Car Seats

[yitbos96bb]

I was curious how those who have flown and brought car seats with them have prepared them for Disney. This assumes you did not buy a seat and are holding the baby in your lap (and this isn't a debate on whether you should or shouldn't so please don't post on that topic). Did you check the seat at the gate? Check it with the baggage? Ship it to the hotel? Buy one down there? Rent one?

How did you pack it to check or ship?

Also, is a car seat needed for the Disney Buses? I can't think how to fasten one, but I might be missing it.

 

[sritter78]

We leave in 1 day. We have a seat for DD and will bring her car seat on the plane. We did not buy a seat for DS, but are hopeful that we will get a seat for him and bring his car seat on the plane. If not, then we will gate check his car seat with the strollers. I personally believe that gate checking is safer than checking it with your luggage. I don't think it would be worth the cost to ship it or buy one when down there.

You do not need a car seat for the Disney buses.

 

[all4fun]

The buses don't have seat belts so you can't use car seats on them.

When flying, you can gate or baggage check your car seat and most airlines do not count a car seat or stroller against your baggage count because they are assistive devices. I also believe that gate checking a car seat is a bit safer because these items are loaded last with the wheel chairs. You can put it in a bag but it's not required. A bag will only prevent it from getting dirty (and it may be easier to carry thru the airport in a bag as well). Airlines also consider car seats and strollers to be fragile objects and will not reimburse if they are lost or damaged.

I will never rent a car seat for a couple of reasons: first, there is no way to know the history of a rental seat, ie whether it's been in an accident, how it's cared for, plus rental seats often don't come with the manual and if it's a seat you're not familiar with, w/out the manual you won't know if you're using it according to mfgr directions or not(remember 80% or more of all car seats are improperly installed). OK maybe that was more than two reasons right there lol. Also, you can spend about $10 a day to rent a seat so it's just not cost effective if you're spending a whole week or more somewhere (and we personally never go to DW for less than a week). Oh, one more reason: car rental agencies do NOT guarantee they will have the seat you requested.

I wouldn't buy a seat at a vacation spot unless I had to. I just feel much more comfortable using our own seat that we are familiar with.

hth

 

[lolakat]

When we traveled with DD at 6 mo we had her ride on our lap and gate checked the car seat. We bought a bag made specifically for car seats at Babies R Us. It was not really padded or anything but it had wheels so we could roll the seat behind us. The seat was not damaged and was waiting for us when we got off the plane.

DD will be 23 months on our disney trip. We bought her a seat this time and plan to use the care seat on the plane.

 

[yitbos96bb]

The buses don't have seat belts so you can't use car seats on them.

When flying, you can gate or baggage check your car seat and most airlines do not count a car seat or stroller against your baggage count because they are assistive devices. I also believe that gate checking a car seat is a bit safer because these items are loaded last with the wheel chairs. You can put it in a bag but it's not required. A bag will only prevent it from getting dirty (and it may be easier to carry thru the airport in a bag as well). Airlines also consider car seats and strollers to be fragile objects and will not reimburse if they are lost or damaged.

I will never rent a car seat for a couple of reasons: first, there is no way to know the history of a rental seat, ie whether it's been in an accident, how it's cared for, plus rental seats often don't come with the manual and if it's a seat you're not familiar with, w/out the manual you won't know if you're using it according to mfgr directions or not(remember 80% or more of all car seats are improperly installed). OK maybe that was more than two reasons right there lol. Also, you can spend about $10 a day to rent a seat so it's just not cost effective if you're spending a whole week or more somewhere (and we personally never go to DW for less than a week). Oh, one more reason: car rental agencies do NOT guarantee they will have the seat you requested.

I wouldn't buy a seat at a vacation spot unless I had to. I just feel much more comfortable using our own seat that we are familiar with.

hth

Did you ever have your seat damaged? I can clean dirty (although I'll drop $20 and buy one of those Red Gate Check bags) but obviously don't want to have to worry about buying a new car seat if its damaged.

 

[yitbos96bb]

When we traveled with DD at 6 mo we had her ride on our lap and gate checked the car seat. We bought a bag made specifically for car seats at Babies R Us. It was not really padded or anything but it had wheels so we could roll the seat behind us. The seat was not damaged and was waiting for us when we got off the plane.

DD will be 23 months on our disney trip. We bought her a seat this time and plan to use the care seat on the plane.

Did you gate check a stroller too? Does anyone know if they will let you bring through both a stroller and car seat to gate check?

 

[all4fun]

Did you ever have your seat damaged? I can clean dirty (although I'll drop $20 and buy one of those Red Gate Check bags) but obviously don't want to have to worry about buying a new car seat if its damaged.

Personally, no, however I have only gate checked a car seat once. That was the trip we were using DME from the airport to resort & rented a car at desk at the Dolphin resort (we were at BWV). I knew if anything happened to the car seat, one of us could run to a local store and get something that would suffice. This car seat was our backup/spare seat so it would have just been an inconvenience for us, not a tragedy. I did check it in a car seat bag with some pillows for extra padding though.

Did you gate check a stroller too? Does anyone know if they will let you bring through both a stroller and car seat to gate check?

We checked both a car seat and stroller. I don't think it should be a problem. Check w/your individual airline though. Some have this info on their website.
hth

 

[tanyaandallie]

Did you gate check a stroller too? Does anyone know if they will let you bring through both a stroller and car seat to gate check?

We have had both our double stroller and our car seat damaged when we checked them with our luggage. Our Maclaren double was damaged and we had to pay $100+ to have it repaired. Since we have gate checked the double with no damage.

DD's Marathon was checked (in a car seat bag) and was damaged. The forward facing lock off broke off and was unusable.

We have since checked dd's booster seat with our luggage twice. However, we use the original box the seat came in so it is protected. Still at risk for being lost but at least we knew it would not be damaged.

ETA - OOps. I quoted the wrong post! I'll add that we have gone through security with 2 carseats and a double stroller. Gate checked one car seat and a stroller.

 

[yitbos96bb]

Personally, no, however I have only gate checked a car seat once. That was the trip we were using DME from the airport to resort & rented a car at desk at the Dolphin resort (we were at BWV). I knew if anything happened to the car seat, one of us could run to a local store and get something that would suffice. This car seat was our backup/spare seat so it would have just been an inconvenience for us, not a tragedy. I did check it in a car seat bag with some pillows for extra padding though.

We checked both a car seat and stroller. I don't think it should be a problem. Check w/your individual airline though. Some have this info on their website.
hth

I didn't know you can rent a car from the Dolphin Front Desk... Was it overpriced like the on disney rental place?

 

[yitbos96bb]

We have had both our double stroller and our car seat damaged when we checked them with our luggage. Our Maclaren double was damaged and we had to pay $100+ to have it repaired. Since we have gate checked the double with no damage.

DD's Marathon was checked (in a car seat bag) and was damaged. The forward facing lock off broke off and was unusable.

We have since checked dd's booster seat with our luggage twice. However, we use the original box the seat came in so it is protected. Still at risk for being lost but at least we knew it would not be damaged.

ETA - OOps. I quoted the wrong post! I'll add that we have gone through security with 2 carseats and a double stroller. Gate checked one car seat and a stroller.

Thanks to everyone.... I appreciate it. Still deciding on getting a car, but this helps.

 

[alyssa810]

Our son is almost 20 months old, and we've checked strollers and car seats each time. We bought a car seat that we use exclusively for traveling so we don't need to take one out of our cars (it's a cosco scenera I think, it was about $40). Anyway, we still have him ticketed as a lap baby; we've been lucky though where most flights he's had his own seat. We check his stroller at the gate too, but the carseat goes with the regular checked baggage. We also throw stuff like diapers in the car seat bag- it doesn't add weight and makes for more room in the suitcase.