Tips for Bringing and Infant to the Parks

[lindyv321]

We have planned an impromptu trip in September and are planning on doing one day at Disneyland and attending OBB the following day. I will be bringing my teenage son, adult daughter, her boyfriend, and my 2.5 month old granddaughter. It will be our first time with an infant and I need some help! Specifically I’m wondering if we can bring her stroller with the car seat attached? How can we make our stroller stand out from the crowd?
Can we use a carrier/sling on attractions?
Any attraction without height requirements we should avoid completely?
Is rider switch currently available? Is it easy to use? Can we use it if we get Rise of the Resistance boarding passes?

TIA and any other tips you have would be appreciated!

 

[Becca1007]

We have planned an impromptu trip in September and are planning on doing one day at Disneyland and attending OBB the following day. I will be bringing my teenage son, adult daughter, her boyfriend, and my 2.5 month old granddaughter. It will be our first time with an infant and I need some help! Specifically I’m wondering if we can bring her stroller with the car seat attached? How can we make our stroller stand out from the crowd?
Can we use a carrier/sling on attractions?
Any attraction without height requirements we should avoid completely?
Is rider switch currently available? Is it easy to use? Can we use it if we get Rise of the Resistance boarding passes?

TIA and any other tips you have would be appreciated!

You can bring the stroller with the car seat ... however September can be HOT and baby might get overheated in the seat. Perhaps the stroller they have has a bassinet attachment where baby could lay flat?

You should also bring a baby wrap or ergo that you can carry baby in. If you are navigating OBB at night it will likely be much easier with the baby in the carrier. Each ride will let you know if baby can be in the carrier or must be out of the carrier for the ride.

 

[PirateBrigade]

Buy an AirTag and attach it to your stroller, but something bright (like a bandana) will also be helpful.

I agree September tends to be hot, it's also fire season, so consider that a risk if the Santa Anas are blowing and there are distant fires.

 

[lindyv321]

We are from Phoenix so what people in Anaheim consider hot we usually do not! Although one September trip it was hotter there than it was here! Hopefully that doesn’t happen again

 

[Epicnemesis]

We would buy a balloon and attach it to the stroller for extra visibility. Those suckers last so long you might even be able to use the same balloon for both trips! We eventually just got really good at identifying the stroller in a crowd and also lost the fear of theft after the many trips we made.

You can bring whatever type of stroller you want as long as it’s not too big, the concern would be heat management.

We never did a ride swap and always held her for rides so can’t help you there. Lines are typically short for rides without height restrictions.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Most attractions you can have the baby in the carrier, but there are some where they have to be out and "seated" on your lap. I honestly can't remember which ones anymore, but someone probably does. The CM's will tell you, as someone mentioned, but it might be nice to know in advance so you don't head to one of the seated ones when the kiddo is asleep.

Make sure you take advantage of the Baby Care Stations in each park! (By first aid at DL and by Ghirardelli's at DCA). They're such a nice break from the crowds and an easy place to feed/change baby.

 

[V.I.N.CENT.]

We would buy a balloon and attach it to the stroller for extra visibility. Those suckers last so long you might even be able to use the same balloon for both trips! We eventually just got really good at identifying the stroller in a crowd and also lost the fear of theft after the many trips we made.

You can bring whatever type of stroller you want as long as it’s not too big, the concern would be heat management.

We never did a ride swap and always held her for rides so can’t help you there. Lines are typically short for rides without height restrictions.

Same, the balloon also help you locate the stroller if a cast member moves it for whatever reason. We would also wrap strips of colored duct tape on the handles. Not covering the whole grip, just a couple spots to help identify the stroller.

 

[PirateBrigade]

Oh, buying some cheap LED lights attached to a battery pack is also a great way to find your stroller at night. Not useful during the day (or if the parks close just after sunset).

 

[It’ll Be Fun]

We just got back from a trip with our 6 month old. We brought both the car seat adapter and the stroller seat (that can lay flat and be turned into a “bassinet”) with us. I thought the car seat would have been more effective at keeping her protected and covered, but we ended up just using the stroller seat because it was so hot. We had a stroller fan that we bought off Amazon and muslin swaddle blankets (since they are lighter). You can also buy a portable white noise machine off Amazon too for stroller naps. The car seat might be a better bet because you can detach it and take inside animation academy and other indoor places where strollers aren’t typically allowed (like launch bay- which is a non issue because it’s not open right now right?). You just want to watch for overheating since babies can’t regulate their body temperatures as well as adults. The baby centers are awesome and a nice air conditioned place to take a break with baby. We used rider swap and you just have to to ask a cm at the front of the attraction for a rider swap and they’ll scan the 3 tickets who are going later (they give you a return time based on the estimated wait time). The first group goes through the standby line and when they get off the ride, the group with the scanned tickets can go through the fastpass line (they just scan their rider swaps as if they were fastpasses). So the teenager (or whoever) would have the opportunity to ride twice if they’d like! You can totally do rider swap for Rotr. Just make sure you have a boarding group and that everyone has a boarding pass. We brought our ergo carrier to the parks and never used it once. It was just easier and cooler to hold her.
The other tips I would give would be to get some peekapoo disposable changing pads for the changing tables and a bumco diaper clutch. Both can be found on Amazon! I would also think about bringing an umbrella for shading the baby in line. We used a sun hat, but wish we would have had an umbrella for webslingers and some other sunny queues. Just a heads up, they are sold out park wide of infant original Mickey hat ears (at least they were last week). I was crushed because that is a tradition I’ve always done for all my kids on their first visit is get them a pair of ears with their name embroidered on it! I wish I wouldn’t have waited until our last day to do them before I found out they were sold out because I would have done something else like a silhouette (not sure if they are doing these or not now that I think of it) or something else sentimental. Have so much fun! It really is pretty special to take an infant on their very first trip, or magical if you will!

 

[lindyv321]

Thank you for all the great info everyone!!

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Lots of good advice. The car seat in the stroller is so convenient (can take it into restaurants too) but super HOT with no air flow, even on mild days, so bring a clip on stroller fan (and extra batteries or a portable battery charger).

Ask the CM at each attraction if you can keep baby in the wrap/carrier. I know you have to take them out on the carousel (you can hold baby) and Roger Rabbit (this one is weird where you have to prop baby up on the seat ….eeekkkk… I would skip it for this reason and also that’s it’s very jerky … they should give this one a low height limit in my opinion).

Baby care centers are KEY for breast feeding, pumping (they have comfy chairs and outlets), bottle feeding in an air conditioned and quiet environment, and also changing baby as they are very soft and soooooo clean, attendants constantly sanitizing and each person gets a new clean sheet of paper to lay down on the changing table …. Compared to the gross, hard changing tables in more restrooms.

I pack a small “go bag” with diapers, wipes, burp clothes, a change of closets, etc, what you need to go into the baby care center because you can’t take your stroller and if you’re carrying baby you don’t want to carry a huge bag.

Also men are allowed inside the baby care centers to change baby and bottle feed but cannot go into the nursing area which is behind a curtain.

I took my youngest starting at 4 weeks and he basically nursed and slept the entire time. It was pretty easy actually.

 

[lindyv321]

Good info! Thank you! Roger Rabbit makes me nauseous so I can sit with the baby if everyone else wants to ride that! Has anyone had issues with attractions being too loud? I also know daddy is concerned about the drop on Pirates but I know I’ve personally seen a lot of babies on that one….

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Good info! Thank you! Roger Rabbit makes me nauseous so I can sit with the baby if everyone else wants to ride that! Has anyone had issues with attractions being too loud? I also know daddy is concerned about the drop on Pirates but I know I’ve personally seen a lot of babies on that one….

I wore baby for Pirates … the bigger issue with Pirates I think is when boats bump together, specifically when you’re not expecting it. You have to be sure you’re sitting well back on the seat so baby isn’t bumped against the seat in front you you.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

I wore baby for Pirates … the bigger issue with Pirates I think is when boats bump together, specifically when you’re not expecting it. You have to be sure you’re sitting well back on the seat so baby isn’t bumped against the seat in front you you.

I also wore a baby for Pirates, and the drop bothered me much more than the little one. The bumper boat situation we definitely more taxing than the initial drop. I found my infants handle the drop better than toddlers/pre-schoolers, and it just takes a bit of vigilance to avoid bumping baby if you get thumped. It is a nice ride to do on a hot day too!

 

[lindyv321]

Ahhh I didn’t even think of boats bumping! Good to know! We got a stroller fan, sun hat, and LED lights for the stroller!

 

[lcp9]

My kids were car seat babies to the max, but wearing them ended up being easier for us at DLR, even when we had a stroller - at one point we had newborn, 2, 4, and 6, so 2 and 4 were in the double stroller for the most part and I wore the baby. If I recall, none of the rides would let me wear him...I had to take him out.