Park Days/Schedule With an Infant

[BadgerGirl84]

I'm going to WDW next week with my DH and daughter...she will turn four months on this trip. Reading all the positive reviews of traveling to WDW with a baby on this board was one of the things that encouraged us to take the plunge and do a trip with our baby!

Those who have traveled with an infant, what do your typical park days look like?

At home, my DD is typically sleeping by 9pm, up at 5am to eat, and back down for an hour or two more of sleep. She typically takes a nap after 90 minutes to two hours of awake time, with a long 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon (but not always).

We were planning on getting to the parks as close to rope drop as possible (but not worrying about it if we don't make it) having her nap in the stroller as needed, and heading back to the resort before dinner time. No nighttime shows because we don't want to mess with her bedtime schedule.

She naps very well in her stroller and also when being carried in her carrier. One thing I was thinking of doing is that if she's awake, parking her stroller and trying to do multiple rides with her in the carrier (this would work well for MK...not for the other parks where everything is so spread out).

If it's naptime, I'm thinking we'll definitely want to have her down in her stroller and DH and I were thinking we could use that time to get a bite to eat, people watch, see a parade, or take turns going on some of the thrill rides.

We have been to WDW the last 3 years so we have very little on our "must do" list other than me wanting to ride the fantasyland rides with her, get some cute videos and get some pictures with the characters.

Yes, we are aware of the baby centers if we need a quiet place to feed her or take a break.

Any other experiences to share or general park touring tips for traveling with an infant?

 

[laughinplace199]

We took DS7 when he was 5 months old. It was the easiest trip ever! He definitely didn't follow his regular schedule - he just ate and slept as needed throughout each park day.

But we had a 7 yr old and a 5 yr old at the time, so we were planning our days around them and he was perfectly happy to look around wherever we were, then eat or sleep when he was ready.

We messed with his bedtime routine too, but not every night. I always put pj's in the diaper bag when we went out to dinner. If we had plans to hit a few more rides or a show after dinner, I'd put DS in his pj's and feed him at his regular pre-bedtime time, and he'd go right to sleep whether he was in the stroller or in the hotel room.

Have a great trip with your little one!

 

[Tigger1221]

We took DD on her first trip at 5 months. Her schedule pretty much went out the window. We got ready and fed her breakfast in the room. Then left, I don't think we made many rope drops. She ate and napped when she wanted. We rode rides and visited characters while she was awake. I took her PJ's and changed her and she slept during most of the fireworks. She was awake for some. I even took her to MNSSHP. Some nights we went back early. We have a carrier but I didn't use it as much as I thought I would. DD was (still is) very nosey. She wanted to see around her. I can face her out but it wasn't as comfortable and then if she got tired I had to turn her around. Plus it was HOT!!! Also there were a few rides they made me take her out (ariel and Pooh, I can remember). We just followed her cues. Her meals got a little thrown off too. I remember being in DHS and she was crying and I couldn't figure out why. I was having a breakdown and DH suggested she might be hungry. I told him she wasn't supposed to eat for another hour. He made her a bottle anyway and sure enough she was hungry! It was then I realized her home schedule was going to be different then her Disney schedule.

She in now 17 months and has been on 4 trips and this is still what we do. We are going again in January. She loves it! We stayed at Bonnet Creek so we had more room. This means we didn't have FP+. We still didn't make rope drop (DD gets up around 8) and we still got to do what we wanted. Rope drop is great but I don't stress about it. She goes to bed around 7:30 at home but at Disney there are some nights she sees the fireworks. I still take her PJ's to to park.

 

[sunnysideup3]

BadgerGirl84-I don't have any advice, but I have a baby born July '13 as well and a fellow Wisconsinite! Good to find DIS friends so close that have the same enthusiasm. We're contemplating a January trip (he'd turn 5 month on the trip) after our cruise, so I'll be reading the responses!

Good luck!

 

[MrsTeddy]

We have been with a baby twice. Once with my son at 8 months and my daughter at 3.5 months. I find babies to be easy travellers. I didn't worry too much about a schedule or routine at all.
We would aim to go early most days and if the kids were holding up just let them nap in the stroller. If we needed a break we took one. I enjoyed being out in the evening as my kids are good stroller sleepers I brought PJs with me and they would just sleep while we still enjoyed the sites. I nursed my daughter all over the world, only used the baby stations a handful of time. I use da stroller and a carrier. I loved my ring sling because it was easy to get off and on and was light weight and cool.

Just be relaxed and don't worry about her routine. She's about to hit the 4 month wakeful and your routine will go out the window anyways! LOL ENJOY!

 

[DSNY4ever]

As long as you go into it with the right expectations you will have a great time. We took our DS to Disneyland at 8 months, then again at 15 months and I had to remind myself that we were on his schedule. At 8 months I spent a lot of time breastfeeding him and I had to be okay with that. My husband got to do more rides while I was in the baby center or on a bench. And he slept through most of the trip. The stroller naps were great (keep in mind not all restaurants will let you bring in a stroller even with a sleeping baby in it), so keep that in mind for ADRs. And expect their at home schedule to change. They might get tired earlier due to heat or excitement. And remember to be flexible and have fun

 

[MichaelaF]

Add me to the "schedule goes out the window" parents. We took our 5.5 month old last month (got back last Sunday) and it was pretty easy, honestly. He doesn't nap super great in his stroller (because he recently became a belly sleeper) so he ended up napping in his Ergo carrier on me often. It was way too hot for that "(is that my sweat or did he pee on me?") but it was hot everywhere anyway, so what's a bit more? The only issue with that is that he got used to it and so it took a few days to get him back to napping easily in his crib. We just took him wherever and stayed late when we wanted to. I am breastfeeding and mostly did that at the Baby Care Centers just because it was SO HOT that it was easier to do so, but there are plenty of places you can feed elsewhere if that's what you choose. I loved those Baby Care Centers, especially the AK one!

I'll note that my son is extremely flexible and pretty happy almost all the time, even when he's tired. He also loves people, so with people around he is even better. I would imagine that some other babies may be "touchier" and need to stick to a better schedule. But ours did fine. He loved it, and I loved seeing him light up at the rides! (Except for It's a Small World....he did not love that. LOL.)

I love that there are so many rides you can go on with a baby as a family. We even took him on Maelstrom!

 

[MichaelaF]

Oh, and as far as strollers in restaurants, the only one that wouldn't allow it for us was California Grill. Both Tusker House and Brown Derby in particular were extremely helpful and made sure we got a table in the corner so we could park the stroller. Even at Cali Grill, we ended up getting a booth, so the baby literally slept the whole time in the booth! They also very graciously held the Ergo carrier for me behind the check-in upstairs so it wouldn't be in the way but I could use it if I needed to.

 

[SweetMissy]

When we went last year our little one turned 4 months during the trip too. He was soooo easy! We have the 2 older kids too, so it was a little harder...we miss rope drop 90% of the time, lol. He did sleep the majority of the time and I figured out how to nurse in the carrier so that saved time instead of having to sit and wait. Although I did sit here and there if it was a ride he couldn't go on or I needed a break. No biggie! We weren't doing solids at that age so that made it easier too. I don't know....I think a baby is easier to take, it's when they start walking and talking is when it gets interesting, lol.

 

[irky416]

We took our almost 4 month old in July. We also didn't stay late because she was sleeping so well during the night that we didn't want to do anything to risk changing that.

We ended up letting her sleep as late as she wanted and then take her first nap before we headed out to the parks so that she would get one good nap in at least. We ended up getting there around 11-1 the 3 days we went to the parks and left by 6-7 at the latest so she would be heading to bed around 9 which is when she would go down at home.

It worked out perfectly for us because while she would sleep at the parks either in the stroller or on us, she never slept for more than about 35 minutes, so with her getting in a 60-90 minute nap in the morning (her most important nap of the day!) she was pleasant and able to handle the short naps the rest of the day very well.

We had a blast and are taking her back for her 1st birthday. I am betting the next trip won't be as easy as the first one when she was so portable and didn't care what we did.

Have fun!

 

[kohlby]

Our middle child went at 2 months and 8 months and our youngest went at 11 months. We had an addition 1-2 kids each trip, including a 3 year old, and found our planning really relied on the 3 year old of the moment.

We found it best to get to the park for rope drop and then leave once someone acted like it was time to go. Naps were done in the sling at 2 months old. The 8 month old actually would nap in the stroller, but her naps were all later than usual. She was in the sling most of the day, but would nap in the stroller. We put the sling over the stroller to block out the sights. The 11 month old refused to nap until 6pm the first day. It got earlier as the days went on, but it still wasn't normal. He would only nap in the sling.

Due to the 3 year olds, we found it best to focus on bedtime. We couldn't make our kids nap, but we could get them to bed on time at night. Since we go in the off-season winter, the parks weren't hot and closed earlier anyway.