Briefcase on the Kitchen Table

This past January, we took our first trip to Disney World with all four kiddos. We are a family on a budget and wanted to stay at our favorite moderate resort, Caribbean Beach. We love the atmosphere and the amenities, especially the main pool and the Skyliner access. Because our youngest was only one year old, she was a “Guest of Mickey“ and did not count toward the maximum room occupancy however we did need to account for the space she would take up because we did not want the kids to be miserable even though we did not plan on spending much time in the hotel room beyond sleeping and getting ready. (Worth mentioning after some questions- we did not violate any Disney rules nor did we leave anyone off the reservation. You are permitted to have five of-age guests in this room plus an “under three” guest.)

I did a little bit of research and bought a couple of very inexpensive storage items that helped immensely in making the most of the vertical storage possibilities, easy food systems, and keeping our footprint small. All of this made for a room where the kids could help access the things they needed, everyone had a bit of their own space, and we functioned very comfortably in this room for five days.

First, we made the most of the in-room storage, including the refrigerator as well as the vertical storage possibilities. We had a grocery delivery service that dropped off at Bell Hop with a small grocery delivery order. I had done some research ahead of time to make sure I did not buy too much food for the small refrigerator or storage space and it ended up being just about perfect. We used Vacation Grocery Delivery in Orlando and it could not have been easier. They have a flat delivery rate and because they know the Disney resorts inside and out the delivery was made on time with clear instructions. Any time we travel we buy snacks and food for breakfast to keep in the room, even at a hotel, because we find it saves us not just money but time in the morning when we would be much rather be hitting the rides with our early-rising kids than spending time waiting for a sit down or even quick service breakfast. The food we ordered fit great in the refrigerator and with a focus on high-protein snacks and breakfast foods. For the dry goods, I didn’t want to cover an entire surface area (which are limited) in the hotel room so I bought an over the door, generic organizer that fit everything.

A couple of other items that I was concerned with taking over the room were large baby items like a crib or stroller. We borrowed a double umbrella stroller from a friend because the footprint when collapsed is much smaller than our large car seat equipped double stroller and it tucked away completely in the room. For the baby, Disney provided a crib and we brought a slumber pod that we bought secondhand on marketplace. It provided her with a quiet, dark space that was just her own. She slept like a dream in this with a sound machine under the crib.

I had some drawer organizers that fold completely flat and are very light that I brought along to help organize all the toiletries under the sinks. Caribbean Beach has lots of under-the-sink space but it’s large and open and I was afraid of things floating to the back and disappearing. A couple of these fabric drawer organizers worked magic.

I also took the time to make some labeled zipper bags for different groups of items like ponchos, earplugs, . These were able to be hung on the hooks that are provided by the door of the hotel room and made very easy grab and go storage for every morning.

Clothes and shoes are probably the biggest struggle in the Caribbean beach room with five people plus a baby. It’s so nice that they have a fold down toddler size bed for our (at the time) three year-old but it does take up furniture space that would be used for drawers. What Caribbean Beach has a great deal of is hanging clothes space but we didn’t want to have to hang up all of our children’s clothes on hangers. To tackle this we got two very inexpensive closet organizers that hang from a closet rod. The kids clothes all fit in the drawers and then my husband and I were able to take all of these hanging organizers as folded storage.

A couple of last things that we found handy. We always travel with a collapsible travel hamper. I hate ending up with large piles of dirty clothes on the floor that never find their way into a suitcase as intended. When we are packing to travel home we just empty the contents of the hamper into a suitcase and collapse the hamper. I also bought a very inexpensive over the door shoe organizer so that we would not have flip-flops and gym shoes floating around where they could not be found in the morning. Lastly, our kids love to swim, but there’s not enough clothesline space in the hotel room for six dripping swimsuits so I bought these travel hanging clips that we strung over the bathroom curtain rod so things could drip dry in there. It provided the opportunity for air to circulate freely around all of the suits and things dried much faster than if we threw them on the back of a chair.

There are lots more tips and tricks I could provide here. The biggest thing I would say was the organization was very helpful. The kids learned the system quickly and were responsible to help maintaining it, including making sure their water bottles got back on the ledge every night. We also always travel with a small bottle of dish soap and a scrub brush so that things like water bottles or snack containers can be cleaned every night and sat out on a towel to dry. I’m sure some of these systems will change as the kids get older but for us, going to Disney in a standard hotel room with four kids seven and under, this worked so so well.