First trip with 2 kids - I have questions!

[BlueFairy]

Hi all.
I need some help. We are WDW veterans, and DD (4) has been twice, but this is our first trip with both DD(4) and DD(20 mos). We just changed our dates and leave in 31 days!!!
So . . .
Stroller - We will be at WL and using the boat a lot. Possibly splitting up for naps. Will drive and have our car to bring whatever stroller we like, assuming the baggage doesn't take up too much room. I have 1 umbrella stroller, 1 full-size Graco (the kind they used to sell with a car seat in 2005), and 1 Joovy sit-and-stand. Our 4 yo still asks to be carried when she's tired, and I think we'd prefer the Joovy, but I worry it will be too cumbersome in the parks and on the boat. I think she is too big for buying a 2nd umbrella stroller. I can't decide what to do. ?????
T-shirts - Where can I find inexpensive matching (preferably Disney) shirts for the trip. I'd like to personalize, but not sure at all where to start with this.
Pack-n-play - We have a traditional Graco packnplay. DD sleeps well in it, but I'd rather leave it at home for the space. Are the ones at the resorts the same, full-sized? Big enough for a wiggly toddler?
Snacks - What are your favorite non-messy portable snacks for your backpack? DD (20 mos) does not sit down to eat very well, but grazes well while in the stroller. I know she'll get most of her calories this way and I'd love to make it healthier than just crackers all week.
Our car ride is 11 hours - ideas to make this easier??? We'd rather not split it over 2 days if we can avoid it. I need big time help with this one.

Thanks!!! I am so excited.

 

[MerriH807]

Wow! 31 days and so much to do!! My opinion in that the graco will be too cumbersome to travel with! I used to hate putting that 2005 model in my trunk...I cant imagine how I would lug it on and off disney transportation... I was there this past summer with a 4 and 2 year old. I brought one used maclaren stroller for the two year old and figured my four year old being so mature would be fine. By the end of day one, we had rented a disney stroller for the remainder of the trip. So we had our two year old in the umbrella stroller and our 4 year old in the double rented stroller. Putting them both in the double did not work out for us........(fighting) I saw lots of families with two umbrella strollers with kids older than my 4 year old. Have her sit in a bunch before u buy another one. Also, if your 20 month old will be snacking a lot, you may want to bring something with a front tray.

Tshirts - You can order matching ones from disney store online. If you want to make and personalize your own, you can go to Michaels/acmoore, buy t-shirts and iron on transfer paper for your computer printer. Then on disboards under like crafts....there are a whole bunch of people dedicated to making tshirts. Check it out to get some ideas!

 

[MerriH807]

Sorry, the tshirts are under the creative community.

I found the pack and play to be the exact size etc as the one I have at home. I did bring my own sheet and baby blanket for it.

 

[ADAMANDLISA]

Hi all.
I need some help. We are WDW veterans, and DD (4) has been twice, but this is our first trip with both DD(4) and DD(20 mos). We just changed our dates and leave in 31 days!!!
So . . .
Stroller - We will be at WL and using the boat a lot. Possibly splitting up for naps. Will drive and have our car to bring whatever stroller we like, assuming the baggage doesn't take up too much room. I have 1 umbrella stroller, 1 full-size Graco (the kind they used to sell with a car seat in 2005), and 1 Joovy sit-and-stand. Our 4 yo still asks to be carried when she's tired, and I think we'd prefer the Joovy, but I worry it will be too cumbersome in the parks and on the boat. I think she is too big for buying a 2nd umbrella stroller. I can't decide what to do. ?????
T-shirts - Where can I find inexpensive matching (preferably Disney) shirts for the trip. I'd like to personalize, but not sure at all where to start with this.
Pack-n-play - We have a traditional Graco packnplay. DD sleeps well in it, but I'd rather leave it at home for the space. Are the ones at the resorts the same, full-sized? Big enough for a wiggly toddler?
Snacks - What are your favorite non-messy portable snacks for your backpack? DD (20 mos) does not sit down to eat very well, but grazes well while in the stroller. I know she'll get most of her calories this way and I'd love to make it healthier than just crackers all week.
Our car ride is 11 hours - ideas to make this easier??? We'd rather not split it over 2 days if we can avoid it. I need big time help with this one.

Thanks!!! I am so excited.

Can help in a couple areas...the others I need help in too.

Pack-n-play is exactly the same. We have an Owner's Locker and I keep an extra sheet and blanket to lay in the bottom. I'm a bit worried with this one...Luca has never been in a playpen, much less slept in one (unlike his brothers). I'm hoping we don't have any sleep issues.

Stroller...DS just turned 4 and doesn't really use a stroller anymore so we're hoping that he and DS2 can trade off when he gets tired. We have the full-size Graco, a huge double stroller and 2 Evenflo Sport Plus's (which are umbrella strollers) at home. We prefer the umbrella strollers for the parks as they are light to push and to carry when folded up. Wish they reclined though.

T-shirts...I make shirts every time we go...there are quite a few ideas floating around (check out the creative disigns board). I cut out a Mickey head template and pick out some material to sew on a shirt. You can spray paint a Mickey head on a shirt using fabric spray paint ...kind of like one big spiral for the head and 2 little ones for the ears...very cute!!!

Snacks....we've done raisins, goldfish, peanut butter crackers, cheerios (probably need a couple of new ideas myself)


Car ride.....I need help too!

Looks like we'll be there at the same time...look for me in the lobby! I'll be the frazzled one with the 3 very loud boys!

 

[BlueFairy]

bumping. hopefully I can get some more light shed on my stroller dilemma.
Thanks for the info on the packnplay. That's one less thing to haul.
I'm not having much luck locating threads on designing T-shirts. Hmm.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

Car ride ... 2 day split is a good idea. Wrap small gifts for the kids .... open them at planned stops ... i.e every 2 hours. Simple safe inexpensive gifts ... distraction tools. May want to use these more towards the end of Day 1 and into Day 2 ...

Are we there yet?

 

[lilmissie]

Just my two cents on the stroller idea - I would take the sit n' stand personally. I saw a lot of them out there when I was there last October, and I know for us having a double was a life saver. Now my eldest two (twins) were only 3 at the time so they needed a stroller lots. But we calculated it out and majority of our days we did 10-15 miles so it was a given the kids needed to ride more. I would really recommend the sit 'n stand as it doesn't take much to be doing 10+miles and I would expect a four year old to tire out still.

The pack-and-play is the same as regular ones so I wouldn't bother bringing my own. I would bring a blanket or something familiar though.

Animal crackers were our 'main' snack that the kids ate lots. We found they were more thirsty then anything through the day.

As for getting through the 11 hour drive - I can't say for sure. Do you have a portable DVD player or anything like that? We made a 3.5 hour drive to the airport when we went but we also travelled through the night so it helped.

 

[happymommy]

Hi all.
I need some help. We are WDW veterans, and DD (4) has been twice, but this is our first trip with both DD(4) and DD(20 mos). We just changed our dates and leave in 31 days!!!
So . . .
Stroller - We will be at WL and using the boat a lot. Possibly splitting up for naps. Will drive and have our car to bring whatever stroller we like, assuming the baggage doesn't take up too much room. I have 1 umbrella stroller, 1 full-size Graco (the kind they used to sell with a car seat in 2005), and 1 Joovy sit-and-stand. Our 4 yo still asks to be carried when she's tired, and I think we'd prefer the Joovy, but I worry it will be too cumbersome in the parks and on the boat. I think she is too big for buying a 2nd umbrella stroller. I can't decide what to do. ?????

First time we took both children they were 2 and 4 (but a bit closer to 3 and 5) and we also drove 12 hours! I brought our fullsize double (Peg Perego Tandem Twin). It was large and heavy, but reclined comfortably for the kids. They both fell asleep every afternoon or evening in it, and napped nicely. So, we didn't need to do traditional naps back at the resort (we stayed at the BWV). I would bring a stroller that they can nap in, so maybe if you bring two, definitely one that is comfortable for that. I don't know but maybe the Graco and the sit n stand? An umbrella one is usually fine for a short time, but not naps (but we did have an Aprica umbrella one that fully reclined, it was over $300 but we traveled a ton with DS when he was little so it was really worth it).


T-shirts - Where can I find inexpensive matching (preferably Disney) shirts for the trip. I'd like to personalize, but not sure at all where to start with this.

I'd check out your local Disney store. We've gotten cute Disney tees there for a very low price, sometimes they are about $5 each. Never personalized them, though. You could maybe do iron on transfers for the back. I think there is a Hanes store at DTD now that does personalized tees, but they definitely cost more.


Pack-n-play - We have a traditional Graco packnplay. DD sleeps well in it, but I'd rather leave it at home for the space. Are the ones at the resorts the same, full-sized? Big enough for a wiggly toddler?

Yes the ones at the resort are regular pack n plays. We tried to get DD to sleep in it (she was still in her crib at home, until over age 4, as she was tiny). Ended up that I slept with DD and my DH slept with DS instead.

Oh, you can get extra sheets and things from housekeeping.


Snacks - What are your favorite non-messy portable snacks for your backpack? DD (20 mos) does not sit down to eat very well, but grazes well while in the stroller. I know she'll get most of her calories this way and I'd love to make it healthier than just crackers all week.

How about those little tubs of peanut butter, with a cut up apple? And string cheese? Grapes? I took trail mix for us. My DS has food allergies, so we did bring Ritz crackers too. Definitely try to avoid the mickey bars and popsicles; my kids loved them, but they were a mess. Oh well.


Our car ride is 11 hours - ideas to make this easier??? We'd rather not split it over 2 days if we can avoid it. I need big time help with this one.
Don't do what we did! We left at lunchtime, picking my DH up from work, and planned to stop halfway or so. The kids fell asleep about 8pm, so we just kept driving. It seemed easier to just keep driving. We rolled into Orlando at about 1am. The kids were up at 6, but I couldn't sleep when we got there, so I was so tired the first day! Plus I got low blood sugar, so I took a nice long nap first afternoon and unpacked while DH took the kids out for a long walk. UGH. The rest of the time was fine, and we were there for 12 nights. I would leave really early, while the kids are in their pajamas still (we do a 12 hour drive every couple of years). We pack healthy food and snacks for the drive. Then clean them up after a stop, brush teeth and such. Then you'll get there in the afternoon. Get some new DVD's and things to keep the kids entertained, or even go to the dollar store for new surprises along the way! I loved Crayola Color Wonder too - it's not messy! We take a stop every two hours, the kids run off some silliness, then have them eat in the car. And we would get coffee! I liked having all our stuff with us - I packed most things in storage bins instead of regular luggage (saw a lot of folks at the villa doing the same, and we had a kitchen, so we brought a case of water and a case of juice boxes too).


Thanks!!! I am so excited.

How fun! Hope the trip goes well.

 

[la79al]

I don't know if all Walmarts have them, but in ours, with the dried fruit, they have little bags of freeze dried fruit. I don't know what they are called but they have Mickey Mouse on the front. They come in apples and bananas & strawberries. The strawberries part is MESSY but DD has never been able to make a mess with the apple ones and she loves them.

 

[Bren's Mom]

For strollers, I'd take your umbrella and if you can, get a Maclaren Volo for your older dd. (See if anyone around has one you can borrow or 'rent'.) It's lightweight but holds up to 55lbs, perfect for older kiddos and still easy to steer and push with a kid that weight in it! I bought mine for $70 including shipping on ebay, brand new. Worth EVERY penny. (If you're in CT I'll lend you mine! LOL)

For snacks, my ds loves the cereal/fruit bars (like Nutrigrain), Special K bars, chewy granola bars. Fresh fruit (like bananas, grapes, blueberries or tangerines) can be packed easily. And I've bought mini cans of mandarin oranges at Target, those are easy too. Raisins or other dried fruits. Mini carrots or grape tomatoes. Ritz Bits PB crackers.

 

[BlueFairy]

Ooh, some great input. Thanks.
We added a day to our trip and blew our travel budget - so we are forced to be driving all in one day. We got a new DVD player for Christmas and at least 1 new movie I'm going to stash away. And rent new Netflix movies to take with us. I like the Dollar Store idea. Right now we're thinking of leaving around 4 am and hopefully they will sleep for the first 2 hours. Then a lunch break and an afternoon nap with another break in there somewhere. We're planning for afternoon arrival and just riding the monorail and catching a quick service dinner so the kids can run around and explore rather than trying to sit still at a restaurant.
Great ideas on the snacks too. I will look for the peanut butter tubs and the freeze dried fruit.
Our sit-n-stand is probably the best bet. 4 yo. has napped in the parks (in my arms at 9 mos and in the stroller when she was 2 and SICK), but otherwise never naps now and never slept in the stroller. I can't imagine a scenario where we'll be going enough that they'll both be sleeping at the same time, but it's something to consider. I do like the flexibility of 2 umbrellas, but no snack tray, reclining, or basket is a real issue for us.
Found the T-shirt threads finally. Looking into that.

Keep the ideas coming!

 

[micheleq]

Stroller - your Sit n Stand sounds like the best choice for you. We brought two umbrella strollers and there were pluses and minuses to that. Next time I'd bring one stroller for the two kids.

Tshirts - check our Disneyoutlet.com for good deals, Target, WalMart. I'm not one to make t-shirts, but I did buy a few before our trip!

Pack n Play - resort ones are fine. I brought my own sheet for DD and she was great in it all week.

Snacks - maybe chewy granola bars or cheese sticks? We did mini boxes of raisins, goldfish, cheerios, but a little protein add in would have been good (cheese, peanut butter).

Car ride - we drive 12 hours from CT to SC to visit my gram, and in the car the DVD player is a lifesaver. Both girls also like to look at books, and the crayola color wonder books are good too. Honestly, we try and drive at night when they are asleep so it isn't a dreadful day for them.

Have a wonderful trip!!

 

[tzolkin]

Driving in one day is no big deal. You will be fine. There is no way I would split an 11 hr drive into two days of travelling. That sounds worse than one longer drive to me.

Our drive is 23 hours and we drive straight through. We do this because then the 3 kids sleep for almost half the trip. My parents used to drive when I was a kid, but whenever they stopped at a hotel we just wanted to get out an run around, not sleep. Since you only have an 11 hour drive maybe you could leave at night so the kids would sleep part of the trip.

My kids watch movies and I bring a plastic container with little games/activities in it. They don't like the car ride, but they don't complain and we've never had any issues. The funniest thing to me is that we've never once had to stop at the cry of "I have to go to the bathroom" (even with a newly potty trained toddler)-- DH and I drink so much soda during the drive that we always have to go before the kids.

 

[BlueFairy]

Driving in one day is no big deal. You will be fine. There is no way I would split an 11 hr drive into two days of travelling. That sounds worse than one longer drive to me.

Our drive is 23 hours and we drive straight through. We do this because then the 3 kids sleep for almost half the trip. My parents used to drive when I was a kid, but whenever they stopped at a hotel we just wanted to get out an run around, not sleep. Since you only have an 11 hour drive maybe you could leave at night so the kids would sleep part of the trip.

My kids watch movies and I bring a plastic container with little games/activities in it. They don't like the car ride, but they don't complain and we've never had any issues. The funniest thing to me is that we've never once had to stop at the cry of "I have to go to the bathroom" (even with a newly potty trained toddler)-- DH and I drink so much soda during the drive that we always have to go before the kids.

You make some good points. Ours are definitely the "go crazy after a long trip" type, so stopping to sleep might not work if we did try.
Your potty comments made me laugh. My DD4 absolutely holds it longer than I can. DD1 is in diapers, so that's pretty simple.
We don't get complaints, but at some point in a 6 hr. trip DD1 usually starts a lot of whining and crying.

 

[tzolkin]

About the snacks--

Our kids eat mostly snacks while at Disney too. Since you will have a car, I would make a run to Walmart or Publix on your first day. We always stock up on groceries and that's our main source of food for the trip. We eat breakfast in the room, return for snacks during our afternoon break, and take snacks in our backpack into the parks.

We take into the parks: PB&J sandwiches on whole wheat bread and cut them into dinosaur shapes for little snacks, dried fruits (I make my own fruit leather, but you can buy a variety of things like raisins, apricots, etc), carrots, apples, bananas, pretzels, and nuts/seeds. We use hydration backpacks and just drink water in the parks. We fill it with ice, so it also keeps our food cool.

We have cheese, milk, yogurt etc in the room, but I don't bring anything that requires refrigeration into the parks.

 

[kohlby]

For kids that age, I wouldn't split the drive up. We're splitting our drive up for the first time but we have a 10 month old who does not travel well for long car rides. Our car ride took 9.5 hours each way last time including stops. It took 9.5 hours there but 15 hours back another time. (It was awful. My 2 month old had a dairy intolerance and I ate dairy by mistake). My current youngest travels much worse than the younger child did in our other trips. We're planning on doing one day back - but stopping if needed.

You know your kids best. My 3.5 year old will fall asleep in the car. My 6.5 year old will not - even if it's a 15 hour drive and it's midnight and he's only 3 years old. He's always been this way. I also cannot sleep in the car. For that reason, we line up driving time so bedtimes in a bed remain the same as home. We stay on regular bedtimes while on vacation too.

We used a portable dvd player on past trips and it helped a lot. I just returned from Movie Gallery today and they have used movies on a great sale - costing less to buy many movies than rent! I also tell my kids to pack their own toys for the ride. I give them each a gallon ziplock or a shoebox. Toys that I think they'll want aren't always what they want! We also stop at a place with a playland and get the kids meal with the toy. Our driving time could be an hour less except we do the playland to get them moving.

Another thing that helps in the car is a snack bag. I put snacks in the ziplock snack bags for single portions. These all go in a gallon back and the kids can pick what they want. Eating a snack seems to make the time go faster. For potty trips, you may not need it but a portable potty has saved us a few times when the oldest was 3. He can hold it in incredibly long, but he didn't understand that we drove some long stretches with no bathroom.

Since you're driving, snacks are easier! Publix has buy one get one free on juicy juice juice boxes right now. We'll also pack fresh fruit and nutrigrain bars. I'll do fruit cups as well but it's hard to find ones without added sugar. You can even bring milk boxes that don't have to be opened until refridgerated. My kids will drink these warm, so it works well for us. I also put cereal in some snack baggies.

 

[kirs10a]

I can't help with the stroller...I'm having a tough time deciding for our trip as well!

We did a 14 hour drive this summer with DS5, DS3, and DD 1 month. Some things that helped GREATLY for our trip: travel pillows and blankets (kept in a big pillowcase and stored under their seat), individually packaged snacks, BIG stops (gas fill-up, food @ a McDonald's with a play place, bathroom breaks--an hour break made all the difference for us!), new movies for the dvd player. Do you use Redbox? $1 rentals that can be returned to another redbox wherever you are....we found these to be PERFECT! Rent them, watch them, trade for a different movie! Here they're often found outside Walgreens, SuperWalmart, sometimes even McDonalds!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Stroller - IMHO, I'd definately take the double. You're going to have long days and your 4 yo will have to drag along without help if you only take the single. We took our double when we drove from Indiana last spring, and after the first day, we had our system down, which made hopping on and off the trams little to no problem. On a couple of occasions we got good enough parking spaces that we just walked to the gates of AK and DHS. Just don't load up the stroller with excess before you board and you'll cut down your loading time in half. I took DS (2.5 @ the time) into MK for a half day when DH was under the weather w/no stroller and he passed out in line for Dumbo. I had to hold and carry him the entire queue AND leaving the park (and that even included me using the train to go as far as possible). PLUS you are going during one of the slowest times of the year. You may not even need to use the trams to get to the gates.
T-shirts - Walmart
Pack-n-play - We used the PnP at CSR and it was full sized. We took one of our own crib sheet (a cheap one) and left it behind when we were done with our trip.
Snacks - Goldfish, 100 calorie packs, gummies (not necessarily good for the hot days...) Does baby tolerate dried fruit well? What about raisins, or those crasins? We also packed snack packs of regular fruit (apples, pears, and mandarin oranges) for our trip. It was a great snack already in a bowl, we'd just drain the juice and let the kids eat the finger food.
Our car ride is 11 hours - portable DVD player!!!! We couldn't have made it without one! (our ride is ~20 hours) Granted, right after the trip, I couldn't stand to hear Bolt for a month, but it kept them quiet!

Pack as many disposables as you can! We took disposable sippy cups, bibs, changing pads, take n toss utensils. That way we didn't have to worry about toting around dirty utensils and bibs on the trip. Our baby was still on bottles so we took the Playtex drop ins and our bottle drying rack with a bottle brush - we'd swap out nipples on our breaks and kept the cereal and formula in those 3 chamber things. We split time between the stroller and a sling as DD got sick of the stroller quickly. We also took our "leash". I know, I know... but DS felt better having it on. He's adventurous as long as there's not a huge crowd - and it was spring break - he felt better wearing his monkey ( BTW, he's not a wanderer, just likes the security of being attached).

Good luck and have a great trip!