Creative Ideas for Spouse Survival at WDW

[magicwishes]

We are considering going to WDW in July for a Conference for me. We will have a 3 month old, 2yo, 4yo, and 6yo. I've looked into ideas for the older two to do activities, while I am at the conference. My husband would only have to worry about the younger two for at least part of the time this way. I'm not coming up with much. We will be staying at the Beach or Yacht Club and will be reliant on Disney transportation most likely.

Any ideas so my husband doesn't lose his sanity?

We are considering only taking the younger ones, but we are concerned about finding the right person to stay with the older two at home. We are also considering bringing a person with us, but it would really increase the cost of the trip.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Edited Update: There is no way we will leave the infant at home. It's just not an option for us.

 

[Schmeck]

If you are leaving kids at home, I'd leave the younger two kids, not the older two. There's so much more to do with older kids than a baby and toddler.

Disney's childcare centers:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/recreation/childrens-activity-centers/

 

[happymommy]

If I were to leave any of the children at home, to me it would be the younger ones. The older ones may feel sad not getting to go to Disneyworld, while a baby won't care where he or she is. A 2 year old would definitely have fun though - my DD was 2 the first time we took her and she had a wonderful time! She has some good memories of the trip even.

At the Yacht and Beach Club - will you have two rooms? It sounds like if you all go it would be a nightmare to get the kids to bed, even with two pack & plays and two beds for all of you. Is the conference there or at the Boardwalk? I'd look into two rooms or maybe renting DVC points for a 2 bedroom villa. Or two rooms at the Swan or Dolphin even. They also have suites there, and it's cheaper than the Beach Club.

You will possibly want to have two double strollers for the parks, so maybe bring one and rent one for the week. I brought a stroller until my DD was 8. It's a lot of walking. Then that does get into the problem of you being tied up in a conference so your DH needs help. Will it be worth it to ask family to come and help? It is an added expense. Or leave two youngest ones with family (unless you're nursing of course, I never left my babies with anyone personally, we didn't even use babysitters until your kids were much older, but it may be easier to just bring the older ones who will enjoy the vacation more).

Can you tack on days before/after the conference to spend time all together at all?

 

[MSSANDRA]

I agree, leaving the oldest two at home while taking the youngest would be a bad move. The oldest two would love spending the day at the parks with dad while you are busy. The hardest would be the2 year old, but even he will have a blast doing the parks. Im not for leaving anyone at home, but in this case, maybe leave just the baby and dad could handle the others. If you are nursing and that's not possible, I would bite the money bullet and take along another adult. Maybe a family friend would agree to go and split some cost and just help for a few hours a day. Maybe grandma would go???

 

[dansamy]

Bring another adult.

 

[Runnergal]

I would totally leave the littlest one home if possible and if not, bring another adult. The downside is you will have to get another room. The plus side is that babies can nap, go to bed early in peace and quiet and you are not all packed into one room. I am a mom of four and no way could I, or dh, handle all 4 of them at Disney by myself. We are bringing all 4 in November, but we are coming back in February for the princess half marathon and the 10 month old is staying home with grandma.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Unless you get a DVC room you can't fit 6 of you in one room.

 

[disneyirie]

sounds like a tough situation! i live in orlando and go to disney frequently, so i love helping make the experience as easy as possible for newcomers. i'd say leaving 2 at home would be a great idea. one adult can hardly handle one kid at disney, much less 4. my advice is the 2 youngest get left in the room. it's cheaper to take the 2 youngest and i don't know how hard it is to manage your oldest so you can make the decision for yourself, but having seen and been in many groups of miserable parents with rowdy kids on their first disney trip, i personally am not going to take my kids until they're at least 6. babies are easy at the parks but they won't remember the experience and if you're bringing them because you want to see disney, you'll have to stop and check on them all the time and disney isn't a great place to have to stop what you're doing and focus on something else. i don't have kids but i've heard great things about the care centers. make sure your husband does a little research on the park and has an idea of what he wants the kids to see before they go. otherwise he'll end up losing track of time and sometimes the signs at wdw can be a bit dodgy and mislead you, so following a 6 year old around disney world will make for a bad experience for everyone. just plan out what is where or at least make sure he's alert and not a zombie by the end of the day. the trip really can be fun for everyone if you plan ahead!

 

[MSSANDRA]

Unless you get a DVC room you can't fit 6 of you in one room.

Most deluxes you can do 5 plus a infant under three so they would be legal. Is the room included in her convention cost? Maybe see if you could downgrade to a moderate and get two rooms and bring a sitter. If you could keep room cost about the same, and just have to pay for food and ticket for her, maybe it could work to bring even a teen relative along to help out.

 

[magicwishes]

There is no way we will leave the infant at home. It just isn't an option for us.

My understanding is that we can fit 5 plus an infant in a room at Beach Club or Yacht Club. Although it will be crowded, that's our plan. One room for 5 nights is included in the convention cost. The room will have two queens and a daybed or roll away. The room is $164 per night. Unless a suite at the Swan and Dolphin is cheaper, I won't get reimbursed for it.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3183914

That's a great idea to rent an extra double stroller.

We have gone to Disney World twice, since having kids. We will have a very relaxed plan as far as what we hope to accomplish in the Parks. My husband would not take the kids to the Park by himself. He would hang out at the resort primarily and do some activities. I may have the infant with me sometimes, while sitting in a conference lecture.

For the conference, I will have two half days and two full days of activities. For the two full days I have conference activities all day, I think we will either hire a sitter from Kids Night Out to be a helper or bring an adult from home. The helper from Kids Night Out would be much cheaper for us overall than paying for someone to come from home. I think we would pay $300 or less for the Kids Night Out helper for the two full days. My husband will be fine on his own for the other two half days.

Here is our list of activities he could do with the kids at or nearby the resort:
Pirate Adventure, Play Ground, Kiddie Pool, Ice Cream Shop, Minature Golf, Arcade, ride boat to HS or Epcot.

Does anyone else have any other ideas to add?

In the past, we have had an adult from home come with us. The first time we paid for everything for the adult as that was the only way she could come. The second time it was a different adult, and we paid for lodging, character meals, and park entrance. We are thinking about offering for the two previous people to come. However, we can not pay for as much as we have in the past.

Would it be reasonable to offer to pay $500 towards lodging only for both of them? We would take an approach of "you're welcome to come but we have an alternative plan, if you're not able or interested in coming". If you are interested in coming, we'd be happy to pay $500 towards the cost of your lodging." I feel like we should do something to show appreciation for their help, however we just can't pick up most of the tab. We would request that they be there Saturday and Sunday to help, when I will be in the conference for a full day. Otherwise they can decide how long they want/can afford to be there and how they want to spend their time. I suspect they would spend most or all of their time with us, but we wouldn't expect it. What are your thoughts about offering this?

We are thinking we will go for the two full days of the conference, two half days of the conference, and add either 2-3 more days for about 7 days total in Orlando. I think we will probably skip animal kingdom, go to Epcot and HS each on one of the half days of the conference, and spend either 2-3 partial days at MK on the extra days. If we only spend 2 days at MK, we'll go to Downtown Disney one day. The attractions we will visit on our half days will be Epcot-Illuminations, Soarin, Living with the Land, Turtle Talk, The Seas and at HS-Toy Story Mania if possible, Beauty and the Beast, Disney Junior, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure.

Please let me know your thoughts and input. Thanks to everyone who has weighed in so far.

 

[Schmeck]

If you are expecting your 'guest' to be involved with childcare for most of the trip, then you should pay for everything, IMO.

I've never heard of any convention where people were encouraged to bring infants into lectures. Are you expecting the baby to never make a sound?

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Personally, I wouldn't do it. Any of it. It sounds too much like you're trying to fit a WDW vacation around a work event, and something is going to have to give. I don't see how you're going to be able to concentrate on the conference if you have your infant with you, unless he sleeps the entire time. Given that you haven't actually given birth yet, you have no idea if this child will be placid or difficult. I assume you want to do this because you'll be nursing, but I would worry about coming across as unprofessional.

I also think the 6 of you in one hotel room could be a disaster--just because you CAN do it, doesn't mean it's a great idea. I say this as a mother of four--one time, the 6 of us stayed (legally--youngest was 2.5) in a 1BR at AKL, and we all felt crowded and were irritated as a result. It's going to be really tricky to move around the room, let alone work (review lecture notes, do any homework, etc.). It would be one thing if you were planning to use the room only for sleeping, but it sounds like your DH will be in it quite a bit with the kids.

I'm not trying to be harsh, and I can understand wanting to combine a business trip to a nice location with some family fun. My only suggestion would be to consider staying at a rental home or condo in Windsor Hills and renting a car. This would allow space for you to work (or kids to go to bed early), and would cost less than $150/night. Windsor Hills has a community pool and a playground. You could easily fit 6-7 in a rental (since you might bring an extra person).

 

[cel_disney]

I attended a conference at Shades of Green a few years ago when DD was turning 1 and DS was 5. I had 4 full days of conference activities.

My DH is a disney vet but 2 kids alone for 4 days can be dicey...we ended up getting together with other conference families and they tackled their days together. It was sometimes slow but it was a great way to balance the parent/child ratio!

If you know anyone else going maybe this was an option for you?

 

[magicwishes]

If my expectation was for them to help with childcare the entire trip, I would plan to pay for all of the trip. It's not my expectation. I think if they know the expectations and what we are willing and able to cover upfront, then they can decide if they want to do it. I appreciate your thoughts and will consider them depending on what we ultimately will be asking for them to do.

Infants aren't encouraged to go to lectures. The conference is a kid based topic. People who attend are kid friendly. I would only take the infant in if he/she was sleeping, sit at the back, and leave if I needed to when the baby awakened or was fussy to hand off to another caregiver. I may not do it at all. In our profession, I think it would be acceptable by most people if the baby was sleeping.

I agree that one of the big question marks is the temperment of the baby and the baby's sleeping and nursing pattern. We may do all the planning in the world just to decide later it isn't going to work to go at all with this baby. I agree just because you can doesn't mean you should.

I won't have to do work outside of the conference meetings.

Thanks for the thoughts about a rental. I'll have to look into the restrictions as our administration has gotten much more strict about reimbursement, and I'm doubtful they would cover a rental. It may still be the best and most affordable way to go, if we are going to bring someone along.

Teaming up with other families or even adults is a great idea. I hadn't thought about it. Thanks for the idea.

My original plan to take the two youngest would be to attend the conference without spending any extra days. My husband would definitely be able to handle the two of them at the resort. We would do a few fun things on the partial days, but not really turn it into a vacation.

I really appreciate the thoughts. I'll look into some of these options and consider people's perspectives as we consider what to do.

 

[susanv]

We have stayed in one room as a family of 6 at Grand Floridian (same arrangement - 2 queens, 1 pull out, and a pack n' play) this past May and it was fine. I guess depends on the family......we enjoyed it, the kids all wanted to sleep in the same room as us anyways. Was supposed to stay in one room at Beach Club same Vacation only was surprised as family of the day and got upgraded to a two bedroom suite so I can't vouch for that room, but would guess just a nice. Suggestion for something to do would be for the kids to go play on the Beach by the Resort pool (unless it is closed for an event).

I would not take your offer in the wrong way, you are being upfront about it. Circumstances change and you cannot offer as much this time, plus you do have a backup plan. The only thing would be if they were going into the parks with your husband and kids I would probably offer entrance to the parks and then instead of $500 towards lodging would offer them $500 towards their expenses that way they could choose what to use the money towards - i.e. food, lodging, transportation, etc.. Kids Night Out would probably be cheaper, but at least you know the people and obviously trust them. A few of the Resorts offer the Kids Clubs for $11.00 per hour per child and include meals for night time. Most of the DVC resorts offer activity clubs during the day (crafts, etc.) and Beach Club has the DVC Villas at it. The two oldest could have fun doing that during the day.

I would not be afraid to take my four to Disney by myself. I look after them by myself most of the time when my DH is working or away and take them to the zoo, etc.. You probably already know but the child care centers at the parks are great and they all have an area for the younger kids to read a book or watch movies while you are changing the baby.

Have a good conference and a super vacation. What a good way to make use of available resources!

 

[twinsouvenirs]

I think you can do this. I also think it would be cheaper to hire a babysitter than bring someone. We used a great babysitter we found on sittercity that used to work for Disney in the childcare centers and is now at Legoland in sales; she has annual passes to all the parks so she can come with people to the park. Her husband works for Disney Resorts. She is in her late 20s or early 30s and fantastic, we discovered she and I also have a friend in common when I webstalked her and found her on linked in. We already have her booked for our spring trip. She's $20/hr but totally worth it and cheaper than paying for someone's room and board at the parks. She'll also babysit at the hotels. She babysat our twin 1 yr olds and had about 13 great reviews on sittercity. Message me if you want her info.

 

[Happyjen27]

What about a nanny finding service in the Orlando area? They might be able to find you a Disney babysitter as a PP described. Certainly I wouldn't leave my children alone with them, but, an extra set of hands while your husband is out and about with the kids would be nice.

If the older 2 kids are otherwise occupied, it seems like it would be a breeze for your husband to spend the day with the 2 little ones.

If this were a conference at any other destination would you ever consider taking the kids? If not, then I would try and look past the fact of it being Disney, and treat it like a conference and not involve the rest of the family. At these ages, it really isn't practical for your husband to come down with all 4 kids later. Although, maybe if you get a direct flight, that is an option. I know my husband is always "Daddy's got this" and hands on about everything, however, we have half the kids you've been blessed with.

 

[GSUJillybean]

So, you're offering someone $500 towards lodging for someone to help your husband with the kids? That won't cover 5 nights at BC. You're essentially asking them to fork out at least $1000 for a working vacation.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

What about a nanny finding service in the Orlando area? They might be able to find you a Disney babysitter as a PP described. Certainly I wouldn't leave my children alone with them, but, an extra set of hands while your husband is out and about with the kids would be nice.

If the older 2 kids are otherwise occupied, it seems like it would be a breeze for your husband to spend the day with the 2 little ones.

If this were a conference at any other destination would you ever consider taking the kids? If not, then I would try and look past the fact of it being Disney, and treat it like a conference and not involve the rest of the family. At these ages, it really isn't practical for your husband to come down with all 4 kids later. Although, maybe if you get a direct flight, that is an option. I know my husband is always "Daddy's got this" and hands on about everything, however, we have half the kids you've been blessed with.

This is what I keep coming back to. I'm sympathetic to the OP, as I have 4 kids, and my DH goes to conferences sometimes. They try to do the annual pump convention someplace interesting every year, and it's in July, so we always look into it. It's never worked out for us. And his company would be fine with a house rental--I know not everyone has that option.

We did manage to visit DC once as a family, but we only had 2 kids at the time, drove down, and had a hotel room near the Metro. DH went to his class while I did stuff with the kids. We did various museums and DC sights. My kids' favorite activities? The hotel pool, the Metro, and the hotel's revolving door. Yeah, that was worth the effort!

Hiring a sitter/helper, bringing along an extra person, lowering expectations, renting a house--maybe those things could make it work better.