Shipping Clothes??? To Do or Not to DO??

[smallworldmom]

Hello Everyone!! We are a family of WDW veterans. This is our 6th yearly trip our 12th trip total over the years. My question is, I have my dds clothing planned out for all the days we will be at WDW, should I ship their clothes to avoid the baggage fees? The shipped clothing could possibly be safer than the checked luggage? Then should I ship home out dirty laundry and purchases?
Any suggestions or thoughts?

[Reedy Creek Buccaneer]

I would definitely ship the purchases. I would pack light and pay the fees for the rest.

[DizneyRox]

I pack last minute, never know what the weather is going to be in the Winter. Some hotels now charge for shipping items ahead of time.

As far as shipping stuff home. If you end up finding anything worth buying (please let me know cuz I haven't found anything in years), but find out the shipping charges and weight the pro/cons.

Anything fragile, I let Disney ship, that way if it breaks, Disney can replace it for me. Otherwise, I bring it on the plane with me, carry-on for checked bags, whatever is easier.

[vicster]

Fly Southwest - no baggage fees!!!

[Kairi_7378]

You can take a pretty sizable bag on a plan as a carry on piece nowadays. Not sure how long your trip is but I have been able to fit a weeks' worth of clothing in a carry-on suitcase. The problem nowadays is that everyone checks luggage in order to avoid fees, and the overhead area can get full quickly. I flew twice over the summer and had to gate-check my bags (thankfully it was free.) Depending on how you pack you may be able to avoid baggage fees but it isn't guaranteed.

I would not want to deal with the logistics of shipping my clothes, but that's just me. I agree with the suggestions to allow Disney to ship breakable or large items for you. On this past trip, the things that we wanted to buy were in the "let Disney ship" category (artwork that wouldn't have packed well on the plane.) What we actually bought was small or squishy enough to come home in the suitcases.

[TheHD]

Anything fragile, I let Disney ship, that way if it breaks, Disney can replace it for me.

Will Disney ship it for free if you purchase on site? I've never realized this.

[DizneyRox]

Will Disney ship it for free if you purchase on site? I've never realized this.

hehe Nothing is free at Disney except water (and it seems that's hit or miss these days).

Disney has turned shipping into a renevue stream. It's based on the cost of the items you purchase and is quite expensive if you ask me. Airline baggage fees will probably be cheaper quite frankly.

BUT, breakable items are replaced by Disney if they don't survive the shipping. So, I let Disney take the chances, as once I walk out of a store at Disney (on the off chance I find something worth buying) it's mine and my responsibility to get home.

[TheHD]

Ok, that's what I figured. Sounded like maybe you had found a loophole.

Thanks for the reply!

[DizneyRox]

Ok, that's what I figured. Sounded like maybe you had found a loophole.

Thanks for the reply!

Loophole? At the Disney Institute, first day of classes they teach you if the cash register drawer doesn't open, you did something wrong.

[tdk316]

We've shipped clothes, diapers and pretty much everything except the kitchen sink to WDW before. One thing to watch for, make sure that if your resort is a convention resort that they will be open when you arrive so you can get your package. We arrived at CR after the convention center closed and had to wait until the next day to get our goodies. Thankfully we didn't ship clothes that year!

[WDW&MK]

We tried to ship some things home this year and had an awful time trying to do so. We ended up just packing everything in our suitcases and hoping for the best. This was not the shipping that you get if you purchase merchandise and send it home, we've done that with figurines and it has always worked out well. However, if you do that type of shipping it can only be WDW purchased merchandise AND you must have the receipt for all things you are shipping (no dirty clothes etc). This was strictly FedEx where they don't care what you are shipping. We got a box from the General Store at WL and then DH went down after we had it all packed and tried to ship. Apparently FedEx did not think our billing address on our credit card matched what they electronically found for us (it does match our home address so not sure what there issue is) , so they would not accept our package. According to the very nice and very patient CM (who helped my DH try to straighten this out for about an hour), this happens ALL the time. You cannot pay cash for the transaction at WL. So, we had 2 options: pack and send the stuff in our suitcase or go to the CR and their convention center has a way to do the cash transaction. Going to CR was just too much wasted time on our last day, so it went via suitcase. We were frustrated and likely won't try to do shipping again unless it is an item we just purchased.