I admit it, I love packing...even though it stresses me out and I complain to the Hubs EVERY. DARN. TIME. that I am the only one that does it and that I need more help (which he always attempts and then I end up repacking everything he did, much like the Christmas tree debacle). Something can be said for bringing all the tropical goodies, suntan lotion, and all the stockpiled clothes you have been saving up for this very moment. I promise myself every time that I am going to bring "just what I need" which ends up being everything I can cram into the suitcase and then having EV sit on it so that I can close it properly (cue facepalm emoji).

We Disney Cruise a little different than others in that my brother is a Cast Member for Disney, so often by the time our "booking" gets released a majority of the character meet and greets as well as the Disney Junior Character breakfast is sold out. I was lucky last year in that they released a few seats here and there for the breakfast until I was able to scoop up seats for all of us. I do not think that this is going to be the case this time around as the onboard activities page has been consistently down and nothing seems to be released. However, this will not stop me from stalking the Disney Navigator App for "Onboard Fun" more than the average bear.

We are using the nursery for the first time this cruise, so I can go into more detail about that when we get back. The original plan was to be on the Halloween Cruise (2019), but by the time our booking came up, we quickly learned that Baby D was not six-months yet and therefore could not go on the cruise. Although I do love the Halloween cruise with all the decorations, shows character meet and greets and of course Nightmare Before Christmas madness, I am equally excited for our upcoming cruise on the Fantasy's Star Wars Day at Sea. We our HUGE Star Wars fans...cue amazing pictures of our Star Wars Halloween theme last year!

*when your BIL is a sewing machine genius and your daughter is Porg size

Even though it is pricey, we purchase the entire digital package of pictures. Purchasing pictures is done on a separate website (still through the cruise though), as you are "checking in" they will give you the option of purchasing cruise photo packages early. Just make sure to scroll the "welcome" email as it will have all the early things that you can register for. The entire package is $300, but you get all the digital prints on a USB key the day before you disembark (remember to do this as you have to go to the kiosks to complete the process and they do have a cut-off time when you can no longer scoop it up and once they are closed they are closed). Make sure to remember the stateroom number of the reservation as this is what you have to give the cruise photographer every time you take a photo. Last year during our 7-day stay we took a total of 175 pictures just with the cruise photographers alone. The pictures were beautiful and worth it a 100%, but you all know how I feel about pictures anyway (Money. Well. Spent).

*I told you I am big on themes

Something a little different that I discovered on the Navigator App (the official Disney Cruise Line app), you can also buy "cruise gifts". One of the cruise gifts options is to have your stateroom decorated. We spent the $65 to have the Star Wars theme in our room. EV just happens to be currently obsessed with Clone Wars (Baby "Yoyo/Yoda and Ahsoka are life) and I thought having the room decorated would be super fun for her. Plus, you get to keep the Star Wars throw and pillows so it doubles as souvenirs. You can also schedule a call from one of the Fab Five to wish your littles a good time on the Cruise. EV is going to flip when Minnie and Mickey call her. You can purchase water for your room ahead of time as well as beer, wine, and celebratory desserts. I heard that if you have a baby who needs water for formula, they supply the bottled water, the beer packages are actually cheaper once you are on the ship, and each individual can bring two bottles of wine onboard (Thank You Trader Joe's Two-Buck Chuck and our wine opener). Three bottles of "classic" wine (fancy for house wine I am sure) is $100!!! There is a corking fee, so I highly suggest bringing your own wine opener for the room. I am also wine excessive in that I bring travel insulated wine glasses for my MIL and I to walk around the ship with.

Packing for a cruise in and of itself is its own beast. Packing for a Disney Cruise brings in all kinds of elements that you don't think will be a big deal and become one quite quickly. There are themed nights, character meet and greets, character breakfasts, and an elegant dining night, all of which require outfits which really means more space in the suitcase being used. I hate to say it, but the best advise that my Mother-in-Law gave me was to pack for the cruise as though I wouldn't have access to anything and boy was she right. This mainly rings true for the day to day essentials of Baby D. When we brought EV on the cruise last year, she was off of formula, could scoot around, was eating solids, and slept with us, so we didn't need any of the extra stuff that Baby D requires. Not to mention, Baby D is on Elecare (corn formula), which has to be ordered so its not like anything else can be supplemented. We basically use a list that we have for Disney and then made it cruise friendly. Baby D is kind of extra when it comes to sleeping, so if you are looking at the list and side-eyeing me...trust me...I judge me...

As I begin to pack up items, I will either highlight the item on the list or embolden it, so I know what left still needs to be done (whether it be to purchase or pack).

One thing to consider when packing is that not all of your luggage may make it into the room when you board, in fact, it may come in waves.

For this reason I suggest packing a day bag. I am not talking about a diaper bag for the kiddos, but a day bag with an extra set of clothes, swimmies, sunhats, sunscreen, maybe a towel, and anything else that you might need to get you started on your vacation. Because your suitcases may not arrive immediately or someone else in your family can have received their suitcase before yours and it could take hours before the arrival of everything, you will want to make sure that you have everything that will keep you from getting annoyed and start enjoying the ship instead. My day bag includes all of the above including our cruise magnets for the door. I order ours from Etsy. Cruise magnets are a big deal. If you had no idea, now you know and I suggest going down the Etsy/Pinterest cruise magnet rabbit hole! I use the small weekender from Vera Bradley for our day bag and I love itI It packs so much while barely taking up any room at all. You will notice that most of my essential travel items are VB!

Take note of the adorable day bag packer helper...

*yes...two sun hats #don't judge! The Mickey bag is our diaper bag and we still bring ears, but put them into a Ziploc gallon bag rather then bringing our excessive ear carrying case. *Not pictured are two sweatshirts for the kiddos and birthday decorations for EV when we get to our Disney hotel.

*My adorable packing helper. You can see how much stuff I had out and it all fits comfortably in this small weekender.

Having a "to be packed" list keeps us focused, especially since we both work full-time and have our hands full of kids at night. I also tend to add an extra five days worth of whatever I am bringing to account for mishaps (vomiting, diarrhea, life, etc.). I go over the list with Hubs as well as send it to my MIL so that a second set of eyes can add anything that mom-brain has caused me to forget. The Hubs and I do a practice packing about a week in advance just to make sure that one, we have room to put everything and two, if anything is forgotten from the list we still have time to get last minute anything. Honestly, there is not a place on the ship where you can buy a lot of "everyday" essentials and you are paying both a Disney and a Cruise fee, so you are just better off planning for every scenario.

I buy ample of THESE packing cubes on Amazon they come in several sizes and colors and I love how on the cubes themselves there are picture suggestions of what should go in which cube (shirts, shoes, pants/shorts, lingerie, etc.). I do the rolling method to maximize space so it is not always apparent which items are in which, and matching the items to the cubes makes finding what I need easier. The Disney Cruise cabins are not super tiny, but get four people (regardless of size) into one (w/ a travel crib) and six large pieces of luggage and you will feel like you are in a NYC studio apartment. Cramped is putting it lightly, so any extra space to turn around, get dressed, and find anything is greatly appreciated.

I pack two ways...I pack everything first...drag my suitcase in the living room and then have Hubs repack with me. I ONLY do this for trips like this...not weekend jaunts to Disney. I know this is the complete opposite of what I said before, but he is a minimalist and will streamline everything I brought and constantly remind me of how many days we are on the ship. I am actually able to close my suitcase when I do this method. I try to pack with the activities of what is going on in the ship in mind. Pirate night (check), Formal night (check), Star Wars themed outfits (check), I really do love twinning with EV and was able to get so many cute Star Wars shirts in the Girls section of Target (yes, I fit into Medium or Large) so that we could match. Honestly, this also kept me from bringing an excess amount of clothes. Also, EV's birthday is the day we port back in O-town and we are heading into Disney, so I had to have things for that as well (an overly extra mom's work is never done).

A sample of all of our matching goodness last year...

Summer 2018 at Target, Osh Kosh had a family line and there was matching everything for the family. Sean agreed to one day of family matching, mainly because I came home with it, but he was a good sport nonetheless.

For this trip, we purchased an extra suitcase strictly for the daily grind of Baby D and EV. If you are asking yourself why not just bring a large diaper bag and cut out the step of a diaper bag AND an extra suitcase?

Because this...

The packing of the "keeping the kids alive" suitcase was the thing I was most worried about mainly because I knew that space was going to be a huge issue. Baby D sleeps on his side and because of this, he still uses the Boppy Newborn Lounger even though he has long grown out of it lengthwise, but it helps to keep him on his side comfortably. Putting the Boppy in the suitcase while still having room for everything else was nerve wracking. The suitcase splits into two (obviously since that is how it opens), so in the top zippered section, the boppy fits snuggly along with his blankets. Baby D gets really bored so he he needs a mobile (EV could've cared less and can sleep anywhere) and he has a vibrating puppy that hums lullabies (never was there a more extra kid when it comes to going "night-night"). Yes, all these items are in the suitcase. Do we need them? Abso-freaking-lutely! The large Vera Bradley cosmetic bag holds everything medicinal you can possibly think of. I love this bag, the amount of stuff it fits, is mind-blowing. It always stays packed and lives in our pantry, so that when we take Disney trips we just throw it in the bag and other then checking to see how low the quantities are, it is always ready to go. It also has; baby travel shampoo, Caladryl, Emergen-C packets and Pedialyte packets in this bag (these have been lifesavers for EV on those extra hot days in Disney). There is a separate first-aid kit that we keep in our diaper bag which has everything from mosquito repellent to benadryl to bandaids to stain sticks to travel wrinkle releaser (don't ask). The bottle warmer (our kids are bougie), travel bottle cleaning kit, diapers, swimmies, pediasure, vitamins, some snacks, baby food pouches, rice cereal and formula canisters all in this suitcase. Travel containers for formula and cereal go in our baby bag (we bought THESE on Amazon) We also use them in the parks and it saves us tons of time from trekking back to the Baby Center.

Again, you are not sure what is going to be available on the ship so being prepared and having items that you know your kids won't have a reaction too will give you peace of mind. Plus, if the stores are closed and you need anything, you will be ship out of luck (#seewhatididthere) Just to give you a size reference on what a monster this suitcase is and how it is packed to its limit, here it is next to our 3 year old,

*this is how my husband dressed her and took her out of the house (cue more face palm emoji)

I know a lot of this is excessive to some, but with Baby D's special formula restrictions and his bougie sleeping necessities, everything was a priority and would make a more enjoyable vacation rather then thinking of all the shoulda's and in hindsight's. I am already looking forward to next year when we can hopefully leave some of this behind and be a bit more minimalist, but who am I kidding ;).

little man is counting down and vacay ready!

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