Crawling-friendly places and Baby Care Station questions

[Melissa&Shawn]

We have never gone to WDW with a crawling baby before. Our 10 month old is a crawling maniac. . Would love to take him out to stretch his legs every so often. Any good crawling places in the parks?

Second, the nursing room at the Baby Care Station - could I use that to feed him with a bottle? I tried desperately to nurse him but it didn't work out. But would love to feed him without the distractions and potentially rock him to sleep in there. Is that inappropriate though because I'm not nursing.

 

[mommy2_3]

Im not sure about the first question since i have not been to Disney world yet (just disney land) but from what i read about the baby care centers, those are for all babies/toddlers. feeding (bottle or breast), changing, cooling off from the heat. i remember seeing, i believe it was in Magic Kingdom, that it even has microwaves for warming up bottles. and they sell diapers, wipes, formula, ect..... in there (though i was told not to buy in there unless you really really need it cause its expensive!

 

[rileyreese]

We took our son at that age and he crawled around any where! We would take out and let him explore while we were waiting on the rest of our family to get done at rides, waiting on parades, waiting on the buses or anywhere else that he needed. We always just found a good, out of the way spot and let him explore!

I nursed our son but I think the baby care stations would be find to bottle feed too! I will say that they were often not very convient so we just used them when he was hot and needed a break. Depending on the park some of them were not very quiet so I am not sure how relaxing they would be to get a baby to sleep, our son would just pass out in the stroller or front carrier!

 

[ThumpersWorld]

I would say you can definitely bottle feed the baby at the baby care station. When my son was 5 months I needed to pick up some ready made formula there (yes, expensive but nice that it was an option) and I fed him his bottle there. I found it to be nice and quiet too which was nice...

 

[Deb & Bill]

There are a few nice grassy areas at the parks. At Epcot, in Future World near the bridge that leads to the World Showcase are some grassy areas. In the Magic Kingdom in the path that led from Toon Town towards Space Mountain was a grassy area. I can't think of any in DHS or in AK.

 

[capeseal]

I can't see any problem with using the baby care center to bottle feed your baby. (I know that I never paid attention to how other moms were feeding their babies in the nursing rooms.) DS is a very easily distracted nurser, so when we went in January, I used the centers in MK and AK to nurse DS in a quiet spot. AK was perfect for this as they have private rooms for each mom and baby to rock and relax. But MK was just one room for everyone and DS got a bit silly and excited and tried to distract the other babies and start a baby party so we left and found a quiet bench

I like the baby center spaces to crawl around indoors and cool off. Sometimes, if the parks are crowded, it can be tough to find a good spot outside for little ones to crawl around without being trampled by enthusiastic young toddlers

 

[Melissa&Shawn]

Thanks everyone!!! I appreciate all your advice.

 

[livndisney]

I know the nursing room at MK is for nursing only according to the sign on the door and some reports here. I think it is also a space issue.

The babycare centers in the other parks do not have that sign.

I would let a baby crawl around in the babycare center, but would not let them crawl on the grass. Between the snakes, lizards, bugs, rats and chemicals/fertilizers and reclaimed water I have seen them spray on the grass-I would stick to the baby care centers.

 

[Schmeck]

I know the nursing room at MK is for nursing only according to the sign on the door and some reports here. I think it is also a space issue.

The babycare centers in the other parks do not have that sign.

I would let a baby crawl around in the babycare center, but would not let them crawl on the grass. Between the snakes, lizards, bugs, rats and chemicals/fertilizers and reclaimed water I have seen them spray on the grass-I would stick to the baby care centers.

Also, many of the grassy areas are fenced off, not for guest use. I would assume it is a safety issue, and people would know not to plunk their child over the fence.

In the hotel room, don't forget to check under the beds, behind the furniture, etc, for small items that mousekeeping has missed. There have been posts on the Dis about small children finding dropped pills, and even used condoms (ew!) in nooks and crannies that get overlooked.

 

[Princess Melody]

Animal kingdom and Epcot have wonderful crawling rooms for babies in the baby care centers. Hollywood Studios babycare is very small and the door opens right into the little room a baby can crawl in so they could easily get hit by the door or crawl out of the room if it is for some reason being left open. Magic Kingdom the room appropriate for crawling is also the feeding room and has a tile floor. It works in a pinch but is not the best place. At Hollywood Studios I'd let my daughter crawl off to the side in the room in animation courtyard where Mickey is. On the top level there is a room off to the side that just has displays of artwork (the last room on the tour) & there usually is hardly anywhere in there. I never did find a good crawling spot at Magic Kingdom. When she really needed to crawl I resorted to babycare or let her crawl on concrete in a small out of the way area if she had pants on. There may be some good crawling spots on Tom Sawyer Island but I have yet to take her over there & she started walking at 11 months anyways.
The nursing room at MK really is only for nursing moms. It gets very busy at times and there are a limited number of chairs. They will say something if you try to walk in with a bottle & it is busy but there is a room in the back with high chairs and regular tables and chairs you can use to bottle feed. Epcot usually isn't as busy but the attendant will tell you nursing moms only and there is a designated room with high chairs for bottle feeding. AK the nursing rooms are private so I don't see how they'd know you weren't nursing unless you tell them (my daughter is both breast & bottle fed & I used the rooms many times when she was tiny). At Hollywood studios there are only two very small (private) nursing rooms so I would leave them for nursing moms & feed baby in the high chair room unless there is absolutely no one in baby care.
When my daughter was crawling AK was my favorite park. If we weren't near babycare I'd let her crawl around in the boneyard or rafiki's planet watch. She loved the sand pit in the boneyard!

 

[Melissa&Shawn]

Great info! Thanks everyone!