Potty training/bathroom breaks while at WDW

[Dragonfly_34]

We are going to WDW in late October with our three youngest children. DS 5 is fully potty trained, but my twins (2 ½) are just starting to take an interest, and we hope they will be day trained by the end of the summer. With that in mind, I have a couple of questions:

1. If they are day trained like we hope, should we put them in pull-ups during the day just in case they have an accident?
2. What is the protocol if a potty break is needed while in line for a ride? If the five of us are in line and only one child needs to go, do you have to go to the back of the line and start the wait all over?

This may seem like a silly question but our last trip, DS 5 was still in diapers so it wasn’t an issue. Obviously we’ll be taking regular potty breaks, especially before we get into a long line, but we all know the words “I have to go” can happen any time.

 

[Gracie09]

We are going to WDW in late October with our three youngest children. DS 5 is fully potty trained, but my twins (2 ½) are just starting to take an interest, and we hope they will be day trained by the end of the summer. With that in mind, I have a couple of questions:

1. If they are day trained like we hope, should we put them in pull-ups during the day just in case they have an accident?
2. What is the protocol if a potty break is needed while in line for a ride? If the five of us are in line and only one child needs to go, do you have to go to the back of the line and start the wait all over?

This may seem like a silly question but our last trip, DS 5 was still in diapers so it wasn’t an issue. Obviously we’ll be taking regular potty breaks, especially before we get into a long line, but we all know the words “I have to go” can happen any time.

To answer your first question, it's really up to you and possible to say where they will be in the pt process. One of my dd's never had an accident once she decided to go on the toilet. The other had several accidents.

As for the second question. We never go back on a line once we leave for bathroom breaks. The rest of the party continues through and we meet them at the end. This is for several reasons. First our dds learned quickly that when I said they had to try to go before we went on a line, they actually did. Two lines are not set up to get in and out of easily. You would be pushing past hundreds of people, some of whom may give you a hard time. Third you don't know where your family will be when you get back. They could be on the ride or done with it.

 

[Crystal824]

On our last trip, DD was about 2 1/2 and in the middle of potty training. We did use pull ups in the parks. It did set back her potty training somewhat as she used them as diapers toward the end of the week. In the end, that was easier for us. Really, you have to answer that question.

We never got out of line and tried to get back in line. For most lines, that is just too difficult.

 

[lorenni]

Agree with PP - sometimes you have to get out of line and sacrifice a ride. Such is life!

 

[kohlby]

One parent leaves the line with the child who needs the potty break and the rest ride it. We've had to do that several times. We did have our boys wear pull-ups on their first potty trained trip at Disney World since they sometimes would hold it in too long on occasion and have small accidents. My daughter never had that issue so we didn't worry about back-up. With the pull-ups on, they still didn't have accidents but it made us a LOT less stressed. We actually found that our kids did better in Disney with the bathroom than at home - probably because we took them to go much more often.

 

[Bluegrrl]

There is a super cute short that Disney Jr. airs between shows called, "Nina Needs to Go" that you might want to introduce to your kids. The plot is this: A little girl named Nina is usually in line for something (like a waterslide) or is getting ready for an activity (a play or skiing) and before she begins, a relative asks her if she needs to go. She says no, but inevitably she needs to go to the bathroom and with help from her grandma, makes it to the bathroom "just in time". Tagline at the end? Nina says, "Now I know, don't wait to go!"

It introduces the idea of at least trying and/or letting someone know when you just "can't wait". Plus Nina's little "pee sound" is hysterical. It's a little chime!

 

[SEA333]

I never cared much for Pull ups - way to expensive for me when a diaper worked when needed, and underpants worked when training, but I know that is just my opinion.

When I needed one of the kids to wear a diaper when they were potty-training, I would put a pair of underwear over the diaper and told DS or DD that they still had undies on and Mickey (or Princesses, or Hello Kitty or whoever), did NOT want to get pee-peed on, so they still needed to tell me when they had to go potty and we would find a toilet.

Never had any setbacks, and all three kids potty trained between 2 and 2 1/2, so even young potty-trainers can understand the "rules" - didn't seem to make a difference between boy and girl either...oldest DS trained around 2 1/2, DD refused a diaper one morning at about 26 months and never looked back, and younger DS woke up dry one morning at about 25-26 months and we started training that very day. Luckily for us, DS does everything his big sister tells him to do, and anyone that has a 3-year old girl with a little brother knows that she LOVES acting like his mommy....I give DD full credit for potty training her little bro LOL He followed her to the bathroom every time she went, so by the time he woke up dry that morning, he already knew the drill. It was ALL her. LOL

Good luck!!

 

[LockShockBarrel]

You know your kids. Try your darndest to get them trained ASAP and hopefully by the time your trip rolls around it'll be a habit for them to use the potty. That being said, because of their age I'd still say plan for the worst, hope for the best. If you start getting within a few weeks of your trip and they're having issues, plan to bring the pull ups, even if you just keep them around for peace of mind. Plan to bring extra undies and shorts/pants/skirts and some ziplock bags in case of accidents so you don't have to leave the parks. Praise them as much as you can to enforce the habit of them telling you when they have to go.

As far as leaving the line you're going to get different questions. No one is going to give you trouble leaving the line, but getting back in is hit and miss. The other thing is that because of the set up of the lines, it can be a long walk back through it.

Keep up with things and it should work out. You've clearly started planning for this early so you'll have time before your trip to figure out what you'll need to do. At least you won't be like my downstairs neighbors with their nearly four year old who still isn't fully potty trained because they offer no consistency with her. It's easier for them to keep using diapers and she's about to get kicked out of her day care because of it. Her favorite thing to do is poop her underwear, hide them in her room then run around naked from the waist down because I get to hear them scream at her when she does it.

 

[ellone]

I wouldn't put them in pull ups because it may set them back. My 2.5 year old is day and night trained. If I put her in a pull up she will not try to use the potty - she will pee in the pull up. I would just try to ask if they need to go at regular intervals so that you don't get in a line and have an emergency.

 

[Dragonfly_34]

Thanks for the responses and suggestions. I'll look into that Disney Jr short and will definitely be bringing extra clothes just in case. I'm really hoping that they'll be day trained by the end of the summer. Trying to train two of them at the same time has been more challenging than I expected!

 

[wallskm]

We just got back and DS2 did fine with the potty at the park. He has been day and night potty trained for about 5 months now but is a young 2 so I was still worried about how he would do. We didn't do pull ups at the parks though we did do them for the airplane just in case. We stopped frequently for bathroom breaks and he always had to try whenever we stopped. We always went right before doing an activity that would take a while (like a show, etc). We didn't have to wait in a lot of lines as it wasn't as busy as peak times and we utilized FP+ for most things that would take a wait- so having to step out of line was never an issue! He made it through the whole trip with no accidents but we did carry extra clothes every day just in case.

 

[Trip planner]

We just returned from taking a newly potty-trained boy.
We decided to use pull ups, although he never had an accident. We made both kids go before any long line and we took frequent breaks. Time easily escapes you while at wdw and with our older child we would realize it had been 3 hours since the last break and all of a sudden we were running DS to the potty. We were more pro-active with the younger one.

 

[DSNY4ever]

We took DS who was 2 and potty training at the time. We put him in diapers and then just tried to stick to our regular potty routine and we talked about trying o keep the diaper dry just as we do with undies at home yada yada. He was still wearing them at nap time so it was nice when he fell asleep in the stroller at unexpected times that we didn't have to freak out and think "he's asleep and doesn't have a diaper on!". There were a couple "accidents" in the diaper and I was glad it didn't have to ruin our day...plus we were a little distracted too and weren't perfect about reminding him. Like others said, some shows and lines are just way to hard to get out and back into.

Good luck! If you do this don't count on only using 1 or 2 diapers a day because even when he kept it dry, the humidity made him sweaty and we needed to swap out the diaper more than we expected.