Anyone who took an approx. 18 month old please look here

[borgthe]

Hi,

We are going in December with a 4 year old and 18 month old. I was wondering if anyone had any dining tips and general tips, things you would do differently next time, etc.

We are on the dining plan and I plan to eat a quick breakfast in the room, go to the parks early, eat an 11:30 CS lunch, do a bit more in the parks, go back to the room to rest, then go to a 5 or 5:30 TS ADR.

We will be taking a sit and stand stroller and snacks and milk to the parks. Do you think we will be ok with this plan. Any tips or ideas. I'm a bit nervous about the 18 month old and the napping and sit down meal situation.

Thanks!

 

[chr1972]

We have pretty much the same plans for our 3.5 y.o. and 18 month. We have a couple of days where we are doing character breakfasts! I'm interested to hear what others have to say about this plan too. I'm definitely going to try to break in the afternoons for naps to try to prevent any breakdowns. Not sure how that will work though.

 

[Tam1067]

My youngest was 15 months on our first trip, and that's exactly what we did. We're returning this year, and we're doing the same basic schedule because it works really well with our 3 kids. Little ones get tired early and that's when they get cranky, so in our experience, early everything is best.

 

[mom4graceandlogan]

We took our two daughters 4 and 18 mos and then again six months later at almost 5 years and 2 years old.(Both 10 day trips) Our youngest handled character meals much better at 18 months than two years. She smiled and laughed at anybody at 18 months. At 2 she was pretty scared at most character meals(expect princesses). We did storybook lunch when she was 18 months, dressed her up like tinkerbell and had a blast. We did alot of counter service meals(late lunches) actually when she was napping in her stroller and would just save enough for her to eat when she woke up. We did not go back to our room for naps often and we were often out till 10 or later and she did fine. She does really well adapting herself to changes even though she has quite a temper. Disey keeps her mesmorized. We had a great stroller and she would nap when she was tired. We thought Beirgarten was a very good table service restaurant. We tried it when she was 2. I was not a huge fan of the food. But if you get a table close to the stage the kids can go up and dance while you finish the meal. We really enjoyed it. We always brought snacks with us, but often ended up stopping for popcorn. The buffets are nice for variety and for time. You can eat right away and enough variety to find something they would eat. The Columbia House was a nice cool relatively quiet counter service meal. Good kids meals and a nice break from the crowds. Pleasantly surprised. We did alot of counter service snacking throughout the day, but we were not on the mealplan. Thought RainForest Cafe was a waste of time and money. Despite all the decor it could not hold our child's attention, service was slow(not slow by adult standards- but slow when you have restelss children) and meal very expensive. We had a blast both trips. We went in May when she was 18 months and the heat seemes to wear her out a little quicker than usual. Have lots of water.

 

[1princessX2princes]

We went last year with a 5, 3, and 20 month old and will return this year with everyone one year older (and did the year before with everyone one year younger ---we are addicted to disney). I basically try to schedule one sit down meal a day where we can get a nice break. I think a late lunch or early dinner works best (although we do go to a few breakfast meals because of the characters). We have not gone back to our room for naps, usually the little one sleeps in the stroller ---simply because at that age my children won't nap if there are other people in the room --too distracting. Also to be honest it just seems easier to relax in the park because by the time we haul everyone and the stroller back to our resort it doesn't seem to be worth the rest. We also took advantage of bringing in drinks and snacks. We filled our stroller basket with lots of cold drinks which seems to do great for keeping everyone happy!! Also this allowed us to save our "snack" credits for food instead of drinks.

 

[mjmcca]

I was just at WDW and twice we dined with my friend and her family. She has a 18month old . We went to garden Grill at Epcot and Crystal Palace at MK. He loved them.

 

[Honeybehr1]

just an FYI, my 2 yr old was fast asleep and we had res for CRT, we were able to bring the stroller with us up to the dining room. The elevator is circular inside which we thought was really cool.

 

[patsal]

We took DD the first time when she was 18 months and we recently took our 18 month old niece in December. We had very little difficulty with anything. Just a tip for Garden Grill--highchairs are only allowed on the upper inside level and for some reason the hostess refused to seat us there even with the 18 month old--we had the CP package so I guess they figured the tip was included what did they have to lose. We ended up tying her into the booster seat with a sweatshirt so she would not fall. We then had to watch her like a hawk and take turns eating--insist that they seat you on the upper level so you don't have to be concerned about your child's safety.

 

[mjmcca]

We took DD the first time when she was 18 months and we recently took our 18 month old niece in December. We had very little difficulty with anything. Just a tip for Garden Grill--highchairs are only allowed on the upper inside level and for some reason the hostess refused to seat us there even with the 18 month old--we had the CP package so I guess they figured the tip was included what did they have to lose. We ended up tying her into the booster seat with a sweatshirt so she would not fall. We then had to watch her like a hawk and take turns eating--insist that they seat you on the upper level so you don't have to be concerned about your child's safety.

That's strange when we just went we were on the lower level and the 18 month old had a highchair no problem.

 

[dreamer423]

Ds first trip was when he was 18 mos. We did a few character breakfasts-a littletime in the park, backto play in pool and nap and then dinner. Often he fell asleep in the car on the way to dinner, put him in the stroller and he woke up towards the end in time to eat.

He was , and is, extremely well behaved at restaurants and for that i am truly thankful. He also falls asleep in his stroller.

For us, the afternoon break was crucial to enjoying the time. I'm not a commando and couldn't last without a break.

So-relax, enjoy and be ready to be flexible, but not too worried about it all

 

[MrToad]

Hi,

We are going in December with a 4 year old and 18 month old. I was wondering if anyone had any dining tips and general tips, things you would do differently next time, etc.

We are on the dining plan and I plan to eat a quick breakfast in the room, go to the parks early, eat an 11:30 CS lunch, do a bit more in the parks, go back to the room to rest, then go to a 5 or 5:30 TS ADR.

We will be taking a sit and stand stroller and snacks and milk to the parks. Do you think we will be ok with this plan. Any tips or ideas. I'm a bit nervous about the 18 month old and the napping and sit down meal situation.

Thanks!

The biggest question I have for you is where are you staying? We took our first son (he's now 10) back in 1997. He was not quite 2. If there is any way for you to swing it I would *highly* recommend a monorail resort. The reason being is when your 18 month old gets tired it's wonderful to jump on the monorail and be back at the hotel in a few minutes vs. 30-45min via bus. We stayed All-Star Sports the first time and while we have very fond memories of that trip, we also remember LoooooOOOOng bus rides where our 2 year old was just beat.

Hope this helps...

 

[Hoosier Mom]

So an 18 month old still sits in a high chair? I was hoping by the time our ds hits 18 months he'll be ready for a booster chair, especially for Sci-Fi. I was hoping he could sit between us in a booster.

Maybe we'll have to do some booster chair practice before the trip to see how he does.

I'm not planning to carry milk into the parks. It will be hot. I'm hoping to buy milk for all his meals and get plenty of ice cold water through out the day. I did pick up a couple insulated sippy cups. I wonder how long water would stay cold in one of those. I guess we'll find out.

 

[reeeoga]

This may sound strange, but, go to TS that have a lot of activitie. Like a Character meal. My 18 month old was to busy looking around to be bad

The 4 year old was no problem.

 

[brymolmom]

So an 18 month old still sits in a high chair? I was hoping by the time our ds hits 18 months he'll be ready for a booster chair, especially for Sci-Fi. I was hoping he could sit between us in a booster.

Maybe we'll have to do some booster chair practice before the trip to see how he does.

I'm not planning to carry milk into the parks. It will be hot. I'm hoping to buy milk for all his meals and get plenty of ice cold water through out the day. I did pick up a couple insulated sippy cups. I wonder how long water would stay cold in one of those. I guess we'll find out.

I think it depends on the child and the situation - my dd was able to do the booster (and insisted because she saw her brother in one) by the time she was 18 months. But, I would have kept her in a high chair longer if possible - better contained.

We had insulated sippies and would fill them mostly with ice at the restort and it would stay for I'd say 1 - 2 hours. Then we'd just have it re-filled with ice when passing a snack stand (they did it every time with no issues). This worked GREAT for us.

OP - I too had planned the afternoons 'off' when we went last. But it just seemed that there was too much to do - before I knew it - it was 2:00pm and we were no where near the bus back to the resort. So - what we ended up doing a few of the days was just maxing out the time we had in the afternoon and dd would fall asleep on our shoulder on the bus ride back at about 4:00pm and we'd just skip the whole going back to the park thing. We are early risers and were there by opening so honestly - even the adults were ready to be 'done' for the day by this time. If you can do the afternoon rest - go for it - but just a suggestion to play it by ear and enjoy the time at the park if things are going well.

My dd has never been a good restaurant eater. So we struggled with some of the TS meals. Hopefully this year (she'll be almost 3) that will change.

Have fun!