Planning for February 2015 with 10 month twins

[btk2333]

Now I know some of you are going to think we're crazy- but we're not trying to decide whether we are going or not- we are going so you don't have to try to talk us out of it!

Worst case scenario we sit and people watch while holding the babies the whole time .

DW and I are park vets; however, we've never gone with little ones before- we are planning on taking it slow- we're really just looking forward to doing some character meals, some light rides, some people watching and relishing the family time in our favorite place in the world- does anyone have any advice for trips with babies?

We'll be staying January 31- February 8th in a Deluxe Studio at the Beach Club (if our rental request goes through) otherwise likely at the Boardwalk.

Thanks in advance

 

[BlueFairy]

I love your attitude. I went in Feb. 2006 with my DD while DH (10 mos) was in a conference. It was a great trip.

Epcot area was a great location. It allows you to walk without having to fold a stroller every time you go to a park. We did lots of walking around the resort area with the stroller. Plan dinner on the BW at least once. Breakfast too. During the day she loved watching the birds and ducks. In the evenings the buskers were a hit. She especially enjoyed watching the guy driving the little piano around. And the silly stretch-squash mirror.

Epcot at night was great too. She didn't know enough to be afraid of fireworks, so we did Illuminations twice. First from Rose and Crown (can't speak to the food now, that was 8 years ago). I was near a door and could step inside to avoid the booms, but the music up close drowned them out and she wasn't disturbed. Second was after Biergarten. She loved the entertainment there and we danced with her to the band.

Plan for lots of live entertainment, especially outdoors.

We did lots of character meets. She liked the face characters as well as the fuzzier ones.

I wouldn't plan too much time for rides. Maybe things like Dumbo, Small World, the Carousel. The indoor ones will be louder and darker than you remember. Bring a glow bracelet or something light up (your phone) to hold for when you find yourself a captive audience in a dark ride vehicle. They may not love it as much as you'd hoped.

Bring layers. We had a wet day of 50 degrees, drizzle and no sun where she wore pants and a hoodie all day. Then later it was so hot that a sleeveless bubble suit was enough. For each day I took a short sleeved onesie with coordinating long pants and a jacket to take on and off and then packed and extra outfit in my backpack inside an extra ziploc (for accidents).

I took a whole suitcase of her food and bought diapers at a grocery stop. Or use Garden Grocer to deliver. I also brought lots of wipes and those disposable self sticking placemats. A stroller cover for rain (we used once) and a baby carrier/wrap and a good SPF sun hat. Be prepared for food pickiness, a resistance to taking bottles (due to distractions) or self weaning from nursing (for the same reason). In retrospect I should have packed more of the food she was familiar with (she didn't love the food I could get for her in some places) and also spent more time sitting in quiet places like the baby care centers for nursing. I relied too much on the bottles we had with us and she was weaned a week after we got home. Buy bottled water for formula. We use tap at home, but the tap at WDW may not taste right to your kids.

Also, she was up and learning to walk. Seek out places where you can sit back and let them out of the stroller to explore. Being confined all day long will lead to tantrums. Sometimes it was good to stay in the hotel room just so she could do her own thing for awhile.

Have fun!! And take lots of pictures. They are some of our favorites.

 

[btk2333]

I love your attitude. I went in Feb. 2006 with my DD while DH (10 mos) was in a conference. It was a great trip.

Epcot area was a great location. It allows you to walk without having to fold a stroller every time you go to a park. We did lots of walking around the resort area with the stroller. Plan dinner on the BW at least once. Breakfast too. During the day she loved watching the birds and ducks. In the evenings the buskers were a hit. She especially enjoyed watching the guy driving the little piano around. And the silly stretch-squash mirror.

Yeah we love the EPCOT area- figured it gave us the most flexibility too- in the future we know we'll be in the MK resort area, but might as well enjoy one last vacation in our favorite area! Funt hat she enjoyed the Boardwalk so much!

Epcot at night was great too. She didn't know enough to be afraid of fireworks, so we did Illuminations twice. First from Rose and Crown (can't speak to the food now, that was 8 years ago). I was near a door and could step inside to avoid the booms, but the music up close drowned them out and she wasn't disturbed. Second was after Biergarten. She loved the entertainment there and we danced with her to the band.

Interesting about fireworks- they both did fine on the Fourth of July but who knows what it'll be like in 6 months! I'm a big fan of Rose and Crown and Biergarten so they'll definitely be at the top of our list- love the idea of Biergarten with the entertainment!

Plan for lots of live entertainment, especially outdoors.

We did lots of character meets. She liked the face characters as well as the fuzzier ones.

We're hoping they'll like the characters too- either way it will make for great memories even if they can't stand the fuzzies!

I wouldn't plan too much time for rides. Maybe things like Dumbo, Small World, the Carousel. The indoor ones will be louder and darker than you remember. Bring a glow bracelet or something light up (your phone) to hold for when you find yourself a captive audience in a dark ride vehicle. They may not love it as much as you'd hoped.

Love the glow bracelet ideas- and thanks for the caution about dark rides!

Bring layers. We had a wet day of 50 degrees, drizzle and no sun where she wore pants and a hoodie all day. Then later it was so hot that a sleeveless bubble suit was enough. For each day I took a short sleeved onesie with coordinating long pants and a jacket to take on and off and then packed and extra outfit in my backpack inside an extra ziploc (for accidents).

Florida is so unpredictable...

I took a whole suitcase of her food and bought diapers at a grocery stop. Or use Garden Grocer to deliver. I also brought lots of wipes and those disposable self sticking placemats. A stroller cover for rain (we used once) and a baby carrier/wrap and a good SPF sun hat. Be prepared for food pickiness, a resistance to taking bottles (due to distractions) or self weaning from nursing (for the same reason). In retrospect I should have packed more of the food she was familiar with (she didn't love the food I could get for her in some places) and also spent more time sitting in quiet places like the baby care centers for nursing. I relied too much on the bottles we had with us and she was weaned a week after we got home. Buy bottled water for formula. We use tap at home, but the tap at WDW may not taste right to your kids.

Again great tips!

Also, she was up and learning to walk. Seek out places where you can sit back and let them out of the stroller to explore. Being confined all day long will lead to tantrums. Sometimes it was good to stay in the hotel room just so she could do her own thing for awhile.

I hope ours are starting to walk too! Would be fun to watch them explore a little bit!

Have fun!! And take lots of pictures. They are some of our favorites.
We will!

Thanks for the very helpful post!

 

[dougsmom98]

We have twins but didn't take them until they were 2 years old, but we did take my DD when she was 10 months old. I am not sure if your twins are boys or girls or both, but having my DD wear little dresses with separate bloomer type shorts/pants worked really well for frequent diaper changes and made them a lot quicker. For boys, separate elastic waste shorts or pull on pants and t-shirts would work well too. A lot of baby/toddler clothes are one piece and those are a pain for diaper changes in public. When my kids were little, we packed all of their outfits in ziplock bags. It made it so easy to pack the diaper bag for the day, we would grab one bag per kid so we didn't have to think about it and we were out the door.

The other thing that was imperative when my DD was 10 months old was to have a Baby B'Jorn front carrier so we could get on and off the rides pretty easily. You don't realize how hard it is to get in and out of Honey Pots or boats until you are juggling little ones and keeping yourself on balance at the same time. The Baby B'Jorn was a lifesaver.

Some of my favorite moments with my twins have been at Disney. We so rarely got to spend one on one time with them when they are little. Well, at Disney the twins inevitably would fall asleep at different times in their stroller. That gave us the chance to spend one on one time with the other twin. We have some awesome pictures from those early trips, especially with characters and at parades.
Good luck with your trip!

 

[mcjaco]

Some of my favorite moments with my twins have been at Disney. We so rarely got to spend one on one time with them when they are little. Well, at Disney the twins inevitably would fall asleep at different times in their stroller. That gave us the chance to spend one on one time with the other twin. We have some awesome pictures from those early trips, especially with characters and at parades.
Good luck with your trip!

Same. The only time ours fell asleep at the same time was riding Imagination. Which I thought was hysterical. Otherwise, we had some good one on one time with them too.