Baggage

It has been awhile since I have been on a commercial flight. My DH, DS, 8 and I will be traveling nonstop on Air Tran from Iowa for a 7 night stay in June. We are staying at animal kingdom lodge. Do you experts just bring carry on bags and do laundry once? We are not going to buy loads of souviners. I might bring an expandable duffel just in case. I know beverages are not allowed. but can some food or individual powder drink packages like Crystal light be carried on. I was thinkin of ordering food and drink from the Garden Grocer. Has anyone had good luck we their services. Thanks for the tips.

Baggage

We try not to do Laundry but if you want or need to, the AKL has a nice Laundry Room, throw a load in while your in the Pool or having Dinner and go back for it later. The Dryers get very Hot so don%26#39;t put anything in that might shrink

We have used GardenGrocer when staying in a Villa but have always found any snacks we might want at the Gift Shop and Food Court at AKL ( any Resort really) Get the refillable Mug, saves a lot on buying Drinks.

You can%26#39;t bring any food thru Security, you can buy something after Security and take it on the Plane.

A nice advantage to using Airtran is that you will be able to check your Luggage right at the AKL and get your Boarding Pass for your Return Flight :)

Baggage

Go Hawks!

We always only take carry on bags because we don%26#39;t like to wait for our luggage at the carousel and it takes forever at MCO, but if you%26#39;re doing the free Magic Express it won%26#39;t be a concern (don%26#39;t know if Air Tran flies into MCO or Sanford though and the Magic Express only goes out of MCO).

You can take food including powder for drinks in both carry on and checked bags, just not more liquids than your little zip lock bag holds.

If you%26#39;re only planning to buy some snacks and drinks we too have bought those from the gift shops at the resorts. You may want to wait until you get here to see what%26#39;s available and the cost comparison and then decide if the delivery charge for the Garden Grocer is worth it.

Baggage, slow? I%26#39;m accustomed to the bags reaching the carousels shortly after the first passsengers.

Nevertheless, last time, my big bag got trapped at the door...dislodged it with the help of another passenger. Annoying, or what?

As always, check Air Tran%26#39;s baggage policies.

You definitely can bring food through security with you, but the food can%26#39;t be a liquid or a gel. In other words, you can%26#39;t bring yogurt or Jell-O or a jar of peanut butter, but you CAN bring a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (and ANY kind of sandwich) and bags of snack food and, well, I think you get the idea.

In addition, AFTER you pass through security, you can buy anything available at the airport and then bring it with you on the plane. In other words, AFTER you apss through the security checkpoint, you can buy bottles of water or juice or whatever and bring it onto the plane with you. So, for example, you could bring your Crystal Light packets with you in your carry-on, then buy bottles of water after you pass through security, so that you can drink your Crystal Light on the plane.

In addition, you are permitted to bring ANY liquids, gels, etc. in your checked luggage, your suitcases that go in the underneath of the plane (if you decide not to do just carry-ons).

I%26#39;d love it if I could pack exclusively in carry-ons, just so we wouldn%26#39;t have to chance the airline delaying our luggage, but even with planning to do laundry I%26#39;m not that good at packing that light.

I%26#39;ve never read any serious complaints about bad experiences with Garden Grocer, Gooding%26#39;s, or WeGoShop. Personally, I%26#39;ve used Gooding%26#39;s for each of my last three trips in the past 4 years.

We have done the carry on and I have done laundry in disney, just save your quarters the first few days. It is not hard to build up quarters when spending money. They have a machine with all kinds of detergents and softeners too. I would bring a cloth laundry bag to bring the laundry there and back.

My only complaint was the water is different in disney then I am used to, not sure why I noticed but I did.

As for actually taking clothes to the laundry area, I always just found it easiest to use one of our rolling suitcases or carry-ons. I just stuff it all in on the way to the laundry, and then when all done I fold it nicely and it stays that way all the way back to the room.

Could be the time of day we%26#39;ve flown in, usually late, but the few times we%26#39;ve had to check a bag it%26#39;s taken about an hour to finally get it. And forget any priority tagging. Maybe they think it%26#39;s funny to put them on the carousel last. Orlando is the slowest we%26#39;ve ever experienced.

You can bring any food you want through Security except for liquids or gels so nothing like pudding in a cup or anything like that. We bring sandwiches,fruit,cookies,raw veggies and empty water btolles which we put in the sam ebin as our shows and quart sized ziploc bag and jacket. Then we get water on the other side of Security. Most of the bottles water they sell at the airports in New York is Dasani which we find disgusting-its tap water with chemicals as their label proudly states. Being crystal light and iced tea mix;its great in the parks-we are among those that don%26#39;t care for water in Florida(and Disney sells...Dasani water!)We only do carry on going to Orlando and do laundry depending on how long we stay-for a week,we would certainly do a load or two.Garden Grocer is fine if you have no access to a grocery store-they are expensive and charge a fee.

http://www.ouc.com/home/water.htm

The City of Orlando%26#39;s water is from deep wells and is ozone-treated. Might have a faint whiff of sulfur, perhaps.