Laundry - Any alternatives?

[freshman js]

We are getting ready to plan our annual family trip (2 adults, 3 children 4yrs and under).

The laundry options we are familiar with at the WDW resorts are not very good -- coin laundry takes a lot of time and is often crowded. Using the resorts laundry service is way too expensive.

Are there any alternatives such as?

1) A wash n fold place nearby where we could drop off laundry and pick up the next day?

2) any place that will pick up laundry at the resort and deliver next day?

3) any others?

Thanks!!
Freshman

 

[Yellow Shoes]

It seems to me that laundry at the resorts is solely a matter of timing.

In my experience, the laundry room is far more crowded at 1 AM than at 6 AM.

Probably not your first choice, but I got up really early one morning, put the laundry in the washers, then went back to the room and took a shower. By that time the wash was done, I put it in the dryers and went to the food court for a bagel and coffee.

Also, the dryers are sooooo slow. I took most of my stuff out when it was still damp and hung it EVERYWHERE in the room. I'm talking hangars (of course!) the laundry line in the shower, on the chairs, hanging out of drawers--you get the idea. Most of it was dry by that evening.

 

[TTATraveler]

I have had bad experiences with the resort dryers taking 2-3 cycles to fully dry clothes. Allow for extra time to dry clothes. My guess would be to try the laundry room between 5am - 8am, since that would probably be the least busy.

You could do valet laundry if you don't mind paying an arm and a leg to have your clothes cleaned.

 

[col]

wash the clothes in your room. then place them to dry on the hangers or over the chairs thats what i did and i also brought my own soap powder so i could wash them in my room and to have them dry quickly i put them in the resort dryers.

 

[swimmom]

I've had really good luck at WL doing laundry at 1:00 a.m. I've only seen one other person doing laundry at that time. I divide one load from the washer into two dryers. I make sure to even them out with lighter weight clothing like t-shirts and heavier things like jeans and sweatshirts. When the lighter weight things are dry, I take them out so the the heavier things dry faster.

Walking through the empty lobby all decorated for Christmas back to our room was great. I actually stopped to look around all by myself!

 

[tink rules]

coin operated dryers are NOTORIOUS for being horrible in drying!!! They take too long, are never hot enough and cost too much!!!

That said... I've done wash at different times and had both sucesses and not so good sucesses...

First off... the ones at the Poly were good at night - they seemed to have quite a few machines. Send hubby to bed with the kids and bring a cool drink and a book with you and relax while you are doing the wash. It's also good to do it while you are at the pool or such... leave hubby again with kids if possible... Kiddie pools rule in this case....

The ones in the GF are in each building. While it is a great idea... unless you have enough change on you (and I didn't) you have to go all the way over to the Gasparilla Grill to get some. I thought that was exceptionally stupid for Disney's premier resort....

I don't know about laundry services... I guess you could do the wash in the tub at your hotel room... hangars are a must in that case. If it's just underwear... you can do it that way...

I just saw a package of underwear in a travel store that was one of those special kinds for long treks and such. I guess they wash out and dry pretty quickly... Of course they were $25 a pair!!!! At that rate...I'm buying 10 pairs of Jockeys at the outlet and throwing them out!!!

 

[IlovyensiD]

We stayed at the Hotel Royal Plaza in downtown Disney a couple of Christmas' ago. My husband thought it would be nice to get up early and wash the clothes while we were still asleep. He put the clothes in the wash and came back to the room to take a shower. When he went back to put them in the dryer they were gone. ALL of our clothes! We told the front desk but they could not do anything. They took everything. Do not leave your clothes and go back to your room even at a Disney resort.

 

[campdisney]

We let the kids have a break from the parks and get some pool time in during the afternoon. We usually hit the laundry then as well and its not too terribly crowded at that time. The dryers will suck the quarters right out of your pockets so be prepared. We found hanging up all the t-shirts saved us both dryer time and money. Also, the cold cycle on the washers may or may not actually be cold. A shirt I've washed many times at home on cold bled red all over an entire load at WDW -- even though the machine was set to cold. My sister had this same experience as well using a different machine at a different WDW hotel -- so be careful about mixing your loads.

 

[swimmom]

We let the kids have a break from the parks and get some pool time in during the afternoon. We usually hit the laundry then as well and its not too terribly crowded at that time. The dryers will suck the quarters right out of your pockets so be prepared. We found hanging up all the t-shirts saved us both dryer time and money. Also, the cold cycle on the washers may or may not actually be cold. A shirt I've washed many times at home on cold bled red all over an entire load at WDW -- even though the machine was set to cold. My sister had this same experience as well using a different machine at a different WDW hotel -- so be careful about mixing your loads.

Because of this, I only do loads of laundry that are jeans, t-shirts & sweatshirts and ones that I have washed many times already at home. For the most part I also stay in the laundry room so that we don't experience what IlovyensiD did.

 

[Dwarful]

Well, sometimes we do the swim break and hubby stays with the kids and i stay with the laundry. He will send one of the older kids in to me w/the mug refilled w/cold drink. If you break up your wash loads for the dryers (as others have mentioned) you can get them dry enough in one cycle and hang up whatever needs additional dry time.
The one thing you might try is to pack bottoms that you can wear twice w/o washing (jeans etc) and then bring extra tops or buy tshirts for the kids as souvineers. There really isn't an easy way to save on laundry when staying onsite. At $4 a load (to wash and dry one cycle at values) I try to limit what I absolutely have to do.

 

[sarajo]

Did laundry last year while staying at the GF. Hubby and rest of family went to parks and I stayed back at resort with my 2 month old to do laundry (and get a little rest!) I was the only one in the laundry room at the time, which was between 9 am and noon. Yes, the dryer did take alot of money... but I did discover after load #1 that the lint trap had not been cleaned out in what appeared to be weeks. After cleaning that trap, the dryer worked just fine for the other 2 loads that I had to do. Since I was afraid some other family would need to use the laundry facilities while I was there, I didn't use all the machines at one given time. I had plenty of time that day!

On the other hand... other members of my family have tried to use the laundry facilities and had to wait for quite a while to get to use a machine... that was usually late at night, after we'd returned from the parks.

If you do the laundry service at the resort, be prepared to pay a fortune. We did that one time several years ago- we sent a couple pair of jeans out and they didn't seem to be clean when we got them back. But, they were NICELY pressed! Some other family members sent their entire laundry out, and got a nice bill when they left! IMO, it's not worth 2.50 (or more) to launder a pair of underwear... when you could do it in the bathroom sink, if you're that desperate for a pair of undies!

 

[lcsrig]

We had a suite at OKW last year and washed most of our laundry the 2 nights b4 we left. That was the best thing in the world.
I have never tried to use the coin operated machines. Not worth the $$ or hassle when I can do it when I get home. Even though that stinks.

 

[Debbie]

We had a suite at OKW last year and washed most of our laundry the 2 nights b4 we left. That was the best thing in the world.
I have never tried to use the coin operated machines. Not worth the $$ or hassle when I can do it when I get home. Even though that stinks.

Hi :wave: from down the road!

I usually try to wash two loads on family vacations but have found the drying part insane. Are the dryer vents not hooked properly? Are the dryers themselves clogged with lint (thus a fire waiting to happen)? Or are the thermostats set differently? A front load washer usually gets most of the water out of the clothing; thus it shouldn't take that long for the stuff to dry. That's what is so frustrating.......

 

[Nemo14]

I don't know how long you're staying, but I also used to just wash a few things in the sink and hang them to dry. For the bulk of the laundry, I just bring a laundry bag with me and designate one suitcase as the laundry one, so at the end of our stay, the bag goes into that suitcase. (yay for Febreeze when you unpack!)

An amusing story about this -
Last May we wnt to WDW for a long weekend family trip. The weather was quite hot, so our laundry was pretty "ripe". I did my usual routine of putting the laundry bag and sneakers in the big suitcase and consolidating the other smaller ones, then checked our bags at the airport. When we got home, there was a note inside the big one that the security people had opened that bag at the airport for "further inspection" . Those people earned their $$ that day! :lol:

 

[DonaldD23]

We are getting ready to plan our annual family trip (2 adults, 3 children 4yrs and under).

The laundry options we are familiar with at the WDW resorts are not very good -- coin laundry takes a lot of time and is often crowded. Using the resorts laundry service is way too expensive.

Are there any alternatives such as?

1) A wash n fold place nearby where we could drop off laundry and pick up the next day?

2) any place that will pick up laundry at the resort and deliver next day?

3) any others?

Thanks!!
Freshman

Just go to the local Wal Mart near WDW and buy new clothes...then you don't have to wash your old ones. Drop those in the donation center to help clothe the underpaid cast members of WDW who barely have enough money to eat! :lol:

 

[summergirl32]

I have used the laundry facilities at several of the resorts and it is a nightmare every time. Besides, I don't like doing laundry while the rest of my family is enjoying the pool. This past summer we had a one bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs complete with a washer/dryer. I put a load in each night before going to bed and the next morning I put them in the dryer before getting a shower. By the time we went to the parks, laundry was done. At the end of our trip, all of our clothes were clean and I didn't have to spend two days doing laundry once we were home. It was great!

 

[The Mom]

I very rarely go anywhere without my own washer and dryer (or at least one that I only have to share with a few people) if I'm staying more than a few days.

But for the rare times when I'm not, I found some wonderful folding hangars at Big Lots a couple of years ago, plus I have some clothespin clips that hang over a shower rod for hanging wet bathing suits and undies. I just bring enough pairs for the guys heavier cotton ones. Also, panty shields are helpful, if you can tolerate them.

As others have mentioned, I bring darker bottoms that I can wear twice, and a small can of freshener. The Dad also has extremely lightweight shorts that I can rinse and dry. Buying tees is also an option.

Believe it or not, when I was growing up (back in the dark ages and when dryers were still a luxury) people actually wore their clothing (except socks and underwear) more than once before washing. They just hung things up to air between wearings.

 

[Nemo14]

Believe it or not, when I was growing up (back in the dark ages and when dryers were still a luxury) people actually wore their clothing (except socks and underwear) more than once before washing. They just hung things up to air between wearings.

I remember those days too - We'd wear our jeans for weeks!

...and growing up in a large family (I'm one of 7 kids), dry towels were also a luxury - everyone fought for first shower! :lol:

:lookaroun

 

[barnum42]

Vacation is too short for laundry - get in the shower with your clothes on

I'll just quickly wash a day's worth of kit at the end of the day / start of next day and put them up to dry in the hotel room.

 

[Tim G]

We are getting ready to plan our annual family trip (2 adults, 3 children 4yrs and under).

The laundry options we are familiar with at the WDW resorts are not very good -- coin laundry takes a lot of time and is often crowded. Using the resorts laundry service is way too expensive.

Are there any alternatives such as?

3) any others?

Thanks!!
Freshman

Take 12 suitcases from home...
8 filled with clean clothes and use the other 4 for the dirty laundry...