Lots of ?'s for you experts! We'll be in WDW next Tuesday...

[MommyBryn]

Okay, sorry for the loads of questions...REALLY sorry!!

1) I've got to decide whether to ship a pack of diapers down beforehand....TODAY! I'm going to "mock" pack my suitcase (that sounds funny! But I can't pack it for real since we still need so much of the stuff for another week) and see how well everything fits with the diapers in there, and if it doesn't work I'm heading to our local UPS drop-off and sending them down. IF I do send them down, they should be there on Monday, and we'll arrive Tuesday. Is that okay, or do I need them to get there on the same day as us? Also, is it appropriate to call the resort and let them know that they're coming?

2) I'm going to check with my airline (United), but won't do that until later today, so I'm just going to ask here first...I can take the smallest size suitcase as a carry on, can't I? (I think it's the "universal" small one, if ya KWIM) Since we're doing DME, I want to be able to have enough essentials available when we first get there in case our luggage takes a while.

3) Speaking of DME, what would you suggest we wear/bring down, coming from a COLD area in the NW?? We'll probably all wear t-shirts, pants, and tennis shoes down so we can just go straight to the parks in those, but we'll be arriving in the afternoon so I was thinking of packing shorts just in case ("cold" in FL is warm to us LOL). I know it'll depend on the weather too...any good, reliable sites with forecasts???

4) Back to carry on...again, I'll be calling the airline, but what am I limited to as far as snacks for my 11 month old DD? Can I bring a few ziplocks of cheerios, puffs, crackers, etc? And any good advice for what to bring to keep her entertained? It'll be a long flight (especially on the way home), and I'm DREADING it, because DD HATES being in her carseat...she's screamed for the entire 11 months of her life when she's in it. Speaking of...does she still need to be rear-facing in the plane? I assume so, and would actually prefer that since I'll probably want to nurse her in the seat during take-off and decent, and since there's nothing to see FF anyway...

5) Can I nurse her during take-off? (Not "can" I, but will I be able to? I mean, buckled into my seat, leaning forward over hers...is that easy in a plane during takeoff? (it's easy in a car, but we're not flying up into the air! LOL) Hopefully I won't have to, but I want to be prepared!!

6) We're gate checking our stroller. After reading through numerous stroller threads here, I've decided to remove the sunshade from our stroller until we get down there. It's already been broken once, and the last thing we need is to get down there and find out we don't have a sunshade!! So that's also a reason I could REALLY use the small suitcase for carry on. Is there anything else I should consider "removing" in this case??? I was going to pop the little lid off the top storage thing, too. Oh yeah, and speaking of this stuff, (and this is probably a stupid question), I have a tiny leatherman in my purse, and I was just going to use that to put the shade back on when we get down there...am I allowed to keep that with me or does that need to go into my suitcase? I attempted to make a "cover" with an underbed storage bag like I'd read about someone here doing before, but that didn't even come close to working. I want to protect our stroller as much as possible as it's not exactly easy for us to go buy a brand new one if we have to, KWIM?

7) Back to carry on, again! How many bags/items are you limited to? There are 7 of us going, but I'm only speaking for the 3 of us- DH, me, and DD. We'll have the carseat and the diaper bag, so would we even be able to bring the little suitcase too? Or should I just opt for another backpack?

PHEW! God bless those of you who've read this whole thing!! TIA for the replies!!

 

[hannahsmomma]

I will try to answer a few of these... We flew last year with ds who was 15 months. I held him and nursed him almost the entire flight. It was the only way we survived it. Now people are on either side of the fence on the car seat on the plane thing. We did not bring one, when he was not nursing or if things got bumpy, I strapped him in a seat. The reason for flying was so he could not be in a car seat, he also hates his car seat.

As far as your carry on the airport has places to check the size, our small suitcase went with us and SW allowed 2 carryons per person. I also brought snacks for ds.

When we used DME we had a baggage guy get our luggage and we put it on the bus ourselves and took it off ourselves. I knew we needed everything in it as soon as we got there, and it was really not that much trouble to do.

I do know that you are allowed to ship things before you get there, but not sure about the rest.

Good Luck with everything.

 

[karibritt01]

I would probably just pack the diapers, instead of shipping them. With a carry-on and 2 checked bags each, you shouldn't have a problem. Are you having any groceries delivered? If so, you could just have them added to that. As for the leatherman, I am assuming that is the little folding pocket tool with scissors, screwdriver, and such. If so, I do not think you can carry them on. I think it counts as a weapon, and has to be in your checked luggage. As for the nursing and carseat thing... I would check the seat and hold your baby, then nursing will be simple. Otherwise, I would take a bottle of juice for the flight. If you can nurse with DD in a carseat, and your seat belt buckled, then you are more woman than I am!! Sounds awkward and painful to me!

 

[MommyBryn]

Thanks for the replies!

As for the carseat- it's already going on with us. We bought her a seat and it's waaaay too long of a flight for us to just hold her the entire time.