Getting a Toddler to Nap in a Stroller at the Parks

[misse320]

I was always envious of people whose kids would sleep in strollers. Ours never would. Our son was 2 yrs old on his first trip, but he is the third kid so I think he was just forced to be on everyone else's schedule. We didn't go back for naps and we stayed within walking distance of the MK. He did have one nuclear style meltdown a the end of the week when his popsicle fell on the ground. People stared. It was a great parenting moment!

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

We did the walking around with the canopy pulled all the way down as well. Here are some suggestions:

1. Get her used to the idea now of sleeping in the stroller. Take walks around your neighborhood at nap time and have her nap in the stroller sometimes now.
2. If possible, go to a local amusement park or zoo and practice this again in a more exciting venue.
3. Be prepared to walk for a long time (took us about 30 minutes as well for him to fall asleep a couple times, and our son was used to sleeping in his stroller. Usually at home, it would take 5-15 minutes for him to fall asleep in the stroller).
4. Make sure you start when they are comfortable - have eaten, aren't thirsty, but are tired.
5. Find a quiet area to walk around in. For MK, the spot near the restrooms by Plaza Restaurant between there and Tomorrowland worked for us. Epcot, the walkway between Future and World Showcase. AK, Pangani trail. We didn't go to HS so can't help you there.
6. Have a fan that can not only blow cool air, but be loud enough to help make a bit of white noise. We used an O2 Cool battery operated. 5" fan. It took 4 D cell batteries and was really powerful. 1 set of batteries lasted the whole trip (but we did have spares in case)
7. Once they're asleep, we either sat in the shade or I'd go shop in the a/c if I felt like it was too hot to just sit

Good luck!

Great suggestions! Thanks!

 

[jitterbug]

We ended up leaving MK, as I thought we could push the stroller onto one of the boats to a nearby resort. But as we were walking to the lines, it looked like we'd have to collapse the stroller, so we ended up walking to the Contemporary instead. My DS5 napped in the stroller as we sat in their lobby near the coffee stand. Fortunately, it wasn't too busy. We took the monorail back to MK after our break. If I had realized that we didn't have to collapse the stroller on the monorail, may we could have just rode the monorail back and forth to EP and saved us the walking?

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

We ended up leaving MK, as I thought we could push the stroller onto one of the boats to a nearby resort. But as we were walking to the lines, it looked like we'd have to collapse the stroller, so we ended up walking to the Contemporary instead. My DS5 napped in the stroller as we sat in their lobby near the coffee stand. Fortunately, it wasn't too busy. We took the monorail back to MK after our break. If I had realized that we didn't have to collapse the stroller on the monorail, may we could have just rode the monorail back and forth to EP and saved us the walking?

Hm. You have given me an idea. I've always wanted to check out the walkway from the CR to MK. Maybe that would be a good place for me to walk her in her stroller, then I could board the monorail with her.

I've gotten a lot of great ideas here.

 

[khertz]

I never even thought about renting a crib. It sounds like such a hassle and an expense. I guess a lot of people must think it is worth it.

Check out A Baby's Best Friend. They are not expensive, and it's not a hassle at all! They deliver it to your resort and pick it up at the end of your trip. I didn't rent a crib from them (thought about it, but DS still fit in a PnP at the time so we stuck with that), but we did rent a full size rocking chair on our first trip with DS because he was still used to being rocked to sleep at night. Couldn't have been easier!

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Check out A Baby's Best Friend. They are not expensive, and it's not a hassle at all! They deliver it to your resort and pick it up at the end of your trip. I didn't rent a crib from them (thought about it, but DS still fit in a PnP at the time so we stuck with that), but we did rent a full size rocking chair on our first trip with DS because he was still used to being rocked to sleep at night. Couldn't have been easier!

Thanks! I just looked at the site. That might really work well for us. The toddler bed is really cute, too. She might enjoy that.

 

[squirrel]

I let my niece fall asleep in the stroller even for long days. It just took too much time going back to the resort for a nap. I found going on the monorail always made her fall asleep. I only had one day where she was taking a long time to fall asleep at MK and I wanted to stay for closing EMH that night. I told her if she wanted to stay up late and ride rides without having to get off, then she needed to fall asleep or she would be too tired to stay up late and go on the rides. It worked she was asleep within 5 min.

 

[cattywampus]

My first thought (which was later confirmed) is don't expect a child to nap in an umbrella stroller.

If you want a child to nap, buy or rent, the best stroller you can find that reclines to almost flat, has plenty of room and the biggest canopy you can find. The City Mini or Elite are easy to rent from Kingdom or Orlando strollers. We rented the Elite for $60 or so for an entire week. The canopy is HUGE, they deliver to on-site hotels, and are easy to push. They are easy for the child to sleep in on the way back to the hotel too, so if napping fails, you have a nice way to get home.

If you are going on a hot day, consider a stroller/clip on fan.

 

[Jewel3k]

Put her in the stroller and take a monorail ride. The motion, the air conditioning, and the shadier spot put my kids to sleep when they were 5 and well past napping age. Then stroll back into the magic kingdom with her fast asleep. I don't know if strollers are allowed on the river boat but that might work to.

 

[amylevan]

When my son was 2.5, he was napping every day at home and was Mr. Grumpy if he missed a nap. He did not do well napping at Disney at all (room or stroller). Most of the time we went back to room, but a few times we stayed in the parks. Both ways only yielded a nap about 50% of the time, but as long as we made sure to get to bed early on the days he skipped a nap, we didn't have any appearances of Mr. Grumpy. There was just too much going on and I think he was afraid he was going to miss something.

 

[ruthies12]

http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Infant...qid=1427632671&sr=1-1&keywords=stroller+shade
I used this and loved it, still using it. Folds up really small, fits on any stroller, and makes it completely black when you want. I would just pull it down in the front, then I would turn on a white noise app on my cell phone and slip it in the pocket to help block out the sudden loud sounds of people walking by.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Infant...qid=1427632671&sr=1-1&keywords=stroller+shade
I used this and loved it, still using it. Folds up really small, fits on any stroller, and makes it completely black when you want. I would just pull it down in the front, then I would turn on a white noise app on my cell phone and slip it in the pocket to help block out the sudden loud sounds of people walking by.

I've never heard of that! Neat item. I also like the idea of the white noise on the cell phone.

 

[ruthies12]

http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-S...=1427651555&sr=1-2&keywords=umbrella+stroller
And if you are really wanting an easy folding stroller get one similar to this. It is padded enough and has enough recline for naps and if you use the attachable stroller shade in my link above it will be just fine.

 

[Feberin]

My daughter was just under two when we went in May last year. We only went back to the resort one day during our five days in the parks. She did fine in our double Maclearn stroller even falling asleep when it was in an upright position and falling asleep on my back in the ergo as well. We pretty much just went about our day and when she got tired typically after lunch she fell asleep. I know we were lucky but it went a lot better then I had thought. The one time she didn't nap was on the monorail. She loved riding it and it was exciting for her.

 

[BellsFam]

DD (like me) requires white noise while she sleeps, we both use a small fan 365 days a year on a bedside table...

We were able to purchase one of those water bottle/fan things and clip it to the stroller and I draped the stroller with a light scarf so it became "dark"... It worked really well for her.

That and I would literally tire her out in the mornings... Sounds unkind but it's not, I made her walk... As much as she could (without pushing it...) You'd be surprised how fast 3 untold legs get tired, effectively tiring out the rest of her!!!