Schedule with a 16 month old

[SeattleJen]

We are planning a trip in april when our daughter will be 16 months. I think our general idea will be to get up in the am and have a quick breakfast in our room and then head out to the parks. Hopefully she will take a morning nap in the stroller and then we will head back for an afternoon nap and break at the room and maybe a dip in the pool.

I'm curious what you all think would work best for dinner? If we get back to the room around 1 or so and then nap a couple hours and then have to get back to another destination to eat (likely somewhere I will get an ADR) do I want the ADR at 5? Later? I'm not sure how long she will be napping by then and also how long it will take to get to a destination for dinner but not feel rushed. What has worked for you when you've had little ones this age?

Thanks!

 

[MrsHuffy09]

This is our tentative plan for our 17 month old when we go in January. I haven't actually done it yet, so we'll see if it works, haha.

We typically eat dinner at 6. He normally takes a morning and afternoon nap, but by the time we go we'll probably be down to just one nap a day. I scheduled down time at the resort from 1-4 every day. He'll sleep for 3 hours at home, but on vacation I'm not sure and I've been told he may just sleep in his stroller for naps. We'll see. It was easier for us not to have any ADRs at lunch in case we needed to head back earlier to the resort for rest.

All of our evening ADRs are for 6 PM; 6:30 at the latest. That ideally gives us 2 hours from the end of his nap until we have to be at dinner. With Disney transportation I wanted to give ourselves at least 1.5 hours of travel time (knowing that it should not take that long, but between loading a stroller, diaper changes, bag check, etc, you never know!)

We are eating one meal at our resort one night (Boma) to give ourselves a break and not feel rushed.

Again, this is our plan and we'll see how it works! Have fun in April!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

your daughter will probably be down to one nap a day when you go. the one thing we ran into was the time from leaving the park until getting to your room lets your child fall asleep only to be woke up shortly after falling asleep then trying to get child back to sleep. think about having to go to store just before naptime, get home can you still get child in bed or that the end of nap. leaving the park is not like eating lunch, changing diaper and placing in bed. we had very bad time with 17 month old grandson, who got 15 minutes on bus and would not go back to sleep. then fell asleep during dinner then we had to buy him something later. we ended up just doing stroller naps. only you can tell how your child is going to do with going back but just more to think about

 

[msmama]

Just to give you another perspective, going back to nap never worked for us. My son would nap here and there (on rides and shows) or in his stroller. But we didn't do late nights and we tried to keep his bedtime pretty consistent (it was later than usual, but not by much).

You know your child best. It wasn't a surprise to me that he didn't nap in the hotel room at disney because he wasn't the best napper at home. On the other hand, I have a friend who has to travel with a roll of aluminum foil in order to cover windows and make rooms COMPLETELY dark in order for her son to sleep (so no stroller napping for him).

Just noticed that your profile thing says you're from "near Seattle" and you say you have a "short trip." In that case, you'll want to keep time change in mind, too. It might be good for you because you can eat at "off" less busy times if you want to stay closer to your time.

 

[jeni16]

We were just there with DS2. He wouldn't nap in the room at all. We ended up doing stroller naps everyday & DH and I just browsed through the stores.

I would allow at least 1 1/2 to travel from your resort to where ever you plan to eat.

We found that we preferred eatting at places that required less travel so we ended up changing a few of our reservations to eat at places more convienient even though the food might not have been as good.

 

[crewsn]

I agree by 16 months I'm sure she will be down to one nap, though kids are different.

Anyways lunches work better for us for table service choices. Or breakfast. Dinner we mainly do CS to allow flexibility.

By dinner my sons are usually so restless. Trying to get them to sit is a lot harder plus they seem to eat more for breakfast and lunch. I'd try to limit dinner ADRs just so you aren't stressing about length of naps, getting back and forth, etc.

You can eat a good meal then let her nap to her hearts content.

Bear in my as mentioned too, if child will stay asleep being moved to a bed. My older would not, his eyes would pop open and he was up. My youngest will just keep snoozing though.

 

[ssmurphy28]

We took my DS just after his first birthday. We usually got to the parks shortly after RD and were back in the hotel in time for lunch. He usually took early naps and then could power though the evening. He rarely fell asleep in the stroller.

As a pp mentioned, we tended to do CS for dinner, just to be flexible. An early lunch or breakfast reservation would have worked better for us (but we did eat most of those meals in our room)

You will have a great trip! It's such a fun age to bring a kid to Disney!

 

[cattywampus]

One thought is to plan TS at child's regular nap time. Crazy? ... Maybe, but hear me out. TS restaurants are well air conditioned which can help with sleeping. If you bring ( or rent) a comfortable stroller and blanket, the AC may help keep them asleep. Make sure the stroller is large enough and has a flat recline with a good sun shade. Give child a comfy blanket to snuggle and take a second thin receiving type blanket TO drape over sun shield to block light. Voila!

Do a dry run at home a few times to see if it is a viable option.

 

[kcpinwdw]

We went when my twins were 15 or 16 months. They were still taking two naps most days. They slept in the stroller mostly. We didn't come back for naps because it seemed to work pretty good. We had some extended family with us so we took turns walking them around while we rode rides and the like. We scheduled dinners early, around5, so they would have their good by 530or so. Then we tended to turn in early. I thought it was a great age, they really loved some of the rides. My son loved the characters too at that age, esp pooh. DD wasn't into it though, and I didn't push her and now she is warming up more. Have fun !

 

[NOLA_Tink]

We're planning very flexible days with a TS breakfast or CS lunch, so that I can accommodate DS's mid-day naptime. Then, I have 5:30 TS dinner planned for every night. (5:30 in WDW is actually 4:30 at home, so I think that will work well for us.) I'm also planning to have DS in bed by 7-8pm each night b/c I don't want to throw off his schedule too much. We're staying in the cabins so that we can put him to bed and still socialize for a few hours after that. Enjoy your trip!!

 

[mscardullo]

What kind of stroller

 

[pigletgirl]

My biggest piece of advice is to stick to her routine that you have at home. It saved us many meltdowns and we had a wonderful trip! Our lunch time was about 11:30 and dinner at 6pm. Worked beautifully! DD napped most days in the room. We then took a swim and got dressed for dinner and an evening in the park.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Just left after 8 day trip with 15 month old. We had a couple days where we went back to the room for a rest so we could make it for evening entertainment, but for the most part we found it was easier to just stay in the parks until dinner and then hotel after that. Even though he only takes one nap at home, he took several short naps a day on our trip, likely due to all the activity (it's tiring!). One of the days we had planned to go back to the hotel and rest, we couldn't keep him awake until we got back and then he wouldn't sleep when we got to the room, so it was a wasted trip. If I was planning another trip, I would not plan on afternoon naps unless we were at a monorail resort. To us it was just a waste of time and not restful. It was more work than just finding a place to rest in the middle of the day. As far as dining times, we planned all our dinners at about 5:30. With wait time and time waiting for food, this put Luke eating at his normal dinner time of 6 pm. Or you can try having some lunches for a cool rest in the middle of the day. Our 15 month old also enjoyed taking breaks in the water play areas!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

to PP that 20 minute boat ride plus ride to cabin most times it will take you at least 30 minutes to get to your cabin as you leave park. that is where that catnap can kill your plan esp at MK. if you just miss the boat it will most likely take at least 30 minutes to just start to campground are going to be able to keep child awake or does your child go back to sleep easily after a few minutes of nap on the way to nap. even if you drive to park at MK you are going to have a ride to car plus car ride to cabin. been there done that with a 17 month old and it did not work going back for us

 

[DisneyParkLover]

to PP that 20 minute boat ride plus ride to cabin most times it will take you at least 30 minutes to get to your cabin as you leave park. that is where that catnap can kill your plan esp at MK. if you just miss the boat it will most likely take at least 30 minutes to just start to campground are going to be able to keep child awake or does your child go back to sleep easily after a few minutes of nap on the way to nap. even if you drive to park at MK you are going to have a ride to car plus car ride to cabin. been there done that with a 17 month old and it did not work going back for us

This exactly! We found that with the walk back to the front of the park, then walk to transportation, then actually getting to resort, then walking to room it always took at least 45 minutes each way. That includes having to unpack and fold stroller (may not have to do this on boat), wait for monorail/tram if driving or boat/bus, and having to wait to go through security again upon return. So nearly 2 hours just in transit. And not very restful! I think it would be a good plan at a monorail resort, but otherwise not worth it to us. You would need to rest at least 2-3 hours to get good benefit out of it, and then you've lost 4-5 park hours. When Luke fell asleep we would just wheel him into a shady spot and we would take turns riding rides, having a snack, or just people watching. If we were staying late for fireworks, I would still prefer to just take lots of breaks in the parks (and maybe a sit down meal to have a couple hours of AC) rather than go back to the room.

 

[NOLA_Tink]

Thanks! We've done the Ft.W & WL boats to MK several times, so I have a really good idea of what to expect. I was just sharing to give the OP an idea of what our schedule looked like b/c it sounded similar to his/her plans.

 

[SeattleJen]

Thanks everyone! I'm not surprised to hear many different answers from many different people! I'm trying to remember it will all be fine and not panic

I wouldn't say our trip is "short" - it's 7 nights but I'm sure the time change will be an issue. We went to Hawaii last month and DD did pretty well with the time change so hopefully that will be the case in April. I really don't think that sticking to her schedule and going to bed at 4:30pm for the entire week would be anywhere near ideal. I may try adjusting her a bit before we leave like I did for daylight savings time but hopefully she will be able to nap in the stroller some. We are going to either rent or purchase a very portable stroller that also folds down for sleeping.

Hm.... any good suggestions for places to get ADR's that are the most convenient from WL? I'm starting to see that trekking back to Epcot, AK or HS might not be the most fun!

 

[SeattleJen]

ok now here's a million dollar question for you!

On my birthday is it worth attempting Cinderella's Royal Castle or just a royal waste of money with a kiddo that little? I know SHE wouldn't enjoy it per say but I've been interested in going. If we didn't go now it would likely be 3-5 years until our next trip.

Thanks for your opinions!

 

[NOLA_Tink]

It's a lot of fun and totally worth it (especially since she will be free)! We love the ambiance and food at CRT. Plus, you'll get some great pictures of your LO with the princesses!

 

[kwdw]

Took DSIL and niece at 16 months. While niece did do one nap a day at home, her entire schedule was thrown off by the trip and luckily, stroller dozes did the job. Also, from Seattle, that a three hour time difference. That alone will mess with your little one, and well, you. So, that said,my advice is this, if your kid sleeps in a stroller do that. Time back to the room is FOREVER, and with a messed up sleep schedule due to the time difference, its going to be tough to plan ahead. Just go with the flow on your kid. Judge what is best at the moment. While yes, I've only taken a kid twice, behavior and needs were unpredictable and I'll give my DSIL kudos for making the calls as she did. Both trips, no meltdowns and only minor crankiness a few times.
Every day was handled differently based on highlights of the day, but it all worked out. We are in the same time zone as WDW, and nothing followed her typical schedule like at home. But an observant mom knew what to do!


Didnt do CRT at 16 months or at 3 years, but I'm thinking 5.5 will be PERFECT. It was just too costly to justify at 16 months when the characters she knew where things like Pooh and Eeyore. It would have been cute at that age and her mom and I would have enjoyed it, but since I knew there would be more trips, I'm glad the first time will be at 5.5. She LOVES princess stuff right now. And she'll be old enough to have memories that will last.