Anyone have a 1 year old with an early bedtime and been to Disney?

[Minnie824]

My 14mo currently goes to bed around 7pm. She likes to sleep, and does so until about 6:30-7am. A few times, when we've been out, she's made it to about 8:30. I'm wondering if anyone else has a child with early sleep habits, and how they did at the parks? How late were they able to stay up without pushing them to the grumpy state? We're going in the off season, so parks won't be open as late anyway. We planned to leave maybe 7ish-8ish (depending on closing) then walk around Boardwalk if kids are ok...then she may fall asleep in the stroller. We'd like to have them see Illuminations though, and I'm wondering now if thats just something that should be saved for a future trip?

 

[Annette_VA]

We took my older DS to DL when he was 11 months. He didn't go to bed quite that early - more like 8pm. But, he did fine! We took him to the MSEP and he slept right through it - and we were right next to a *loud* speaker!

 

[KristinU]

Yep, my DS is 17 months and we start bedtime at 7:00 p.m. too (after the jammies and book, etc it is about 7:30 by the time he goes down). We don't push him at WDW and try to keep his bedtime if possible. The latest we've done is 8:30 and we had a tough time keeping him awake in the car on the way back to the resort (we usually rent a car). We're staying at Boardwalk in Sept and I plan to try a tip I read here of putting his jammies on (well, probably not his jammies, but something comfy he can sleep in all night...personally I think a 1.5 year old would look a little silly in p.j.'s in public, but it might be just me...) and let him fall asleep in the stroller at Epcot. I guess it depends on how well your DD does with being transferred to and from transportation and into bed at your resort if she falls asleep. We decided we're a far way off from our DS staying awake for Illuminations or Fanstamic, so we'll save it for another time. As for us, we've enjoyed the evening relaxation on the balcony that his sleep schedule has forced us to spend. Our first trip with him was at a moderate so we didn't have a balcony and we really wished we did - we watched a lot of quiet TV (and closed captioned) on that trip.

 

[stacy6552]

When our son was 11 mos, and again at 18mos, we just made sure he had a reclining stroller. Sometime after dinner, he would crash. We would lay him down and keep on going. The crash hard and fast at WDW, not alot of time to melt down from fatigue in my experience.

 

[pinkdiamonds1007]

My 14mo currently goes to bed around 7pm. She likes to sleep, and does so until about 6:30-7am. A few times, when we've been out, she's made it to about 8:30. I'm wondering if anyone else has a child with early sleep habits, and how they did at the parks? How late were they able to stay up without pushing them to the grumpy state? We're going in the off season, so parks won't be open as late anyway. We planned to leave maybe 7ish-8ish (depending on closing) then walk around Boardwalk if kids are ok...then she may fall asleep in the stroller. We'd like to have them see Illuminations though, and I'm wondering now if thats just something that should be saved for a future trip?

My dd is 3, will be 3.5 at the time of our WDW trip. She is an early to bed kind of girl too. We are planning to start streching her bedtime about 3 weeks before the trip to a little later everynight..and getting her up later on in the am. . SO, she will be going to bed around 9 and waking up around 9. (she takes no naps, but sleeps 12 hours a night.) Then when we get to Disney, we can stay for Illuminations, and other night shows..and dd will be up to enjoy them as well. But we will not expect that she will wake up early in the am to start the parks out as they open, we will just let her sleep until she wakes up, and then do the park later on in the am at a leisurly pace. I figure this way..we can avoid grumpy upsets that sometimes plauge my little princess if she is faced with less than enough sleep.
Good Luck. and Have fun.
Nicole
PS> we are going during value season as well..
I went into previous park hours from past years..and it was about 7pm for MK, 5pm for AK, 9:30pm for EP, and 7 pm for MGM. They said this can change..but it is still a really good guide for the "round about" time when things will close. Just to give you a heads up.
Hope that helps.

 

[Rowlf]

When I took my 15 month old last year, we just skipped Illuminations. I did book a Poly concierge lagoon view, thinking it would be fun to see the fireworks from our room. Unfortunately, DS stayed up to watch them every night! My DS won't sleep in a stroller, though. At all! So, that wasn't an option. I'd say that sleep for a toddler is more important than seeing things, though. Even though we were trying to keep bedtime the same, he still wanted to stay up and party, so he was losing a couple hours of sleep a night. By the third day, he was quite cranky!

Concierge was nice - we could go grab a snack and then sit on the balcony. Something to consider.

 

[Minnie824]

Thanks for all the advice. We actually are staying concierge at the Beach Club - Lagoon view. Hopefully can have some balcony time in the evening then. Our older DD will be 4, and her bedtime is usually 9...she gets more cranky than the little one. The little one however, may not sleep in the stroller...we'll see. I think we will try to push her bedtime back a little as it nears as well. I think DH & I would rather them get up early than go late though. Thanks!

 

[dgcampagna]

We just returned from our stay at the YC concierge level. The kids were ages 4,5,and 6. I can't speak for my nephew (5), but my DS (4,6) both go to bed at 7:30 every night. They were all able to stay up to watch Fantasmic and even had the energy to walk back to the hotel after. The key for us has always been to return home to nap.

Even if the park closes early, a little break in the day really helps. Yes, they will fall asleep in the stroller if completely exhausted. We went once when my DS were 9mos. and 3. It was during the fall, so the parks weren't open as late, but we still went back to the hotel for a nap on most days - and we were able to enjoy illuminations one night.

Hope this helps - either way, I'm sure you'll have a great time.

 

[PatricenPete]

We are bringing our DS, who will be 1 at the time, in October. My plan is to return to the hotel each afternoon for a swim and a power nap. DS usually goes to bed at 9-10 anyway, so I think that we should be okay.

 

[crl]

We always tried to stick to DD's schedule. But then again, my DD is not a great sleeper. It made for a much nicer trip for us. We figure that some day she'll be old enough to enjoy all those night shows, no need to make a cranky toddler and ruin our trip.

You could always do a trial run at home to see what happens. Then you'll know for sure how you're child will react.

 

[bartleby1]

It really depends on your child's personality and temperment. My kids have always been fairly even tempered and would go with the flow. I know some kids aren't like that though.

My DS's first trip was when he was 14 months and we did the parks two days in a row and then took a break on the next day. I tried to get back to the hotel on day one at a reasonable hour (8:00 pm or so) and then we did a night show or parade on day two. This way, we didn't have to get up and out early after being out really late since day three would be a relax day.

DS did fine because with all of the stimulation and the heat (this was summertime), he would fall asleep in the stroller when he was tired. The biggest problem we had was that when we got back to the room at night, we were all exhausted and he was ready to run! Since he had napped throughout the day and mostly rode in the stroller, he would be wide awake when we were ready to collapse.

I would just pay attention to how your little one is doing and let her be the guide. Like you stated, in off season the parks aren't open that late anyway and if you really want to see illuminations, just try to plan it for a day that you won't be up real early the next day. Also, maybe try keeping her up a little bit later for a week or two before the trip and let her sleep a little later in the morning if that is possible.

Have a great trip!

 

[laughinplace199]

We always try to stick to our children's schedule as much as possible. Our kids are early risers, so we are at the parks as soon as they open. We usually take a break from the parks just after lunch and go back to the hotel for a nap. We may let them stay up until 8:00/8:30 some nights (usual bedtime is 7:30) if we feel they're up to it. We'll also let them stay up late one night during the trip for MNSSHP, MVMCP, Wishes, etc. (for the late nights, I usually bring PJ's with us and change the kids before we leave the park since they'll fall asleep in the car on the way back to the hotel).

Obviously, every child is different. It depends on what your child can handle. Our kids really can't handle being up late more than a night or two during our trip. For us, keeping them on their schedule makes everyone happy and prevents meltdowns.

Have a great time!

 

[GinaGrumpyDwarf]

WAIT WAIT WAIT............HOLD UP!

a 1 year old with an early WHAT???? omg...you cant be serious....

 

[kc10family]

We took my DD when she was 18 mths to Disneyland. She was up between 6-7 every morning; she slept at about 1:30-2 until about 4:30-5 every day. We would then push her until we couldn’t any longer and that was usually about 9-10. During naptime, my DH would go on all the rides we couldn’t with her and I would take a nap with her. I think it worked out great. This year we plan to do the same type of nap schedule. Oh yes, strollers are a BIG part of pushing the kids as far as you can.