toddler toilet question?

[suebedo]

I have a 3&1/2 year old son. We are going to disney world the first week in Feb. He will NOT sit on a big boy potty without the potty seat on it. Also, he needs a stool to reach the potty to pee. So my question is...do they have shorter/smaller toilets at WDW in any of the parks? Do they have shorter urinals in the men's room maybe?

Also, does anyone know of a good fold up/small portable potty seat to take to the parks? I dread him having to poop and not wanting to sit on the big boy potty. It could be a disaster !

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

We used a fold up seat for years with our kids. I got mine for my oldest who is 14 now so I can't tell you who made it or anything but it was great. We kept it in a gallon size ziplock so it kept germs agay from anything else. I highly recomend getting one.

Also, if your kids don't like the auto flush, they are almost everywhere in Disney. If your kids get scared of them, one of mine was, you can bring post its or stickers to cover the sensor while they go.

I have never seen smaller toilets but I have never been in the mens room...
But my DH said all the parks have shorter urinals.

 

[PrincessMama605]

I don't know about a potty seat for in the parks, but when we travel I always take my dd's potty seat with us to put in the hotel bathroom-hers is just a padded ring that fits inside a "big" potty. It makes it much easier for her to go by herself when we are away from home. Plus she feels more comfortable with her own potty seat.

I can't think of anywhere in the parks I saw that had a kid size toilet, maybe in the family bathrooms?

 

[aanderson5]

We are in the middle of training DS. He also won't sit on a big toilet. He is terrified he will fall in and just keeps saying "it's too big, it's too big!!!". We were at a restaurant the other night and he acctually pee'd standing up for the first time because he refused to sit, even with me holding him. LOL I actually had to pick him up and hold him beside the toilet. Not ideal.

I'm glad you posted this. I am going to look for a folding potty seat. Where can you buy them? I hope that will do the trick. DS is still pretty small and I don't think he will feel comfortable on a regular toilet for some time.

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

I can't think of anywhere in the parks I saw that had a kid size toilet, maybe in the family bathrooms?

They have them in every Baby Care Center in all of the parks. They are toddler toilets and the centers have a maximum height restriction, so bigger kids (over 42 inches) don't come in to use them. If you don't want to carry the potty seat with you into the parks, then head there. The Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom ones are fairly centrally located. The one at the Studios is a bit more inconvenient, since it is at the park entrance.

Frankly, I would carry the folding seat to have to avoid running all the way across the park in an emergency - you can just head to the closest bathroom.

Thank goodness my girls were raised at the potties in DL and we never have issues with being afraid of the automatic flush. Automatic dryers were another issue altogether - we're over that now. While enviromentally wonderful, going through that brief period made me really happy that they don't have those at the parks.

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

I'm glad you posted this. I am going to look for a folding potty seat. Where can you buy them? I hope that will do the trick. DS is still pretty small and I don't think he will feel comfortable on a regular toilet for some time.

Any BabiesRUs has them. They are really light and will fit in the storage basket of most unbrella strollers, when folded.

 

[livndisney]

I don't know about a potty seat for in the parks, but when we travel I always take my dd's potty seat with us to put in the hotel bathroom-hers is just a padded ring that fits inside a "big" potty. It makes it much easier for her to go by herself when we are away from home. Plus she feels more comfortable with her own potty seat.

I can't think of anywhere in the parks I saw that had a kid size toilet, maybe in the family bathrooms?

WDW does not have Family restrooms. They have Companion restrooms, listed as such in the Guide for Disabilities. The family restrooms (like at the mall) have a big potty and a little potty. The Companion restrooms at WDW have nothing like that

They have them in every Baby Care Center in all of the parks. They are toddler toilets and the centers have a maximum height restriction, so bigger kids (over 42 inches) don't come in to use them. If you don't want to carry the potty seat with you into the parks, then head there. The Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom ones are fairly centrally located. The one at the Studios is a bit more inconvenient, since it is at the park entrance.

A height requirement for the BabyCare center? I have never heard this.

 

[SueM in MN]

WDW does not have Family restrooms. They have Companion restrooms, listed as such in the Guide for Disabilities. The family restrooms (like at the mall) have a big potty and a little potty. The Companion restrooms at WDW have nothing like that



A height requirement for the BabyCare center? I have never heard this.

The Companion Restrooms are set up for use by people with disabilities, so the toilets in them are ADA toilets (i.e. HIGHER than normal toilets).
Some have a raised seat toilet and a urinal, but none have any 'smaller' toilets.

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

A height requirement for the BabyCare center? I have never heard this.

Yep. If they don't have signage on the policy for the WDW toddler ones, it's probably because the majority of the taller kids go straight for the adult toilet and not the little ones. Therefore, they don't consider it enough of a problem/need to broadcast the height policy.

At DL, they have a little sign for the toddler toilets that says "Toilets are for Children under 42". " That's partially because they don't have anything but a moderate privacy screen. Kids who are bigger, well, probably shouldn't be exposing themselves to a room full of adults and babies. You start getting into the vague boundaries of children's personal privacy issues and laws. Keep in mind that out here at DL the Baby Care Center doesn't have an adult potty in it like the WDW ones do. (DCA does.)

My 3.5 yr old is short (35"), so by the time she actually gets to be the height, she'll be around 6 or so. That's old enough not to need Baby Care anymore.

 

[tam626]

We took our 3 year old in October & took the fold up potty seat. They have them at Toys r us. Also, for my boys to pee when they were too short, I'd stand them on top of my feet. Worse comes to worse, hold them up while they pee.

 

[tam626]

Here's the one I have. It folds up pretty small.
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2304657

 

[LadyShea]

We've been working on standing up at a regular sized toilet with my almost 3 year old in preparation for Disney. He kinda goes up on his toes and is doing really well and hasn't used the seat in over a week. We still help him with a bit of support though. He's about 36.5 inches tall, not sure if that makes a difference.

 

[dvcdisney]

When my daughter was almost 3, she was fully potty trained and when we went to Disney, we brought a foldable potty for her. However, she found it quite uncomfortable and ended up tossing it in the garbage by the third day. I did however, bring potty toppers which go over the seat for her, she liked it. My husband or I would have to hold her to make sure she didn't fall in, but that was fine, we were in there with her anyways. On our last vacation, she was 3.5years old, she didn't want us to hold her anymore because she thought she was a big girl and didn't need any help until one time she tipped her head back and she almost fell in. It was a good thing that I had my hand just slightly on her back in case she did fall back. From then on, she said that it was okay for us to hold her.

We do always bring a potty for her to use at the resort along with two small stools (one for the potty and one for the sink). But at the parks, we only bring potty toppers so she doesn't sit directly on the public potty.

With my son (9 now), we used potty toppers the few times he had to sit down at the parks. Since he peed standing up, we didn't use up too much. He seemed to prefer to wait until we get back to the resort to sit on the potty.

But with my daughter, I wanted to buy a portable potty since she would be sitting down every bathroom break, but she didn't like the portable ones so we just held her, and that was fine.

 

[nicki.momof3]

Teach him to sit backwards on a potty (he sits facign the back of the potty). That way if he goes #1 or #2 it goes directly in the potty (no need to aim it) and also sitting backwards gives him extra support under his rear and he will not have that "fall in" feeling. It worked great for my boys and daughter when they were little until the were ready (able ) to pee standing up or not afraid of falling in.

 

[livndisney]

Yep. If they don't have signage on the policy for the WDW toddler ones, it's probably because the majority of the taller kids go straight for the adult toilet and not the little ones. Therefore, they don't consider it enough of a problem/need to broadcast the height policy.

At DL, they have a little sign for the toddler toilets that says "Toilets are for Children under 42". " That's partially because they don't have anything but a moderate privacy screen. Kids who are bigger, well, probably shouldn't be exposing themselves to a room full of adults and babies. You start getting into the vague boundaries of children's personal privacy issues and laws. Keep in mind that out here at DL the Baby Care Center doesn't have an adult potty in it like the WDW ones do. (DCA does.)

My 3.5 yr old is short (35"), so by the time she actually gets to be the height, she'll be around 6 or so. That's old enough not to need Baby Care anymore.

Perhaps it is policy at DL. The Baby Care pottys at WDW are for the most part "regular" restrooms. They have full sized stalls. I think the one at the MK has a smaller sized "potty" in a full stall.

May I ask where you learned of that policy at WDW? Was it posted somewhere?
The reason I ask is we have been welcomed into the baby care centers in atleast 3 of the parks. I asked if there were "requirements" and told they were for those who need them.

 

[Cibahwewah]

I used the "sit backward on the seat technique" for DS at that age (but it does require taking off pants and undies), and if the toilet was too tall to pee standing up, he would just stand on my feet. DD potty trained at 27 months and I just never made a big deal about it. She did fall in once! I reminded her to "hold on to the seat with 2 hands" and it never happened again. I'm so glad I never had to carry around a germy potty seat. I have used a baby wipe at times to wipe down the adult seat prior to use.
I would love to see more short toilets and short sinks in public places. It's hard to hold up a child to wash their hands without getting more wet than you intended.

 

[mjkacmom]

I used the "sit backward on the seat technique" for DS at that age (but it does require taking off pants and undies), and if the toilet was too tall to pee standing up, he would just stand on my feet. DD potty trained at 27 months and I just never made a big deal about it. She did fall in once! I reminded her to "hold on to the seat with 2 hands" and it never happened again. I'm so glad I never had to carry around a germy potty seat. I have used a baby wipe at times to wipe down the adult seat prior to use.
I would love to see more short toilets and short sinks in public places. It's hard to hold up a child to wash their hands without getting more wet than you intended.

This is something that bugs me at WDW - why couldn't they have installed a few short sinks in the bathrooms? Last time I was there, I had 3 kids to lift!

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

Perhaps it is policy at DL. The Baby Care pottys at WDW are for the most part "regular" restrooms. They have full sized stalls. I think the one at the MK has a smaller sized "potty" in a full stall.

May I ask where you learned of that policy at WDW? Was it posted somewhere?
The reason I ask is we have been welcomed into the baby care centers in atleast 3 of the parks. I asked if there were "requirements" and told they were for those who need them.

I stated the policy that I knew, as there are readers who attend both DL and WDW who are interested in this topic - not just WDW goers. Therefore, if the policy is different for each coast, then it is important for parents who do attend both parks to know that.

Disney policies for their divisions are usually universal, so perhaps I made an incorrect assumption that this specific policy was also universal. While I haven't ever seen signage at WDW, it could very well be a policy that they do not enforce. as they do here - where there aren't larger toilets for the bigger kids.

Perhaps there is some one reading this that is currently at WDW that could do some research and post their findings.

 

[livndisney]

I stated the policy that I knew, as there are readers who attend both DL and WDW who are interested in this topic - not just WDW goers. Therefore, if the policy is different for each coast, then it is important for parents who do attend both parks to know that.

Disney policies for their divisions are usually universal, so perhaps I made an incorrect assumption that this specific policy was also universal. While I haven't ever seen signage at WDW, it could very well be a policy that they do not enforce. as they do here - where there aren't larger toilets for the bigger kids.

Perhaps there is some one reading this that is currently at WDW that could do some research and post their findings.

That would be us I think that since WDW doesn't seem to have the same facilities as DL there is not a policy here. Good to know-I was worried. LOL.