9-month-old at Disney for a day? What to do?

[Buntington]

Hi all! I previously posted about plans to take our DS to WDW next December when he is about 20 months old. However, I will be job hunting in January and February 2014, and since our end goal is to move back to FL (I grew up there), it is possible that I will have a job interview in FL. If this happens, DH and I were hoping to go down and make a weekend out of it--interview on a Friday or Monday, visit my family for one weekend day, and then use the other weekend day to take DS to WDW for the first official time (we went last year for one day just after I found out I was pregnant with him). I don't want to get my hopes up too high about this happening, but if it does, I also want to be prepared with a plan in place, because we may only have a couple of weeks' notice before the trip.

Anyhow, I'm trying to project out...what would DS enjoy at 9 or 10 months of age? Should we do MK or Epcot? Epcot is my favorite park, but I realize that it's less kid friendly...but DS is not really a "kid" yet. I would potentially consider AK but it is definitely not my favorite, and I feel like we can take DS to a zoo pretty much anywhere, so I'm far less excited about that than MK or Epcot. Also, how did you handle naptimes? Since we are only going for one day, we won't have a hotel room to return to as home base. I don't want to disrupt his nap schedule and end up with a miserable, fussy baby.

I definitely want to try to do some kind of character breakfast...which one would be best for his age? He may have separation anxiety and stranger fear at that age, so have people had better luck with characters in costumes or just regular people (e.g. Akershus princess breakfast)? What kind of rides might he enjoy? He is 6 months old now and he loves to look at things and smiles at strangers, so he's pretty much entertained by anywhere we go at the moment. But really loud noises can still scare him sometimes. I realize we might end up not doing much depending on his reactions, which is fine. Even if we just ended up browsing in gift shops for part of the day, we would still enjoy ourselves. But I also wanted to plan to try some things and see what he thinks of them.

For those of you who have done babywearing at the parks, how did it go? Any tips? We have a stroller but DS is much happier being held, so I use my Ergo carrier a lot at home and around town and was thinking of doing that in the parks as well.

DS is EBF and just starting solids. I have already checked out the breastfeeding thread--lots of good advice there! Appreciate any additional advice you can offer.

 

[bostonminnie]

At 9 or 10 months you can pretty much do what you prefer. When my son was that age everything was so exciting to him, so it didn't really matter which park we visited.

If you are looking for great picture opportunities, then I recommend MK. We went to Harmony Barber shop for his first haircut and had a really good experience. I also loved watching his expression during the parades. He loved riding Dumbo and the MK Railroad Train. There are more rides he can do at that age, but those were the two my DS loved best.

At Epcot he enjoyed Nemo and Friends. We were able to leisurely stroll around WS and he was content taking in all the sites. For naps we just reclined his stroller (we brought our stroller from home that he was used to).

When our son was 6 months we did Ohana breakfast and at 11 months we did Cape May at the Beach Club. He loved both. I don't think he even realized the characters were characters. He zoned in on their noses and enjoyed pulling them.

I really think that whatever you decide you will have a great time

 

[angelmom27]

At that age he isn't going to care which park you go to. Ergo best thing to bring. Totally loved having mine for our trips. Some CM for rides will say take him out some may not say anything. No set policy just whatever they say. And a buckle carrier that you can keep clipped around your waist and then put straps up and down is the best.

 

[kohlby]

Agree to just do what you want. At that age, he's taking in all the sights and sounds and can be just as impressed at the sights while sitting on a bench as watching a show. I've taken babies before, at 2 months, 8 months, and 11 months. In all three cases, they were worn in a sling all day. Only the 8 month old would nap in the stroller - the other two ages/kids didn't. (The 2/8 month old is the same child but the 11 month old was a different child).

As for EPCOT being less kid-friendly, it's my kids' favorite park - and has been since they were 3 years old for the oldest two and since 2.5 years old for the youngest. They like it even more than MK. Of course they enjoy MK too, but trip after trip, EPCOT is still their favorite. (My oldest is now 10 and has done 5 Disney trips). I originally thought it wasn't a kid's park too. I had been about 5 years before my eldest went at 3 years old. But I didn't have my mommy-hat on. I didn't have kids then so I didn't notice it. We took our son to Epcot with low expectations and ended up happily surprised. Now AK, that one was a flop three trips in a row so we finally learned our lesson. Some kids love that park though.

They went with the flow for naps. The only trip with a baby under 1 where naps were put off excessively was the trip with the 11 month old. So, he took naps later. He took shorter naps. He often nursed in attractions and then slept for a few here and there. I didn't worry about naps. But, he was child #3, so we were both used to going with the flow more. I had tried on earlier trips with other kids to go back to the room to nap but it always failed. We go in the off-season too, so even if my kids had magically napped, the park is only open so late. He wouldn't nap in the stroller so he would nap either in the sling or on a ride/attraction.

*Of those three baby trips, two were exclusive nursing babies and one was a taster with solids. So I just continued my normal nursing on demand. I offered the 8 month old food off of my plate. At that age, she was barely eating solids, just tasting, so it was really easy not to worry about her food. I have nursed all over Disney with zero issue and nursed kids older than 1 there as well.

 

[kathyk671]

Great advice from the other moms! Agree that you should go where you like...you'll have to defer to his wishes soon enough, Mama, this time can still be for you and hubby! We took our son to the F&W Festival when he was 7 mos, went fine.

I did not do babywearing, but in any case I say definitely bring a stroller! Our little guy fell asleep for quite a while, giving us time to just walk & enjoy the sights. Also, it's a very handy place to stash all the "stuff" you have to lug around with a baby. Our son is 3 now and we don't bring the stroller anymore, but I sure miss having that place to carry stuff.

I'm a FL girl, too, so I know I don't have to remind you that contrary to popular belief, it can get cold here in Jan & Feb! Of course, it can also be 80 degrees, so just be prepared either way.

Have fun, good luck on the job search & hope you get to come home to the Sunshine State very soon!

 

[angelmom27]

I forgot to add that. Like the other mom said bring the stroller. If you don't use it for baby its great for carrying around bags. Lol like we say in our babywearing group the strollers good for something.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I was just going to also say that he will just love spending the day with mom and dad, and would not care which park. Two different thoughts: Do Epcot because by the next trip, he might be so wiling to ride happily thought WS and be thrilled with every sight and sound. You get to enjoy your favorite park. Second line of thinking is that MK just shouts kids!!! Even little ones and the pictures you will get there are priceless! The photo Dumbo car just screams 1st trip. I also like CP for a first Character meals, but Garden Grill at Epcot is good too.
If he will sleep in the stroller, just find a quieter path around nap time and see if he will go to sleep as you walk. Mine would not, so I would find a quite area and sorta walk, rock them to sleep there and find an out of the way place to sit and people watch while they napped. In the winter, you might want to choose a not busy CS indoor place to sit as it might be quite cool. Would not do this during busy meal times, but off season, off times....should be no issue.

 

[oneprincessjo]

I took my daughter at 6 months and 15 months. Epcot is my favorite and there are tons of things you can take your LO on. The finding nemo ride, figments journey into imagination(my fav!!), spaceship earth, living with the land, gran fiesta tour are all rides you can take a 9 month old on. There are of course a ton of rides in MK that he can go on as I'm sure you know. My daughter did fine meeting characters, we didn't do any character meals so I can't say which ones would be good, but from experience my husband and I had to tag team each other to take over walking around a restaurant with my dd when she was 6 months, she just didn't like to be still... 15 months was much easier with sit down meals. I'm more concerned with her being afraid of the characters at 2 1/2 when we go again, we have a ton of character meals scheduled. And we did a stroller for naps if we couldn't make it back to our room, that was the perfect time for us to get quick service food so we could all eat together.