Need help! Bathroom breaks in the parks with 3-year-old!

[bangzoom6877]

We leave in 5 weeks and I am wondering about the restrooms at the parks. We're going to all 4 Disney parks. I know there will be changing tables for my little one (he's only 13 months), but my older son is 3 and a half, and fully potty-trained, daytime and nighttime.

How do you coordinate bathroom breaks with a little kid like this? My son rarely has an accident, but I am well aware that even if he never had them that one can happen at any given moment...I am realistic about this and know it is a possibility anytime and anyplace. For the car we already have a couple of Piddle-Pads to protect his carseat. We use this daily, just stays in there and we keep a spare in the trunk as well just in case. But in the parks...some questions about the restrooms:

-are the restrooms easy to find?
-are they clean?
-are they close to most attractions?
-is there a map available that has restrooms on it?
-how do you coordinate your own little one's bathroom breaks?

About that last one, I do realize every child is different, but a few ideas would be great, just to juggle around and keep in mind as they may work for us as well. I got nervous all of a sudden in the past week...last weekend we went to the NY Aquarium and literally just as they were announcing the beginning of the Sea Lion show (where we were sitting, waiting for the show to start), my son told me he had to go to the bathroom. Luckily we made it, but we had to walk a bit to get to the nearest one. We made it back for 5 minutes of the 15-minute show so my son was happy he got to see the Sea Lions do some tricks, which was really all that mattered to me. Today, we were at my parents' house and he told me he had to go to the bathroom and as we were on our way to the basement bathroom, he had an accident (not to be gross and graphic, but it was #2). He was okay though, which is very important to me. He understood what happened. And this very rarely happens with him. I cleaned him up an changed his clothes (we always have spare clothing with us). So I know to bring extra clothes into the parks, not a problem at all. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,
Bonnie

 

[Mouse House Mama]

There are bathrooms everywhere. You won't need to look at a map for them. For the most part they are pretty clean. I take them when they have to go unless they haven't asked in a while then we take a family potty break and we all go.

 

[holly7347]

Well I haven't been to disney yet, our first trip is in October. But I have been plenty of places zoos, pools, malls, church festivals, amusement parks etc with my trained DD's. My DD's (oldest especially) have a habbit of waiting to the last minute to tell me they have to go to the bathroom. Of course if they tell me they have to go to the bathroom we get to one as quickly as possible. But I generally take a more proactive approach. When we are at our local zoo when we pass a bathroom I say I've got to go to the bathroom and I take them in with me. When we get into the bathroom the rule is we are all in here we might as well try. That sort of helps with the last minute rush to find a bathroom which would happen all the time if I did it their way

 

[mamaLori05]

We just made sure we found a bathroom for DD about every hour or so. Definatley hit them before going on any rides. Sure it took a little longer to get to the rides, shows, etc..., but we didn't have any accidents. Oh, and we were there for 10 days.

 

[2poohbears]

Restrooms are easy to find, and are all over the parks. They are marked on the park maps you can pick up when you walk into the parks.

Most of the restrooms are clean. I always carry with me some potty toppers - they are oversized toilet seat covers that have a little adhesive on the back to stick to the seat or a plastic foldable toilet seat cover (got mine at BRU).

Generally, we do bathroom breaks -
***1st thing in the morning
***we eat lunch around 11am, so just before, we bring them to the potty.
***we go to the hotel room after lunch for nap, and they'll potty again before we leave the hotel to go back to parks.
***we eat dinner around 5pm, so just before, we bring them to the potty.
***they potty again after bathtime, just before getting into bed.
-outside of that, sometimes they'll tell us they need to go, and we'll bring them, but usually those are enough breaks for them throughout the day.

FYI - there are also babycenters in the parks. I've used the one at MK, and at Universal Studios. They were both really clean, and very nice. The one at US has small, toddler sized toilets so the kids don't feel like they are falling in.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

There are bathrooms everywhere and they are generally quite tidy.

My 4 year old had a potty emergency just as we were about to enter the loading area for Soarin'! We used the potty just before getting in line, but the soda testin from Club Cool was catching up with us! I was a bit panicked as it was SPRING BREAK and the standby line for Soarin' was well over 2 hours and we had already stood in line for over 20 minutes with Fastpasses (and had already given our Fastpasses to the gatekeeper to the ride). We snaked our way back down the que and I told the gatekeeper CM our situation and she handed me a rider switch pass! In all, it ended up taking us an hour to ride Soarin' because if that little detour ... still better than waiting 2 hours in the standby line or wetting the pants!

Anyway, just bring a spare set of shorts and underwear into the parks. Heck, an extra t-shirt might not be a bad idea. Oh ... bring a big ziplock in case you do end up having an accident.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I never had a problem finding a bathroom at WDW. It seems that you are never very far from one. And usually, they are very clean.

When I was there last, DD was 3 1/2 and had been daytime potty trained for just under a year. We were still having occassional accidents, but we never had one at WDW. However, I tried to head off any opportunity for one by taking her to the potty every couple hours. She'd protest from time to time that she didn't have to go so I'd tell her mommy had to go. Then when we got in there, I'd just ask "does mommy get to go first?" Well, she can't let anyone else be first so she'd go for me.

For nighttime, I had her wear a pullup just to be safe. I didn't want to have to deal with a wet bed.

I will say we were there in early February when waits in lines were very short, for both attractions and the bathrooms. I think it would be more of a challenge at a busier time of year.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

With a recently potty trained child, the best way is to take him frequently and make a rule that he has to try whenever you take him. If you wait until he says he has to go, it will likely be too late or at an inconvenient time. Restrooms are relatively easy to find, but it's not like being at home when you can rush him in when he says he has to go. If you're going to a scheduled show, do a little pre-planning. Figure out what time you'll be entering the theater or lining up. Plan to take him just prior to doing that. Also take him before entering a line for a ride if the line is more than about 20 minutes. Hopefully taking him often and before he says he has to go will avoid accidents and emergencies. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[2poohbears]

You can also get some great info about what is available for little ones by going to the official disney website, clicking on parks, then look for the Magical Beginnings icon. There's even an activity booklet with park maps & games you can print out for them.

 

[SueM in MN]

Another suggestion is to have the child wear a pair of pull ups over the underwear. That way, he will feel wet if he has an accident, but you may be able to avoid wearing shorts and you will be able to avoid getting the ride seats wet. This can especially be a problem in some of the sit down theaters like Little Mermaid, Muppets 3D and Mickey's Philharmagic that have nice cloth seats. I have seen people sit in a seat and find it wet, which would not be a pleasant surprise.

 

[adell557]

Any CM can tell you where the nearest bathroom is, I find it is harder to decipher the map than it is to just ask the nearest CM.
As for bathroom breaks, we always try to take one before we get in a long line 40 plus minutes.
Also, if you are in line and DS has to go emergency, I have left DH and DS in line to take DD and then just rejoin him, unless we are close to getting on. I'm sure there will be someone that will tell you this will irrate people, but I don't care if my 4 year old has to go then they have to go! I am not going to penalize her and make her wait another 30 extra minutes b/c she has a smaller bladder than the 20 adults behind us. Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox!

 

[kacaju]

Since you are not leaving for 5 weeks why not spend this next week tracking his potty habits. This way you will know how often he does his business and you can try to keep him on that schedule while you are on vacation.

 

[mommy-on-the-move]

I have a 4 year old and a 5 year old going with us (as well as 10 year old and 18month old) the 5 year old has special needs and was late to train anyway, he also doesn't get much warning (when he was 2/3 the first idea he had he needed to pee was wet socks!)

We tend to use the technique of asking everytime we stop to take a break (never been to dis before but plenty of theme parks/eco-attractions) we tend to aim for near a bathroom and we'll ask if anyone needs to go, also if one of the adults (4 of us) have to go we always ask if any of the little ones need to go with us (sometimes they don't NEED to go but could do with a visit in the near future and this reminds them)

We also make sure they are wearing verrrry light fabric shorts/pants or a dress- and we take a spare for each kid, if there is an accident we put the new on, rinse the peed on pair and hang them to dry on the stroller or in the webbing on our backpack- light fabrics dry quickly so are back up for if there is a second accident before we get back to the resort.

One thing we always do with dd4 and ds5 is check before we line up for any buses!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Since you are not leaving for 5 weeks why not spend this next week tracking his potty habits. This way you will know how often he does his business and you can try to keep him on that schedule while you are on vacation.

The only way I can track this is on weekends since I work full-time during the weel. But I will ask his teacher at pre-school how often and how many times he goes. I will also track him on weekends, when he tneds to drink more anyway, and I will have them drinking plenty at the parks in that heat!!

-Bonnie

 

[tomboy_m]

We took DD when she was just potty trained less than a month in fact she was very motivated to be potty trained before she went to see Minnie and Mickey. She did very well with no accidents. There are bathrooms everywhere and they are almost always clean. There are even companion bathrooms. My daughter loves the wheelchair bathrooms with the small sink and there are a lot of them there generally more than one per restroom... the parks were not busy so I let her use them this was a huge motivation for her and I heard other kids asking to use them too. The bathrooms are some of the cleanest you will ever find in a public place and we never had to wait for a stall once we were in the restroom. I have always brought an extra change of clothing to the park for her just in case but have only ended up using it when she decided that she wanted to play in the fountains.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Okay- I know someone is going to get annoyed with me but I can't help myself.
I think you are completely overthinking the whole potty thing. Tracking when he goes etc. If the child is potty trained he will tell you when he has to go. If it has been a while suggest a break and take him with you. Bring a change of clothes in case you have a close call. Skip the pullups. Don't stress about it.

 

[bangzoom6877]

Maybe I am thinking too much as above poster suggested. I do know my son very well and his habits...and I have the common sense to take frequent breaks with him. I guess just because I have never done this type of vacation with a newly potty trained child, I am nervous.

I was definitely planning on skipping the pull-ups. I know having the child wear them over the underwear helps a lot of people but in my opinion this would be like regressing backwards. DS3 has been potty trained since late February during the day, and completely potty trained overnight since mid-April. Going back to pull-ups does not seem like a good idea for him.

I am really glad to hear though, that there are bathrooms all over the place and that there are CMs I can ask. I think I was nervous because of what happened last week at the aquarium, but I did not think that one through and take him before the show started, which I should have done. So I am actually glad that happened because it taught me a lesson from the experience...take him before it starts!

One question...if we are at a show that is just starting (ot has not started yet but we just sat down) and he has to go, would they let us back in? I am guessing no because it would create too much chaos. The one show that worries me with this is Playhouse Disney Live because that is the one thing I do not want to miss. DS3 is looking forward to that most of all, they are all his favorite characters and TV shows. We will be heading to that show when the park opens, just after finishing the character breakfast, so I will take him to the bathroom first.

Thanks,
Bonnie

 

[SueM in MN]

There are even companion bathrooms. My daughter loves the wheelchair bathrooms with the small sink and there are a lot of them there generally more than one per restroom... the parks were not busy so I let her use them this was a huge motivation for her and I heard other kids asking to use them too.

Just FYI, since the handicapped stalls and Companion Restrooms are designed for use by people with disabilities, they have raised seat toilets. These are pretty high off the ground.

There are only 6-8 Companion Restrooms in each park and for many people with disabilties, those are the only 6-8 toilets in the whole park they can use - not multiple bathrooms with many toilets in each bathroom they can use.

Also, the wheelchair accessible stalls with the small sinks are usually only one per bathroom. Some of the very large ones might have 2, but it's usually one per bathroom. If you are going in and coming out quickly, it's one thing, but for someone who needs that toilet and can't use any other toilet, it can be a long wait (and, yes, I have waited with my DD who has to use those stalls for sometimes over 15 minutes while the "just try to go" "but, I don't need to go" dialog takes place.)

So, as someone whose DD can't use any other stalls, I'd like to ask people to please keep in mind that there are people with no choice but to use the Companion Restrooms or handicapped stalls. If you choose to use them, please use them as quickly as possible.

 

[bangzoom6877]

Just FYI, since the handicapped stalls and Companion Restrooms are designed for use by people with disabilities, they have raised seat toilets. These are pretty high off the ground.

There are only 6-8 Companion Restrooms in each park and for many people with disabilties, those are the only 6-8 toilets in the whole park they can use - not multiple bathrooms with many toilets in each bathroom they can use.

Also, the wheelchair accessible stalls with the small sinks are usually only one per bathroom. Some of the very large ones might have 2, but it's usually one per bathroom. If you are going in and coming out quickly, it's one thing, but for someone who needs that toilet and can't use any other toilet, it can be a long wait (and, yes, I have waited with my DD who has to use those stalls for sometimes over 15 minutes while the "just try to go" "but, I don't need to go" dialog takes place.)

So, as someone whose DD can't use any other stalls, I'd like to ask people to please keep in mind that there are people with no choice but to use the Companion Restrooms or handicapped stalls. If you choose to use them, please use them as quickly as possible.

I totally agree with this! Though I must confess, when I was 8 months pregnant I would use the bigger stalls for myself so I could fit! This was not at Disney, just at local restaurants.

I have no problem going into a regular stall with my son. This is what I normally do anyway so not a problem! Tight sometimes? Yes, but manageable! And I know all about those raised seats from my aunt who always goes into the handicapped stalls. She complains that the regular ones are too narrow, the handicapped ones are too high a seat...can't win with her!!

-Bonnie