Little kids on airplane and Magical Express

[celina14]

Hi! We are planning a November 2016 trip and have never stayed on property before so I have no experience with Magical Express. We will have our 2 kids who will be 2 & 5 at the time we go so still of car seat age. From what I've read, there are no car seats allowed on Magical Express correct? So for my 2 year old how will that work? Does he just sit in the seat and wear a regular seat belt?

Also, if we can't use our car seat on the bus then I probably wouldn't want to bring in on the plane either so is there a good way to restrain the 2 year old on the airplane? Is the lap belt sufficient? The last time we went to Disney my older one was 2 and we stayed offsite and rented a car so we brought her car seat on the plane and she sat in there. It just doesn't make a ton of sense for me to bring the seat and lug it through the airport if we won't even be using it when we get there. I will though if that's the safest thing but just seeing if there are other alternatives.

Thanks for the help!

 

[LadyBeBop]

My thought: How are you transporting your 2-year old from home to the airport? You'd probably need a car seat for that route.

 

[maxiesmom]

No, no car seats are allowed on the Magical Express buses. For the airplane, have you looked at Cares harnesses?

http://www.extend-its.com/orderchild.htm?gclid=CJPnt_30kMoCFQcOaQod_XAHSQ

 

[supersnoop]

Car seats are intended to protect a child in the event of a collision. If that happens while you're on an airplane, you've got bigger problems. Seriously, a car seat serves no purpose on an airplane, unless your child isn't trained to sit still without one. They're near-pointless on a bus. Seat belts aren't even required on DME.

 

[Alesia]

My thought: How are you transporting your 2-year old from home to the airport? You'd probably need a car seat for that route.

I would assume that they're planning on just leaving the car seat in their car.

 

[KrazeeK120]

In the event of severe turbulence in the air or a sudden stop of the plane on the ground, the safest place for a child to be is in a car seat. Also, it likely makes the flight more comfortable for the child as he/she is used to traveling in the car seat. Flying can be intimidating for anyone, but it may help a small child to have some sense of familiarity in a very unfamiliar situation. I would bring the seat for the benefit of my child. But you are right, they aren't allowed on the bus and must be stowed underneath the motorcoach.

 

[BeckyEsq]

When we took my daughter at age 2 (almost 3) we used a Cares harness on the plane. I rented it on Ebay which worked out great. On DME she wore a seat belt on the way there. On the way back there were no seatbelts! I was a little nervous. On our 2nd trip the bus had belts both ways so maybe they phased out the busses with no seatbelts.

 

[nkereina]

They're near-pointless on a bus. Seat belts aren't even required on DME.

This. Not permitted on DME, and I presume not permitted on the park buses either. Never seen one.

 

[maxiesmom]

When we took my daughter at age 2 (almost 3) we used a Cares harness on the plane. I rented it on Ebay which worked out great. On DME she wore a seat belt on the way there. On the way back there were no seatbelts! I was a little nervous. On our 2nd trip the bus had belts both ways so maybe they phased out the busses with no seatbelts.

The seatbelts are only there to make people feel better. On a bus, the way the bus is built is the main safety feature.

 

[disneyktee]

Keep in mind while you're on property you'll likely be riding the Disney buses just about everywhere which aren't suitable for car seats either (neither are monorails). I would assume you just keep her on your lap while on any Disney transportation.

 

[epsmith921]

We took our 2.5 year old on the plane with just the lap belt and it was much better than I would have thought. She did insist on wearing the full 3 point seatbelt on the DME bus though, which was comical, but I suppose she's so trained that we're not going anywhere unless she's strapped in. I didn't argue with her.

We are bringing our car seat for our son who will be 18 months our next trip. He is a bit of a tornado but a good car sleeper, so I don't think the lap belt would restrain him successfully on the plane. We will stow his seat under the bus once we arrive.

I am not looking forward to dragging that seat around.

 

[celina14]

My thought: How are you transporting your 2-year old from home to the airport? You'd probably need a car seat for that route.

He would ride in his car seat to the airport and we would leave our car parked at the airport with his car seat in it.

When we took my daughter at age 2 (almost 3) we used a Cares harness on the plane. I rented it on Ebay which worked out great. On DME she wore a seat belt on the way there. On the way back there were no seatbelts! I was a little nervous. On our 2nd trip the bus had belts both ways so maybe they phased out the busses with no seatbelts.

I will look into this, thanks for the suggestion. That's what I was hoping is that there was some alternative to a car seat for the plane because I don't know if he'd stay in the normal lap belt or if we were even allowed to do that.

Keep in mind while you're on property you'll likely be riding the Disney buses just about everywhere which aren't suitable for car seats either (neither are monorails). I would assume you just keep her on your lap while on any Disney transportation.

Yeah, we wouldn't use it on the Disney buses so it would basically just be taking up space in the room which is why I'd like to try and avoid bringing it.

We took our 2.5 year old on the plane with just the lap belt and it was much better than I would have thought. She did insist on wearing the full 3 point seatbelt on the DME bus though, which was comical, but I suppose she's so trained that we're not going anywhere unless she's strapped in. I didn't argue with her.

We are bringing our car seat for our son who will be 18 months our next trip. He is a bit of a tornado but a good car sleeper, so I don't think the lap belt would restrain him successfully on the plane. We will stow his seat under the bus once we arrive.

I am not looking forward to dragging that seat around.

I don't want to have to lug it around either! My son is currently also a little tornado so I guess we will see how he is once the trip gets closer since its still like 11 months away. We may have to suck it up and drag it around just to have more peace on the plane! LOL!

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!!

 

[celina14]

In the event of severe turbulence in the air or a sudden stop of the plane on the ground, the safest place for a child to be is in a car seat. Also, it likely makes the flight more comfortable for the child as he/she is used to traveling in the car seat. Flying can be intimidating for anyone, but it may help a small child to have some sense of familiarity in a very unfamiliar situation. I would bring the seat for the benefit of my child. But you are right, they aren't allowed on the bus and must be stowed underneath the motorcoach.

Thanks for this perspective, definitely something to consider. I'm going to research the safety of the cares harness that was mentioned and see how that compares to the car seat. But you're right, he may do better in his car seat since he's already used to that.

 

[celina14]

I would assume that they're planning on just leaving the car seat in their car.

Exactly what we would do!

 

[epsmith921]

I'm bringing a wheeled carryon since we land a bit late in the day (4pm) so I plan to buy one of the bungees to strap our seat to that. I think it's like $15 or less on Amazon.

As for in the room, I'm planning on just putting the seat in the closet. We got a diono rainier for my in-laws so we're going to ask for it back to use on the plane. Our normal seat would not really work for travel.

I still have to decide if I am bringing a stroller with us or just renting...and now I'm hijacking. Sorry!

I think you most likely can't go wrong. If my son would be larger on our trip, I would just lap belt him on the plane. Our daughter did fine with it at 2.5.

 

[celina14]

I'm bringing a wheeled carryon since we land a bit late in the day (4pm) so I plan to buy one of the bungees to strap our seat to that. I think it's like $15 or less on Amazon.

As for in the room, I'm planning on just putting the seat in the closet. We got a diono rainier for my in-laws so we're going to ask for it back to use on the plane. Our normal seat would not really work for travel.

I still have to decide if I am bringing a stroller with us or just renting...and now I'm hijacking. Sorry!

I think you most likely can't go wrong. If my son would be larger on our trip, I would just lap belt him on the plane. Our daughter did fine with it at 2.5.

No worries about hijacking! I'm definitely bringing our double stroller. I have a City Mini GT double and I loooove it! I know my daughter still won't want to walk all day at 5 and my son certainly won't. Plus I like having the stroller to put bags and other junk in.

 

[Lvsdisney]

I'm bringing a wheeled carryon since we land a bit late in the day (4pm) so I plan to buy one of the bungees to strap our seat to that. I think it's like $15 or less on Amazon.

As for in the room, I'm planning on just putting the seat in the closet. We got a diono rainier for my in-laws so we're going to ask for it back to use on the plane. Our normal seat would not really work for travel.

I still have to decide if I am bringing a stroller with us or just renting...and now I'm hijacking. Sorry!

I think you most likely can't go wrong. If my son would be larger on our trip, I would just lap belt him on the plane. Our daughter did fine with it at 2.5.

I brought our stroller last year. It was great to have in the airport instead of carrying DD all over. We're bringing it again this year as it wasn't a big deal to gate check it. Saved us $$ from not renting and no cost to check!!