13 month old tips

[smraynor]

We are taking our first trip with our daughter Amelia (who will be 13 months). We are staying at the Beach Club in a one room studio (vacation club rooms).

We would love to hear any tips that anyone could give us! Keep in mind that Mommy and Daddy have been many many times without a baby. So we know the resorts and parks inside out!

Be as general or specific as you want! We want to hear it all!

 

[tjmw2727]

Since you know the parks you have an idea of what you want to do with dd so I will try and keep my ideas to "traveling with toddler" and thinks you may not have noticed before having baby.

I am sure you know about the baby care stations but just in case here is a link with the information courtesy of allears:

http://allearsnet.com/pl/infant.htm#babystat
Actually that link if you scroll to the top is very valuable!

My best tip with a toddler that age is use a sling or snuggli as you can't bring the stroller in the queues. Mine did pretty well for some of the lines but for others they wanted or needed to be held and the snugli was a lifesaver. There are also a few of the pavilions esp in Epcot where you can't bring a stroller at all. I remember at 15mos my youngest went through a 5 day trip saying, more boats, more boats and to her every ride was a boat. A memory I will never forget and love to remind her of still.

I also suggest a full size stroller so she can nap when and where she decides to . We used a clip on umbrella in addition to the stroller sunshade as well as a clip on fan for a breeze and white noise.
We made our big meal of the day a late lunch, I found my kids needed a break from the parks and were better behaved for lunch (and still do/are!). A late breakfast also worked out well for us.

We would also take a later afternoon break and dress dd's in comfy pj's before heading out for the night. Since we always brought a nice fully reclining stroller we would often spend our evenings at Epcot. Since dd's would always fall asleep comfy in the stroller it was almost like having a night out withough leaving dd's behind.

Approach the characters from afar, some toddlers love them some don't.

Carry what you would for a day at the zoo or other outing and remember to offer lots of liquids.

That's all I can think of for now but if you have more questions ask away!

TJ

 

[EthansMom]

Take antibacterial handwash and use it! On our last trip my DD13 mos. got pink eye -- the doctor at the walk-in clinic said they see several children every day with pink eye from the parks. Also, there were lots of people who obviously had colds.

Make sure to take any and all necessary medications from home. On our next trip, we're flying and I'm taking the kids' nebulizer.

Another tip: Before you leave, make up meal kits for your child. I placed a disposable placemat, disposable bib, jar of baby food, and a plastic baby spoon each in a plastic bag to make feeding kits. I had enough kits for breakfast, lunch and dinner each day.

At WDW, all I had to do was throw in one kit for each meal into the diaper bag in the morning and it was handy to pull them out at meal time -- no searching for each item, just open the diaper bag and pull out a plastic ziploc bag with everything in it.

Also, disposable sippy cups and changing pads were very nice on the trip.

Plan on doing laundry if you're staying more than a few days. Pack laundry soap, dryer sheets and a stain stick. DH and I could last an entire week without doing laundry for ourselves, but the kids run through their clothes in about 3-4 days.

Try to make Advanced Dining Reservations for one or two character meals. My children both loved dinner at Crystal Palace with Pooh and friends last visit and DS4 has already requested dinner with Pooh and one with Mickey for our next visit.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[smraynor]

This is just the sort of thing we are looking for! The "if I did it again, I would do this differently" kind of response.

 

[tjmw2727]

Ethansmom - love the meal kit idea. We went with my sil and dn and dn in December and I am trying to remember anything special she did or wishes she did.

My sil did bring a jar or two of baby food even though dn wasn't eating to much of it at home. It was a nice alternative if the food was too spicey or just a better meal than say a hot dog or other kids meal.

My sil also made an effort to teach my neice to use a straw, this came in handy more than once. She also brought the tiny juice boxes as well as the water bottles with the flouride added (Dannon IIRC) and the sipper top. She would freeze a water bottle as an ice pack and by later in the afternoon she had cold water for DN, either to drink or to dilute some juice with.

I am sure I will think of more and we usually talk on Sunday so I will ask her as well.

Oh - take lots of pictures you can never have enough of those.

TJ

 

[laughinplace199]

I would also recommend bringing some baby food, even if she isn't really eating it at home anymore. I brought applesauce, which could be used as a snack or part of a meal. Also, bring snacks that she likes (Cheerios, Goldfish, etc.)

I found disposable sippy cups, disposable changing pads, and disposable bibs to be very convenient.

Also, bring some small toys or books that can help keep her occupied during meals or while waiting in line for rides.

Have a great time!

 

[Lulu's Mom]

In 5 days we will be taking our 16 month to Disney. Here are some ideas that I have come up with from this board...

1. Bring some small toys to entertain while waiting. I bought my DD some new little things that I know she will love to play with and that will entertain her while we are waiting.

2. Get the stickers from the CM at the entrances for rides, if you are comfortable with stickers of course. Stickers get my DD occupied for a good while, she loves them.

3. Snacks.. others have said it but depending on how comfortable you are with this, my DD is great with them, a small box of raisins. Not only does she love to eat them but the box itself is entertainment in its own right for her.

4. Work at their pace... my DD is very laid back and will fall asleep when she is tired, some babies are not. Also take time to enjoy the surroundings. We did this last time when our DD was 5 months and it was the best trip we ever had. We use to just rush around to go on all the rides and I now know that part of the Disney magic is seeing a little bit of everything.

Depending on when you are going, when I get back I can let you know what did and did not work for us. Hope some of this was helpful.

 

[Zoemakes5]

This is the same age that I took my DD for her first WDW trip. I took my DS1 the first time when he was 16 months.
I agree with a lot of the disposable and "keeping busy" ideas.
I never used a sling until I took DD to WDW at 13 months and it was a god send!!! I needed something that would semi-confine her and help out as she wanted to be held while we were waiting in lines or exploring at EPCOT. She'd snuggle up and fall asleep against me (which was a huge surprise, she wasn't an at will sleeper.) I got one last minute at Once Upon a Child. Loved it!
Also, some extra "stuff" to keep in the stroller that we ended up really using. A large, clear poncho to place over the stroller, so when it rains (which it inevitably does), she can still see but stays dry. I always toss a change of socks and a towel into a plastic bag for similar purposes (or for the inevitable "I must go into the water" trip!). A changing pad or towel. Extra blankets/lovies. (We used extra blankets to shade them in the afternoon.) And one of the best things we ever did...those chain-like plastic toys that babies like? Buy a package and attach them to the stroller and/or your sling. You can use them to hang water bottles, attach toys to the stroller for your child to play with without being lost, great to hang stuff to dry it off, to hang umbrellas or packages. We have used these like crazy.
I found that our little one did better with the sit-down meals for dinner, rather than lunch, as lunch was pretty close to nap time. finger food snacks while waiting were always good things. We used disposable bibs here too.
I would do only one or two of the early entry days if your little one isn't an early riser. (Mine aren't) However, if you have a 6am'er, then by all means get there early and see what you can. We honestly found that our children really enjoyed all of the parks at that age, though the favorite ride of all was small world. DD and DS1 both said again again a number of times after small world.
If your toddler is a walker, let her walk whenever you can. We let her walk around most of the Wold Showcase and didn't have any trouble. We went early in the day. We did use a hand to hand velcro strap when we went to MK, though, as we had to keep her closer to us. She thought it was something fun to play with and I had put cute little stickers onto the velcro part on her hand.
We found that these trips were some of the best. Everything is "ohhh and wow". The pace was less frenzied. The "magic" was often in the little things we didn't see or wouldn't have noticed....like the butterfly near the bushes and things that were at their eye level. Take time to let her interest lead you for awhile. My children, at that age, didn't have fear yet of the characters, so we got some really cute pic's of them with Pooh and Mickey, etc. Character breakfasts were really fun. As they got a bit older, the "face" characters, like the Princesses were easier to "deal with" for them.
I'm so excited for you! Have lots of fun.

 

[Camping Griswalds]

Where do you guys purchase the "slings?" When we go in Jan my DD will be 17 months old. Is that too big for a sling? Believe it or not, when my boys were little (now 13 and 9) I can't remember what we did with them on trips to the zoo etc. The youngest they were for Disney was 2.5 and 6. Thanks