5 month old snap and go vs city mini? Other tips for bringing 5 month old?

[WDWOswald]

We are trying to decide which stroller is best. He is currently much more comfortable in his snap and go and car seat as opposed to the city mini. My wife and I will be flying from long island and staying at bonnet creek for a week. We are renting an SUV.

Any tips besides stroller preference would be helpful as well!

 

[rblucy]

We started using our city mini GT for our son at about 3 1/2 months. In the beginning we used a little insert like you'd find with a car seat to help support him. By 5 months he fit in the stroller very comfortably without the insert. We plan on bringing our city mini GT in November and our son will be 10 1/2 months.

 

[MichaelaF]

I can't help too much with the stroller (I haven't used either of those), but for us, it was most important to get whichever would recline the best for napping. Ours didn't recline all the way, but it was mostly okay. At that age, ours actually napped more in the baby carrier (Ergo) than the stroller. We took light blankets and some binder clips to clip on the sun shade (and drape over) and block out some light and the busyness.

It's definitely pretty important to take some sort of baby carrier, since you can't take the stroller in line or in some restaurants. Otherwise you'll end up getting really tired holding the little one a lot.

Make good use of the baby care areas! Ours was still nursing a lot at that age, so it was nice to get out of the heat in there. AK has the BEST baby care center - we loved the private rooms there, just to get a break from the heat and crowds.

We had a great time with ours at 5 months and we have great pictures from it. He was so little that he could just go with the flow and he still napped easily. But the great thing about Disney is how many rides we could take him on! They even let us take him on Pirates (hold on tight during the drops) and Malestrom. And he slept the whole way through a very competitive Buzz Lightyear experience.

Ours did NOT care much for Small World at that age though. Not his jam!

 

[Lincolnshire]

Have you done longer outings with the snap and go? We love ours but both of my kids seemed to get too hot in the car seat if they were in there for any length of time. The sun shade is also much better in the citi mini.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

My son went to WDW at 5mo and I brought an umbrella stroller that reclined and had a good sunshade (the pic with Pluto in my signature is from that trip). He liked looking around and it definitely would have been too hot for him in the car seat. It was the easiest trip so far since he was easily contained at that time. I vote for the CitiMini.

I also agree with the pp posters that suggest to also bring a carrier.

 

[Lupeix]

I would get the city mini car seat adapter and take the city mini. You want to have as many options as you can. You will need the carseat once you are there, so having the adapter makes it easier to navigate through the airport and gives you the option of having both the carseat and the stroller to sleep on while at WDW. The carseat could get very hot depending on the weather, I will try getting him used to nap on the stroller before you leave, it is roomier cooler and has better shade. A baby carrier is a good idea, but depending how heavy your baby is it can be pretty tiring having him nap there if you are not used to baby wearing.
I will also consider bringing the car seat base with you to install on the rental car, it will make your life easier.
I did not go to WDW until DS was older but travelled quite a bit with him when he was little, one of the best tips I got was to ship all baby necessities such as diapers, wipes, etc ahead of time using diapers.com.

 

[staceyrhood]

A stroller fan, a must have down here if you are going anytime between may-October.

 

[Crl1817]

Infant car seats restrict breathing and should not be used for extended periods outside of car or air travel. For some reason this safety issue does not seem to be well-known. I discovered it when researching strollers for my youngest.

I'm pasting one link below, but there are more including more recent studies and I would urge parents to research this issue so as to make an informed choice about extended infant car seat usage.

A stroller like the city mini with full recline and a big canopy is an excellent choice for the long days at disney world, IMO.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/24/car.seat.blood.oxygen/index.html?iref=24hours

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

City mini, plus a good baby carrier (Tula, Ergo).

 

[TLCdisneyfan]

City mini, plus a good baby carrier (Tula, Ergo).

I agree completely! A snap-n-go will be awfully hot if you're traveling in Sept or Oct. In the carseat, air can't ventilate well.

 

[SweetMissy]

By snap and go, I'm assuming you mean the carseat that you take out of the car and place in the stroller? If so, I wouldn't bring that. It's a carseat and not good on the hips or head for a baby to be sitting in that too long. Not to mention, they're bulky and heavy. Do you and/or your wife babywear? If not, I would suggest that rather than a stroller. Babywearing truly makes things much easier! We haven't used a stroller since our 1st kid because I discovered babywearing after our 2nd was born. Our youngest 1st trip to disney was when he was 4 months old and I wore him the whole time and also figure out how to nurse in it too...made it much easier. I have a beco gemini, worked well. Anyway, good luck!