Disney World With A 1 Year Old

[njbeaumont]

I am taking our one year old son to Disney World soon (he will be one on April 2 and we are going April 12-17) and I am looking for tips on how to handle it. I will be going it alone as DH is going to Orlando for work and will be in meetings all day. My sister is coming along but she will have her own four year old boy to contend with. We are staying at the Poly.

I already have a stroller that folds compactly and yet reclines all the way so if he wants to nap in it (which he rarely does) he can. I am also bringing lots of snacks and sippy cups along as well as the usual assortment of baby stuff. My son is a great crawler/cruiser but he does not walk yet.

My specific questions are:

Can he ride in my lap for any ride that he is allowed on?

What should I do about naps? He takes two a day now plus he goes to bed at 7:30 pm. Should I just keep moving with him and hope that he will nap in his stroller when he gets tired enough or do you find it works better to go back to the hotel for scheduled naps?

What attractions/restaurants would you say are not to miss for a 1 year old? (The only definate is The PlayHouse Disney show as he is a big Bear fan)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Nancy

 

[SandraC]

So glad you wrote! We took our 15 month old ds to WDW last April. Our dd was 7 years old at the time. We are going again in 24 days ~ ds is now 2 years and 2.5 months old and dd is 8 years 4 months old.

NAPS / BEDTIME: Our son NEVER napped in his stroller at home. He would nap in his car seat at home. BUT AT WDW he napped perfectly in the stroller every day. Sometimes only 15 minutes, sometimes 2 hours. It always seemed to work out with what we were doing! The WDW Fairy shined on us! Bedtime at home was 7pm and woke up about 6:30-7am. At WDW he would get to bed between 8pm-10pm depending on what we were up to at night (Illuminations etc.,.) He would sleep until 7am-8am, again depending on events ~ the first morning he was up early, the rest where later. He slept just fine. I was worried about that too.

FOOD: We flew. We brought several jars of babyfood in case the restaurants didn't have food appropriate for ds. We ran out of babyfood fast ~ we bought some at Publix, CBR gift shop and Goodings. Most buffets were great and he ate FREE and LOTS! It was great weather! 83ºF ! I worried about milk going bad. ds was half breastfeeding and half on a sippy cup. We filled a 9 ounce cup with milk in the morning. When he finished it around lunch, we either bought a small milk or filled the sippy cup with water until we got back to CBR, I think he liked the water in the heat. At CBR we had a fridge and would refill the 9 ounce sippy cup with milk, go out again, do the water thing again and at night at CBR he would have milk again. He eat and drank just fine, I was worried about that too!

RIDES: HE WENT ON EVERYTHING! I was shocked at the rides ds went on and enjoyed. Even dark rides like Snow White, Peter Pan and Space Ship Earth were big hits with him! Unless there was a height restriction, we went on everything!

BEAR IN THE BIG BLUE HOUSE: We saw the show last year before they changed it adding other characters. We saw a 15 minute show with Bear and his buddies from the TV show. It was sooooo cool. We sat up front. Because dd is a special needs kid, we were asked to remain after the show to meet Bear. It was a great surprise! They gave us autographed pix of Bear and both my kids went absolutely crazy with laughter and smiles to meet Bear.

RESTAURANTS: Both our kids love the characters (don't have fears) so character meals, especially breakfasts are big hits! Donald Breakfastosaurus was their fav, it's more for kids than adults, it's nice to see Donald! Chef Mickey's was fun too. I was surprised how much ds liked the face characters at 1900 Park Faire char breakky and Cindy's.


The best advise I can give is : ENJOY AND GO WITH THE FLOW! Both my kids really like water, so we spent lots of time at the pool! Parades are great too because at your child's age, waving is a new skill and they love waving at the characters in the parade!

Have fuN! S

 

[npall]

To be honest with you it depends on the personality of your little one. My son will be 2 in May and we took him for the first time 3 weeks ago. HE LOVED IT! I was a little worried because he is very much on a schedule at home. He still takes a mid-afternoon nap and bedtime at home is between 8-9pm. On the trip he napped in the stroller for about an hour and was up until 11pm one night without a problem. I do have to say that my sister-in-law and her family came with us and her son just turned one in Feb. and he did not have a good time during the day. His first nap is usually about 10am and we were just getting to the park, he was very hot and the park was a bit crowded. THey ended up leaving and going back to the hotel about 12:30pm and returned in the evening ( he did much better with this!) So basically, you won't know until you get there..every child is different. My best advice is to take him even if it's only a couple hours and go with the flow...follow his queues and you will be just fine!

Have a wonderful trip~

Naomi

 

[mirlow]

Good advice Sandra You will be lucky since you only have your son to worry about. Are you staying onsite? You may want to hang out at the hotel for his first nap and then see if he will take his second nap in the stroller while you are at the park? You really do just have to play it by ear. We have gone in the summer and in the winter and we had different game plans for the trips. In the summer we go back to the hotel to nap and we are up until 11. In the winter we were at the parks all day and asleep by 7:30. I took my sling with me and I would carry dd in it when I was waiting in line or on the rides. I loved it. She had so much fun looking at everything. She loved It's a Small World. She also liked the parades. We went in January to celebrate her 1st bday She was terrified of the characters. She was glued to my lap during our character meals.
Have a great time

 

[Jennifoofoo]

We took our DS in November for his first birthday and returned a few weeks ago when he was 15 months old. Both trips were excellent! For his birthday trip, he wasn't walking yet either. He was down to only one nap on both trips. Usually, we would have breakfast and hang out at the pool in the morning. Then, we would have lunch and return to the room for his nap. He would take a 2-3 hour nap. Then, we'd hit the parks until the evening. Sometimes, we didn't return until 9:30. I would bring his pajamas and a bottle. He had no problem falling asleep in his stroller. We would just change his diaper when we returned to the room and he would go back to sleep. Just try to give him time to crawl or cruise during the day. Otherwise, he's spending the whole trip sitting in his stroller! He loved the characters. We did lots of character meals. We went on lots of rides and he especially loved Buzz, Pooh, IASW and Playhouse Disney. On our recent trip, he was walking. We gave him time to walk around the resort and to play. We found the play area in Toon Town and he had a blast running through the little house! On this trip, he napped in his stroller during the day and even during a character meal!! Be flexible and have a great time!

 

[tw1nsmom]

You're going to have a wonderful time. We took our twins when they were 9 months old (they will turn 2 on April 2nd ). I can't stress enough what others have said about remaining flexible. Our children have a very structured schedule at home, but at WDW we let them determine their own schedule. We had no problem with them napping in their stroller. In fact they would just fall asleep whenever they were tired or overstimulated (enchanted Tiki, jungle cruise, honey I shrunk the audience). We also knew that this trip wasn't really about seeing WDW, but about spending special moments with our children. Watching them experience the lights and sounds and colors that surrounded them was magical. As for holding your son on rides, that is not a problem. We held the twins on all sorts of rides. For those that weren't appropriate for them we did the baby swap. We didn't do that too many times, but it did allow us to enjoy some of the bigger attractions. WDW is great place to take young children on a family vacation. Don't forget...
-each park has a baby changing center with high chairs, bathroom, changing tables and supplies for sale.
-Character meals are great, but you may want to see how your son reacts to the characters first. Our ds loved them, but our dd was basicly freaked out.
-if your son is in need of a haircut, the barbershop on mainstreet does a wonderful job with a first haircut. You get mickey ears, haircut, photo ops, certificate, and lock of hair for $12 (Our son had a great experience, and they even found one hair on my daughters head that could be cut, so that she wouldn't miss out on the experience).

I'm sorry about the length of this. We really did have a great time. We're planning our next trip for just before they turn three, and I just can't wait. I hope you have as much fun as we did.

 

[Ali]

Hi - I took my son for his first birthday 2 weeks ago - he is walking so we let him walk around for a while, DH carried him a while and to meet the characters ( he won't wear shoes and the handlers freaked out when he was walking near the characters in socks) and he rode in the stroller a lot too. He will nap in a stroller, and especially loves to bounce on the Safari ride and fall asleep. He was warm so I put ice cubes in his sippy cup and he drank less formula than normal - but overall he was ok. He screamed and tried to get away from Its tough to be a bug, and he was really quiet in Pooh so we don't know how he will react to the other rides.

His favorite part of Disney is the baby care areas, especially at Animal Kingdom. He gets to get out of the stroller, walk around in cool air, and play with other kids and toys. Check them out. At AK you can bring in a stroller - at MK and MGM you can't.

Other than that - just go by how the child is acting - screaming isn't fun for you, the child or the other guests. Have fun.

 

[honeymom]

I took my daughter under similar circumstances (husband attending a conference) when she was 11 months.

All I can say is B-A-B-Y S-T-A-T-I-O-N.

Learn where they are as soon as you get to each park. They are wonderfully comfortable, air conditioned, great changing tables, rocking chairs and high chairs available. Plus, they sell baby food, diapers and other baby supplies. While their prices aren't the cheapest, it was so much easier than having to lug everything around.

My daughter enjoyed It's a Small World and the boat ride through The Land in Epcot a lot. Plus, she fell asleep on them. She generally got so tired after a few hours in the park that she fell asleep for one nap a day of about an hour. While she definitely had a sleep deficit, she did get some rest that way.

 

[chancellor]

My wife and I took our then 14-month-old ds to WDW over Christmas, and he loved it. The key to taking any small child is flexibility. Don't attempt to see everything; just go with the flow and it will be fine. Staying at the Poly will be a great help, too, because it will be easy to get back for naptime (strollers will fit on the monorail without folding, so the baby can ride in the stroller the entire time).

Also, don't think that you have to stay at the MK the whole time. There is tons of stuff for little ones to do at Epcot and especially MGM. My DS loved the lights and fountains of Epcot at night, and the kids shows at MGM (little mermaid and playhouse disney) were a big hit. He loved every ride we took him on, including the Haunted Mansion (we just held him in our laps on all the rides). He even cried when the Pooh ride was over.

The one thing to be most careful about is waiting in line. Our little one has NO patience, so waiting for more than 5 minutes was a challenge (plus he had just learned to walk and insisted on walking/running EVERYWHERE). The best strategy for this is (1) use Fastpass whenever you can and (2) if there's a short line for anything, jump on it. It actually helps to head back for naptime in the middle of the day when the parks are most crowded. The lines are shorter early in the morning and late in the afternoon.

And if you don't get to go on a lot of rides, don't sweat it. Little kids will have as much fun just looking around at everything in the parks. The rides seem to mean more to the adults than to babies. Take it slow, and you'll have a great time.

 

[njbeaumont]

Thanks for all the great tips and advice! I now feel more relaxed about taking him and will basically go and see what we see and take cues from him on when he's had enough and when we need to go back to the room. I have a guide book with all the babystations marked in it and feel armed to do battle with the crowds (which hopefully shouldn't be too bad as most Spring breaks are over by then). I am considering buying him a baby boat for the pools (since there isn't a toddler pool at the Poly) and I'm glad to hear that lots of kids his age enjoyed some of the rides as we have to bend a little to the will of my four year old nephew (who has a very strong will!).

I really like the idea of his first haircut on mainstreet MK. His hair is still pretty short except for in the back so perhaps we can have it trimmed up and make a cute keepsake for him!

I really appreciate everyone's perspective and if you have anything else to add, please do!

Nancy

 

[mirlow]

You will love the Polynesian I know that there isn't a kiddie pool, but it has zero-entry, which IMO is much better. I love to sit in the shallow end with my youngest dd, she loves to sit and crawl around in the water. I can watch my older dd swim and my ds loves to play on the beach. I can see them all from sitting in the shallow end. They also have a water play area. My kids have fun trying to get wet from the sprinklers.
Chancellor is so right about not waiting in line. Like I said we go in the summer when everyone goes and we go when there are light crowds in the winter. We never wait in lines longer than 10 minutes. If it's longer than that we move on. There are plenty of rides that don't have long lines. We use fastpass too.