If you’ve been around here for awhile, you know that our family prefers carry-on luggage only when traveling. It’s less stressful, there is no waiting at a crowded luggage carousel, and we can get out of the airport and to our destination much more quickly.
I will always choose washing clothes over checking bags, and Walt Disney World vacations are one of the easiest for our family to pack carry-on only luggage. Why? We always have resort time or dedicated resort days, which provide the perfect windows of time for some laundry.
Here is a bit of info and a few of my tips for light packing and doing laundry at Walt Disney World:
Getting ready to pack / luggage for family of 3 flying Frontier / at the airport
We pack for half the trip + a couple extras. For example, on our most recent trip (6 nights) I packed the clothes and shoes mentioned below. Traveling at the end of October meant very cool mornings and evenings with warm afternoons, so we needed to plan for layers.
- 4 bottoms: a mix of shorts and skorts, a pair of leggings + wore jeans on the plane
- 5 tops: a mix of tees and tanks
- 2 warm tops: a sweatshirt, a long sleeved shirt + wore long sleeves on the plane
- enough socks and undergarments for 2 per day for first half of trip
- 1 pajamas set
- 2 pairs of shoes: 1 pairs of sneakers and 1 pair of sandals + wore sneakers on the plane
I streamline my makeup and toiletries. I simplify my makeup for Walt Disney World, and only pack exactly what I need. Same goes for toiletries. We ordered sunscreen, pump hand soaps for the bathroom, and a larger pump hand sanitizer in our grocery delivery. (At the time of publishing this post, Walt Disney World Resorts are now providing pump soaps in the bathrooms!)
One of our personal items is our family park bag. (See black backpack above!) Our daughter uses the park bag backpack as her personal item and then we unload it on arrival and repack it for park days. My husband carries that, and I wear a Pander brand fanny pack. (When traveling, I pack this with my in-flight necessities and then it goes into my personal item.)
Laundry app / laundry in Trinidad at Caribbean Beach Resort/ fresh laundry!
I pack dryer sheets and detergent. These are available for purchase at the laundry facilities, but we save money by taking our own. I have traveled with both laundry soap sheets (these look like dryer sheets but are detergent sheets) and liquid detergent – whatever I happen to have on hand at home.
I pack a couple laundry bags. (I have used compact and lightweight reusable grocery bags for this, but will be taking along a larger inexpensive laundry bag for our next trip.) During our stay, we put dirty clothes into these bags and toss the bags into the machine right along with the laundry.
The laundry facilities require an app. Instructions for this are located within the laundry facilities, and the app tells you exactly how much time your machine has left. (Great if you’re at the pool, eating, or relaxing in your room!)
Laundry facilities are usually located near the resort’s quiet pools. We almost always hang out at the pool during laundry time, which means laundry time doesn’t feel like it’s taking away from vacation time.
Keep your eye out for goodies in/near the laundry facilities! Sometimes people leave behind items they don’t need because they are heading home…these are often put in the laundry rooms for people to grab. I have seen luggage, bottled beverages, a stroller, snacks, refillable resort mugs, popcorn buckets, and more. (Facebook resort groups usually have posts about this!)
Traveling during the hottest times of the year? Definitely plan on laundry. Our May 2024 Walt Disney World trip featured near-record temps…it was in the mid-90s even around 10:00pm. It was HOT. We were sweaty. You will absolutely want to do laundry on these trips, especially if you’re staying more than 3 nights.
Questions? Shoot me an email! Want to do laundry at the Most Magical Place on Earth? I can make that happen too!
Leave a Reply