Character meals with an infant?

[BadgerGirl84]

I'm debating whether or not to try to book a character meal or two for my upcoming trip with my daughter who will be four months old. I hesitate because I do t know what her nap schedule will be and the point of me doing the meal would be to get some cute pics of her with the characters. Before we had DD, DH had a tradition of going to the crystal palace on out MK park day, so it's not like we don't enjoy the character meals on our own. But if DD is there, I think I'd be a bit disappointed if she slept through the whole thing. Then again, at least I could eat my food when it's hot, so win-win...lol.

Those who have gone with small babies...what do you recommend?

 

[Mickey Mac]

Do it! An infant is easy, a two year old is unpredictable! We brought our son when he was 8 months and have great character photos, at almost two he wants nothing to do with them!

 

[MSSANDRA]

Go for it. Infants sleep where ever and when ever they need too and when you are at WDW, they can be off even more! Just book whatever time you want and know that pictures of sleeping babies with characters are cute too!!!!

 

[deuceswild10]

Do it! Even if she sleeps the whole time the pics will be super cute!

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Assuming this won't be the child's only trip to WDW, it shouldn't be a problem. If you were doing a "once in a lifetime" thing, I'd say wait.

We went when our youngest was 6mo. One thing that really helped us was that he was fond of being in a sling. We still had a stroller, but he really preferred the sling--he was at a good height to see things, and when he got tired/fussy, we could kind of pull the fabric to block his view, and he could nap. DH did most of the carrying, but I was nursing, so he had plenty of time with both of us.

As to character meals specifically--this was our youngest, so we did several character meals with him. When you make ADRs, you have to include the child in your headcount, even if they're not going to be ordering a meal. Our little guy slept through Akershus, but Snow White said that his little bald head reminded her of Dopey, and she left a lipstick kiss on it. At Chef Mickey's, Minnie wouldn't give him back! She clearly loved babies. We have some great family photos from that trip. The characters will definitely interact with a baby, if the child is interested.

Fast forward 7 years, and the same baby boy still loves a Disney vacation. Of course, now it's all about the "Mountains" and the fireworks, but on our trip in Jan., he danced with Cinderella at 1900 Park Fare.

 

[bostonminnie]

We took my son to Ohana's for the character breakfast when he was 6 months old and we had a great time! There was something very magical about watching him look at the characters for the first time. Even if your daughter is sleeping I bet you can still get some pictures of her with the characters. Have a great trip

 

[NorthernGrl]

My then 12 week old slept a lot at the parks. We have pictures of Daisy kissing her sleepy head and Piglet and Tigger posing with her asleep in the stroller.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

Assuming this won't be the child's only trip to WDW, it shouldn't be a problem. If you were doing a "once in a lifetime" thing, I'd say wait.

We went when our youngest was 6mo. One thing that really helped us was that he was fond of being in a sling. We still had a stroller, but he really preferred the sling--he was at a good height to see things, and when he got tired/fussy, we could kind of pull the fabric to block his view, and he could nap. DH did most of the carrying, but I was nursing, so he had plenty of time with both of us.

As to character meals specifically--this was our youngest, so we did several character meals with him. When you make ADRs, you have to include the child in your headcount, even if they're not going to be ordering a meal. Our little guy slept through Akershus, but Snow White said that his little bald head reminded her of Dopey, and she left a lipstick kiss on it. At Chef Mickey's, Minnie wouldn't give him back! She clearly loved babies. We have some great family photos from that trip. The characters will definitely interact with a baby, if the child is interested.

Fast forward 7 years, and the same baby boy still loves a Disney vacation. Of course, now it's all about the "Mountains" and the fireworks, but on our trip in Jan., he danced with Cinderella at 1900 Park Fare.

This is the type of experience we are hoping for on our next trip. We are tentatively planning a trip for the end of next summer (late August or September) and our baby will be 7-8 months old by then. We already have a cute Minnie Mouse onesie/outfit that I bought online set aside for the baby and I think it would be perfect for Chef Mickey's since we have done this character meal on both of our past trips. Another character meal I would love to do for this particular trip is the Crystal Palace. There is just something so cute about pictures of babies with the Winnie the Pooh characters, plus the breakfast buffet there is really, really good

 

[DSNY4ever]

We went to Disneyland when DS was 8 months and we tried to do a character meal and he fell asleep when we got there so we didn't do it (we didn't have a reservation luckily...because in DIsneyland you can play things by ear). I don't know about all the character meals in WDW but in Disneyland we couldn't bring the stroller in, so there was no way I was going to wake him up and force him to eat and take photos! I would just stick with meeting characters in the parks when she is awake.