WDW with a 12 month old - Crazy or Not, we're doing it!

[jiminykrikkit]

Hey y'all! Some people think we're crazy ("He'll never remember it!", "You're going to be miserable!", "You won't get to do anything with a baby on your hip!"), but we're taking our son for his first trip to the World this September. He'll be just over 12 months old.

Like many of y'all, WDW is my happy place. DH and I honeymooned there (2007 - WL), DH surprised me with a first anniversary trip (2008 - GF), then we skipped a couple of years (sad face). Now we're going back! September 7 is our 4th anniversary and September 9 is our son's first birthday. We wanted to be there on these dates, but we had some scheduling conflicts with my parents (they're coming with us), so instead we're going September 18-24. We're staying at POFQ and have free dining, well...mostly free...we paid the upgrade for DxDDP.

Here's our cast!

This is our little family (including Mickey of course, he had to be in the photos).

Here's baby with Gramma! Grampa is too elusive to catch on film. This will change once we get to WDW I'm sure!

I hope you join me as I geek out about our trip! I'm so excited about it. I'm very Type A and detail oriented so bear with me as I tell you all about every little thing I'm doing to get ready.

For your convenience, an easy to follow along with Table of Contents!

ADRs and other food plans
Custom Cake and First Haircut
PhotoPass CD and Miscellaneous
Park Bag & Stroller Storage​

 

[jiminykrikkit]

We opted to get Deluxe Dining for a couple of reasons.

1. We like food. Well, I do at least.
2. My parents have never eaten at a TS restaurant at WDW and we just decided to go all out. We would have purchased the regular dining plan anyways, so with the discount (free regular plan) we thought upgrading to deluxe would be worth the value to us.

I'm fully aware of my son's limitations in restaurants, and we're very much willing to cancel any ADRs that we think we may not be able to make due to his temperament. It's quite possible that we'll be back at the resort for a nap at any given time, so I'll have the ADR line on speed dial to let them know should we need to cancel. Hopefully if we do cancel, it'll be for a "good" ADR and someone will get some last minute magic for their day. This goes for the couple of breakfasts scheduled at the Poly...we're not entirely sure if we'll be able to get there on time due to bus transpo, etc. But like I said, we won't be upset if we have to call and cancel.

I had every reminder on every electronic gadget I own set to remind me to get those ADRs set on T-180 days. I asked for suggestions and got one. Grampa wanted to eat in Japan. Other than that, I went wild and got what I thought we'd all enjoy. Here's the meal plan:

Sunday (Travel Day/MK)
Lunch - CS place (POFQ or MK)
Dinner - Liberty Tree Tavern

Monday (DHS)
Breakfast - Sassagoula or Riverside Mill
Lunch - Hollywood & Vine (with Handy Manny first birthday cake!)
Dinner - Sci Fi Dine-In Theater

Tuesday (AK/EPCOT)
Breakfast - Tusker House
Lunch - Flame Tree BBQ
Dinner (switch to EPCOT) - Les Chefs de France

Wednesday (EPCOT)
Breakfast - 'Ohana
Lunch - Le Cellier
Dinner - Tokyo Dining

Thursday (MK)
Breakfast - Crystal Palace
Lunch - The Plaza Restaurant
Dinner - Boatwright's Dining Hall

Friday (Free Day/DTD)
Breakfast - Kona Cafe
Lunch - Raglan Road
Dinner - 'Ohana

Saturday (Travel Day)
Breakfast - Sassagoula or Riverside Mill​

SNACKS! I've started a list of snacks that I really want to try based on reading TRs and dining reviews here. I'll try to fit them in accordingly with my TWENTY-FOUR snack credits (DH is not a snacker, he will take one bite of something and give the rest to me!).

Dole Whip Float
Salted Dark Chocolate Covered Caramel thing and Caramel Corn from Germany Pavillion
Doh-Bar at Cookes of Ireland
Starring Rolls Cupcakes​

 

[JoanneDisFan]

Sounds like an awesome trip. You little one will have a great time.

 

[jiminykrikkit]

Sounds like an awesome trip. You little one will have a great time.

Thanks JoanneDisFan! I think he'll like it too.

 

[jiminykrikkit]

I just got off the phone with Disney and crossed some things off my to-do list.

First I called the cake hotline and ordered a cake for my boy's birthday celebration. CM Linda was really nice and very helpful. She wanted to make sure I was aware that Hollywood & Vine is a buffet and it comes with desserts, just to be sure that I wasn't paying for dessert when it was included. How considerate! I let her know that we were on the DxDDP and we both laughed at how much food we're going to be eating, especially since we're ordering a cake way bigger than we're going to need. Maybe I can share it with some other families, or in the case of cranky baby syndrome we'll just box it up to take back to POFQ.

I got us a 8" chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. It's going to say "Happy First Birthday [DS]" and have a screen print of Handy Manny (in keeping with the theme of course! )

Then I hung up and called the dining line and made an appointment to get the little guy's hair cut for the first time at Harmony Barbershop. I'm so excited for the little certificate. I'm about to search the DIS too to see what the ears are he gets for this. I want to get him ears to wear throughout the trip, but his haircut won't be until close to the end of the trip, so I don't want to buy the same ones he'll get at the haircut appt.

Hurray! 44 more days!

 

[jiminykrikkit]

We got the PhotoPass CD pre-ordered over the weekend. We did the $99 deal since we use Shutterfly for our photobooks. I like to play around in Photoshop and make my own digital scrapbooks so I didn't think we'd use the $149 deal.

The more I think about our breakfast ADRs, the more I feel like it'll be too stressful to try to get there on time. I am seriously considering cancelling them now so that others can get them while they're actually planning their vacations and not the day of by chance if we do cancel them. I am going to talk to my parents to see if they agree. I'll probably keep Tusker House and Crystal Palace since we'll be in the parks that day anyways, but I think I'll cancel 'Ohana and Kona Cafe. Thoughts?

I was reading on the resort board last night and saw some examples of window decorations. I think this will be pretty fun. We're already having a Mickey Mouse birthday party for DS before we go on our trip, so I think I'll bring along some decorations from the party to decorate our window at POFQ. No extra work for me since it'll already be done! Just gotta pick up some suction cups and/or some of those Command hooks.

 

[jiminykrikkit]

It's been a few days since I last updated, but not much has happened lately.

I did order this super cute bag for toting stuff around the park:

It's Baggallini Sling.Bagg, and I think anyone who reads these boards enough knows it's one of the more recommended bags to take to WDW. I am still waiting for it to get to my house, but I may actually start using it before the trip! I love that it's orange, and I actually didn't plan this, but it matches our stroller!

We have the Baby Jogger City Mini in orange/grey:

This is the same one that you can rent while you're at WDW, but we're bringing it with us since we own it. We've flown with it before (gate checked it) and it was really no hassle at all and in fact we had the giant Britax Boulevard CS with us on that trip (also gate checked & used the stroller to wheel it through the airport, baby in the Ergo) and it really wasn't a big deal. This time we're not bringing the car seat so I anticipate that it will be even smoother.

Since the stroller has problems with storage (it has a basket that is kind of a pain to access), I took some advice from someone on the Family board and ordered this cool sling net:

Still waiting on that to ship to me as well, but you can't really go wrong with extra storage.

The City Mini also does not have cup holders, so I purchased a "mommy console" a while back that is amazing. Baby Jogger sells one, but I found one by Sunshine Kids that is much cheaper and I have no bad things to say about it:

We also hang the diaper bag from the handlebar, even though it says on the stroller not to do it. I think they just say this to cover themselves to remove liability if it were to tip over, but it has never even tried to tip over even when the baby is not in the stroller. Believe me, I wouldn't do it if there were any chance the baby might get hurt! I'm not sure if we'll bring the diaper bag into the parks, but we'll see.

So that's the plan for storage while we're in the park. What has worked for you that I haven't thought of yet?

 

[TiggerDeb]

Sounds like you are going to have a magical, memorable trip.. We took our DGS when he was just 5 months old along with his older brother who has been going since he was 2 and between all the adults, we got to see and do everything because someone was always watching the children. We are all heading back there again in 28 days and now the boys are 4 and 8 so we are really looking forward to this trip. Have a wonderful time.... Looking forward to reading more

 

[jiminykrikkit]

Sounds like you are going to have a magical, memorable trip.. We took our DGS when he was just 5 months old along with his older brother who has been going since he was 2 and between all the adults, we got to see and do everything because someone was always watching the children. We are all heading back there again in 28 days and now the boys are 4 and 8 so we are really looking forward to this trip. Have a wonderful time.... Looking forward to reading more

Welcome to my PTR TiggerDeb! That's great that everyone got to see everything! I'm hoping that will be the case for us too. My mom doesn't like rides at all and she's a little obsessed with her grandsom so she's said that she would love to watch him while we're on rides. However I'm not sure I'm brave enough anymore for a few of those rides (ToT?!). Anyhow, I'm more concerned with capturing the memories of his first trip, so even if I do miss some things it is fine by me.

 

[Disneychix]

Hello!! You will have so much fun taking your little man on his first WDW vacation!

We have a similar cupholder thingy that we use in WDW except ours has a mesh bag that hangs down-I put everything in that bag part but essentially it's like hanging a diaper bag from the handles as well.
I love love travelling with the stroller! It's amazing how much 'stuff' you can take into the parks with you. Our basket is always filled with sweatshirts (that usually never get worn) and little things we collect along the way-napkins, stickers, popcorn buckets!

We got older DS 1st haircut at the Barber Shop back in 2009. He got regular black mouse ears that said "First Haircut" on the back.

Honestly, I don't even bring a purse when we're at WDW since we've had the kids. I do have a backpack/sling type thing. But I have a smallish-soft diaper bag (Graco) that I use and it's just right for the plane/restaurants/smaller rides.

 

[jiminykrikkit]

Hello!! You will have so much fun taking your little man on his first WDW vacation!

We have a similar cupholder thingy that we use in WDW except ours has a mesh bag that hangs down-I put everything in that bag part but essentially it's like hanging a diaper bag from the handles as well.
I love love travelling with the stroller! It's amazing how much 'stuff' you can take into the parks with you. Our basket is always filled with sweatshirts (that usually never get worn) and little things we collect along the way-napkins, stickers, popcorn buckets!

We got older DS 1st haircut at the Barber Shop back in 2009. He got regular black mouse ears that said "First Haircut" on the back.

Honestly, I don't even bring a purse when we're at WDW since we've had the kids. I do have a backpack/sling type thing. But I have a smallish-soft diaper bag (Graco) that I use and it's just right for the plane/restaurants/smaller rides.

Thanks for the reply, DisneyChix! I think I know what cupholder you're talking about. I saw one on Amazon with that same description, but since I already have the other one and my stroller has a net down the back I figured it'd be overkill!

I'm thinking we're not going to do the diaper bag because I don't want to have to lug into everything with us. It's on the larger side. It's a Fleurville MS3:

I think I'm just gonna throw a bunch of diapers, a pack of wipes, a ziploc with extra clothes, ponchos, and a small blanket (that we probably won't use!) in the bottom basket. All that stuff should be fine when I fold up the stroller, and not likely to entice thieves when we leave it in stroller parking. Then I'll keep all the other little stuff in the more easily accessible storage.

I'm really excited for the 1st haircut. Thanks for the description of the ears. Those are the style I want to get him anyways, so I guess I'll just wait and maybe get him a toddler baseball cap with Mickey on it. He needs a cap for at home anyways.

 

[disneylovin24]

I love that orange bag you got for the parks!

 

[Sara1Babe]

Looks like yall are set for a great family vacation. We're headed to The World w/ our 19mo in Oct. I love the idea of having your LO's first hair cut at Harmony. That's going to be super special.

I think I may love that orange bag...might need to steal that idea and research the mesh bags. We're toying with bringing both our umbrella stroller and our big stroller (we're driving so space isn't a consideration)

What did you decide about breakfasts. Knowing our Baby Girl breakfast is the one meal that's a no brainer in terms of her not having a meltdown.

Looking forward to reading more of you PTR.

 

[jiminykrikkit]

I love that orange bag you got for the parks!

Thanks! I just showed it to my mom and she's ordering one too!

Looks like yall are set for a great family vacation. We're headed to The World w/ our 19mo in Oct. I love the idea of having your LO's first hair cut at Harmony. That's going to be super special.

I think I may love that orange bag...might need to steal that idea and research the mesh bags. We're toying with bringing both our umbrella stroller and our big stroller (we're driving so space isn't a consideration)

What did you decide about breakfasts. Knowing our Baby Girl breakfast is the one meal that's a no brainer in terms of her not having a meltdown.

Looking forward to reading more of you PTR.

Hey S1B! You're the same S1B I already *know*, right? (I'm KA in case you didn't realize)

I decided to keep the breakfasts. I moved Kona Cafe back a few hours since it's on our DTD day and we won't really need to get up early. For 'Ohana, I couldn't get a later ADR so I decided we're just going to take a cab over to the Poly that morning, or else we'd be getting up way too early to allow for Disney transpo to get us there on time. For the character breakfasts, we're definitely keeping those. I also plan to have bananas and milk ready in the morning in the hotel room to tide him over until we get to breakfast.

 

[RooRach0906]

Joining in! You will have a wonderful time with you little boy! Can't wait to hear more! Also where did you get the mesh bag thing?

 

[jiminykrikkit]

Joining in! You will have a wonderful time with you little boy! Can't wait to hear more! Also where did you get the mesh bag thing?

Thanks for joining in, Rachel! I got the stroller net thing on Amazon, search for JL Chilress Stroller Side Sling. Hopefully I will get it in the mail soon and I can test it out.

I got my Mickey Mail today! The hotel/package information AND the Magical Express information. We're getting so close!

I also saw Disney PJs on clearance at Walmart today. $3 - they had Tink, Princesses, and Minnie at the WM I went to, hopefully they have some boy PJs clearance at other Walmarts. We have some Buzz and some Cars ones from a while back which are still holding up really well, but I want to get some more sizes.

 

[Sara1Babe]

I saw your anny cake in the cake thread and KNEW that I knew that cake

You do "know" me but I wasn't sure how you felt about being called KA.

Cant wait to hear your review of the mesh bags, can't have too much storage can you!? Esp when Daddy is a big ole pile of mush when it comes to Baby Girl and spoiling her is what he does best.

I am in a all Disney all the time frame of mind.

 

[jiminykrikkit]

Hey all! I don't have much of a trip update, but here goes!

I received the stroller sling net thing in the mail and it is satisfactory. I recommend it if you need more stroller storage. The husband wants to get another one, maybe we will, but I don't think it's necessary. I think this one will hold a LOT.

It was recently tax free weekend here in Texas so we took advantage of the great sales and I got some clothes for the trip and the husband got a new pair of walking shoes. I've been toying around with the idea to get new shoes, but I have a pair of Reebok Easy Tones and a really comfy pair of Crocs flip flops (that were great the last time we were in WDW). I couldn't see buying another pair of shoes that I'd only wear for the trip (I rarely wear the Easy Tones as it is). But I got some great shorts at Academy, only $9.99. Magellan brand (I think that's their house brand?). I supplemented what I already have well enough so I'm more than prepared to pack.

The little guy is a different story. I have to re-buy all his shorts and tees because he grew out of what he had super fast. Luckily I live 10 minutes away from a Carters outlet and they just put a 25% off coupon on their Facebook page. I'm hoping the end-of-season sales will be starting soon so I can get some more cheap shorts.

Not much else to report at the moment. I'm getting ready for DS' first birthday party (Mickey themed of course!) so I'll post some pics of what I'm doing for that soon. I'm really excited about it.

Have a great weekend everyone! I hope my friends along the East Coast stay dry and safe during the hurricane. It's not often y'all get hit up there, right? Be prepared for power outages. That's the worst part of riding out a hurricane, in my opinion. I get SO bored when the power is out.

 

[Disneychix]

My little guy was 6months this past week. I suddenly came to the realization he will not fit into his 6month summer clothes in another 5 weeks! Ugh! I went to some local consignment shops and got some short and onesie sets for like less than $2 each! I also found some cute stuff on sale for less than $5 at Target and hit up a garage sale where I got an outfit for $1.50! I should be good now. Darn those growing babies!

Can't wait to see the lil ones' 1st B-day party!!