1st time with toddler!

[Gromit]

Having been a fairly regular visitor before our last trip to WDW in October 2000, I knew this was the best place for Disney-related advice. We are going again in November, but this time we have our two year old heading for his first trip and we have some questions.

We are going on a Virgin fly-drive from Gatwick, renting a car from Dollar. We have gone with the platinum car hire package which includes a car seat. My question is, are the car seats you get of a good quality or are they old rickety things that look a bit dodgy. This is a major worry obviously. Do you all use the seats that come with the hire car or do you take your own?

Secondly, is it worth taking our own pushchair with us or buying one cheaply when we're there, to cut down on luggage? If we bought one there we would leave it at the house when we left.

Thirdly, the baggage allowance states "two pieces at 32kg per piece". Does that mean that if we take a pushchair or car seat as well, we will have to pay extra?

Finally (for now!) any good tips for keeping a two year old quiet/entertained for nine hours? All suggestions gratefully received.

Great to be back on this forum, I'm sure I'll have loads more questions in the coming weeks.

Bye for now, Donna

 

[BevS97]

the car seats I saw were disgusting rickety old things, take your own. Take your own pushchair as well. Neither of them count as part of your luggage allowance, and they can both be checked as soon as you enter the airport, or you can take the stroller all the way to the gate if you prefer.

I have never found taking a pushchair/carseat to be a hassle and I've done it loads of times, you only have to deal with them from the car to the check-in desk, and then from the baggage claim back to the hire car, at baggage claim we are always quite glad of the stroller as our dd is quite ready to sit down, so one pushes the stroller and the other the luggage trolley with all the cases and the carseat balanced on the top.

Personally, I don't think the pushchairs available in the USA are up to much, I would suggest a Maclaren umbrella stroller that reclines, you can get one for £40 here and they are brilliant - dead easy to push, fold up small, comfy (ok, I haven't sat in it, but my dd seemed happy enough)

entertainment on the plane.... Hmm.. Not sure at 2 years, at 3 1/2 my dd was quite happy to watch the kids tv for many hours, but at 2 she might be a little young for the programmes they show. Sticker books are always a hit, so is plasticine (the cheap flat kind is easy to pack), story tapes on headphones, colouring. What we did was pack enough presents/activities for 1 per hour, and then we only pulled a new thing out of the bag each hour. My dd was able to understand that she had to wait, that might be harder at 2, but it meant that we didn't go through the entire bag of tricks in the first half an hour of the flight.

Bev

 

[Madjock]

Hi Donna,

His first trip, how exciting! He'll love it

To help with some of your questions: we booked through Virgin and used Dollars car seat (platinum package also). Ours was fine, in good condition and quite similar to the one we used at home. Not at all dodgy although I have heard some people's experience was different.

We took our own pushchair as we wanted it at the airport. You check it in at the same time as your luggage, they give you a luggage sticker to put around it but then you can keep it with you until you are actually boarding the plane. When you get on the plane you leave the pushchair at the stairs and it is then loaded onto the plane. This is not included as part of your allowance. We did see some reasonably cheap pushchairs in Walmarts which had we not taken our own we would have bought one as this would have worked out cheaper than renting one everyday at the parks.

As for the travelling, we bought her lots of sticker books, she loved Tweenies and Tellytubies at the time so lots of them. We also bought a small, cheap, etch-a-sketch thing and some plasticine. Some pencils and markers (ones with paws, stars, smiley faces, that sort of thing) and coloured paper. Although they do show kiddies programmes, such as the Tweenies, etc on the TV at that age she didn't like wearing the headphones. She also had a long nap, nearly 2 hours. She did really well until the last hour at which point we took turns walking up and down the aisle with her along with lots of other parents doing the same thing

Coming back we tired her out during the day with mini golf and swimming and gave her something to eat at the airport and luckily enough for us she slept the whole way home!

Hope this helps

Annmarie

 

[Birtie]

We're going in a couple of weeks and are following the above advice and taking our own buggy and carseat.

As for the journey, so far we have got:
Pocket Magna Doodle
Stickers (half price at Woollies)
Notepad & pencils
CD with DD's fave songs on
Story Books

 

[vernon]

When I had a rented carseat booked it was so bad that I went to Walmart bought a new one ( which we actually needed anyway. as DD had outgrown her "newborn" sized carseat and was ready for a bigger one anyway). The car rental company didn't complain about refunding the hire for the carseat as I made a little fuss about the safety/protection (or lack of it) offered by the unit they were trying to foist upon me.
I also bought a stroller in the US as I found most of the UK ones were far too hot for the Florida summer.

For both items, if your current ones are in good order and you think suitable for the tasks thn you'll have no problem taking them with you. If you need news ones anyway then it might be a good opportunity to upgrade.

Welcome back, and have a great trip.

 

[Beth__WDW23/6/02]

Hiya,And Welcome Back

Your little one is going to have the time of there life.
We came back a couple of weeks ago,and had the platinum package! We have a daughter aged 3,so we wanted the car seat also,but i did take my own for just in case! i had heard people saying they was a little bit of a mess and a safety concern.
So when we got there,it was a mess,and he didnt know how to fit the seat that isnt there job and i didnt have a clue,so in the end i opted for my own and left theres in the boot of the car!
As for pushchair i also took my own,chicco trekking, they dont class any of the above as your baggage allowance!! so you might aswell take your own!

As for keeping the little one entertained,when we went last year when DD was 2, we took her crayoning books, sticker books, she did like watching the vtots channel,but did also sleep alot too!!
Took her anyway up cup for taking off and landing,and a few of her fave snacks too. (fruit etc).
Take a few story books,and spend time reading them to her a good way of passing time for you both!
I dont know what else to say!

I like the idea of what Bev said about the present an hour!! thats a great idea.

Have a fantastic holiday,
Beth&Family

 

[DisneyBB]

We have been with our kids at all ages. Last year our youngest was 2 and we took our own (light) car seat and stroller. You really need stroller at the airport. The car seat is awkward to carry, but I perched it on top of the pram. I bought lots of goodies for her and like the above posts, consisted of stiker books, colouring, magic drawing board. When she got bored of one I would pull out a new thing. She didn't sleep much, but between my DH and myself we managed to eat and watch a film each! This year DD's will be 9 and 3, so she would maybe watch some television this time.

 

[SEVANS2208]

This has been really helpful. We took our buggy last time we went (which is useful to hang onto until you board the plane to save you carrying the little one around the airport!) but had never considered taking our own car seat.

Just a couple of things though - how do you "pack" the car seat & will it get ruined on the baggage carousel?

 

[DisneyBB]

We handed ours into the special luggage office, we cover it in a large plastic bag. I don't think they put them on the carousel, but to one side.

 

[Beth__WDW23/6/02]

When we went this time,they handed us a big bag for our pram,and one for the seat they have virgin all over etc...its to protect it etc,keep it for coming home as we never received one at mco airport. luckily i already bagged it in the one we had!

Beth

 

[BevS97]

beth, how was your chicco trekking? That's what I've bought for the new baby (well it's a 2003 so nearly the same), I had one years ago for Katie and really liked it, so I am hoping I am just as happy this time around.

I have never done anything special with my carseat or pushchair, the carseat was put into a plastic box (like a safeways box) at Newcastle airport, and we took it to the special luggage place where they deal with skis and golf clubs and it arrived at the other end no problem.

The stroller has always been in use right up to the gate, where we have handed it in, and it has been returned to us either at the gate, or the carousel. I am thinking about getting a bag for this next trip, as my trekking will be nearly brand new, and it was expensive, and last time I flew with my Chicco 2001 it was broken by the airline, but I have flown with plenty of other pushchairs which have been fine.
I should say that when BA broke the stroller, they did give me cash to replace it straight away, so although it was inconvienent, I can't really complain.

As Vernon has mentioned, you can get some good prices on prams/strollers/carseats in the USA, but to be honest, I think we have nicer prams/strollers over here -it's just a personal preference, but I wasn't that impressed when I looked last time.
If you want a graco style shopping stroller with a big basket and
cup holders, then you will do well to look in the States, but for an umbrella folding one, or a decent pram you are better off over here.

The carseats are probably fine, but the safety regs are different in each country, so I am not sure that they compare exactly (although I would expect they are both perfectly safe, just different).

Bev