will definitely bring quarters, laundry detergent, fabric softener, and a stain stick along just in case.:thumbsup: If I should have the need to do laundry, I'll just think of it as a pool break. :blush:

Thanks again for all the great ideas--you guys are the best!!:number1:


What better place to do :laundry: if you need to then :vacation: by the pool at a Disney Resort.