Disney at night with 14 month old

[coachlevy]

DS will be 14 months when we visit Disney. He usually goes to bed at 7:30, but I expect there will be some later nights on vacation. We made most dinner reservarions for 5:30 or 6. Any advice for trying to see some night parades and not have a cranky baby? Any other advice for Disney with a baby would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[ChristmasEveTwins]

We traveled to Disney when my dd was 5 months and again at 8 months. We tried to be back in our room by 8 p.m. most nights, but a few times we stayed out later. What helped us the most was a stroller that reclined so she could sleep. If the stroller didn't do the trick, we used a sling or carrier and held her until she fell asleep and then transferred her to the stroller.

Try to get a good nap in before your dinner reservations. We would put dd down for a nap in the PnP, and then read a book or play cards on the balcony/deck while she napped. A benefit to hotel rooms is when you pull the drapes, it's like nighttime.

Sleep in and plan a lazy morning for the day after a late night out.

 

[lclark0621]

Will your child sleep places?

When my DS was 9 months old, 21 months old & 32 months old, we took him to WDW. He would sleep anywhere. He would fall asleep on our shoulders or in his strollers. He took more naps then usual during the day in WDW, which was fine with us. And then he would be awake at night for parades, etc.

We always went back to the hotel in the middle of the day for a couple of hours. He would nap a long time & then be completely refreshed. If he slept for 4 hours (much more then normal), we let him, because he would be happy & awake at night.

We are not schedule parents, so there was not set nap time or bedtime for our DS. He slept when he was tired. And it worked great for us.

Yes, there were some nights we would be back to the hotel before the parades & fireworks & that was just fine. But he also made it & was happy to see things at night, a lot of our evenings.

 

[northriver]

We are following the advice of the previous poster. My DD is a bit older, as will be 21 months, but she doesn't like to nap away from home, even in a stroller. We haven't planned much in the evenings, and evening plans are all expendable (as in no nonrefundable reservations) - so if she can't make it we'll take her back to the room to sleep. The nights we wan't to do late nights are before our planned sleep in days - one mid week morning break - and the other is our last night. Generally, I'm planning early mornings and touring hard until early afternoon. Then calling it quits for the parks, just swimming and otherwise relaxing. If she gets a good nap, maybe head back to the parks for a little while but that would be a bonus!

After much debate, we also decided to stay at the Poly. Definately more than I want to spend on hotel rooms, but we have a larger group that can split up and the convenience of easily getting the littlest one back to the room without stranding everyone else without a car - definately will make a more plesant vacation for everyone.

 

[airtime247]

We took our DD at 9 months and purposely didn't plan anything for any evening we didn't have a sitter. She goes to bed at 6:30 every night and we wanted to keep that routine as best as possible.

What we didn't expect was how difficult a time she would have going to sleep every night in the room.

By the middle of the trip, we decided to just stay out late and do what we wanted. We tried the stroller and sling and if she didn't nap in one, she generally did the other.

It actually worked like a charm because the poor little thing was so worn out by the time we got back to the room, she fell right asleep with no problems whatsoever!

We did avoid dinner ADRs at any place that wasn't really noisy in case she was cranky (which occasionally she was) but she did great with Wishes, Illuminations and seeing the Osborne Lights and we even stayed out for evening Extra Magic Hours.

-steve

 

[mom2-four]

Honestly, I would honor his bedtime and you'll have to plan around it. I know its a hard thing to do, but in my mind, a rested happy toddler more than outweighs trying to stay awake to see parades and fireworks.

 

[airtime247]

I agree about honoring the bedtime if possible but in our case, our daughter wasn't falling asleep until 10 or 11 anyway. The only way she was sleeping was in her stroller or sling so she actually got more sleep by us staying out later.

We ended up having a much better time too since we weren't facing a battle at our room for a few hours each night.

We were really worried about this throwing off her routine when we got home but it wasn't a problem at all.

-steve

 

[mom2-four]

I agree about honoring the bedtime if possible but in our case, our daughter wasn't falling asleep until 10 or 11 anyway. The only way she was sleeping was in her stroller or sling so she actually got more sleep by us staying out later.

We ended up having a much better time too since we weren't facing a battle at our room for a few hours each night.

We were really worried about this throwing off her routine when we got home but it wasn't a problem at all.

-steve

I agree 100%!

I think you need to do, what is best for your child and family, even if it does mean some sacrafices.

 

[coachlevy]

Thanks for all of the advice. I am certainly going to try to stay on schedule as much as possible, although I will take him to see Spectromagic. I'll hope that he stays awake, but if not, hopefully the stroller will work.

 

[Liltx]

We went when each of my dd's were 18 months (They are both March Babies). They were both schedule babies.

With our first we would always return to the room for a nap and then eat an early dinner. Most nights we returned to the room by 7:30 so that she could go to sleep at regular time of 8:00 (7:00 CST where we live). One night we did go to Spectro but left right afterwards on the monorail to the CR. We could watch the fireworks from our room so that helped as well. We did sleep in the next day. She would also sleep in the stroller.

Our second would only sleep in a crib so we had to take it slower and one of us would take 3yo dd to see the parades. We have lots of parades and fireworks in out city so we didn't miss too much. The kids liked the afternoon parades better anyway.

Best of luck.

Monica