I would like to say that I am one of those people (::cough cough:: Hubs) that can pack the night before, but that is a 100% not me. I start to put everything into sections about a week before and begin to put everything in their prospective bags about two to three days prior depending (clothes are normally about two days before), with the exception of obviously food and the "essential" weekender. Both Hubs and I pack the essential bag together the night before so we have no one to blame when something is undoubtedly forgotten #hereslookingatyouextraPediasure #thanksFuelforhavingstrawberryNesquick.
I will say I have packing for Disney down to a science and that is primarily because I have what would be considered by anyone else an excessive list in my phone that I check everything off of as I pack. As both kids are in the Toddler phase now, I have modified the list to reflect this, so things have been omitted like bottle warmers, travel bottle cleaner set (although I still pack the key ring thing that the set comes with to clean sippy cups), bottles, etc.
In looking what I packed for this particular trip (I know I know...I am excessive...can I use that word enough), it is important to note some changes.
One, we are in the middle of a pandemic, so things like extra changes of clothes if I felt that it was necessary (I wasn't sure the amount of people that were going to be there or around us), an abundance of masks (we changed our masks at the very least twice a day), hand sanitizers for all of our bags and stroller, and of course Chlorox wipes for the room and the stroller . Yes, I traditionally pack with these things with the exception of masks, but having doubles and triples was kind of new and took up space that I hadn't accounted for. Two, we had a pretty large Vera Bradley weekender that we used for EV's decorations and her presents that we normally would not have had with us. In addition to two different outfit changes for birthday pictures and EV's Elena of Avalor coronation dress that we found for her at the Disney Character Warehouse (well technically my mom did). However as you can imagine, once the "sparkly" touched her....that was the end of that lol (regardless we brought it with us). I didn't even press the issue on her birthday since we were doing pictures and I wanted her to enjoy herself and not have a meltdown...call me crazy! I thought for sure once seeing the room all decorated, she would have loved to have put on the dress to match. Nope, still "too sparkly".
However...enjoy the few pictures I was able to capture including the last one which shows her disgust...I was trying to "practice" with her to see if it was something she would end up enjoying wearing. Not. Having. It.
Commodore's look of "oh look, mom was able to get you into that, huh?!"
Remember that we are only a three-hour drive from Disney so we (mainly me) can afford to be excessive when packing as we are just putting things into the car and I drive an SUV.
I actually had two types of lists this trip. I always keep the Disney List on my phone, but I added a birthday list as well so that I had a separate space for the additions that we normally would not be taking with us (I figured I could use this for Commodore too). This list included; decorations, presents, birthday ears (we put all ears in our PARC bag regardless) anything pandemic related (masks, etc.), I had gotten a large number 4 balloon that I ordered from Target for her birthday pictures, changes of clothes for the birthday outfits, etc.
I used a separate bag so that EV wouldn't get curious and go into it (I kept it in the back of the hotel closet). I love using THIS Vera Bradley Grand Weekender (I have many variations and styles of this bag). We live within a two minute drive to Sawgrass Mall which is the biggest outlet you could possibly think of and they have a Vera Bradley outlet so ALL of our travel items pretty much come from here (their sales are bar none).
We also go her a Pillowfort Mermaid Tail blanket that was on major sale at Target for $8! It ended up being hotter than expected, but I thought that this would have been fun for her to curl up with in the evenings in front of the window. Also, special birthday jammies.
Fun Fact: I totally forgot to put her into that Minnie dress (cue face palm emoji)
We use a second weekender for all of the essentials. I am pretty sure I have gone into this bag in detail tons of times before, but just in case....
This is actually a picture from when we went on the Disney Cruise last year. I have no clue how I forgot to take a picture from this trip...oh well....
However, not much changes with the exception of the bottle warmer (for obvious reasons).
The weekender has;
Pediasure
Travel cups (both the kids thermos' and sippy cups for Pediasure)
Two snack cups
The black star wars bag you see above is actually a small cooler bag (there are two small cactus bags behind that too) that I use for fruit pouches (once opened), yogurt squeezies, small applesauces, anything that I want to keep in the diaper bag and keep cool.
Travel wipes (we put these in our baby bag and have extras if we run out)
Regular wipes (meaning the big pack)
Diapers
Suntan lotion (we use Baby Bum so its safe for the whole family)
Mosquito repellant (I think its the Babyganics)
Swimmies (as mentioned we hadn't planned to use the pool, but we brought a couple anyway),
Mesh laundry bags (every change of clothes was thrown into here)
Wet bags (duh)
Six ziploc bags & several travel glad containers
A bunch of charging pods and cords that fit into that little green case (shown below). I can actually fit up to five charging pods (three cylinders and two that are the flat type) in there so it is fantastic. I keep that green case in the diaper bag in case either our phones, the kindles or the fans (again, pictured below) need a quick charge. I charge everything (Kindles and charging pods) starting two days before we leave.
We also pack two travel fans (it was slightly cooler this trip, but we packed them anyway)
Rain jackets for the kids and us (because #Florida).
In the blue Vera travel case (above), I keep things like;
Kids shampoo and conditioner
Hair brushes
Travel cleaning pods that can be dropped into the sink both for the travel cups/bottles and snack cups and clothes (obviously for each not one for both)
The cleaning ring for the sippy cups that has the bristle cleaner
Baby medicinal syringes (extras)
Baby washcloths,
Two different thermometers
Caladryl (Commodore's skin is super sensitive).
Not pictured is also an emergency kit that has everything from benadryl, to neosporin, to bandaids to tylenol (both kids and adult versions of everything) to kids cutlery (wish I was kidding, but there are two forks and two spoons) and a travel version of my laundry spray that I use to get the wrinkles out of clothes as well as a stain remover pen. I do not pack this in their diaper bag until we actually get to our hotel since there is really no point, but it does go in our bag. Having to go to the emergency center in the Disney Parks and fill out a humongous questionnaire and answer all these verbal questions for two capsules of tylenol is just a no for me.
Both cases are always stocked (it is solely for travel) and we go through them the week before the trip to assure that nothing needs to be restocked or replaced because of expiration dates. This way, all we are doing for the trip is dropping them in the bag.
When I found out that we had a refrigerator in the room, we ended up packing my creamer (let me live...it allowed me to be bougie) and some Coke cans for the room, so we used our cooler bag for that and snacks. Otherwise the snacks would have also gone into the weekender. I am a professional packer and you would not believe how much I can comfortably get into a Vera Weekender (the Grand one).
I am going to assume because Commodore sleeps in his room and EV is with us (don't ask and this is 100% my fault lol) that he has more of a need for comfort items. He sleeps with a really large elephant as his pillow, he has a VERY specific llama binky (warmly referred to as Spittles), a blanket and his puppy that used to be EV's in the hospital (it had a heartbeat battery that we removed) that she never got attached too (I think its under him in the below picture). He is basically Linus from Peanuts!
We did pack our own travel bassinet and sheets for it and as you can tell, it looks like he has officially grown out of it, so we are already starting to do research on a toddler one for June.
We always get a king bed, since EV sleeps between us and lets be honest, it is a 100% more comfortable. For the life of me, I do not understand how two people can sleep in anything less. It makes me feel twitchy just thinking about it.
Again, packing was a little more excessive (taking shots yet?!) this trip since we had outfit changes for our pictures and the weather in Florida had been all over the place from the 40's to the 80's and rain had been expected, so we literally packed a little bit of everything. Plus, we wanted to be prepared for a lot of room time if it was raining or we were feeling a certain way (unexpected crowds), so extra fun outfits for EV to run around in were going to be necessary.
I use THESE amazing small storage cubes (they come in a pack of three) from Itzy Ritzy for EV's shoes, so nothing gets dirty. I always use the small pocket in the front of the suitcase for bathing suits, sunnies, hats, socks etc. Although now that I am thinking of it, I should use the smallest of the cubes which I never seem to use for socks (hindsight ya'll).
EV and I also have a bag for hair accessories like ponytail holders, clips and headbands (not to be confused with our ear case because #mamasexcessive).
Can you tell we are THAT nerdy family yet?! I looove that Star Wars denim jacket and I am thrilled that Commodore can wear it since EV grew out of it.
Commodores top pocket in his suitcase opens up and is larger than EV's, so I used this space for shoes, bathing suits, and I had his clothes for our photoshoot in this as well.
There is not much variance to my bag from trip to trip, other than the top unzipped part would normally have been for shoes and instead they were for my and EV's photo clothes to keep them nice and separate from everything else.
I did purchase THIS bra and underwear bag off of Amazon (it comes in a variety of patterns and colors) that I love. It keeps everything really nice and I find the quality to be quite good.
Although those Cat and Jack sandals (pictured above) are a Girls 5, they are an Adult Women's 7 and they are beyond comfortable. I walked all day in them and never felt that I needed to change shoes, plus they looked cute with everything, so in the future I could probably take just these and that's it.
I fit into a lot of the large and extra-large clothes in the girls section of Target so whenever there is anything cute, I buy a matching shirt set for EV and I (pictured below). Their Disney ones are always so cute and affordable, they are perfect for Disney and this particular one of the Princesses on the back says "We Can Change the World". They just released a whole Disney series of Girls Supporting Girls shirts, so we got a couple.
Peep my super fun Minnie shoes and not the fact that my hair is a crazy mess!!
I always let the kids pack a fun back of the car backpack which normally only has some toys (nothing with small pieces that I will have to try and recover in the hotel room or between my seats) and their Kindles, but since this was the first long car ride since Commodore was an infant, we also packed THESE LED Writing Boards (they are AH-mazing and keep the kids so entertained). Plus, we figured if we were holed up in the room due to rain, it would give them something else to do.
The Aftermath of Packing....
I love these black and white Star Wars Suitcases. The small one fits into the larger so they can easily fit in the back of Commodores closet without taking up too much room and during Black Friday for the set they were only $45 at Costco (complete and total score). The other one that is sporting "Papa" Vader front and center is from Target (I have seen it for sale in our store, but it does not appear to be online anymore). EV got a choice of which suitcase she wanted to use for her birthday, this or her other one that is Minnie and she went with the obvious Family choice ;).
I know I know, it is soooo much stuff and bags. EV's backpack of choice was obviously her Elena backpack which she stuffed both of her dolls into, plus the Kindle and was also able to smuggle some little Elena treasures like her crown, necklace, the sceptor (which ended up in the pink flower Vera Bradley duffle that you see there, which is also holding anything that didn't fit in our suitcases ::sigh:: like my makeup case, our hair bag (not to be confused with our ear case pictured here) and of course now the sceptor, and a wand that EV uses as Mateo's tamborita (it is a whole production over here folks). Before you ask....the ear case will ALWAYS be essential...
The penguin weekender was for the birthday celebration goodies and the
blue holds the essentials.
Because we were leaving so early, I put all of our clothes for the day of on top of the suitcases so we are not running around trying to get everything together (this is a breeze when trying to get the kids dressed in the morning). I also had their rain jackets and sweatshirts in case the weather changed dramatically when we got to Disney Springs. It didn't but it still made it easy to throw into the stroller regardless.
When packing the car, I put the snack bag, the diaper bag and the ear case behind Commodore's seat where it can't get damaged or smooshed. The snack bag is in easy reach for me (out of reach for the kids), so if they get hungry I can easily grab something for them (their juice cups are always in the seats cup holders) also with their baby bag so when we get out of the car for a change (emergency clean up) or potty breaks, I can just grab the bag and I am not fishing in the back of the car for it with all the luggage. Again it seems like a lot, but there is a method to my madness and it all comes down to ease in the long run (I swear).
I love THIS Her Universe Jurassic Park jacket to bits!!
Trust me, I know I am excessive in general, but this was way overboard and I acknowledge that and I know for the traditional Disney traveler this would not be something you would be taking with you, but as mentioned we are local-ish and with the weather not being of the norm and being in a pandemic, we (moreso I) thought it better to have what we needed than to have to worry when we don't.
However, if you are local to the area and looking to do a safe socially distanced staycation and are looking to celebrate a milestone of some sort, this will at least give you an idea of what you can pack (pick-up to make the weekend special) or at the very least, what not to forget. Because trust me I would like to say that the weekender of essentials is excessive, in actuality, it is not. Everything listed is what we use in a typical day, but has to last us a weekend/four days/a week, since we are not home. Normally we pack and the thought is it is not a big deal if we forget something because there is a Walmart, Target, CVS nearby, but with that not being part of the plan (we were not sure how Instacart would work if we tried to deliver to the hotel) we packed as though we would not have access to those things, because well....we didn't.
Did we need all of it absolutely...did we use all of it...noooooooot quite, but heck...we had it (or so is what I told my husband when he mentioned that we had overpacked yet again when we got home).
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