What do you do the night before?

[Disney Yankee]

What do you do the night before your Disney vacation? :mickey:We are going next week, and I am looking for some ideas for the night before.

[Madame Leona]

I usually make my packing lists and get everything packed and ready to go while my dh keeps the kiddies busy.

[mouseketeer mom]

I try to keep the house clean. I don't make dinner, we grab something out. I empty the fridge and pantry of things that won't keep. For me, its all about keeping things in order.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

We're usually still packing and sorting stuff out. I HATE coming home to messy house, so we try and get it cleaned-up before we go.

[chaodj9]

I try to keep the house clean. I don't make dinner, we grab something out. I empty the fridge and pantry of things that won't keep. For me, its all about keeping things in order.


Exactly what my family does and double check everything your not sure about also if you have time i usually plan stuff out on a daily schedule and give it to the people who want one in your family
also print out or remember anything thats worth remembering and trying in here http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/park/hiddentreasures.asp


Have Fun :congrats:

[DisneyAggies]

I pack the 'airplane' bag (goodies for the kids). Everthing else is verified (according to the packing list) and zipped up.

Packing for us starts about 5 days prior to departure so, by that point, just about everything is done!

[Pooh Fan]

I have become very fond of the park,sleep,fly packages. We basically start our vacation a day early by booking one of these packages near the Detroit airport. My family has come to enjoy this for many reasons. I like the fact that for basically the cost of what I will pay for parking anyway, I get a hotel room minutes from the airport and my parking is included. I've actually got rooms with parking included for as much as $20 less than I would have paid for parking alone. If we want a nicer hotel we have had these packages for only about $10-$30 more than the cost of parking only. Another bonus for us as Canadians is that we deal with the border crossing the day before. This helps to avoid super early departure times from our house on the day of our flight so we are better rested once we arrive. The third bonus for us is a nice dinner the night before at one of our favourite US restaurants that we don't have in Canada. Usually Bob Evens, Cracker Barrel or other fav's.

[mainemajor]

We watch one or more of the shows on WDW we have DVRed. Make sure the house is as clean as possible.:dishes::mop::vacuum: Set every alarm clock in the house and try to get some sleep:sheep:. Almost every time alarms never go off because we can't sleep 'cause we're going to Disney World:tigger::figment::mjump::mickey3:

[Itchy]

I agree with all of the other posters.

One thing that was not mentioned is if no one is going to be house sitting you should turn off the water to your washing machine. :mop:
Even new hoses can break while you are gone and do a great amount of damage to the home. That would really ruin a good vacation.:fit:

33 days and counting till the next trip.:mickey:

[dizneefan67]

It was the night before Disney and all through the house, everyone was stirring like a crazy little mouse! All the house was cleaned with care, in hopes that Walt Disney World would soon be there. We packed the car the night before, and checked our plan for the Keys to the Kingdom tour. We double checked everything from bottom to top, because once we start, we will not stop!

Just a quick that you can tell your family the night before! LOL!! Now for my opinion, it depends on your mode of transportation (driving or flying) either way I would try to keep busy and try not to think about, tire yourself out so you can get some sleep, and instead of making a big breakfast, try making a carry and eat breakfast or stop at McDonald's for a quick bite on your way! Now if it were me DRIVING I would lounge around all day long and then get up have a decent dinnr, do the landry finish packing, and hit the road at 10pm-12am I drive all night long and all the next day taking 4 HOUR STOPS to fill up with gas whether I need it or not, grab a snack, stretch and hit the road in 30 minutes or less. I make it to Disney the next evening with excitement and a little tired, but the excitement kicks in to keep me awake for the evning and the when its time to sleep the night before we hit the parks, I am ready to sleep and have no problem sleeping. Just an idea!

Have agreat trip!

Will:mickey:

[Goofy4TheWorld]

At 8pm the night before, set the alarm clock for 4am, lay down on the bed and stare at the clock. At 11pm run the clock up to 5am and continue to stare at the clock. Briefly fall asleep, wake up in a cold sweat 5 minutes later, continue monitoring the clock for any changes. At 1am, get up mad and start driving.

[dmosher]

I sued to try to get to bed as early as possible, but have since given up on that. Now I just make sure the alarm is set at least 3 times, double and triple check what was packed, make a list of all items that must be unplugged or turned off before we leave, verify our transportation and print out the boarding passes, then lay in bed tossing and turning till I drift off 10 minutes before the alarm rings and we get up to leave. Thankfully, it's a 12 hour flight so there is plenty of time for sleeping!
:pipes:
D

[Kathy Jetson]

We start our drive down at 12:00am so the time befor that is spent doing last min. packing. Packing everything into car. Trying to get ds who will be 6 to calm down and go to sleep for a little bit (won't work). and just trying not to climb the walls.

[mainemajor]

One thing that was not mentioned is if no one is going to be house sitting you should turn off the water to your washing machine. :mop:
Even new hoses can break while you are gone and do a great amount of damage to the home. That would really ruin a good vacation.:fit:

:

How true this is. The night we returned from a WDW trip our water pipe sprung a leak. Thank God we were home. It cost an arm and a leg to get a plumber out on a Saturday night, but cost a lot less if this had happened a day earlier or had we been gone a day more.

[mouseketeer mom]

I agree with all of the other posters.

One thing that was not mentioned is if no one is going to be house sitting you should turn off the water to your washing machine. :mop:
Even new hoses can break while you are gone and do a great amount of damage to the home. That would really ruin a good vacation.:fit:

33 days and counting till the next trip.:mickey:

Agreed. We actually shut off the main water line and also shut off the oil burner. I unplug coffee pots, toasters, the works too!

[LauraByTheSea]

We drive, so we get up about 2 am... So the day before we take the dogs to either the kennel or Grandma's, depending on whether Grandma is coming with us or not, then we CLEAN. I love to come home to a dog hair-free house!

[buzznwoodysmom]

We also shut off the main water line. I also unplug everything in our house when we are gone for vacation. Since we drive we normally leave around 12 noon and arrive at WDW around midnight the night before our official check in day. I love doing it that way. It lets us start our vacation one day ealier, plus we get to check in to our official resort early and have a full first day. It also gives me all morning to wash any wet towels, and get the house in order before we go. I spend the last few days doing a major house cleaning, washing sheets, cleaning the yard. I just can't enjoy my vacation if I know I left a mess at home. We also pick up food or eat out the day before and the day that we leave so that I don't have to do any extra cooking and cleaning and throwing away of food.

[Disney Yankee]

These are all great ideas! We have been cleaning all day today. Almost ready to pack. Does anyone have a special dinner or a "night before Disney" celebration?:mickey:

[mouseketeer mom]

No, the special dinners are saved for WDW...the night before is usually pizza, preferably OUT somewhere. No mess in my house, thank you.

[steamboat willy]

What do you do the night before your Disney vacation? :mickey:We are going next week, and I am looking for some ideas for the night before.


We will drive :car: to DISNEY and will be leaving morning of September 8th.

2 weeks before DW will start laying out her various "outfits" on the bed in the back bedroom.
1 week before she will decide she doesn't have enough shorts to make our 10 night stay.
We will go to Kohls or Belks and purchase a few more shorts and probably a top that should match one of the shorts she already has.
We will get home to find she already has a top the identical color, style and probably brand as the one purchased today.
We will go back to Kohls or Belks to take back the first one and trade it in on another color.
While there she sees another top/outfit that is just beautiful and we get that one also.


(BUT I DON'T mind or complain, that's why we are celebrating our 25th at Disney World)

Now is the week before we leave on Sept. 8 and the bed is covered with tops, shorts, bathing suits, cover-ups, jeans (In case it gets cold one night in Florida), socks (plenty of socks), shoes/sandles stacked in formation across the floor and door hangers are covered with all the dresses/tops and other hanging stuff that can't get wrinkled in a suitcase with all those tops and shorts and matching outfits.

(Did I say it has been 25 years?)

Now, what was your question........:confused:

Oh what do I do the night before we leave for Disney?
I pack up all the suitcases, put shoes in the shoe bags and start carrying clothes from back bedroom to garage to be loaded in vehicle very systematicly.
Suitcase can't be tipped over - outfits will wrinkle. :secret:

Car is all packed and all the doors close and looks similar to John Candy's in "Summer Rental" one of my favorite movies.

We then set on sofa and go over the list:
Pack Beer
Stopped Mail
Stopped Paper
Key to Neighbor
Mowed Yard
Packed Cooler
Suitcases with outfits/shoes/extra outfits/etc..
Snacks for the road
Snacks for the room
Take extra beer

After we Check and double check our list its time for supper.

A Salty Caper Pizza (Brick Oven Wood Fire Pizza Place) that I picked up and brought home and have a few :beer: 's.

Go to bed, stare a ceiling and think of things we forgot or missed! :paranoid:

After laying in bed for a few..."I holler out that I'm too excited to sleep" because in the morning we are leaving for Walt Disney World!:thumbsup:

Now would you like to know what I do the morning that we are leaving for WDW? :secret:

[betteratmk]

Too funny, now I don't feel so bad!!!

[MickeyMousse]

We drive, so the day/night before I am:
-going over the suitcase list for the umpteenth time to make sure everything is packed
-packing up the snack box an cooler
-making sure the DS's have everything they need/want for the ride in their backpacks
-stocking up the fridge for our nephew who is house/dog sitting
-going over the list for our nephew...of do's and don't's
-waiting for our nephew to show up
-running to the gas station/bank/grocery store/post office
-making sure we have our map, EZPass, cellphone/charger and ressies

I usually need a vacation from the antics of the night before!!!!!

And meanwhile my DH wonders why I'm burnt out when we hit the road!!!!

[Jodi]

We take our dog to his bestest buddies house for his vacation (very hard to leave him...) then we check our list, check them twice, clean the house, and go to bed early. Don't get much sleep either way....too excited. :mickey:

[badkitty]

We used to take the Delta "red-eye" from Sacramento which landed us in Orlando by 8AM! This allowed for me to clean the house, double check the luggage and be tired enough to sleep on the plane. Now that flight doesn't exist anymore so we need to come up with a new plan for our next trip in 2010...

[Mousemates]

Since we typcially leave around 2 in the morning for the drive down....to arrive for a park opening...I try my best to have the car packed early and get a few hours of sleep....which is hard to do when your hyped up on pre-disney adrenalin.

[Tink#64]

BY the day before I usually have the clothes packed, but I'm still packing all the misc stuff. I too have DH turn the water off to the washer, he also disconnects the electric garage door! We always have a few animal sitters, and so there's notes & stuff for them, & I always lock things up like check books, jewelry etc.

Dinner is always McD's! I'm always busy until at least midnight, even though I started planning months beforehand! It's always a challenge to pack those last minute things into the luggage that we're "allowed" (by me!) to take! DS's pack their backpacks, with their fun stuff for the plane or car ride & those times we're chillin in the room!

I try to leave the house as neat as possible! I hate to come into a mess & don't want the critter sitters to things we're pigs! :blush:

One year I don't think I packed anything until the night before, even though I had everything out & ready to pack, & that was a nightmare! I'll never do that again!

I'd love to be that kind of person that had everything done & had time to maybe watch a Disney movie or some of the WDW stuff we have recorded, but alas, that's not me. :( I'm always busy until the last minute! Get a few hours sleep & head out to our laughin place! :mickey: