Newsies: From Scratch - May And September 2024! - UPDATE 4/21

[Newsies]

Flights, Camera, Action
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Now back to our regularly scheduled Pre-Tripping. We had a great day today for my September trip!

Woke up this morning and opened my email to find that room discounts were released for my date. Amazing. Waited about 5 minutes on the WDW website to update my package to the discounted rate and shaved about $200 off the bill. Not too shabby!

A couple of hours later, my PTO request was approved for May and September. I vowed I would bite the bullet and book my flight as soon as my September request was approved, so that's exactly what I did with my lunch break.

I'll be on the first flight to MCO out of Newark on Jetblue the morning of Sep 22, and I have a really nice afternoon flight back home on Sep 28! I should be landing in Newark around 5 PM on Saturday, so I'll be home just in time for dinner and I'll still have a nice day to catch up on sleep and start my TR before heading in to work on Monday morning!

I was worried that the flights I were looking at would see a massive price increase once we got into the new year, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that wasn't the case. I'm actually really surprised at how great my itinerary looks for the price I paid. The morning flight is always a pretty good price, but flying back to Newark from MCO is always a pain-- you usually need to catch the first flight out in the morning (5 or 6 AM) unless you want to get stuck paying $300+ for your return flight. This time, the afternoon flight home was the same price as the morning flight there, and I was really happy about that!

With the flights being booked, that makes this trip real... like, really real. Like it's about to get REAL up in here.

My next steps for September are:

1. Book airport transportation. I think this is going to be good ol' Mears, but if anyone who frequently flies to WDW has a different suggestion, I'm open to hearing more!​
2. Buy MNSSHP ticket. I'm planning the trip around whatever night I do MNSSHP, so need to book this next before I can think about dining or my third priority,​
3. Buy Universal Studios ticket. I've decided I'm going to do a day a US/IOA day at some point during my September trip. US/IOA is just not the vibe for my family, so this isn't something I get to do often and I really want to go back. I'd like to keep my US/IOA day towards the beginning of the week, but again, need to see when MNSSHP is happening before I can get this squared away.​

136 days until May, 262 until September!

 

[rdkeim]

Lots of good news! It always feel real once the flights are booked. And, a discount - woohoo Sounds like your plans are really falling into place!

 

[GDubDIS]

Exciting stuff!! Day trip to Universal will be fun too, especially on a solo trip when you're totally in control!

 

[Newsies]

Lots of good news! It always feel real once the flights are booked. And, a discount - woohoo Sounds like your plans are really falling into place!

Yes, everything is coming together now for sure! The "omg this is really happening" feeling when you book flights it's SO real!

Exciting stuff!! Day trip to Universal will be fun too, especially on a solo trip when you're totally in control!

So excited!!!

 

[Newsies]

A Minor Set-forward
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It was yet another day in the eventful life of my September 2024 Solo Trip!

So we got the save the date for my cousin's wedding in September in the mail today and it takes place across state lines on September 21. Which is quite literally hours before I'm supposed to fly out, from NJ, to Walt Disney World.

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This is one of those moments where I realize I am perhaps not the brightest crayon in the box because I'm very close to my cousin and her fiancé, and we've spoken in great length about this wedding and this specific date -- the 21st niiiiight of September -- but it wasn't until I saw the Save the Date yesterday that I put two-and-two together and realized I had booked my trip the day after this wedding and it was not going to be possible to do both of these events.

Did I panic? Yes, of course I did.

Did I get it resolved within an hour with only a little bit of frustration? Yes, of course I did.

I had actually originally eyed this trip for the week of September 8-14, but moved it down to the 22-28 during the planning process to avoid conflicting with a convention down the shore that my family travels to every year. In the interim since booking, my parents decided they didn't want to go anymore, so this week was now free and I immediately moved the dates for my hotel reservation. Disney thankfully makes this extremely easy, and not only was my reservation changed in less than 5 minutes, I'm also saving about $40 on this hotel/ticket package by moving my dates to here. Yay!

Jetblue, as you can imagine, was a bit of a different story. I have to say: it was easier than I imagined to switch non-refundable flights. They cancelled my current reservation, gave me a travel credit for the full cost of the flights before tax, and then helped me use that credit to rebook. I got really lucky because the flights I was switching to were the exact same itinerary at the exact same price, just two weeks earlier. So I ended up only having to pay tax when I rebooked the flight, which wasn't bad at all, but I did have to buy my exit row seats and checked bags again, which was kind of stinky. At the end of the day, I'm sitting in the exact same seats on the exact same flights at the exact same times, just two weeks earlier than originally planned.

For all the stress, it actually worked out in my favor, I think. Like I said, this was the week I originally wanted to go because Disney is cheaper + a bit less crowded in early September versus late September, plus the Halloween party tickets are historically cheaper in early September than late September. AND! I get to go to Walt Disney World 2 weeks sooner

So that's the update for today. The May vacation continues to be business as usual with no real updates.

 

[rdkeim]

I hate travel/vacation drama but you worked it out - yay for going 2 weeks early! 2 trips - you have a lot to look forward to! I'll be watching for your TR's.

 

[Newsies]

I hate travel/vacation drama but you worked it out - yay for going 2 weeks early! 2 trips - you have a lot to look forward to! I'll be watching for your TR's.

HOORAY! Thanks again for the support, you are such a great contributor to this board

 

[Mollydolly334]

Hi Kait!! Just letting you know that I'm reading along I always love your content- you are such a fun and engaging writer!! We are also booked for a May trip, but we leave the day you arrive, booo!

I also visited DLR for the first time ever back in April and LOVED it as well! It made such a strong impression on us and I loved it just as much as WDW! We are hopefully heading back in October!'

So, funny story, Jake and I also wanted to get married on September 21st, specifically because of that song But, it was a Thursday in 2023, so we settled on Friday, September 22nd instead. We were singing "September" all night at our rehearsal dinner the night before, haha!

 

[Newsies]

Hi Kait!! Just letting you know that I'm reading along I always love your content- you are such a fun and engaging writer!! We are also booked for a May trip, but we leave the day you arrive, booo!

Molly!!! It's so nice to see you here!!! Thank you so much for joining in and for the sweet words, I love your reports too! I just finished reading your Aulani TR and drooling over the food pics, I need to get caught up in your PTR next!

I also visited DLR for the first time ever back in April and LOVED it as well! It made such a strong impression on us and I loved it just as much as WDW! We are hopefully heading back in October!'

I'm so glad you enjoyed DLR as much as we did! It's so funny, every "casual" Disney fan I spoke to before the trip told me they were unimpressed with Disneyland and that they liked WDW better, but I found so many things about Disneyland that I loved more than the east coast resort!

How did you like GCH? We loved Disneyland Hotel but got so jealous of the people at GCH who had the balcony overlooking Downtown Disney!

So, funny story, Jake and I also wanted to get married on September 21st, specifically because of that song But, it was a Thursday in 2023, so we settled on Friday, September 22nd instead. We were singing "September" all night at our rehearsal dinner the night before, haha!

LOVE that you thought about this song while you were planning your wedding, too!!! My September fun fact is that it was written by my sorority's most famous alumna, Alee Willis lol

 

[Newsies]

May Updates: Tickets, DDP, an ADR, and a Second Pass of Plans
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As we surpass the 4-months-left mark for May, a lot is coming together. 2 months from today I'll make the remainder of my ADRs, and 4 months from right now I'll be at the Parks!

We had a couple of relevant updates this week, mostly as I used my day off on Monday to rewire some plans. This type of cold weather always makes us wish we were in Florida, so January-February are always the time we start ramping up plans and getting excited for our upcoming vacation.

We bought our theme park tickets this week, so with hotel and tickets booked, we're pretty much set to go. The only thing that's changed is that mom is pretty adamant she wants to add the DDP to our vacation.

I know the real "value" of the DDP has been a hot topic of debate since I joined the boards. We've been using the DDP since our first vacation in 2010, it first appealed to us because we liked the idea of having 99% of our dining prepaid. It's a mental thing more than anything, and it makes us "feel" like we're saving money while we were on the actual trip.

Our waitlists for Riviera and Beach Club are still active at the moment and I think I'm going to give them until the end of February before I deactivate them. Once we either get off the waitlist or deactivate the requests, then we'll add the DDP to our reservation!

Since we decided we were going to add the DDP, I did a second pass at our plans to see where we could optimize the value of the Plan:

Sunday, May 19
Magic Kingdom
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Still Arrival day. Thinking we'll keep things more contained by going to Magic Kingdom while we wait for the room to be ready. We'll do a lunch as close to 1:30 as possible at Liberty Tree Tavern, which is a favorite of ours. Then we'll be able to head back to the resort, unpack the room, and spend the rest of day at the pool. We'd love to do Trader Sams on this night, maybe some bites at Captain Cook or Tambu Lounge for dinner.

Monday, May 20
Hollywood Studios
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Going to change things up again for our first full day in the parks by booking a Fantasmic! Dining Package at 50's Prime Time Cafe on this day. I'm still the only person in my family who has ever seen Fantasmic! in person, and I think this is probably a great use of a DDP table service credit.

Tuesday, May 21
Epcot
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My birthday!!! Definitively, I'm planning on using our DDP credit for this day at Akershus breakfast. We'll have a nice morning/afternoon at the park, do a bit of drinking & a bit of shopping, then we'll head back to the resort to get ready for dinner.
For dinner, we actually have our first ADR of the trip at Shula's Steak House at 7:30 PM this evening!

I'm really excited about this. We started watching a few vlogs where people were going to Shula's over the holiday season and we all agreed it might be a really nice, special meal for my birthday dinner. We've never visited the Swan & Dolphin before but we're excited to get all dressed up and visit the Dolphin.

Wednesday, May 22
Pool Day/Disney Springs
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Morning/afternoon at the pool and resort. Thinking we'll visit Raglan Road for the first time this evening for dinner.

Thursday, May 23
Hollywood Studios
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We're back to Hollywood Studios and there will hopefully be two ADRs on this day. The first is Oga's Cantina, this is something mom really looks forward to every time we're at DHS, so we'll pay OOP for some drinks and a basket of those Batuu Bits in the afternoon. The second will hopefully be Rodeo Roundup BBQ!

Friday, May 24
Epcot
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So we originally wanted to try Nine Dragons or Shiki-Sai this day, but they announced the Garden Rocks concert series this week and Lit is going to be performing on this day. While I am extremely sad to be missing Simple Plan by two weeks (I WILL catch this band in Epcot one day!!!), Lit is... pretty lit. So the plan is to book a Biergarten Garden Rocks package for dinner, which is something Grace & Dad both asked for.

Saturday, May 25
Magic Kingdom
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Thinking potentially Crystal Palace for a late breakfast on this morning and that'll be our last ADR of the trip!

 

[Newsies]

A (Seriously) Wild Update
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So, another change was made to my September trip, and this time, I get to use my favorite gif.

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This is a rather text-heavy update so pour some wine and buckle in.

So I was planning my September trip and thinking about special things I wanted to do, things I haven’t gotten a chance to do in the past four years because I’ve only been to WDW with the family. Universal Studios is one of them. I also thought about maybe doing something like the Behind the Seeds tour, or maybe even the Magical Makeover package at Grand Floridian Spa before the Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. I was also thinking about different restaurants I could go to, and I got to thinking about Boma.

I thought about how nice it might be to take the bus to Animal Kingdom early in the morning, and to get on the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge from there, and to enjoy a good breakfast at Boma before heading to DAK for the day.

That made me think about how nice it might be just to sit in the Animal Kingdom Lodge lobby, or to walk around and look at the flamingos and the giraffes and the other animals out and about.

And THAT made me think about how nice it might be to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge, to wake up before the Parks open and to get a cup of coffee from Mara before watching the animals walk around the savannah before it gets too hot, or to come back to the hotel at the end of the day and enjoy a glass of wine as a nightcap while sitting by that fire pit in the lobby.

So that, of course, led me to the “Modify Reservation” tool on Disney’s website (my new favorite thing ever, btw) just to see how much more I would have to pay if I wanted to keep my ticket package exactly the way it was, but switch my hotel to Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Dear reader: that was the moment I learned it would only be $138 to switch from a standard room at Port Orleans - French Quarter to a standard view room at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

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My first instinct was actually not to jump on this deal right then and there, my first instinct was to frantically check every other deluxe resort to see if there would be a comparable price at Beach Club, Yacht Club, Boardwalk, or Contemporary. No dice. The Stay Longer/Save More deal or whatever they’re calling obviously has the availability of these resorts pretty well picked-over at this point, but even if I had looked at these earlier, I doubt I would have found a price better than the standard view room at DAKL.

I slept on it and did a little bit of girl math-ing to see if it would be worth it. It’s not that I wanted to switch from French Quarter. I was actually very excited to stay there, to have my little beignets and frozen drinks by the pool and take cute little selfies with those alligator statues. Like I said, it was kind of a bucket-list vacation to do a solo trip to POFQ.

At the same time: I’m already shelling out the money to upgrade from a value to POFQ, which was just a hair under $1k more, because I felt like it was worth it to have a slightly better vacation experience. If I’m following that logic for an $800-$900 price jump, I feel like it doesn’t make sense for me to skip over a $140 upgrade to a Deluxe resort and have one of the best vacation experiences on property. It was $140 more for a better/larger room, for daily housekeeping, for Extended Evening Theme Park Hours, and to stay at a hotel with better dining options and entertainment.

I further convinced myself that I could save even more money if I stayed at DAKL because I could justify bumping my ticket package down from a 4-day hopper to a 3-day hopper. My thinking process behind that one was that if I was staying at DAKL, I didn’t need to entertain myself at the Parks on my arrival day. I could go to Disney Springs while my room was getting ready, then I could come back to unpack, enjoy the pool, enjoy watching the animals, change into something cute to enjoy a glass of wine and some light dinner at the Jiko bar, and then go on the nighttime safari to end the night. It’s actually– when you think about it– the perfect day.

So I dropped a day from my ticket package and changed my hotel to Animal Kingdom Lodge and ended up saving $4 (yes, $4.00) versus what I would have paid for a 4-day hopper at POFQ. If we’re following girl math logic, I would have lost money by not upgrading to DAKL.

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Anyway, that’s the update. I’m not really sure how this solo trip escalated from a long weekend at All-Star Music to a week at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, but boy has this been fun so far!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Girllllll that is some PRIME #disneymath and also something that I have done many times I am here for it!!

 

[Newsies]

Girllllll that is some PRIME #disneymath and also something that I have done many times I am here for it!!

View attachment 828181

Do you think if we approached Harvard University with this novel idea of #disneymath, they would let us be Co-Chairs of a brand new Disney Applied Mathematics department within the school of math and science there???

I'm EXTREMELY glad to know I'm not the only person who has these insane equations running through my head Going to catch up on your PTR now to see how you've applied disney math to your May trip!!

 

[Paulaparm]

That’s an awesome upgrade! Nicely done

 

[Newsies]

That’s an awesome upgrade! Nicely done

Thank you so much!!! Really, really excited about this one!!!

 

[rdkeim]

Love your thinking and the girl math! The way I see it, you couldn't afford NOT to make the switch Although I love POFQ, so many more things to see and do at AKL. Good job!

 

[Newsies]

Love your thinking and the girl math! The way I see it, you couldn't afford NOT to make the switch Although I love POFQ, so many more things to see and do at AKL. Good job!

Exactly, I couldn't afford to NOT switch hotels! So glad you get me!!

 

[Newsies]

May WDW Pre-Trip Haul So Far
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Happy Dalmatian day! We're 101 days away from our May vacation!

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I just wanted to take a moment to talk about everything I've either purchased or been gifted (thanks, Santa Clause) in preparation for our May and subsequently September trips. I started shopping in November for my May trip and I've collected a few relevant things I wanted to share.

I try not to buy a ton of things ahead of my WDW trips. I collect so many t-shirts and wardrobe staples throughout the year anyway that there's really not that much I need, and of course I now have an arsenal of travel gear and gizmos collected over the course of so many years prepping for WDW vacations.

When I do need to shop for my vacations, I do the bulk of my shopping for vacations in November so I can take advantage of Black Friday deals. Almost everything I've purchased so far is already packed neatly away in my suitcase! I'll link as much as I can in case you're interested in anything I have so far

Insane Amount of Lost Bros T-Shirts

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The Lost Bros Trading Co. had some amazing restocks and new t-shirts for their weekend of Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals back in November and I went absolutely ham. I think I had my alarm set for every single day of drops for one t-shirt or another. I know some of these are hard to see, my apologies -- I didn't want to photograph the actual products since they're packaged away, so I made this collage of the 9 t-shirts I've purchased so far so that you can reference them! The Barbie one at the bottom is naturally my birthday-morning-at-epcot fit, with everything else kind of TBA. Count the JoBros references here!

I really love TLBTC, their designs are extremely tasteful and fun, and I think their shirts are priced very fairly for the quality you get.

Unfortunately, if you know anything about TLBTC, you know that these shirt designs come and go, so there's not a lot to link here except for the most recent shirt in the top left, which I pre-ordered yesterday morning. I'm a huge Swiftie and so hyped for her upcoming album! This t-shirt is a reference to one of the songs in the upcoming album, Florida!!!, and you can find it here for now.

New Hip Pack & Bag Charm

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I've been dying for a Stoney Clover Lane hip pack for two years now, but never wanted to justify spending the insane amount of money they charge for a bag and two or three patches. They've been the ~*~ trendy ~*~ Disney Parks bag option for a little while and I wanted a hip pack that was bigger than the current Duffy one I got at the Poly in 2021. During SCL's "SCL Friday" event, I decided to go for it and got this bright pink one with two patches I thought were cute. I'm all about vibrant color! If you want to build your own, you can do so here.

Obviously have not used it yet but love the look and handfeel of it so far, the nylon is thick and bright, and the hip strap is tested and plus-sized girl approved!

I paired it with this Baublebar Mickey bag charm I found here! The charm is giving Festival of the Arts vibes -- I think it would be cuter with a white bag, but I like it with my pink bag too!

I think you guys are also getting a cheeky, unintentional tattoo reveal in this photo The flowers were done in August 2022 and the Butterfly was February 2023, so both after I took my big DISboards hiatus.

Vera Bradley Weekender

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Everybody say "Thank you, Santa!" (aka Momma Newsie) for this amazing Christmas gift!!! I needed a Weekender bag so badly for those "layovers" we have in Georgia on the drive down to WDW. The ideal bag for these stops will hold a pair of PJs, my outfit for the next day, and my toiletries for the trip. For the past few years, I've been using this cheap, small, polyester Minnie Mouse duffel bag that I found in the bargain bin at TJ Maxx. She started to fall apart during our March 2023 trip and has progressively gotten worse as I relied on her for weekend getaways to the city and to my friends' house, so I was very grateful to trash her when Santa put this beauty under the tree for me!

If you need it now, you can find it on the Vera Bradley website here, but I recommend checking the Vera Bradley Outlet website as often as possible if you like it -- it pops up there from time to time and you can get it at a discount!

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Tinker Bell Cosmetics Case​

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This is another gift from Santa! I don't have any plastic carrying cases for keeping my bottles "safe" while traveling and I usually just use a gallon ziplock bag to pack my shampoo, conditioner, etc. This thing is so cute and it'll keep my toiletries organized! And it's got mah girl Tink on there.

You can find it here, but again, I know this pops up on the outlet website from time to time for cheaper.
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BAGSMART Compression Packing Cubes​

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In the spirit of packing and organization, this was another gift from Santa! These are pretty good quality, the four of them were able to compress all of the shirts I've purchased for this trip so far. I'm looking for even more and trying to get my suitcase suuuuper organized so I have room to spare for souvenirs this trip, so if you have any more recs for packing cubes, let me know!

You can find them on Amazon here.
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Mini Stepper​

Bonus buy!

Obviously, this little step machine isn't going to WDW with us, but it's something I bought back in January to start increasing my step count during cold, rainy months when it's not easy to go on a walk around the block. Every single year I say I'm going to increase my daily step count in preparation for the thousands of daily steps I take in WDW. I've been stepping on this pretty consistently and it's fun to watch walkthroughs of the Disney Parks while I do 30 minutes here and 30 minutes there on my lunch break or before dinner.

There's a small amount of tension in this machine, so it's a bit more of a leg work-out than just walking around the block a few times. But still, if you're looking for something low-impact to keep you active without having to go to the gym or leave your living room, this has been a lot of fun and keeps me motivated to move!

If you have TikTok, your FYP is probably getting bombarded with TikTok Shop ads for this machine, but I personally bought it on Amazon here. When I bought mine, it was only $60, but the price fluctuates based off of demand, so you can probably grab it for cheaper if you wait a few weeks.


That's everything I have so far for my WDW trip! I still need to buy a few more things but I'm curious to hear about what everyone else considers a must-buy for their vacations. Especially if you have gadgets that make packing easier and free up space in your suitcase! Let me know!
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[Mollydolly334]

LOVE all of the Disney merch!! I have been putting together a shopping list as well. I have SO much Disney stuff, but every single trip, I'm always like "Hmmm... a few more new shirts/outfits wouldn't hurt"

I especially love the Tinkerbell makeup case; what a cute find!! Tink is my favorite character so I love anything with her on it! I also have been eyeing up packing cubes for a while now but haven't pulled the trigger. Do they seem to free up space in your suitcase?? If anything, they'll help you stay organized!

 

[Newsies]

LOVE all of the Disney merch!! I have been putting together a shopping list as well. I have SO much Disney stuff, but every single trip, I'm always like "Hmmm... a few more new shirts/outfits wouldn't hurt"

I just need people to stop making such cute merch, honestly! Don't the people who make Disney t-shirts know that I'm trying to save money?

I especially love the Tinkerbell makeup case; what a cute find!! Tink is my favorite character so I love anything with her on it! I also have been eyeing up packing cubes for a while now but haven't pulled the trigger. Do they seem to free up space in your suitcase?? If anything, they'll help you stay organized!

I looooove the Tinker Bell case, she's my fav too so this case made me go squeeeee when I unwrapped it!!!

As far as freeing up space in my suitcase, honestly, I'm not sure -- I may have to run some tests

Re: staying organized, I agree, they're definitely going to help me stay organized at the hotel and I'm going to enjoy just throwing a few organizers into our dressers rather than having to unpack all of my clothes and sift through an entire drawer every time I get dressed!