Little ones & hot weather

[btstmom]

Hi, I am traveling to WDW for four days with my two boys, ages 3 1/2 and 1 at the end of August. The trip is already booked -- and it is a long story to answer the question why are we going when it is so hot with such little kids!!! I am choosing to look on the bright side of things and hope that with a little planning we will still have a great time!

We are planning on going to the Magic Kingdom, Epcot and the Animal Kingdom. Are there certain attractions that we should not miss? What can I do with both kids? Any advice would be appreciated.

I know that it is going to be very hot and humid. Does anyone have any recommendations on dealing with the heat? Are there things we should know or consider?

What will the crowds be like the last week of August?

TIA for your advice!

 

[Perditamarie]

Hey, Welcome to the Dis!!!! You will get some great info here!

Here are some ideas:

* Bring a cooler bag into the parks w/your own juiceboxes/sippycups. You can bring in snacks, too. If you have your own drinks on hand, you will be able to keep your kids hydrated all day. Also, if you are looking for juice, you usually have to battle long Counter Service lines, as it isn't really available at the drink/snack carts.

* Plan for interactive fountains! At each park there are many opportunities to get wet w/interactive fountains, squirty spots in playgrounds and misting stations. Dress kids accordingly, or bring a change of clothes...make sure their shoes can get wet so you don't have to change those!

* Consider bringing a misting fan with you. Buy it before you hit the parks to save $$$$.

* At AK, don't count on It's Tough To Be A Bug as an air-conditioned theater break....I think it is too dark/loud/scary for children as young as yours. The Lion King or Nemo Show could provide a cool break though.

* Don't forget to schedule a pool break---may seem like it will eat up a lot of time, but it is very enjoyable and kids love the pools as much as the park. Then you can head back to the park in the evening when the hottest part of the day is over!

Happy planning!

 

[nessz79]

Be very careful and monitor them. I strongly suggest leaving by 12 noon for a long afternoon break and not coming back until after 4 PM.

Be careful with letting them play in the sprinkler-type things they have at the parks. We did this a few years ago when my youngest was not quite 2 and he had the worst stomach virus ever the next day...granted, we had caught him trying to drink out of the fountains, but if your kids even get some in their mouths, it could happen. He almost had to go to the ER. Could have been a freak thing, but it isn't the first time I've heard of this happening with the fountain type things. We don't let them play in those things anymore. Rather take a pool break, which I think is safer because there's more water and it doesn't get as warm and germy. Anyway, off the soap box!! LOL

Bring misting fans, bring washclothes that can be wetted and then put on their foreheads or the backs of their necks, and drink lots! Stay in the a/c as much as you can. I think this is pretty easy to do in most of the parks. We have yet to to go the AK, and I have heard this is the worst park for the heat. You may want to spend just half a day there.

 

[Natalie_89]

my boy wasnt that good with the heat he wood get to hot and start playin up id recommend a water squirter and stayin in the shade as much as you can.make ur eatin times a little bit longer so they can cool down inside for a while and are not exposed to the heat as much. make sure to apply suncream constantly too, no matter how much i put it on him he seemed to caught the sun stil a bit. water babies is really good..

 

[Natalie_89]

also id agree with the water play areas in the parks Epcot and MK i rememebr havin them . Near Ariels meet and greet has a great one my boy loved.

 

[imthatgirl]

do what you can not to stay outside that much. many ques are airconditioned. when you get off one ride, just go to the next, or if everyone is getting hot, go sit down for a show, theyre always airconditioned.
we go the last week of august every year, its like our last hoorah before school starts. yes its hot, but like i said, you arent going to be walking around in only the heat for hours on end.
the crowds have always been great. tgm's crowd calender has that week at about a 6 out of 10. you will hear from many people that becasue of free dining its so crowded, thats just not true.
but somehting that is always helpful is to avoid the parks that have the extra morning hours, they will without a doubt be the busiest, and there no reason to be where everyone else is.

 

[Dopey Rocks!]

Thank you so much for all these tips! My son will be 3 1/2 when we go in sept and he can get heat exhaustion very easily. It does not help that the only time he is not moving is when he is asleep! Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!

p.s. This board is the BEST!

 

[PrincessMom4]

I totally agree with the misting fants (life savers).. we went last August (2007) and it was HOT... We had an 8 year old 5 (turned 5 while we were there), 2, and 9month old... trust me it was very hot... We always had the sippy cups filled and we packed a few frozen bottles of water in our backpack. We made a few stops during the day at the air-conditioned places. We are going again this August and I can't wait. Now my kids will be 9, 6,3and 21months.... and we are driving from Canada too.... We love road trips.

 

[nessz79]

Thank you so much for all these tips! My son will be 3 1/2 when we go in sept and he can get heat exhaustion very easily. It does not help that the only time he is not moving is when he is asleep! Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!

p.s. This board is the BEST!

What kind of stroller will you have? We used to like the Disney rentals because the shade covered pretty well... that helps a lot.

However, with the prices of strollers, I'm not sure if that's going to fly this year. We're probably taking an umbrella for the evenings and just walk in the morning (mid-day break...make sure you do that!).

My youngest gets overheated easily also, despite his darker skin (DH is Hispanic and I'm super white...DS is in between). As soon as he starts to look flushed, super sweaty, or lethargic we know that he's too hot. Get some water on his head (we did this during a heat wave in VA and it helped sooooo much), get him in the a/c, give him some water, etc, etc.

 

[Dopey Rocks!]

We will bring our jeep lightweight stroller and are planning to make sitting in it part of the "routine" of the day. It has a shade thing-not great but will work somewhat.

I talked to a nurse friend of mine about this and she said to put ice packs or anything cool around their neck and trunk area as well as their bottom and front areas.

Great idea for extending table service times! We are also planning to take afternoon breaks. I am going to try to locate some of the misting fans. No luck so far. Where can I get those again? I know I have read it somewhere! Thanks!

 

[lady_hlh]

We will bring our jeep lightweight stroller and are planning to make sitting in it part of the "routine" of the day. It has a shade thing-not great but will work somewhat.

I talked to a nurse friend of mine about this and she said to put ice packs or anything cool around their neck and trunk area as well as their bottom and front areas.

Great idea for extending table service times! We are also planning to take afternoon breaks. I am going to try to locate some of the misting fans. No luck so far. Where can I get those again? I know I have read it somewhere! Thanks!

I got our large and tiny misting fans at Walmart a few years ago. The large were I think $5 and the tiny were $3. They were at the end of an aisle near the regular house fans.

 

[bzzymom]

DD got a urinary tract infection and became dehydrated when we were at WDW during the end of September when she was 19 months. We had to stay an extra 2 nights because she was too ill to fly home. Our next trip was mid-august, and we did things differently.

She isn't a water drinker, so I bought lemodade crystal light packets and flavored the bottled water and then transfered it to her sippy cup. She took this very well.

We also took afternoon breaks in the hotel room with her to nap and cool off. We bought mister fans too. They were awesome.

We also went into the parks earlier, I recommend EE at MK and going straight to fantasyland, Dumbo first. We had all of fantasyland done before the park opened to the general public. In adventureland, we tried to alternate inside ride, outside ride when we could. For example, starting adventure land with the madic carpets (outside) then tiki birds, (inside) then jungle cruise(outside) then POTC (inside) and so on.

She has happy and healthy during that trip.

 

[estherhead]

We went last year in late Aug/Sept. Here's a photo of my 9 month old:


It was downright cool in that stroller with the fan & the cotton blanket adding extra shade & we always parked in the shade. We had all kinds of people stopping & asking for a ride. We bought the fan at Wal-Mart.com & had it shipped to our local Wal-Mart.

We started early most days & spent the hottest part of the day inside, either inside a building (like where Soarin' is) or at our hotel or at a water park. Our bigger kids had misting fans & we drank a LOT of water, we had a couple cases given to us by a fellow Dis-ser.

And, we also went to a Princess & Pirate party which since we aren't late night people I was worried about but it ended up awesome because we did all the MK rides with no lines in the cool part of the night.

Follow everyone's tips & you won't even mention the heat when you talk about our trip. None of us even remember that it was hot at all, it just seemed perfect. Was it really hot?

 

[CatesRDisneyFans]

We take our own stroller (it's cheaper to buy a nice umbrella stroller that has a shade cover, a basket under the seat, and reclines) and attach a stroller fan to it. I also take a couple of receiving blankets with us and put one down on the stroller seat. So when the little one sweats the receiving blanket soaks up the sweat. You can switch out the receiving blanket throughout the day so the baby doesn't have to sit in a sweaty seat. We also bring mister fans...you can buy them from WDW but they are expensive. You can buy them from Walmart for a lot less. We all use the mister fans!

 

[PrincessMom4]

We went last year in late Aug/Sept. Here's a photo of my 9 month old:


It was downright cool in that stroller with the fan & the cotton blanket adding extra shade & we always parked in the shade. We had all kinds of people stopping & asking for a ride. We bought the fan at Wal-Mart.com & had it shipped to our local Wal-Mart.

We started early most days & spent the hottest part of the day inside, either inside a building (like where Soarin' is) or at our hotel or at a water park. Our bigger kids had misting fans & we drank a LOT of water, we had a couple cases given to us by a fellow Dis-ser.

And, we also went to a Princess & Pirate party which since we aren't late night people I was worried about but it ended up awesome because we did all the MK rides with no lines in the cool part of the night.

Follow everyone's tips & you won't even mention the heat when you talk about our trip. None of us even remember that it was hot at all, it just seemed perfect. Was it really hot?

We had a double stroller version of what you had Esterhead... my sons were very happy.

Isabell

 

[Schmeck]

If you are staying onsite, do not avoid EMH mornings - get to the parks at rope drop, stay for a few hours, then go back to your resort for naps. Head back to the parks late afternoon/evening, and stay as late as you can.

Another tip - try to stay away from letting the kids drink too much straight juice - keep them hydrated with water or watered down juice, as that would be much healthier for them. Also be careful of giving them dairy during the hottest part of the day...

 

[3mickeymom]

Diet drinks can cause intestinal pain/problems especially in small children. I could always tell when my sister-in -law gave my kids sips of her diet coke. The clip-on stroller fan is great! Also, there are some places for quick naps in the parks as well, over by Pirates there are some shaded areas where my son took a nap. I've heard lots of people nap in The Hall of Presidents. Also over by Space Mountain there were lots of shaded benches. There is a quiet/secret pathway from Toontown to Tomorrowland where you can walk and then hopefully find someplace for a little snooze for your kids. Leaving the park wasn't always a possibility as we stayed offsite and my son was so young he still took two naps( a short one in the morning but much needed) I enjoyed sitting down and people watching as my son napped thinking how lucky I was to be able to bring them to Disney. Have a wonderful trip!!

 

[btstmom]

Thanks for all of the great suggestions-- any others? We are so excited!!

 

[nessz79]

We just returned from a short Disney trip and followed our own advice.

The best thing is to leave the parks by 11 or 12, around lunchtime and don't return until late afternoon. We didn't return until 6, but that's because the park had opened early that day. This is what we did:

8-12 Park
12-1 Transportation, settle down at resort
1-5 Rest and eat time
5-6 Transportation back to park (we took our time this time...)
6-9:30 Park

It was a long day. If we were attending multiple days, we may have returned to the park around 4 and only stayed until 7 or 8.

 

[PA Princess]

We have traveled the last week of August/first week of September the last numerous years. Our kids are currently 3, 7, 12, and 13, but we have traveled with babies and toddlers for many trips.

Something not mentioned are the baby care centers found in each park. These are great areas to call off with little ones and to change diapers and such. There is one in every park (check the map) and the staff are so friendly and helpful we have found.

I agree with the early starts...the parks are cooler and small kids seem hardwired to be up early anyway. We always take a break mid day when the heat is most severe.

We will be there when you are - have a wonderful trip!