Riding attractions with an Infant

[PartyOfSe7en]

I am taking my 4 month old to Disney for the first time and would love to hear your experience about riding the rides with an infant. I have heard I can baby wear her front facing on some rides. What rides can I wear her on? In rides I cannot wear her on, does she sit in my lap? We have 4 older kids but this is our youngest to take with us. Appreciate your input!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I am taking my 4 month old to Disney for the first time and would love to hear your experience about riding the rides with an infant. I have heard I can baby wear her front facing on some rides. What rides can I wear her on? In rides I cannot wear her on, does she sit in my lap? We have 4 older kids but this is our youngest to take with us. Appreciate your input!

how much older are the older kids? I am asking because the kids will need to be 7 years old to ride together. example 7 and 10 year olds could sit together while 6 and 9 could not 6 year old would have to sit with someone over 14 years old. just remember with infant and lap bars most time you will have to have them under the lap bar even if in a carrier. the one ride that I would be very careful with infant is Toy Story Mania it is very jerky. yes infant can sit on lap but infant can not even go in any line that has a height requirement even if you are not going to ride to help with crowd control

 

[MNDisneyMommy]

Yes x2 on checking the other kiddos ages to make sure they can ride without you. They are very strict on this. We've seen several unhappy parties over this rule.

Your baby can sit on your lap on most rides - I rode many things with my then-chunky 13 month old son on my lap (and I'm a plus sized person). We didn't have a carrier (he was a BIG boy) so not sure on that front, but almost all the family rides they just wanted us to pick one at the start (either on my lap, or next to me) and then we had to stay that way for the ride.

 

[TreeFalls]

When we went a few years ago with my 7mo, it varied from ride to ride. I had him facing me in an Ergo, and I was able to keep him in there for a few rides (maybe Small world and pirates?), and others I had to put him on my lap (Buzz was lap for sure- I have an awesome ride picture of us breastfeeding on Buzz, lol). One ride, astro-orbiter, they required that he be sitting on the seat- so I kind of propped him between my knees. I would just wear him in line and then follow instructions when I got to the front, I'm sure there is day-to-day variation as well as ride-to-ride, depending on what CM you get.

 

[PartyOfSe7en]

We have plenty of adults going per kid so no worries on others not being able to ride alone. We have gone with a 9 month old who was able to sit upright in the seat next to me but my 4 month old would not be able to sit upright so I am confused about how to make sure she can ride safely before waiting for a ride if they may require she sit in the seat. Maybe I am overthinking this...

 

[Betty Rohrer]

We have plenty of adults going per kid so no worries on others not being able to ride alone. We have gone with a 9 month old who was able to sit upright in the seat next to me but my 4 month old would not be able to sit upright so I am confused about how to make sure she can ride safely before waiting for a ride if they may require she sit in the seat. Maybe I am overthinking this...

the rides that my daughter took her 4 month old daughter on and I don't remember all of them she held her on her lap. do remember her worried about Toy Story because of jerking and lap bar. long story short trip had to be in August and it was so hot that after first day carrier did not even go to parks with us

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

We have plenty of adults going per kid so no worries on others not being able to ride alone. We have gone with a 9 month old who was able to sit upright in the seat next to me but my 4 month old would not be able to sit upright so I am confused about how to make sure she can ride safely before waiting for a ride if they may require she sit in the seat. Maybe I am overthinking this...

If she cannot sit up unsupported, they aren't going to make you sit her next to you. If she were older and could sit up, then some CMs on some rides might say to have her sit next to you rather than on your lap. Taking a toddler, some CMs were cool with him on my lap while others asked that he sit next to me...but that will only be an issue once an infant is able to sit up.

The only issue you may run into is certain rides/CMs will allow a child to be in a carrier during the ride, some will allow it only if the child is facing a certain way in the carrier, and some will ask that she be taken out of the carrier (but you can still hold her on your lap). Those rides may not be consistent (various people may have different experiences with the same ride with a baby bring allowed in the carrier vs having to be taken out and sit on lap). A lot of this is due to what each CM feels is most safe given the ride/type of lap bar/age of little one, etc. As long as you go in with the understanding that you may have to take her out of the carrier, but will still be able to have her on your lap since she can't sit alone, you'll be fine. They may ask you if she can sit unsupported (though given her age, most CMs might rightly assume she'd be unable to do so), but just tell them that she can't. They won't not allow you on a ride without a height restriction because she can't sit alone.

 

[DanieB]

I have taken two separate trips with a little one in a baby carrier. I always wore the baby facing me... I read somewhere CM are more likely to let you ride with the carrier that way but I never tried it so that may not be accurate. The majority of rides I was allowed to wear the baby in the carrier. Like someone else mentioned it was not always consistent so I was ready to quickly take baby out if needed. (It really was rare). If that is the case, I just held baby on my lap facing out. I was usually told to take the baby out when they were asking our party size so I had a short amount of time to readjust if I had to sit the baby on my lap.
Definitely agree about toy story midway mania. I was completely unprepared for how it whips between scenes and felt a bit uncomfortable trying to keep my baby safe.

 

[Tallis]

I've been taking infants on the slower rides for 30 years. No problems at all. I did it with all my kids and currently do it with my grandchildren. Sometimes you need to hold them to the side while the bar closes, and then they can go back on your lap, depending on the ride.