Car seats?

[cjparker0110]

In 2017 I will be taking my family to Disney World for the first time. This will be my 11th time to WDW, but my first as a parent. At that point we will have 4 children (6,5,3, 18 months). We will be staying at Disney's Shades of Green resort which does NOT use the Magical Express from the airport to the parks. I am just wondering if anyone has had any experience in getting to WDW from the airport with that many children and, if so, what should we do about car seats. I would prefer to not have to bring our own as our hands will be full enough. Is it better to get a cab, bus, or rent a car? Do any of those services provide car seats? And if they provide, do they provide that many? Thank you in advance!

 

[Alesia]

Cabs and car rental agencies will provide car seats, but there's no guarantee that they will be safe, clean, or properly installed. Use your best judgement.

 

[DopeyDame]

The best option would be to bring the carseat and use it on the plane, at least for the 18 month old. It's safer for a child that age to be properly restrained in their own seat. (FAA, NTSB, AAP, among others all recommend that.)
For the 5 and 6 year old, you can probably get away with a booster (depending on their size) so those are easy enough to just check at the airport - most car rental agencies and taxis don't have boosters, as far as I know.
So the 3 year old is really your complicated child... you can always use their carseat on the plane as well, but depending on size they may be getting a little big to comfortably do that. Otherwise, you can rent one from either a car rental place, or specify when you reserve a taxi that you'll need a carseat.

 

[maurene]

As I understand it, FL only requires children under 4 yo to be in a car seat. There is some gray area for 4 to 5 yo. So, if you're only worried about transportation from the airport to your resort, I'd not worry about having a car seat or booster for the 6 and 5 yo. I'd bring my own seats for the youngest two - to either use in rental car or shuttle. I had a low cost, lightweight convertible seat that I bought just for travel with my boys when they were younger. I agree with pp, that I think its best for the 18 month old to use the car seat in the plane. After 2.5 yo, I stopped using one on the plane for my boys because of them kicking the seat in front of them, not being able to use the lap tray (sometimes), and being too restless. Most airlines will allow you to baggage check or gate check a car seat for free. (And, since I'm using a cheaper seat for travel, I don't worry too much about it getting damaged if checked.)

http://www.sheriff.org/safety/carseat.cfm

 

[Danibelle]

According to highway signage, the law changed on January 1, 2015. Car seats are required for those under six years. It's very confusing that the Broward County website is listing the old age limit. I would be safe and plan for all kids to have car seats/boosters as appropriate.

 

[cjparker0110]

Thanks for all of your advice. I will definitely monitor the age limits. If there are any that don't need them, that would be great. In MN they are in a booster until they are 8 I think. Blah. I remember riding in the front seat as a 4 year old, and crawling all over the place until I was smart enough not to...

 

[mieuxmew]

Car rental companies rent car seats, but I find them to be very expensive and poorly maintained. We bring our own boosters. My kids are small and still in booster seats because they don't meet our state weight/height requirement.

Look into purchasing Bubble Bum booster seats for the older 2. They are $30 each and sold on Amazon and Target. They are inflatable, study, light weight and fold up small so they can fit into a carry-on or tote bag. We have 2 of these and LOVE them!! They have gone on many trips and have held up well.

 

[cjparker0110]

Thank you! I've never heard of those. That will help tremendously! We were trying to figure out how to tote 4 kids AND 4 car seats/boosters through the airport. That will make it much easier to carry the boosters!

 

[ninafeliz]

We bought a bubble bum for our 5 year old for our past trip in Feb, and will use it again in May. For our soon to be 2 year old (birthday in 15 minutes!) we rented a seat from Dollar (I think it was dollar). Our upcoming trip we plan to take a seat for him to ride in in the plane, since it will be his first time to not be a lap infant and I'm worried about him wanting to be in my lap for takeoff. I'm hoping sitting in his carseat will make him realize he has to stay in it, just like when he's in the car.

So our experience with that - I felt like the bubble bum was just an option to make us legal, I don't know how much safer it seemed. I guess it must have been somewhat safer, since it would have raised him and thus raised his seatbelt, and it is approved. So maybe it's just a mental thing, and I'm not used to it. Having said that, we're using it again. In an ideal world we would have his car seat from home that is huge and practically has airbags, but even with just 2 kids we can't handle all of our stuff plus 2 car seats. The rental car seat seemed fine, but for some reason they removed the LATCH restraints, which is how we have always attached seats (well, I guess we have had to do it with seat belts at some point, but not enough to feel comfortable). The top tether was also too short to use, which is not required but given the rest of the story I would have rather had it (our son was rear facing). Se we spent a good 20-30 min trying to get the seat in tight enough, and honestly I'm pretty sure we never did get it in nearly tight enough. No instructions other than those on the side of the seat. I as ready to either cry, throw the seat, or tear my hair out. Finally my DH, who is usually the most paranoid, safety conscious person ever, said that's as good as we can get it, it must be in right. Honestly, we both have advanced degrees and I felt like a dummy trying to get this thing in. That experience really is what pushed me to decide to bring his seat this time, it will be safer and easier (I hope) on the plane, and we can just latch it in and go when we get there. Otherwise I might have just tried him in a seat belt on the plane and rented again.

By the way, we got our bubble bum on amazon for cheaper than in a store, so check there. We did take the cheapest color, which had some neon involved, but we only use it on vacation...

 

[malibuconlee]

For the 5 and 6 year olds I would let them carry backless boosters along with their own backpacks of "stuff". For the younger two we had a bag like this onehttp://www.amazon.com/BRICA-Cover-Guard-Seat-Travel/dp/B006P05S2Y/ref=pd_sxp_grid_i_0_1 that we would use to check our car seat when traveling. It has straps so you can carry it like a back pack. That is if you aren't using them on the plane. Or you could try to fit the backless boosters in the bags with the car seats. I know even with 1 kiddo we looked like a circus getting into the airport when we would travel! Kiddo in a stroller with diaperbag and purse on handles, me pushing with car seat strapped onto my back, hubby with a backpack and pushing one suitcase while pulling 2 strapped together.