How Young is Too Young?

[mylittlebuttercup]

My friends spent half their vacation trying to quiet their toddlers in strollers, often having to leave the Parks in the middle of the day.Being unable to get on rides because the kids were too small--hauling them out of restaurants when they started screaming. Both insist they would never take a kid under the age of 5 to WDW. Having seen a lot of exasperated parents with toddlers in my own 60 trips to WDW, I can easily see where they are coming from! Now--on a cruise there are no rides, and getting to the room for a nap, etc is a lot easier.

Yeah, just took a toddler to WDW in November and experienced none of this. The only "bad" part was him being antsy sometimes riding the bus. I didn't feel the need to keep my child quiet in his stroller. We used the stroller to travel long distances in the park, but he could walk or be carried short distances. I don't understand not being able to get on rides because the kids were too small--toddlers can ride a majority of the rides, and for headliners, you can do baby swap or stagger Fastpass Plus reservations. (And plus, we looked at it as the vacation being more about my son and not about us. We have plenty of time to ride more roller coasters in the future, but we did do some.) We leave the parks in the middle of the day a lot of the day anyway (even before we had a kid) to give ourselves a break, although we actually skipped that once or twice this trip, and our son just fell asleep in his stroller. We didn't have much of a restaurant problem. Typically if he gets whiny, we can distract him by playing games, coloring, etc., and if he gets really antsy (which he didn't that trip but once in a while does at other restaurants), one of us can take him for a walk.

I'm not saying this to say your friends were wrong--obviously they didn't enjoy their experience--but as a counterpoint to anyone who may be discouraged reading experiences like this and thinking their trip is automatically doomed to failure. (I also have a friend who has been taking her kid since he was about four months old and a family member who has been taking her kid since just under three, and both have had similar experiences to me. So I am not just the exception.)

 

[Uncleromulus]

Yeah, just took a toddler to WDW in November and experienced none of this. The only "bad" part was him being antsy sometimes riding the bus. I didn't feel the need to keep my child quiet in his stroller. We used the stroller to travel long distances in the park, but he could walk or be carried short distances. I don't understand not being able to get on rides because the kids were too small--toddlers can ride a majority of the rides, and for headliners, you can do baby swap or stagger Fastpass Plus reservations. (And plus, we looked at it as the vacation being more about my son and not about us. We have plenty of time to ride more roller coasters in the future, but we did do some.) We leave the parks in the middle of the day a lot of the day anyway (even before we had a kid) to give ourselves a break, although we actually skipped that once or twice this trip, and our son just fell asleep in his stroller. We didn't have much of a restaurant problem. Typically if he gets whiny, we can distract him by playing games, coloring, etc., and if he gets really antsy (which he didn't that trip but once in a while does at other restaurants), one of us can take him for a walk.

I'm not saying this to say your friends were wrong--obviously they didn't enjoy their experience--but as a counterpoint to anyone who may be discouraged reading experiences like this and thinking their trip is automatically doomed to failure. (I also have a friend who has been taking her kid since he was about four months old and a family member who has been taking her kid since just under three, and both have had similar experiences to me. So I am not just the exception.)

My friends say the only time their toddlers "remembered" the WDW trip was when the toddlers were later shown photos of themselves at WDW.

And you can add screaming on the airline flight down and back to my friends woes--on busses now and then as well.

Clearly they didn't think things through--

 

[TestingH2O]

Clearly they didn't think things through--

I think this is the repeating theme of the whole thread. If you travel with little kids, make sure you adjust your expectations. I miss the days I could watch a movie or read a fashion magazine on the plane or even just take a nap. Now I know I'll be doing stickers, watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Frozen, or just being used as a pillow. I'll also be hoping people don't give me the side eye when inevitably DD has to be reminded that she should use her inside voice.

We are leaving in a week for our first cruise and DD is 3. I know the first night or two will be hard to get her settled in a new bed. I know we will take breaks mid day to have some down time. I also know I may have to pay for nursery time if the clubs are overwhelming. I actually even have some reserved for our brunch and when old Navigators indicate the tasting we want to do is usually run. As an added bonus, we are traveling with extended family who have said they can lend a hand if needed/wanted.

DH and I will get some time together, some time to do what we want alone, and lots of family time. We also will only experience a fraction of what the ship has to offer. That's just fine with us and we are looking forward to seeing DD's face light up with joy and making memories we can talk about for years to come. All of these things mean we've chosen to go on a Disney cruise, not see 10 European cities in 12 days. We feel that we can easily make this vacation about all of us.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

My friends say the only time their toddlers "remembered" the WDW trip was when the toddlers were later shown photos of themselves at WDW.

And you can add screaming on the airline flight down and back to my friends woes--on busses now and then as well.

Clearly they didn't think things through--

Personally, I don't care if my son remembers his early WDW trips (and he won't for his first; he was too young.) My husband and I remember it and how it was our best Disney trip together so far. So if it matters to people whether their kid remembers, then by all means, they should wait, but I think for some people--especially hardcore Disney fans who already enjoyed going without kids--that doesn't matter.

I will agree with you somewhat on the plane thing. My son wasn't a huge fan of the plane and did cry a bit, especially since he wanted to nap but wasn't able to sleep heavily enough. I am anticipating that might be better now that he is over two and watches TV sometimes; we can put a movie or something on the iPad if he gets fussy.

In terms of your friends not thinking things through, you would be the best judge of that since you know them personally. But I do encourage people to think it through before going, to consider how their child does with waiting in line, eating at restaurants, etc. For instance, before we went, we took my son to local kiddie amusement parks to see how he did with short lines. We considered how his nap schedule would work into our vacation and whether we were okay with missing park time if needed to work in naps (we were, as we have often left to get our own naps in the past!) We talked about what we would do if he had any major meltdowns (which he didn't, but at least we had some ideas.) We packed snacks in our bags so that he would always have something to eat if he were hungry. We didn't try to do too much--heck, we never even made it to Tommorrowland our whole trip--but we still had a great time. If my son loved something, we didn't try to rush him away from it to keep on a schedule. We spent a lot of time one day in The Seas because my son was enjoying it so much.

Now if people know their child can get super fussy in unfamiliar situations/places, do not want to miss park time if the kid needs a nap, have a kid who melts down regularly when they go out to eat, etc., they shouldn't expect those things to be magically better at Disney World. I think there are those people who expect a temperamental child to be so wowed by Disney that none of those things will matter like they do at home, but that will most likely not be the case.

And if it does come to a meltdown once or twice (fingers crossed that it won't for our second trip!), is it really that big of a deal? Meltdowns happen with toddlers. Heck, my kid has melted down before at home or out and about over the silliest stuff. I would take a meltdown in Disney World over a meltdown at home any day!

 

[aggiedog]

My favorite trip to WDW was when youngest dd was 18 mos. She was in awe of everything and we have sooo many pictures of her leaning into characters with this look of pure joy on her face. Priceless!

Like it's been said, parents just need to adjust their expectations of what they'll be doing and what the child will "get" out of the experience. Also, how good a traveler is the kid? That same dd I just mentioned turned into a monster at 2 and really wasn't good for traveling again until around 6. Youngest ds has been a trooper since day one, and while he drives me batty with his constant questions, is easy to take anywhere.

We always planned nap time in to our day when traveling with little ones, even if it was just 45 min in the stroller parked near a bench. Shoot, at 47 I still want a nap after a full day at WDW. I just chaperoned a high school trip there and was flat out exhausted by our schedule. By the end of the trip it was me taking the naps on the park benches. Anyhow, you can easily do the same on the ship.

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

I took my 12 month old son on a Disney cruise by myself...just the two of us. It really isn't that hard. Heck, I take care of him by myself at home. On the cruise, I didn't have to cook or clean...winner, winner!!! Again, we had a GREAT time! I made some WONDERFUL memories with my munchkin and he got to spend his first birthday on a Disney cruise. How cool is that? When we stop in the hall at home and look at our pics with Minnie and Mickey on the wall, DS ALWAYS smiles!

For those of you who keep asking if the child will remember it, I have a question. A rhetorical question...did you give your child a birthday party at one year old? I know parents who spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars, on their child's first birthday (or first Christmas) and I guarantee you, they won't remember that! However, they did it anyway. So, why is a vacation so different? (Another rhetorical question). I went to WDW countless times as a kid. I don't remember anything specific about any of those trips! I just remember being grateful my parents took us. The first time I remembered specifics about a trip to WDW was when I went in high school. Heck, I don't remember everything about my vacations as an adult until I look at my pics and say, "oh yeah, I forgot I did that!"

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Our personal rule is either an infant or not until potty trained for cruising.

That in-between age is tough...we have done it. Once they can walk they know they want in the pools but they can't b/c not potty trained. We had a really hard time finding things to do to entertain a 14 mth old on sea days. After that we said never again until potty trained. Our next cruise we waited til the youngest was 2 1/2 but potty trained. He couldn't do the kids club, but did the nursery, and was able to do the pools. It was much better!!

Our next cruise will be next Oct and we will have a 10 mth old. It should be easy enough to keep him/her entertained without the use of pools at that age, esp since our kids still do 2 naps/day at that age. After that, we won't cruise again til he/she is potty trained.

For WDW we take them at any and all ages since we go annually.

Hope that helps!!

 

[lbgraves]

See I feel like the old system offered less flexibility in the situation you described above. With the new system, if you are in danger of missing your FP time, you can just go in the app on your phone and pick a different FP rather than missing your time all together like I sometimes was afraid would happen or did happen on the old Fastpass system. (Now given if your FP was for 7DMT or Anna and Elsa, you might not be able to reschedule that, but I know that ahead of time and make sure we are over there at the beginning of our FP+ window.)

I do miss being able to give other people Fastpasses I wasn't going to be able to use like you said, though.

The thing is that the FPs didn't expire with the old system. That's why there was no stress about hurrying around the park and why we enjoyed it more. You could still get a new FP at the time posted on the FP, which allowed you to have a few at a time. If the lines were low early, get the FP and go in the stand by line, saving the FP for later when the crowds were larger. I had read that fact here on the DIS and when a CM overheard my DH saying something about we were going to miss our FP time they explained that you couldn't go early, but you could actually use it any time after the start time since it didn't expire. Maybe some didn't realize that, but we were definitely not the only ones aware of how the system worked and no CMs ever said otherwise.

We don't have phones so rely on the WDW wifi with the fire or itouch. I don't know if it was the wifi or the server, but that seemed to be out of service quite often. Last month it seemed like most of the FPs were gone by 1 pm, earlier for some rides. Never had that issue with the old system.

 

[coloradocutie]

I'm looking at a WDW/Cruise trip sometime next year. Our daughter will be 1 in January. How young is too young for a Disney Cruise? Any tips/advice?

Thanks!

As far as tips for traveling with any little one- many have been mentioned- having snacks available, having distractions ready to prevent meltdowns, naps, babies travel lite for supplies, etc- one of the best ones that I read here on Disboards to apply for a known traveller number so that you get qualified for TSA precheck and do not have to wait in the security line (with sweet little ones… and car seat(s)… and baby bag.. and water bottles… and lovies… in tow). There was a photo posted somewhere here showing MCO security. Crazy lines. We applied for pre-check (AMEX reimbursed us for the fee) and it allowed us as a family to all go through the precheck line. The lines at MCO in May were just as crazy as the photo that had been posted. We were shown the precheck line and there was no wait and within 5 minutes (and all shoes still on!) we were through security. Children get to go through free if parents have the precheck (not so with Global access).

Where ever/whenever you travel- hope that you have some great memories!

 

[michellekcm]

I've noticed a couple of posters referring to Babies Travel Lite. I'm pretty sure they've closed now - I was looking to use them in May, and their website referred me to other sites such as Amazon.

(Unless they've re-opened and I wasn't aware!)

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

The thing is that the FPs didn't expire with the old system. That's why there was no stress about hurrying around the park and why we enjoyed it more. You could still get a new FP at the time posted on the FP, which allowed you to have a few at a time. If the lines were low early, get the FP and go in the stand by line, saving the FP for later when the crowds were larger. I had read that fact here on the DIS and when a CM overheard my DH saying something about we were going to miss our FP time they explained that you couldn't go early, but you could actually use it any time after the start time since it didn't expire. Maybe some didn't realize that, but we were definitely not the only ones aware of how the system worked and no CMs ever said otherwise.

We don't have phones so rely on the WDW wifi with the fire or itouch. I don't know if it was the wifi or the server, but that seemed to be out of service quite often. Last month it seemed like most of the FPs were gone by 1 pm, earlier for some rides. Never had that issue with the old system.

Yeah, I know technically you could use them past the stated return time, and we did sometimes, but I always felt weird doing it. I had also read posts that they were cracking down on return times at one point; don't know if that was true. I can see why you liked the original FP better since it worked well for you, but with the way we tour with a toddler, I have found FP+ works better for us. I never had a problem with the app like you said, but we used cell service and always had a signal. I think people's mileage really varies on the whole Fastpass+ thing. I went in thinking I would absolutely hate it based on its description and how we were used to touring, but I really ended up changing my mind.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

I've noticed a couple of posters referring to Babies Travel Lite. I'm pretty sure they've closed now - I was looking to use them in May, and their website referred me to other sites such as Amazon.

(Unless they've re-opened and I wasn't aware!)

Yeah I read posts on here a few months ago that they went out of business.

 

[Crystal O_o]

My friends spent half their vacation trying to quiet their toddlers in strollers, often having to leave the Parks in the middle of the day.Being unable to get on rides because the kids were too small--hauling them out of restaurants when they started screaming. Both insist they would never take a kid under the age of 5 to WDW. Having seen a lot of exasperated parents with toddlers in my own 60 trips to WDW, I can easily see where they are coming from! Now--on a cruise there are no rides, and getting to the room for a nap, etc is a lot easier.

Sounds like your friends didn't manage the child's needs very well. If you do the parks, most parents know a mid day break and nap is what a child needs. Also yeah, expectations that you can ride some rides with young ones. Also, staying hydrated and fed on a regular bases makes a happy family. Anyways, I have been taking my children to the parks since they were 1, and we just adore our time there with them. Each take breaks and make sure everyone eats and drinks on a regular.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Well--it seems their child's needs disrupted their vacation! Was the first time to WDW for each and due to the toddler issues they didn't do half of what they wanted to do.

 

[hubbard53]

for those that believe children do not 'remember' vacations, I offer two counterpoints: Just yesterday, my son heard us planning this years cruise and asked me "daddy, do you remember when I was a little baby and you fell in the pool?" - He was 1.5yrs old at the time and that was 3.5 years ago.

Second, whether they 'remember' or not, it builds their life experience. We have traveled extensively with my son - road trips, flights (he has his own FF numbers) , cruises, and resorts. He's done A LOT in his 5 years and has helped mold him into the well-rounded, amiable, and travel-friendly boy. He eats what we eat - he tried the kids menu on our first cruise but has ordered from the adult menu on subsequent cruises. He just spent a week in Mexico with us and learned to love authentic mexican breakfast and dinners.

As he gets older, these 'unremembered' experiences will make him comfortable and confident in new and unique places. He won't fear travel or be apprehensive when faced with unfamiliar foods and customs. I think most people would describe this as 'worldly'

No, he might not remember EVERYTHING but His mother and I WILL and will cherish our time with him. His experiences will stick with him and mold him in the future.

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

The more you travel with your kids, the better they handle travel. My youngest went to WDW for the first time at 6 months old! It was way easier than when she was 2 and wanted to run everywhere We took our kids to Europe for the first time at ages 3, 6 and 7. It wasn't the easiest thing to do, but it was a wonderful experience. We kept our expectations lower and focused on them. Sure, it gets easier the older they get, but I'm not willing to put my traveling on hold, nor do I think it would be beneficial to anyone if we did! My kids have gained a global perspective thanks to our traveling. Some people think we are crazy, but everyone has to make their own choices as parents. I feel like we are giving our kids an invaluable experience by traveling with them, WDW, Europe or just to our state capitol.

On the cruise where my youngest couldn't swim, the biggest issue for us was her older brother and sister were, so she flipped out...of course. To the OP, you will have a great time, Disney makes it easy to go with kids. And this will be one experience for you, the next time you go and she is older, will be yet another. It's always changing with kids and you just have to be willing to roll with the punches..be flexible.

 

[Iamaplanner]

I think that if you want to travel with your little ones, than DCL is truly the best option. We brought our 18 month old twins to Mexico and it was disastrous - and this was not because we didn't manage their needs well. The 'cribs' were so thin and crappy that they did not sleep well, which of course led to cranky toddlers. Food was an issue for them and the resort just didn't have enough to entertain little ones. I really feel like we wasted our money on that vacation because none of us had a good time.

That being said, DCL is MADE for the kids. In hindsight, if we had chosen DCL when they were that age, we would have had a great vacation.

 

[tup1830]

Lots of great, differing, viewpoints here.

My daughter is now 3 and is scheduled in the next month to take her 5th cruise...went first when she was 3 months old.

Preparation, expectations are key...as many state.

Memories may seem like a big deal to some, but sometimes just watching your little one's face light up with the characters, laughing and giggling when they play with them is priceless. They may not remember it, but they had a BLAST doing it...and as most parents would agree, seeing them that happy is a joy that cannot be put into words.

But...to each their own.

 

[fdlfan]

The younger children start enjoying cruise life, the better. ENJOY!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Well--it seems their child's needs disrupted their vacation! Was the first time to WDW for each and due to the toddler issues they didn't do half of what they wanted to do.

Definitely sounds like a case of not managing expectations. There was so much I wanted to do on our last trip that we didn't have time to do like we normally would because we had a toddler. But it was still the best Disney vacation I have ever had as an adult, maybe the best Disney vacation I have ever had period. It didn't matter to me if I did everything I wanted as long as I ended up having a great time with my family, and that did happen.