Trip with a One Year Old

[bethbuchall]

One nice thing about the rooms at Pop is that the one bed folds down from the wall. If you don't need that second bed, there is a lot more floor space in the room. We stayed there in 2018 with 4 adults (my "kids" were 19 and 24) and never felt too cramped even with all of our stuff.

Now we're planning a November trip with my oldest, his wife, and their 17-month old (at the time). It's going to be a different trip for sure! We didn't take our kids until they were 3-4, so I've never done this with a toddler. We'll be at Coronado Springs in 2 rooms unless something different opens up.

 

[Garyjames220]

Hello!

I've just started planning a trip to celebrate a first birthday in February 2022. I'm hoping for some tips or advice on things that I may not think about as this will be our first trip with a child and second trip I've planned (last time was our delayed honeymoon). We're currently booked from February 6th-12th at POP in a preferred room. Has anyone stayed in one of these rooms with a pack and play or crib? It looks like it may be a bit tight. We are very much go with the flow kind of people so are really planning on just following her cues as far as the day goes. So far we have Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom planned for most days with one day at Hollywood Studios and haven't planned to do Epcot. Other than MK and AK, I'm not sure what she would be able to do/see at the other two parks.

At the moment we have a rental car planned since ME won't be operating when we go (which is a bummer, we hate driving) but I'm still looking into other options. I would also love tips for flying with a child at that age. I'm planning on bringing her car seat and hopefully booking her a seat on the plane since I'm unsure she will want to be held for an entire flight.

Please tell me I'm not crazy for wanting to do this with a one year old I know she won't remember it but we will and she will have pictures to look back at.

Thanks!

we are coming from Scotland in May 2022 with our twin girls who will be 13 months. Going for 16 nights

 

[Peaseblossom36]

we are coming from Scotland in May 2022 with our twin girls who will be 13 months. Going for 16 nights

Congratulations on your twins! I’ve seen a lot of your posts on the DCL forum in the past. I hope you have a great time!

 

[Garyjames220]

Congratulations on your twins! I’ve seen a lot of your posts on the DCL forum in the past. I hope you have a great time!

aww thanks, you too

we are probably crazy but we have booked 16 nights so it’s all at a slower pace and can have some resort days etc to take it easy. Fingers crossed it all goes well

 

[julie-o]

Our 20 month old loved Epcot. There are two boats rides, Nemo, aquarium, lots of good stuff for little ones. HS had MMRR and nothing else for him. (But go if adults want to, and use rider switch).

I know he won’t remember the trip but it was magic while we were there and I’ll always remember it.

 

[julie-o]

Also, in Feb I stayed at Pop and loved how they redid the rooms. With the Murphy bed, it feels pretty spacious. Very clever design with lots of storage space. And the skyliner which is awesome with a stroller!

 

[Peaseblossom36]

There is nothing wrong with this. My child calmly tolerates flying on an airplane.

I hate flying so that plays into my worries there, I think.


With everything going on in Florida currently we’ve decided to push our trip to next year in hopes that things will be more normal and hopefully prices will even out a bit after all the pent up demand for travel Thinking we will likely do a smaller trip, closer to home.

 

[Daggyfamily]

Make a little stroller ribbon ‘puff’ to hang on the handle. It will help you find your stroller quickly in the mess of black strollers! Also helps others not accidentally take yours! Just a little tip that helped us.

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

Our first trip as a family (20 years ago) included a 3mo and 2yo - we were at All Star Music no problem with the room. Our surprise successes were: taking a hotpot to boil pacifiers and bottle nipples, having a stroller and a sling in which either child would sleep while awaiting a parade or just taking a break in the shade, and the extent to which the 3mo (and 2yo but less a surprise) glowed happiness in response to the atmosphere at WDW. She loved the things she could see, hear, smell - it was the most wondrous thing to experience: her facial expressions at the parks and resort.
We returned the next year when she was 1 and her brother 3 and then almost yearly, sometimes more than once a year since - until college years and COVID.
Caution: legacy FPs (and lower crowds) were in effect when our children were small then we learned to work with FPP's when that change happened, so wait times were never a problem. I'm concerned about the wait times now.
Have fun!

 

[Disneyfan754321]

I forgot about the trains! I'm sure she would love those! She really loves Winnie the Pooh right now, she has prints of characters in her room and loves talking to them. Thanks for the reassurance about Pop! The pictures must make it look smaller than it is. We honestly picked it because of the pools, since it seems to have the best options for a little one



That's what I'm hoping for with pictures! We sprung for memory maker since it's a longer trip than our last and we would like pictures of all of us.


Thanks everyone for all of the great advice and reassurance! We're both very excited about the trip, especially since we had to cancel two DCL trips in the last year. So we're hoping this one will hold out! I've already had some negative comments from my family so it's good to hear positive feedback from people who have done it. For anyone who has flown with a car seat, how are they installed? Is there a latch system on planes or do you use the seat belt somehow? I imagine it's in the manual? Sorry if that's a silly question!

They would not let us use our carseat because the sticker on the side letters were worn off so they made me gate check it put him in the window seat let him use the fire kids tablet. We DL some netflix baby shows and games. It was really great at the park as well.

 

[jvz82]

I have 4 kids and we have taken them to Disney at all different ages! I love taking infants! 12 months old can be a little hard because they are probably not strong walkers yet and want to be on the go. The parks have some little play areas, like by Splash Mountain at MK, that are meant for toddlers. There's an AMAZING play area at AK in the Dinosaur area! With infants and toddlers, we just slow way down and take things more at their pace. I found some of those slower trips to be the most enjoyable!

We've stayed in pop before and found it spacious enough for a pack and play. We don't usually spend much time in our rooms though. My babies often napped in baby carriers while we walked around the parks.

And a picture of my 3rd child at Disney, a few days before he turned 1!

 

[PixieDust&MickeyPretzels]

We planned to go last January for DD 1st birthday but had to postpone due to the pandemic. We’re taking her next month at 20 months and we can’t wait!

I hate when people say negative things about bringing a baby to Disney “who will not remember“. DD can name all of the fab five and has recently been getting into Winnie the Pooh. She’s going to light up when she sees them in person! Regardless, I feel like it’s a safeplace to have a family vacation and is baby friendly, so why not?

Also I wouldn’t count Epcot out! They have multiple splash fountains for kids, the huge aquarium that is an air conditioned way to explore, and they have an outdoor playground by mousegears! They also have the play areas at the end of journey into the imagination with figment, mission space, and spaceship earth (although not sure what’s opened right now due to COVID)..