We just got in a little while ago. I promised to post on how things went with our 6 mo. old. In a word - great!
We stayed at CBR and the room had plenty of space for the portacrib we brought with us and plenty of storage for all our stuff. We were in Trinidad South which is a good 10-15 walk to the food court but it was nice and quiet and the bus stop was very close to our building (#37). I could be wrong but it seemed like the bus stops for all the other villages were farther from the buildings than ours - ours was right outside the building while all the others seemed to be on the far side of the parking lot.
This was just a short 4 nite trip so we only did 2 parks - MGM on Friday and MK on Sunday - and took a day off from the parks on Saturday. Here are some things that worked well for us and our 6 mo. old (YMMV
):
1. I used a Maya sling to carry her whenever I couldn't use a stroller. This worked great - it wasn't too hot, she liked it and it seemed to calm her and stop some of her wiggling around. While I don't yet trust a sling enough to use it totally hands free, it did still help alot by taking her weight and controlling her movements. It also had a nice big pocket that could hold a diaper or 2, some ointment, tissues and my park pass and room key with room to spare.
2. We got a clip-on fan from One Step Ahead for her stroller and this turned out to be a great investment of about $13. We got lots of comments on the fan. It did a great job of keeping her cool and we found out it is very sturdy, too. My DH knocked it off the stroller while he was horsing around with one of the CMs and the fan came apart. But my DH had it back together in about 5 minutes and it still worked just fine. One word of warning, tho, we went through about 3 or 4 sets of batteries and it uses AA which was not easy to find in the parks - most of the batteries we saw were on film racks and were AAA. Also, by the end of the trip our DD had figured out how to kick it off the tray (this had been the only spot on our stroller where she could not reach it and pull it off). Still, I will definitely take this with us next time.
3. Definitely check out the Baby Care Centers. The one at MGM is nothing to brag about but the one at MK is great. Not only is it a nice facility but the ladies who staff it are wonderful. One of them held my DD so I could wash out a bottle and she was thrilled that Anna came to her without a whimper.
What would I do differently?
1. Get to the park at opening. We had planned to do that both days but it just didn't work out on Friday. We had planned to get into Orlando by about 9 or 10 Thurs. nite but it ended up being about 3:00 Friday morning before we got there. We grabbed a few hours sleep and hit the park about noon. We held out until about 7:00 but had only done about 4 or 5 attractions. On Sunday we got to MK about 8:30. Even though this was about a half hour after EMH began we still found very low crowds. We got our picture taken in front of the castle and headed straight for Dumbo. I expected the line to be pretty long by that time but was pleasantly suprised to find the end of the line about mid-way under the canopy area. We waited maybe 15 minutes and I think that may have been our longest wait of the day. We stayed all day at MK, taking breaks as needed for the baby, and did almost everything.
2. We had planned to take a mid-day break each day but found we didn't need it afterall. However, I had only brought along enough baby supplies to last part of the day so I ended up having to buy some things in the park. We also just packed everything in a big bag and carted it around with us the whole time. Next time I will probably just stick the absolute necessities in a small bag or the pocket of my sling and leave a bag with extra supplies in a locker.
As for my DD reaction to the parks, she seemed to be intrigued by most things. I don't think any of it scared her, at all. Not even Haunted Mansion or PoC. Interestingly enough, the highlights for her were having her picture taken with Cinderella (Anna looked star-struck ) and the Baby Care Center at MK (go figure
). BTW, we learned that Cinderella can move quite fast when the occasion calls for it. After we took our pictures, Cindy kept holding Anna and talking about how she would just love to keep her. Unfortunately, Anna chose that moment to spit up. Not only did Cindy move quickly enough to avoid getting it on her dress, she was quite ready to give Anna back to me all of a sudden.
That's all I can think of for now. Hope this helps someone and I'd be happy to answer any questions.
We stayed at CBR and the room had plenty of space for the portacrib we brought with us and plenty of storage for all our stuff. We were in Trinidad South which is a good 10-15 walk to the food court but it was nice and quiet and the bus stop was very close to our building (#37). I could be wrong but it seemed like the bus stops for all the other villages were farther from the buildings than ours - ours was right outside the building while all the others seemed to be on the far side of the parking lot.
This was just a short 4 nite trip so we only did 2 parks - MGM on Friday and MK on Sunday - and took a day off from the parks on Saturday. Here are some things that worked well for us and our 6 mo. old (YMMV
):1. I used a Maya sling to carry her whenever I couldn't use a stroller. This worked great - it wasn't too hot, she liked it and it seemed to calm her and stop some of her wiggling around. While I don't yet trust a sling enough to use it totally hands free, it did still help alot by taking her weight and controlling her movements. It also had a nice big pocket that could hold a diaper or 2, some ointment, tissues and my park pass and room key with room to spare.
2. We got a clip-on fan from One Step Ahead for her stroller and this turned out to be a great investment of about $13. We got lots of comments on the fan. It did a great job of keeping her cool and we found out it is very sturdy, too. My DH knocked it off the stroller while he was horsing around with one of the CMs and the fan came apart. But my DH had it back together in about 5 minutes and it still worked just fine. One word of warning, tho, we went through about 3 or 4 sets of batteries and it uses AA which was not easy to find in the parks - most of the batteries we saw were on film racks and were AAA. Also, by the end of the trip our DD had figured out how to kick it off the tray (this had been the only spot on our stroller where she could not reach it and pull it off). Still, I will definitely take this with us next time.
3. Definitely check out the Baby Care Centers. The one at MGM is nothing to brag about but the one at MK is great. Not only is it a nice facility but the ladies who staff it are wonderful. One of them held my DD so I could wash out a bottle and she was thrilled that Anna came to her without a whimper.
What would I do differently?
1. Get to the park at opening. We had planned to do that both days but it just didn't work out on Friday. We had planned to get into Orlando by about 9 or 10 Thurs. nite but it ended up being about 3:00 Friday morning before we got there. We grabbed a few hours sleep and hit the park about noon. We held out until about 7:00 but had only done about 4 or 5 attractions. On Sunday we got to MK about 8:30. Even though this was about a half hour after EMH began we still found very low crowds. We got our picture taken in front of the castle and headed straight for Dumbo. I expected the line to be pretty long by that time but was pleasantly suprised to find the end of the line about mid-way under the canopy area. We waited maybe 15 minutes and I think that may have been our longest wait of the day. We stayed all day at MK, taking breaks as needed for the baby, and did almost everything.
2. We had planned to take a mid-day break each day but found we didn't need it afterall. However, I had only brought along enough baby supplies to last part of the day so I ended up having to buy some things in the park. We also just packed everything in a big bag and carted it around with us the whole time. Next time I will probably just stick the absolute necessities in a small bag or the pocket of my sling and leave a bag with extra supplies in a locker.
As for my DD reaction to the parks, she seemed to be intrigued by most things. I don't think any of it scared her, at all. Not even Haunted Mansion or PoC. Interestingly enough, the highlights for her were having her picture taken with Cinderella (Anna looked star-struck
) and the Baby Care Center at MK (go figure ). BTW, we learned that Cinderella can move quite fast when the occasion calls for it. After we took our pictures, Cindy kept holding Anna and talking about how she would just love to keep her. Unfortunately, Anna chose that moment to spit up. Not only did Cindy move quickly enough to avoid getting it on her dress, she was quite ready to give Anna back to me all of a sudden. That's all I can think of for now. Hope this helps someone and I'd be happy to answer any questions.
