Buses & Toddlers

[mum1]

Hi there, I tried to do a search for this but could not find anything relevant. I'm curious to know how others have handled the Magic Your Way bus from airport to resort with a toddler? Also, the buses from resort to park? We'll be taking my 2.5 year old son on his first Disney trip next Sept. I plan on purchasing the CARES restraint system for the flight, but haven't really thought about the buses. My husband and I have travelled the bus system at WDW many times, and I have witnessed some road rage bus drivers...

Do you have any tips for buses and toddlers?
PS-we will be bringing a stroller too.

I apologize if I'm not posting in the right forum.

 

[DisneyDreamer8]

We took our son when he was almost 2.5. I chose to use his carseat on the plane as he sleeps better in that. As for the bus system you just hold them. He sat in the seat on the Magical Express from the airport and was quite content looking out the window. There are no seat belts so the CARES will not work on any bus. As for the resort buses again you will most likely have to hold your son on your lap as the buses tend to fill up. More than a few times we hand to hold our son while standing. Not the safest ride but we were usually packed in so there were enough bodies to soften and blow we would have taken. In hindsite we probably should have rented a car. Would have been MUCH safer.

Hope you have a wonderful time with your son

 

[Bren's Mom]

My son was a little over 3 when we took him for the first time. I thought I would be ok with the buses, but I wasn't. I was a wreck. As a CPST, I know how important restraints are and I also know about the statistics regarding buses being safer. I wouldn't do it again. Next time I will rent a car.

 

[DuckMom]

We took buses (resort and ME) in June with our boys who were then just 5 and not quite 2. I never had any safety concerns or issues with not being able to sit. My younger son normally sat in my lap or DHs and older son would sit in his own seat or on ILs lap depending on how full the bus was. Several times, we had people give up their seats for me and boys if they didn't have a child. On the flip side DH would give up his seat for parents with kids on laps, etc. It was all pretty civilized to me. I saw so few other cars on the roads, especially during the trips to the parks, that I never even thought about car accidents, etc. Most buses, trains, etc don't offer car seats or seat belts and I've never known anyone to have a problem (not to say it couldn't happen, but I would think the stats are pretty low). I honestly spent more time worried I was going to drop younger DS when he was squirming like crazy on Peter Pan's Flight. We are going back in August and will use buses again. Make the choice you will feel best about though ... if you really think it is going to bother you and ruin the trip, rent a car!

 

[snubie]

We took our son when he was almost 2.5. I chose to use his carseat on the plane as he sleeps better in that. As for the bus system you just hold them. He sat in the seat on the Magical Express from the airport and was quite content looking out the window. There are no seat belts so the CARES will not work on any bus. As for the resort buses again you will most likely have to hold your son on your lap as the buses tend to fill up. More than a few times we hand to hold our son while standing. Not the safest ride but we were usually packed in so there were enough bodies to soften and blow we would have taken. In hindsite we probably should have rented a car. Would have been MUCH safer.

Hope you have a wonderful time with your son

This is exactly what we have done on previous trips with DD#1 was 2.

 

[buzznina]

We have been going (couple times a year for 6 years) since our oldest DD was 10 months old and now our 2nd DD is 16 months. We drive there but we use the buses at least 90% of the time and never really had any safety worries. My DW and I talked about it and read the information of buses being safer, plus you rarely here of a bus being totally mangled in an accident but it seems like every day you here of cars and SUVs being totaled.
We have never stood holding our DD on a bus and will not, if we see that the bus has standing room only, we wait for the next one.

 

[Magicbus]

I plan on purchasing the CARES restraint system for the flight, but haven't really thought about the buses. My husband and I have travelled the bus system at WDW many times, and I have witnessed some road rage bus drivers.

There are no restraints on the buses and based on your experiences with the WDW bus drivers, renting a car would be better.

 

[melmel]

We were just there the first week of December, with my just turned 2 year old. We did the busses the whole trip. We did decide it was worth a cheap carseat for the plane as he never sits still, and would have squirmed out of a CARES harness. But on the buses he was either too busy being amused by what was going on or too tired to do much but sit on a lap the whole time. We had no problems at all, and would do it again in a heartbeat. Its just too much trouble to drive. I can't imagine having to get him into the car, then get there, and keep him corralled until the tram arrived. Then on and off the tram with the stroller, at that point you might as well do the busses.

 

[stich1fan]

We are very nervous parents when it comes to safety and we drive there. I don;t think I would ever consider putting her on the bus with out proper safety equipment. Yes, it is a pain in and out of a car seat and driving, but it is one thing I don't have to worry about.

My sister actually just got married and our DD was the flower girl. We would not put her in the limo since there was no car seat and they company would not allow us to put one in. So my DD drove(which he had to do anyway) and she went with him in the safety of our car with her seat.

Not sure what you can do on the bus, so we would rent a car just to have a car seat!

 

[dhardawa]

I'm a CPST so I'm quite a stickler for child passenger safety. I have used the Disney bus transportation multiple times. Statistics show that buses are safer than cars and I'm comfortable with that.

 

[frtchr]

DD3 and DS2 have been numerous times. They have always been great on the buses and planes. We used the CARES harness with DD but it wasn't worth the hassle from the flight attendants. Neither kid messed with his/her seatbelt on the plane and sat on the buses. They were usually too tired from lots of Disney activity to do anything else.

 

[MM_Bound]

Funny story and now a tip I give others.
We were sitting at the bench that faces out the large full glass side doors with our then 1.5 year old son. He is totally enjoying looking out the doors, then he throws up out of the blue all over place on a thankfully failry empty bus. Yep motion sicknesss I guess. He must have been watching the road close to the door and that was that.
Since then we try to face forward and if not get him to blink and look at the horizion as well. Never happened again and we do lots of road traveling and rides with him.

 

[Ericandjenng]

Just a reminder about carseats on planes...they must be rated for air travel. You will find a sticker on the bottom/side of the carseat if they are. And almost always the flight attendants will check for this.

 

[lathamary]

Statistics show that buses are safer than cars and I'm comfortable with that.

 

[cm8]

I'm a CPST so I'm quite a stickler for child passenger safety. I have used the Disney bus transportation multiple times. Statistics show that buses are safer than cars and I'm comfortable with that.

Also be prepared to stand with your child as well

 

[tzolkin]

He is totally enjoying looking out the doors, then he throws up out of the blue all over place on a thankfully failry empty bus. Yep motion sicknesss I guess.

My two younger children have extreme motion sickness (vomit every time they get into a car since they were 8-10mos old). For our first Disney trip, I brought "barf bags" for the busses just to be safe, but in 10 days of using the busses multiple times a day they somehow never got sick. (Any time we got in the car they did, so for us the busses were much more pleasant ) On our subsequent trips I didn't feel it was necessary to bring bags for the bus.

This last trip my parents went with us. About a week into the trip, we got onto a really full bus, so my mom sat up front with my youngest while the rest of us stood in the back. Just as we pulled into MK, he vomited all over the floor. My mom said you couldn't believe how much space people manage to find on a packed bus once someone starts to puke. She kept trying to assure the guests that he has motion sickness and it wasn't something contaigious that would ruin their vacations. She later told us "He was just sitting on my lap reading this book and then he just vomited"... I have no idea why she thought giving a motion-sick child something to read on a crowded bus was a good idea

On our last day we were on a very packed bus to MK and DS and I were in the far back corner. We were sitting, couldn't see anything, and it was so hot and stuffy you couldn't breathe. I was getting super sick and then DS said he was going to vomit. Everyone just leaned away and DH whipped his hat off and held it out for DS to puke into. We did manage to get off the bus with a clean hat, but my dad was laughing forever at the movement of the crowd and DH's reflexes.

 

[Ava]

Whenever we have to take a bus at home we take DD in her Ergo carrier, and plan to do the same at WDW next year. She'll be just turned 2 when we go. With the Ergo she is safe and the wearer still has both hands free to hold on/hold bags if we have to stand on the bus.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I have taken 2.5 and 3 year olds on the Disney buses without using any kind of restraint at all and haven't batted an eyelash about it.

 

[treemi01]

We always travel with a CARES and take the buses (ME and park buses). No problems and I've never felt unsafe. I agree that there are so few cars on the road and that buses are significantly safer than cars. I am also a very cautious parent. I'd rather leave the driving to the pros when I'm not as familiar with the area.

 

[maxiesmom]

Also be prepared to stand with your child as well

You can always step aside and wait for the next bus. Saw many families do that just a couple of weeks ago.