Travelling with Infants - Need help!

[boomhauer]

Hi all.

My wife and I are going to make our resort reservations tomorrow for our summer trip next year. At the time of travel, we'll have our 6 year old and (God willing) two 5 month old's.

I already looked into airfare, and we can hold the cihldren on our laps.

Does anybody know about transportation from the airport? If we take ME, can we hold the babies on our laps? What about a town car?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[twinspluscade]

Hi! As I'm sure you can guess from my username, I have twins too! Mine are 4 year old ID girls.
To answer your questions: ME doesn't allow any carseats/booster seats on the bus, so the babies would for sure have to sit on your laps. We used ME on our trip in Sept, and thought it was great:easy to use,and best of all, free! Plus we didn't have to worry about hauling down to Florida two boosters and a carseat.
I'm almost positive you'd need car seats in the town car...and possibly a booster seat for your 6 year old (depending on Florida law). But, I have no experience with that, so I don't know for sure.

Kelly

 

[jlx2]

We also have twins. Their first trip to the world was in May and they were 18 months old. We used ME and we were able to hold them on our laps since car seats are not allowed. We also had them as lap children on the plane, and to be honest with you it was pretty difficult for us. My boys got cranky and one cried pretty much the whole time and squirmed around for 3 1/2 hours. My best advice is if you can manage it is to get them their own seats and use the car seat. You can also check before you leave for the airport and see how many empty seats there are on the flight and if there are empty seats they will allow lap children to go in car seats as long as there are open seats. It is a pain to carry the car seats, but when we went last month even though they were under 2 we got them seats and it was the best thing we ever did. They slept most of the way down and back, or played with books and toys. We got a luggage wheeley thing at Target that folds up flat. We put both car seats on it and secured the seats with 2 bungee cords, so we didn't have to carry them both. Another piece of advice is if you can swing it try to get a villa or a hotel with a kitchen/kitchenette and washer/dryer. We're in the Vacation Club and I can't tell you how great it is to have the kitchen to feed the kids breakfast and if they want milk or juice it is right there. Also as you know accidents happen and clothes get dirty quickly with twins. The washer was the best and we had to pack half the clothes. I know there are several hotels off property that offer villas too, and then you would need to rent a car or use a town car and in that case you would need the car seats. I know with car rentals you can rent car seats too, but I much prefer to use our own because I am positive they are in good condition and haven't been in any accidents. If there's anything else I can help you with please let me know! Your kids will have the best time, just make sure to prepare before you go and everything will be great!

 

[Tink n Poohbear]

Hi there!

I also have twins. They were 4mos old at the time of their 1st trip and our oldest was 3 1/2. Everyone thought we were crazy, but if was the perfect age. The girls were still small enough to carry around in slings, so we didn't have to worry about strollers. Just carried them right on thru the lines and onto rides.

The toughest part of the trip was getting thru security at the airport with so much gear.

Have fun!!!

 

[mattsdragon]

I don't have any kids, and I'm not a twin, but judging on what my old man did with me and my sister on our trips as kids, can't you just strap them to the roof, or maybe in the luggage compartment on the ME bus?

Darn these liberals and their desire to interfere with EVERY aspect of my life.

 

[mrsbug]

You can use the ME without carseats and just hold them. I HIGHLY suggest a sling for the babies though! Ds was 3 months when we went and the sling was a life saver. Much easier to put him in the sling than hold him on the busses or standing in line. I wore him a lot in the restaurants because they don't have anything for babies to sit in and most won't let you bring the stroller in. With the sling at least I had my hands free to eat! He also slept great in there. We used the maya wrap, mayawrap.com, but there are a bunch of different types of slings. If you're interested, do a google search for baby slings or post on the family board here, I bet you get lots of suggestions.

 

[dvccruiser]

Both times we traveled with our under 2 child we needed to show his birth certificate. Not sure if a copy can be used we used the original just in case.
They will ask for it.
We used ME both times it worked fine. No need for a car seat.

 

[alicenwonder99]

Hi there!


The toughest part of the trip was getting thru security at the airport with so much gear.

I agree. That was the worst part of the trip with our dgd who was 6 months old for our trip last month. Even the stroller has to be folded up and put on the conveyor belt to get scanned at security. All of the children had to take their shoes off. We really held up the line with our large family and all of the little kids...lol.

We didn't buy a seat on the plane for the baby. I wished we would have called ahead because the plane was practically empty on the way down there. The flight attendant said we could have put the carseat in an empty seat. If I were you, I would definitely buy seats on the plane for your twins. I know it's an expense, but how in the heck will you be able to do anything with BOTH parents holding a young baby???

If you don't buy a seat, you will have to get a special boarding pass for the babies. You won't be able to get through security (nor board the plane) without this special boarding pass for a lap baby. If the baby is really young (like an infant), I don't think you really need to bring along a birth certificate. Actually, we were never asked for one at SW, but the baby was only 6 months old. However, if your lap baby looks older you will have to have proof of age.

HTH

Mary

 

[Nanu57v]

We only have one, and I understand the cost associated with having to buy two seats! However, our seat for our trip last December for DD was only $46! I read the fine print on our fare and it talked about infant rates being half price, so they gave it to me. We used towncar in December and of course needed a carseat, but this trip we used ME and the driver came up to me in line and said I would have to put the carseat below (well, duh, I wasn't going to strap her into a carseat in a vehicle without seat belts).

You didn't ask this specifically, but I'd definately bring your own stroller rather than plan on renting the Disney ones. They aren't appropriate for infants under 18 months.

 

[Cee]

I don't have any kids, and I'm not a twin, but judging on what my old man did with me and my sister on our trips as kids, can't you just strap them to the roof, or maybe in the luggage compartment on the ME bus?

Darn these liberals and their desire to interfere with EVERY aspect of my life.

My advice was going to be, don't travel with infants.

 

[stacy6552]

I know, I know. You didnt ask, but I have to say it or I won't sleep tonight. Take your carseats with you (you can get dufflebags for them that are priceless). Take them al the way to the plane (you can gate check them if you need to), because if there is room, the airlines will let you put the babies in seats of their own and that really really is the safest place for them. And I would totally opt for towncar service over DME. Its more convenient and reliable which is worth its weight in gold when travelling with babies and a small child.

And BTW, we traveled when our kids were those ages (6 and <1), and I cant reccommend a 1 bedroom villa enough. We stayed at OKW. The full kitchen for baby foods and bedroom door that you can close while the babies sleep and the rest of you are awake are worth every single penny.