was it "worth it" for you to go to wdw with a 1 year old (only child she will be 11mos)? +

1 year birthday month trip for baby?


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Princess2R

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 24, 2018
Please respond only if you have first hand experience. I know without/ before having kids it is easy to have opinions that change once you actually have one.

Of course, *I* want to go and it is my own Disney desire that is pulling me in to do this trip but was it worth it for you?

clutch your pearls: my H is not interested in going- I know, i know, crazy! lol
So for this trip we would meet my sister & mom.

Can anyone share their experiences bringing a 1 year old to wdw?

She takes 2x 1-1.5 hour naps now, so i can't imagine spending my days going back& forth to the room. Best places for napping?

This won't be her "once in a lifetime" trip, if that was the case i would wait much longer.
yes i can postpone the trip to the next year/ she is older - but do i want to? should life be on hold because you gotta make extra arrangements and adjustments?

pros? cons?

Pros: flies free, gets in to wdw free, i want to go °o° , early riser
Cons: she is young/ needs naps/ a lot of work with a baby! i would have to fly alone with her & carry all her stuff, forget about most nighttime entertainment.

share your stories please!
First hand experience please
 
I have taken my girls all young my oldest at 11 months middle at 15 months and my youngest at 9 months old. Its great since they do fly free ut since you are flying just you and you baby I would consider buying a second seat just so you have some place to put your daughter down. Ech time I have gone my husband or mom was with me flying. my littles always just napped in the stroller I wouldn't worry about a schedule when they are that young they are just go with the flow. We did night time stuff too even the halloween party with my first. they all loved it! its really not that much work with a baby Disney has the baby care centers which are a great help. I would do it!
 
My oldest turned one on her first trip to WDW. She has also been to Disneyland at 15 months, WDW again at 2.5 and 3.

We took my youngest when he was 13 months (we couldn’t go for his first birthday exactly or we would have.) Also took him at 22 months.

My thoughts:

-I LOVED taking my oldest for her 1st birthday. The trip was awesome. Same with my youngest even though he was a month older when we went.

-It seems young but both of mine LOVED the rides and the FoF parade. My oldest loved characters at that age, my youngest was not quite as enthusiastic about character meets but did just fine.

-At 12 & 13 months both of mine mostly napped in the stroller whenever they felt like it. Worked out well for us.

-I think diapers are easy at the parks. On one of our trips both my kids were in diapers. I kept a bag in my stroller with the extra diapers and wipes and only carried one diaper with me to rides for emergencies. That way I wasn’t carrying around extra stuff I didn’t need. And if anyone stole my bag in the stroller with the diapers I figured I could get some in the baby center.

-On my oldest’s first trip one day she took a late nap (around 4pm). We went to Wishes that night and she adored it! She would point and say “Woooow.” It was a beautiful moment. So don’t totally rule out a night time
show! It could work out.

-With little kids, we try to do as much as possible in the morning. We schedule any ADRs for breakfast or lunch because we know that’s when our kids will definitely be awake. We play the afternoons and evenings by ear based on how the kids are doing. Like I said before, both of mine mostly took stroller naps at that age. If it was a super hot day we would sometimes go back to the resort to refresh but neither of mine did very well napping in the room. They would normally fall asleep in transit and wake up when we got back to the hotel :) Stroller naps were our friend.

I highly recommend going! I would take another 12 month old again in a heartbeat.
 
We took DD when she was 28 months, so a little older but still 1. She was just walking at the time. She also slept in the stroller, so we rarely went back to the room for naps. We found several places to just rest in the shade and people watch. She loved watching the Parade and shoes, as well as meeting characters. We also just loved getting photos of her around the world. It remains one of my favorite trips thus far.
 
We brought our twins right before their first b-day, and our oldest was 4 at the time. Was it worth it? I'll preface my comment by saying a day at WDW is better than a day anywhere else, it's truly my happy space. But I'm sort of 50/50 on if it was worth it, leaning toward no. It's a ton of work lugging the things they needed around. They obviously couldn't ride much, so that was tough. Spent a ton of time crawling around playgrounds, which we can do at home. The plus side was seeing the amazement in their eyes as they took in all the sights, sounds, etc... But if I had to do it again, no, I probably wouldn't.
 
I've posted this many times, but my daughter has been to DLR twice before 1 and WDW for her 1st birthday as well as again a few months later.

Completely worth it to us, she enjoys character dinning and the rides she can get on, she does show interest and preferences

You will not get much done, your days will be slow but if you focus her experience you will have a good time, I would convince H to come along...I'm not sure why he would want to miss his daughter having a great time.
 


If you are going because you want to go then yes you will have a great trip - if your going to take your dd then it could be different. My dd was 14 months on her first trip but we went to meet family and because it was our family vacation that year, not to take her to Disney World.

We had a blast and my dd seemed to love it as well but we really just did what we wanted to do for the most part except for some character meet and greats. She loved the rides and shows and fortunately she was a great stroller napper (this made a HUGE difference). She called all the rides
boats" and often asked for "more boats" lol.

So sure- if you want to go do it - but like the pp said the memories are yours but she will love the pictures when she gets older.

Since your solo - (I did many trips solo with my kids less than 2 yrs apart starting from 1 and 3 yo)
Buy or borrow or rent a lightweight stroller that fully reclines, mine even stood up on it's own when folded. Invest in a stroller umbrella (you need it in addition to the stroller sunshade in FLA) as well as a stroller rain cover. Use a small backpack instead of a diaper bag and pack light, don't over pack the basket especially if your using the buses.
 
Our daughter was just over 1 when she went the first time. The trip was hard at times, but worth it. She napped in the stroller when we were in the parks, so we didn't do the back and forth. They were shorter than normal, but they served their purpose. We did call it a night early but that is our normal schedule with her. For our second trip, we had family with us and it was really nice to have the grandparents with her for the evening so we could go out. I'd say to go for it if you want to go. The memories are worth the effort.
 
We took my 8 month old and it was worth it but hard. I think this is a hard age range because they're too old to enjoy being carried all day long and too young to run around and exert some energy.

I'm an avid baby wearer, and probably carry my baby in the ring sling for 2-4 hours per day at home, but it was more like 10-14 hours per day at Disney and that was physically tough for me. That's where she happily slept for naps wherever we happened to be, so that's a plus.

The hardest part was finding safe and (relatively) clean/cool locations to put the baby down so she could crawl around when she got desperate to move. She was standing but not yet walking, so it was tricky finding safe ground for little baby knees.

Here's the best places we found:

- They had some little outdoor playgrounds set up for Epcot flower & garden festival, and those were our absolute favorite spots, but I don't know if they kept them up after the festival ended.
- Dinoland USA in Animal Kingdom is a great playground and it has some toddler--sized slides we took her down (plus space for crawling/climbing/cruising) but we had to stay pretty much right on top of her since so many older kids were running around like crazy.
- There are a couple tiny AstroTurf lawns in front of Crystal Palace that are almost impossible to notice unless you're looking for them, but they make a great tiny baby crawling space
- I'm sure you already know about the baby care centers. We found them useful for some things, but they get super crowded midday and there still wasn't much room for crawling
 
Note: I didn't read the thread.

I had never been to WDW for a real vacation before DD was born and I was craving a vacation, so we decided to go when DD was 6 months, for me ;). We didn't really know what to expect, but I did a lot of research and planning and we are pretty go with the flow.

We loved it so much, we went back when she was 11.5 months, then again at 18 months, and now we have a planned trip for 30 months, 35 months, and 42 months (I think we have a problem). But it is a very easy and enjoyable trip to do with a LO.

I'd really recommend taking a front carrier, our DD napped in it really well, and it was great for standing in line and the vast majority of rides will let you ride with them in a front carrier. Also (this might seem weird) Haunted Mansion was GREAT at getting DD to go to sleep. She has ridden it 9 times, and never made it all the way through, many times we went out of our way to ride it just to put her to sleep. Since she was always in a front carrier, she would stay asleep and we could do other things while she slept for an hour or two. (Ours was $25 on Amazon, so you don't have to go crazy). For stroller sleeping I recommend getting a black out screen for the stroller, Babies-R-Us used to sell them but I am sure you can get them elsewhere.

Also, I really hated riding the buses with DD, especially at 6 months. I hated having to collapse the stroller, hold all the junk and DD, and then put it all back when you got where you were going. The only pacifier I ever lost was a Wub-A-Nub on a Disney bus :furious:. Ever since our first trip, we've driven to the parks.

We also prefer staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek so DD can have her own room and its much cheaper than staying on property but the location is just as good as many of the on property hotels.

One more tip. We just use a large trash bag to cover the stroller to protect it from rain. Works much better than the stroller rain covers, only downside is you can't put the kid in it while it is covered (although you will get a lot of bad looks if you push it around with the bag on even if you are obviously holding the child).

Edit: My wife wanted me to add that 11.5 months as the easiest trip with DD. She wasn't walking and still enjoyed the carrier, didn't need to eat/nap/pee/poop as much as she did at 6 months. At 18 months she wanted to walk a lot, but she wasn't that great at it yet and would try to run off and she didn't really like the carrier much.

We also did all the night time shows on each trip, not every night, but we did watch each of them with DD and she loved them. She also loved the water parks (preferred Blizzard Beach with her). She got less sleep then normal, but she lived and I think there is so much going on she didn't get cranky.
 
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My 2 youngest kids both went at one year old. It was fine. We did have an older kid for first one. Cost was great. We never went back for naps. They napped in stroller.
 
Here's the best places we found:

- They had some little outdoor playgrounds set up for Epcot flower & garden festival, and those were our absolute favorite spots, but I don't know if they kept them up after the festival ended.
- Dinoland USA in Animal Kingdom is a great playground and it has some toddler--sized slides we took her down (plus space for crawling/climbing/cruising) but we had to stay pretty much right on top of her since so many older kids were running around like crazy.
- There are a couple tiny AstroTurf lawns in front of Crystal Palace that are almost impossible to notice unless you're looking for them, but they make a great tiny baby crawling space
- I'm sure you already know about the baby care centers. We found them useful for some things, but they get super crowded midday and there still wasn't much room for crawling

I'll add:
-The playground area in Dumbo has a toddler area.
-There is a playground near Splash Mountain, the exit of Mission Space, and the exit of Journey into Imagination that an older infant could enjoy, at least for crawling
-There are also a couple splash pad areas that they could enjoy.
 
DH and I took our oldest who was 15 months old. For me, I wouldn't go with anyone else for my kids first trip, but that is me! If your dh would go the next year then yes I would postpone it. Kids have made put things on hold. If I wanted to do x, y or z sooner then I would not of had kids. They are more important then trivial things, yes a Disney vacation is non important, I want to go but it can be put on hold for kids.

Our dd was still taking 2 naps at that point, morning and afternoon. Actually she took 2 naps the day before we flew and I was planning on stopping her am nap on that trip as she was turning into a night owl when dh and i wanted just to go to bed! So our first park day she got no morning nap but we made sure to return to the room for the afternoon nap-we went back right after we had lunch so between 12-1. She probably slept til close to 5 and we also took a nap. We showered while she was still asleep or dh would shower and then I would and he would give her to me and I would shower her with dh's help. (she was not getting a bath in Disney, I didn't have bleach to clean the tub!). She was actually well behaved and wasn't the screaming kids we saw at 7-9pm or later at night because she had a great nap.

Your Pros:
  • flies free-yes but have you ever flown with a lap child? We bought all our kids a seat on the plane and it made us all happier. DH and I are not exactly super skinny but fluffy and back then we were less fluffy but the thought of a kid on our lap for the 2.5 hr flight is not my way of fun. I know people do it and when I look at them with a squirmy baby I feel bad because they have inches of room between them and the seat in front of them...fly I'd be annoyed if I had a lap child behind me that kept bumping my seat. I know accidents happen but kids kick-my kids shoes came off on the plane in case they kicked but the car seat was far enough back and their legs were short enough that there was no worry. Honestly, I would buy a seat and then you'd have another spot for a carry on.
  • I want to go see Mickey too but then reality sets in. Before we got married we/us/me went more often. The first 2 kids we went 3 years between, then I think it was 4 but we had a flood so it turned into 5 years and that is where we are at. Every 5 years which would be this year. I have learned that it is OK to want to go but not go.
  • Early riser is great and trust me she will be an early riser for a few more years. My kids are now sleeping past 7:30 on their non school days, my ds who is 14 wakes up around 9:30-10 now, my 12 year old around 8 and my oldest is working so she is up at 6:15 but tomorrow i am sure she will be sleeping til 10. But for Disney they all know they will be up at the crack of dawn.
Your Cons:
  • young-she will enjoy the sights and sounds for sure but she may not like the characters or the face characters. Will she be walking or riding the entire time. Mine walked around Epcot, it was great and gave her mobility that she would not of gotten if she was still crawling-ick on the hotel room floor.
  • naps-there is no way around that one, even as adults we take a mid day break and nap, although I might not come August since we have parks every other day and can sleep in every other day which for me means instead of waking at 6, I will be up at 5:45 with out a clock.
  • babies are alot of work, they need constant attention. Will you be OK missing out on some things. I know we had plans to do a rider swap for Space Mountain but when we got there and dh and I both saw her face light up doing rides she could do, I knew there was no way I was going to be "selfish" (that is me talking I am not saying anyone else who does the rider swap is selfish but me, its like Italian guilt) and ride a ride with out her. Dh and I both wanted to see everything with her. FYI, fast forward to bringing kid #2 and I was pregnant with kid #3 so I missed a few rides and dh went on some with my dad and then with all 3 kids, dh or I skipped out on some things so the selfish thing wore off but one of us was still with a kid or a few riding rides with the other was doing something else.
  • flying alone-that is the choice you'd have to determine if you were OK with. And then flying alone with a lap child you also need to make sure you respect the person you are sitting next to space. You don't want your childs legs going over or if that person has their tray down with a drink on it you want to make sure your child does not grab it/spill it which can easily be done. I planned a flight around my 15 mo afternoon nap time. Guess what...no nap! But she was locked in her car seat and we did lots of ispy, coloring, gummy candy eating, etc...There was no down time for me on the flight but because she was in her seat I was able to reach below and get stuff. But you are alone and that would be difficult to move around. Not sure if she has ever flown before either so you don't know how she will react. When dh and I were returning from our honeymoon, we had a flight from Maui to Honolulu, it was a short flight but we had a kid sit behind us and scream the entire flight. I swear it felt like it was hours but it was not. Then we see him in line for our filght to Atlanta...ahhh...luckily he slept and was not on our flight to Hartford. So flying alone with a lap child not knowing what that child will be like would be tough.
  • carrying all her stuff-yep and you won't be easily able to grab it. Last year when we flew there were twins that were lap babies. Both mom and dad sat in the aisle, dads twin slept. Moms did not. The baby kept dropping things and the mom was struggling to get them. Those with in reach of my dh, he picked up for her. That baby finally fell asleep towards the end of the flight and I told my kids that when they went to the bathroom on the plane that they better not bump the baby accidentally. I would sit in the back because it might take you longer to get everything "packed up" and this way you can step aside and let the people in your row get out.
  • missing night time entertainment-we did not. Again we were lucky, our dd napped (as did our other 2) so they were refreshed. We even did the park for EMH in the am but were in the room no later then 1 to nap. We also made sure to not do a park more then 2 days in a row, I think we have done 3 and that is a killer on our bodies. So we even have gone from Illuminations, walked super fast with strollers to the monorail, returned to the Poly in time to watch wishes :sad1: and then go to bed.
You really just need to decide if you can handle everything on your own. You will have family but they should not have to miss things because of your one year old so you need to be OK with that. I personally think your cons are outweighing your pros.
 
We took our youngest at exactly 12 months. It was awesome. He napped in his stroller with the shade up (bring a rain cover for the stroller for sure though). He LOVED the character meals. He was happy sitting in our lap on everything except pirates of the caribbean (didn't like when it got dark and went fast for a second). We've flown with our kids literally dozens of times when they were lap babies. It is really not that hard.
 
We just took our DD a few months ago when she was 14 months and I was about 5 months pregnant and it was a great trip! She napped in her stroller, the baby care facilities were super helpful, she loved the rides and the whole atmosphere. We're from the northeast so I was a little worried about the heat but she was champ. We brought our own stroller (instead of renting one) that she was comfortable in and I think that helped with the naps. Cast members were so kind to her, it was really magical from that perspective. We brought a backpack diaper bag that has cooler pockets built in to carry some of her favorite snacks (had them delivered via Amazon to our resort). It was actually super easy to travel with her. She's an early riser and very vocal (read: screamer) so one of us would walk her around the resort while enjoying an early breakfast. She flew as a lap baby, very easy; the magical express bus doesn't require car seats, again, super easy.

Disney is made for families, including small kiddos. I wouldn't hesitate.
 
I think you answer your own question. It is worth it if you want to go, and are willing to take your child. I am planning my trip for Feb 2019 when my son will be 28 months old, so about 2.5. He still needs a mid day nap, but he will nap in the stroller if he is super tired.

This trip I'm planning is definitely not for him, as he will only have memories through the pictures we take. But I plan to structure my days to his schedule, and plan to follow his ques on when we need to leave the park or take breaks. We also scheduled an 8 day/7 night trip, plan to stay in a townhouse, and are renting a car for maximum home feel and flexibility.

I figure he will be my son forever and is growing and learning every day. My husband and I love to travel and vacation at least 1 or 2 times a year to many different places. I would love to instill a sense of wanderlust in my son and a yearning to see the world. We are even starting to create picture books every 2 years to chronicle his travels with friends and family!

So if you really want to go, and want to begin to share your excitement for Disney with your child now, there is no better time to start!
 
We went to Disneyland last year with our 1 & 4 year old grandsons... it was so much fun!
In 2 weeks we are going to Disneyworld with my now 2 & 5 year old grandsons & our 1 year old grandson will celebrate his first birthday there!
They have fun at looking at what makes a one year old have fun, I think Disneys great from 1 to 100!
My sons children are used to traveling a lot tho, the 5 yo has been to Japan 4 times & many other places... they are great little travelers, very easy going.
Love my grandsons
 
We vacationed at Disney with both children before they were a year old, not necessarily for their benefit, just family vacations. They enjoyed the characters and surroundings, and even though they have no memories of being there at that age, we have many photos and videos that we all love to view.

My opinion is that everything is a learning experience, whether it is remembered or not. I didn’t refrain from taking them to the zoo or park because they “wouldn’t remember”. That being said, if we could have gone only once, I would have opted to wait until year four or five.
 

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