Pack and Prep for a Last Minute Family Vacation!

So when we left off, we decided in the span of about 2 hours to book and leave for a week-long trip to camp at Walt Disney World at Fort Wilderness Resort. Rob declared we had 2 hours to pack, as the kids would be home from school around 4:00 PM. I reminded him I had a huge posh sale to prep orders for and convinced him to leave the next morning.

We sat down and made a quick list of what needed to be done to leave the house and our 3 dogs and the lizard named Margaret, what we needed to take for a normal Walt Disney World trip and what we would need for camping. We decided we would only do cold food and would not be cooking at all on the trip which alleviates a huge aspect of packing for camping. Then we divided and conquered. Thankfully I had been doing laundry all day anyway and our house was clean.

First up, puppy care. I text our amazing nanny/house sitter/pet sitter and crossed my fingers she was available. We could have boarded the dogs but I knew it would cost double. Thankfully she was able to stay at our house for the week and take care of them at our house which ended up being great because it was FREEZING while we were gone!

I made a quick camping list for Rob and he set about pulling out our Pop Up Camper and popping it up to make sure it was well packed and prepared. He also checked the tires, and their pressure and gave it a good once over to make sure we were good to leave for a week. He checked the vehicle tires as well and started packing and prepping the camping gear. Here is a brief list of what we knew we needed..a lot of this stays packed in the camper which makes it really easy to get up and go!

Our kids came home from school for a long weekend (MLK day on Monday of our trip) and saw the camper popped up and were THRILLED that we were going camping. That was all that we told them and the rest was a surprise! They were each in charge of packing their own backpack for the road.

Things that Stay in our Camper

Bedding for the beds

Laundry Hampers

Disposable cups/plates/silverware

Toilet Paper and Paper Towels

Pillows & Extra Blankets

Dust Pan & Broom

Ziploc Bags & Trash Bags

Smores Retractable Sticks

First Aid Kit

Cards/Games/Small Flatscreen TV that fits in our inner storage in between pillows

Basic Kitchen Supplies, dish towels, etc (We didn’t need this trip but they live in there)

Things we Pack

Sleeping bags for the kids

Electronics and all chargers, extension cords

Basic Tools, pocket knife, travel pliers, scissors, band aids and mole skin

Flashlights

Towels

Sandals for camp bathrooms

Cold foods for the cooler like yogurts, sandwich stuff, lunch meat

Bread, snacks and cereal, protein-filled snacks like beef jerky and trail mix and treats like powdered donuts

Booze, Coolers, Bottled Water, Capri Suns and road snacks

Camping Chairs

Smores Supplies

Bug Repellant and Sunscreen

Lighter

Normal Disney Packing 

Clothes for 5 days

Cold weather and warm weather pajamas

Socks, Undies, Comfy tennis shoes for all

Toiletries for all

Hoodies, lightweight but warm winter jackets, hats, and gloves

Bathing Suits and Goggles

Medicine bag, we always bring all the basics because someone will need something.

Kids backpacks which they are in charge of packing with books, their own tablets and a few small toys and ONE lovey/stuffed animal for keeping in the car for the road trip

Sunglasses, extra chargers, small backpack for park days and hats

Mickey Ears…I mean duh.

Things we ended up grabbing at Walmart before we set up camp

Extra Blanket for our bed

Under Bed Padding

Door Mat

Basic Cold Groceries that we were low on like drink mixes, cereal bars, snacks

2 better pillows for our bed

Baby Wipes

Laundry Pods

Things we forgot

Cough Syrup (Presley ended up with a cough while we were there so we had to grab some but the first night we treated with cough drops and 3 spoonfuls of honey and Posh Just Chillin stick rubbed on her throat and chest)

Soda..for mixers.

I started inside doing clothes, pajamas, for all of us and things we would normally take on a Disney trip. Rob and I shared a larger suitcase, the boys shared a carry on size and the girls shared a carry on size. I also packed a soft sided duffle with one change of clothes, extra underwear, swimsuits and goggles and pajamas for them that was easily accessible and could fold down later. A weird item I tossed in was each kid’s soft fuzzy robe, I knew we would need warmer pajamas and figured they would be good for padding to the Comfort Station. We loved having them!

Rob started with the outside checklist and we ended up finishing the camp and kitchen goods together. It only took us a few hours to get everything ready and then we spent the rest of the evening pulling posh orders and leaving them VERY systematically laid out for my super assistant Stacey to pack and ship while we were gone!

Up next, the first leg of our road trip, how long we drive on road trips and surviving a VERY cold night in the camper!