6 month old in WDW? Need help

[jenfur]

OKay, I know I phrased that as a question, but I am taking my DS who will be 6 mos old to WDW in December. My sister is going crazy (mainly because she would LOVE to watch him for a week) about it. She says he will have a miserable time and make us miserable too. PLUS, he won't remember it.

First, I don't care if he will remember it- I will remember it, and I won't be able to really enjoy myself if hes not there. As for her other comments, I don't know. DH isn't worried because he will be dealing with the other 3 (my Mom is also going) and I will be mainly responsible for baby. He is worried about he 12 hour drive-we drive at night so it hasn't been a problem in the past. My only worries are of course, the drive, what can baby DS do, and mealtimes. Its been 5 years since I have had a 6mos old, so I don't really remember what exactly he will be like. I know he will not be eating much, and may be able to sit up then.

Anybody have any tips? What can he ride (with me of course)? We usually do a lot of character breakfast and then maybe one sit-down, the rest are counter service- how do others handle meal times? Anybody else drive for HOURS with VERY little ones? Any help would be great.

 

[justhat]

We were in WDW in May and June with my daughter who was 12 weeks on the 1st trip and 14-16 weeks on the 2nd trip and we all had a great time. She was younger than your baby will be when you go, but in terms of her meals, she eats about every 2-3 hours and she's breastfed, so we just stopped when she was hungry and I fed her. In May I fed her wherever we were when she got hungry, but in June it was so much hotter so I tried to go to the baby care centers when I knew she'd want to eat, or in a cool attraction, like the Hall of Presidents or Ellen's Energy Adventure.

When it was time for my husband and I to eat, I either held her on my lap, the Baby Bjorn, or put her in her stroller (everyplace we ate allowed us to bring it to the table).

On the May trip, our extended families came with us and my cousin's baby was 6 months old and was on a pretty similar schedule to my daughter. We tried to coordinate their feedings (they both ate every 2 hours), which worked out well for us. She was also only on breastmilk because my cousin decided to hold off on the solids till they got back from the trip so she wouldn't have to bring all that around with her and risk a reaction on vacation.

We both flew down so I can't comment on driving, but we do drive from DC to NJ a lot and that's around 4-5 hours. We stop around every 2 hours to feed her and give her some time out of the carseat (she hates the carseat!) and bring a variety of toys and I rotate which ones she has throughout the trip to keep her from getting bored. Right now crinkly toys are her favorite.

Both my daughter and her 6 month old cousin went on pretty much every ride/show without a height restriction. Her favorites were the Hall of Presidents (yes, hard to believe, but it was the first time she laughed!), the Tiki Room, Buzz Lightyear, Carousel of Progress, Spaceship Earth, Playhouse Disney, and the Great Movie Ride. Her absolute favorite thing though was the Spectromagic parade--she fell asleep before it started, woke up when she heard the music and saw lights, stayed up for the entire parade, then went back to sleep by the time we got to the park exit. Of course if we went back today she'd probably have no recollection of ever having been there, but we've got plenty of cute photos of her with characters and on rides.

I would definitely bring your son. He won't be miserable at all, in fact my daughter was happier in WDW than she ever is at home, probably because she got to be carried in the Baby Bjorn all day and have mommy's full attention. I know if I had left her at home (not that I ever could cause she'd never stay with anyone anyway), I would have spent the whole trip thinking about how she was doing. My mom came with us too and she watched her once when we went to dinner by ourselves and anytime we wanted to ride something our daughter couldn't go on and it worked out well. So with your husband and mom to help with the other 3 kids I'm sure you'll be fine and you'll all have a great trip--much better than if you leave him home!

 

[TiggerStac]

We, also, brought our son to Disney at a young age..5 months. We, also, had many tell us, he won't remember it, etc. Well, we go to Disney at least 1 time a year and now we have a son, so that isn't going to stop. My husband and I enjoyed ourselves and we have the memories of our son there at the young age. I have some great pictures of him w/characters, hubby and I and even my grandparents. I took him to the park alone one day and he had a ball just looking around at everything. I did, also, use the baby bjorn. We had him in the stroller, but once we went to get on a ride, he was in the baby bjorn. We brought him on a lot of the sit down rides..peter pan, winnie the pooh, "people mover" buzz lightyear, etc. We did the baby swap on others. When it was meal time and using table service, myself or hubby would find a table, while the other went up and got our meal. I usually would feed my son while hubby was getting our meal or vice versa. The baby changing areas were great for feeding, as well. We had no problems bringing him and have some great memories. When he looks at the pics now (he's 2 yrs 9 months) he says "Baby Tyler w/Mickey Mouse, etc" it's too cute!!!

 

[TheMals]

In May 2003 we brought our son for his first visit and my first Mother's Day. He came home to us in February from Seoul, Korea. He was six months old on his first trip and it was one of the sweetest Disney trips we had. It was like a family retreat. We traveled from Mass and the trip was great. We had his first haircut at the barber shop on Main St. in the Magic Kingdom. This had to be one of the most magical experiences we had. We even met another family with their son from Korea who was 11 months at the time. They happened to come into the shop 5 minutes after us. Ben got his first Mickey Mouse ears and a certificate and snips of his beautiful hair! He kept those ears on for hours! We followed with breakfast at the Crystal Palace. He loved the characters. We did go to Chef Mickey's the day before we went home and he was still so smitten with the characters! We have such great pictures of him. Chip even sat on the floor at Chef Mickey's and held him for about 10 minutes! It was so sweet! We didn't think that a baby would get so much out of the trip, but this was a special trip for all of us. I say, "Bring the Baby and watch the magic!" Best of luck to you. Ben is going for his fourth trip in August. We can't wait!
Kathy Mal

 

[MamaLema]

I know what you mean about the long drive but at least you are driving ONLY 12 hours. We are driving 25 hours with 3 little ones and I'm really worried about how to keep the baby entertained.

I don't know either so I'm looking forward to any suggestions also.

 

[TJA]

We brought our twin babies to WDW when they were 7 months old. If this is any clue as to how things went, we brought our babies to WDW again when they turned one year old! AND we are planning another trip this November when they will be 18 months old! So, YES, bring your baby and you will have a blast. As for some of your questions/concerns:

Meal times: We packed our diaper bag each morning to cover lunch and dinner (jars of baby food and travel cans of formula). Our babies could not sit up yet very well, so we didn't use highchairs at all. We had our carseats, though, which worked well in a booth or else we'd just bring our stroller right to our table. We did not find meal times to be a nuisance and actually rather enjoyed them! Our babies' eating schedule did not always agree with ours, so sometimes we fed them in a baby care center in the parks or even just stopped on a bench and fed them in their stroller. Babies at that age sleep a lot, so a lot of times they were sleeping in the stroller while we ate our meals.

Rides: We kept our baby bjorn carriers under our stroller until we wanted to go on rides, then we put our babies in the carriers on every ride we went on. Of course, they were the rides with no height restrictions. You'll be surprised at how many you can go on with the baby. We must have gone on at least ten rides at MK. The carriers worked well because it made us feel the babies were securly fastened to us in case the ride jolted a bit. Also, I'm sure the babies felt safe all snuggled next to us.

As far as your baby not remembering the trip, well, you have the right attitude. People said those kinds of comments to me too before the first time we went -- now that we'll be going for the third time they don't dare say anything! I think they were hoping we'd return and say "oh, you were right," or something like that. Of course, we got home and proclaimed how much fun we had, etc., and those people who had their doubts didn't know what to say....

 

[momofbuzzfan]

We went last October with my then 5 mo DD. She absolutely loved it!! I was amazed at how much she loved the characters at such a young age, she would get so excited when they would come by! I loved watching her reaction! She was much easier then her 3yo brother. One thing that was recommended to me that I now highly recommend to others is invest in a baby sling (I used a maya wrap) My DD loved it!! She was in there virtually all day as she wasn't too fond of the stroller. It was perfect for her to sleep (they are able to lay) and for nursing discretly. Also more of their bodies are coverd up so it was easier to keep the sun off her (I just put a nice big wide rimmed hat on her ). I think this is a perfect age to take anywhere including WDW...very low maintence, especially since she was still being breastfed exclusively. We are planning another trip this Dec, and I think she will be a wee bit more difficult this time. I would agree with the others.... TAKE THE BABY.

 

[Dr.Mickey]

Our son will be 5 months and has serious reflux issues where we have to build a wedge under his mattress to keep his head elevated. We requested a crib on Disney property where we will be staying (either SSR or BCV). We can take the pacnplay, but I just don't think we will be able to configure the wedge that easily without buying a wedge pillow and then trying to pack that for the airplane (with all our other paraphenalia - we could easily be over our limit! ). So - tell us about the Disney provided cribs. Are they full size? Do we bring linens? Should we rent one from ABBF instead?

Glad to know you guys enjoyed your trips so much.

 

[justhat]

We got a pack n' play at Pop Century, which was nice, but my daughter won't sleep in it anyway, and another at the Grand Floridian and that one felt like it was going to fall down. At Pop they had a pack n' play sheet but at the GF they put a regular bed sheet on it and folded it up, which was totally unacceptable to me as I didn't want it to undo itself and have her get tangled in it. Now, she doesn't sleep in it so it wasn't the biggest problem, but it's nice to have to put her down while I shower, etc. and without a sheet I couldn't do that. We called housekeeping and they said they were out of them and when I said I had one at Pop the night before they said 'oh well, we can't go to another resort to get them'. I couldn't believe that the family vacation capital was prepared with enough pack n' play sheets. Anyway, when we went back to the GF 2 weeks later, we requested a regular crib because of the issues with the pack n' play (even when we finally got a sheet, the thing was so old and well-used that if my baby had been older and able to stand she probably could have knocked it down). The regular crib was much better, but still not a full size crib so if you need a full size for the wedge, I would just rent one.

 

[bjakmom]

Our trip in January included my then 5 1/2 mo granddaughter !
We had a truly magical time - she will 'remember' the trip through all of the wonderful pictures we took - if you go to the places where you can have your pictures taken with the characters (the tents in Toontown Fair at MK, and Sorcerer Mickey on Mickey Ave in MGM) the characters held the baby and some even got down on the floor with her (sorcerer mickey knelt down and held her on his knee - the picture is priceless). We did 2 character meals (CP and Chef Mickey's) and both had 'infant' (reclining) high chairs -DGrD was not sitting up well enough to handle a regular high chair- the characters made such a fuss and stopped and played with her. (We had no problem taking our stroller into every other restaurant we ate at - but we were there at a slow time).

We also used a baby bjorn on/off during the day and to take her onto rides or just give her a break from the stroller. We did find that she handled most rides and shows really well, but by the end of the day she was definitely 'overstimulated' (some of the loud noises would 'startle' her, even though she didn't cry)- she is usually a very calm baby - so by the 3rd day we cut back and I just enjoyed some quiet time with her while the others rode (no problem for a new grandmom ) - she did great from then on.

The rain cover for the stroller was a MUST!! Kept her not only dry, but warm on a few chilly/windy nights (we took 2 in case we lost one- someone else who had one stolen suggested writing your name across it with a sharpie). The baby care centers were wonderful - great place to sit for a quiet feeding or pick something up if you forgot it - they sold us a bottle one morning when DD (new mom!) forgot to put it in the bag- saved us from having to go all the way back to the hotel !!

I had purchased an insulated mug to heat the bottle in, but we stopped carrying it around as we found that any of the food/drink spots would gladly give us 1/2 cup of hot water that worked great for heating the bottle or food jar in.

Go and take your baby - you're not going during an extremely hot month, so he should be very comfortable - hope you have as much fun as we did !!

 

[bjakmom]

Forgot one other 'item' that we loved having! It was a little fleece blanket that I found at B-R-Us - it is designed to fit around/over the baby while in the baby bjorn - has a neck strap that goes around your neck and is elastic across the bottom - it was so much easier to use than a regular, bulky blanket - having the elastic, gathered edges, it worked great to tuck around her in the stroller, too.

 

[summersfam4]

You'll be fine. We took DD#2 last year at 4 months old to the beach and to WDW. Our first night driving was an 8 hour trip, and she slept right on through (Yep, we drive at night every year). I know that she won't remember that trip but we will and we have great pictures of tons of great characters holding her and playing with her. She rode quite a few rides (Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Small World) almost all of the ones that DD#1 who is five wanted to ride anyway. She loved the music and all of the bright colors but she is not startled by loud noises and we go and do things everyday, so it was probably just another outing for her. I don't think that you'll have any problems and you'll have your Mom there to help (I'm envious I wish my Mom would come that would be cool )

Have fun and bring something nice back for your sister!

Kelly

PS. We watch our previous vacations on video the next year so that the girls can get excited and although niether of them will truely "remember" the first years they know that they were there and hopefully they will cherish some of those goofy vacation photos of Mom, Dad, Mickey, and the two of them (they were wonderful trips).

 

[Libby]

On our last trip our dd3 was 6 months old. One thing I would recommend is, if possible, delay starting solids until your return. One less thing to worry about. I was breastfeeding and would just feed her on rides or in shows or in the baby rooms (since I wanted to check them all out but I found them a bit isolating). I think it's a great age and honestly I know my dd had a wonderful time - lots of photos with nice big smiles. She was a very easy going baby so I'm sure that helped but we flew all the way from Australia with no problems. We used a sling - which is great of going on rides and leaving your hands free.
Have an easy pace and listen to what your baby needs (which I'm sure you'd do anyone) and I'm positive you will have a wonderful time. While they won't remember the trip they sure love looking at the photo and we have the wonderful memories.

Libby

 

[mexico_ride]

It's amazing the things people will say to you about going to WDW with babies, when it's all about people's jealousy that they aren't going too!
We are going to WDW in a few weeks with my son Elias (yes, named after Walt) who will be a few weeks shy of his first birthday! We all can't wait, and we know it's going to be a magical experience.
He's getting his first hair cut, and he's going to flip out when he meets Mickey!
We're just praying he sleeps the majority of the 12 hour plus overnight car ride!