Disney and a 3 mo. old!

[Princesssbz]

I am taking my 3 mo. old daughter to Disney for the first time on Sunday...I live in FL and am going with my sis and new baby....I am wondering if anyone has any tips on getting around Disney with an infant...I am a pro at going to Disney and love it, my parents brought us several times a year (we were from NJ) and we LOVED it...however, now I'm the MOM bringing my daughter so it will be a different experience...Also, are you allowed to take water into the park...I was wondering how I am going to work this...since my daughter is formula fed, and I need to sterilize the bottles...I was going to see if I could bring a gallon of nursery water in, and leave it in the locker, I also thought of the bottles with disposable liners, but i still have to figure out a way to sterilize the nipples and bottle lids....or all three if i dont' use the disposable and use my regular nuk bottles....Also, what do you do on the buses? Do you hold the babies, bring them in and buckle them into their car seat, and do u take the stroller on the bus or does it go underneath in a compartment...i can't remember what others did....and do they let you do a parent switch for rides....like my sis holds her and then i go and we switch...any and all tips would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

[teresajoy]

We took Lydia for the first time when she was 4 months old. I breastfed, so I didn't have to worry about bottles or anthing like that. However, we have brought in bottles of water for ourselves. I don't think they would give you a problem brining in water for your baby's formula. Take advantage of the Baby stations. Most of them have comfortable rocking chairs, and diaper changing stations in there. It's a nice calm quiet place to go in any relax with your baby for awhile. They may have sterilizing equipment for the bottles in there. Maybe someone will chime in here that is more knowledgeable about that though.

There is a child swap too. You tell the CM at the front of the line that you want to do the child swap, and they will give the person waiting a Child swap pass. This looks and works just like the fastpass.

Have fun! my daughter loved Disney at 4 months!

 

[hmacmahony]

The first trip we took we went with an 9 week old, it was fabulous! She was amazing, spent the whole two weeks in the sling, or bjorn. Her sisters were almost 2 and 3, and they were so much more work. The baby was a breeze. There are baby care centers, although, we never used them that trip. She was breastfeed, so we ate where ever we happened to be.
As far as sterilizing the bottles, I would think one day will not hurt the baby. We never did that with any of our bottles, ever. Just gave them a good wash, and went from there. At 4 months, I would think you could just by pass that, even just for that day.
Hold her on the bus, and you will have to hold the stoller as well, so if it is you and her, I would put her in a sling, bjorn type of thing on the bus so you can manage the stoller. Baby swaps are for bigger rides, we took the baby on EVERYTHING without a height restriction. Just talk to the CM at the begining of the ride (usually at the ride entrance), on how they run the baby swap, some seemed to run it different.
Babies are so easy, and so much fun to take.
Have fun

 

[blessedby3]

We are taking our newest DD in Jan. and she will be 3 1/2 months. We are so excited to take her to our favorite place. She is nursing only at this point so I dont have to worry about bottles. I would not worry about sterilizing them while in the parks. I have had 4 children and breastfed/bottle fed each and never sterilized any bottles. I would go with the disposable nursers and just give the nipples a good washing at the hotel or baby care center.
There are no seat belts on the park busses or ME busses. You will have to hold the baby whenever using the transportation. I plan on using a sling or carrier as well as my stroller. We took our 3rd baby when she was 10 mos old and she rode in the frontpack most of the time. It was a great experience- she was better than her 3 yr old brother!!!

I have a question that maybe someone can answer. Will the characters hold the baby for pictures, or will myself or one of my other kids have to hold the baby? Im thinking that it may be difficult for the masked characters to hold her. I would love to have a picture of Mickey or Minnie holding my baby. What about the face characters? Thanks

 

[disney4us91]

This is what we did with our then 5 month old and it worked like a charm. We took however many bottles she needed for the day (3) for while we were there. In the bottle was the amount of powder she would need for her feeding. Then when it was time to eat we went to a food counter and asked for some hot water ( for Free, and it is extremly hot, like coffee ) then we would add a little hot water to the bottle about 3 ozs and mix it real good and then added the rest about 4ozs of cold botteld water that we bought into the park, it was perfect temperture. By the end of the week my DH had this down to a science When we were done with the bottle we just threw it in the bottom of the stroller.

 

[hmacmahony]

The face characters might ask to hold the baby, we have great pictures with the princess, and peter pan, wendy, and mary poppins (who would not give her back) at 10 weeks. But, the other characters are not supposed to hold the baby. But, Mickey did ask (or pretty much grabbed) the baby out of my arms at dinner, and we have great pictures with all my girls, with mickey holding the baby when she was 10 weeks. I would not expect it, because I don't think they are really supposed to, but mickey asked, and I was fine with it.

 

[ekball]

We took DD to Disney when she was about 3 mos. old too - and all had a great time! I'll ditto the Bjorn (or sling, whichever you prefer)...DD spent much of the day in our Bjorn and it was easy to just 'wear' her on and off the rides that we all went on. We also took the stroller, but she spent a lot of time in the Bjorn. Let's see....what else....bring plenty of layers! We went in Jan., so probably a little cooler, but there were a number of times where it would be warm enough for short sleeves during the day, then downright chilly in the evening! Take a warm blankie to the parks. Also, at least an extra outfit or even two...DD had 'blowouts' in each park (fun), which required a full changing from head to toe (thinking back we must have had her in the wrong size....first time parents ). Just be sure to bring plenty of extra clothes into the park with you (diapers too - you know how they can go through dipes at that age).

That trip was a very different one for us....so laid back, slow-paced, relaxed...and SO wonderful! Our first trip as a family. Take lots of pix and have a wonderful time!!!

 

[teresajoy]

Just be sure to bring plenty of extra clothes into the park

You might want to bring at least an extra shirt for yourself as well. You never know when you might get any number of "baby messes" on yourself!

 

[dis-happy]

We took our 8 week old to WDW over Thanksgiving last week. It worked out way better than I could have hoped. My best suggestion: bring a big stroller where they can lay totally flat. Also, bring a large receiving blanket to help keep the sun out when necessary. I didn't use the car seat attachment to the stroller because my ds isn't as comfortable in it.

We found it much easier to drive to the parks rather than take the bus and try to fold up the stroller (we also used AAA parking and walked in vs. trying to take the trams). However, the week we went was one of the busiest, you will have an easier time I bet.

The Baby Centers were nice, but I mainly used them for nursing. They do have sinks where you can clean out bottles. I've never used sterilized bottles or water for any of my 4 children (even when we did supplemental formula)---believe it or not, it's not really necessary and will make your life easier if you decide to forgo it. But don't change the water if that's what she's used to, especially before/during a big trip.

 

[dis-happy]

PS. I was talking to the wife of a CM who also had a baby and she ranked the baby centers in this order:

Best: AK
Next: Epcot
Then: MK
Last: MGM (in fact, she said she'd avoid this one, "it's gross"--her words)

HTH!!!

 

[PrincessPoohsMom]

My DD's first trip was at 5 months. She was also a bottle baby, and we used the disposable liners...so thankful a friend suggested them to us, it was a breeze! We would take the number of bottles we would need for the day, put in the powdered formula, then take bottled water and mix as needed. Back at the hotel we would wash the nipples and lids well with soap & hot water. We never sterilized, and that was a big plus for me when it came to the disposable liners. I can't imagine going to all the effort to sterilize bottles...really admire those who have the patience to do it! But my daughter has always been healthy as a horse, she's 14 months old now and we've only had one major cold, two minor ones! <knock on wood>

A sling or carrier is essential to taking that young of a child to WDW, IMHO. It was so much easier for standing in line, riding on the bus, getting on & off rides, etc. And we took her practically everything without a height restriction. A stroller that lays flat is an essential too; she was able to nap whenever she felt like it.

I still haven't been in a Baby Care Center (we've had two trips w/ DD, another coming up) but I'm sure they would be great places to escape the hubbub for a little while.

For rider switch, you'll need to go to the entrance of the attraction with your sis and request the RS pass (they'll need to actually see the baby). Then your sis can ride and when she gets out, you can hand off the little one and use the RS like a FP. As a PP said, baby swap is only for those rides with a height restriction. And also, the above method was pretty much the same for all rides except Rock n Roller Coaster...there they insist the entire party including the baby wait in the whole outside que. Only when you reach the ramp to go up into the building itself will they give you a RS pass. So we just used FP for that ride.

Have a great time!