So how do I do this with a kid?

[imLissy]

I haven't been on the boards in a looooooong time because I got tired of reading the same posts over and over about magic bands, ha ha.

I'm back because we're finally planning trip #20! But we have a kid now! :O He'll be 2 when we go next November.

I had the whole planning thing down to a science, really, it's my favorite part of the trip. I have spreadsheets. I sat down to do our spreadsheet this time and realized I have no idea what I'm doing. When do we eat? When do we nap? Usually we do two table service meals a day and I just don't see that happening with him. then again, it's a year away and he might change so much!

I really wanted to stay at the Contemporary or Poly, but we're having a family reunion and if we did that, we wouldn't have enough points to invite everyone, so I told my dad Boardwalk is OK.

OK, so questions - nap time. No way he's going to nap in the park, but it seems like seems like it'd be a lot of trouble going all the way back to the hotel from MK or AK and then out again later when his bedtime is so early. And when do I schedule my fastpasses? In the morning? In the afternoon?

Should I schedule breakfasts? Lunches? Dinners?

I'm so looking forward to this, but I have a feeling any plans I make are going to wind up turned completely upside-down.

 

[Hessie628]

I'm in the same position. I've been to WDW almost 30 times, but haven't been in 4 years and never with my own child. My DD will be almost 2.5 when we go in a few weeks for the first time with her. I have some character breakfasts and 2 early dinners planned right now. I got some fast passes for the mornings and one day of early evening because we are celebrating my brother's 40th. We will be renting a car and plan on bringing her back to the resort to nap/rest. I also feel like all my plans will be turned upside down, but it's WDW so I'm just going to go with it. I can let you know how it turns out for us!
Jessica

 

[Betty Rohrer]

as I have said many times going back to resort for naps by car or Disney transportation you will have about 15 minutes of down time for child to fall asleep you then have to move child from what ever transportation you use to room. how easy will your child go back to sleep. my grandson would not go back to sleep and it was worse than short naps in stroller. think about can you go for a drive or walk at naptime have child fall asleep then move from car or stroller to bed and have nap continue? Disney is not like home where you can just go to child's bed at nap time. granted not Disney but I remember how hard we tried to keep our girls awake on short rides home from visiting relatives when they were young, so they would go to sleep in evenings when we got home. seems like yesterday but it has been almost 30 years since then but I still remember like yesterday

 

[msmama]

My theory on Disney (all the time, but really applies with kids) is that we only go as fast as the slowest member of the party. Usually that's the kid.

Now, by that, I don't mean physically moving as fast as the kid, I mean, generally doing kid stuff rather than grown up stuff (I go with this philosophy only because I've been there many times without a kid, and I don't ever really think i will ever stop going once kids are grown, so I want the trips to be kid centric while I have a kid).

What this means in practical terms? Sometimes you stand and wonder why you're paying Disney prices to watch ducks which you can see five minutes from home.

Napping at the resort didn't work for us, but if my son got tired enough, he'd fall asleep in the stroller (or in my arms on a ride or show). He had started giving up naps around 2 though and even at home didn't nap every day so it worked out ok. Again, mid day breaks didn't work for us (still don't) so we are more likely to stay from rope drop until about dinner time (ish) and the head back to the resort.

That said, by then you should have a pretty good idea of when he will nap (if he does) so will know when to and when not do plan important things. I think with kids flexibility is key. Sometimes you're going to have to go back to the resort, for everyone's sanity, rather than ride the rides. I try to keep meal times close to what we do at home.

With a child that little, you could do rider swap,a but personally I've never done it. What this means is that we get SO MUCH done while everyone else is riding mountains! My son is older now but still doesn't like roller coasters. Take those out of the equation and there are still a ton of things to ride yet it's considerably easier to plan!

 

[jacknsally19]

I haven't been on the boards in a looooooong time because I got tired of reading the same posts over and over about magic bands, ha ha.

I'm back because we're finally planning trip #20! But we have a kid now! :O He'll be 2 when we go next November.

I had the whole planning thing down to a science, really, it's my favorite part of the trip. I have spreadsheets. I sat down to do our spreadsheet this time and realized I have no idea what I'm doing. When do we eat? When do we nap? Usually we do two table service meals a day and I just don't see that happening with him. then again, it's a year away and he might change so much!

I really wanted to stay at the Contemporary or Poly, but we're having a family reunion and if we did that, we wouldn't have enough points to invite everyone, so I told my dad Boardwalk is OK.

OK, so questions - nap time. No way he's going to nap in the park, but it seems like seems like it'd be a lot of trouble going all the way back to the hotel from MK or AK and then out again later when his bedtime is so early. And when do I schedule my fastpasses? In the morning? In the afternoon?

Should I schedule breakfasts? Lunches? Dinners?

I'm so looking forward to this, but I have a feeling any plans I make are going to wind up turned completely upside-down.

So I have taken my DD at 1, 2, 2.5, 3.5 and will shortly be there again at 4! Most of the time, we stayed at a monorail resort so it was pretty easy to get back for a nap. At 2 & 2.5, we did a bit of a mix for naps. Some days we would head back to the hotel for a nap and some she rested in the stroller. I think that the days you are HS and Epct definitely plan to do naps at the hotel. The days that we rest in the stroller are very early days for us. I tended to book FP for early in the day bc that's when I knew she'd be at her best. I also booked fewer meals except for a few that were important to me. I tended to do more dinners back at the resort or on the monorail (in your case on the boardwalk). I knew our best hours for park touring were in the morning so I tried to save that time.

 

[kohlby]

We had several trips before kids - and said we would wait to come back until they were out of strollers. We ended up back when the eldest was barely 3 and the second child was 2 months old. We had no idea what to expect with kids and were so used to doing it without. We made some mistakes. We learned a LOT as we went. It wasn't close to perfect, but we had fun. We went back 6 months later to "do it right" with the knowledge we had learned. That trip went much better. So - even if your first with-child trip has a lot of unexpected struggles in it, think of it as a learning experience that will give you extra knowledge for next time!

As for naps - everyone said to take a nap in the middle of the day. Go back to your room they said, your child will nap. Ha! It didn't happen with my first child, nor my second, nor my third. It didn't happen with any of my kids at 3, or 2, or even with one child at 11 months old! Some kids won't nap in the stroller or back at the room. And the stroller nappers - they aren't a myth, I've seen them with my own eyes. They were never in our stroller though. We tried going back but it didn't work. It is worth a try - as it works great for many people, but not for us. For us, we've found that we could get the kids to sleep at night. Naps were another story. So we focused on that and it worked quite well. We also never planned dinner ahead of time. That way, we could play it by ear better and do what the child needed. Watch for your child's cues that it's time to leave too - and make sure your partner is on board. There have been many, many times I had to firmly tell my husband it was time to leave - not to push the kids through or we would pay for it.

One thing that helps a lot with planning for us is bringing food from home and eating breakfast in our room. It makes that morning start super relaxed and gives us a little extra time. (And if the child won't eat, we can easily take that food with us).

*As for touring, we still always made rope drop easily so that's what we did. I did plan out our mornings - knowing plans could change though. I didn't dare plan out late in the day or evening though!

 

[Habbott]

We did our first trip with our son at 2.5. The key is flexibility, at least for us. That trip we did no table service meals on that trip, though my son would have done fine with them (as long as they weren't character meals). At that point characters were a no go. We didn't open the park or close it, but we're casual tourers as it is. If we went back to the resort in the afternoon, he would fall asleep. he would stay asleep as well. This is the same kid I couldn't move from the car seat to the house asleep without ending nap time. He never fell asleep while at the park though. Too much going on for him.

I will also add that my son found all the people overwhelming, and didn't try running from us once. He loved the playgrounds a whole lot (dumbo and the dinosaur dig, especially).

Another tip, always have a snack ready to go. Kids can be monsters when hungry and tired...food will be at least a little helpful in this battle.

Also, be prepared to ride the same things over and over. The people mover was a favorite, as was the monorail.

 

[tinkerbesh]

A year is a long time for a lot of transitions... I wouldn't fret about anything now. You never know what sleep and eating habits LO will have by then. For example, our first trip w/DS was easy to do stroller naps (11 months), but our 2nd he preferred napping in the room some of the time (23 months). First trip eating out was trickier, but 2nd trip he loved every TS meal we did.

I would say plan a few things you like for now, but be aware of cancellation deadlines. For pretty much everything you should be able to decide by the day before if you want to keep it or not.

 

[branv]

I'll let you know soon bc we are in the same boat as you, but our trip is in 7 days! I'm pretty nervous bc all of a sudden our little guy has since just last week started learning how to be a 2 yo: laying down sobbing like the world is ending bc you won't let him do something, fighting like a rabid ferret to not have to hold your hand or be held, getting picky with food, has a case of the "No, No, Noooo's" even when he really means "yes". Up until then he was the easiest kid. Still is, for a 2 yo, but I'm nervous what it will be like with all the WDW stimulation and newness. We went to a children's party at a mini-carnival yesterday and it was like trying to contain a cyclone. Eeesh.

That being said, our plans are to do naps at the hotel bc he won't sleep in strollers. But we've always done breaks even before he came along, so we're okay with the time suck the travel can be. We are at a monorail resort, but we still decided to rent a car. With the monorail being so unpredictable lately, and buses being shared at the monorail resorts, I was feeling really frayed about trying to get to rope drops and in-park ADRs with the usual " allow an hour for travel ". We've rented cars in the past, and really do prefer them over the buses though. Like, by a lot. We were able to commute so much faster. Plus no holding a stroller and possibly having to stand with a toddler on a bus. But that's just our thing, and we were taking a carseat for the plane anyway.

I cancelled any ADRs for our arrival night bc I think it was expecting too much of my kiddo. I am only doing one ADR a day, and then not every day. Honestly, there is no way for you to predict a month, let alonea year out what kind of restaurant diner your child will be. So I say just make your plans... not too many, though, and be prepared to cancel them. Especially considering your touring will be greatly slowed from what you're used to -- do you really want to take up even more park time getting to and doing TS meals, which aren't exactly as enjoyable or relaxing with a toddler?

Back to taking breaks, it's the one to I see agreement on, but it can mean a few things: whether that is the mentioned daily afternoon break or a down day at your hotel. It helps recharge and destimulate. As I said, we are doing rope drop, back to hotel around 1:00, then just a few hours in the early evening at a park. We are only going to Fireworks and parade one night, and then we are taking the morning off the next day. So we're doing both types of breaks! I'm hoping that works for us: I'll let you know!

 

[Thing 1]

So much will change in the next year and you will start to see who you child is going to be....so cool. Just a couple things we have learned with a little ones. While neither of my boys would go to sleep in the stroller, they would go to sleep on my shoulder. I could find an out of the way place and simply walk around for a few minutes and they would be asleep. Find a nice place to sit and people watch while they snooze. Plan things around when your trip is. Potty training, passie or bottle weaning, intro to new foods. Point is your don't want to be in the middle of anything new when you are on the trip, or even right before. Build in bed time routines you can travel with. We travel a lot and that was important to me.

 

[amygphillips]

We have done Disney with little ones for many trips now and for our family we have never gone back to hotel for naps. They have all been stroller sleepers at Disney. Never at home around town but always at Disney! Last month we were there with a 15 month old, 5 year old , and 8 yr old. And everyday the 15 month old napped and most days the 5 yr old ( that hasn't napped since 2 except at Disney) napped too! One day my 15 month old really fought it so I found a quiet place and covered her stroller and after a couple min of crying she was out! Just remember even if normally they wouldn't sleep in a stroller... Disney is different! It wears everyone out! you will figure out what is best for your family. Enjoy!

 

[Spunky946]

We all liked the break and all of us napped if we wanted any shot of doing evening activities, otherwise we would be done before dinner.

We like doing a late breakfast or early lunch adr and then do a quick service dinner, it leaves more flexibility which is key. I would do your fast passes around your adr and then leave the park from say 1-5 ish and then go back. He might stay up later one or two nights

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Keep in mind your child will change so much in a year. And the difference between 1 and 2 is amazing. We are taking DD who is now 2 next week, and she was 1 when we went last time. We are fully prepared to go with the flow this time because she is a totally different (and opinionated!) person. So there is no point planning too much now, as things will change by the time you do your ADR's, and again by the time you go.

 

[imLissy]

thanks for the advice! ha ha, ok, I'll put away my spreadsheet for now, I'm just so excited though

 

[epsmith921]

We took our daughter at 2.5 to wdw and it was awesome. We also stayed at Boardwalk and seriously loved it, but we wanted somewhere we were happy with since we planned early nights and naps.

We tried to keep her regular schedule as much as possible, so we did rope drop every day and got a ton of stuff done.

With being in the Epcot and DHS area you will have a ton of options (park hopper would be extremely useful here) for a second park for the day or dining options.

We did cancel about 90% of the dining reservations I had made (this was when you could cancel the day of with no penalties).

We had a stroller napper by default as in she would just crash in the stroller. So we ran into some trouble getting back to the room for naps. Worked the first day. Next two were a no go. But it was September so getting out of the heat and resting in our room was useful for all of us.

The best advice is to stop trying to plan it. I know it's so much fun, but I had all the parks and hopping for each day all set and it all went out the window. We wound up at MK each morning and then maybe back there or Epcot or studios at night. We didn't stay for any fireworks because my daughter was afraid of the noise.

You will have a magical trip. Try to pick your stroller lightly but efficiently, and be flexible. (This was a tough one for me personally but I had the best time when I was just letting her enjoy it.)

 

[PurpleKomodo]

My son was almost 3 when we went last summer. We did our best to respect his normal meal times and mad ADRs accordingly. We only did 1 ADR a day and 2 days that was breakfast. We had one lunch ADR (or 2 if you count BOG) and the rest were dinner. I would say breakfast or dinner was the best because the lunch ones cut pretty close to nap time. He napped in the stroller every day. If we had tried to go back to the resort, he would have fallen asleep en route and we would not have gotten a decent nap out of him.

Overall, I would advise to keep your options open. You kid might surprise you. I never thought mine would make until 10pm fireworks and be in decent mood, but he did (twice!). At the same time, know the important limits. For us, it was meal times and a nap every day. Also, do some trials if you can as it gets closer. Go to a local amusement park or other stimulating outdoor activity just to test the waters and see what they can handle. Have fun! It will be different this time, but so magical to see it all through your little one's eyes.

 

[justhat]

I have 4 kids and have been doing WDW/DL with all of them since the oldest was 2 months old. We have very, very rarely gone back to the room for a nap with any of them. I have some who only ever napped in their cribs at home, but with the excitement of Disney, they had no trouble just crashing in the stroller/baby carrier. Anytime we did go back midday, they'd fall asleep on the bus, in the car, on the monorail, then we'd have to transition them off and they'd wake up. Easier to just spend the time they were napping in a stroller walking around, browsing shops, getting a snack, etc.

 

[DisneyOma]

Two year olds (at least my 2) are on the edge of nap city - my guess is that at WDW, a 2 yr old will fall asleep in a stroller at some point.

You'll know your nap/eating schedule much better closer to your trip. Hold off potty training until after the trip, IMO!

 

[Mambo Junkie]

As grandma, I was in charge of the naps. My DGDs have both napped in their strollers, just worn out mid day, so I held down the fort while they napped. A couple of good places to nap: at MK, the bridge/walkways behind the castle, preferably the one which leads to Liberty Square because the other (near Merida) had smokers. Don't know if it was a smoking area or if people were just doing it. At HS, behind the Little Mermaid, in front of Animation. Nice and quiet for the most part. At AK, there are a lot of good spaces, especially near the trails and at the area which leads to the Rainforest Cafe from inside the AK. Covered, with places to sit. At EP, I'd have to say the walkway which leads to Boardwalk or the area near the baby changing station between Mexico and Test Track or the area between China and Germany.
edit to add, some good areas near Space Mountain

 

[5stljayhawks]

I am spreadsheet guy. kids or no kids. I have it with park times, magic hours, sunrise and set... events, parades... ADRs and schedule down time. This just gives me a flow for the time there.

with a family party, you maybe able to do split naps, where one P goes back and naps, while the other stays. We almost always napped with all our kids. Its funny the wife was sleeping, while I got stuff ready for dinner. we would get back at 1:30 or 2 nap 3-5, eat dinner then park at 7, we were at fort wilderness. If you can get the kiddo to nap in a stroller, this is a great time saver, as kid sleep and the other can park!!! Yes solo rides!!

In a 7 day trip, I plan on an off day during day 4/5/6. I also look at spending a late night in the park and having a late start the next day. maybe doing a late character breakfast. This allows for a more down time and relaxed flow. For some reason I think epcot at night for kids has alot to offer and explore. I also schedule 1/2 an afternoon for pool time or schedule in a day at the water parks now that the kids a little order.