Taking 18 month old baby and 4 year toddler to disney world

[disneycp]

I want to take my family to WDW Florida this December 2009, my daughter will be 18 months my son will have just turned 4. My wife is not to sure about the holiday because of the long flight trying to keep the kids entertained for 9 hours, and when we get there if there is enough for children of there age to do. My wife has never been to WDW before i went 15 years ago so i know about how magical it is, i just need to convince her that it would be a dream holiday. We did go to Disneyland Paris last year which she enjoyed. So anyone who has taken kids this age and had a good time i would be interested to hear how you got on.

 

[kevin harrison]

There is loads for children to do, it's Disney !! Your 4 year old will love it, we took our daughter at 18 months and she was fine. They find it very stimulating.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

we took our then 4 year old son and 9mth old baby with us for the first time last May - It was FANTASTIC!!!

We were there for over 3 weeks and did everything we wanted to do - All the disney parks (inc water parks), Seaworld and Aquatica, Universal and Islands of Adventure - the last two (UO parks) were meant to be for the adults and we didn't expect our son to like it much - well IOA was easily his favourite place!!

You just need to be clear on what their limitations will be before you go and don't worry about the things you can't do, and concentrate on the things you can - We didn't expect our DS4 to go on any of the bigger rides (it turned out we were wrong and he even loved Tower of Terror), but he asked to go on those, we hadn't even planned to look at anything like that.

The firm favourites were the water areas, play parks, water parks and the little kiddie rides, but we knew that would be the case and just had the best time watching them at that age. Our youngest LOVED the characters and that was a thrill for us all by itself!!

The only thing that was on the downside for us, was our eldest really struggled with the heat - so your plan for December sounds perfect!! (In fact our next trip is now going to be Dec 2010!!)

If you have any specific questions let me know!! - happy planning!!

 

[jockey]

We took our 10 month old daughter and 3 year old son in Jan and they had a fab time, they travelled really well too. They enjoyed it sd much we are going back next week. you will get lots of tips on the DIS for travelling with toddlers.

 

[islandmum]

the problem of flying with young kids pretty much stems from the parents nervousness rather than the kids behaviour.

We've been travelling long haul (8-17 hours) flights since the kids were just a few months old and if you go with a relaxed approach, be sensible about the travel : get a good nights sleep before, make sure they have a few little new toys in their bags, a couple of their comfort toys, ensure with the airline the food you will get for them they will eat, you will be fine. Check what movies will be on the flight so you know theres something to keep the 4 year old watching with interest.

If they pick up on your stress they'll feed off that, if you treat it calmly they'll roll with that too.

Its not a big deal, really.

hope you have a great time

 

[Gingernut]

I'm sure your kids will be fne. we first took our DS at 18 months and this year at 5 will be his 3rd visit. He usually falls asleep before we take off - for at least an hour. I always have sweets for him and get a couple of magazines in whsmiths, i usually have a couple of his toys with me and take some to open at intervals during the flight - you know the crayola things or sticker books and now he's into puzzle books - keeps you and him occupied for a while. Look in Tesco/Asda and the £1 shops for those kind of things. What you don't do keep for coming home.
Plenty for them to do in the parks and when you's want to go on something do the child swap.
Eating out is fine, at 18 months he usually fell asleep in his buggy when we went out as I'd tried to feed him before that. Or he could eat something off your plate if you just ask for another plate rather than buy him a meal. At 4 we just got him the kids meal, as long as there was an ice cream in a restaurant he was fine!!
Some of the parks have kids areas with water so they are a must for a while and cools the kids down.
Go and enjoy

 

[chocolateMinnie]

We won a trip to WDW when dd was 19 months and DS 5. We would never have gone otherwise but we were really glad we did.

The flight is actually better in some ways for younger children because they sleep for so long and people are generally good if the child and parent wander around the plane for all or part of the journey out. The hotels in Florida are much much more geared up to family needs than any in Europe. Also the restaurants are so organised with little ones.

The facilities such as nappy changing and toilets in WDW will spoil every holiday you ever go on in future as they are excellent.

The memories we have of our daughter trying to feed tigger ice-cream because 'too hot in fur' and of our son meeting the characters for the first time will be with us always.

Book your trip and enjoy it.

 

[Miss Mo]

Lots of fab reassurance guys - our son will be 15 months when we go in July and i was nervous at first but now we just can't wait!!!! Woo hooo!! 67 sleeps!!!!

mo x