Potty Training at Disney

[mdurette]

Aaarg.....we leave in 5 days and today on the way to the grocery store my dd tells me she needs to potty and take her home. Ok - she has never put a drop in the toilet....but I turn around, get her in the house and she does it

Great - she will be 3 next week and I was really hoping this would happen for her soon! Now I'm thinking about the trip. Because kids will be kids, I know she is going to want to go potty at the perfect times.....

1. As soon as the seatbelt signs are turned on in the plane.
2. In the middle of "its a small world"
3. Just as we get up to the front of the line for any ride that has more than a 20 minute wait.
4. When Cinderalla is only a table away from us

Other than constantly asking her before everything if she has to go what is the best way to minimize the interuptions at these o-so-perfect times?

Yes, she is my 1st and this is all new to me.

 

[Princess Sleepy]

My 2 1/2 year-old did the same thing to me last week. We have been encouraging her up until about 2 weeks ago because we thought, "Nope, don't want to do that at WDW." So of course, she picks now to use the potty every 5 minutes. We have decided to go with pull-up type pants so she can go when it's convenient and won't be a disaster if it's not. FYI, she is our second. We decided an extra week in pull-ups wouldn't set her back as much as repeated accidents trying to find bathrooms in the parks and on the plane.

 

[CincyMouse]

TOTALLY dealing with the same thing!! DD will be 3 next week too and has decided after months of not caring and going in her pull-ups, that NOW she wants to go every 5 minutes, and throws a fit if I can't take her! I will smile at you when I have to leave the line with her right before the ride

 

[hmillerbarilla]

My DD was just about to turn 4 when she was ready, and we were just about to leave for WDW.

Things went fine. We did miss a ride or two, after waiting for the little mermaind for 20 min, right when the doors opened, she HAD to go and we missed that.

Other than that, luckily there are bathrooms everywhere so things went smoothly. I also bribed her with the BBB since I told her only potty trained girls could go there. Worked like a charm!

 

[MnMomW3Boys]

My dh just told me the other day that I had to have our youngest pt by the time we leav for WDW... Umm no, I would prefer he still be in diapers...he was 2 in september and if I thought he was ready I would do it, but why fight it.
Back to you OP - I would keep pull ups handy and use them for the plane ride if you think it is necessary. A lot can happen in 5 days, today may of been a total fluke or she has decided that she is done with diapers and will be super easy to potty train and you won't have to worry about it. Have a wonderful trip.

 

[Kimberly Hill]

Be prepared - the toilets at Disney are self-flushing and noisy. My daughter was terrified of them at home so we did a lot of sensitivity training at places we knew had the self-flush toilets. She still doesn't like them almost 3 years later but tolerates them.

 

[DRS_Are_Best]

I have 2 suggestions:

1. Potty by the clock!!!!! Take her OFTEN so she goes when it's most convenient. Use your judgment as to how often she needs to go -- every hour, half hour, after every ride -- whatever you feel she needs at the time. This way she won't ask you to go at the inopportune times (or at least will make it less likely).

2. Keep a pull-up with you at all times (I know -- Pull-Ups are evil, but they can save you at times). Your choice whether you put it over or under her underwear -- advantage of over is that she'll KNOW she's wet herself and will (hopefully) learn; advantage of under is you won't have to change her underwear should she wet herself.

CONGRATULATIONS to your dd for getting this far (despite the timing). It took ds what felt like FOREVER to potty train, but once he made the leap you described it went REALLY fast!!!!!!!

Have a great trip and enjoy the freedom of NO DIAPERS!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tzolkin]

All three of my kids had no accidents within a week, so you may luck out. (However, they learned at home. It may be more difficult using public restrooms.)

My son just potty trained within the last month, so I'm hoping he'll have the public thing down by our Disney trip. The one we had issues with during our trip was the 9 year old. We had to get out of line for Soarin and Test Track with her running off ahead of us to make it to the bathroom. I started to worry that she was getting a bladder infection, but then realized the problem was that she had her own hydration backpack and had consumed 2L of water in less than 2 hours.

 

[puffkin]

Been there It really isn't so bad!

We trained DS using the nakey-butt method, but he wore a diaper out of the house and didn't tell us. We didn't want to make the final training push until we got back from Disney in October (he was 2 1/2 at the time).

We get to the airport, get all checked in, through security, etc and I go to change his diaper (this is now going on 3 hours since we left) and he is completely dry. He says "I don't pee in my diaper no more" so I took him to the bathroom and he went (standing). On the plane he asked twice to go. Get to Florida (it is really late at night) and he wakes up twice overnight asking to go.

The whole week we had him in pull ups with NO ACCIDENTS. I did diaper him at night and naptime and he only went twice during the whole week while he was sleeping (both times he was absolutely exhausted). When we got home he went right into underwear with no accidents since. We still use Pull Ups when out of the house "just in case" but he is good.

It seriously was the easiest potty training ever. We did get familiar with EVERY bathroom on Disney property. We took him before every show, big ride, parade, bus ride, etc. We tried to sit near bathrooms or exits and we did miss some things (part of Fantasmic, had to leave Nemo early) etc because he had to go.....but it wasn't too bad. We all took turns taking him. Honestly, we were so worried about it and it was so easy and I brought home a completely potty trained 2 1/2 year old!

ETA: He was doing #2 on the potty since he turned 2 (I know, he is backwards cause kids usually do this last) so I already had purchased a folding potty ring to take with for that. Worked great for when he needed to do a #2.

 

[sparkyboy]

Be prepared - the toilets at Disney are self-flushing and noisy. My daughter was terrified of them at home so we did a lot of sensitivity training at places we knew had the self-flush toilets. She still doesn't like them almost 3 years later but tolerates them.

DGS says that these are Mickey's magical potties but they sure are noisy.

 

[J3nn78]

I would wait or use pull ups at Disney.

I do not believe in pullups though. They are just overpriced diapers. My son even told me they were diapers the one time I tried to use them.

My method of PTing is to go 100% which is why I suggest waiting. there will be accidents and going back to diapers because of frustration or convenience will only confuse the child.

When I potty trained my son, he never wore a diaper EVER again. He had pee accidents occasionaly for a few weeks and only 2 poo accidents. In the beginning I put him on the potty every hour of the day. Now, 6 months later, he always knows when to go and has not had an accident in 4 months.

 

[momma2minnie]

I found really good advice here while planning our trip.

Toilets sometimes flush before the little one is finished

Poster suggested post-it note to cover sensor so that this didn't happen until the deed was done

 

[ktlm]

Mine did the same thing 2 weeks before our Disney trip. She would NOT go in a pull up after that. She also did not want to go on an adult potty without a potty seat attached- I don't know if that is an issue for you. We got a small fold up potty seat at Walmart (They have them at Target and Babies R Us too). It folds into 1/4 the size and comes in a plastic ziplock bag. We got 2- one to leave in the hotel room and one for the parks and airport. We just threw it in the stroller and went to the parks. They slide a little since not all toilet seats are the same size, but it worked fine anyway. We did have a few mad dashes to find the potty,but she did not have an accident the entire time we were at WDW.

 

[mejkjj97]

My biggest piece of advise is to block the automatic flushers. My DD freaked out and would not use the bathrooms in Disney at all and we had to revert back to pull ups for the entire week in Disney- expect while we were at the hotel. She had no problems using the potty at the hotel. We did the frequent stops (even with the pull ups) and tried but she has this fear and still does (5 months later) of the "Public Potty". She screamed and cried and i got horrible looks from everyone in the bathrooms as if I was hurting my daughter.
My other piece of advice is to have a clean shirt for you and you DH. My DD peed on both of us before we went back to pull ups. She got me while we walked into our Dumbo and my DH when we walked onto It's a Small world. Both times cast member were great- let us off and come back to the front of the line.

 

[ekatiel]

My 4 and a half year old still calls the self-flusing potties, "scary potties"!!! And he won't go on one unless I cover the sensor with my hand (post-it notes are a great idea, too, like the pp suggested!). We are trying to wait until after our Disney trip to potty train my 2 and a half year old. He is not the least bit interested now, so hopefully, that will last for another few months! As soon as we get back, we'll start working on it. I'd wait to see if the potty thing was a fluke this morning. And even though I'm anti-pull up-- If it were me, I'd do pull ups at Disney-- you could be dealing with a lot of accidents to clean up, and cleaning up a wet/dirty kid while you're out is just no fun! --Katie

 

[nu2dis]

POTETTE - On the Go Potty! Its a genius invention. Just make sure to practice with them alot ahead of time. And block those automatic toilets (some have an override switch - they are evil!)! If you search there are also on the go potty solutions out there. I wouldn't hold off if she is ready, it could really push back potty training. My son seemed ready at about 2 and a half and I waited because I have another little one and it really pushed back his training almost a year!