Doing Laundry At Walt Disney World

We finally had to do it.  Laundry that is.  After 8 trips to Walt Disney World, we finally had to do laundry while on vacation.  Actually, I had planned to do laundry.

Since our last Disney vacation included both a Disney cruise and a week at the World, I knew we would need to do at least one load of laundry to get us through our trip.  So, on the day we disembarked the ship and checked in to our Walt Disney World Resort, the laundry room at Port Orleans French Quarter beckoned.

Each Walt Disney World Resort has laundry facilities.  Most are located near pool areas.  Guests staying in Deluxe Resort Villas have washers and dryers in their villas.  Check with the resort check-in desk for the exact location.

The laundry at Port Orleans French Quarter is located near the pool—behind the pool bar/restaurant, but before the hot tub/spa.

There were several washers in rows located in the middle of the room, with dryers on the walls on 3 sides of the room.  Folding tables were available as was a hanging rack.

The cost was $2.00 per load to wash, and $2.00 per load to dry—if the load was dry after one cycle.  It is about 30 minutes for a wash cycle and 45 minutes for a dryer cycle.  A change machine is located in the laundry facility, as the machines take quarters.

Laundry detergent products were available for purchase.

The laundry facility is available 24 hours, but requires the use of your room key to enter throughout the night.

The Sunday morning I was there, the laundry facilities were quite busy, but I was able to use one washer and then a dryer to do a load of “whites.”

Some things we did to make it easier:

• We packed two pop up hampers—one white and one black.  The hampers fit nicely in the compartment on the inside top of a suitcase.  We put dark clothes in the black hamper and white clothes in the white.  When we packed up to leave the cruise, the hampers—still with dirty clothes in them, fit right into the suitcase.
• We brought Purell laundry sheets that go in the washer and in the dryer with us—no need to pack liquids and no need to purchase other products.  If I wanted to do a load of all colors, a Shout Color Catcher sheet would have also been helpful.
• When it was time to do laundry, I just grabbed the white pop up hamper, the Purell sheets, and some money.  The hamper has a handle which made carrying easier.
• Since the laundry facility is near the pool, it was a great time to enjoy the pool.  We swam and had lunch while the laundry was washing and drying.  I didn’t leave the hamper in the laundry room, but set it by the chair we were using at the pool.
• Some guests asked for plastic laundry bags at the front desk.  These are typically used for dirty laundry, but they were putting their clean clothes in them to carry back to their room.  You could also ask for a plastic bag at the store.

I am glad we took the time to do laundry; otherwise we would have run out of clean unmentionables in the middle of our vacation.  But, I wouldn’t plan to do laundry on a shorter vacation.

There was a couple doing many loads that morning, so I asked if they were headed home.  They told me that they were on vacation with their daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren.  They offered to do laundry to take a break from touring.  They also said that their daughter and grandchildren went through lots of clothes.  I got it.  They wanted a break, so they offered to do the laundry.  While I understand, I couldn’t justify the expense at a minimum of $4.00 per load. 

Then, again, there’s another way to look at this issue.  At $4.00 per load, you could wash 5 loads to equal the $20.00 you would pay to check a bag—just one way.  You could do 10 loads to equal the amount you would pay to check that say bag round-trip. 

I may need to rethink this laundry thing. . .