I recently returned home from Disney World with my family of 6. During this trip, I wanted to challenge myself to strictly use cloth diapers. On previous trips with my bigs, I had relied on disposables with the exception of some reusable swim diapers.
My youngest is fully potty trained during the day. She wears a mix of One Size Pocket Diapers and Toddler Trainers for overnights. I brought 3 One Size Pocket Diapers and 3 Toddler Trainers. We were staying at 2 seperate resorts during our week long stay so I had planned on doing laundry 2 times.
Now before I get into the full experience, let me preference by saying, yes, I do consider my 4 and 3 year old fully potty trained during the day. My 4 year old is also now potty trained during the night but they do have accidents occasionally.
Now why I didnt consider this through-out my trip, is a little beyond me but maybe you'll understand as I go on.
Flying down, I carried a Wipe Clutch that contained disposable wipes, a change of clothes, a wetbag, and a Toddler Trainer. I really didnt think to put pull-ups on them during the plane right down because it was mid-afternoon. They did great on the 2.5 hour plane ride with no accidents.
The first few nights went well with cloth diapering overnight at Disney but my concern wasn't using the cloth diapers themselves. I wanted to make sure I was going to be able to wash them successfully so I didnt have to take a wetbag of dirty dips in my checked bag.
The first resort we stayed at was Carribean Beach Resort. We staying in the Jamaica section that had a self-serve laundry room. I scoped out the room before lugging my 2 loads of laundry over that way. (Yes... 3 days in...family of 6... 2 large loads of laundry). The laundry room was spacious, accommodating, and had a lot of washers and dryers available.
The only downside is that you have to pay 3.50 per load. So to wash and dry 2 loads it costs $14.00. I felt this was a little pricey but I didn't have an option but to pay.
I didn't want to pay extra for the pre-rinse on my cloth diapers, so I pre-rinsed the dirty cloth diapers in the tub before putting them in the wet bag. I don't have to deal with any of the "mess" anymore in cloth diapers so I just rinsed the majority of the pee out.
I was able to get both loads right into the washer. I had brought laundry sheets with me but forget them back at the room and didn't want to hike back to the room for them. If you have stayed on property at Disney, you know how huge the resorts are! Luckily, they had a laundry detergent/ fabric softener vending machine, so I was able to easily grab some. By easily, I mean having to shake the vending machine because the coil didn't fully release the detergent. Its always something, right?
It was a powdered detergent, so I was excited about that. I was not too particular on what I would use to clean the diapers because they would only be washed in it a couple times. This detergent actually worked really well and left the diapers smelling nice and clean.
After I added the clothes and detergent, I scanned the QR code on the washing machine and it brought me to an app that allowed me to pay for the loads. It provided me with a count down on when the cycles would be complete. This was my favorite part. I need this feature in my everyday life!
So while I was waiting, I enjoyed a worth-every-penny $16 poolside cocktail. I mean, I was saving money by cloth diapering at Disney. (Girl Math)
After I tumble dried the diapers, I was ecstatic when everything came out completely dry after one cycle. I took the littles in for a mid-day break and folded the laundry while my husband hung at the pool with the big kids.
This laundry experience was great at Carribean Beach Resort and it took little extra time out of my day.
During our time in the theme parks, I did not put pull-ups on either of my littles but really wish I had at some points. As a family of 6, we were in and out of the bathroom CONSTANTLY. Good news is, we only had 1 accident on the entire trip. My sweet 4 year old just couldn't hold it while waiting in line to ride Big Thunder Mountain with her Daddy. Oopsie.
The second half of our trip we stayed at The Boardwalk Inn. We stayed in the Villas section so I was exciting when I checked out the laundry room and noticed it was FREE. But Unfortunately, it came with a much higher price tag to me, and that was the amount of time it took for me to wash laundry here. There was only 3 washers and 3 dryers and all of them were full when I got down there with my 2 laundry bags. I left them in the room and joined my family out by the pool.
When I tell you, I must had walked back and forth from the pool to the laundry room about 15 times to complete the process of washing 2 loads of laundry.. Im not joking. I had pre-rinsed my diapers in the tub so I didnt have to worry about washing the load twice. It took forever for washers to open up. I had to leave my clothes sitting wet for some time because only 1 out of the 3 dryers worked properly. This was a night and day laundry experience from our previous resort. I would had paid the $14 dollars again to have the quick washing experience. This day I had regretted bringing the cloth diapers and even starting another load of laundry to begin with. I brought the laundry down at 10am and got it back to the room by 9pm.
By the last theme park on the last day, I had put Toddler Trainers on my girls because at that point I was kind of over it. Sometimes my girls will go in them if they know they don't have an option, but they don't like the feeling so they were still persistent on using the restroom. Which was fine but I was hoping for a break. If you need a bathroom locator guide to Disney, I would be happy to create that for you. Kidding.
We had an early morning flight so I kept my littlest in cloth. Which was good because she ended up sleeping the whole flight home.
As I reflect back on my cloth diaper/ potty training/ laundry experience at Disney World, there are 3 tips that I would like to leave you with if you are thinking about bringing your fluff with you on your magical vacation.
1. Budget for laundry fees.
2. If you have a little that is still potty training or still prone to accidents, put pull-ups on them at the parks. It will save you a lot of time and you wont have to worry about leaving any lines you might be waiting in.
3. If you are going for a short trip and want to save time, bring disposables.
