Not long to go now.......But need some baby help!!!

[Whisky In A VAse]

Well, after booking my holiday what feels like a life time ago, we are now all set to travel 12/4 - 26/4 for two weeks at Windsor Hills.

I will br travelling with DW, DD (5), DS (8months) and both sets of parents. I have been to Florida a couple of time before so generally I know what to expect. But I just wanted some idea of what I advise there is for taking a young one. I remember asking this question when I booked the holiday and lots of you guys came back and said go for it....so we did...

I just want to know things like:
Flights, what baby food/mile was you allowed to take through customs.
What food/milk did you take with you?
Did you take your own pram? I think we are taking ours even though the villa provide one?
Did you take your own car seat or hire one from Dollar?
Any advise you can give to me that means we can have a more enjoyable stay would be appreciated.

Thanks

Neil

:yay: :dance3: :yay:

[JohnnySharp2]

Hi,

Can only advise on a couple of points as I cannot remember the others, well is was 10 years ago. :)

Have frequently taken our own stroller and personally think it's best, the villa may provide one and you can buy cheap enough out there but I would rather have my own - especially if you know it provides shelter from the heat. It may also be of a higher quality and more comfortable too.

Have never taken our own car seat, think we have rented one from Dollar once. It was 'okay' not up to the standard of our own but for the extra bulk of taking one with us it did what we required for the length of the holiday.
I don't know how much they charge to rent one though.

Weather shouldn't be too oppressive for your dates, though I always advocate getting to the parks early with little one's, they are usually at their most active.
Stock up on your groceries at Publix and as you are in a villa take the time to be able to relax, touring the parks can be demanding with children so plan a few rest days.

[~Piglet~]

Hi, I travelled to the Dom Republic with my (then) 10 month old in September. It is roughly the same flight time as Florida and I took enough food for DD's usual meal times plus a bit extra in case we were delayed. I packed everything into small resealable containers and had made up bottles of milk, and I was glad I did as I had to taste every one at Manchester Airport. On the way back the Dominican's didn't ask me to taste anything!

We took our own buggy and had no problems checking it in etc :)

[dstiles]

Hi

We travelled with our DD last December, she was 6 months. We took cartons of ready made formula on the flight. You can't take these through UK security so have to buy them airside. We phoned Boots at Gatwick and they reserved some for us. She hadn't really started eating much food by that stage so we didn't have to take anything else for the flight.

Flying home, the US side of things will let you take cartons of milk onto the plane, you just have to get them put through the scanner separately to the rest of your hand luggage.

We packed a couple of boxes of powdered formula in our case to use during the holiday as they don't sell Aptamil over there. I'm sure that we would have been fine with one of the US brands but we thought we'd stick with what we know.

We took our own pram with us as it was really handy to have it at the airport.

We stayed onsite and got the Magical Express to our hotel and then picked up a car the following day and rented a car seat from Alamo. The car seats looked old and I had to hunt around to find one I was happy to put my daughter in. This time we are using the magical express and then buying a car seat the first day, as it works out cheaper to buy a seat over there than to rent.

Hope you have a great trip, our little one absolutely loved it. Let us know how you get on.

[amystevekai&bump]

Hi

We travelled with our DD last December, she was 6 months. We took cartons of ready made formula on the flight. You can't take these through UK security so have to buy them airside. We phoned Boots at Gatwick and they reserved some for us.
.

Hi - just wondering how far in advance did you ring Boots to reserve the Milk??:thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2

[aaronandterri]

also car seats are way cheap over there bring it home with u - you must be ready for the next size up one soon?

In Mothercare they do these baby fans that clip onto the buggy to help keep baby cool.

request an infant care chair from your airline if the baby has its own seat, makes life easier, virgins ones are quite comfy as well.

[dstiles]

We had phoned up Boots a long time before the trip as we were getting really worried about how we were going to get the milk through security and they said to phone up about 2 days before you fly.
They said they normally only have a couple of types in, but the 2 days gives them enough time to get whichever brand you normally use and they will make sure that its put to one side. I think we took about 6 cartons to give us some extra for take off and landing

[Revtel]

Last time I checked, Dollar were charging an eye-watering $10 per day (plus tax) to hire a car seat. :eek:

[ALBA]

We have travelled quite a few times with DD, her first trip was at 5.5mths to orlando.

We took bottles of sterilised water and pre-measured sachets of formula through security and we packed enough in our case to last the two weeks...worked a treat. Security may ask you to taste a bit of water from one or all bottles...it's at the discretion of the security officer.

Nappies and wipes we take enough for the first 24hrs and buy the rest there. They have pampers, huggies etc.

If you take jars of food through security they can sometimes ask you to taste one of the jars to prove it's ok....again it depends on the security officer. We use jars of food for convenience sometimes when out and about for DD, but found the USA ones not to her liking. We took some jars from the UK, packed them in our suitcase and declared them on the customs declaration...we weren't searched, they only asked us what food we had. If you are in any of the disney parks make full use of their baby facilities. They have loads of changing stations, high chairs, microwave etc. If you get caught short they also sell nappies, wipes and essentials.

We took our own pram, and after a bad experience with a car rental seat the first time we now take our own....virgin BA etc will take free of charge anyway.

The best purchase we made prior to going away was a shade for the pram. There are a few on the market but the one we used was called protect a bub...it was great and adds a bit extra to the shade on the pram which we found we needed. So many people stopped us to ask where we bought it.

The first trip we took to the US, we found that DD was a bit small to sit in the wooden high chairs they have in restaurants there, she was sliding around. We found (in Super Target for $20) an inflatible booster seat that fitted right inside the high chair and securited her better. It also fits onto most standard dining chairs and is small so we take it with us every trip now. You can buy them here in mothercare etc.

We bought sunscreen in the US for our daughter. It's called coppertone, factor 50 spray and it goes on so easily as it's a lightweight lotion. Much better than any of the ones I've tried here.

On the way back we found US security were pretty strict about the sterile water, they wanted us to mix the powder and water together, we just tipped out the water and bought some bottled water at the other side that was suitable for babies (ie low sodium)....I wouldn't do it all the time but ok for an emergency according to Health Visitor.

Sorry for waffling on but I hope it helps...if I can think of anything else I will let you know.

Alba
:)

[Zeebs]

The first trip we took to the US, we found that DD was a bit small to sit in the wooden high chairs they have in restaurants there, she was sliding around. We found (in Super Target for $20) an inflatible booster seat that fitted right inside the high chair and securited her better. It also fits onto most standard dining chairs and is small so we take it with us every trip now. You can buy them here in mothercare etc.

Alba
:)

this is handy to know I suspect it would be cheaper in the US rather than purchasing from Mothercare, I am always horrified while looking for something while online that the same thing is half the price in dollars which makes it a 1/4 of the price they sell it over here for in most cases.

Oh and I am very glad I breastfed what a faff at the airports, can't make me tip anything out LOL. :lmao:

[dstiles]

One extra tip that I forgot to mention in my earlier postings is to leave room in your case to bring back some toys. We got loads of toys from Walmart and Target for a fraction of the price that they cost in the UK.

[ALBA]

One extra tip that I forgot to mention in my earlier postings is to leave room in your case to bring back some toys. We got loads of toys from Walmart and Target for a fraction of the price that they cost in the UK.

Good thinking...you just reminded me that we bought a colapsable bouncy chair from walmart on our first trip, used it all holiday and then dismantled it and brought it back...it was really cheap and very portable.

Alba
:)