Rough touring plan with a 9mo old....

[Herding_Cats]

Looking for input/ideas since the youngest child we've taken to disney was 3.

This is a quick 2.5 day, Memorial weekend, "Happy 15th Anniversary, how are we this old??" trip for myself, DH, and our youngest baby. She's super laid-back, we have good baby carriers, and a good stroller. We opted for the quick service dining plan because we are doing a split stay (so we can stretch it across 3 days), it'll be flower and garden, and I won't stress out about how much the food costs and will just get what I want. We are planning on 2-day hoppers, but NOT getting into GE, and likely skipping HS altogether.

Why am I planning stuff 4 months in advance? Well, we are in the middle of basketball season with our older kids, DH is coaching the freshman team at the school, and we will get about 3 weeks off before we start coaching middle school baseball and then coordinating teams for our town's summer baseball program. It's going to go reeeeally fast, and I am a compulsive planner.

Friday night:
***plane lands just after 7pm, we are getting our one checked bag and ME to Pop
***drop everything but the stroller, a carrier, and diaper bag in the room, and take the bus to DS
***eat at Polite Pig, poke around world of Disney or whatever stores sound interesting. I know this will make for a late night.

Saturday: AK currently lists emh at 8am, but in the past is has been at 7am.
***RD at AK for EMH. no stroller, possibly try to go bagless....rope-drop FoP. Get a rider swap.
***NRJ if the line is 30min or less
***KS, check out the jungle treks if baby is awake
***eat lunch at flame tree or satul'i (unless we are waaaay ahead of schedule)
***go back to Pop, get the stroller and bag if we were bagless, adjust clothing level for the weather, skyliner to Epcot.

DH wants to go through the pavilions in the countries since we have never actually managed to do that (our older kids were not interested at ALL when there were things such as test track and soarin to ride.) We would like to snack/drink through some of the countries and generally take our time. I'm hoping Ratatouille is open this weekend and I can get us a FP for it. Also maybe FEA and Nemo? Take a break if it gets too hot or the baby is over-stimulated, come back for the fireworks. I feel like we could potentially fit a lot more into this day, but I have no idea how much time the pavilions might take up.

We will need to get our main suitcase to bell-services Sunday morning for change-over to AKL.

Sunday:

No clue. *I* want to go to MK (because it's not a trip to disney without a picture in front of the castle) to watch the parade, eat a cinnamon roll from gaston's tavern, a nutella waffle from Sleepy Hollow, and pineapple upside down cake from Aloha. DH would like to take baby girl on the carousel, and we don't really care about any of the other rides there (because of her age). I would like to watch HEA with non-Christmas crowds. We could reasonably do all of this (minus the parade) in the evening.

I'm looking for suggestions for in-park stuff to do since we will be between resorts, not have access to our luggage, and check in is officially at 4pm. We are not planning any sit-down/character meals this trip except for Boma on Monday morning.

 

[lovethattink]

Any plans to visit characters for youngest baby?

 

[Herding_Cats]

Any plans to visit characters for youngest baby?

Not really. Maybe a few in Epcot if the line is short, but she's not going to remember it, and unless I get a FP for it, those lines tend to eat up a lot of time. This trip is more for myself and DH, and we will happen to have a baby with us if that makes sense.

 

[Rusty2rules]

I'm might get killed for this, but here's what I posted during my last trip to WDW: What do all the people who look absolutely miserable at WDW have in common? They're all pushing strollers. I'm just sayin'.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

A flight landing at 7 PM, DME to the hotel, then going to Disney Springs, THEN attempting a 7 AM rope drop the next day for an attraction you need to get there early for sounds very intense and hard to do without the kid. Throw in a 9 month old and yikes, you're braver than I am lol.

 

[Rory607]

A flight landing at 7 PM, DME to the hotel, then going to Disney Springs, THEN attempting a 7 AM rope drop the next day for an attraction you need to get there early for sounds very intense and hard to do without the kid. Throw in a 9 month old and yikes, you're braver than I am lol.

I agree with this. It could be 9:00 before you get to your hotel...I would eat at Pop and go to bed, personally. But DS isn't a must-do for us. And will you really want to use the baby carrier all morning? I know you're trying to be more efficient, but I would take the stroller. As far as MK goes, the carousel would be fun. I know you said no sit-down meals, but Crystal Palace would be fun at that age. Besides rides, I don't know. Country Bears typically doesn't have a wait and the baby might like it. I would probably do a few rides just to pass the time; Small World, Winnie the Pooh, etc.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Looking for input/ideas since the youngest child we've taken to disney was 3.

This is a quick 2.5 day, Memorial weekend, "Happy 15th Anniversary, how are we this old??" trip for myself, DH, and our youngest baby. She's super laid-back, we have good baby carriers, and a good stroller. We opted for the quick service dining plan because we are doing a split stay (so we can stretch it across 3 days), it'll be flower and garden, and I won't stress out about how much the food costs and will just get what I want. We are planning on 2-day hoppers, but NOT getting into GE, and likely skipping HS altogether.

Why am I planning stuff 4 months in advance? Well, we are in the middle of basketball season with our older kids, DH is coaching the freshman team at the school, and we will get about 3 weeks off before we start coaching middle school baseball and then coordinating teams for our town's summer baseball program. It's going to go reeeeally fast, and I am a compulsive planner.

Friday night:
***plane lands just after 7pm, we are getting our one checked bag and ME to Pop
***drop everything but the stroller, a carrier, and diaper bag in the room, and take the bus to DS
***eat at Polite Pig, poke around world of Disney or whatever stores sound interesting. I know this will make for a late night.

Saturday: AK currently lists emh at 8am, but in the past is has been at 7am.
***RD at AK for EMH. no stroller, possibly try to go bagless....rope-drop FoP. Get a rider swap.
***NRJ if the line is 30min or less
***KS, check out the jungle treks if baby is awake
***eat lunch at flame tree or satul'i (unless we are waaaay ahead of schedule)
***go back to Pop, get the stroller and bag if we were bagless, adjust clothing level for the weather, skyliner to Epcot.

DH wants to go through the pavilions in the countries since we have never actually managed to do that (our older kids were not interested at ALL when there were things such as test track and soarin to ride.) We would like to snack/drink through some of the countries and generally take our time. I'm hoping Ratatouille is open this weekend and I can get us a FP for it. Also maybe FEA and Nemo? Take a break if it gets too hot or the baby is over-stimulated, come back for the fireworks. I feel like we could potentially fit a lot more into this day, but I have no idea how much time the pavilions might take up.

We will need to get our main suitcase to bell-services Sunday morning for change-over to AKL.

Sunday:

No clue. *I* want to go to MK (because it's not a trip to disney without a picture in front of the castle) to watch the parade, eat a cinnamon roll from gaston's tavern, a nutella waffle from Sleepy Hollow, and pineapple upside down cake from Aloha. DH would like to take baby girl on the carousel, and we don't really care about any of the other rides there (because of her age). I would like to watch HEA with non-Christmas crowds. We could reasonably do all of this (minus the parade) in the evening.

I'm looking for suggestions for in-park stuff to do since we will be between resorts, not have access to our luggage, and check in is officially at 4pm. We are not planning any sit-down/character meals this trip except for Boma on Monday morning.

Personally, I think this is way too ambitious. If you land at 7 pm, get your own checked bag, get on DME to Pop, you might not even be at Pop until 8:30/9:00 pm and then you want to go to DS for dinner and AK for RD the next day. You will be operating on fumes. Also, going bagless, won't you need diapers? You are also thinking of taking two breaks on Saturday - that's a ton of travel time back to Pop. If you really want to park hop on Day 1, I would 1) ditch the idea of DS dinner the night before, 2) take one longer break at Pop in between AK and EP.

 

[5kidsmommy]

I think it all sounds doable. Carriers are so much easier than strollers with little ones. I was a baby wearing mom back when mine were little. I prefer having the freedom of not having to lug a stroller around.

At MK maybe doing the rides like It’s a Small World, Jungle Cruise and People Mover. As for what to do during your down time between resorts you could always do a monorail loop.
Good luck!

 

[Surgie2]

Not really. Maybe a few in Epcot if the line is short, but she's not going to remember it, and unless I get a FP for it, those lines tend to eat up a lot of time. This trip is more for myself and DH, and we will happen to have a baby with us if that makes sense.

Even though you are considering this trip to be for yourself and husband, I loved seeing the reaction of our youngest granddaughter in meeting characters when she was under one. Her face lit up when she met Mickey and Minnie. Even though she won’t remember it, I will She also enjoyed riding the people mover and definitely multiple rides on iasw.

I agree with others who suggested perhaps skipping DS on your arrival night.

 

[sponica]

I'm worried it will be TOO HOT to baby wear the whole time. I'd bring the stroller. Personally I don't think bringing a stroller is that bad, one of you takes the stroller + baby through the bagfree line, the other brings the diaper bag through the bags line.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I really appreciate the input from those with more experience with small kids and how ambitious this plan is (I know I'm trying to cram a lot in, but those are the trips we enjoy because we are crazy.)

My thoughts with going bagless and without the stroller at AK on Saturday morning and THEN going back to get the stroller would be:

1) quicker through security (we can shove a couple of diapers in DH's pockets)
2) waaaay easier to navigate the RD crowds without a stroller, no dealing with stroller parking and then finding the stroller after we get off a ride
3) pretty much everything we want to do is on one side of the park, and DH and I can take turns carrying her
4) it would be like a max of 4 hours of carrying which is NOT a big deal since we can do front or back carries
5) going back for the stroller at around nap time means she might fall asleep as we get to epcot since we wouldn't need to collapse it for the skyliner

it's not necessarily TWO breaks, more of just a longer transfer from AK to EP.


I was also considering skipping DS on arrival night, but DH really wants to do all the things and unless she screams the whole flight, 6 hours of sleep is just about our normal. It's probably going to be 90 out. A stroller will be necessary.

And can I just say, I REEEEEAAALLLLLLY don't understand people who swear by midday breaks. We went last year for spring break (end of March) and took a midday break 2x and we couldn't get fastpasses for ANYTHING decent in the 2nd park both days, which pretty much meant we took a break and then went to a park, walked around, ate something, and got frustrated with MDE and went back to the pool.

 

[Lilsia]

I'm might get killed for this, but here's what I posted during my last trip to WDW: What do all the people who look absolutely miserable at WDW have in common? They're all pushing strollers. I'm just sayin'.

We have taken our kids almost every year since they were 1 & 2. It was more of a challenge, but fun in it's own way. But going just adults is awesome, what is even better is going solo. LOL We did not take a baby under a year old so I have no experience with that. But I do know that I would not baby wear in that heat. Having your body heat on top of the air, it is easy to overheat that way. It sounds like a more relaxed pace is probably going to be the theme of this trip.

 

[Rory607]

If you’re big on baby-wearing that sounds okay. I take back my comment on the stroller. I just didn’t baby wear very much because my kids didn’t seem to like it. I still think you should forget DS the first night. My H wanted to do it our first night on our last trip and I pretty much told him no. I like to be ready to roll on the first morning and once we get to the resort I like to stay put.

Everything else sounds ok. We are not midday break people, either. But traveling with one, non-mobile baby(I assume) is easier than toddlers and older kids, IMO.

 

[blistex]

I'll be the crazy person who says absolutely try to go without the stroller - we also did mostly babywearing and especially with an infant (versus a giant toddler) it's just 1000 times easier than dealing with a stroller as long as you're not someone who feels like you need a ton of extra stuff with you. We did two trips when our youngest was still wearing/stroller age (18 months and 2.5) and I took a small (kids) backpack that had diapers, change of clothes for baby and a sippy cup and husband wore the baby, worked great.

 

[5kidsmommy]

I really appreciate the input from those with more experience with small kids and how ambitious this plan is (I know I'm trying to cram a lot in, but those are the trips we enjoy because we are crazy.)

My thoughts with going bagless and without the stroller at AK on Saturday morning and THEN going back to get the stroller would be:

1) quicker through security (we can shove a couple of diapers in DH's pockets)
2) waaaay easier to navigate the RD crowds without a stroller, no dealing with stroller parking and then finding the stroller after we get off a ride
3) pretty much everything we want to do is on one side of the park, and DH and I can take turns carrying her
4) it would be like a max of 4 hours of carrying which is NOT a big deal since we can do front or back carries
5) going back for the stroller at around nap time means she might fall asleep as we get to epcot since we wouldn't need to collapse it for the skyliner

it's not necessarily TWO breaks, more of just a longer transfer from AK to EP.


I was also considering skipping DS on arrival night, but DH really wants to do all the things and unless she screams the whole flight, 6 hours of sleep is just about our normal. It's probably going to be 90 out. A stroller will be necessary.

And can I just say, I REEEEEAAALLLLLLY don't understand people who swear by midday breaks. We went last year for spring break (end of March) and took a midday break 2x and we couldn't get fastpasses for ANYTHING decent in the 2nd park both days, which pretty much meant we took a break and then went to a park, walked around, ate something, and got frustrated with MDE and went back to the pool.

I was one of those crazy always on the go moms when I was young. I will reiterate that I think you will be fine with everything you have planned. Yeah it will be exhauting but aren't all Disney trips?

Side note, I love your username. I'm a mom to six cats in addition to all my kids.

 

[dawnball]

Looking for input/ideas since the youngest child we've taken to disney was 3.

I did wdw with my now almost-3yo at 8-9 months. I found:

• Bagless mornings were easy, I packed a ziplock baggie of a few wipes, a disposable changing pad and a couple diapers in a pocket. In a pinch, many restrooms have dispensers with a size 3 diaper, wipes and a disposable changing pad for 1.50 in quarters. I never needed it, but knowing let me pack lighter.
• Dehydration was a concern. It felt like the baby nursed continuously and never had wet diapers, but we checked with his doctor before leaving and he never had any concerning signs.
• Baby carrier was better than stroller and front carries better than back carries. My baby got easily overwhelmed by Disney and burying his face in a familiar chest/smell/sound helped a lot. We mostly pushed the empty stroller. Do bring your most breathable carrier options and consider a second one in case the first is unpleasantly sweaty/damp.
• Naps at the hotel were better, just because there was less going on, so he got better sleep. This goes along with overnight sleep being awful as he tried to process everything. It should be better for a short trip.

We didn't do a ton of rides, but it was loads of fun. At 9 months in MK we did things like watch the ducks/other birds, hall of presidents, riverboat, dunno, jungle cruise, dapper Dans, etc.

 

[BebopBaloo]

Chiming in to say - 1. The BabyCare Station at each park is great. The one at Animal Kingdom gets bonus points because it is the nicest. 2. Baby needs a ride on It's a Small World. The youngest child we've had with us was 5mo. He loved everything. He loved all the rides that he could go on. He loved every character. Definitely do all things that you and your husband want to do because it is an anniversary trip, but take the time to do a few rides that the little one can enjoy. She may not remember it, but you will. Happy Anniversary and Happy Travels!
(P.S. I prefer having a small umbrella stroller...with a rain cover. Having a dry seat to put baby in is priceless.)