Magical Express and toddlers

[rjthkids]

We have tentatively signed up take the Magical Express to our room in SSR. My husband is driving the car down, and I am traveling by air with my 17 month old and my four year old. I am trying to figure out a couple of things in my mind:

Carseats...can they be installed on the Magical Express? My four year old is 24 pounds and still in a five point harness, as well as my son.

Length: how long of a trip is the ME from the airport to our resort? What is the worst case scenario in terms of time?

Carry on: I have already assumed that any luggage we would check would not get to our room in a timely fashion. It's really not a big deal since my husband is driving most of our stuff down and I hope to get by with just a carryon. He should hopefully be arriving about an hour or two after we do. But, I want to have a full days worth of stuff for the two kids just-in-case. Neither of my two are potty trained, so I have figured in plenty of diapers, bathing suits in case they want to do the pool, extra change of clothes in case there is an accident, snacks and food, and for some reason I'm drawing a blank. Anything else you guys can think of would be handy for the carryon?

Thanks!

 

[Brygida]

Carseats...can they be installed on the Magical Express? My four year old is 24 pounds and still in a five point harness, as well as my son.

Length: how long of a trip is the ME from the airport to our resort? What is the worst case scenario in terms of time?

Carry on: ... Neither of my two are potty trained, so I have figured in plenty of diapers, bathing suits in case they want to do the pool, extra change of clothes in case there is an accident, snacks and food, and for some reason I'm drawing a blank. Anything else you guys can think of would be handy for the carryon?

Thanks!

Car seats CANNOT be installed on ME... it is a big bus. With 2 pre-K you will have a handful. If they are both walking? and can follow directions (stand there!), then it should probably work out for loading them on the bus. Since they sound small... what if you used a sling to hold onto one or both? on the bus... or rely on a kind stranger to help? or have your husband meet you?

The question about length of time should be time you arrive at the DME area to your destination. Best Case I've heard is 50 minutes. Worst Case I've heard was about 3 hours.

Carryon stuff? Any medication needed? If no prescription meds, maybe at least Tylenol/Advil for teething? and a couple of carefully selected toys/books to keep them occupied.

Brygida

 

[brymolmom]

Just back a couple weeks ago with me, dh, 23 month old and 3 year old. I've never been so grateful for carseats at home. We used ME and Disney transportation the whole time so we didn't bring or use any carseats. My little one loved the freedom and I hated it. She was constantly trying to climb up on the seats to see out the windows, wanting to go back and forth from daddy's lap to mine, etc. - it was a long trip every bus ride we had. And now I'm happily 'locking her into' her seats at home.

That said, it is correct that there is no way to attach a car seat (you might not have enough hands to even bring it on anyway). With a 4 year old being your oldest, you should be okay if he will sit and let you take care of the baby. There is a video on the way that kept my kids' attention for at least part of the time. Our actual bus trip was only about 40 minutes or so. But that could be worse because we were the first stop off. 3 hours seems extreme to me - but I guess if everything bad happened, it's possible.

My advice would be to carry as LITTLE as possible. I know you have to carry stuff for diapers, accidents and snacks, but think carefully if you really need what you're taking. I don't think you'll need 2 days worth of anything - maybe 1 day worth at most. My biggest issue on most trips with the kids is not having enough hands and having too much to carry.

Good luck and have fun!
Karen

 

[missymagic]

I have traveled with my girls since they were little and have come up with innovative ways to make it work. Single mom that travels by herself. Even when I was married he never went.

Anyway I used a car seat on the plane for the youngest so it was easier to content them and the older one I just sat in the seat. I had a backpack w/ all their stuff. Diapers, wipes snacks little toys games etc. I also used a double stroller. Took it right up to the entrace to the plane they would door check it for me and when I got off the plane I may have had to wait a couple minutes but it was right there for me to put both of them in it. I then took the car seat and strapped that to the area of the handles that I pushed. The carseat faced the front of the stroller & the seat part kinda rested in the basket area. Worked great & was very easy to do. I even did this going to Mexico going thru custon I got so many compliments.

It can be done!!!