Should we take an eight month old?

[Seeker615]

I am so glad to have joined this board. I can finally ask all the questions I need to ask!

We are in the very early stages of planning this trip for August. So far it is myself, hubby and 16 year old daughter and her friend. I am pretty sure my adult daughter will be comming as well.

My 20 year old son really wants to come with his fiance' but they recently had a baby. She will be about 8 months old in August. Will it be too much to bring a baby into the parks day after day? We would have a stroller and with all of us we could do the swap on a lot of rides.

Also - can a baby go on some of the attractions and if so what would work?

Thank you for any input!

 

[tiffsix]

absolutely bring the baby! My son was 7 months old when he first went to WDW. He went on pretty much everything, just sat on my lap. He was so easy at that age. He sat in his stroller and enjoyed looking around. My advice is to see how the baby is to determine how long he/she will survive in the parks. You may need to go back for naps, etc, but just plan accordingly and you will have a great family vacation!

We are heading to WDW in the beg. of March and taking our 3 month old! The fun never ends!

 

[Happiest mommy]

We will be traveling with an 8 month old too my older DD was so easy at that age, I wish I had the amount of people in your party to be able to take turns on rides, you'll have fun

 

[Trinity524]

Don't have a second thought on it... TAKE THE BABY!!! At that age, they travel so easy, don't over stimulate, and are an absolute joy! You will be miserable if they come without the baby as that's all she will be thinking about!

 

[robinb]

Make sure to make a couple of reservations for Character meals. The characters *adore* babies and you get the cutest pictures!

 

[Seeker615]

It sounds like it would be fun. They did her room in Disney Princess's so I can imagine how cute the pics would be with her and the Disney Princess's

 

[2binak]

Our DD was 8.5 months old and it was such an easy & fun trip. She napped in her stroller, we used the baby care centers for some meals. fed her in the stroller and at the table in restuarants too. She loved all of the sights & sounds and went on quite a few rides. She actually started crawling (really crawling, not scooting) the night we arrived so we have that to add to the other great memories we made on that trip. We also went with my in-laws and they love to talk about the trip.

 

[la79al]

Don't bother taking her, she won't remember it anyhow. HA! Take her, it will be a ton of fun. There are a lot of rides that she will be able to go on. Just keep in mind that Florida in August is HOT, especially for a baby. Take or rent a really good stroller, with lots of shade. Don't expect the baby to be able to be out all day, take advantage of the baby care centers.

 

[goofy53073]

YES,YES and YES! My youngest DD's first trip was at 9 months old and she loved it There are lots of thing to do with the baby while there.

 

[Seeker615]

What are the baby care centers? Is it a drop off place or a place to change and feed a baby?

Now I am excited!

 

[la79al]

The baby care centers are places where they have any baby supplies you may need (expensive of course, but they are there), a changing area with several changing tables, bathrooms, etc, a semi dark room with rocking chairs to feed baby and I'm not sure what else (maybe a 'quiet' type room for toddlers?). The important thing is, it's a break from the craziness of the parks and it is AIR CONDITIONED. There is one of these in each parks. Definitely worth checking out, even if you can just change a diaper in the regular bathrooms.

 

[kristennn]

We're taking our 9 month old baby next month - it looks like she'll be able to go on a lot of rides ... and we'll use the baby swap feature for the bigger rides she can't go on. The baby swap feature can get other people n your party an extra ride without waiting so it's really nice for everybody.
I don't really know yet what sort of pitfalls we'll face being at Disney with a baby - we are renting a car - partially because we're going to universal for a day - but we're keeping it all week so that if we need to go because we have a cranky baby we won't have to wait for the bus etc. We're also planning for afternoon nap breaks - at this point she doens't sleep very well while we're out and about so I don't anticipate a ton of napping in her stroller.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

Baby Care centers are frequently near the first aid station in each park. They have rocking chairs, changing tables, private places for nursing, and sell some baby supplies. They also have child-sized chairs and a TV playing Disney cartoons for older siblings. They didn't have a non-spill sippy cup when I tried to get one (none for sale anywhere in any park. I brought five and never lost one (until the last day when we'd already checked our luggage onto the airline and went to the park for the morning and were traveling light because whatever we had with us had to go in our carry on luggage). I sent in a comment card about the lack of sippy cups--we'd have bought them as souveniers for our little 1 & 2 year old friends if they had some.

 

[Seeker615]

Wow - thank you for all of your input. Great advice!

 

[harleyquinn]

I've been wanting to resurrect this old thread of mine:
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2218699&page=1

It's tips for WDW with a 1 year old, but most applies to a 9 month old too.

We're going in August so there are tips for the heat too.

 

[kbheap]

Definitely bring the baby!! My DS has been going since he was 8 weeks old. They love it, they may not remember it, but you will have the pictures to show them.

 

[brightvalleyjrts]

We are heading back to the world in a few weeks and we will be bringing our newest addition. He will be 6 mths old when we go. I can't wait!!!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Taking care of a baby in WDW is actually A LOT easier than you think.

We took DD (6 mo @ the time) and had a wonderful trip. We also had our 2.5 yr old DS with us as well.

We took lots of disposables (diapers, bibs, flatware, drop-ins), planned our days according to what we needed to get done with DS. She slept when she wanted, ate on schedule, pretty much her regular schedule.

She went on a lot of rides - she LOVED all of the boat rides, took lots of naps! JC, POTC, HM, train, Nemo, Laugh Floor, etc.

If you have the adult support, I say do it. It will be a fun family experience for all of you. Just make sure they know when to say when with baby and not push too hard. But then again, at that age, baby will sleep when they need to sleep. I'd recommend that they take a sling too. Baby will get sick of the stroller after so long.

 

[mamaLori05]

Ds was 8 months on our last trip. I say ABSOLUTELY take the baby!!! He got to go on all the rides that our family could all go on (DD was turning 3), got tons of attention from the characters, resulting in tons of cute pics. We took the stroller he was used to sitting in, which I think helped. It was bulky, but worth it for his comfort. Most of the time he just fell asleep as we were walking from attraction to attraction in the stroller, and we just put the seat down and let him sleep. The baby centers are GREAT!! Expensive, but great! DS loved his pacifier, however we managed to loose one with the attachement clip on one of the rides. We went to the baby center to see if by chance they sold them, and they did! They sold the attachement clip and the pacifiers. DS also was a hungry little guy one day while we were at the park, and instead of going back to the resort, we stopped in to see if they sold baby food, which again they did. They were a lifesaver and timesaver!

 

[Princess_Nikki]

I am so glad to have joined this board. I can finally ask all the questions I need to ask!

We are in the very early stages of planning this trip for August. So far it is myself, hubby and 16 year old daughter and her friend. I am pretty sure my adult daughter will be comming as well.

My 20 year old son really wants to come with his fiance' but they recently had a baby. She will be about 8 months old in August. Will it be too much to bring a baby into the parks day after day? We would have a stroller and with all of us we could do the swap on a lot of rides.

Also - can a baby go on some of the attractions and if so what would work?

Thank you for any input!

ABSOLUTELY bring the baby!!! My DS3 was 6 weeks old on his first trip to Disney. I take my kids with me everywhere. Use the stroller and you all can take turns carrying the baby. I put my boys in baby carriers everywhere we go. We have a carrier for DS3 and for his new baby brother. Our new baby actually just turned 8 months yesterday! He of course will be going with us to our WDW family vacation this Sunday!

Have fun!!!