Help! WDW with a 1 year old!

[Jco10]

DO you have any suggestions for food? any tips? We are leaving to go to WDW on Aug 14th staying in a standard room at the BC. We want to make a garden grocer order. Looking for suggestions for my 1 year old. Worried that we made a mistake taking her so young. Her sister is 3.5 and her cousins will also be there (5 and 3).
Thanks

 

[chloelovesdisney]

My son went at 12mo and 15mo and had a great time. I also placed a garden grocer order for whole milk, yogurt, cheese, cheerios and honestly I don't remember what else but it was all stuff he ate at home. I just wanted some items in the room in case he got hungry but we mostly ate out and he was already eating regular food by that time so I didn't need baby food. At counter service locations I ordered him his own meal and at table service he shared with us and I just ordered him a side of vegetables or something to supplement.

I brought a reclining stroller with a good sunshade as well as a structured carrier (I like the Boba).

I shipped his diapers, wipes, inflatable tub, pool float, sunblock, etc., ahead of time to the resort.

Just be aware that whole milk can be hard to find in Disney, not all locations that sell milk have it and the stands don't sell milk at all. I was caught off guard at the beginning on how much time it could take to find some.

Have a great time!

 

[VbChristy]

We took our 1 year old it was terrific. (He was 6 days shy of 1). We hadn't switched him to whole milk yet. We are going when he's 16 months and we will have to deal with the milk thing then. It was an awesome trip. He had a blast. We did mornings in the park basically.

 

[tinkermomto3]

We took my youngest right before his first birthday and he did great. We ate out and he ate mostly eggs, green beans, pasta, chicken etc. We were still nursing, and I honestly do not know if he was drinking milk or water with meals at that time. I brought a lot of "snack" stuff I knew he would eat in case we couldn't find him something or in case I needed to "distract" him but he was really chill and easy at that age.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I would try to keep his food as close to what he eats at home as possible. If he is used to baby/toddler foods...order those and have them on hand in the room, and take some along each day into the parks. If he is used to real foods, cheese, cereals, etc, have some of those for the room. It should not be hard to feed him off your plates most places. You can often get a side of fruit or yogurt if needed. What I would caution against is giving him a lot of new, and less healthy foods. A fry here and there to nipple on or a few bites of your mickey bar is fine, but too many new things might make for tummy issues. I would not make any last minute changes at home and if he takes formula, simply leave him on that. If he is on whole milk, give him that anytime you can find it, but 2% won't hurt for a week. Take tons of healthy snacks and bottled water. WDW water taste funny and there is a good chance he won't drink it. Think though washing bottles or sippy cups and plan for that as well. We liked the disposable bibs, place mats and cups for travel at that age. We would mostly reuse the cups, but would toss a milk cup if we were out during the day.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

My DD will be 13 months when we go in a month. I can't wait for the trip! We took her at 3 months, so we would never think 1 years old is "too young." Baby will never remember these trips, but WE love them and we love having the photos and memories. You will have a great time!

I'm not speaking from experience, but here are some things we are planning.

-Bringing our nice Britax B Agile stroller with a huge sunshade and nice recline--hoping she continues to nap in the stroller as she has done in the past.

-If we weren't going to WDW I would have weaned her from her paci. But, I am continuing to let her use it at naps and bedtime, just to help when we are in WDW.


-I got her a stroller fan...it's going to be HOT. I got the Dreambaby one on Amazon that clips on the stroller and has foam fan blades.

-We have a rental car and are staying at a townhome with a kitchen. We are making a walmart run first thing for breakfast food and baby stuff. Planning on buying diapers, wipes, and her puffs there. Other than bringing her some puffs to eat while we are waiting for our food, I don't plan on doing anything special for her food--she eats what we eat for the most part.

-I got these nice stick-on plastic placemats from Target

-I'm planning to keep her bedtime the same as at home (7-8pm). No wishes or anything like that for us this trip. I'm hoping she naps in the stroller as she has done in the past.

-She refuses to wear sunglasses, but she will wear her big sunhat.

 

[MichaelaF]

Lots of great ideas here! We took our DS at 11 months to Disneyland (and will take him to WDW at 18 months soon) and it was pretty easy. We also took him to WDW last year at 5 months, so I wouldn't say you are taking them too young!

He was still nursing a lot at 11 mo, but we brought some food as well, and I stashed some fruit and cheerios from the breakfast buffet at our hotel. For this upcoming trip, we're planning on ordering diapers, wipes and and squeezable (shelf-stable) food packs from Amazon (having them delivered to the resort), and otherwise he'll just eat what we're eating (we are doing groceries and packing some meals each day). He's really flexible about sleep and so we can stay in the parks late without too much trouble. He didn't nap super well, but he's the type of kid who can go for days with just little short naps if he needs to (then he crashes out at night). We brought binder clips to clip up a thin blanket/cloth to block out some light at naptime, and made sure to bring his blankie (which signals to him that it's sleeptime). I don't know how it happened, but we managed to find ourselves with a couple of quiet mealtimes to ourselves because he was quietly resting in his stroller. Even when he didn't SLEEP, as long as he got that quiet rest time with the blanket up, he was fine for the day. (But I realize not all kids work like that.)

If you're going when it's hot, get a stroller fan BEFORE you go. We did not, and ended up getting one of the Mickey fans there. They kinda suck.

I'm a huge fan of baby care centers. So nice, and I always love the staff there. Animal Kingdom rooms are THE BEST!

 

[amyren]

oh you'll have fun! DS is 22 months and has been to WDW three times and Tokyo Disney once The biggest thing is flexibility. Personally I always take my kids back to our room in the heat of the day for a nap. They always seem more comfortable and with a good nap they can stay up later!
Utilize the sun shade on your stroller and as previous poster mentioned get a fan. We bought one of the misting fans when we were there last June (DS 8 months) and it was a life saver! I would also recommend a rain cover for your stroller. Oh and bring a carrier as well (we use an ergo). We don't usually wear him around the parks but this came in handy if we had to wait in a long line.
As far as food goes DS has always liked table food so we just feed him whatever we eat and supplement with milk. I did pack some snacks for him on our most recent trip... teddy grahams & cheese its in individual packets. We also found out that he loves popcorn so we had that on hand for him as well. Snacks really came in handy when we were waiting in line.
Edited to add that we also utilize the baby care centers!! They are so much calmer & cleaner than a regular bathroom.
Enjoy your trip.

 

[jawa7400]

I shipped his diapers, wipes, inflatable tub, pool float, sunblock, etc., ahead of time to the resort.


This is a genius idea! Did you ship stuff home at the end of your trip? Does the resort just hold it for you? How does that work?? I'm SOOO interested!!

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I shipped his diapers, wipes, inflatable tub, pool float, sunblock, etc., ahead of time to the resort.


This is a genius idea! Did you ship stuff home at the end of your trip? Does the resort just hold it for you? How does that work?? I'm SOOO interested!!

Yes, the resort holds it until you check in and then bell services brings it to the room. I keep the box in a corner and then pack any remaining items in the box plus the souvenirs we purchased to ship home at the end of the trip. The concierge desk will tape it up and charge for the shipping home.

All the shipping information is in a sticky on the Resorts forum.