Buying a Disney Annual Pass with a new baby!

[AJT607]

My wife and I both went on our first trip to Disney World back in 2015, where we got engaged (and went back one year later in 2016 for our honeymoon). We've had annual passes for a couple of years but decided to take a break when they expired (in April 2019) and planned to purchase a new set of annual passes next summer (July 2020) so that we could get in 3 trips during one annual pass cycle (Summer 2020, Winter 2020-21, Summer 2021). We just found out that we are expecting our first child, due Dec 31st of this year, and we are tentatively still planning to visit next Summer to start an AP cycle.

I know that how we do Disney will need to completely change and I know that the baby is unlikely to remember any of these trips (at ~6 mos, 12 mos, and 18 mos) but we can't imagine missing out on Disney until 2021 or later. We feel like it will be so much fun to take the baby on some of the family friendly rides at each park... Small World / Peoplemover / Living with the Land / Navi River Journey and more all come to mind... I'm starting to do my research on renting strollers and planning for cribs and/or pack and plays and just wanted to create a new thread to hear suggestions from other families who have traveled with small children on how to plan for these trips. We are rope droppers who take long mid-day breaks anyway, so I'm hoping that will be well-suited to the schedule of a baby, but I'm sure there are so many things that I haven't even thought about yet!

 

[stephk1981]

You will have an amazing time with the baby! And congratulations MY DD is now going on 20 months, we have been 5 times since she was born and are getting ready to go back in July and again in November. We don't do late nights with her, stick to her normal schedule for eating and naps. Doing this everything has gone super smoothly. You and your wife can use child/ rider swap to ride bigger rides. Once baby is a bit older you could also hire kids nite out for a date one day for a few hours. We also have DS10, we didn't take him until he was 2.5 but after having the Disney experience with a baby I wish we had taken DS earlier too! I hope you all have a magical year of firsts with the new baby while at Disney and at home

Edited: we used to use kingdom strollers before when we had to fly( we live close-ish now and drive.) They made it super easy to rent and the strollers were very clean. My DD won't sleep in the crib Disney provides and no matter what I try....sheets from home etc, she always ends up in our bed.

 

[AJT607]

Thanks for the feedback - we can't wait! Good to know about the rental options... reading everything online makes the rental options seem much easier than trying to bring your own. It's interesting to hear your feedback about the Disney options versus Kingdom Strollers for cribs. Do you have any idea why your DD can't make the Disney options work - are they just more worn and less comfortable?

 

[ptlohmysoul]

The Disney strollers are for older kids (not infants). They are hard plastic, slanted, but unadjustable. We rented from Kingdom Strollers before and do recommend them if you want to rent. However, we prefer to bring our own. The airlines allow free gate check-in (no luggage charge) and you have your stroller while in the airport. They do have the possibility of being roughed up/roughly treated, but we never encountered a problem (although once the removable tray was knocked off, but not missing).

 

[tjmw2727]

Yes - we took our kids on family vacations from the start - it you love Disney then that's where you should vacation. You will automatically end up scheduling your days around your child so don't worry about that. My kids were both great stroller sleepers so we were lucky in that respect as we could bring along PJ's and just let them sleep in the stroller while we strolled the Epcot WS in the evening for example.

Stroller - I would not rent, especially for your 6 and 12 month old trips. Invest in a lightweight stroller that fully reclines - you will want it at the airport and its easy to gate check (if you fly).

Pack and Play cribs are provided at all of the WDW resorts and our experience is that they were brand new or fairly new. I did bring my own sheets for familiarity though.

Consider a sling or baby carrier for lines where you can't bring the stroller as well.

Most of the rest will come naturally - if mom and dad are happy baby will be as well.

 

[LindsayHD]

Congratulations!!! Stick with your plan! We are AP holders and are now bringing our 16 month old(now while pregnant again) for the 3rd time in 2 weeks. He went at 6 months and 9 months. There are a lot of rides they can still do even at that age. Highly suggest if possible, staying on the monorail. You don’t have to fold your stroller up like you do on the bus. As soon as we got on the monorail at night, both trips, my son would fall asleep. Also, what we did is actually bought an expensive stroller. We knew we would be going to Disney often so we bought an UPPAbaby vista. They have a warranty and travel program so if your stroller is damaged while flying, they overnight the pieces to you to fix it. Also make sure to look for one with a large sun visor that has SPF protection in it. It will make it a lot easier for nap time. I would not rent a stroller when they are that young for a few reasons. Like the posters above said, you want it in the airport. DME drops you off so early, you don’t want to carry your baby the whole time. Also, the baby should be familiar with their stroller. They are more likely to take naps in a stroller they recognize and you want to practice folding it up in a quick motion.
They sell rechargeable stroller fans. That is a must. We would attach the fan, put a fitted crib sheet over the stroller and open the back vent on the stroller so he could rest and stay cool.
Also, every park has a baby care center. They are wonderful. If your wife is nursing or pumping, these are a must. I was an exclusive pumper and the first aid station (located right next to the baby care center) would hold my pump for me daily so I didn’t have to lug it around the parks.
At 6 months, the hardest part was eating in restaurants because the baby was too small to sit in a high chair. While we were there, we bought a high chair insert off amazon and it came the next day. Then my son could sit with us at the table. So amazing.
We are starting to pack for our next trip so if I think of anything else, I will post more!!!

 

[YesterDark]

Yes - we took our kids on family vacations from the start - it you love Disney then that's where you should vacation. You will automatically end up scheduling your days around your child so don't worry about that. My kids were both great stroller sleepers so we were lucky in that respect as we could bring along PJ's and just let them sleep in the stroller while we strolled the Epcot WS in the evening for example.

Stroller - I would not rent, especially for your 6 and 12 month old trips. Invest in a lightweight stroller that fully reclines - you will want it at the airport and its easy to gate check (if you fly).

Pack and Play cribs are provided at all of the WDW resorts and our experience is that they were brand new or fairly new. I did bring my own sheets for familiarity though.

Consider a sling or baby carrier for lines where you can't bring the stroller as well.

Most of the rest will come naturally - if mom and dad are happy baby will be as well.

I was about to post all of this advice. Our first family WDW trip was with my 2.5 yo daughter and 8mos old son (4 years ago). Baby sling will be key for an infant. When you plan the trip, plan it around breaks and resting periods, don't plan it around attractions etc.

 

[stephk1981]

Thanks for the feedback - we can't wait! Good to know about the rental options... reading everything online makes the rental options seem much easier than trying to bring your own. It's interesting to hear your feedback about the Disney options versus Kingdom Strollers for cribs. Do you have any idea why your DD can't make the Disney options work - are they just more worn and less comfortable?

Sorry....I was actually just suggesting kingdom strollers for the actual stroller rental! Lol.
As far as the crib at Disney....many babies, at least both of mine...just don't sleep well in unfamiliar environments. They are used to their crib and their room at home. The first visit for DD now 1 was when she was 6 months. The first 2 nights were horrible..... wouldn't go down in the crib and after she finally did she was up ( not joking) 25+ times each of those first two nights. I couldn't function lol....so I let her sleep with me the next nights after she woke the first time. Honestly you won't know how your baby will be until they are here. Neither of mine have been great at home sleepers either and at 6 months A LOT of babies are not sleeping through the night....at home you deal with it....on Vacation it can be harder to have fun while sleep deprived

DD is getting ready for trip number 6 and 7 this year and I already know going into them it will be hard....I have done Disney with both kids by myself a few times now( husband has only gone twice since youngest was born.) So obviously the fatigue isn't enough to keep me away from Disney !

 

[AJT607]

Appreciate all of the tips. We will (most likely) be flying - so I will definitely plan to bring our own stroller for the baby's familiarity and the extra comfort at the airport. We haven't made a decision for sure on where to stay yet - but our favorite park is Epcot so we will probably try to stay at Boardwalk/Beach Club or Swan/Dolphin.

 

[sponica]

I think the key is flexibility, my friend also said her son was MUCH easier to bring at 9 months vs 15 months. But every kid is different.

Mine went for the first time at 20 months...she slept fine in the pack and play. And mine is one of those kids who needed to be in her crib by bedtime if we know what's best for us.

 

[jenmsmith]

Congratulations!

We are out of state APs and traveled with our youngest last fall when she was 6 months and this spring when she was 10 months. She’s a really go-with-the-flow baby and loves to be out and about. Still, it was a big change to our touring. We stopped often for her to nurse during that first visit. She didn’t like her stroller at all at 6 months, so I wore her in a Baby K’Tan. That was the only way she’d nap for more than 15 minutes. We still had a great time and she stayed up and partied with us at Scat Cats at POFQ and was dubbed “the happiest baby ever” by the performers Billy and Jason. On that trip, our stroller was almost exclusively used to store the diaper bag. And she slept in the bed with me (which she was mostly doing at home, too).

However, her trip at 10 months she was all about the stroller. She loved it and napped in it well. On that trip, we had her three older brothers and we didn’t have to stop quite as often as we did when she was 6 months.

Both trips were fun and we’re glad we took her. It’s a lot of work to take a baby, and of course they won’t remember it. But you’re going because you really want to visit and the baby is along for the ride, you can have a fun trip. Enjoy!

 

[simplymama]

Congratulations!

Truthfully you'll do many things in the first few years of your child's life that they will not remember when they are older. The memories are really for you Our youngest is now 11, but we went yearly (once twice) from the time he was 1, until the year he was 7(so that is 8 trips he has had). We took the last few years off because of our older children's weddings and other travel we did. He is so excited for this next trip because he barely remembers any of it.

For what it's worth our baby/toddlers always ended up sleeping in the bed with us. I nursed and it was just much easier and they slept beautifully. I think bringing your own stroller for familiarity and their favorite blanket/toy and you'll be set. Remember things like baby wipes to wipe little hands from germs after rides or to wipe down high chairs and tylenol just in case your precautions don't work and be flexible and have realistic expectations that you may have to stop more often or take more breaks, but it's definitely worth it if you love Disney!

 

[Shellyred8]

If you bring your own stroller, and your stroller has inflatable tires, be aware that the airlines may deflate the tires a bit for the flight. The wheel chair rental places at each of the parks have an air compressor that you can use to re-inflate them.

I would vote for going whenever you want to go. If you plan on doing lots of Disney trips in your life, the sooner you get started learning how it will all work for you the better, IMO anyway. Once you know your child's "normal" routine at home, I would try to plan your trip around that. And then be prepared to let all of your plans fly out the window if it just isn't working for the little one. You really just have to go into it knowing that you need to be flexible with your schedule.

Congratulations on the new addition to your family!!!

 

[AJT607]

I love reading all of your advice. I'm an obsessive planner and can't wait to get started on this trip - but it sounds like there will need to be a lot of "wait and see" until we find out what the baby is comfortable with and what his or her routine is like. We just had another doctor's appointment yesterday and all is going well - can't wait to welcome the baby AND for baby's first Disney Trip!