Single mom with toddler at WDW

[PoohLover78]

Coming in here asking for a friend who's too shy to post here. My friend is a single mom to a wonderful 16 months old boy. She has to travel to a lot of trade shows for her work. Her boss is absolutely wonderful, allowing her to take the boy with her since she has no immediately family to take care of the kid. Now, she's supposed to go to a convention in Orlando and her boss gave her a special bonus - a 2-day WDW ticket! So she all freaked out because it's just gonna be her and the boy. I told her there's nothing to freak out about, people do that all the time. Since she has two days, I told her to go to AK for the animals and MK for Mickey Mouse. I also told her to rent a stroller for those two days (any suggestions as to which company to rent them from? Or should she just get it straight from Disney?).

Since, she's gotten comfortable about the idea of taking the kid to Disney - so comfortable to actually ask me if I knew if there some kind of day care she could use for say an hour to do EE at AK and SM, BTMRR and HM at MK! Now that just totally threw me for a loop. I know the resorts offer babysitting services, but that's not really what she is looking for. She just wants to drop the boy off for an hour, preferably during his nap time and ride the thrill rides. I don't think there is something like that at the parks, is there? I honestly don't even know where the idea came from to begin with...

Any other advise you have for a single mom with toddler at the park? We've taken small kids to the park before, so I can give her advise on what her son could like and what could be great to do. I just don't know how it's gonna be to take a kid that age on your own. We've always had at least 4 adults around to take of the kids so we were able to take turns if needed.

 

[Sheaboys]

I know they have a in room daycare type service. I think it was $10 an hour. Check the Disney site.

 

[PoohLover78]

I know they have a in room daycare type service. I think it was $10 an hour. Check the Disney site.

She's not staying on property, she's staying at a hotel close to the convention center. Otherwise she's probably used resort babysitting services.

 

[bjgonzo]

Disney has a preferred list of babysitting companies, they come to the resort so I would assume they would would go to a hotel off property. With a 16 month old, I would probably have the sitter come before he went to sleep for the night, I am assuming he has an earlier bedtime then the parks close. Then she could go back while he is in bed with a sitter he has met and spent time with so it works for both of them. Another thing, I would skip AK and hit HS, HS has the Disney Jr characters which he may be familiar with. Will she have park hoppers?

We are renting a stroller from Apple strollers after seeing all the good reviews here. They deliver on property, not sure about off.

 

[jennylyn_b]

Tell her to rent from Apple Scooters. They are a preferred vendor for Disney and they are running a special right now. All you have to pay is $5 per day for the insurance for the stroller. They deliver to the hotel and pick up.

 

[livndisney]

Coming in here asking for a friend who's too shy to post here. My friend is a single mom to a wonderful 16 months old boy. She has to travel to a lot of trade shows for her work. Her boss is absolutely wonderful, allowing her to take the boy with her since she has no immediately family to take care of the kid. Now, she's supposed to go to a convention in Orlando and her boss gave her a special bonus - a 2-day WDW ticket! So she all freaked out because it's just gonna be her and the boy. I told her there's nothing to freak out about, people do that all the time. Since she has two days, I told her to go to AK for the animals and MK for Mickey Mouse. I also told her to rent a stroller for those two days (any suggestions as to which company to rent them from? Or should she just get it straight from Disney?).

Since, she's gotten comfortable about the idea of taking the kid to Disney - so comfortable to actually ask me if I knew if there some kind of day care she could use for say an hour to do EE at AK and SM, BTMRR and HM at MK! Now that just totally threw me for a loop. I know the resorts offer babysitting services, but that's not really what she is looking for. She just wants to drop the boy off for an hour, preferably during his nap time and ride the thrill rides. I don't think there is something like that at the parks, is there? I honestly don't even know where the idea came from to begin with...

Any other advise you have for a single mom with toddler at the park? We've taken small kids to the park before, so I can give her advise on what her son could like and what could be great to do. I just don't know how it's gonna be to take a kid that age on your own. We've always had at least 4 adults around to take of the kids so we were able to take turns if needed.

There is not a "drop in" service at the parks/resorts so I don't know how your friends plan of having a sitter for an hour would work.
Kids Nite Out is a service recommended by WDW. They also do conventions so I am pretty sure they can go to "other" hotels. The charge is about 16.00 an hour.
http://www.kidsniteout.com/sitter_services.html

At 16 months old the child is too young for the child care programs at WDW anyway.

 

[EagleScout]

The kids nite out sitters are available to accompany at parks, but I assume have a 3 hr or 4 hr minimum, so maybe will help her out at park, which for an hour or two "help" can mean primary caregiver

 

[PoohLover78]

Thanks for all the info! I'll pass this on to her. Her hotel also offers babysitting services (she always inquires beforehand about that, in case she may need one for work) but since she's not staying on property, going back to the hotel, getting the boy settled with the babysitter, going back to Disney would be too much of an ordeal and probably not worth it

Kid's Night Out might be something for her since they also seem to go to attractions with you. I wonder if they'd also do babysitting outside of Disney hotels? They sure seem to know what they are doing and might be good for her to use anways. I don't know what company the hotel she's staying at (Rosen Plaza) is recommending or using.

Mabye I'll just suggest to her to see if anyone else from the trade show she knows is also going to Disney and whether they could hook up in some ways.

 

[happymommy]

Mabye I'll just suggest to her to see if anyone else from the trade show she knows is also going to Disney and whether they could hook up in some ways.

That is the best idea - maybe she has a friend that will be along, that could go to the park for a few hours with her?

Otherwise, if it were me, I'd just do whatever my child was able to do.

I took my kids without my DH the first time when they were 4 and 6, and brought a stroller from home. We didn't use one at home anymore, but kept one just for Disney trips until the last time we used it my DD was 7 or 8.

I would suggest if possible to bring her own stroller, or even get an inexpensive one (you can always find them on places like Craigslist). For such a young child, I can't imagine getting through an airport without one, plus Disney is so much walking. She'll be glad she did.

 

[Schmeck]

If she is staying at an offsite hotel, will she have a rental car, or is she using the shuttle service? If she has a car, she could bring a stroller from home (to help at the airport too - what does she do at other venue when she brings the kid along ?)

If she is depending on the shuttle service to get her to the parks, I'd recommend renting a stroller at the parks. Then she wouldn't have to juggle the toddler and the stroller on and off a crowded bus.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I would strongly encourage her to rent a car since she is off site. While she may have shuttle service, it may not be great and having to wait for hours till the shuttle returns when your child is exhausted will not be fun. I can see where getting a car seat and a stroller though the air port alone would be very difficult. Maybe rent one or the other. Don't like the idea of renting a car seat and would be best to use it on the plane anyway but yet she may need the stroller as well soooooo???? There are bags that let you carry the car seat on your back.

 

[Imagineer5]

She should bring her own stroller, one that the toddler is used to napping in. I just took my dd (18 months at the time) to Disney for a week by myself, we had a blast. I did not leave her with a sitter, but the offsite ones usually have a 3 hour min and if she brings them to the park she would have to pay for their entrance ticket as well. Ak and MK are great advice for two parks to visit. Let me know if she has any specific questions about going alone! We stayed offsite, had a car, and were there for 7 nights alone and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

 

[LovesTimone]

Will she know anyone at the trade show she could buddy up with? or maybe a friend or family member might be able to go along with her, and then they could do the swap rider thing.

 

[PoohLover78]

Just wanted to report back from my friend. They are flying to Orlando tomorrow. She is getting a rental and bringing the car seat for the boy (hence not able to also bring the stroller). She also has been able to reserve a stroller with Apple strollers, said they were very accommodation, especially since it was on such short notice.

She has since gotten in contact with some people she knows from past trade shows to see if they were possibly going to Disney. Looks like they all will be going mostly to F&W... Not sure Epcot would be so interesting for the kid though. She's positive though that she'll find someone who's also going to MK. It never really occurred to her to ask around at the trade shows. I guess she'll also be a bit more comfortable with such an arrangement as these are usually people she's known for years.

Now she was just wondering if any of you had some recommendations for "chill" places. Basically just some area were to sit down for a bit while the little one is napping in the stroller outside of meal times. I told her there's plenty of benches around MK and AK but I guess she was looking for more of a quieter place. I said if she wants quiet, AK has plenty of little nooks for that and for MK she could just leave the park, take the monorail to GF or Poly and chill at the beach. Anyone have any other ideas for quiet places to hang out at?

 

[happymommy]

I would definitely go to Epcot with a toddler! My kids had so much fun there even when they were really young - plus we love it there!

I'd still bring my own stroller if I were her (don't know if it's too late though with her renting one?). You just gate check it at the plane. I can't imagine getting through an airport without one with a toddler. There's no charge to gate check one.