Hi All
Apologies if this is repeating any post that has been made previously.
We are visiting Orlando and the Walt Disney World area next year and are considering either April or September. What we are after are any tips for travelling with, what will then be, either a 5 month old or a 10 month old. Any tips for flying? Car seats etc for car hire as well as whether to take a pram etc. Would love to hear from people who have done this before because, although we are experienced travellers to Orlando, flying with an infant is going to be very different
Some may think we are mad, but we have reasons for visiting every year and next year will be no exception, even with a little one.
Thanks in advance
I'd say wait until 10 months. They will be better able to engage and show their enjoyment etc so you will get more out of it with them. That said, we went in October and it was unseasonably hot. There is a huge difference between your capacity to deal with the heat as an adult bouncing from ride to ride. It is quite another thing dealing with it with a young family in tow... September therefore might not be as easy weather wise as April?
We took our son at 18 months (so he was walking and starting to talk) and he loved it. There is so much for them to see and do. Amazing! However, we stayed at CSR (lovely resort) and having only travelled as an adult with other adults in recent years I had really not registered how important (or complex) the travel time between park and hotel is. Little ones love Magic Kingdom. If you hire a car (as we did) and drive from resort to TTC and then take the boat (monorail service was hit and miss when we were there due to routine maintenance) and then stand in bag check line it can be upwards of an hour and half from resort to first attraction! By that time the small person is already running out of patience before you have even started. Then you have to do it all in reverse at the point that they decide they've really had enough or you want to go and cool off in the pool... Net result, minimal park time, loads of time spent travelling.
Don't underestimate the tiring nature of lugging all the stuff (pushchair, bags etc) that you wouldn't normally bring, and the impact of nap, feeding etc on your touring strategy.
Other things to bear in mind - it takes me usually 2 days to adjust to the time difference. Our little one didn't adjust until about day 9 of the holiday, so it wasn't until we had been there over a week that we finally managed to see some fireworks! This might actually be easier with a younger infant, as their sleep wake cycles are a lot less rigid. On the plus side, he loved the fireworks when he did see them, so that was a bonus.
Regarding flights, go with a decent carrier, go direct, ring and ask for details of the bassinet/seats that they use and check the length. When we flew to New York when our son was 6 months old and he was already almost too long for the British Airways bassinet. Also, every time the seatbelt sign went on we had to lift him out and put the infant lap belt on which was an absolute pain on both legs of the journey, but particularly upsetting on the red eye flight home as it woke him up every time!! On our flight to Orlando I booked him a separate seat to avoid this issue and bought a CARES harness so that he was allowed to stay in it (although he still had to sit on my lap for take off and landing) - much less stressful.
The car seats that they give you at the car hire are basic, but safe. If it is leather/hard plastic make sure you cover with a towel when not in use as they can get roasting hot in the sun!
Take a pushchair that is lightweight and folds down small, you will be putting it up and down A LOT! Make sure that it is easy to spot in a crowd and don't leave anything valuable in it when you go inside. WDW staff move them around to make space whilst you are away, so don't panic if you go back to find it and it appears to be missing. It's probably just around been moved up a bit, but sometimes they do go missing so keep your stuff safe.
Make sure that you pack plenty of nappies etc unless you plan to do garden grocer/Walmart or similar as the baby centres are great but don't always have all the sizes and only stock certain brands.
US formula milk sold in the baby centres is not always to be relied upon - our son ran out in MK so we went and got one and put it in his bottle - he looked like we had betrayed him when he tasted it so I tried some, really really bitter!! Nasty. Not at all like his usual milk. Once they are able to have cow's milk instead that becomes less of an issue.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely think WDW is a great place with infants. It is set up to be helpful, people are so understanding when your little one is tired/crying/wants to get up and leave the theatre half way through a show etc other families are friendly and people offer to help you/like to talk to your little one and so on. It's just about planning for all eventualities.
We are going again in Feb this year and splitting the stay between BC and GF to significantly reduce transfer times. We are also going in the winter so it won't be so hot! These are the two take home lessons that we learnt from our first trip. Also we are staying in GF villas so that we will have a little kitchen for our second week - that is worth a consideration as it makes early mornings, bottles etc much easier. Sterilising stuff in a hotel sink is a pain when you only have the one in the bathroom.