Sending a package home ?

[Wrigley]

We have never sent a package home before when at the World. I am planning on doing some of my Christmas shopping for my DD while we are there next month, and I was just curious as to how I do this. I won't want to send things home until we are ending our trip probably because I will want to see how much stuff I truly have that needs to be sent home. So, where do I take all of my stuff to send home? Is it very expensive to send packages? Thanks so much

[faline]

I have no first hand experience but I do understand it is cheaper to do it the way you are planning and I do believe others have said that you can have things shipped directly from your resort.

Here's some information you might find useful.

[LittleRoosMommy]

I have shipped things home from our resort multiple times. We usually ship a box to the resort prior to our arrival, so we already have a box ready to go home. Otherwise, you will need to find a box.

Just make sure you have tape and a sharpie with you. Depending on where you are staying, you can either go to the Front Desk and they will help you or you can go to the Conference Center. They will have all the necessary paperwork for you to fill out.

I have always used UPS in the past. They are probably the cheapest way to send things to/from WDW. I think the resorts also use Fed Ex as well.

Hope this helps!

[wendy*darling]

I have shipped things home before as well.

When I ship TO the resort- usually it's food items that we will consume during the trip and I just use the box to send souvenirs home.

One trip, I did planned to do some Christmas shopping, just as you are.
I had some idea of what I was going to buy and I brought a box from home.
I packed in (flattened) in my suitcase, along with packing tape and a label.
I also used UPS- and the front desk concierge had the shipping labels for me and were able to weigh and calculate the charges easily.

It's a great way to avoid overweight charges on checked bags at the airport. Seeing what the airlines are charging nowadays- shipping a box home to yourself is usually less than a second suitcase or an overweight fee!

The only thing I would add is that IF you do buy something fragile or oddly shaped- say a snow globe or framed artwork- I would have the store ship it to you instead. If it does get damaged in transit, Disney will replace it without question. When you pack the box yourself, it may be more difficult to make that happen.

[TheRustyScupper]

Shipping Stuff Home:

(Always ship from resort, NEVER from the store, unless fragile and breakable. The store marks up the shipping costs in a major way for extra profit. The hotels only charge what the shipping company charges.)

1) Go to Gift Shop and ask for a used box and packing.
2) Go to room and pack the box.
3) Take box to Concierge Desk.
4) Fill out shipping papers & select UPS-FEDEX.
5) Concierge will seal the box.
6) Front Desk will send the box and bill your room.

NOTE: If you declare more than $100 in value, you must itemize the contents and pay extra for insurance.

[WishingStar2006]

I think that if everything you are shipping home has been purchased at Disney, verifiable with a receipt, your resort gift shop (I know the Mercantile at WL does this) will pack and ship for you. Just bring the items to the desk and they take care of the rest. They may add the mark-up that another poster mentioned, but it sure beats the hassle of packing and wrapping yourself. They base the shipping costs on the $$ value of the order, not the size or weight.

[TheRustyScupper]

I think that if everything you are shipping home has been purchased at Disney, verifiable with a receipt, your resort gift shop (I know the Mercantile at WL does this) will pack and ship for you.

1) If not busy, they might agree to do this.
2) But, they are not supposed to.
3) There is a liability because they can't know if all items are OK.
4) When received, WDW could be liable for breakage.
5) Re-packing of boxes is too tricky of a task to take.
6) If you purchased at a store, they can pack and ship.
7) But, they are not supposed to lump them together.

[KylesMom]

It cost $19.47 to ship a 20+ pound box back to suburban Illinois via UPS Ground from WL. We always ship a box down prior to our vacation filled with snacks, breakfast foods, toiletries, etcetera, and use the same box to ship excess items back home that won't fit in our suitcase. I usually throw a roll of packing tape in the suitcase so that I can personally pack it & simply carry down to the front counter.

It cost us a bit more to ship $195 worth of merchandise from World of Disney to home, but I wasn't liable for all of the items that were broken & needed to be replaced! Funny enough, the packages of Christmas Ornaments survived, but the scrapbook, pirate door sign & Grumpy Pilsner glass all had to be replaced . . . on Disney's dime. I don't get why they pack things so carelessly???!!!

[jnfr2424]

I don't get why they pack things so carelessly???!!!

I said the same exact thing!! Last Thanksgivng we did A LOT of holiday shopping especially for personalized ornaments (put it this way our postal worker hated coming to our house - we had a box come every day for 2 weeks straight from Disney)and some of the ornaments were damaged and a snow globe was damaged too. They replaced the ornament(personalization and all) and a new snow globe came from California.

[KylesMom]

This thread got me thinking, and I decided to check my receipts from June to see the exact difference in what World of Disney charged to ship our purchases back versus what Wilderness Lodge charged at the front desk to send home a bunch of miscellaneous "stuff" (laundry, toiletries, refillable mugs, etc).

While WL charged us $19.47 for a 20+ pound box, World of Disney charged us $29.95 on purchases which equaled $242.99 when our A/P discount was taken off (spent more than I thought there). They then had to replace $50 worth of merchandise and re-ship it. So it was about $10 more to ship from World of Disney, but they were liable for replacing anything broken - I just made a phone call, I didn't have to get into it with UPS to try and recoup the costs. Just food for thought when trying to decide which is best for you . . .

[Genie1953]

World of Disney charged us $29.95 on purchases which equaled $242.99

So did you make all your purchases at World of Disney at the same time or did you make them over the course of several days and have them shipped together. Was just wondering...we drove down our last trip so were able to just carry everything home with us. We are flying this time though and anticipate shipping a box home.

[KylesMom]

So did you make all your purchases at World of Disney at the same time

Yes, the shipping charge was on one lump-sum purchase. We've done this several years in a row - enough to know to separate the things out that we want to ship home versus the things we want to keep with us. Then we charge the things we want to take back to the room (or have delivered to our hotel gift shop) separately. The things we wanted to keep with us included matching family shirts for our "Flag Family" day, food purchases (since Disney won't so much as ship a bag of macaroni home), jewelry, etcetera. Note that the things you want to ship home (provided you live out of state) are not charged tax - the ones you take with you are.

[thumperbug]

I have never heard anyone having a problem shipping anything home. I usually take a flat box, packing tape and a sharpie with me in case I need to ship but we usually have room in our bags (or bring an extra bag) to take home our goodies. I will be in the world in November and plan to bring a box since I know I will be doing holiday shopping and plan to ship some stuff home. I also pack bubble wrap in my bags going down.

[Imalismom]

One thing not mentioned here - do a little comparsion shipping charges shopping. At the World of Disney, where you have several discounts to choose from (i.e. AP, Disney card holder), at times, since they do not charge income tax if you are shipping a package home, it might even out or be cheaper to send from the store. This was the case when I was there this summer.