Tips for flying with a 3 yo.....HELP!!!

[DJSMOM]

Amazon has the VideoNow Jr videos. The Walmart near me has a rotating stock of them. Not alot, maybe one or two at a time. You may want to pick up some earphones for them too. People on the plane may not want to hear "I love you, you love me ...." over and over again. HTH

 

[suz72]

I saw either Video NOw or Video Now Jr. discs at Big Lots. Not sure if you have that in your area.

Used to be called McFrugals and something else b4 that.

 

[dopeysgirl]

we took our first family trip to wdw last year and our dd was only 20 months at the time. we didnt take her carseat because we were staying on property and werent going to need it and it was one more thing to lug around and keep track of. she ended up bouncing from lap to lap anyway because she was so excited! i agree with everyone else- lots of snacks. we also found the following toys/activities to keep her occupied:
* magna doodle travel size (we got the one where you could record your own sound to go with the pic @ toys r us for $7. it was a huge hit!)
* a magnetic play set (also @ toys r us) we got an animal one and she could move all the magnets around on a background board
* and the other thing we took was (forgive me for not remembering the name, but i got it @ toys r us as well--dh says i spent as much there before the trip as i did in wdw! lol) anyway it was this spiral bound book thing that you could "color" with a special marker. you filled the marker with water and when you colored over the pages, color would appear. when it dried, it became a blank coloring page again. my dd and my ds 5 loved these. in fact, when we got home i bought some different ones (in laws live 16 hrs away and it helps the car trip to go quieter!)
our flight to wdw was only 2 hrs and this was plenty- besides theres always the "who do you think well see when we get to disney?" game!
hope this helps!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Our ds's have been flying since they were babies. Hands down the greatest invention ever is the portable dvd player. I've found that in addition to bringing a favorite movie, I try to find something new that they haven't seen yet. My younger ds seems to get bored quickly watching an old movie. We've also done the little wrapped toy idea. Just to add to the excitement.
If your child doesn't have the attention span to sit thru movies, we found PlayDoh is great too. No noise to disturb the other passengers. It's a little gross after it's been dropped on the floor a few times. It collects fuzzies on it but it's cheap enough you can just through it out after the flight.
We bought rolling carry on bags from the online Dis.store just for kids snacks, lots of box juice,coloring books, crayons, etc. My kids love to wheel their little bags through the airport, makes them feel grown up.

 

[katytrott]

Thankyou everyone for the great tips, I'm keeping a record of them. It is our sons first tripin Oct when he will 23 months. Flying from the UK the flight will be 9 hours so I need all the help I can get.
I do have a question however - Our home trip is a night flight and I desperately need help and advice getting our son to sleep (this will also be needed going out as he will need his lunchtime nap). How does this even work? Do the kids spread out along the seats and if so what about the arm rests? Do they sleep sitting up or in your arms? As you can see I really have no idea, I never took any notice when flying in the past pre my son!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I can't help you with the falling asleep part. Our flights to MCO are only 2 hrs but I have a cousin in the Air Force who was stationed in Italy. He always joked about giving his son Benadryl preflight to help him sleep. I would ask your doctor first and if it's ok then give him a trial dose before flying to see how he reacts. Some kids get the opposite reaction and it makes them hyperactive.
He can't spread out across the seats if it's a full plane. I don't know how crowded planes get in UK but every time we fly in the US it's packed. Children under 2 can fly free if they sit on a parents lap but I think for a flight that long you'd all be more comfortable if you get him a seat. If it's not a full flight and you can find some empty seats together, the arm rests flip up. Bring lots of snacks and drinks, maybe even a lollipop just in case! Good luck!

 

[LadyJade]

It's not unheard of to do this, I even asked my son's dr. (my son is 17 months old). I gave my son a little cold medicine (infant pediacare) before we got on the plane. He was sound asleep for most of the flight.

 

[marathonmommy]

It's not unheard of to do this, I even asked my son's dr. (my son is 17 months old). I gave my son a little cold medicine (infant pediacare) before we got on the plane. He was sound asleep for most of the flight.

Well, now that you can't bring liquids on the plane, be sure not to put it in your carry on! We are leaving tomorrow and keep hearing rumors of the banning of electronics. If no juice boxes are allowed AND no Video Now - yikes! I'm just going to hope it's nothing more than that - a bad, electronics rumor.

 

[Sarah]

I have been travelling with small children for 9 years now.

My best, pediatrician advised(always ask your own) advice is Benadryl. We call it vitamin B, the travel vitamin ha ha. It makes my children sleepy and keeps their ears clear. Actually you have to try it 1st to make sure it does not make your child hyper. I came across this after the first time I travelled with a little one and she was in agony from the cabin pressure with her ears. Drinking helps too, as does chewing gum(that's thier big airplane privledge--gum with sugar in it).

Ok. All benadryl, dramamine aside my best travel trip ever involves the dollar store and wrapping paper. The gifts are disposable.....they dont need to return home and get fun wrapping paper and use TONS of tape.(bring a ziplok for the trash). Then you can dole out the gifts as necessary.

And you might get lucky and have TVs on the plane.

 

[goofinoff]

Keep in mind of the new carry on restrictions. Someone mentioned a drink and snacks. You will NOT be able to bring a drink on board for him. Fortunately for us, we were able to bring a drink so at take off and landing I had them take a drink so their ears wouldn't pop during. Just make sure that you have enough for him to do. Lucky for you the flight is short!

 

[momofbgtwins]

One thing my kids have always loved are spin pops, which can be found at Target or Kids r Us. They serve 2 purposes - sucking and swallowing helps with the ears, and then they have a toy to play with after the lollipop is consumed. The stores in Disney also have Disney themed spin pops for the flight home.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Keep in mind of the new carry on restrictions. Someone mentioned a drink and snacks. You will NOT be able to bring a drink on board for him. Fortunately for us, we were able to bring a drink so at take off and landing I had them take a drink so their ears wouldn't pop during. Just make sure that you have enough for him to do. Lucky for you the flight is short!

I thought I saw on the news that they would allow juice boxes for small children. They never defined what "small" is though. Our ds's are 6 and 9 and wondered if they would be considered small. Was this misinformation?

 

[goofinoff]

Go to tsa.gov and there is a whole list of what you can not bring on board with you. I want to say that they were allowing liquids for babies like formula and milk but that's it. check it out to clarify.