Sleeping arrangements - Villa + toddler? Minor Update!

[Ducky4Disney]

Ok, I'm not sure how to plan our sleeping arrangements with our son on this trip. He's 29 months and a big kid - 39" and 35#. Last time at WDW he slept in the port-a-crib. Not sure that's going to work this time around! We'll be in a 1 bdrm at SSR.

At home he still sleeps in a crib but with #2 on the way we'd like to move him to a big boy bed soon. He's too young to sleep on the pullout sofa in the living room. Besides, we'd have to retreat to the master and he'd have access to the kitchen ! If we keep him in the master with us what can he sleep on?

I've seen a kids cot that unfolds like an army cot and is low to the ground and affordable, but it looks bulky and heavy to travel with. I like the idea of a kids aero bed. It is a good size for him when inflated and small enough to travel with. It's a little more expensive than a cot and I'm wonder if it will fit in the master once it's inflated?

Anyone use one of these devices? Any good ideas out there? What worked for you?

D4D

Update: I ordered the One Step Ahead inflatabe bed and it has arrived. I think this will work for us. The pump is not as high quality as an Aerobed but it will do the job faster than a foot pump. It's small and light enough to travel with. My DS stretched out on it and I'm glad I went with this one because it's 10" longer than the Aerobed and DS almost touched top to bottom! I'll find a place to set it up in the 1 bdrm and take pics. Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[natnelliesmom]

Take a look at the travel beds that www.onestepahead.com or www.leapsandbounds.com offers. They have some inflatable options that have edges on them to keep little ones from rolling out.
I like this one... http://www.leapsandbounds.com/catal...Id=85193&categoryId=85250&subCategoryId=86246
or this one http://www.leapsandbounds.com/catal...6091&cmSource=CrossSell&relatedProductId=6720
These should help you out! I have the first one- and we LOVE it. We travel with two of them and a small foot pump. It only takes a few mins to set each one up. We also bought the bedding and smaller pillows so that everything would fit in the bed.
I have seen an inflatable bed option at Walmart. They were in Disney themes- like Cars and Princess. They inflate into kid size beds with attached fleece sleeping bags. I think they come with foot pumps- but I don't know if they fold up as compactly as these that are designed perfectly for travel with little ones.
Good luck and I hope this helps!
-Sarah

 

[natnelliesmom]

I looked up the one at Walmart for you. They call them Disney EZ beds.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8812034
I don't know if it would be too hot or not- with the fleece sleeping bag. Also I don't like that it doesn't have sides. I would hate for my little one to roll out at night onto those dirty carpets!!
They are cute though- especially for a Disney trip!
-Sarah

 

[DisneyTiger]

I bought this cot from one step ahead specifically for our trip...

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=6640&cmSource=Search

We unfortunately had to break it in for over a week recently when we lost power from hurricane Gustav and had to sleep at my sister's house for 10nights ! My DD loved it. She calls it her "blue bed".

We are also traveling with our 18 month old who is a big guy as well - 30lbs and 32"! He's too big for a pack n' play so we are using a full sized crib from the resort. We're staying in a 1BR at BCV. I am pretty sure that SSR has full sized cribs also. Just call and have them put one on your reservation. Hope this helps!

 

[las3888]

We used an inflatable toddler bed on our last trip last month. It was our first time having DS out of a crib. We put him near the window on the floor next to our bed and he did just fine. If he fell or rolled around too much, we would help him back in. Next time I think I will prop some of the sofa cushions up to help him stay a little more intact. Other than that, he did fine and this was a good arrangement in our OKW villa! Good luck!

 

[moredisneyplease]

also, check out www.abbf.com they are a company in the Orlando area that supplies baby/toddler/child items for rent. i checked and they do have a toddler bed. Good luck and you'll love SSR!

 

[Ducky4Disney]

Thanks for all the help!

I've looked at a few of these items and it's good to know that I'm on the right track.

The inflatable bed from leaps and bounds is very similar to the Aerobed. Slightly longer and larger bumpers but it doens't look like it has an electric pump with it (I can see myself now ). It looks like the surface is like velvet flocking - would that be a problem to clean? I know it will have a sheet on it, but still. It also costs slightly more than the Aerobed I found on Amazon.

The Walmart bed - how did you find that? I keep looking for those things online and in the store and I can never find it! Thanks! Much more affordable but no bumpers and I don't think it has an electric pump either. He does love Cars though - there's a big plus.

The other cots I've seen that have the fold out legs look bulky to travel with. I say that because I almost got one from Sam's club (in a Cars style) like this : http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=409884 It was heavier than it looked like and I can't imagine packing that.

I'm leaning towards the aerobed for a couple reasons: electric pump , on sale at Amazon for $50 with free shipping , trusted Aerobed name (I've used them before, I know what to expect). What I like about the leaps and bounds bed is the added length and slightly taller bumpers.

What do you think?

D4D

 

[Bren's Mom]

When my sister and I, both our dh's and kids and our parents went to Myrtle Beach this past June we had a 3br condo. Each couple had 1 king bed. And we had a 2,3,5 yo plus a 13yo. The teen went onto the sofa bed. And the toddlers were made pallets on the floor with the couch/chair cushions. My almost 3 yo boy (about 33-34lbs then) was perfectly happy on his little makeshift bed placed next to Gma and Gpa's bed (yay! my mom got up with him every morning! LOL). We covered the cushions with extra sheets that were in the closet, but you can always bring your own sheets if you're not sure there are extras. 2 couch cushions was plenty to hold each child. (We had a couch, loveseat and chair, so just enough for the 3 little ones.)

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

We just got back from a trip to SSR with our 4, 2 and 1 year old boys. We put our 1 year old in the pack-n-play and the older boys slept on the pullout queen sofabed with bed rails provided (when requested) by the resort. The bedrails created one huge, safe sleeping area and the bed was low enough that our 2 year old (26mos., 36" tall) was able to climb up and down easily. This was his first time not sleeping in a crib or pack-n-play and he did really well.

Here's a picture of the sofa with the bed rail in the background. We only used a rail on the side DS2 slept on. We put the sofa cushions along the bottom of the bed on the floor "just in case" he wormed his way all the way down there and fell out, but considering how much ground he'd have to cover to fall out, it worked out really well. The rail was sturdy - fit tightly underneath the mattress (which was velcroed to the couch surface) and we left part of it braced against the couch arm.

We also have the toddler aerobed and I do really like it - we used it on our last trip for DS#1 when DS#2 was in the pack-n-play. As you can see here, it can even support half of DH when DS#1 needed some comforting during a thunderstorm (at OKW last year)... Yes, it will fit in the master bedroom at SSR under the window, although it won't give you much walking room on that side.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[owensamo]

My DD is 6 now, but when she was younger we used a Toddler ReadyBed - it has side bumpers and a "headboard" so the kids don't bonk their heads on the wall. We got it at Costco for like $20. It doesn't have an electric pump, but it does have a foot pump and never took more than 5 minutes to inflate.

She now has a youth ReadyBed with princesses on it. We've used it in 1Bdrms just fine. Again we got it for about $20, and it took a group of kids 3-10 about 10 minutes to inflate with the foot pump last time we used it. She sleeps in it great in all sorts of places.

I wouldn't let the lack of an electric pump scare you - you won't have to inflate any of these kinds of beds by mouth! Just make sure you get a kid's bed that includes a manual pump - you'll have to do a little work, but it's not terrible, and much cheaper in the long run!

Amanda

 

[snubie]

I bought this cot from one step ahead specifically for our trip...

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=6640&cmSource=Search

We unfortunately had to break it in for over a week recently when we lost power from hurricane Gustav and had to sleep at my sister's house for 10nights ! My DD loved it. She calls it her "blue bed".

We are also traveling with our 18 month old who is a big guy as well - 30lbs and 32"! He's too big for a pack n' play so we are using a full sized crib from the resort. We're staying in a 1BR at BCV. I am pretty sure that SSR has full sized cribs also. Just call and have them put one on your reservation. Hope this helps!

We used that same bed for DD when we travel to the grandparents. She too calls it her blue bed. Sadly,she is too big for it now. If we go to WDW again soon, she will just sleep on the regular bed.

 

[mjkacmom]

I do not like the ones with the sleeping bags attached. They are super noisy whenever the child moves, and my active sleeper ds kept rolling over, so he'd be on the floor, with the mattress on top of him! Dd's broke the second night we used them. Garbage!

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

I am pretty sure that SSR has full sized cribs also.

SSR does indeed offer full-size cribs. That was going to be our fall-back plan if the sofabed plus rails didn't work. The other advantage to using a crib is that you can let your DS sleep in the living room (and thanks to the containment factor he won't be able to have a midnight party in the kitchen! ) and you and DH can have the master bedroom to yourselves.

You may want to reserve the crib and then use the space in your luggage for a folding stool. The sinks at SSR are too high for the little ones to wash hands or brush teeth without assistance. Although, I suppose you could use one of the kitchen chairs as a stool - we ended up buying a stepstool from Walmart for $9 as we didn't have enough kitchen chairs for all of us to keep one in the bathroom. Just a minor inconvenience I wanted to throw out there as you're still in the planning stages.

A very grubby DS#2 loving being able to wash his own hands at SSR after our Walmart trip.

 

[WantToGoNow]

At 2.5 I personally would just put him on the sofa-sleeper so I wouldn't have to buy and carry anything down there for him to sleep on. If you don't want to use the sofa sleeper, then I'd call down and see if I could just get a full-sized crib - or maybe rent one from an outside company. I know when we travel, we have enough already to take along.

But then again my kids were moved out of the crib well before the age of your child so they were quite used to regular beds by then - ds moved to a toddler bed at age 2 and a twin at 2.5 and dd moved to the bottom bunk at 17 mos.

 

[Mrs D]

We just returned from VWL in a 1bdrm with DS 3 and DD1.
DS used a ready bed, it was a bit noisy and he ended up on the floor part of the time. We took the comforter off the king and made a blanket bed next to the ready bed. He kind of used both. I did not have any problems with the bed flipping, but I never zipped the sleeping bag part.
I wish I had thought of the couch cushions, that would be great next to the ready bed or to replace it all together!
I moved the furniture in the bedroom around so DS would be against a wall and used the TV cabinet as the "headboard".
I also brought outlet covers, mostly for DD, but there were outlets right by DS's bed so that was helpful too.

Here are pics of how I rearranged the furniture and where I put the bed (the suitcase in in the spot where the bed was.

 

[natnelliesmom]

I don't have any problems with the flocked surface of the inflatable bed. It cleans right up with a wet cloth. It also is nice because it's quiet and not sticky like the plain vinyl.
I used the foot pumps that they sell from the same company- it blew up the bed in under 5 mins. No problems there. It was light and easy to pack as well. Like I said earlier- we traveled to WDW with two of these beds and had no problems.
-Sarah

 

[Ducky4Disney]

SSR does indeed offer full-size cribs.

Ok, I have to ask the ultimate of dumb questions (I hope the Tag Fairy doesn't see this!). Define "full size crib" for me. I've seen pack-n-plays which are different than the port-a-cribs that they offer (I think so) and then there are portable cribs (or mini-cribs) that are wooden and fold up which are different than the crib we have at home.

Is the full size crib like the folding wooden ones I've seen? I suppose that the word MINI-crib should give me clue here, but I thought I'd ask anyway. Any pics of the full size crib?

DH is thinking about the full size crib option but I'm still thinking inflatable bed. Ugh, we're 2 weeks away - I should have this figured out! But pregnancy brain is in full effect!

D4D

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

I did not see the full-size cribs in person as the bed rails were sufficient, but when I asked about bedding as I brought our own crib sheets, they (SSR) said that the full-size wooden cribs took regular crib sheets. They do provide sheets, but I wanted to have extras in the event of accidents and the boys prefer flannel sheets.

FWIW, the toddler aerobed does pack up quite small and if it makes you more comfortable to have something on hand, then that's what I'd get and pack. It's quite cozy and even if your little one rolls off, it's a very short fall and probably wouldn't even wake him up.

 

[Ducky4Disney]

Ok - I made my decision! I went with the bed from leaps and bounds with a fitted sheet.

It's 10 inches longer than the Aeorbed and the description does say electric pump. With how tall the boy is now the extra length may be a good investment.

DH made a good point - bring the bed and if it works, great. If not, we can request a full crib... or try bed rails... or couch cushions... he even suggested the bath tub .

The leaps and bouns website even says "If you would like to return an item for a refund of the purchase price, you may do so at anytime" - so if we get it and he doesn't like/use it we even have the option of sending it back.

Whew... that's item #2 on my pre-packing list I can check off. If only I could remember #3...

D4D