Length of stay with babies?

[Ragnrok23]

Hello,
A little background about my previous travel habits. Before I met my wife, I used to travel to WDW for a full week (Sat-Sat) take 1st flight to WDW in morning, and last flight home at the end of the trip

When traveling with her, we cut out one day at first, then complately made the last day a travel day.

Our trip last week (with a 9mth old) was Sat-Fri with us flying out at 1pm. My wife felt that was too long and wants to cut another day off at the end for our trip in October

So now I'm looking at Flying out Saturday (no Parks) Sun-Wed for park days (only 4) flying home on Thursday

That just seems so short to me, but she thinks that 7 days is too long for the baby (who will be 20 months old for our next trip)

So does (did) everyone do shorter trips when the kids were that young?

 

[Pookasaurus]

I think it is a matter of personal choice obviously.

For our last trip our youngest was 20 months (oldest 4). That trip was almost 2 weeks (13 days) including drive time and a day at the beach, 8 full days in the parks including mnsshp, and 2 days (arrival and departure) at the resort/DTD. We did longer trips because we worked a lot of down time into the trip, mid afternoon swim breaks, etc. Our first trip when the little guy was 8mo was about the same, minus the beach day. Both of my kiddos handled it fine both times, but our touring style etc may be different than yours and what works for one may not work for another

 

[pigletgirl]

We got back a few months ago and our DD was 15 months at our time of travel. We arrived on a Monday evening and left the following Monday morning. We had 6 days in the parks. We were in the parks from rope drop to about 12:30-1pm and then had a nap. We returned to the parks for the evening festivities and DD did great. Each child is different and your wife may be correct in what works for your son. The parks can be very over stimulating and sometimes little ones can tire out quickly.

 

[Crystal824]

We always do 7 days at least. We have our DD's first trip coming up in April. We are leaving on Thursday evening and returning the next Sunday morning so 10 days. We had planned to leave Friday, but the flights for Friday morning were twice the cost of leaving late Thursday night. My husband was trying to talk me into taking the last flight out on Sunday, which is 9pm, but I drew the line at that. We have two small kids. They will be 4 1/2 and 10 months when we go to WDW in April. No way are we getting home after midnight and out the door the next day to work and daycare.

The length of your trip is really up to you. I actually like longer trips with little ones because you can space things out and take your time.

 

[cyneswith]

I would plan 4 days in the park, with a rest day in between. Use a parkhopper pass, regardless, and plan to take a break in the afternoons for either a nap or quiet hotel-room play. Your willingness to take breaks has a great deal of impact on how long your child can manage.

 

[Ragnrok23]

Thank you everyone for the replies

I don't think it has as much to do with our touring style as the actual number of days away from home (I keep trying to talk her into 10 days with 2 "off" days- but she won't listen )

 

[lanejudy]

... I don't think it has as much to do with our touring style as the actual number of days away from home (I keep trying to talk her into 10 days with 2 "off" days- but she won't listen )

Specific to the above: when we had a little one, my philosophy was that I had to pack so much "stuff" anyway, I'd better make it worth the effort and stay awhile. Plus it would usually take 2-3 nights before sleeping well in a new place. Short trips just meant all that work for naught because we'd all return home exhausted.

Each family is different. Ask your wife what are her specific concerns or objections to a longer vacation. Brainstorm together how you might resolve some of those issues to make the trip more comfortable. It could be she simply prefers to be at home, and is using the baby as excuse to shorten trips more; not much will change that. But maybe a different way of touring, allowing for more downtime, earlier bedtimes most evenings, shared responsibility of the child and alternating to allow each parent some "time off" (maybe that's a quiet bath or hour alone at the pool, etc.), or maybe even an adult evening out using Kids Nite Out will help make the trip more enjoyable for her. Don't take this wrong, and it may not be accurate for your situation... if she is a SAHM and you work full-time, you may not actually be in-tune with the amount of effort she puts forth day-to-day to care for the baby; that effort escalates when away from home but it can be manageable with proper planning and agreement to share the workload.

A 20-month-old will be much different than a 9-month-old. Maybe plan the longer trip and when next fall rolls around shorten it if necessary. Opinions may have changed by then.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[Mousemommy1]

Meh. Our normal trips are 10 nights/11 days (we have an 8 and 10 year old and have been doing that length annually since they were 3 and 5).

Now, our upcoming April trip is only 7 nights/8 days because we will be bringing our (will be) 3 month old for his first trip. We just wanted to do shorter since it will be our first time traveling with him, but we are already thinking that is going to be too short. We shall see.

 

[Lilliputian]

It really depends on the family. Even if the baby can tolerate being away from home for that long, it may be hard on your wife taking care of the baby away from home.

You may want to consider asking your wife if she'd like to stay longer if you rented a house outside of WDW. It could be more homey and maybe make things easier for you all. We've gone on trips over a month long staying in a house in Windsor Hills with babies, but a long trip in a hotel room would be torture.

 

[Lincolnshire]

We did 9 days/8 nights with a 4 month old and 28 month old, and it was too much for our older kid. He is a homebody and likes his routines. I think he enjoyed the parks for the first 4-5 days, but he was ready to be done after that. However we (stupidly) did not take any non-park break days. He may have done better if we had scheduled 2 park days followed by a break day and then repeated.

 

[dsneygirl]

I think it depends on your kid and you family. We started taking my older son at 3 months and stayed anywhere from 4-10 nights at a time.

My younger son's first trip was DL/Aulani/California when he was 7 months old and we were away from home for 19 days.

 

[msmama]

If the baby is the kind of baby who does best on a strict schedule, than I can see your wife's point.

My son was an excellent traveller at that age though. To me, 4 days seems like a lot of work getting and ready and packing, for not very long there. That said, I can also understand not wanting to be away for 10 days (my son is 6 and that's too long for him to be away from home - but he's old enough to start asking to go home).

It sounds like you go regularly, so what works for us is to alternate a longer trip with a shorter trip every other year.

 

[VbChristy]

Actually a longer stay would be better if the baby has to keep a strict schedule. You would spend time keeping the baby on schedule and you would miss things. We went when my son was 5.5 months old, 10 months, 1 year and 16 months. We kept his schedule pretty much for all the trips. They were varying lengths- but mostly like 5 days. The last was 7 nights. All were good. And all were exhausting with the baby.

 

[mrsbicewdw]

We did eight full days when my oldest was still in the newborn stage. Best vacation we have had, hands down. We took it slow, the diapers and clothes are still tiny so you don't need a huge diaper bag, and breastfeeding meant I didn't have to worry about anything really. Super relaxing trip.

Once they start crawling it gets less fun to do long trips. By the time walking is involved, it's difficult. Toddlers can walk and run but still don't have much sense...so that means an exhausted mommy and daddy running after a toddler.

 

[RachaelA]

Our trips are 10 days (2 days of driving and 8 days at Disney). We've gone twice with kids under 1. Then with an 18 month old and a 3 year old.

It actually sounds worse to me to go for a shorter period and have to travel closer together (even flying!)

 

[Ragnrok23]

Right now we have a 1 bedroom booked at BLT for Sat-Fri (taking grandma on this trip) but She's was saying we should shorten it by one day

Maybe in a few months after this last trip isn't so fresh I can talk her into keeping this lenght

 

[mickeyismyhomeboy]

We usually do Sun-Fri. Arrive before check in Sun and leave Fri after half day in the park, or swimming at the resort. Our oldest is now 2.5 and he has done well I second what pm said about taking it slow with little ones. Breastfeeding does make eating easier and faster (for our kids). At 6 months our son ate and napped and we tag teamed who held him and the trip was only for 3 days. Still totally worth it!!

 

[Feberin]

We went when my daughter was 23 months and we drove from Baltimore so more travel time then flying into Orlando. We spent one full day driving (surprised ourselves by making it to Orlando in one day but the kids fell asleep so we decided to just keep going) and a kind of lazy day shopping in Orlando followed by check-in and Downtown Disney. Then five park days and then two days driving home. If I had to do it again I would have had a day off in the middle to relax and rest. We had an amazing time but all of us were exhausted by the end of the trip. If your wife is pushing for a shorter trip and only four park days why don't you keep the trip the same length but have a day to rest in the middle of it? A bit of a compromise and it will probably help the overall trip since you'll be more rejuvenated when you hit the parks the next day.

 

[btk2333]

We are taking our ten month old twins January 31- february 8. Grandma is flying in February 5 to give us some backup- and a chance for a victoria and alberts dinner date!

This is a longer trip than we used to do because we decided that it takes so much effort to pack up the babies' things and un pack them at the resort that we didn't want to go for four days when the better part of two of the days would be spent prepping for leaving/unpacking.

We may be crazy and totally regret it but if that's the case we have a thursday- monday trip planned in November too

 

[Pooh2]

Even with older kids, we did a day off from parks to hang out at the pool, do laundry, sleep-in. It helped us to catch our breath and reenergize for the second half of the trip.
Maybe dad can hang by the pool with baby while mom has a few hours to rest, shop or spa to have some grown-up time to herself.
The extra day would make it easier to go at a slower pace.