Help needed - Disney with 13 month old

[frndshpcptn]

We are heading to WDW during Jersey Week this coming year, and although I used to work there and have visited almost every year since '96, I'm not sure how to plan with our 13-month old.

We really need recommendations on where to stay (under 250 a night), schedules to keep her from melting down, can we see Wishes at all?

Help!

 

[DizneyLizzy]

Hi! I took my son at 12 months, and again at 24 months. Both were fun trips, but the 12 month trip was definitely more fun for us than him, and the 24 month trip was probably equally fun for both him and us parents

At 12 months, here are some things I noticed:

1. We rented points and stayed at a DVC studio. This was awesome bc we had a balcony, which meant a place to hang out while he was sleeping. It was the same price as a moderate, but we had the balcony for extra space. We also used the microwave and sink for his food/milk/etc. Renting points for a DVC studio was the cheapest way for us to get a balcony. We had a studio at Boardwalk Villas, which was great. We had a large area to stroll around, and lots of food options close by.

2. The on property gift shops didn't have much in the way of baby food. So if your little one is still eating baby food, bring it from home. Every store has Uncrustables, which is fantastic if your child doesn't have a peanut allergy. We went through a lot of Uncrustables at both 12 and 24 months. They're super convenient for Disney.

3. At 12 months, our son was still taking 2 naps. We let him take his morning nap in the stroller, which was fine, but we brought him back to the resort for his afternoon nap. Then we hit the parks until about 7, and came home for his regular bed time. At 12 months, he would not have been able to stay awake for fireworks. He would have either fallen asleep in the stroller or more likely, would have had a meltdown at some point bc he was tired. Ha. Some kids are better at staying up past normal bedtime than others...ours was never and still is not really a night owl.

4. We spent 3 nights and 2 days at the parks, which was enough time to have fun, and not be totally exhausted. We just did Epcot and Magic Kingdom, because it didn't really matter to our son, and those were the parks we wanted to do

5. We could have taken him on any attraction without a height requirement, but the ones he actually responded to at 12 months were: any character greeting, Dumbo, Aladdin's Magic Carpets, the Carousel, Small World, and Winnie the Pooh. If your child is a good walker and gets around pretty well, the indoor playground at Dumbo can be fun if it's not too crowded.

Have a great time!

 

[MunchkinSweetPea]

Im not sure if the free dining promo is already over but that's the promo we used on our first trip with our youngest who was 14mo at the time. We stayed at port Orleans Riverside in a princess room and my only regret staying there was that we did not do more of the activities the resort offered, it was so beautiful. The room was spacious enough for the four of us and the little one slept well in the pack-n-play (probably because she was used to sleeping there during weekend trips to my sister's house). We planned our itinerary with 2 days on (park days) and one day off (exploring Orlando, DTD, character meals at other resorts) and that seemed to work out. Neither child seemed overwhelmed or had any kind of meltdown. We used a double stroller with an organizer hanging from the handlebar (good for holding sippy cups, stickers, and all sorts of other small child-associated odds and ends) and a raincover which kept the stroller and children very dry. At meals we used wipe clean bibs, those placemats that are plastic with the adhesive on the back for attaching to the table, and made sure to choose restaurants that offered food we were sure she wasn't allergic to/had already tried. We used the all for one method and all used the restrooms and changed the baby at once and that really seemed to help our touring plans because we were behind multiple families in different lines that had to dash away in search of a toilet and miss out on things. When the children fell asleep -before our midday break- in the stroller, during the day we would find the least noisy place in that park, have a drink, and go for a nice walk or relax on a bench. When they fell asleep at night we'd cover them with a blanket and continue on (within reason, not past midnight). Rider swap played a major role in the amount of times we were able to do our favorites. And as far as the character interactions go - watch your child and take their cues. Every child is different. Our little one didn't warm up to any characters until day 4 and still only cracked a smile for jasmine, Pluto, and Pocahontas. Enjoy your trip!

 

[MunchkinSweetPea]

I almost forgot to mention one of the most valuable tips I've ever gotten that, believe or not, is often overlooked when folks make their plans. Late nights should not be followed by early mornings. It is asking for problems. With our 2 days on followed by 1 day off method, our day off was spent sleeping in, eating a late breakfast (or brunch), and going for a swim before we started our day.

 

[MNDisneyMommy]

Went this last fall when my son was pretty much exactly 13 months.

We had a DVC room so we had a fridge and we did a grocery delivery so he could have whole milk, some of his usual snacks, and we had some hot dogs in the room in case of food freakouts.

We did quick breakfast in our room of cereal/granola bars and yogurt, etc. We toured the parks and then had a table service lunch. Then back to the room for his nap. He slept well in the pack and plays. Up around 3, snacks and stuff, we were usually back in the park at 4 and toured until about 7 and then he went back to bed.

We didn't try Wishes - he probably would have fallen asleep in his stroller, but my husband isn't a big fireworks guy anyway so I went with our older daughter and he took baby back to the room for bedtime.

His favorite things were: Small World, Tiki Room, any of the playgrounds (especially Boneyard at AK & the Mission Space exit at Epcot), & the Seas pavillion. Most of the time he sat still for shows, except the Disney Junior one (sitting on the floor, ugh!) and he got antsy at the end of Nemo and Philharmagic. He thought the Dumbo ride was ok - the playground was tough because there is a baby section he was a little big for (he is very large for his age) and then a big kid section he was much too young for.

He ate no problem at the restaurants - he is a good eater though - but he especially liked the meatloaf at Be Our Guest and he hated everything about Le Cellier except the bread. Buffets were a lifesaver because we didn't have to pay for him but he could get a plate of his own (did I mention he is a big boy - he often eats as much as his 4 yr old sister).

Let's see - travel messes with anyone's digestive system, so be prepared with an extra outfit always.

We planned to cold turkey quit the pacifier at 1 yr old but extended a month to have it during the trip - that was a HUGE plus - if he got antsy during shows I could soothe him a bit.

We tried several methods for carrying all his stuff and ended up with a backpack we just took with us everywhere. The amount of stroller parking and folding is too much to really store things all over. Backpack was a lot easier to handle.

We carried: a complete outfit change, diapers, wipes, empty sippy cups for water/milk, a couple snacks (goldfish, granola, etc), pacifiers and clips, ziplocks, disposable bibs and placemats, sunscreen, and a couple small toys.

The trips to AK and HS - he did sometimes fall asleep on the buses - it kinda messed up naptime so we were pretty happy on magic kingdom days when we could just keep him awake until we got back to our room (at Bay Lake Tower).

Oh - and he LOVED the characters! It was probably the best thing. Tons of great pictures.

 

[westie55]

I took my son to Disneyland at 8.5 months and Disney World at 11 months. Both were fabulous trips. DS is very easy going and is use d to going all over, eating in restaurants, sleeping in a pack and play, and napping in his stroller. Basically, taking him to Disney was just caring for him in a place way more interesting to him and fun for me. He loved the characters and did pretty much every ride without a height restriction. He tends to get antsy sitting in my lap for extended periods of time without the ability to move around. Being in a moving vehicle was fine, but for shows with seating, I always made sure to go to the end of a row so I could easily stand up and walk around a little with him if I needed to without disturbing anyone else. This worked out great in the Country Bear Jamboree, Turtle Talk with Crush, etc. Always have something for your baby to eat so if you're stuck on a line, you won't have a meltdown. Be prepared to leave if necessary, but I was lucky not to have to! Take advantage of rider swap if you would like to do any of the bigger rides. Plan ahead and get FP+ so you'll minimize your wait times. I really recommend being at the park for rope drop because you can get way more done in that first hour than you can later in the day. Regarding fireworks or any of the night time shows, they were just too late for DS to make it that long. If you have your heart set on those things, I'd consider hiring an in room babysitter so the baby can get to bed at the normal time or close to it. I would take a baby again in a heartbeat! Have a great trip!

 

[monorailsilver]

We went when our oldest was 15 months old. We stayed at the poly which is over your $250 budget, but I cant tell you where to stay. We chose there because our main parks are the MK and Epcot, I/we hate the buses and well I a, spoiled and stayed there many times growing up!

Anyways, we were always up early as our kids never slept in so we were out the door by 7-7:15 depending on which park we were going to. We did eat breakfast in our room as we shipped food down.

That was the trip that we stopped the am nap...yep on a trip....we would have lunch in the park and return to the resort for our nap, we all napped, still do! Then we either had dinner at the Poly or in a park and stays until the fireworks.

We go in the summer. I also plan a few non park days after 2 park days so sleeping in, pool time, aka no plans.

I remember that trip because we were walking in the hub and my dd was in her stroller at around 7 pm ish, all I heard were crying kids and it wasn't mine. Mine was happy as a clam seeing everything after her 3-4 hour nap.

We let her sleep on as late as possible too, some days she would be finishing breakfast on her stroller but she was a slow eater.

 

[TravelingTotMom]

We are passholders and have taken our son since he was 7 1/2 months (he's now 2).

He was able to take his naps in the stroller, so I packed everything I could possibly need in a backpack, and we would spend all day in the parks.

Some of the most helpful things I took were disposable plastic placemats (there are Disney ones), baby hand/face wipes, and Lysol wipes. I also took the squeeze packs on baby food, which DS would just suck right out of the pouch. Also, I put two different sets of links w/teethers in ziplock bags. That way if he dropped - or threw - one, I would have another one ready and not have to find a sink to wash them right away.

A forward-facing baby carrier was also great for the rides, since you cannot take your stroller in lines. With that, it was easy to hold DS in line, get on the ride, and have him already facing forward on my lap without ever having to take him out of the carrier.

Also make sure you do some first trip things, if you can.... first pair of Mickey ears, first character meal. DS always loved the characters, but we tried to prepare him. There is a great Disney sing-a-long tape called Disneyland Fun. Wrong park, but has many of the main characters. We watched it several times with DS before we went, so the characters were familiar.

We actually enjoy staying at the values (either All-Star Movies or Art of Animation) b/c DS enjoys the larger-than-life Disney icons. AoA also has a great splash pad area. As long as you have two adults, we have never had an issue taking a stroller on the bus. One of us takes DS, and one of us takes the stroller.

I personally think that is a great age to go to Disney, and you're going to have a great time. On our trip when DS was 12 1/2 months, he actually started walking for the first time when we were in the Boneyard at Animal Kingdom.

 

[AshleeH]

Only you know the best schedule for your child. I recommend getting The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World - it covers every questions imaginable and has a Disney for kids/babies section.