Laundry at Disneyland hotel - what do you do?

[revwog1974]

We’re going on an excruciatingly long 7 National Parks road trip in August. My husband is bribing me, DD12, and DD7 with 2 days at Disneyland near the end to thank us for tolerating his dream. (I have nothing against National Parks; they’re treasures that should be preserved. I have a great deal against 65-70 hours of driving time.)
Unfortunately, all our AirbnBs with laundry are in the 1st 1/3 of the trip and by the time we get to Disneyland, we will have to do laundry. We only get 2 days in the parks and I don’t want to waste time in the laundromat. Also, the Disneyland hotel is the biggest splurge of the trip, and $2 a pair to wash underwear is a lot.
It seems we have 3 options. Have any of these worked well for you? Do you have another suggestion?

1. Use the laundromat at the Disney Hotel. Less expensive, but maybe not the best use of our time, even if we can hang out at the pool while laundry is running.
2. Use the hotel’s laundry service. We don’t need to dry clean anything, but this seems expensive. Balanced against missing Park time, however, it might not be so bad.
3. Use an external company that picks up and delivers laundry. Some of these prices appear better than both the hotel laundromat, and much better than the Disney service. Has anyone used a non-Disney service? How did it work for you?
4. Other - something I haven’t thought of yet....

Thank you!!!

 

[StormyCA]

Not sure of your Natl Parks itinerary, but most of the parks have laundry facilities somewhere, usually at a campground or hotel. DH and I RV and most of our trips are to National Parks and we do our laundry there, either in the NP or the nearest town. I'd rather 'waste' a few hours there than at Disneyland!

Google the name of your park and laundry facilities. For example, this is what you get if you google "Grand Canyon laundry facilities";

"Laundry & Showers at Camper Services (Coin Operated)
Camper Services Building at the entrance to Mather Campground. 8:00 am – 6:00 pm core hours, last laundry wash 4:45 pm"

Oh, BTW, if you haven't, be sure you get the America the Beautiful Pass. It'll save you tons in entry fees. There are other passes if you are a Senior, military, or permanently disabled.


I envy your trip, but not AirBnB. RV for me! Next year we're making our 2nd trip to WDW, towing our TT from No Cal to Ft Wilderness. Can't wait!

 

[hootey]

Use laundry facilities before you get there if you can. If not, you make a point to stop at a grocery or Dollar store before you get to Disney for a small box or carton of the laundry detergent/fabic softner you normally use. I have used the laundry facilities at the DLH, while being efficient and timely, the DLH only has one kind of detergent available and it is $3 or $4 per small box at the DLH gift shop. Having and using the laundry soap and fabric softner you normally use will help greatly.The Laundry Service at the DLH, is exactly that, a Laundry service. Our clothes were clean but, had an Industrial Odor and were stiff as though everything had been Starched. Not comfortable at all.

 

[NannyBeBe]

First of all, I would not settle for less than three days at DLR. Secondly, I would take only the oldest underwear for everyone and throw them away rather than carry them around dirty; alternatively you could buy everyone cheap underwear from the dollar store and throw them out as you use them. Thirdly, since you are spending so many hours in a car, there would be no need to wash those clothes after only one day of wear since they would not get dirty. You could take a separate cheap suitcase or duffel and pack the dirty clothes into it and bring them home to wash. I have a hard and fast rule when on vacation: no laundry, no cooking, no cleaning.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Only two days after all that? I would try to up that bribe as well! (To save money maybe do the park on departure day and only drive a little bit that night? That way you don’t have to buy another night at DLH.)

And I agree with doing it before you arrive. Your accommodations may not have laundry machines but all towns have laundromats. Absolutely don’t waste a second of a 2 day DL trip doing a stich of laundry!

 

[bumbershoot]

Hubby’s idea, so hubby gets to wash the clothes?

The DLH laundry facility is decent and nice and, unless they’ve changed it or I’m misremembering, right next to the workout facility. Let him take the clothes that first early early morning or later evening and get some weights lifted while also washing the clothes.

 

[bumbershoot]

And I think the trip sounds wonderful. Jealous.

 

[MATTERHORN]

Just did an 18 day trip with Hawaii first, no access to laundry, then 9 days at Disneyland! It really was no sweat at all to do laundry at the DLH while spending time at the pool in the afternoon. It was super quick, close to pool, and plenty of machines! I would totally do that if I were you!

 

[azdisneylover]

I agree with Matterhorn that doing laundry at DLH is quick. When I did it, I saw 3 Disney cats! One black one in particular who sat about 10 feet from me and licked him/herself all the while keeping his/her eyes on me! Very interesting to say the least! Have fun on your trip.

 

[Nevada Jen]

Don't do laundry if you only have two days there. You are not going to want to waste time in the pool when the parks are open with two days and if you are too tired to keep going at the parks, you are too tired to do laundry. Laundry service isn't as common on the west coast as it is on the east, but maybe someone will have some ideas for you. Otherwise, I am all for throwing out underwear as you go and bringing a few extra tshirts. But I suspect you can find a laundrymat somewhere in your travels before or after disney where you can throw all your stuff in at once and only waste a couple of hours.

 

[Geemo]

We’re going on an excruciatingly long 7 National Parks road trip in August. My husband is bribing me, DD12, and DD7 with 2 days at Disneyland near the end to thank us for tolerating his dream. (I have nothing against National Parks; they’re treasures that should be preserved. I have a great deal against 65-70 hours of driving time.)
Unfortunately, all our AirbnBs with laundry are in the 1st 1/3 of the trip and by the time we get to Disneyland, we will have to do laundry. We only get 2 days in the parks and I don’t want to waste time in the laundromat. Also, the Disneyland hotel is the biggest splurge of the trip, and $2 a pair to wash underwear is a lot.
It seems we have 3 options. Have any of these worked well for you? Do you have another suggestion?

1. Use the laundromat at the Disney Hotel. Less expensive, but maybe not the best use of our time, even if we can hang out at the pool while laundry is running.
2. Use the hotel’s laundry service. We don’t need to dry clean anything, but this seems expensive. Balanced against missing Park time, however, it might not be so bad.
3. Use an external company that picks up and delivers laundry. Some of these prices appear better than both the hotel laundromat, and much better than the Disney service. Has anyone used a non-Disney service? How did it work for you?
4. Other - something I haven’t thought of yet....

Thank you!!!

I agree with everyone about catching up on your laundry before getting to Disneyland.

After all there isn't much to see at the National Parks after dark. Going to a laundromat will get your laundry done in one load if there are many washers and dryers.

In addition to having your laundry products for the job, TAKE QUARTERS with you. Not all the change machines work and sometime the neighboring businesses aren't willing to provide change. It easy to toss a couple rolls of quarters into your luggage for when it's laundry time.

Geemo

 

[ADisneyFamilyof5]

I guess I am in the minority and don't mind doing laundry while on vacation. At the DLH it is so easy because my boys always insist on having pool time, no matter how long (or little) we stay or how cold it is. I always bring a small tupperware of All laundry pods, travel spray bottle of Shout stain remover and some fabric softner so I dont need to purchase them. The laundry room is right next to the pool so I just keep popping in and out while DH swims with the boys. The DLH laundry is credit card, so no annoying quarters. It really doesn't put a damper on our trip. I guess it is really up to how you are going to spend your days. If you plan on being in the park open to close, maybe spending the extra money to send what you need to laundry service until you can make it home.

 

[revwog1974]

Thank you all for your suggestions! I agree that time at Disney is better spent at the parks than on laundry, but sometimes, available car space and timing constraints make laundry inevitable at particular points in the trip.

Not sure of your Natl Parks itinerary, but most of the parks have laundry facilities somewhere, usually at a campground or hotel. DH and I RV and most of our trips are to National Parks and we do our laundry there, either in the NP or the nearest town. I'd rather 'waste' a few hours there than at Disneyland!

Oh, BTW, if you haven't, be sure you get the America the Beautiful Pass. It'll save you tons in entry fees. There are other passes if you are a Senior, military, or permanently disabled.

I envy your trip, but not AirBnB. RV for me! Next year we're making our 2nd trip to WDW, towing our TT from No Cal to Ft Wilderness. Can't wait!

We definitely have the pass. Also, the benefit of AirBnB is that for less than a price of a hotel room, and much less than buying or renting an RV, we get multiple bedrooms, a kitchen to fix easy meals (two weeks in restaurants would drive us all nuts), and laundry facilities. i have those spaced throughout the trip.

First of all, I would not settle for less than three days at DLR. Secondly, I would take only the oldest underwear for everyone and throw them away rather than carry them around dirty; alternatively you could buy everyone cheap underwear from the dollar store and throw them out as you use them. Thirdly, since you are spending so many hours in a car, there would be no need to wash those clothes after only one day of wear since they would not get dirty. You could take a separate cheap suitcase or duffel and pack the dirty clothes into it and bring them home to wash. I have a hard and fast rule when on vacation: no laundry, no cooking, no cleaning.

We're pretty lucky we're getting Disneyland at all. This is the big national parks trip of my husband dreams. Disneyland is not a regular place for us, not like many of you, but my youngest and I were there last October, and I'm sure we'll all be there again before too long. With everything we want to see and the distances we're covering, two full park days is pretty good. We'll have about half a day on arrival for pool, and Downtown Disney time, so it's not too bad.

 

[Malcon10t]

We'll have about half a day on arrival for pool, and Downtown Disney time, so it's not too bad.

Laundry is open around the clock. I would get it set up as soon as you get checked in and the kids head to the pool. It is quick and if you are in the frontier tower, very close.

 

[Nonsuch]

Laundry View displays machine availability in real time

 

[skuttle]

We did laundry at the DLH early one morning. It was either do laundry or I would have had to buy a ton of shorts/t-shirts I didn't need since our trip was 10 days long. The machines are a bit small. I used two machines to make it go faster. All the machines were in use the morning I did our laundry. I got lucky and there were two washers left when I arrived so I was able to grab them. We were in Adventure tower and the laundry was a bit far. I put our dirty clothes in one of our rolling suitcases to bring over.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Just a thought... When I travel I usually wash my socks and underwear nightly and hang them in the closet or bathroom to dry. Saves on the dirty laundry pile.

Sounds like a lovely vacation coming up.