FIRST TRIP WITH A CHILD! HELP LOL!

[TheDroidYurLookinFor]

Hey everyone! Newbie here to the DIS Boards!

I've been going to WDW since I was 8 (I'm 38 now). My wife and I are avid Disney fans and have gone together every year since we first started dating. Welp...the time has come and our son is here! We're going on our first trip with a child and we have NO Idea what to expect. And to tell the truth it's a LITTLE bit intimidating. Normally my wife and I troop the entire day in parks open to close. We know that's out the window now! We're not really going FOR him. We're going WITH him lol. So basically we're asking you folks...whats your best advice!? Lay it on us.

Here are some trip details that may help you out...OUR SON WILL BE 14 MONTHS OLD.

1) We're going for 2 weeks in November. Is that too long for his first time? We're planning a bunch of break days. We're not doing a park a day.

2) We'll be in Animal Kingdom Jambo House.

3) We're renting a car. We ALWAYS do. We like Disney Transport...we just don't like waiting for it. We'll have his car seat.

4) My wife is not an "adventurous rides" person. That being said...have you had good luck with rider swapping?

5) We do plan on making dining reservations. Tips on times, timing, etc with naps and perceived temper tantrums?

6) Equipment to pack for pools for a 1 year old?

7) Park/hotel/pool scheduling tips?

8) Stroller security?

Those numbers are just the immediate things I can think of. ALL TIPS WELCOME...even if they aren't on this "list"!

Please, don't leave anything out! We appreciate all input and hope to make his fist (out of womb) experience magical....even if he wont remember it...while enjoying ourselves and keeping our sanity!

THANKS!

 

[Stacyleigh1999]

Schedule your day around his normal day. Kids adapt really well. Esp at that age. He will likely sleep in the stroller and roll with it. I'd keep meal times to the same times he eats at home. Stollers are typically very safe at Disney. you might have something on it to identify that its yours. Keep snacks on hand. Everyone gets a little cranky when they are hungry and food is a great distraction. Also stickers (cast members have these to hand out a lot of the time) will keep little ones busy.

 

[shairpdrh]

We went with our daughter for a shorter trip at 13 months (after traveling with just the two of us previously) and here are my thoughts:

1) We were only there for 4 days, so I don't know how it would have worked out for two weeks.

2) We were at Kidani and we loved it!

3) We didn't have a car, but we used the express transportation and did 4 parks in one day on our last day. We only did one ride at the last park, so it wasn't as intense as it sounds. You might be surprised at what touring strategies work best. We just went with the flow and tried not to get too set on anything.

4) We used rider swap a ton and it was great! Our trip was planned at the last minute and we didn't have FP+ for everything we wanted. Rider swap made it easy. I don't ride the "big drop" rides so we didn't need swap for as many rides. The hardest part for me was adjusting to riding so many rides alone. I had fun but definitely missed being able to ride with my husband.

5) We only did two reservations and unfortunately we had one win (napped through dinner) and one meltdown. It was really hard to plan around naps as they just didn't happen at the normal times. Stroller naps worked well, but never happened on schedule.

6) We only brought her suit and swim diapers.

8) We didn't have any issues but we had the same stroller as 1,000 other people so we were not too worried. We avoided leaving any food in the stroller and kept our valuables with us, but otherwise left everything in the stroller.

Another thing to add is that strollers are not allowed inside most attraction areas (e.g., lines to meet characters and areas with exhibits/displays). I understand why and I feel like this is a silly thing to add here, but it kept throwing me off. Nap times were limited to switching off on rides while the other parent shopped, snacked, or walked the sidewalks with the stroller.

Overall we had an amazing time and would recommend it! None of the negatives ruined the experience for us. We are going again when she is 2 and are very excited to see what she loves at that age!

 

[KrazeeK120]

We are taking our son to Disney in May for the first time. He will be 18 months old. But we did take him on a different vacation last year when he was 8 months old. We found that keeping meal, nap (even if in the stroller), and bed times close to what he was used to worked very well, and we plan to do the same on our upcoming trip. We are going for 5 nights/6 days and have 2 ADRs planned. I didn't want to overdo it on the dining reservations for his first trip.

 

[TheDroidYurLookinFor]

Thank you so much. This is great! Can't wait to hear more input!

 

[Surgie]

November is usually nice weather so that will be great. Personally I think 2 weeks is a lot of park time, especially since he is along for the ride. Of course he will enjoy whatever you plan as long as he's comfortable and entertained. Would you consider driving to a beach for a few days after Disney? St. Pete Beach is only about 90 minutes away and just gorgeous! There is so much more to Florida than theme parks and a beach vacation has been a family priority for us since our kids were little so it's hard for me not to recommend it.

You have 2 weeks, so is that 12 days without travel? If so I'd split it Like this: Get 7 day park tickets and go somewhere each day, just not full days. Then spend 5 days at the beach and head home relaxed!

 

[Klayfish]

Since he's only going to be just over 1 year old, I wouldn't get too worked up about it. As others have said, kids adapt really well. We've been bringing our kids to WDW since they were ages 4, 1, 1 (twins). We've never been commando style touring people anyway, just not our thing. But to be honest, the kids adapted to our schedule, we didn't adapt to theirs. We had strollers of course, so that gave them plenty of opportunity to nap and rest, no true need to go back to our condo (we stay off site) for a specific rest. IMO, go to the parks as many days as you want. Don't know open to close is the best idea, because DS will want to go to bed at some point, but no reason you can't do a full 8 hours.

I don't think two weeks is too long at all, that's about how long we usually have gone each time. They'll be fine.

Having said all that, it's going to be a very, very different trip than what you're used to. Your rides will be quite limited, and even if you do rider swap, it's not the same experience. Personally, I don't enjoy riding things all that much alone, I'd rather have DW or one of my kids with me. You always need to be sure you've got enough diapers, food, etc... At that age, they're far too young to understand anything, but let them soak it all in with their eyes. Our twins were fascinated just with all the things they saw and we let them enjoy that.

I don't think you need to pack any "equipment" to bring to the park. For your hotel, maybe just a few of his favorite toys. I know it's hard if this is your first child, but don't overdo it. We overdid it for our first son, but once the twins were born we quickly realized they won't die without their entire toy chest being brought with them. Since you're going to have a car, even if you need to pick up something small, there are WalMarts and Targets everywhere.

Stroller security is not an issue. Never had any problems, and that's with many years of bringing strollers.

Have fun!

 

[kboo]

It'll be fun, just different! At 14 months some babies are full on toddlers, while others are not, or are just starting to walk, etc., and it may depend on where he is on that timeline how you spend your days. In addition to the great tips above, know where the toddler play areas are, as he may need some time and space to climb and crawl and work on his gross motor skills. Innoventions at Epcot used to have some good indoor areas for our kids but that was a few years ago...

Some babies nap well in the stroller, others do not; if you don't do so already, encourage a few stroller naps now so he's used to it when you go. We always flew with a light umbrella stroller when our kids were/are that age. ODD never napped in it, YDD loves stroller naps. Go figure.

ADRs - we are a big fan of table service and have taught our kids to (mostly) sit well in restaurants. By the timing of this, your son may be starting solids? I highly suggest you look into baby led weaning (it's not really weaning) if you can, so you don't have to deal too much with baby food/purees in jars. Encourage him to sit at the table and feed himself age appropriate foods. Many weekends we go out to a local diner and enjoy a "restsaurant" with our kids, so that when you are trying to go out to an ADR at WDW, they'll be used to the drill and can sit and eat on their own. (Watch, now that I've said that, I'll be the one with both kids melting down somewhere.) WDW is really kid friendly, even at the signature restaurants, and it's one of the few places you can bring your baby and enjoy a nice meal!

That said, we make ALL our dinner ADRs with the kids for around 4:45-5:15pm to avoid the Overtired Meltdown and the Hangry Meltdown.

Also - look into Kids Nite Out or another babysitting service for a date night out. It's well worth it - a nice sit down dinner and a park that's open late.

Although we have encouraged stroller naps, we have always been midday break people as well, and sometimes we have all taken a nap when baby naps. It just makes for an easier dinner time too.

 

[kboo]

oh and baby ear muffs/hearing protection. (Baby Banz or another brand, easily found on Amazon) The parks, rides and shows are LOUD. Fireworks are LOUD. Parades are LOUD. It's easy to get overstimulated. I never noticed it until I had kids. But then if he falls asleep in the stroller, he can sleep through stuff while you are out in the parks. Maybe. YDD slept through fireworks shows in a baby carrier at all the parks last time.

And although we go WITH our kids, not FOR our kids also, it's been really nice discovering little things about WDW that as an adult I was always moving to fast (or standing too tall!) to notice. AKL is great for kids, there's so much to see and do. Boma and Sanaa are wonderful for kids as well.

Enjoy!

 

[NJlauren]

We took DD at 10 months and 18 months to WDW, and 26 months to Disneyland. She napped a ton both trips to WDW, almost every picture she is sleeping! So that was good we didn't really need long breaks since she napped in the stroller.

My tips:

Snacks lots of snacks! Puffs, goldfish, whatever he likes.

Pack an extra outfit for each day you'll be there for the kiddo, unless you plan on doing laundry or sending laundry out.

By the 18 month trip my daughter wouldn't sleep in the pack n play any more she was to big, standing up trying to get out. So she slept with me. This is going to vary for every kid.

We have gone both ways with the stroller our own and a rented. Personally I loved the city mini for buses but if your going to have a car and not take the bus it may not matter. We never felt we couldn't leave the stroller but we did have a sign made to identify the rental since a lot of people have the city mini in Disney.

Baby wear if you can! DD loves the ergo and we used it at 10 months by 18 months she wasn't feeling it as much. We didn't leave this in the stroller but left everything else.

Know your kid, my daughter loves to eat out always has, but when we went to La Hacienda she was so fussy... for the life of me I couldn't figure it out, till i realized they didn't have rolls or bread!

Baby care centers are great, love being able to hop in to change a diaper or something. We never fed her there but people do.

Personally two weeks is a long time, we did 10 days in cali (but that was 3 hotels so a bit more moving around) and by the end I was ready to be home. However this goes back to know your kid and family only you know if it's to much.

We did dinner around 5/530 most days because bedtime is usually 730 (now a little later). We felt that was a good time for us, dinner then she would fall asleep in the stroller we could take turns on rides or have a snack or shop. Or just head back to the hotel. But do what works for you, you can adjust as it gets closer, his schedule now may be different then his schedule in November.

We kept loosely to her home schedule, but felt falling asleep in the stroller was fine, you need to decide what works for you, are you ok with stroller naps or do you want real breaks, you have more days so maybe more breaks is fine.

In the end you know your family and kid best, and what works for me may or not work for you.

Feel free to read my trip reports for my two WDW reports.

Have a great trip!

 

[TheDroidYurLookinFor]

November is usually nice weather so that will be great. Personally I think 2 weeks is a lot of park time, especially since he is along for the ride. Of course he will enjoy whatever you plan as long as he's comfortable and entertained. Would you consider driving to a beach for a few days after Disney? St. Pete Beach is only about 90 minutes away and just gorgeous! There is so much more to Florida than theme parks and a beach vacation has been a family priority for us since our kids were little so it's hard for me not to recommend it.

You have 2 weeks, so is that 12 days without travel? If so I'd split it Like this: Get 7 day park tickets and go somewhere each day, just not full days. Then spend 5 days at the beach and head home relaxed!

Yeah...we only did two weeks to sparse park travel as much as possible. Park day...rest day...park day...rest day...etc? It seems like a good plan. We get to get in what we can without stressing him out too much.

What you think?

 

[veelachanel]

I am going with my kids for the first time in a couple weeks and I am really nervous about it. We only have 4 days we can go to Disney, 1 day at Universal, and 1 day off. We are going the last week of April, which historically does not look TOO busy, but how can we fit all of Magic Kingdom in one day??